Washington DC protests erupt after Trump seizes control of police and deploys troops
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Harrowing email shines light on Uvalde school shooting
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The Independent
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Trump says he will discuss ‘land swapping' with Putin at Ukraine war summit
Donald Trump has said that he will discuss 'land swapping' with Russian president Vladimir Putin during their high-stakes summit in Alaska on Friday. The two world leaders will meet in the US state at the end of this week to discuss a potential deal to end to the three-year-old war between Russia and Ukraine. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Trump said there would 'be some land swapping going on,' adding that this would involve "some bad stuff' for both countries. Trump also expressed frustration with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky 's insistence that Kyiv would need to hold a national referendum on any peace deal which grants Russia control over territory it has illegally occupied since the start of its invasion in 2022. 'I was a little bothered by the fact that Zelensky was saying I have to get constitutional approval,' Trump said. 'He has approval to go to war and kill everybody but he needs approval to do a land swap. Because there will be some land swapping going on. I know that through Russia and through conversations with everybody.' Zelensky has remained firm that Ukraine won't commit to giving up land in order to secure a ceasefire, despite Russia's control over four of the country's regions. Trump caused alarm when he told reporters he was 'going to Russia on Friday,' despite the meeting taking place in Alaska, a region which was colonised by Russia until Czar Alexander II sold it to the US in 1867. The US president has said that the meeting with the Russian leader is 'a feel-out meeting', adding that he was open to meeting with Putin first and then with Zelensky, or meeting both together. However, he did not say he would push for a three-person meeting. 'President Putin invited me to get involved,' he said, adding he felt it was very respectful for Putin to come to Alaska instead of asking Trump to go to Russia. European Union leaders shared a statement of support for Ukraine on Tuesday, appealing for Trump to defend their security interests during the summit. The statement from 26 nations welcomed the 'efforts of President Trump towards ending Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine' but stressed that 'the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine." "A just and lasting peace that brings stability and security must respect international law, including the principles of independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and that international borders must not be changed by force,' they said. Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban did not support the statement, later writing on social media: 'The statement attempts to set conditions for a meeting to which leaders of the EU were not invited. 'The fact that the EU was left on the sidelines is sad enough as it is. The only thing that could make things worse is if we started providing instructions from the bench', he added, before concluding: 'The only sensible action for EU leaders is to initiate an EU-Russia summit, based on the example of the US-Russia meeting. Let's give peace a chance!'
The Guardian
8 minutes ago
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Trump condemned for ‘dangerous' move to seize control of DC police and deploy national guard
Good morning. Donald Trump has ordered the national guard to Washington DC and seized control of the city's police force, describing a 'lawless' city in ways that are sharply at odds with official crime statistics. The president's move was swiftly condemned as a 'disgusting, dangerous and derogatory' assault on the political independence of a racially diverse city. The federal takeover is expected to be in effect for 30 days, the White House confirmed to the Guardian. Speaking at a White House press conference on Monday, Trump alleged DC was 'one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the world', even though violent crime is at a 30-year low. What do the crime figures tell us? That Trump is spreading a false narrative about DC crime – just as he did with LA. Violent crime in DC is at a 30-year low. In January, the Metropolitan police department and US attorney's office released a report indicating that total violent crime in DC in 2024 was down 35% from the prior year, marking the lowest rate in over 30 years. How are Democrats responding? Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic minority leader in the House, described Trump as a 'wannabe king' and said: 'We stand with the residents of the District of Columbia and reject this unjustified power grab as illegitimate.' The death of the prominent Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif, killed along with four colleagues in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday, prompted condemnation from around the world, as hundreds of mourners carried their bodies through the streets of Gaza City. Sharif, one of Al Jazeera's most recognisable faces in Gaza, was killed while inside a tent for journalists outside al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Sunday night. Seven people were killed in the attack, including the Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and the camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa, according to the Qatar-based broadcaster. How deadly has the war been for journalists? Before Sunday's airstrike, the Committee to Protect Journalists recorded at least 186 journalists and media workers killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel and Lebanon since the war began, making it the deadliest period for journalists since it began gathering data in 1992. The CPJ accuses Israel of directly targeting and killing 20 journalists and media workers. Any deliberate attack on a civilian could constitute a war crime, experts say. Israel, which has refused to let international media into Gaza, denies the accusation. Donald Trump has announced he is nominating EJ Antoni, the chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation, as the next commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The nomination comes after Trump fired the BLS commissioner, Erika McEntarfer, earlier this month following the release of a weak jobs report. Trump, without evidence, alleged McEntarfer 'faked' employment numbers in the run-up to the 2024 election to boost Kamala Harris's chances and said that the recent data was 'rigged' to make Trump and Republicans look bad. What happens next? The Senate will have to confirm Antoni's nomination to lead the BLS, an independent agency under the labor department. Experts fear Trump's interventions will undermine the credibility of the agency's economic data – long seen as a gold standard. Donald Trump said he and Vladimir Putin would discuss 'land swapping' when they meet on Friday in Alaska for a summit on the Ukraine war, and expressed frustration with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Meanwhile, Trump again delayed implementing sweeping tariffs on China, announcing another 90-day pause hours before the last agreement expired. An explosion at a US Steel plant in Pennsylvania killed two people and injured at least 10 on Monday. 'It felt like thunder,' said one worker near the scene. Spain's central government has ordered officials in a Spanish town to scrap a ban on religious gatherings in public sports centers, describing it as a 'discriminatory' measure mainly affecting Muslims. Villagers whose farms in Vietnam will be bulldozed to make way for a $1.5bn golf resort backed by the Trump family have reportedly been offered rice provisions and cash compensation of as little as $12 for a square meter of land by state authorities. Thousands of villagers will be offered compensation based on land size and location, according to a report by Reuters. Anas al-Sharif, an Al Jazeera reporter, was killed by an Israeli airstrike on Sunday night. Before his killing, he prepared a message for his family, and calling for the world not to forget Gaza. 'I have lived through pain in all its details, tasted suffering and loss many times, yet I never once hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification,' he writes. Nurdles: they're buoyant, the size of a lentil and almost impossible to recover. Millions of these tiny plastic pellets are being washed up on the coast of Kerala in India in the latest in a series of global spills – with sea creatures thinking they're eggs – as plastic treaty talks continue in Geneva until Thursday. Ventriloquism is back in vogue on stage and online. Its new hip practitioners explain why their vocal tricks and errant dummies are wowing audiences again. 'It is very stripped back. That's why it feels fresh,' one ventriloquist says. First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you're not already signed up, subscribe now. If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@
