Latest news with #CivicusMonitorWatchlist
The Guardian
10-03-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Trump administration briefing: President downplays market volatility; US placed on civic decline watchlist
Donald Trump has refused to rule out the possibility the US economy will head into recession this year and that inflation will rise, as his chaotic trade tariffs policy caused uncertainty and market turbulence. The US president predicted that his economic goals would take time and a period of transition to bear fruit. But when asked in an interview with the Fox News show Sunday Morning Futures 'are you expecting a recession this year?' he demurred. 'I hate to predict things like that. There is a period of transition, because what we're doing is very big. We're bringing wealth back to America. That's a big thing. And there are always periods of, it takes a little time. It takes a little time, but I think it should be great for us,' Trump said. Trump downplayed recent stock market volatility that followed his ducking and weaving over tariff policy on exports from Canada, Mexico and China and similar threats to other countries, despite his usual fixation with market performance in relation to the politics of the day and an appetite to claim credit when stocks rise on his watch. 'You have to do what's right,' he said. Read the full story The United States has been added to the Civicus Monitor Watchlist, which identifies countries that the global civil rights watchdog believes are currently experiencing a rapid decline in civic freedoms. Civicus, an international non-profit organization dedicated to 'strengthening citizen action and civil society around the world', announced the inclusion of the US on the non-profit's first watchlist of 2025 on Monday, alongside the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Italy, Pakistan and Serbia. Read the full story Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem on Sunday announced new leadership at the agency tasked with immigration enforcement as she also pledged to step up lie detector tests on employees to identify those who may be leaking information about operations to the media. Read the full story A prominent Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University's student encampment movement was arrested on Saturday night by federal immigration authorities who claimed they were acting on a state department order to revoke his green card, according to his attorney. Mahmoud Khalil had become one of the most visible faces of the pro-Palestinian movement at Columbia. Read the full story It has become a familiar routine for the Palm Beach county sheriff, Ric Bradshaw, and his deputies. Almost every Tuesday in recent weeks, the Federal Aviation Administration has posted to its website a formal 'notice to airmen' advising of upcoming flight restrictions over south Florida, signaling once again to those who must protect him that Donald Trump is on his way to Mar-a-Lago for another weekend of golf. Read the full story Globally renowned brands would not, ordinarily, want to be associated with Germany's far-right opposition. But Tesla, one of the world's biggest corporate names, does not have a conventional chief executive. After Elon Musk backed Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) – calling the party Germany's 'only hope' – voters are considering an alternative to Tesla. Data released on Thursday showed that registrations of the company's electric cars in Germany fell 76% to 1,429 last month. Overall, electric vehicle registrations rose by 31%. Read the full story Cuomo's long history in New York politics and name recognition has helped him storm to a lead in a field featuring an incumbent – Eric Adams – whom many see as corrupt, and a large number of lesser-known candidates who are struggling to get much traction. Read the full story The View, one of the US's most popular daytime television programmes, was a vital campaign stop last year for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. This week, it played host to a cable sports channel personality who might be nurturing political ambitions of his own. Stephen A Smith was asked by co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin what he makes of hypothetical polls that show him among the leading contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028. 'I make of it that citizens, particularly on the left, are desperate,' Smith said in characteristically forthright style. 'And I mean it when I say it: I think I can beat them all.' Read the full story Amy Coney Barrett, the Donald Trump-appointed conservative supreme court justice, has been branded a 'DEI judge' by furious rightwing figures, after she voted to reject Trump's attempt to freeze nearly $2bn in foreign aid. Read the full story Crews continue to battle wind-driven brush fire on New York's Long Island. Officials have warned that high wind gusts threatened to ignite further blazes. Gene Hackman's final days were marked by isolation, authorities have indicated, with the actor alone in the house for days, disoriented and too frail to seek help. His pacemaker last recorded his heartbeat on 18 February, about a week after the death of his wife. Tree loss from hurricane Helene has left the city of Asheville and its surrounding areas vulnerable to floods, fires and extreme heat. Thousands of trees that provided shade and protection from storms were uprooted, with the extent of the tree damage described as 'extraordinary and humbling' by research ecologist Steve Norman.
The Guardian
10-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
US added to international watchlist for rapid decline in civic freedoms
The United States has been added to the Civicus Monitor Watchlist, which identifies countries that the global civil rights watchdog believes are currently experiencing a rapid decline in civic freedoms. Civicus, an international non-profit organization dedicated to 'strengthening citizen action and civil society around the world', announced the inclusion of the US on the non-profit's first watchlist of 2025 on Monday, alongside the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Italy, Pakistan and Serbia. The watchlist is part of the Civicus Monitor, which tracks developments in civic freedoms across 198 countries. Other countries that have previously been featured on the watchlist in recent years include Zimbabwe, Argentina, El Salvador and the United Arab Emirates. Mandeep Tiwana, co-secretary general of Civicus, said that the watchlist 'looks at countries where we remain concerned about deteriorating civic space conditions, in relation to freedoms of peaceful assembly, association and expression'. The selection process, the website states, incorporates insights and data from Civicus's global network of research partners and data. The decision to add the US to the first 2025 watchlist was made in response to what the group described as the 'Trump administration's assault on democratic norms and global cooperation'. In the news release announcing the US's addition, the organization cited recent actions taken by the Trump administration that they argue will likely 'severely impact constitutional freedoms of peaceful assembly, expression, and association'. The group cited several of the administration's actions such as the mass termination of federal employees, the appointment of Trump loyalists in key government positions, the withdrawal from international efforts such as the World Health Organization and the UN Human Rights Council, the freezing of federal and foreign aid and the attempted dismantling of USAid. The organization warned that these decisions 'will likely impact civic freedoms and reverse hard-won human rights gains around the world'. The group also pointed to the administration's crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters, and the Trump administration's unprecedented decision to control media access to presidential briefings, among others. Civicus described Trump's actions since taking office as an 'unparalleled attack on the rule of law' not seen 'since the days of McCarthyism in the twentieth century', stating that these moves erode the checks and balances essential to democracy. 'Restrictive executive orders, unjustifiable institutional cutbacks, and intimidation tactics through threatening pronouncements by senior officials in the administration are creating an atmosphere to chill democratic dissent, a cherished American ideal,' Tiwana said. In addition to the watchlist, the Civicus Monitor classifies the state of civic space in countries using five ratings: open, narrowed, obstructed, repressed and closed. Currently, the US has a 'narrowed' rating, which it also had during the Biden administration, meaning that while citizens can exercise their civic freedom, such as rights to association, peaceful assembly and expression, occasional violations occur. For part of Trump's first term, Tiwana said, the US had been categorized as 'obstructed', due to the administration's response to the Black Lives Matter protests and restrictive state laws that were enacted limiting the rights of environmental justice protesters, and other actions. Sign up to Headlines US Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion Under Joe Biden, the classification went back to 'narrowed', Tiwana, said, but as of Monday, the US has been placed on the watchlist as the group says it sees 'significant deterioration' in civic freedoms occurring. Tiwana noted that the US is again seemingly headed toward the 'obstructed' category. While the Trump administration often say they support fundamental freedoms and individual rights, like free speech, Tiwana believes that the administration seem 'to be wanting to support these only for people who they see as agreeing with them'. Historically, Tiwana said, the US has been 'considered the beacon of democracy and defense of fundamental freedoms'. 'It was an important pillar of US foreign policy, even though it was imperfect, both domestically and how the US promoted it abroad,' he added. But Tiwana believes that the recent actions and statements made by this US administration could empower authoritarian regimes around the world, undermine constitutional principles, and embolden those who 'want to accumulate power and increase their wealth and their ability to stay in power for as long as possible'. Tiwana says that he and the organization want to draw attention to the fact that those in power in the US are, in his view, engaging in a 'zero-sum politics game' that is eroding 'constitutional principles and frankly, engaging in, anti American behavior'. 'We urge the United States to uphold the rule of law and respect constitutional and international human rights norms,' said Tiwana.
