The US Senate has passed a bill that seeks to cut $9bn (£6.7bn) from funds previously approved for spending by Congress, including cuts to public broadcasting and foreign aid.
The 51-48 vote happened just before dawn on Thursday, following an hours-long overnight “vote-a-rama”, as the Republican-led Senate negotiated amendments.
The bill – a so-called rescissions package that allows Congress to claw back approved funding – is part of a larger effort to reduce federal spending by President Donald Trump.
It now returns to the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Congress that had previously passed a version of the bill with $9.4bn in proposed cuts.
“It’s a small but important step toward fiscal sanity that we all should be able to agree is long overdue,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said before the final vote.
Senators had previously disagreed over a proposition in the House version of the bill that would have included roughly $400m in cuts to Pepfar, the US-backed HIV/Aids programme.
Republicans were able to reach a majority after an amendment was made to keep the funding in the budget.
However, dozens of other amendments to maintain international aid spending levels and funding for public broadcasting were rejected.
The Senate version of the bill approved on Thursday would still cut roughly $8bn from multiple aid programmes, including global health programmes under USAID, the US’s main philanthropic arm.
The bill would also cut more than $1bn from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, disproportionately impacting radio stations relied upon by rural Americans.
Senator Lisa Murkowski, from Alaska, was one of two Republicans who joined all Democrats in voting against the bill, in part due to the cuts to public broadcasting.
The bill will next head to the House for a vote, where its path remains unclear after $400m was reduced from House-proposed spending cuts.
When asked about the changes, House Speaker Mike Johnson said: “We wanted them to pass it unaltered like we did.”
Both the House and Senate must agree on a version of the rescissions package before it expires on Friday, and Republicans lose their chance to cut the funds. (BBC)
Cole Palmer scored two goals and made another as Chelsea stunned Paris Saint-Germain in the final of the Club World Cup on Sunday, beating the European champions 3-0 at the MetLife Stadium to win the first edition of FIFA’s new competition.
PSG were the favourites for a game attended by Donald Trump after coming to the United States fresh from winning the UEFA Champions League and having destroyed Real Madrid 4-0 in the semi-finals.
But having been three goals ahead midway through the first half in the semis, this time the roles were reversed as PSG found themselves 3-0 down by the break.
Palmer opened the scoring midway through the first half and struck again to make it two on the half-hour mark, before taking advantage of passive defending to set up Joao Pedro for the third on 43 minutes.
A bad day for PSG was summed up when Joao Neves was shown red following a VAR review four minutes from the end for pulling Marc Cucurella by the hair off the ball.
It was a scoreline that few could have predicted as Chelsea capped what has been a long but memorable season — they are the first ever winners of the 32-team Club World Cup having also won the UEFA Conference League and finished fourth in the Premier League.
They will also take away around $125 million in prize money, meaning the prospect of a drastically curtailed summer break before returning for next season will surely feel worth it.
For PSG, meanwhile, the financial rewards are similar but there will be genuine disappointment at falling short of adding this title to their Champions League triumph and French league and cup double.
Nevertheless, conquering Europe was always the main aim this season for Luis Enrique’s team, who now have exactly a month to digest this and take a holiday before returning to action in the UEFA Super Cup against Tottenham Hotspur.
There was a real sense of occasion at the MetLife Stadium, with the backdrop of the Manhattan skyline and with President Trump in attendance along with First Lady Melania Trump in a crowd of 81,118.
There was even the first-ever half-time show at a FIFA tournament, adding a Super Bowl feel to a final played at the home of NFL sides the New York Giants and New York Jets.
As for the football, for the second time in six weeks PSG found themselves involved in a final that quickly turned into a one-sided affair.
The club claimed a historic 5-0 win over Inter Milan in the Champions League final, but here they were ripped apart by Chelsea on another hot afternoon.
Palmer almost put Chelsea ahead inside the opening 10 minutes, before PSG should have scored at the other end only for Desire Doue to try to pass to Achraf Hakimi rather than shoot inside the box, allowing Cucurella to block.
It was Chelsea who struck in the 22nd minute as Malo Gusto got the better of Nuno Mendes down the right before seeing his shot blocked by Lucas Beraldo. The ball came back to Gusto and he teed up Palmer to finish into the bottom-left corner.
Palmer has been the face of Chelsea on billboards in the United States during the tournament and he lived up to his star billing by scoring again on the half-hour. (Punch)
Donald Trump announced on Saturday that goods imported from both the European Union and Mexico will face a 30% US tariff rate starting 1 August, in letters posted on his social media platform, Truth Social.
The tariff assault on the EU came as a shock to European capitals as the European Commission and the US trade representative Jamieson Greer had spent months hammering out a deal they believed was acceptable to both sides.
The agreement in principle put on Trump’s table last Wednesday involved a 10% tariff, five times the pre-Trump tariff, which the bloc already described as “pain”.
EU trade ministers will meet on Monday for a pre-arranged summit and will be under pressure from some countries to show a tough reaction by implementing €21bn ($24.6bn) in retaliatory measures, which they had paused until midnight the same day.
In his letter to Mexico’s leader, Trump acknowledged that the country had been helpful in stemming the flow of undocumented immigrants and fentanyl into the United States.
But, he said, the country had not done enough to stop North America from turning into a “Narco-Trafficking Playground”.
“We have had years to discuss our Trading Relationship with The European Union, and we have concluded we must move away from these long-term, large, and persistent, Trade Deficits, engendered by your Tariff, and Non-Tariff, Policies, and Trade Barriers,” Trump wrote in the letter to the EU. “Our relationship has been, unfortunately, far from Reciprocal.”
Claudia Sheinbaum said on Saturday she is sure an agreement can be reached before Trump’s threatened tariffs take effect on 1 August.
Speaking during an event in the Mexican state of Sonora, the Mexican president added that Mexico’s sovereignty is never negotiable.
The higher-than-expected rate has dealt a blow to the EU’s hopes of de-escalation and a trade deal and could risk a trade war with goods of low margins including Belgian chocolate, Irish butter and Italian olive oil.
The EU was informed of the tariff hike before Trump’s declaration on social media.
In a letter to the EU, Trump warned that the EU would pay a price if they retaliated: “If for any reason you decide to raise your Tariffs and retaliate, then, whatever the number you choose to raise them by, will be added onto the 30% that we charge.”
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said the 30% rate would “disrupt transatlantic supply chains, to the detriment of businesses, consumers and patients on both sides of the Atlantic”.
She said the bloc was one of the more open trading places in the world, and still hoped to persuade Trump to climb down.
“We remain ready to continue working towards an agreement by August 1. At the same time, we will take all necessary steps to safeguard EU interests, including the adoption of proportionate countermeasures if required,” she said.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, called on the bloc to “resolutely defend European interests”. Expressing Paris’s “very strong disapproval” of Trump’s announcement, Macron urged the EU to “step up the preparation of credible countermeasures by mobilising all instruments at its disposal” if the two sides failed to reach agreement by 1 August.
Germany’s economy minister, Katherina Reiche, called on the EU to “negotiate in a pragmatic manner”, while the Federation of German Industries (BDI) warned that a trade conflict between the two partners “harms economic recovery, innovation strength, and ultimately confidence in international cooperation.”
Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, called for “goodwill … to reach a fair agreement that can strengthen the west as a whole. It would make no sense to trigger a trade war between the two sides of the Atlantic.” She added that both sides should avoid “polarisation”.
The decision to hike the tariffs will also be another test of Trump’s ability to act in good faith in negotiations.
Brussels will view the latest threat as a maneuver by Trump to extract more concessions from the EU, which he once described as “nastier” than China when it came to trade.
Bernd Lange, head of the European Parliament’s trade committee, said on Saturday that Brussels should react immediately with countermeasures against Trump’s “outrageous” threat to hike tariffs on imports from the European Union.
The EU had been negotiating intensively with Washington for more than three weeks and had made concessions, said Lange.
“It is brazen and disrespectful to increase the tariffs on European goods announced on April 2 from 20% to 30%,” Lange told Reuters.
“This is a slap in the face for the negotiations. This is no way to deal with a key trading partner.”
While Trump indicated earlier this week that his new rates, also levelled against big economies including Japan, South Korea and Brazil, will not apply until 1 August, his latest tactic will create much distrust.
Europe should make it clear that these “unfair trade practices” were unacceptable, Lange said. (Guardian)
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.” (SkyNews)
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has said he is ready to match any tariffs imposed on Brazil by the United States.
Lula was responding to Wednesday’s threat by his US counterpart, Donald Trump, to impose a 50% import tax on Brazilian goods from 1 August.
In a letter, Trump cited Brazil’s treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro as a trigger for tariff-hike.
Bolsonaro is currently on trial for allegedly attempting to stage a coup against Lula after being defeated by him in the 2022 election.
Trump referred to Bolsonaro as “a highly respected leader throughout the world”. “This Trial should not be taking place,” he wrote, calling on Brazil to immediately end the “witch hunt” against the former president.
Trump’s support for Bolsonaro does not come as a surprise as the two men have long been considered allies.
The US president had already slammed Brazil for its treatment of Bolsonaro on Monday, comparing it to the legal cases he himself had faced in US courts.
The 50% tariff threat was met with a robust and lengthy response by President Lula.
In a post on X, he stressed that Brazil was “a sovereign country with independent institutions and will not accept any tutelage”.
The Brazilian leader also announced that “any unilateral tariff increases” would be met with reciprocal tariffs imposed on US goods.
The US is Brazil’s second-largest trade partner after China, so the hike from a tariff rate of 10% to an eye-watering 50% – if it comes into force – would hit the South American nation hard.
But Lula also made a point of challenging Trump’s assertion that the US had a trade deficit with Brazil, calling it “inaccurate”.
Lula’s rebuttal is backed up by US government data, which suggests the US had a goods trade surplus with Brazil of $7.4bn (£5.4bn) in 2024.
Brazil is the US’s 15th largest trading partner and among its main imports from the US are mineral fuels, aircraft and machinery.
For its part, the US imports gas and petroleum, iron, and coffee from Brazil.
Brazil was not the only country Trump threatened with higher tariffs on Wednesday.
Japan, South Korea and Sri Lanka were among 22 nations which received letters warning of higher levies.
But the letter Trump sent to his Brazilian counterpart was the only one focussing matters beyond alleged trade deficits.
As well as denouncing the treatment of ex-President Bolsonaro, Trump slammed what he said were “secret and unlawful censorship orders to US social media platforms” which he said Brazil had imposed.
Trump Media, which operates the US president’s Truth Social platform and is majority-owned by him, is among the US tech companies fighting Brazilian court rulings over orders suspending social media accounts.
Lula fought back on that front too, justifying the rulings by arguing that “Brazilian society rejects hateful content, racism, child pornography, scams, fraud, and speeches against human rights and democratic freedom”. (BBC)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US President Donald Trump he was nominating him for a Nobel Peace Prize as the two hailed their recent joint strikes on Iran ‘s nuclear facilities as an unmitigated success.
The pair sat down with their top aides for a dinner in the White House on Monday night, to mark the Iran operation and discuss efforts to push forward with a 60-day ceasefire proposal to pause the 21-month conflict in Gaza.
“He’s forging peace as we speak, one country and one region after the other,” Netanyahu said as he presented Trump with a nominating letter he said he sent the Nobel committee.
The call for the peace prize comes after the Israeli leader for years had pressed Trump and his predecessors to take military action against Iran’s nuclear program.
Trump ordered US forces to drop “bunker-buster” bombs and fire a barrage of Tomahawk missiles on three key Iranian nuclear sites.
It also allowed Netanyahu to further ingratiate himself with Trump, who for years has made little secret of the fact that he covets a Nobel Peace Prize and sees himself as a capable peacemaker.
Netanyahu’s outwardly triumphant visit to the White House, his third this year, was dogged by Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and questions over how hard Trump will push for an end to the conflict.
But in an exchange before reporters before the dinner got underway, both leaders expressed optimism that their success in Iran would mark a new era in the Middle East.
“I think things are going to be really settled down a lot in the Middle East,” Trump said. “And, they respect us and they respect Israel.”
Trump says Iran wants to restart talks, but Iran hasn’t confirmed that.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian in an interview published Monday said the U.S. airstrikes so badly damaged his country’s nuclear facilities that Iranian authorities still have not been able to access them to survey the destruction.
The meeting between Trump and Netanyahu may also give new urgency to a US ceasefire proposal being discussed by Israel and Hamas. (ITV)
President Donald Trump announced tariffs of 25 per cent on Japan and South Korea on Monday, stepping up pressure on the two key US allies and a dozen other economies to reach trade deals with Washington.
Trump issued similar letters to South Africa, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos and Kazakhstan, saying he would slap duties on their products ranging from 25 per cent to 40 per cent.
The president had said at the weekend that, starting from Monday, he would send a first batch of letters to countries informing them that he would reimpose harsh levies earlier postponed in April.
In near-identically worded letters to Japanese and South Korean leaders, Trump said the tariff hikes came as their trading relationships with Washington were “unfortunately, far from Reciprocal.”
The tariffs set out in Trump’s latest letters are due to take effect on August 1. He warned of further escalation if the countries involved retaliated against the duties.
Currently, the affected countries have been hit with a 10 per cent levy Trump imposed on almost all trading partners.
But Trump said he was ready to lower the new levels if countries changed their trade policies: “We will, perhaps, consider an adjustment to this letter.”
Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Sunday that he “won’t easily compromise” in trade talks with Washington.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday that Trump would sign an order later in the day to delay his original July 9 deadline for steeper tariffs to take effect – postponing their imposition to August 1.
She added that besides Japan and South Korea, there would be approximately 12 other partners receiving letters from Trump soon.
With the deadline extension, Leavitt noted that Trump would set out the “reciprocal tariff rate” for partners in the coming month as negotiations continue.
Trump originally announced sweeping tariffs on world economies on what he called “Liberation Day” on April 2, claiming the United States was being “ripped off.”
Amid market turmoil, he then suspended the initial tariffs for 90 days, a deadline that would have expired Wednesday without the latest extension.
While the Trump administration had signalled hopes of striking dozens of deals by July – at one point boasting of “90 deals in 90 days”- there have been limited results so far.
Washington has unveiled pacts with only Britain and Vietnam, while the United States and China agreed to temporarily lower tariff levels on each other’s products that earlier reached three digits. (Punch)
The White House will host a UFC bout next year as part of events to mark 250 years of American independence, US President Donald Trump has announced.
The event will be a “championship fight” with an audience of 20,000-25,000, Trump told a crowd in Iowa on Thursday.
The president, who is a friend of UFC president Dana White, said: “We are going to have some incredible events, some professional events, some amateur events.”
Trump has attended several UFC events, including UFC 316 in Newark, New Jersey, last month, where he was pictured watching a fight with White.
Addressing the crowd during an appearance at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, Trump said: “Does anybody watch UFC? The great Dana White? We’re going to have a UFC fight. We’re going to have a UFC fight – think of this – on the grounds of the White House. We have a lot of land there.”
Following Trump’s announcement, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the plans on X, writing: “It’s going to be EPIC!”
Trump’s links to UFC date back more than 20 years. In 2001, he hosted a UFC fight at Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City when White was struggling to find a venue.
White has backed the president’s political career from the beginning, endorsing his presidential bid in 2016, calling Trump a “fighter”.
Following a failed assassination attempt on Trump last year, White described Trump as a “tough guy” and “the legitimate, ultimate, American badass of all time”.
Trump suggested the UFC event would be one of many to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence on 4 July next year.
He said: “Every one of our national parks, battlefields and historic sites are going to have special events in honour of America250.” (Punch)
Kyiv has warned that an interruption of US weapons shipments will encourage Russia to prolong the war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year.
On Tuesday the White House said it had cut off some weapons deliveries to Ukraine.
The decision was taken “to put America’s interests first” following a defence department review of US “military support and assistance to other countries”, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the two countries were now “clarifying all the details on supplies”, while the foreign ministry warned any delays “would only encourage the aggressor to continue war and terror, rather than seek peace”.
The ministry particularly emphasised the need for Kyiv to strengthen its air defences – as Russia continues to pummel the country with missiles and drones on a near-nightly basis.
A Kyiv-based US diplomat was invited to the foreign ministry for talks on Wednesday.
However, Ukraine’s defence ministry said it had not received any official notification from the US about the “suspension or revision” of the weapons deliveries, and urged people not to speculate on the basis of partial information.
But in a statement the defence ministry also said the path to ending the war was “through consistent and joint pressure on the aggressor”.
At the weekend Ukraine endured its biggest aerial attack since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, with more than 500 drones and ballistic and cruise missiles launched at its cities.
US officials did not immediately say which shipments were being halted.
According to American broadcaster NBC, the weapons being delayed could include Patriot interceptors, Howitzer munitions, missiles and grenade launchers.
The US has sent tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, leading some in the Trump administration to voice concerns that US stockpiles are too low.
The Kremlin, for its part, welcomed news of the reduction in weapons shipments, saying reducing the flow of weapons to Kyiv will help end the conflict faster.
“The fewer the number of weapons that are delivered to Ukraine, the closer the end of the special military operation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Fedir Venislavskyi, an MP for Ukraine’s ruling party, said the decision was “painful, and against the background of the terrorist attacks which Russia commits against Ukraine… it’s a very unpleasant situation”.
A Ukrainian military source quoted by the AFP news agency said Kyiv was “seriously dependent on American arms supplies, although Europe is doing its best, but it will be difficult for us without American ammunition”.
Ukraine’s European allies have spent billions in military aid over the last three-and-a-half years.
However, military support for Kyiv is not endorsed by everyone on the political spectrum.
Czech President and former top Nato official, Petr Pavel, has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine – but he told BBC Russian he could “not guarantee” continued ammunition support for Kyiv, as that was dependent on the result of forthcoming Czech elections.
“I don’t know what will be the priorities of a new government,” he said.
The Pentagon’s move is based on concerns that US military stockpiles are falling too low, a source told CBS News, although Anna Kelly stressed “the strength of the United States Armed Forces remains unquestioned – just ask Iran”.
Separately, the US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, Elbridge Colby, said in a statement the Pentagon “continues to provide the President with robust options to continue military aid to Ukraine”.
However, he added “the department is rigorously examining and adapting its approach to achieving this objective while also preserving US forces’ readiness for Administration defence priorities”.
The pause comes less than a week after President Donald Trump discussed air defences with Volodymyr Zelensky at the Nato summit in the Netherlands.
Trump said US officials “are going to see if we can make some of them available” when asked by the BBC about providing extra Patriot anti-missile systems to Ukraine.
Referring to his conversation with Zelensky, Trump said: “We had a little rough times sometimes, but he couldn’t have been nicer.”
The two had a heated confrontation in the Oval Office in February. Afterwards, Trump said he was pausing military aid to Ukraine that had been earmarked by the previous Biden administration. Intelligence sharing with Ukraine was also suspended. (BBC)
Israel has agreed to the “necessary conditions” to finalise a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, US President Donald Trump has said.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that during the proposed ceasefire the US would “work with all parties to end the War”.He did not provide details on what the ceasefire would entail.
“The Qataris and Egyptians, who have worked very hard to help bring Peace, will deliver this final proposal. I hope… that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE,” Trump wrote.
Israel has not confirmed it agreed to the conditions of a deal. A Hamas official told the BBC the group is “ready and serious” to reach an agreement if it ends the war.
Hamas is “prepared to agree to any proposal if the requirements for ending the war are clearly met or if they lead to its complete end,” said Taher al-Nunu.
Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar posted on X that there is majority support in the government “for a framework to release hostages,” and this opportunity “must not be missed.”
For Israel, the key component of any deal will have to be the release of most, if not all, hostages still being held in Gaza.
Of the 50 or so hostages remaining in captivity, more than 20 are still thought to be alive and their plight has been at the forefront of regular demonstrations in Israel calling for an end to the war.
A recent Israeli newspaper poll suggested that a significant majority of Israelis want the war to end – but polling on Wednesday, from the Israel Democracy Institute, also suggests that most Israelis still don’t trust Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or his intentions.
Netanyahu has for months insisted on “complete victory” over Hamas before ending the war. It’s unclear if his position will now change under renewed pressure from Washington – and the answer could be pivotal to reaching a deal.
Trump’s announcement comes before a meeting with Netanyahu scheduled for next week, in which the US president has said he would be “very firm”.
He earlier said that he believed Netanyahu wanted to end hostilities in Gaza. “He wants to. I can tell you he wants to. I think we’ll have a deal next week,” Trump said.
Hamas has already indicated it would be willing to agree to a ceasefire if it led to the end of the war. But without that provision, Hamas negotiators might question the value of releasing all the hostages if the Israeli military is likely to resume bombing Gaza.
Another consideration before an agreement can be signed – perhaps while Netanyahu is in Washington next week – is Hamas’s demand for a partial Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza, at least for the duration of the ceasefire.
The international community is also likely to lobby hard for the resumption of full-scale UN-backed aid deliveries into Gaza.
Prior to Trump’s announcement, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon told the BBC Israel was “absolutely” ready for a ceasefire.
Speaking on the BBC News channel, Danon said that Hamas was “playing hardball”.
“We are putting pressure on Hamas, and if they will not come to the table, the only option we will have to bring back the hostages, is to apply more military pressure,” Danon said.
“The war will end when the hostages are back home,” he added.
Last week, a senior Hamas official told the BBC mediators have increased efforts to broker a new ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, but that negotiations with Israel remain stalled. (BBC)
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