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The first US strikes against Yemen’s Huthis since President Donald Trump took office in January killed at least 21 people, the rebels said Sunday, as Washington warned Iran to stop backing the group.The Huthis, who have attacked Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, said children were among those killed by the intense barrage of strikes.An AFP photographer in the rebel-held capital Sanaa heard three explosions and saw plumes of smoke rising from a residential district, and strikes were also reported in Yemen’s northern Saada region, a Huthi stronghold.”Nine civilians were killed and nine others were injured, most of them seriously,” the Huthis’ health and environment ministry said in a statement on their Saba news agency, reporting the strikes on Sanaa.A strike in the Saada region killed at least 10 people and wounded others, according to the Huthi Ansarollah website, condemning what it called “US-British aggression” and Washington’s “criminal brutality”.A separate strike on a house in Saada’s Alshaaf district killed two people, Ansarollah said.The US Central Command (CENTCOM), which posted images of fighters taking off from an aircraft carrier and a bomb demolishing a building compound, said “precision strikes” were launched to “defend American interests, deter enemies, and restore freedom of navigation”.There was no immediate comment from British authorities.Trump, in a post on social media, vowed to “use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective”, citing the Huthis’ threats against Red Sea shipping.- ‘Escalation with escalation’ -The Huthis vowed that the strikes “will not pass without response”.”Our Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation,” the rebels’ political bureau said in a statement on the rebel Al-Masirah TV station.Trump also warned Iran that it must “immediately” cut support to the Huthis. The rebels, who have controlled much of Yemen for more than a decade, are part of the “axis of resistance” of pro-Iran groups staunchly opposed to Israel and the United States.They have launched scores of drone and missile attacks at ships passing Yemen in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden during the Gaza war, claiming solidarity with the Palestinians.The campaign crippled the vital route, which normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic, forcing many companies into a costly detour around southern Africa.The Palestinian group Hamas, grateful for the Huthi support, hit out Saturday at the US strikes, branding them “a stark violation of international law and an assault on the country’s sovereignty and stability”.- ‘Hell will rain down’ – The United States has launched several rounds of strikes on Huthi targets, some with British support. After halting their attacks when Gaza’s ceasefire took effect in January, the Huthis announced on Tuesday that they would resume them until Israel lifts its blockade of aid to the shattered Palestinian territory.Trump’s statement did not reference the dispute over Israel, but focused on previous Huthi attacks on merchant shipping.”To all Huthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” he said.”Do NOT threaten the American People, their President… or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”Earlier this month, the United States reclassified the Huthi movement as a “foreign terrorist organisation”, banning any US interaction with it.”Continued Huthi attacks on US military and commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea will not be tolerated,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, according to the State Department.Moscow is close to Tehran, which supports the Huthis.Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the Huthis had “attacked US warships 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times since 2023”.The Huthis captured Sanaa in 2014 and were poised to overrun most of the rest of the country before a Saudi-led coalition intervened.The war has largely been on hold since a 2022 ceasefire, but the promised peace process has stalled in the face of Huthi attacks on Israel and Israel-linked shipping.burs-pjm/sco

At least 27 people were killed and dozens more injured Saturday when tornadoes and violent storms raked across the central United States, officials said.Local news showed roofs torn off homes and large trucks overturned, as forecasters warned of more tornadoes to come this weekend.Eight people died in Kansas in a crash involving more than 50 vehicles, caused by low visibility during a “severe dust storm,” local police said.Missouri State Highway Patrol confirmed 12 storm-related fatalities and shared images of boats piled on top of one another at a marina destroyed by the weather. The state police reported downed trees and power lines, as well as damage to buildings, with some areas severely impacted by “tornadoes, thunderstorms and large hail.””It was the scariest thing I’ve ever been through, it was so fast, our ears were all about to burst,” Alicia Wilson, who was evacuated from her home in Missouri, told TV station KSDK.Six fatalities were reported in Missouri’s Wayne County, three in Ozark County — where multiple injuries were also reported — and one each in Butler, Jefferson and St Louis counties, police said.Further south in Texas, local authorities told AFP that four people had died in vehicle accidents linked to dust storms and fires that reduced visibility on the roads.In the neighboring state of Arkansas, officials said three people had died and 29 had been injured in the storm.Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency in response and said she had spoken with President Donald Trump.”He said to tell the people of Arkansas he loves them and he and his administration are here to help with whatever we need following last night’s tornadoes,” Sanders wrote on X.At least 200,000 homes and businesses across the central United States were without power by Saturday evening, according to tracking site poweroutage.us.More tornadoes were forecast Saturday in the central Gulf Coast states including Mississippi and Tennessee.”Numerous significant tornadoes, some of which may be long-track and potentially violent, should continue into this evening,” the National Weather Service said.Tornadoes are spinning columns of air that touch the ground from massive cumulonimbus thunderstorm clouds.The central and southern American states of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas get the most violent ones due to unique geographical and meteorological conditions.Dubbed “Tornado Alley,” this is where winds of widely varying temperatures meet in volatile, potent storm clouds, with most storms occurring from May to June.In 2024, 54 people died in tornado-related incidents in the United States, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The first US strikes against Yemen’s Huthis since President Donald Trump took office in January killed at least 20 people, the rebels said Sunday, as Washington warned Iran to stop backing the group.The Huthis, who have attacked Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, said children were among those killed by the intense barrage of strikes.An AFP photographer in the rebel-held capital Sanaa heard three explosions and saw plumes of smoke rising from a residential district, and strikes were also reported in Yemen’s northern Saada region, a Huthi stronghold.”Nine civilians were killed and nine others were injured, most of them seriously,” the Huthis’ health and environment ministry said in a statement on their Saba news agency, reporting the strikes on Sanaa.A strike in the Saada region killed at least 10 people and wounded others, according to the Huthi Ansarollah website, condemning what it called “US-British aggression” and Washington’s “criminal brutality”.The US Central Command (CENTCOM), which posted images of fighters taking off from an aircraft carrier and a bomb demolishing a building compound, said “precision strikes” were launched to “defend American interests, deter enemies, and restore freedom of navigation”.There was no immediate comment from British authorities.Trump, in a post on social media, vowed to “use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective”, citing the Huthis’ threats against Red Sea shipping.- ‘Escalation with escalation’ -The Huthis vowed that the strikes “will not pass without response”.”Our Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation,” the rebels’ political bureau said in a statement on the rebel Al-Masirah TV station.Trump also warned Iran that it must “immediately” cut support to the Huthis. The rebels, who have controlled much of Yemen for more than a decade, are part of the “axis of resistance” of pro-Iran groups staunchly opposed to Israel and the United States.They have launched scores of drone and missile attacks at ships passing Yemen in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden during the Gaza war, claiming solidarity with the Palestinians.The campaign crippled the vital route, which normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic, forcing many companies into a costly detour around southern Africa.The Palestinian group Hamas, grateful for the Huthi support, hit out Saturday at the US strikes, branding them “a stark violation of international law and an assault on the country’s sovereignty and stability”.- ‘Hell will rain down’ – The US has launched several rounds of strikes on Huthi targets, some with British support. After halting their attacks when Gaza’s ceasefire took effect in January, the Huthis announced on Tuesday that they would resume them until Israel lifts its blockade of aid to the shattered Palestinian territory.Trump’s statement did not reference the dispute over Israel, but focused on previous Huthi attacks on merchant shipping.”To all Huthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” he said.”Do NOT threaten the American People, their President… or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”Earlier this month, the United States reclassified the Huthi movement as a “foreign terrorist organisation”, banning any US interaction with it.Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the Huthis had “attacked US warships 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times since 2023”.The Huthis captured Sanaa in 2014 and were poised to overrun most of the rest of the country before a Saudi-led coalition intervened.The war has largely been on hold since a 2022 ceasefire, but the promised peace process has stalled in the face of the Huthi attacks on Israel and Israel-linked shipping.burs-pjm/fox

Disney’s live-action remakes of animated classics are usually safe bets. But a new version of the oldest of them all, “Snow White,” has become mired in controversies, receiving an unusually low-key premiere in Hollywood on Saturday.The studio kept its outspoken stars Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot away from reporters at the afternoon event, with no red carpet interviews — and has avoided questions about the film’s divisive depictions of the Seven Dwarfs.It follows a similarly pared-down European premiere on Wednesday at a remote castle in Segovia, Spain, where few media outlets were invited.The negativity began way back in 2021, with the casting of Zegler, who is Latina, as Snow White — a character from a German fairy tale who was famously “the fairest of them all.” This was predictably slammed as “woke” by some fans and conservative commentators.”yes i am snow white no i am not bleaching my skin for the role” wrote Zegler, a US actress of Colombian and Polish descent, in a since-deleted tweet.But criticism spread more broadly across Disney’s loyal fan base when Zegler appeared to repeatedly denigrate the 1937 “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” Walt Disney’s first feature-length animation.Zegler described the beloved original as “weird” because Snow White’s love interest is “a guy who literally stalks her.”This time “she’s not going to be saved by the prince, and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love,” Zegler said in one interview that was blasted on Disney forums by fans longing for exactly those traditional tropes.Zegler is unusually outspoken by Hollywood standards. She publicly complained about not being invited to the 2022 Oscars gala, despite being the star of best picture nominee “West Side Story.” She eventually bagged an invitation — and some disapproving tuts. “Zegler isn’t necessarily the most decorous celebrity when it comes to the media or the internet,” Slate journalist Nadira Goffe wrote in a 2023 column.”She has a demeanor that can come across as charmingly awkward to some, and a tad glib and grating to others.”Compounding Disney’s headaches, Zegler has signed off social media posts with “Free Palestine,” while Gadot — who plays the Evil Queen — has expressed public support for her native Israel.Disney did not respond to AFP request for comment.- ‘Backward story’ -And then there is the issue of the Seven Dwarfs, who have been conspicuously dropped from the new film’s title, “Disney’s Snow White.”Peter Dinklage, perhaps Hollywood’s most famous actor with dwarfism, slammed Disney’s “hypocrisy” for making a new “Snow White” film at all.In a 2022 interview with podcaster Marc Maron, the “Game of Thrones” actor questioned how Disney could be “proud to cast a Latina actress as Snow White,” and yet think a remake of a “backward story of seven dwarfs living in a cave” made sense.Disney quickly issued a statement promising to take “a different approach” that would “avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film.” In the new movie, the dwarfs are cartoonishly gnome-like magical creatures, created by computer-generated visual effects rather than human actors.This has itself provoked backlash. Some actors with dwarfism have blamed Dinklage.”There aren’t many roles for dwarfs in Hollywood so him saying that cancelled these roles… it hurt the dwarf acting community,” professional wrestler Dylan Mark Postl told the Guardian.- ‘Passion’ -Altogether, Disney’s latest live-action film has proven vastly more contentious than billion-dollar-grossing remakes like “The Lion King” and “Beauty and the Beast.”Requiring extensive reshoots, and hit by delays from the pandemic and Hollywood strikes, “Disney’s Snow White” cost well over $200 million to make, according to Forbes.Disney will be hoping that all publicity proves to be good publicity when it hits theaters next weekend.”I interpret people’s feelings about this film as a passion for it,” Zegler told Vogue Mexico.”What an honor to be part of something that people feel so passionate about.”

President Donald Trump’s administration on Saturday put journalists at Voice of America and other US-funded broadcasters on leave, abruptly freezing decades-old outlets long seen as critical to countering Russian and Chinese information offensives. Hundreds of staffers at VOA, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe and other outlets received a weekend email saying they will be barred from their offices and should surrender press passes and office-issued equipment.Trump, who has already eviscerated the US global aid agency and the Education Department, on Friday issued an executive order listing the US Agency for Global Media as among “elements of the federal bureaucracy that the president has determined are unnecessary.”Kari Lake, a firebrand Trump supporter put in charge of the media agency after she lost a US Senate bid, said in an email to the outlets that federal grant money “no longer effectuates agency priorities.”The White House said the cuts would ensure “taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda,” marking a dramatic tone shift towards the networks established to extend US influence overseas.White House press official Harrison Fields wrote “goodbye” on X in 20 languages, a jab at the outlets’ multilingual coverage.VOA director Michael Abramowitz said he was among 1,300 staffers placed on leave Saturday.”VOA needs thoughtful reform, and we have made progress in that regard. But today’s action will leave Voice of America unable to carry out its vital mission,” he said on Facebook, noting that its coverage — in 48 languages — reaches 360 million people each week.The head of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which started broadcasting into the Soviet bloc during the Cold War, called the cancellation of funding “a massive gift to America’s enemies.””The Iranian ayatollahs, Chinese communist leaders, and autocrats in Moscow and Minsk would celebrate the demise of RFE/RL after 75 years,” its president, Stephen Capus, said in a statement.- Uncensored reporting -US-funded media have reoriented themselves since the end of the Cold War, dropping much of the programming geared toward newly democratic Central and Eastern European countries and focusing on Russia and China.Chinese state-funded media have expanded their reach sharply over the past decade, including by offering free services to outlets in the developing world that would otherwise pay for Western news agencies.Radio Free Asia, established in 1996, sees its mission as providing uncensored reporting into countries without free media including China, Myanmar, North Korea and Vietnam.The outlets have an editorial firewall, with a stated guarantee of independence despite government funding.The policy has angered some around Trump, who has long railed against media and suggested that government-funded outlets should promote his policies.The move to end US-funded media is likely to meet challenges, much like Trump’s other sweeping cuts. Congress, not the president, has the constitutional power of the purse and Radio Free Asia in particular has enjoyed bipartisan support in the past.- ‘Chaos’ -Advocacy group Reporters Without Borders condemned the decision, saying it “threatens press freedom worldwide and negates 80 years of American history in supporting the free flow of information.”Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and senior Democratic congresswoman Lois Frankel said in a joint statement that Trump’s move would “cause lasting damage to US efforts to counter propaganda around the world.”One VOA employee, who requested anonymity, described Saturday’s message as another “perfect example of the chaos and unprepared nature of the process,” with VOA staffers presuming that scheduled programming is off but not told so directly.A Radio Free Asia employee said: “It’s not just about losing your income. We have staff and contractors who fear for their safety. We have reporters who work under the radar in authoritarian countries in Asia. We have staff in the US who fear deportation if their work visa is no longer valid.””Wiping us out with the strike of a pen is just terrible.” 

Nine people were killed in strikes on Yemen’s capital on Saturday, Huthi rebels said, after US President Donald Trump announced an attack on the Iran-backed group.Another nine people were wounded in the first US strikes on the Huthis, who have attacked Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, since Trump took office in January.An AFP photographer in Sanaa heard three explosions and saw plumes of smoke coming from a residential district in the north of the rebel-held capital, Sanaa. Security forces cordoned off the area immediately.”Nine civilians were killed and nine others were injured, most of them seriously,” the Huthis’ health and environment ministry said in a statement on their Saba news agency.The rebels’ Al-Masirah TV station said an “American-British aggression raided a residential neighbourhood in the Shuub district” in Sanaa. It later reported such a strike on the Huthi stronghold of Saada.There was no immediate comment from British authorities.In a post on social media, Trump vowed to “use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective”, citing the Huthis’ threats against Red Sea shipping.The Huthis hit back in a statement on Al-Masirah vowing that the strikes “will not pass without response”.”Our Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation,” the rebels’ political bureau said.Trump also warned Iran that it must “immediately” cut support to the rebels. The rebels, who have controlled much of Yemen for more than a decade, are part of the “axis of resistance” of pro-Iran groups staunchly opposed to Israel and the United States.They have launched scores of drone and missile attacks at ships passing Yemen in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden during the Gaza war, claiming solidarity with the Palestinians. The campaign crippled the vital route, which normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic, forcing many companies into a costly detour around the tip of southern Africa.- ‘Hell will rain down’ – In response, the US has launched several rounds of strikes on Huthi targets, some with British support. After halting their attacks when Gaza’s ceasefire took effect in January, the Huthis announced on Tuesday that they would resume them until Israel lifts its blockade of aid to the shattered Palestinian territory.Trump’s statement did not reference the dispute over Israel, but focused on previous Huthi attacks on merchant shipping.”To all Huthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” he said.”Do NOT threaten the American People, their President… or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”Earlier this month, the United States reclassified the Huthi movement as a “foreign terrorist organisation”, banning any US interaction with it.The Huthis captured Sanaa in 2014 and were poised to overrun most of the rest of the country before a Saudi-led coalition intervened the following year.The war has largely been on hold since a 2022 ceasefire but the promised peace process has stalled in the face of the Huthi attacks on Israel and Israel-linked shipping.

At least 18 people were dead and dozens injured after  tornadoes raked  across the central United States, officials said Saturday.Local news showed roofs torn off homes and large trucks overturned, as forecasters warned of more tornadoes to come this weekend.The Missouri State Highway Patrol confirmed 11 “storm-related fatalities” in a statement on X, saying local authorities were “working tirelessly to assist those in need and assess the damage.”The state police reported downed trees and power lines, as well as damage to residential and commercial buildings, with some areas severely impacted by “tornadoes, thunderstorms and large hail.”Six fatalities were reported in Missouri’s Wayne County, three in Ozark County — where multiple injuries were also reported — and one each in Butler and Jefferson counties, police said.Further south in Texas, local authorities told AFP that four people had died in vehicle accidents linked to dust storms and fires that reduced visibility on the roads.In the neighboring state of Arkansas, officials said three people had died and 29 had been injured in the storm.More tornadoes were forecast Saturday in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee.

The United States has launched “decisive and powerful military action” to end the threat posed to Red Sea shipping by Yemen’s Huthi rebels, President Donald Trump said Saturday.In a social media post that came after Huthi media reported strikes on the Yemeni capital Sanaa, Trump also warned that Iran must “immediately” cut support to the rebels. “We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective,” he said.In Huthi-held Sanaa, AFP correspondents reported hearing distant explosions and al-Masirah TV said “an American-British aggression raided a residential neighborhood in the Shuub district.”The new US strikes came shortly after the Huthis announced that they would target all Israeli ships in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Baba al-Mandab Strait, and the Gulf of Aden.Their threat came in protest at Israel’s blockade of aid into the Palestinian territory of Gaza.Trump’s statement did not reference the dispute over Israel, but focused on previous Huthi attacks on US and international warships and commercial tankers.”To all Huthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” he said.In addition to announcing action against the Huthis, who regularly harass international shipping off Yemen’s coast, Trump issued a stern warning to the group’s backer.”To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY!” he said.”Do NOT threaten the American People, their President… or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”Since November 2023, a month into the war between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip, the Huthis have waged a campaign against shipping that they say is in solidarity with Palestinians.They have attacked ships in the key waterways of the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea with drones and missiles, saying they are targeting vessels linked to Israel, the United States and Britain.In January, after the ceasefire was declared in Gaza, the Huthis said they would limit their attacks to vessels linked to Israel.The attacks have disrupted commercial shipping in a zone vital for trade, and dealt huge losses to cash-strapped Egypt, which depends on the Suez Canal for foreign currency.Earlier this month, the United States re-classified the Huthi movement as a “foreign terrorist organization,” banning any US interaction with the group that controls swaths of Yemen.

Anger was rising in the Democratic ranks Saturday after the party’s top US senator led a band of lawmakers in reluctant support of a Republican measure that prevented a government shutdown.Congressional passage of the controversial spending bill was being seen as a setback for Democratic backbenchers — and the latest illustration of party leaders’ political impotence in their opposition to President Donald Trump as he takes a wrecking ball to the US federal bureaucracy.In New York, more than a thousand people protested against Trump’s layoffs, and their anger was no longer directed only at Trump and his chief waste hunter, Elon Musk.Michelle Vaughan, a 53-year-old artist, carried a sign that read “Elon out! – You too, Chuck!” referring to House Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who supported the bill along with several colleagues.”The budget was our only leverage,” Vaughan told AFP at the protest in Manhattan. “It was a way to show the base of Democrats and the world that there’s a resistance to this authoritarian takeover.”The measure slashes billions of dollars from public spending at a time government agencies are already reeling from the dismissal of thousands of civil servants by Trump and Musk.Despite stark warnings from Democrats, including popular House progressive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the resolution passed the Senate late Friday with the support of 10 Democrats, including Schumer.The 74-year-old top Democrat from the state of New York had claimed earlier this week that his camp was united in opposition to the Trump-backed Republican proposal. But on Thursday he relented and declared he would vote to keep the government’s lights on.Trump signed the bill into law Saturday afternoon.- Disunity -Schumer justified his position as the least-worst path, and “the best way to minimize the harm that the Trump administration will do to the American people.”His close Senate ally Dick Durbin agreed.”With Donald Trump and Elon Musk taking a chainsaw to the federal government’s workforce and illegally freezing federal funding, the last thing we need to do is plunge our country into further chaos and turmoil by shutting down the government,” Durbin said.But within their camp, it was a bitter pill to swallow.Aimee Reeves, who was laid off from her private non-profit following cuts to the federal humanitarian agency USAID, said tens of thousands of people have already found themselves without a job.”The government is not functioning as it should, and the fact that they put forth a narrative that we needed to vote for this bill to continue the government to function is normalizing something that’s entirely not normal,” Reeves told AFP at the New York rally.In an angry post on the Bluesky platform shortly after the bill was passed, New York progressive Ocasio-Cortez voiced a similar view, saying Senate Democrats had “destroyed” their chances of future cooperation with their House counterparts through their “fear-based, inexplicable abdication.”She added: “They own what happens next.”Still, top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries sought to play down the divisions.”Our party is not a cult, we are a coalition,” he said in a statement after the Senate vote. “On occasion, we may strongly disagree about a particular course of action.”- ‘No more cowardice’ -Earlier this week progressive congresswoman Pramila Jayapal warned on CNN that Democratic senators who vote for the GOP plan would face a “huge backlash.”Schumer has already felt the heat, with some 100 demonstrators protesting outside his New York home on Friday.Members of the Sunrise Movement, an association of young environmentalists, also gathered outside the senator’s Washington office “demanding he fight for our generation and block Trump’s disastrous budget.””No more cowardice,” the organization vented on X. “Step up or step aside.”The Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group, voiced similar sentiments, warning that Democrats who voted yes “just handed Musk and Trump free rein to destroy our environmental agencies and gut the civil service.”Meanwhile, Republicans led by Trump are rejoicing at the opposition’s disarray.”Congratulations to Chuck Schumer for doing the right thing,” the president trumpeted from his Truth Social account Friday, saying it took “‘guts’ and courage.” 

Canada is reviewing a major purchase of US-made F-35 combat planes amid serious tensions with the Trump administration, a spokesperson for the Canadian defense ministry told AFP on Saturday.That announcement came two days after Portugal said it too was reexamining a possible purchase of American F-35 fighter jets amid rising international anger over the tariff war President Donald Trump has launched and his wavering support for the Atlantic alliance.Trump rattled America’s northern neighbor by imposing 25 percent tariffs on all Canadian products before agreeing to suspend levies on Canadian exports covered by a North American trade pact. And he has regularly infuriated Canadians by suggesting their country become the 51st US state.In one of his first official acts since taking office Friday, Prime Minister Mark Carney has asked the defense ministry “to determine if the F-35 contract, as it stands, is the best investment for Canada, and if there are other options that could better meet Canada’s needs,” according to an email from Laurent de Casanove, the ministry spokesperson.The Canadian government in January 2023 signed a contract with giant US defense company Lockheed Martin to purchase 88 F-35s for a total of Can$19 billion ($13.2 billion). It has already paid for a first shipment of 16, set for delivery early next year. The deal has not been canceled, but “we need to do our homework given the changing environment, and make sure that the contract in its current form is in the best interests of Canadians and the Canadian Armed Forces,” the statement said.Portugal indicated Thursday that it was studying both American F-35s and European aircraft as it looks to replace its air force’s aging F-16s.  Outgoing defense minister Nuno Melo raised those options in an interview Thursday in the daily Publico, referring to the “predictability of our allies” and “the recent position of the United States, in the context of NATO and on the level of international geostrategy.”