Author: Robert Jones

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Two federal judges handed down orders requiring President Donald Trump’s administration to rehire thousands, if not tens of thousands, of probationary workers let go in mass firings across multiple agencies Thursday, slowing down for now the president’s dramatic downsizing of the federal government.Both judges separately found legal problems with the way the mass terminations were carried out and ordered the employees at least temporarily brought back on the job. The Trump administration has already appealed the first ruling. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt cast it as an attempt to encroach on the president’s power to…

Outgoing Prime Minister Mute Egede says ‘disrespect’ for Greenland must stop as US president again says he wants Arctic island.Greenland’s outgoing Prime Minister Mute Egede has called for a stronger rejection by local politicians of United States President Donald Trump’s promise to take over the strategically-located island, warning that “enough is enough”. “This time we need to toughen our rejection of Trump. People cannot continue to disrespect us,” Egede wrote on Facebook after Trump reiterated on Thursday his desire to annex the autonomous Danish territory. “The American president has once again evoked the idea of annexing us. I absolutely cannot…

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The…

Columbia University announced on Thursday that it expelled or suspended some of the students who occupied a campus building last year in protest of Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.The Ivy League school in New York City also said it had temporarily revoked the diplomas of some students involved in the protests who have since graduated but did not provide additional information.The ContextColumbia’s announcement came amid widespread protests over the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a university graduate and pro-Palestinian activist, over the weekend.Khalil was initially held in New Jersey but has since been moved to Louisiana.What To KnowColumbia…

Federal agencies will begin to vacate hundreds of offices across the country this summer under a frenetic and error-riddled push by Elon Musk’s budget-cutting advisers to terminate leases that they say waste money.Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency maintains a list of canceled real estate leases on its website, but internal documents obtained by The Associated Press contain a crucial detail: when those cancellations are expected to take effect. The documents from inside the General Services Administration, the U.S. government’s real estate manager, list dozens of federal office and building leases expected to end by June 30, with hundreds more slated…

Officials say US military’s Southern Command exploring multiple options, from working with Panama to military action.The Pentagon is reportedly exploring military options for the Panama Canal to ensure ongoing US access to the strategically important waterway, following a request from the White House. The Reuters news agency reported on Thursday that a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a document, described as an interim national security guidance by the new Trump administration, called on US forces to look at military options to safeguard access to the Panama Canal. Responding to reports of possible US military action, Panama’s…

CNN  —  President Donald Trump rarely stops bragging about his “great relationship” with Vladimir Putin. A skeptical world will soon find out whether the supposed mind-meld counts for anything. The Russian president, author of an unprovoked and brutal invasion of Ukraine, responded in time-honored Moscow fashion Thursday to the US plan for an immediate ceasefire that the administration forced Kyiv into supporting. Putin produced a long set of obfuscations and new demands that would be unacceptable to Ukraine. But they may have been designed to tempt a US president who is desperate for the kind of win a truce would…

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The…

President Donald Trump’s tax plan could give some Americans an extra $24,000 per year.U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Trump is looking to eliminate income tax for Americans earning less than $150,000, and at the higher end of that bracket, some would save up to the $24,000.Experts, however, are concerned with this massive endeavor and its potential long-term ramifications on the U.S. economy.Why It MattersDuring his campaign, Trump suggested that he could eliminate the federal income tax by implementing an all-tariff policy.This has garnered criticism from some who say adding tariffs instead of an income tax would hurt low- and…

As US President Donald Trump sat in the Oval Office on February 28 with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for an explosive meeting that would reveal deep fissures between Washington and Kyiv, he was also asked by a reporter about another world leader: Vladimir Putin. In the very setting in which he joined forces with Vice President JD Vance to berate Zelenskyy for not being grateful to the US for its military and financial aid, and for not backing his attempts at diplomacy with Moscow, Trump had more sympathetic words for the Russian president. “Let me tell you, Putin went through…