Trump news at a glance: President hails shutdown as ‘opportunity’ to further campaign of cuts

Trump sees ‘unprecedented opportunity’ to punish Democrats as shutdown enters day two

The government shut down on Wednesday at midnight, after Democrats refused to support a Republican plan to continue funding unless it included a series of healthcare-focused concessions. Vought has threatened to use the shutdown to conduct further layoffs of federal workers, and on Wednesday announced the cancellation of billions of dollars in federal funding for projects tied to Democrats.

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Trump declares that drug cartels operating in the Caribbean are ‘unlawful combatants’

Donald Trump has declared that drug cartels operating in the Caribbean are “unlawful combatants” and says the United States is now in a “non-international armed conflict”, according to a White House memo obtained by the Associated Press on Thursday.

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Hamas to demand key revisions to Trump Gaza plan before accepting, sources say

Hamas is likely to provisionally accept Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire proposal in the coming days – but only on condition there are significant revisions of some of its key elements, analysts and sources close to the group say.

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California vows to ‘instantly’ cut funding to universities that cave to Trump ‘compact’

Any California universities that sign the Trump administration’s proposed “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” will “instantly” lose their state funding, California governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement.

The Trump administration on Wednesday offered nine prominent universities, including the University of Southern California, the chance to sign a “compact” that asks the universities to close academic departments that “purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas”, limit the proportion of international undergraduate students to 15%, accept the administration’s definition of gender and ban the consideration of race or sex in hiring and admissions, in exchange for “substantial and meaningful federal grants”.

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Judge denies Kilmar Ábrego García’s bid for asylum in the US

An immigration judge in Baltimore has denied Kilmar Ábrego García’s bid for asylum on Thursday, but he has 30 days to appeal.

Ábrego’s case has drawn national attention since the 30-year-old was wrongfully deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador in March. The Salvadorian national has an American wife and children and has lived in Maryland for years, but he originally immigrated to the US illegally as a teenager.

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