Author: Robert Jones
KRAGUJEVAC, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s striking students and supporters of populist President Aleksandar Vucic held parallel rallies Saturday as both marked a major holiday in the country with notably contrasting messages.The student-led protest is the latest in a nationwide anti-graft movement that reflects mounting calls for fundamental political changes in the Balkan state, triggered after a concrete canopy on a railway station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, killing 15 people.The rally in the central industrial city of Kragujevac drew tens of thousands of people who, besides demanding justice over the tragedy, have been demanding…
CNN — As the Trump administration fires thousands of employees across the government, federal workers have another reason to be on edge: the widespread access that Elon Musk’s “government efficiency” team has gained to agency computer systems. The sudden appearance of DOGE representatives at agencies across Washington and the Trump administration’s search for federal employees it deems disloyal to the president have created a wave of anxiety among feds that their emails, texts or conversations could be monitored. Some government employees are now turning off their phones at home. Others are opting for in-person chats at work rather than over…
A federal judge on Monday hinted she might not throw up immediate roadblocks to Elon Musk’s infiltration into the nation’s government agencies, where he and his team have accessed sensitive data and enacted a flurry of firings. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said at a Monday hearing that she needed to see more evidence of imminent harm before granting a request by a group of states for a temporary restraining order to stop Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency team from entry into federal agency data systems and prohibit them from making personnel decisions about federal employees. Chutkan told an…
On Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump shocked the world with a proposal that was, even by his standards, totally out of the blue: that all Palestinians should be removed from Gaza so that the US could take it over as a territory.There was instant debate about whether Americans should take Trump at his word, and on Wednesday, many in his orbit tried to soften his proclamation, but the fact remains that Trump suggested — again — that the US unilaterally take over a foreign territory without any regard to what the people currently living there think. First, it was Greenland…
Texas is on track to overtake California and become the most populous state in the Union by 2045, according to a report published earlier this month by real estate company Realtor.com—which recently shifted its own headquarters to Austin from the Golden State.Based on a combination of U.S. Census Bureau figures and its own data, Realtor.com predicted Texas’ population will hit 42 million that year—a 35 percent increase from its current figure of just under 31 million.Such a shift could have a profound impact on the politics and culture of not just Texas but the United States as a whole, with…
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Some white South Africans showed support for President Donald Trump on Saturday and gathered at the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria to claim they are victims of racism by their own government.Hundreds of protesters held placards that read “Thank God for President Trump” and displayed other messages criticizing what they see as racist laws instituted by the South African government that discriminate against the white minority.Many were from the Afrikaner community that Trump focused on in an executive order a week ago that cut aid and assistance to the Black-led South African government. In the order,…
Kyiv, Ukraine – Ahead of the emergency summit in Paris on Europe’s response to being excluded from US-Russia peace talks, Ukraine’s president warned of his country’s bleak future if US military aid is cut. “[W]e will have low chance – low chance to survive without support of the United States,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview on the NBC news programme Meet the Press. In December, US President Donald Trump said he was open to the idea of reducing military aid to Ukraine. In a move that could further strain relations, Zelenskyy rejected a proposed US agreement granting Washington…
CNN — President Donald Trump is heading to the Supreme Court for the first time in his second term, using an emergency appeal to call on the justices to let him fire the head of a government ethics watchdog agency. The case, Bessent v. Dellinger, could eventually help clarify whether Congress may create independent agencies that are protected from the whims of the White House, or whether presidents can fire anyone seen as a potential critic. It arrives at a moment when Trump is attempting to consolidate power within the federal government, summarily dismissing federal officials who might challenge him…
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A brief spat between Elon Musk and the news organization Politico is making something quite obvious: The nation’s governance is increasingly at the whim of online conspiracy theorists.This incident began with two unrelated events: On Tuesday, staffers at Politico reported that the company had missed payroll. Those issues were resolved later that day. Separately, Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency team were in the middle of gutting USAID, freezing its operations and spending under the guise of reviewing how money was being spent.Posters on X, however, saw something more nefarious about both facts. It couldn’t just be a coincidence,…