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US lawmakers on Thursday approved a White House request to claw back $9.4 billion from funding already allocated by Congress in a victory for President Donald Trump as he pushes to lock in spending cuts spearheaded by tech billionaire Elon Musk.The vote in the Republican-led US House of Representatives was seen as the first test of how easily Congress could usher into law savings sought by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — just days after his acrimonious exit from the government.But the saved funds — targeting public broadcasting and foreign aid — were unpopular in some sections of both parties, and Republicans in the House of Representatives shoehorned the bill through a razor-thin 214-212 vote.”Under President Trump’s leadership, your taxpayer dollars are no longer being wasted,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement.”Instead, they are being directed toward priorities that truly benefit the American people.”Legislation to grab back money already approved by Congress — known as a “rescissions package” — is extremely rare and no such measure had passed in decades.The vote was the first in what Johnson has touted as a potential series of packages codifying the cuts made by DOGE. Musk was tasked by Trump with leading the task force after spending $290 million helping the Republican get elected.The SpaceX boss boasted that he would be able to save $2 trillion in federal spending — but left the White House under a cloud earlier this month as he feuded with Trump over deficits and spending.DOGE acknowledges that it has saved taxpayers just $180 billion — and fact checkers even see that claim as dubious, given previous inaccuracies in its accounting. The recissions package slashes $8.3 billion in foreign aid, with much of that approved for humanitarian organization USAID, one of DOGE’s first targets. The text also eliminates $400 million in funding allocated to health programs including the lifesaving PEPFAR global AIDS program, created by then-president George W. Bush.The package also targets $1.1 billion to be taken back from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps fund National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), as well as more than 1,500 local radio and television stations.Conservatives often accuse PBS and NPR of bias, and Trump signed an executive order in May to cease federal funding for both networks.”For decades, Republicans have promised to cut NPR, but have never done it, until now,” Trump said on Truth Social as the vote got underway.”NPR and PBS are a Radical Left Disaster, and 1000% against the Republican Party!”Democrat Dan Goldman and Republican Mark Amodei, co-chairs of the congressional public broadcasting caucus, said cutting the funding will not meaningfully reduce the deficit, but instead dismantle “a trusted source of information for millions of Americans.”The package now moves to the Republican-led Senate, where it needs the support of only a simple majority — 51 members — rather than the 60 votes usually required.

The US Congress on Thursday passed a bill imposing harsher penalties on fentanyl traffickers, with lawmakers from both parties anxious to crack down on an opioid that has driven an epidemic of deadly overdoses.The Senate-passed bill — which delivers on a key election pledge of President Donald Trump to get tough on drug smuggling — was rubber-stamped by the House on a 321-104 vote, with Democrats providing all but one of the no votes. The Justice Department says 75,000 Americans die each year because of fentanyl, making it the number one cause of death for people between the ages of 18 and 34 in the United States.The synthetic opioid is more potent than heroin and much cheaper to produce.”More Americans die of drug overdoses each year than the number of Americans who died in the entirety of the Vietnam War,” Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune said ahead of the vote.The HALT Fentanyl Act places copycat variations of fentanyl — often sold by traffickers — on the government’s list of most dangerous “Schedule 1” drugs alongside the original substance. Lab-created fentanyl alternatives were reclassified to “Schedule 1” on a temporary basis seven years ago but the vote makes the change permanent.Trump has made halting the flow of fentanyl one of his priorities, even announcing it as a justification for import tariffs on Mexico and Canada.But opponents said the new law — rather than tackling overdoses — would simply repeat the mistakes of the so-called “War on Drugs.”The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 240 US rights organizations, said in a statement the measure would “exacerbate pretrial detention, mass incarceration, and racial disparities in the prison system.””Beginning in the 1980s, draconian drug laws with harsh mandatory minimums and their resulting enforcement under the banner of the ‘war on drugs’ fueled skyrocketing prison populations,” it said. 

A US senator from California was forcibly removed from a news conference being held by Donald Trump’s homeland security chief on Thursday, in the latest escalation of tensions over controversial immigration arrests.Senator Alex Padilla was pushed and shoved from the room at a federal building in Los Angeles as he tried to ask Kristi Noem about operations that have rocked America’s second largest city.”I’m Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary,” he said as two men grappled with him in front of journalists, including from AFP.Footage filmed by Padilla’s staff outside the room showed the senator being pushed to the ground by security agents wearing bulletproof vests with  FBI logos, who then handcuffed him.Padilla, one of two Democratic senators representing California in the upper chamber of Congress, did not resist.A voice can be heard telling the Padilla staffer “There’s no recording allowed out here,” as a body moves in front of the camera, before the recording ends.The Department of Homeland Security claimed — despite video evidence — that Padilla had “lunged” at Noem.”Senator Padilla chose disrespectful political theatre and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem,” Assistant Secretary Trisha McLaughlin wrote on social media.”@SecretService thought he was an attacker and officers acted appropriately,” she said, adding that Noem and Padilla met for 15 minutes after the news conference.Noem called Padilla’s interruption “inappropriate” and told reporters at the news conference he had not requested a meeting with her.Democratic response was rapid.California Governor Gavin Newsom called the incident “outrageous, dictatorial and shameful.””Trump and his shock troops are out of control. This must end now,” he wrote on social media.Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the episode “absolutely abhorrent and outrageous.””He is a sitting United States Senator. This administration’s violent attacks on our city must end.”Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for an investigation into the “despicable” incident.”(It) reeks of totalitarianism. This is not what democracies do.”Senator Padilla was there legitimately in that building to ask questions of what’s going on in California, which everybody wants to know answers to.Noem’s press conference came after almost a week of protests in Los Angeles sparked by an immigration crackdown ordered by Trump officials.The mostly peaceful demonstrations have been marred by eye-catching violence, including people torching cars and throwing rocks at police. The White House responded with overwhelming force, sending 4,700 troops to the city, despite objections from local officials and the police, who said they had the manpower and ability to handle unrest that has taken place in a few city blocks.

US President Donald Trump insisted Thursday he would bring India and Pakistan to the table together after recent fighting, saying he can “solve anything.”US diplomacy last month helped bring a ceasefire that ended four days of fighting between the nuclear-armed adversaries triggered by an attack on civilians in the Indian part of divided Kashmir.Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in announcing the ceasefire that the two nations had agreed to “start talks on a broad set of issues at a neutral site.”The statement was welcomed by Pakistan, which has long sought an international role over Kashmir, but India — which has a warm relationship with the United States — was more circumspect.Asked whether there remained plans for talks between India and Pakistan a month after the ceasefire, Trump said: “We’re going to get those two getting together, you know?””I told them, India and Pakistan — they have a longtime rivalry over Kashmir — I said, I can solve anything. I’ll be your arbitrator,” he told reporters.India refuses any outside mediation on Kashmir, the scenic Himalayan region which has a Muslim majority but a sizable Hindu minority.”Any India-Pakistan engagement has to be bilateral,” Indian foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal told reporters on May 29.”At the same time we are clear that talks and terror don’t go together.”Gunmen on April 22 massacred 26 tourists in Kashmir, most singled out as Hindus, in the deadliest attack on civilians in decades in the region which has seen a long-running insurgency.India has accused Pakistan of backing the assailants and launched military action in response. Pakistan denies involvement and accuses India of escalating tensions.

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that Los Angeles is “safe and sound” after he ordered troops into the streets but critics accused him of an authoritarian power grab and a judge was set to review the deployments’ legality.Protests erupted last week in the second biggest US city over aggressive new immigration raids targeting migrants at workplaces, courthouses and gathering places for day laborers seeking work.Anger at Trump’s crackdown and the use of masked, armed immigration agents, backed by uniformed soldiers, is spreading to other cities. Nationwide protests were planned for Saturday.Trump has repeatedly exaggerated the scale of the unrest, which has been largely peaceful, despite isolated clashes, vandalism and burning of cars.The Republican credited the arrival of troops for ensuring a quiet night in Los Angeles, where the mayor had ordered a nighttime curfew.Nearly 4,000 National Guard soldiers have been sent to Los Angeles, as well as 700 members of the US Marines — an elite force trained to fight in foreign wars and only very rarely deployed on US soil.”Our great National Guard, with a little help from the Marines, put the L.A. Police in a position to effectively do their job,” Trump said on Truth Social, adding that without the military the city “would be a crime scene like we haven’t seen in years.”A federal judge in San Francisco was set to hear arguments on whether use of the troops is constitutional, with California Governor Gavin Newsom alleging the president “is creating fear and terror.”Newsom accused Trump of aiming a “wrecking ball” at US democracy and urged Americans “not to give in.”Trump on Thursday said Newsom — seen as a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028 — had “totally lost control of the situation” and should thank him for “saving his ass.”- Labor shortage fears -Trump was elected last year in part on his promises to expel people who enter the country illegally, then commit serious crimes. But his immigration crackdown is far broader, targeting mostly Latin American migrants who may have entered illegally but form the backbone of farming, construction and other manual industries in many parts of the country.Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, spoke up Thursday, saying she had told a visiting US official that “we didn’t agree with the use of raids to detain people working honestly in the United States.”The raids will “not only hurt people but also the US economy,” she said.Trump indicated he was under pressure, conceding he had heard complaints about laborers being rounded up.”We’re going to have an order on that pretty soon, I think. We can’t do that to our farmers — and leisure too, hotels,” he said.In Spokane, in the northwest state of Washington, a nighttime curfew was declared after police arrested more than 30 protesters and fired pepper balls to disperse crowds, officials said.In Seattle, the state’s biggest city, police arrested eight people after a dumpster was set on fire and projectiles were thrown. Three people were arrested in Tucson, Arizona, following clashes with police, the Arizona Republic reported.Protests also took place in Las Vegas, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Milwaukee, Chicago, Atlanta, and Boston, according to CNN.A nationwide “No Kings” movement was expected on Saturday, when Trump will attend a highly unusual military parade in the US capital.The Washington, DC parade, featuring warplanes and tanks, has been organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the US Army but also happens to be the day of Trump’s 79th birthday.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday signed resolutions blocking California’s landmark efforts to phase out gas-powered cars in favor of electric vehicles, a move the state immediately contested in court.Trump’s action, a rebuke of Democratic climate change policies, comes after the Republican-led Congress revoked the state’s waiver allowing it to set more stringent regulations for cars.California had planned to end the sale of gasoline-only vehicles by 2035, among other ambitious efforts.During the signing ceremony at the White House, Trump lashed out at the state’s bid as “a disaster for this country” and said the resolutions he was signing would save the industry from “destruction.”California swiftly sued the Trump administration over the resolutions, with Attorney General Rob Bonta saying: “The President’s divisive, partisan agenda is jeopardizing our lives, our economy and our environment.””It’s reckless, it’s illegal, and because of it, we’ll be seeing the Trump administration in court again for the 26th time,” he added.California, the nation’s wealthiest state with around 40 million people, has long used the waiver in the Clean Air Act to set its own emissions standards as it tries to mitigate some of the worst air pollution in the country.The size of the auto market in the state — and the fact that several other states follow its lead — means automakers frequently use its standards nationwide.Trump’s move also came as he clashes with California over immigration enforcement.California Governor Gavin Newsom has accused the president of acting like a tyrant over his use of the military to control small-scale protests in Los Angeles.- Environmental concerns – Trump’s action was condemned by environmental groups who say the rules are key for easing pollution.And Newsom recently argued that rolling back the state’s EV ambitions would boost China’s position on the market.While China is a manufacturing hub for such vehicles globally, the United States is a net importer of them, he said in a May statement.This is despite the United States being home to technologies that have pioneered the clean car industry, he noted.Trump has repeatedly criticized subsidies to encourage the EV industry despite significant federal funding allocated to projects in Republican districts — where thousands of jobs are expected to be created.He took aim at the sector as part of his flurry of executive orders on his first day in office this January in a bid to ensure what he called a “level” playing field for gasoline-powered motors.

The judge in the Harvey Weinstein sex crimes retrial declared a mistrial on the outstanding rape charge against the movie producer Thursday, after the jury foreperson refused to return to deliberate the case amid a jury room feud.In front of packed press and public benches in the 13th-floor New York courtroom, Judge Curtis Farber dismissed jurors who had been unable to reach a verdict on the charge that Weinstein raped Jessica Mann.”Deliberations became heated to such a degree I am obligated to declare a mistrial on the one count on which you didn’t reach a verdict,” Farber declared from the wood-paneled bench, wearing a robe and reading glasses.Weinstein’s lawyer Arthur Aidala had forcefully argued that a crime had been committed against one of the jurors, but the judge dismissed the claim.On Wednesday, the jury convicted Weinstein for sexual assault on Miriam Haley, and acquitted the fallen movie mogul for allegedly sexually assaulting Kaja Sokola. The defense vowed to appeal.The prosecutor brushed off the defense’s claim that a retrial on the charge of raping Mann would exert unfair pressure on the alleged victim. “We will proceed to trial and that is what justice would be in this case,” Nicole Blumberg said.Outside court, Aidala alleged that two jurors had indicated to his team that the panel had considered the cases of rapper Sean “P Diddy” Combs and convicted child sex abuser R. Kelly in their discussions.”(If) they say, ‘Well, look at R Kelly. Look what’s going on across the street with P Diddy’… That’s not what you can do, and that’s what we just heard happen,” said the sharp-suited attorney.Combs is on trial at a nearby courthouse for alleged racketeering and other crimes, and the publicity of that case has largely eclipsed Weinstein’s retrial.Weinstein, 73 and wheelchair-bound by ill-health, is already in jail for a 16-year term after he was convicted in a separate California case of raping a European actress more than a decade ago.Proceedings in New York have been dogged by personal issues between jurors, two of whom have privately complained to the judge about fellow panelists.The foreman had told judge Farber he could not continue after facing threats.”One other juror made comments to the effect ‘I’ll meet you outside one day’,” the judge said Wednesday quoting the foreman, adding there was yelling between jurors.After Weinstein’s lawyer demanded a mistrial over the jury rupture, Weinstein himself addressed the court Wednesday, deploying a commanding voice reminiscent of his Hollywood heyday.- ‘Threats, violence, intimidation’ -“We’ve heard threats, violence, intimidation — this is not right for me… the person who is on trial here,” he said.The Oscar-winner’s conviction on the Haley charge is a vindication for Haley whose complaint in part led to the initial guilty verdict in 2020. That landmark case helped spur the “MeToo” movement that saw an outpouring of allegations from prominent women who were abused by men.Weinstein underwent a spectacular fall from his position at the top of the world of Hollywood and show business in 2017 when allegations against him exploded into public.The movement upended the film industry, exposing systemic exploitation of young women seeking to work in entertainment, and provoking a reckoning on how to end the toxic culture.More than 80 women accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct in the wake of the global backlash against men abusing positions of power.Weinstein’s original 2020 conviction, and the resulting 23-year prison term, was thrown out last year after an appeals court found irregularities in the way witnesses were presented.

A 61-year-old man convicted of a 1999 double murder was executed on Thursday in Oklahoma, the third inmate put to death in the United States this week.John Hanson was executed by lethal injection at the state penitentiary in the town of McAlester, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections said in a statement.Hanson was convicted of carjacking and kidnapping Mary Bowles, 77, from a mall in the city of Tulsa and then shooting her to death along with a witness, Jerald Thurman.Hanson had been serving a life sentence for bank robbery in the state of Louisiana but the Trump administration approved his transfer to Oklahoma so he could face the death penalty.President Donald Trump is a proponent of capital punishment and called on his first day in office for an expansion of its use “for the vilest crimes.”Hanson was the third Death Row inmate executed in the United States this week.Gregory Hunt, 65, convicted of the 1988 rape and murder of his girlfriend, Karen Lane, 32, was executed by nitrogen gas on Tuesday in Alabama.Anthony Wainwright, 54, convicted of the 1994 murder of Carmen Gayheart, 23, a nursing student and mother of two young children, was put to death by lethal injection in Florida on Tuesday.A fourth execution is to be carried out this week, in South Carolina, where Stephen Stanko, 57, is to be put to death on Friday by lethal injection.Stanko was convicted of the 2005 murders of his girlfriend, Laura Ling, 43, and Henry Turner, a 74-year-old friend.There have been 22 executions in the United States this year: 17 by lethal injection, two by firing squad and three by nitrogen hypoxia, which involves pumping nitrogen gas into a facemask, causing the prisoner to suffocate.The use of nitrogen gas as an execution method has been denounced by UN experts as cruel and inhumane.The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while three others — California, Oregon and Pennsylvania — have moratoriums in place.

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that Los Angeles was “safe and sound” for the past two nights, crediting his deployment of thousands of troops to quell anti-deportation protests, as California prepared for a legal showdown over his unprecedented move.With protests spreading across the United States, a night-time curfew has been in place in its second-largest city with authorities tackling vandalism and looting that scarred a few city blocks.”Our great National Guard, with a little help from the Marines, put the L.A. Police in a position to effectively do their job,” Trump said on Truth Social, adding that without the military the city “would be a crime scene like we haven’t seen in years.”The mostly peaceful protests ignited last week over an escalation in efforts to apprehend migrants in the country illegally, but there were also pockets of violence, including the burning of self-driving taxis and hurling stones at police.Trump deployed several thousand National Guard troops and 700 active-duty marines over the objections of Democratic California governor Gavin Newsom, the first such action by a US president in decades.Trump charged that the governor “had totally lost control of the situation.””He should be saying THANK YOU for saving his ass, instead of trying to justify his mistakes and incompetence,” Trump added.In Spokane, in the northwest state of Washington, another night curfew was declared after police arrested more than 30 protesters and fired pepper balls to disperse crowds, officials said.In Seattle, Washington state’s biggest city, police arrested eight people after a dumpster was set on fire and projectiles were thrown. Three people were arrested in Tucson, Arizona, following clashes with police, the Arizona Republic reported.Protests also took place in Las Vegas, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Milwaukee, Chicago, Atlanta, and Boston, according to CNN.- ‘Democracy is under assault’ – Trump won the election last year partly on promises to combat what he claims is an “invasion” by undocumented migrants.”If I wasn’t there… Los Angeles would have been burning to the ground,” he told reporters WednesdayAround 1,000 of the 4,700 troops Trump deployed were actively guarding facilities and working alongside ICE agents, said Scott Sherman, Deputy Commanding General Army North, who is leading operations.The rest — including 700 active duty Marines — were mustering or undergoing training to deal with civil disturbances, he said.The Pentagon has said the deployment will cost taxpayers $134 million.Newsom, a Democrat widely viewed as eying a 2028 presidential run, has accused Trump of escalating the confrontation for political gain.He warned earlier this week that the militarization would creep beyond his state’s borders, saying “democracy is under assault right before our eyes.”Lawyers for California were expected in court on Thursday to seek an order blocking troops from accompanying immigration officers as they arrest migrants.Trump administration lawyers called the application a “crass political stunt.”- Military parade -A nationwide “No Kings” movement was expected on Saturday, when Trump will attend a highly unusual military parade in the US capital.The parade, featuring warplanes and tanks, has been organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the US Army but also happens to be the day of Trump’s 79th birthday.The Trump administration is painting the wave of protests as a violent threat to the nation, requiring military force to support regular immigration agents and police.But Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the crisis had been manufactured in Washington.”A week ago, everything was peaceful in the city of Los Angeles,” she told reporters.”Things began to be difficult on Friday when raids took place… that is the cause of the problems.”This was provoked by the White House.”Arrests by masked and armed men continued Wednesday.A pastor in the LA suburb of Downey said five armed men driving out-of-state cars grabbed a Spanish-speaking man in the church’s parking lot.When she challenged the men and asked for their badge numbers and names, they refused.”They did point their rifle at me and said, ‘You need to get back,'” Lopez told broadcaster KTLA.

The number of people forcibly displaced from their homes worldwide has dropped slightly from a record peak but remains “untenably high”, the United Nations said Thursday.A record 123.2 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced from their homes at the end of 2024, said UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.But that figure dropped to 122.1 million by the end of April this year, as Syrians began returning home after years of turmoil.More than 1.5 million Syrians have been able to return home from abroad or from displacement within the war-ravaged country.But the UNHCR warned that the course of major conflicts worldwide would determine whether the figure would rise again.The agency said the number of people displaced by war, violence and persecution worldwide was “untenably high”, particularly in a period when humanitarian funding is evaporating.”We are living in a time of intense volatility in international relations, with modern warfare creating a fragile, harrowing landscape marked by acute human suffering,” said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.”We must redouble our efforts to search for peace and find long-lasting solutions for refugees and others forced to flee their homes.”- Sudan overtakes Syria -The main drivers of displacement remain sprawling conflicts like those in Sudan, Myanmar and Ukraine, UNHCR said in its flagship annual Global Trends Report.Syria’s brutal civil war erupted in 2011 but ruler Bashar al-Assad was finally overthrown in December 2024.The report said rising numbers of Syrians have since been able to return to their homes.As of mid-May, more than 500,000 Syrians are estimated to have crossed back into the country since the fall of Assad, while an estimated 1.2 million internally displaced people (IDPs) have returned to their areas of origin since the end of November.UNHCR estimates that up to 1.5 million Syrians from abroad and two million IDPs may return by the end of 2025.Sudan is now the world’s largest forced displacement situation with 14.3 million refugees and IDPs, overtaking Syria (13.5 million), which is followed by Afghanistan (10.3 million) and Ukraine (8.8 million).”During the remainder of 2025, much will depend on the dynamics in key situations,” the annual report said, including whether peace or ceasefires can be reached in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Ukraine.It also depends on whether conditions for returns improve in Afghanistan and Syria.Another factor was “how dire the impact of the current funding cuts will be”.The United States was by far UNHCR’s biggest donor but has dramatically scaled back its overseas aid, while other countries are tightening their budgets.”The failure to protect civilians is astounding,” said Norwegian Refugee Council chief Jan Egeland.”Despite the immense suffering of displaced people, we are now seeing many countries turn inwards, making drastic cuts to humanitarian funding.”- One in 67 -The number of people forced to flee persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations and events seriously disturbing public order has almost doubled in the last decade.The figure of 123.2 million worldwide at the end of last year was up seven million compared to the end of 2023.”One in 67 people globally were forcibly displaced at the end of 2024,” UNHCR said.In total, 9.8 million forcibly displaced people returned home in 2024, including 1.6 million refugees — the most for more than two decades — and 8.2 million IDPs — the second highest ever.”We have seen some rays of hope over the last six months,” said Grandi.But countries such as the DR Congo, Myanmar and South Sudan saw significant new forced displacements as well as returns.Two-thirds of refugees stay in neighbouring countries.Iran (3.5 million), Turkey (2.9 million), Colombia (2.8 million), Germany (2.7 million) and Uganda (1.8 million) host the largest refugee populations.