US GDP contracts: The economic news triggered a negative response in US stock markets US GDP contracts: The American economy saw an unexpected contraction during the first quarter of 2025, primarily attributed to increased imports as businesses and individuals built up inventories before US President Donald Trump‘s comprehensive tariffs took effect.According to figures released by…
The Trump administration announced a flurry of measures to target PFAS contamination, but it stayed mum on whether it intends to uphold a Biden-era rule requiring utilities to remove the “forever chemicals” from the tap water of hundreds of millions of Americans. “I have long been concerned about PFAS and the efforts to help states…
The 36-page official national strategy document bears the presidential seal and involves 10 agencies from across the federal government. It isn’t the government’s policy on tariffs or border security. It’s President Trump’s master plan to eradicate paper straws and bring back plastic. “My Administration is committed,” the document declares, to “ridding us of the pulpy,…
US President Donald Trump has launched a revamped government website centered on the COVID-19 pandemic, asserting that the virus likely originated from a lab leak in China’s Wuhan. The updated version of the covid.gov site also hit out at prominent figures and institutions involved in the US pandemic response, including former president Joe Biden, Dr…
Former US President Joe Biden delivered his first major public address since leaving office in January. He spoke in Chicago on Tuesday, addressing a crowd of disability advocates. “In fewer than 100 days, this new administration has done so much damage and so much destruction. It’s kind of breathtaking,” Biden said. Referring to Social Security,…
President Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday outlining a series of actions intended to lower drug prices, including helping states import drugs from Canada. The policies were more modest than proposals to reduce drug prices that Mr. Trump offered in his first term. And one of his new directives could increase drug prices. It…
Fast-fashion giants like Shein and Temu have been doing booming business in the United States in recent years, in part because of a tariff exemption that’s helped to keep prices low on packages shipped from China. Now, President Trump has ordered the loophole closed as part of new tariffs, starting with packages from China and…
President Trump last week issued executive orders designed to revive the use of coal in power plants, a practice that has been steadily declining for more than a decade. But the effort is likely to fail, energy experts said, because the fossil fuel faces some critical hurdles. The power that coal plants produce typically can’t…
The U.S. ambassador to Ukraine is leaving her post, the State Department announced Thursday, a move that may complicate the already delicate relationship between Washington and Kyiv, which has been strained by President Trump’s efforts to end the war. “Ambassador Brink is stepping down,” a State Department spokesperson said in an email, referring to the…
An American citizen has been released from Russian custody in a prisoner swap, officials from the United States and Russia said on Thursday, amid a broader effort by the two countries to mend relations. The American, Ksenia Karelina, was serving a 12-year sentence in Russia after being convicted of treason for donating about $50 to…