Page 2 - United States

US jobless claims fall to decades low as layoffs stay largely subdued

Continuing claims, a proxy for the number of people receiving benefits, dropped to 1.79 million in the previous week, the lowest in two years

The return of Section 301: How Washington's next trade lever may test India

The US government has revived Section 301 investigations into India over excess capacity and forced labour concerns, raising risks of tariffs and tighter compliance for key export sectors

US Q1 GDP growth rises 2% as Iran war clouds outlook, fuels inflation

Gross domestic product increased at a 2.0 per cent annualized rate last quarter, the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis said in its advance GDP estimate on Thursday

US Fed keeps interest rates steady; three dissents against 'easing bias'

A fourth dissent at the meeting came in favor of a quarter-percentage-point rate cut

Trade priorities: Govt must help exporters maximise gains from UK, EU FTAs

With the US, while negotiations have restarted, there are several factors that will continue to cast a shadow of uncertainty on outcomes

Funds to pay TSA, Homeland Security workers will soon run out: White House

The White House is warning Congress that funding to pay Department of Homeland Security personnel will "soon run out," sparking new threats of airport disruptions and national security concerns as the House slow-walks legislation to end what has been the longest-ever lapse in agency funding. In a memo late Tuesday to lawmakers, the Office of Management and Budget said money that President Donald Trump tapped to pay Transportation Security Administration and other workers through executive actions will be exhausted by May. It called on the House to quickly approve the budget resolution senators approved in an all-night session last week that would pave the way for full funding for the department. "DHS will soon run out of critical operating funds, placing essential personnel and operations at risk," the memo said. The pressure from the Trump administration could help House Speaker Mike Johnson, whose narrow Republican majority has been stalled out, tangled in internal party disputes

Iran proposes 3-stage plan to reopen Hormuz in exchange for US blockade end

The strategic overture seeks to dismantle the current geopolitical stalemate and revitalise stalled negotiations

Beneath King Charles's jokes and decorum, there is subtle rebuttal to Trump

King Charles III gently pushed back against President Trump's attacks on Britain and Nato

Trump unhappy with peace proposal, says Iran 'figuring out its leadership'

Iran's most recent offer for resolving the two-month war would set aside discussion of its nuclear programme until the conflict was concluded and shipping disputes resolved

Trump greets King Charles on 'beautiful British day' at White House

In his remarks, Trump stressed the bonds of friendship that have evolved between Britons and Americans since their days as adversaries during the War of Independence and the "wounds of war" it caused

US ends probe into claims WhatsApp chats were reportedly not private

Through much of 2025, the special agent had been looking into claims that some Meta employees and contractors could see the content of encrypted WhatsApp messages

Preventing Iranian nuclear weapon remains 'core issue', says Marco Rubio

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was asked in a Fox News interview about Iran's latest proposal, which would postpone discussions on its nuclear programme but end its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz if the US lifts its blockade and ends the war. "There's no doubt in my mind that at some point in the future, if this radical clerical regime remains in charge in Iran, they will decide they want a nuclear weapon," Rubio said. "That fundamental issue still has to be confronted," he said. "That still remains the core issue here." Asked if he thinks the Iranians are serious about a deal, Rubio said they are skilled negotiators looking to buy time. "We can't let them get away with it," Rubio said. "We have to ensure that any deal that is made, any agreement that is made, is one that definitively prevents them from sprinting towards a nuclear weapon at any point.

WH press dinner shooting accused charged with Trump assassination attempt

The man who authorities say tried to storm the White House Correspondents' Association dinner with guns and knives was on Monday charged with the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump. He appeared in court to face charges in a chaotic encounter that resulted in shots being fired, Trump being rushed off the stage and guests ducking for cover underneath their tables. Cole Tomas Allen was taken into custody after the shooting on Saturday night and was charged in federal court in Washington. Authorities say an officer wearing a bullet-resistant vest was shot in the vest but is expected to recover. Allen, of Torrance, California, is being represented by lawyers with the federal defender's office and sat beside them in court in a blue jail uniform. He also was charged with transport of a firearm and ammunition in interstate commerce and with discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. He did not enter a plea. The judge assigned two assistant public defenders to represen

'Shots fired!': How chaos unfolded at Washington Hilton during press dinner

At that moment on Saturday night, President Trump and many of America's top government officials and journalists were one floor down, crammed into the ballroom for a black-tie dinner

Security at correspondents' dinner worked as intended, say experts

The episode raised fresh questions about whether the Secret Service was sufficiently prepared to protect the president in an age of rising threats and spasms of political violence

Trump calls correspondents' dinner attack suspect 'pretty sick guy'

Trump said in TV interviews that the suspect, whom an official identified as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, of Torrance, California, had posted what Trump described as an 'anti-Christian' manifesto

Trump calls for unity after another violent incident, but will it last?

President Donald Trump was somberly contemplative and unusually conciliatory after confronting what he saw as a third attempt on his life in less than two years. He suggested that his personal politics had made him a repeated target, but he also called for unity and bipartisan healing in an increasingly violent world. "It's always shocking when something like this happens. Happened to me, a little bit. And that never changes," a subdued Trump told reporters in a hastily organised news conference at the White House late Saturday. Only a short time before, a man with guns and knives tried to rush past the security perimeter inside the Washington hotel where the Republican president was about to address the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. Authorities are trying to determine what happened and why. A suspect was taken into custody and identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California. Trump said he himself was undoubtedly the target. The presidency is "a danger

West Asia conflict: India leans on US for LPG amid Gulf supply crunch

Highest LPG volumes sourced from US, as imports from key West Asian suppliers decline

'We have all the cards': Trump cancels US negotiators' Pakistan trip

The development came shortly after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi concluded his visit to Pakistan

US says it's hunting for explosive mines in latest push to open Hormuz

President Donald Trump says the US Navy is clearing Iranian mines from the Strait of Hormuz, a vital sea route for oil shipments whose disruption is increasingly threatening the global economy. Sweeping for underwater explosives could take months despite a tenuous ceasefire between the United States and Iran in the weekslong war, experts say. Any future claims that the US cleared the waterway where 20 per cent of the world's oil typically passes might fail to convince commercial freighters and their insurers that it is finally safe. "You don't even have to have laid mines - you just have to make people believe that you've laid mines," said Emma Salisbury, a scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute's National Security Program. "And even if the US sweeps the strait and says everything's clear, all the Iranians have to do is say, Well, actually, you haven't found them all yet,'" said Salisbury, who is also a fellow at the Royal Navy Strategic Studies Centre. "There's only so mu