Good morning.<\/p>\n
Donald Trump has ordered the national guard to Washington DC and seized control of the city\u2019s police force<\/a>, describing a \u201clawless\u201d city in ways that are sharply at odds with official crime statistics.<\/p>\n The president\u2019s move was swiftly condemned as a \u201cdisgusting, dangerous and derogatory\u201d assault on the political independence of a racially diverse city. The federal takeover is expected to be in effect for 30 days, the White House confirmed to the Guardian.<\/p>\n Speaking at a White House press conference on Monday, Trump alleged DC was \u201cone of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the world\u201d, even though violent crime is at a 30-year low<\/a>.<\/p>\n What do the crime figures tell us?<\/strong> That Trump is spreading a false narrative about DC crime \u2013 just as he did with LA. Violent crime in DC is at a 30-year low. In January, the Metropolitan police department and US attorney\u2019s office released a report indicating that total violent crime in DC in 2024 was down 35%<\/a> from the previous year, marking the lowest rate in over 30 years.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n How are Democrats responding?<\/strong> Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic minority leader in the House, described Trump as a \u201cwannabe king\u201d and said: \u201cWe stand with the residents of the District of Columbia and reject this unjustified power grab as illegitimate.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Global outrage mounts as funeral held for five journalists killed by Israel<\/strong>Mourners march with the bodies of journalists killed in an overnight Israeli strike on their tent outside a hospital in Gaza City. Photograph: Omar Al-Qattaa\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The death of the prominent Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif, killed along with four colleagues in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday, prompted condemnation from around the world<\/a>, as hundreds of mourners carried their bodies through the streets of Gaza City.<\/p>\n Sharif, one of Al Jazeera\u2019s most recognisable faces in Gaza<\/a>, was killed while inside a tent for journalists outside al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Sunday night. Seven people were killed in the attack, including the Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and the camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa, according to the Qatar-based broadcaster.<\/p>\n How deadly has the war been for journalists?<\/strong> Before Sunday\u2019s airstrike, the Committee to Protect Journalists recorded at least 186 journalists and media workers killed<\/a> in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel and Lebanon since the war began, making it the deadliest period for journalists since it began gathering data in 1992. The CPJ accuses Israel of directly targeting and killing 20 journalists and media workers. Any deliberate attack on a civilian could constitute a war crime, experts say. Israel, which has refused to let international media into Gaza, denies the accusation.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Trump nominates rightwing Heritage Foundation economist as labor statistics chief<\/strong>Donald Trump in the Oval Office displays jobs charts earlier this month. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst\/Reuters<\/p>\n Donald Trump has announced he is nominating EJ Antoni<\/a>, the chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation, as the next commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.<\/p>\n The nomination comes after Trump fired the BLS commissioner, Erika McEntarfer, earlier this month following the release of a weak jobs report.<\/p>\n Trump, without evidence, alleged McEntarfer \u201cfaked\u201d employment numbers in the run-up to the 2024 election to boost Kamala Harris\u2019s chances and said that the recent data was \u201crigged\u201d to make Trump and Republicans look bad.<\/p>\n What happens next?<\/strong> The Senate will have to confirm Antoni\u2019s nomination to lead the BLS, an independent agency under the labor department. Experts fear Trump\u2019s interventions will undermine the credibility of the agency\u2019s economic data, long seen as a gold standard.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n In other news \u2026<\/strong>Donald Trump will meet Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. Photograph: Saul Loeb\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Donald Trump said he and Vladimir Putin <\/strong>would discuss \u201cland swapping\u201d when they meet on Friday in Alaska for a summit<\/a> on the Ukraine war, <\/strong>and expressed frustration with Ukraine\u2019s Volodymyr Zelenskyy.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Meanwhile, Trump again delayed<\/a> implementing sweeping tariffs on China,<\/strong> announcing another 90-day pause hours before the last agreement expired.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n An explosion<\/a> at a US Steel plant in Pennsylvania killed two people and injured at least 10 on Monday.<\/strong> \u201cIt felt like thunder,\u201d said one worker near the scene.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Spain\u2019s central government has ordered officials in a Spanish town to scrap a ban on religious gatherings in public sports centers,<\/strong> describing<\/a> it as a \u201cdiscriminatory\u201d measure mainly affecting Muslims.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Stat of the day: Farmers displaced by $1.5bn Trump golf course reportedly <\/strong>offered rice and cash<\/strong>A farmer works at the site designated for a future Trump golf course in Hung Yen province, Vietnam. Photograph: Khanh Vu\/Reuters<\/p>\n Villagers whose farms in Vietnam will be bulldozed to make way for a $1.5bn golf resort backed by the Trump family have reportedly been offered rice provisions and cash compensation of as little as $12 for a square meter of land<\/a> by state authorities. Thousands of villagers will be offered compensation based on land size and location, according to a report by Reuters.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t miss this: \u2018If these words reach you \u2026 Israel has succeeded in killing me\u2019 \u2013 the last words of journalist Anas al-Sharif killed by Israel<\/strong>Anas al-Sharif reporting in Gaza City, in October 2024. Photograph: AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Anas al-Sharif, an Al Jazeera reporter, was killed by an Israeli airstrike on Sunday night. Before his killing, he prepared a message<\/a> for his family, and calling for the world not to forget Gaza. \u201cI have lived through pain in all its details, tasted suffering and loss many times, yet I never once hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification,\u201d he writes.<\/p>\n Climate check: How \u2018nurdles\u2019 are polluting the oceans<\/strong>A dead fish full of the \u2018nurdles\u2019 that are plastic\u2019s raw material; sea creatures eat them thinking they are eggs. Photograph: Chamila Karunarathne\/EPA<\/p>\n Nurdles: they\u2019re buoyant, the size of a lentil and almost impossible to recover. Millions of these tiny plastic pellets are being washed up on the coast of Kerala<\/a> in India in the latest in a series of global spills \u2013 with sea creatures thinking they\u2019re eggs \u2013 as plastic treaty talks continue in Geneva until Thursday.<\/p>\n Last Thing: What\u2019s behind the surprising boom in ventriloquism?<\/strong>\u2018He\u2019s a really icky character!\u2019 Lachlan Werner with his WonderTwunk puppets Slippy the Seal and Brad News. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Ventriloquism is back in vogue on stage and online<\/a>. Its new hip practitioners explain why their vocal tricks and errant dummies are wowing audiences again. \u201cIt is very stripped back. That\u2019s why it feels fresh,\u201d one ventriloquist says.<\/p>\n Sign up<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for the US morning briefing<\/p>\n<\/p>\n First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you\u2019re not already signed up, subscribe now<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n
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