WASHINGTON — The first year of President Donald Trump’s return to the White House was defined by clashes with the judiciary branch, as the president and his administration pushed forward with an aggressive immigration agenda. In the past year, the Trump administration has aimed to drastically change immigration policy in the United States, including by stripping millions of immigrants of their legal status and attempting to redefine the constitutional right of birthright citizenship. The moves have often run directly against the judiciary branch. Federal judges briefly stalled the Trump administration’splans to deploy…
Posts published in “Politics”
CARACAS, Venezuela. It was 1:58 a.m. on Jan. 3 when a thunderous roar made the windows of my apartment in downtown Caracas shake. Are the New Year’s celebrations still going on? Is a storm coming or is it an earthquake, I wondered. Despite multiple threats from the United States against Venezuela, I couldn’t believe that bombing was possible; not like this, not now. As people say in Venezuela, “It’s one thing to call on the devil, and another to see him actually arrive.” As the missiles began to fall one…
One year after Donald Trump’s second inauguration, a pattern emerges. Across dozens of executive orders, agency memos, funding decisions and enforcement changes, the administration has weakened federal civil rights law and the foundations of the country’s racially inclusive democracy. From the start, the U.S. was not built to include everyone equally. The Constitution protected and promoted slavery. Most states limited voting to white men. Congress restricted naturalized citizenship to “free white persons.” These choices were not accidents. They shaped who could belong and who could exercise political power, and they…
When Donald Trump pulled back on his plan to impose eye-watering tariffs on trading partners across the world, there was one key exception: China. While the rest of the world would be given a 90-day reprieve on additional duties beyond the new 10% tariffs on all U.S. trade partners, China would feel the squeeze even more. On April 9, 2025, Trump raised the tariff on Chinese goods to 125% – bringing the total U.S. tariff on some Chinese imports to 145%. The move, in Trump’s telling, was prompted by Beijing’s…
When the internet goes dark in Iran, the Iranian diaspora knows what often follows: Arrests, violence, massacres and silence. As of this report, Iran has been under a nationwide digital blackout, and protests calling for the end of the Islamic Republic have entered their third week. For many Iranians, the shutdown recalls November 2019, when authorities cut internet access during mass protests, and at least 1,500 people were killed in a government crackdown. CBS reports that over a 48-hour period between Jan. 8 and Jan. 10, at least 12,000 people…
China announced on Friday that it will change export tax rebates for a range of products, including photovoltaic and battery products. The announcement, jointly issued by the Ministry of Finance and the State Taxation Administration, said that export tax rebates for the value added tax of photovoltaic products will be canceled starting from April 1, 2026. Meanwhile, the export tax rebate rate for the value added tax of battery products will be reduced from 9 percent to 6 percent starting from April 1, 2026, and will be eliminated starting from…
PARIS/BERLIN, Jan 8 (Reuters) – Allies including France and Germany are working closely on a plan on how to respond should the United States act on its threat to take over Greenland, as Europe seeks to address U.S. President Donald Trump’s ambitions in the region. A U.S. military seizure of Greenland from a longtime ally, Denmark, would send shock waves through the NATO alliance and deepen the divide between Trump and European leaders. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the subject would be raised at a meeting with the foreign…
If U.S. President Donald Trump invades Greenland, it will spell the end of NATO, Denmark’s leader warned. Trump, who last week ratcheted up threats to take over the self-ruling Danish territory in the Arctic, should be taken “seriously when he says that he wants Greenland,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in an interview with broadcaster TV2. “But I will also make it clear that if the U.S. chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops, including NATO and thus the security that has been established since the…
The Swiss government has frozen any assets held in Switzerland by Nicolas Maduro and people close to the Venezuelan president. The order is to ensure that potentially illegally acquired assets cannot be transferred out of Switzerland, the government said in a statement on Monday. The freeze comes into force with immediate effect and will remain valid for four years, until further notice. A total of 37 people are currently affected by the freeze, the Swiss Foreign Ministry said in an emailed reply to questions. It declined to given any indication…
Donald Trump has again proposed annexing Greenland, after Denmark’s leader urged him to “stop the threats” over the island. Speaking to reporters, the US president said “we need Greenland from the standpoint of national security”. Trump has repeatedly raised the prospect of the semi-autonomous Danish territory becoming an annexed part of the US, citing its strategic location for defence purposes and mineral wealth. Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens Frederik Nielsen responded by saying “that’s enough now” and described the notion of US control over the island as a “fantasy”. He said:…