Live updates: Trump agenda bill is on the brink of passage in the House
HOUSE ADVANCES GOP BILL: A massive bill for President Donald Trump's agenda cleared a key hurdle in the House after a group of Republican holdouts changed their votes.
SELF-IMPOSED DEADLINE APPROACHING: The House is now debating the bill on the floor before proceeding to final passage. Trump has pushed to sign the bill into law by July 4.
TRUMP PRESSURES HOLDOUTS: The president and White House officials have been heavily involved in efforts to sway GOP holdouts. Trump warned them 'MAGA IS NOT HAPPY' on Truth Social.
TRUMP'S JULY FOURTH PLANS: Trump is heading to Iowa today to commemorate the July Fourth holiday and announce plans for next year's 250th anniversary celebrations.
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The Independent
13 minutes ago
- The Independent
Hamas says it gave ‘positive response' to US-backed Gaza ceasefire plan with Israel
Hamas has said it has submitted a 'positive response' to mediators regarding the latest US -backed proposal to broker a ceasefire with Israel, raising hopes of a possible breakthrough in the conflict, which has heightened humanitarian concerns in Gaza. Earlier, US president Donald Trump announced a 'final proposal' for a 60-day ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas, stating that Israel had accepted the 'necessary conditions' to end the hostilities. The plan envisages the staggered release of 10 living Israeli hostages held by Hamas, as well as the return of the bodies of 18 others, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and a halt to the bombing of Gaza. 'The movement has delivered its response to the brotherly mediators, which was characterised by a positive spirit,' Hamas said on its official website on Friday. 'Hamas is fully prepared, with all seriousness, to immediately enter a new round of negotiations on the mechanism for implementing this framework.' Israeli media reported that Israel has received Hamas's response, and it was being examined as prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to endorse the plan publicly. It comes ahead of Mr Netanyahu's expected meeting with Mr Trump in Washington on Monday. In Gaza, civilians continue to endure starvation-level conditions and relentless bombardment as the war nears its second year. People gathering to collect food and water have been targeted, as Israel's military campaign in Gaza has caused an acute shortage of basic supplies and pushed the population to the brink of starvation. The United Nations human rights office said that 613 Palestinians were killed within a month while trying to access humanitarian aid. Of those, 509 people were killed while trying to receive aid at distribution points run by the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). A Hamas official said the ceasefire under the new proposal could begin as early as next week, but added that further talks were needed to determine how many Palestinian prisoners would be released for each freed Israeli hostage, and to specify the amount of aid that would enter Gaza during the truce. Hamas wants aid to flow in greater quantities through the UN and other humanitarian agencies, an official told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The official also said that negotiations on a permanent ceasefire and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza would begin on the first day of the truce, in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages. The last ceasefire between Israel and Hamas collapsed in March, and since then, more than 6,000 people have been killed in Gaza as Israeli forces intensified their attacks, worsening the humanitarian crisis in the enclave of two million people. Previous rounds of negotiations have stalled over Hamas's demands for guarantees that further talks would lead to an end to the war, while prime minister Netanyahu has insisted that Israel will resume fighting to ensure the destruction of the militant group. 'We'll see what happens. We're going to know over the next 24 hours,' Mr Trump told reporters on Air Force One late on Thursday when asked if Hamas had agreed to the latest framework for a ceasefire. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has said the death toll in the Palestinian territory has surpassed 57,000. While the ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, it reports that more than half of those killed are women and children.
The Guardian
17 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Has Trump taken leadership lessons from cold war-era Africa?
Ever since Donald Trump returned to power, pundits have struggled to find apt analogies for his style of governance. Some liken his loyalty demands, patronage networks and intimidation tactics to the methods of a mafia don. Others cast him as a feudal overlord, operating a personality cult rooted in charisma and bound by oaths, rewards and threats rather than laws and institutions. A growing number of artists and AI creatives are depicting him as a Viking warrior. And of course, fierce debates continue over whether the moment has arrived for serious comparisons with fascist regimes. While some of these analogies may offer a degree of insight, they are fundamentally limited by their Eurocentrism – as if 21st-century US politics must still be interpreted solely through the lens of old-world history. If we truly want to understand what is unfolding, we must move beyond Scandinavian sagas and Sicilian crime lore. I've found it increasingly difficult not to see striking parallels between recent events in the US and the rise of cold war-era dictatorships in Africa. It began with Trump's renaming of the Gulf of Mexico and Denali, which recalled how Mobutu Sese Seko, on a personal whim, changed Congo into Zaire in 1971. Geographical renaming has been extensive in Africa because of its history of colonialism, but now the US has started changing names too. Trump's deployment of national guard troops and marines to Los Angeles after protests over immigration raids also echoed Mobutu's preferred method for dealing with civil unrest: presidential guards patrolling the streets to crush protests. The blunt use of military force to suppress domestic opposition is a tactic associated with figures such as Idi Amin in Uganda, Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe and Paul Biya in Cameroon – albeit with deadlier consequences. Trump's aggressive deportation of undocumented Latino workers also resembles Amin's 1972 expulsion of Uganda's Asian minority. Amin framed it as a way to return economic power to 'the ordinary Ugandan', but it led to financial ruin. The embrace of bizarre, theatrical economic measures that look great on television but wreak havoc in practice is another striking parallel. Trump's tariffs, announced with patriotic fanfare on 'liberation day', evoke Mugabe's grandiose land reforms of the 1980s, which hastened Zimbabwe's collapse. Anti-intellectualism, egomania and delusions of grandeur were hallmarks of dictatorships in Africa. Ivory Coast's Félix Houphouët-Boigny built a replica of St Peter's Basilica in his home town. Jean-Bédel Bokassa crowned himself 'emperor' of Central African Republic. 'Marshal' Mobutu ensured that Concorde could land in his native village. A similar extravaganza of ambition has reached the US, with Trump accepting a luxury Boeing 747 from Qatar and hoping his face will be carved into Mount Rushmore beside George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. The army parade in Washington on the day the US military turned 250 and Trump turned 79 was another moment of self-aggrandising narcissism. A populist personality cult and masculine pride often go hand in hand with deep paranoia and contempt. Trump's relentless war on academia and the free press fits squarely within this tradition. In Equatorial Guinea, President Francisco Macías Nguema outlawed the word 'intellectual' and prosecuted academics. Amin terrorised universities to the point of brain-drain. At first glance, viewing Trump as a westernised version of one of Africa's dictators may seem jarring. After all, his interest in the continent appears limited to its natural resources, not its political models. The trade tariffs and travel bans he recently unleashed have hit several African countries hard, and his cruel withdrawal of aid hardly suggests admiration for anything African. What's more, Trump has never set foot on African soil and reportedly dismissed the continent as a cluster of 'shithole countries'. Only when a raw materials deal is in sight does he spring into life, such as last week when a 'peace deal' between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda was signed at the White House. 'We're getting, for the United States, a lot of the mineral rights from the Congo as part of it,' Trump said. But once the comparison between Trump and a cold war dictator is made, it becomes hard to unsee. And it shouldn't surprise us. The postcolonial dictator was, to a significant degree, an American creation. Sooner or later, it had to come home. The US supported repressive regimes unconditionally during the cold war, viewing them as bulwarks against communism – not just in Africa, but in Asia and Latin America. Dictators such as Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines, Suharto in Indonesia, Augusto Pinochet in Chile and Jorge Rafaél Videla in Argentina remained in power for decades thanks to US backing. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the US abruptly abandoned these allies and championed the gospel of democratisation. Though the 1990s were rich in rhetoric about human rights, good governance and the rule of law, on the ground the spectre of autocracy never vanished entirely. We're now witnessing a startling reversal. With the demise of USAID and its retreat from a role promoting global democracy, it's not only that the US has turned its back on democratising countries in Africa and elsewhere – but that it has begun to imitate some of the worst historical examples of authoritarian rule. Viewing Trump's regime through the lens of cold war-era autocracies in postcolonial states offers a framework that is both alarming and oddly reassuring. If there is one enduring lesson from the history of autocracy in Africa, it is this: things can turn ugly, fast. Cold war dictatorships were ruthless, bloody and often ended in chaos and state collapse. Yet their histories also show that when courts are neutered and legislatures reduced to rubber stamps, civil society, independent media and the moral force of religious and academic institutions can emerge as the last formidable strongholds against tyranny. After all, sooner or later, dictators die, whereas collective efforts remain. David Van Reybrouck is philosopher laureate for the Netherlands and Flanders. His books include Congo: The Epic History of a People and Revolusi: Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World
Reuters
32 minutes ago
- Reuters
Trump says tariff letters to 12 countries signed, going out Monday
July 4 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said he had signed letters to 12 countries outlining the various tariff levels they would face on goods they export to the United States, with the "take it or leave it" offers to be sent out on Monday. Trump, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he traveled to New Jersey, declined to name the countries involved, saying that would be made public on Monday. Trump had earlier on Thursday told reporters that he expected a first batch of letters to go out on Friday, a national holiday in the United States, though the date has now shifted. In a global trade war that has upended financial markets and set off a scramble among policymakers to guard their economies, Trump in April announced a 10% base tariff rate and additional amounts for most countries, some ranging as high as 50%. However, all but the 10% base rate were subsequently suspended for 90 days to allow more time for negotiations to secure deals. That period ends on July 9, although Trump early on Friday said the tariffs could be even higher - ranging up to 70% - with most set to go into effect August 1. "I signed some letters and they'll go out on Monday, probably twelve," Trump said, when asked about his plans on the tariff front. "Different amounts of money, different amounts of tariffs." Trump and his top aides initially said they would launch negotiations with scores of countries on tariff rates, but the U.S. president has soured on that process after repeated setbacks with major trading partners, including Japan and the European Union. He touched on that briefly late on Friday, telling reporters: "The letters are better ... much easier to send a letter." He did not address his prediction that some broader trade agreements could be reached before the July 9 deadline. The shift in the White House's strategy reflects the challenges of completing trade agreements on everything from tariffs to non-tariff barriers such as bans on agricultural imports, and especially on an accelerated timeline. Most past trade agreements have taken years of negotiations to complete. The only trade agreements reached to date are with Britain, which reached a deal in May to keep a 10% rate and won preferential treatment for some sectors including autos and aircraft engines, and with Vietnam, cutting tariffs on many Vietnamese goods to 20% from his previously threatened 46%. Many U.S. products would be allowed to enter Vietnam duty free. A deal expected with India has failed to materialize, and EU diplomats on Friday said they have failed to achieve a breakthrough in trade negotiations with the Trump administration, and may now seek to extend the status quo to avoid tariff hikes.
