Trump news at a glance: president berates Putin; judge blocks changes to voting rights
During his election campaign Donald Trump had promised to end the war in 24 hours. But almost 100 days into his second term the US president has appealed directly to Russian president Vladimir Putin, telling him on social media: 'Vladimir, STOP!'
Trump's remarks referred to the deadliest attack on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv this year, which killed 12 people and injured at least 90 on Thursday. The attack comes as Trump has made a renewed push to end the Ukraine war, reportedly on terms favourable to Russia.
The president told reporters in Washington: 'I have my own deadline,' amid speculation he wants to have a ceasefire agreed before his 100th day in office on 30 April.
Closer to home, Trump has also attempted to change voting requirements, which advocates say would have disenfranchised millions, and have now been blocked by a federal judge.
Here are the key stories at a glance:
At least 12 people have been killed and more than 90 injured in Kyiv after Russia carried out one of the most devastating air attacks against Ukraine for months, with Kharkiv and other cities also targeted.
The attack drew a rare rebuke of Russia from Donald Trump, who on social media implored Putin to 'STOP'.
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A federal judge on Thursday blocked Trump's efforts to add a proof-of-citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form, a change that voting rights advocates warned would have disenfranchised millions of voters.
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Washington and Beijing held talks on Thursday to help resolve the trade war between the world's two largest economies, Donald Trump said. China had earlier hit back against Trump's previous claim that the US was close to a trade deal with Beijing.
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The Trump administration has asked the US supreme court to reinstate its ban on transgender troops serving in the armed forces after several judges issued separate rulings against it.
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The US interior department has announced plans to radically fast-track permission for projects involving fossil fuels and mining, citing Trump's 'energy emergency' declaration that many experts say does not exist.
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The president has denied federal disaster relief funds to the people of Arkansas, where dozens of people died from a series of deadly tornados last month, so legislators are pleading for him to reconsider. More than 40 people have been found dead after a series of tornados and severe storms hit Arkansas and neighboring states Mississippi and Missouri in March, according to CNN.
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Autism experts and autistic people are pushing back on Robert F Kennedy's 'terrible' approach to autism as the health secretary plans more expansive monitoring of autistic people's health records and proposes cuts to disability services.
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The president's order boosting the deep-sea mining industry in US waters is the latest attempt to increase the country's production of nickel, copper and other critical minerals used widely across the economy as part of a push to offset China's control of the minerals industry.
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Employees from Barnard College received text messages from a federal agency linking to a voluntary survey asking recipients if they were Jewish or Israeli and whether they have been subjected to harassment or antisemitism.
The Trump administration killed a landmark civil rights settlement requiring Alabama to address raw sewage pollution in majority-Black, residential areas.
The US army has suspended a Wisconsin training base's first female commander after discovering portraits of Trump and Pete Hegseth had been flipped to face a wall.
Trump's online store is selling clothing emblazoned with 'Trump 2028', the year of the next presidential election, in which he is constitutionally banned from running.
Catching up? Here's what happened on 23 April 2025.
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The Sun
37 minutes ago
- The Sun
Trump doesn't rule out arresting California Gov Gavin Newsom over LA riot chaos and says he had to save city from mob
DONALD Trump refused to rule out arresting California Governor Gavin Newsom over his handling of the Los Angeles riots. The pair have been trading blows since Newsom slammed Trump's decision to send federal troops into the city to quell immigration raid rioters. 8 8 8 8 Trump has sent around 4,000 of the National Guard and 700 Marines into LA, where they have clashed violently with protesting mobs and been given to make arrests The Governor accused Trump of manufacturing the flare-ups, saying his actions were "akin to authoritarian regimes" - and was dismissed as "incompetent" in return. He vowed his state is "suing Donald Trump" for "creating fear and terror to [...] violate the US constitution". Trump has previously toyed with the idea of arresting Newsom, and refused to rule it out in an interview with the New York Pos t. Trump's border czar Tom Homan had warned that anyone, including public officials, would be arrested if they obstructed federal law enforcement. On Sunday, Newsom goaded Trump over the threats, saying in a MSNBC interview: "Come after me, arrest me. Let's just get it over with, tough guy." Asked directly if he is going to arrest and charge Gavin Newsom, Trump said: "Well, he's not doing a good job. "In theory you could, I guess. It's almost like a dissipation of duties. Nobody's ever seen anything like it." Before Wednesday's interview, Newsom shared his thoughts on the arrest threats. He said: "The President of the United States just called for the arrest of a sitting Governor. Anti-ICE raid protest carnage spreads across US as Texas deploys National Guard & LA declares curfew after riots "This is a day I hoped I would never see in America. I don't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican this is a line we cannot cross as a nation this is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism." Trump follow up with a brutal takedown of Newsom's record in office - which included blaming him for the devastating wild fires that ravaged parts of LA in January. Trump said: "First he had his wildfires that burned down half the place [...] I told them water, get the water from the pacific north west [...] I got the water to go down. "They were using environmental as a reason not to give water. They were protecting a certain type of fish - which by the way has not done well. "He should have done it [redirected the water supply] in my first term. You wouldn't have had the fires." 8 8 8 Interviewer Miranda Devine then asked about a much-disputed phone call between Trump and Newsom - with each swearing to a different version of events. The President claimed he rang to discuss sending in National Guardsmen - but Newsom branded him a "stone-cold liar". Newsom insists he "kept trying to bring up" the situation in LA, but that Trump veered onto other subjects. However, Trump doubled down today and said: "Of course I did [talk about it]. The phone call was to deploy the troops. "I said: 'You're city is burning down, your state is in bad trouble.' "All I want is him to do a good job [...] he's doing a poor job." In an effort to checkmate Newsom, Trump brandished a screenshot showing a 16-minute call between the two at 1:23am on June 7. Newsom does not dispute that the call happened - but maintains that Trump "never once brought up the National Guard". Trump landed other personal jibes, mocking the California High-Speed Rail project which has run over budget and claiming that, without him, Newsom "wouldn't have LA". He said: "Between the fires and the riots, there would be nothing left. You have a governor that's incompetent, a mayor that's highly incompetent." 8
The Independent
40 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump's plan to begin 'phasing out' FEMA after hurricane season burdens states, experts warn
President Donald Trump 's plan to begin 'phasing out' the federal agency that responds to disasters after the 2025 hurricane season is likely to put more responsibilities on states to provide services following increasingly frequent and expensive climate disasters, experts said. 'We want to wean off of FEMA and we want to bring it down to the state level,' Trump said Tuesday in an Oval Office appearance with administration officials about preparations for summer wildfires. Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have repeatedly signaled their desire to overhaul, if not completely eliminate, the 46-year-old Federal Emergency Management Agency. While there has been bipartisan support for reforming the agency, experts say dismantling it completely would leave gaps in crucial services and funding. 'It just causes more concern on how states should be planning for the future if the federal government's not going to be there for them,' said Michael Coen, FEMA chief of staff during the Obama and Biden administrations. Disaster response is already locally led and state-managed, but FEMA supports by coordinating resources from federal agencies, providing direct assistance programs for households and moving money to states for repairing public infrastructure. Trump said Tuesday he wants to 'give out less money,' and to 'give it out directly,' sidestepping FEMA programs. He said he did not know who would distribute the funds, saying they could come 'from the president's office' or DHS. 'I was left with the impression that he doesn't really understand the scale of what FEMA manages on a yearly basis with a budget of over $30 billion,' said Coen. Dismantling FEMA, or even changing how much of the costs it shares with states in the event of a major disaster declaration, would require action from Congress, including amending the 1988 Stafford Act, which outlines FEMA's roles and responsibilities and the cost share between the feds and the states. Declaring fewer major disasters or giving less federal support could put an untenable financial burden on states, said Sara McTarnaghan, principal research associate at the Urban Institute. 'Very few of them would have had enough funds set aside to anticipate the federal government stepping back from its historic role in disaster recovery for major events,' McTarnaghan said. A recent Urban Institute analysis found that between 2008-2024, quadrupling the economic threshold of when major disasters are declared would have shifted $41 billion in public assistance costs alone to state and local governments. 'I think the trade off for states and communities is going to be, do we accept a less full recovery or do states draw on other resources to meet these goals and needs, perhaps at the cost of investments in other kinds of social programs or functions of the state,' said McTarnaghan. Not all states will be able to generate much more revenue, she added. 'The confluence of states that have really high disaster exposure and states that have relatively limited fiscal capacity are overlapping in many ways,' she said. 'That's the case for a lot of states along the Gulf Coast that we're concerned about going into hurricane season but also the case for some Midwestern states that face issues with severe convective storms.' Trump dismissed the idea that states can't handle the bulk of disasters on their own. 'The governor should be able to handle it and frankly if they can't handle the aftermath, then maybe they shouldn't be governor,' he said. He suggested that some of the gaps could be filled by more collaboration among states. Noem said FEMA is building communication and mutual aid agreements among states 'to respond to each other so that they can stand on their own two feet.' A national mutual-aid structure called the Emergency Management Assistance Compact already exists, but its operations are typically reimbursed by the federal government, said Coen. 'There's already robust communication between states. The confusion is what they can expect from the federal government.' Regarding the current hurricane season, which began June 1, Noem said FEMA 'stands prepared.' But there have already been changes to how the agency operates. It suspended its door-to-door canvassing program that helped enroll survivors for assistance. More than 2,000 FEMA staff, around one-third of the full-time workforce, have left or been fired since January. After severe weather this spring, some states waited as long as eight weeks for their disaster declaration requests, and several requests are still pending. Trump has not approved any requests for hazard mitigation assistance since February, a typical add-on to individual and public assistance that helps states build back in more resilient ways. A FEMA review council established by Trump and co-chaired by Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will submit suggestions for reforms in the next few months, according to Noem. In its first meeting in May, Noem told the group of governors, emergency managers, and other officials primarily from Republican states that Trump is seeking drastic change. 'I don't want you to go into this thinking we're going to make a little tweak here,' she said. 'No, FEMA should no longer exist as it is.' ___
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Donald Trump to visit Kennedy Center for Les Mis - as cast members 'plan to boycott'
Les Miserables, what else. The hit musical about anti-government protest is now showing at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Donald Trump will be in the audience for Wednesday's performance for what amounts to a busman's holiday. The script of Les Miserables barely presents a break from the day job - Trump won't be the only one getting a sense of art imitating life, as the real thing plays out on the streets of LA. It is the first show the president has chosen to attend since he made sweeping changes at the iconic venue, prompting an outcry and accusations that he was politicising art and 'MAGAfying' the venerated institution. According to CNN, a number of Les Miserables cast members plan to sit out the performance in protest. The Kennedy Center is a prestigious venue that showcases the best of American performance art. More than 2,000 shows per year include the famous honours ceremony, an annual event that celebrates artists who have made a significant contribution to US culture. Honourees through the years have included Joni Mitchell, Aretha Franklin, the Grateful Dead and Francis Ford Coppola. Following his election in November, Trump made himself chairman of the Kennedy Center's board and replaced members with political loyalists. Traditionally, the board has been made up of individuals from across the political spectrum; after his election, Trump got rid of 18 members and replaced them with political soulmates, including his chief of staff Susie Wiles and Fox presenters Laura Ingraham and Maria Bartimoro. Donald Trump signalled a change in artistic direction at the Kennedy Center when he wrote on social media of "Drag shows specifically targeting our youth", and said of its production schedule: "We didn't like what they were showing, we're going to make sure it's good and it's not going to be woke." His changes prompted a number of acts to cancel shows at the venue in protest. The touring production of Broadway hit Hamilton cancelled dates, as did actor and producer Issa Rae, writer Louise Penny and Pulitzer Prize-winning folk musician Rhiannon Giddens. 👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈 Trump's attendance at the Les Mis performance is designed to boost fundraising, with donors paying up to $2m to attend a reception with the president. Ticket sales and subscriptions have, reportedly, slumped since Trump's changes although the centre's management points out its campaign to renew subscriptions has been launched later this year than last. Trump is expected to watch the performance of Les Miserables from the presidential box, in the company of his wife, Melania. Vice president JD Vance will also be there. When he attended a performance by the National Symphony Orchestra in March with his wife, he was booed by members of the audience.
