Remarks marking 250th anniversary of American independence tell US lawmakers: ‘The actions of this great nation matter’

King Charles has extolled the importance of Britain’s “special relationship” with the US in a speech to Congress that made pointed reference to the importance of Nato, the defence of Ukraine and the climate crisis.

In a speech that will be read as a veiled plea to Donald Trump to return to the US’s traditional European alliances and restore his country’s role as a defender of liberal values, Charles said: “America’s words carry weight and meaning, as they have since independence. The actions of this great nation matter even more.”

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© Photograph: Getty Images

© Photograph: Getty Images

© Photograph: Getty Images

Support for Democratic and Republican candidates is evenly split among likely midterm voters, according to a new poll.  The Harvard-Harris poll found that 50 percent of likely voters said they would support a Democratic candidate and 50 percent said they would support a Republican.  Responses fell along party lines with 97 percent of Democrats saying...

At a moment when the United States needs a diplomatic corps built for crisis, the department is signaling something else.

Positions ‘terminated, effective immediately’, says email to scientists sent on president’s behalf, in move labelled ‘dangerous attack’ on US innovation

The Trump administration has fired members of an independent board that oversees the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Members of the National Science Board received an email on Friday sent from the Presidential Personnel Office “on behalf of President Donald J Trump” stating that their position was “terminated, effective immediately”.

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© Photograph: Rob Sparks/AP

© Photograph: Rob Sparks/AP

© Photograph: Rob Sparks/AP

The Supreme Court is hearing a case that could impact asylum policy, and ultimately it is up to Congress to decide how to manage asylum at the border in a way that balances security and human dignity.

Redrawn map could flip up to five seats to Republicans as Trump’s party seeks to keep control of Congress

The US supreme court formally reinstated on Monday a redrawn Texas electoral map that was designed to add more Republicans to the US House of Representatives, as Donald Trump’s party seeks to keep control of Congress in the November congressional elections.

The move by the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, formalizes an interim decision it made in December to revive the map of US House districts in Texas.

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© Photograph: Sara Diggins/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images

© Photograph: Sara Diggins/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images

© Photograph: Sara Diggins/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) on Sunday urged King Charles III to acknowledge the victims of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during his address to Congress this week, when the monarch will make his first state visit to the U.S. “I am hopeful that King Charles, when he speaks to the Congress, will acknowledge the...

Special session comes after Virginia voted to redraw maps and as Trump pressures Republicans to protect House majority

Florida begins a special session on Tuesday in what may be the last front of the redistricting war before the 2026 election, with Republicans trying to redraw maps to pick up more seats in Congress.

Lawmakers enter the session in Tallahassee cloaked in mystery, with no preview of a proposed map to consider and no clear path for Republicans to increase their representation in what appears to be a hostile year for their party.

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© Photograph: Nathan Howard/Reuters

© Photograph: Nathan Howard/Reuters

© Photograph: Nathan Howard/Reuters

Tom Kean, who has not voted since 5 March and whose seat is top Democratic target, due back ‘very soon’, speaker says

A vulnerable Republican congressman who has not voted in weeks “is attending to a personal health matter”, the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, said on Friday as he struggles to maintain his historically small majority in Congress’s lower chamber.

Tom Kean Jr’s New Jersey district is a top pickup target for Democrats in the November midterms, but the congressman has not cast a vote in the House since 5 March.

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© Photograph: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images

© Photograph: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images

© Photograph: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images

The Social Security Trust Fund is projected to run out in 2032 due to income inequality and a cap on taxable earnings, but this can be avoided by removing the cap and taxing higher incomes.

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When Pete Hegseth was asked about Pope Leo XIV’s condemnation of the war in Iran, and comments from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops suggesting the conflict is not a “just war”, the defense secretary simply said that the pope was “going to do his thing”.

“We know what our mission is,” Hegseth added. “We follow that the orders of the president. We’ve got lawyers all over the place looking at what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, and giving us every authority necessary under the constitution and under our laws to execute it.”

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© Photograph: Anna Rose Layden/EPA

© Photograph: Anna Rose Layden/EPA

© Photograph: Anna Rose Layden/EPA

The party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been making gains in a state once beyond its grasp, but many decry an audit that removed nine million voters, many of them Muslim.