MicroWave

Federal judge said reporter Hannah Natanson ‘has basically been deprived of her life’s work’ after January raid

A federal judge in Virginia on Friday declined to immediately rule on the Washington Post’s request for the government to return devices seized from reporter Hannah Natanson in a January raid of her home.

But the judge, William B Porter of the eastern district of Virginia, acknowledged the enormity and significance of the seizure during the afternoon hearing. “Ms Natanson has basically been deprived of her life’s work,” he said.

In the latest development in a case that has worried first amendment advocates and put newsrooms around the country on high alert, the judge seemed disinclined to let the government rifle through the files and determine what is relevant to an investigation into a government contractor accused of possessing classified materials – and suggested that he understood the broader stakes of the case.

Democrats cry foul at change to airport closest to Mar-a-Lago days after president’s lawyers trademarked new name

Democrats in Florida have condemned Republican colleagues in the state legislature who approved renaming the airport in West Palm Beach to the “President Donald J Trump International Airport”, less than a week after lawyers for Trump sought to trademark the name.

Only the signature of Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, now stands before a renaming ceremony at the airport less than six miles from the president’s waterfront Mar-a-Lago mansion and private resort club in Palm Beach.

Currently known as Palm Beach International, the airport is frequented by Trump on Air Force One on most weekends during the winter season. The president is then driven to and from his residence along a stretch of road renamed Donald J Trump Boulevard, in January, in another act of homage by the Florida legislature.

The department is reportedly considering buying a Boeing plane for deportation flights and for use by Trump officials

A $70m aircraft the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is considering for deportation flights has a luxurious interior and will be used to transport Trump administration officials to engagements in comfort, according to a report published Friday.

NBC News obtained images of the Boeing 737-8 Max plane showing a bedroom with a queen bed, showers, a kitchen, four large flat-screen TVs and a bar.

According to the report, some DHS officials are privately questioning the necessity of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency buying the jet it currently leases. One official told NBC anonymously that the department’s stated plan to use the aircraft alternately as a ferry for senior government members and for deporting immigration detainees was “far-fetched”.

British Chambers of Commerce official says US supreme court decision ‘does little to clear the murky waters’

The US supreme court just declared Donald Trump’s boldest tariffs illegal, but international businesses and governments are still uncertain over what’s to come.

After the court said the president cannot enact tariffs in peacetime using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the White House said it will quickly replace the levies by other – but potentially more cumbersome – means.

William Bain, head of trade policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said that while the decision “gives clarity on the president’s executive powers to raise tariffs, it does little to clear the murky waters for business”.

The court ruling applies only to the IEEPA and not other trade policy tools at Trump’s disposal.

Trump called justices who blocked his tariffs a ‘disgrace to the nation’ while praising three justices who dissented

He praised the three justices who dissented in the opinion – Brett Kavanaugh who wrote the main dissent, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. The others – including two of his appointees, Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch – drew his derision.

“They’re just being fools and lapdogs for the Rinos [Republicans in name only] and the radical left Democrats, and not that they should have anything at all to do with it,” Trump said. “They’re very unpatriotic and disloyal to our constitution.”

Trump said he would immediately sign an order increasing tariffs globally by 10% under section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 and will begin investigations of unfair trade practices allowing further tariffs. He asserted that he had the authority to impose additional tariffs under existing statutes without referring to congressional approval.

The Supreme Court struck down a huge chunk of Donald Trump’s far-reaching tariff agenda.

The law that undergirds those import duties “does not authorize the President to impose tariffs,” the majority ruled 6-3.

NASA has labelled the botched 2024 Starliner mission, which left two astronauts stranded in space for months, a "Type A" mishap, on par with fatal shuttle disasters of the past, in a newly published report.

The category is the space agency's most severe, reserved for incidents causing more than $2m (£1.49 m) in damage, the loss of a vehicle or its control, or deaths.

On Thursday, Nasa's new boss, Jared Isaacman, blasted Boeing, which built Starliner, and the space agency for poor decision-making and leadership that led to the failed mission.

The U.S. trade deficit swelled in December, closing out a year in which the imbalance was essentially unchanged despite efforts by the Trump administration to close the wide gap.

Closing out a tumultuous year in the global marketplace, the goods and services shortfall in December totaled $70.3 billion, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. That marked an increase of $17.3 billion from November and was well above the Dow Jones consensus estimate of $55.5 billion.

For the full year, the U.S. ran a $901.5 billion deficit, down slightly from 2024 but only by 0.2%, or $2.1 billion. The total was also a bit less than the record $923.7 billion shortfall in 2022.

The Cold War? Child's play compared to what lies ahead, according to U.S. historian Robert Kagan. Trump, he says, is leading the world into the most dangerous era since 1945.

Argentina's lower house of Congress approved President Javier Milei's labor reform bill, which grants employers greater flexibility in matters of hiring, firing, severance and collective bargaining.

After tech billionaire Peter Thiel and others donated to Jace Yarbrough’s campaign, Donald Trump endorsed him

A rookie congressional candidate in a nine-way Texas primary has received the imprimatur of wealthy hard-right donors including tech billionaire Peter Thiel, Claremont Institute board chair Thomas Klingenstein and Charles Haywood, who once expressed a desire to be a “warlord”, according to new Federal Election Commission filings showing early donations to his campaign.

In a recent candidate forum, Jace Yarbrough unapologetically staked out a series of extremist positions, saying that critics may call his approach to politics “bigoted and backward and oppressive and Nazi-ish”, but that he is “past trying to placate that in any way, shape or form”.

John Bellamy Foster, professor of sociology at the University of Oregon, said:“Jace Yarbrough is among the most militant figures in the Maga political movement in the United States, and a major recipient of Maga-billionaire donations in his run for a congressional seat in North Texas.”

Foster added: “If it can be said that there is a neofascist political movement in the United States, Yarbrough is certainly one of its chief would-be ‘lawgivers’.”

Moderna revised its application following the FDA's surprise decision not to review the flu shot.

Moderna said Wednesday the Food and Drug Administration changed course and will review an amended application for its new flu vaccine, a week after rejecting the original submission and fueling drugmaker and investor concerns over policy changes at the agency under Donald Trump.

Shares of the vaccine maker closed up 6% on Wednesday after falling as much as 12% just after the FDA refusal became public. The FDA is expected to make a decision on the vaccine by August 5.

The reversal, which could clear the way for the first mRNA-based flu vaccine in the United States, also underscores the volatility at the FDA, which has seen top career officials depart under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.