Politico Europe reports: The European Union said on Thursday it was ready to deploy its strongest trade weapon against the U.S. after President Donald Trump threatened to impose sweeping tariffs and scorned the EU as having been created to “screw” America. “We have an Anti-Coercion Instrument, and we will have to use it,” Agriculture Commissioner Christophe Hansen said in Paris …

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump will host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday for their first meeting since the United States began direct negotiations with Russia to secure an agreement that would end the yearslong war in Ukraine. Zelenskyy’s visit is expected to focus in large part on a potential U.S.-Ukraine deal on the European …

The Associated Press reports: Hundreds of weather forecasters and other federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employees on probationary status were fired Thursday, lawmakers and weather experts said. Federal workers who were not let go said the afternoon layoffs included meteorologists who do crucial local forecasts in National Weather Service offices across the country. Cuts at NOAA appeared to be …

Newsweek reports: A Florida Republican group has been condemned for inviting Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan, to speak with them while the pair await trial for human trafficking offenses. The Tampa Bay Young Republicans shared the invitation on social media Thursday as the two brothers arrived in Florida after Romanian prosecutors lifted a two-year travel ban. Andrew and Tristan …

The New York Times reports: Starting Wednesday afternoon, a wave of emails went out from the State Department in Washington around the world, landing in inboxes for refugee camps, tuberculosis clinics, polio vaccination projects and thousands of other organizations that received crucial funding for lifesaving work. “This award is being terminated for convenience and the interest of the U.S. government,” …

Variety reports: Investigators believe the deaths of actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa are “suspicious,” according to a search warrant affidavit released Thursday morning. Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, 63, were found dead in their home in Santa Fe, N.M., on Wednesday afternoon. The bodies were found by two maintenance workers. Arakawa was lying on the bathroom floor. A …

ABC News reports: While President Donald Trump’s proudest supporters on Capitol Hill shower him with legislation proposing putting his portrait on a $250 bill, declaring his birthday a national holiday or adding his likeness to Mount Rushmore — a new effort across the aisle isn’t as flattering — as House Democrats take aim at the president’s $TRUMP meme coin. The …

NBC News reports: A federal appeals court struck down provisions in two Arizona voting laws that sought to increase proof-of-citizenship requirements for voter registration, saying that parts of the law amounted to “voter suppression.” The decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco, upholds the findings of a lower court that blocked the 2022 Arizona …

The Washington Post reports: A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Office of Personnel Management to rescind directives that initiated the mass firing of probationary government workers in several agencies across the government, ruling that the terminations were probably illegal, as a group of labor unions argued in court. U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered OPM to rescind its prior …

Rolling Stone reports: Donald Trump’s Department of Education has launched a new portal for Americans to rat out the diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts at their local public schools. The portal, called EndDEI.ed.gov, debuted with a press release that featured no government authorities, but rather a quote from a co-founder of the reactionary group Moms for Liberty, which is infamous …

The Des Moines Register reports: Over the protests of hundreds of Iowans chanting “no hate in our state,” Iowa’s Republican-dominated Legislature voted Thursday to pass a bill removing gender identity as a protected class in the state’s civil rights act. Democrats warned history wouldn’t look kindly upon lawmakers for inviting oppression of transgender Iowans. The bill, which Gov. Kim Reynolds was …

Altoona’s CBS affiliate reports: A Representative announced plans to introduce a bill that would charge someone with a third-degree felony if they take a minor to a drag show. The bill, authored by Rep. Robert Leadbeter (R – Columbia), looks to change how Pennsylvania law defines the phrase “tends to corrupt.” Leadbeter noted in his legislation that, “to avoid any …

The Middle East Eye reports: Draft legislation could see “biological sex” written into law in Turkey and the “promotion” of LGBTQ rights criminalised. The Turkish penal code would mandate that a “person who publicly encourages, praises or promotes attitudes and behaviours contrary to the biological sex at birth and public morality shall be sentenced to imprisonment of one year to …

The Washington Post reports: Hungary’s government said Thursday that it would ban a Pride march through central Budapest this summer, as Viktor Orban and his ruling Fidesz party escalate their long-standing push to enact anti-LGBTQ+ policies ahead of elections next year. “The country does not have to tolerate Pride marching through downtown Budapest,” Orban’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, said …

The Daily Beast reports: President Donald Trump has been invited to the U.K. by King Charles for a second state visit. A handwritten letter extending the invitation was in an envelope handed personally to Trump by U.K. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who is visiting the White House Thursday. The invitation was accepted by Trump, who opened the letter on …

Politico reports: A federal judge has ordered Trump administration officials involved in Elon Musk’s “opaque” DOGE to testify under oath in one of the sprawling lawsuits seeking to block DOGE’s access to sensitive government databases. U.S. District Judge John Bates agreed Thursday that “very limited” efforts to question officials connected to DOGE would help clarify what exactly the group is …

Law & Crime reports: A Florida man is accused of impersonating an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer and going to an Orlando apartment complex in search of “Mexicans” in the country illegally. Officers responded to a call about a suspicious person around 6 p.m. Monday at the Sabal Palm apartment complex. When they arrived they found the suspect, later identified …

ABC News reports: FBI Director Kash Patel, whose proclaimed plans to overhaul the nation’s premier law enforcement agency have rattled many within the bureau, has proposed enhancing the FBI’s ranks with help from the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the martial-arts entertainment giant whose wealthy CEO, Dana White, helped boost Trump’s reelection. On a teleconference Wednesday with the heads of the FBI’s …

From the Nature Conservancy: We carefully review the implications of the multiple executive orders and instructions from the new administration to ensure we can continue to make progress for people and nature. The Nature Conservancy has been working in the Gulf for more than 40 years, through hurricanes and oil spills, in close partnership with private, state and federal partners. …

Mediaite reports: President Donald Trump on Thursday acted as though he had no recollection of calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator.” On Thursday, Trump met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. While fielding questions from the media, Trump spoke about his ongoing efforts to put an end to the war. A reporter then asked Trump if he still thought …