An appeals court on Friday blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order suspending asylum access, a key pillar of the Republican president’s plan to crack down on migration at the southern border of the U.S.

A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that immigration laws give people the right to apply for asylum at the border, and the president can’t circumvent that.

The panel concluded that the Immigration and Nationality Act doesn’t authorize the president to remove the plaintiffs under “procedures of his own making,” allow him to suspend plaintiffs’ right to apply for asylum or curtail procedures for adjudicating their anti-torture claims.

The US justice department is dropping its investigation into the Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell, over alleged building cost overruns.

US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said instead there would be an internal investigation led by the central bank's inspector general.

Powell's term is nearing its end and the US Senate is considering Trump's nominee for his replacement, Kevin Warsh. A key Republican, Thom Tillis, has withheld his support for Warsh unless the Trump administration would drop its investigation into Powell.

Dozens of protesters, including members of Congress, gathered along the National Mall on Thursday to protest an “intimate” dinner being held by Paramount Skydance’s chief executive, David Ellison, “in celebration of the first amendment” and “honoring the Trump White House and CBS White House correspondents”, and attended by Donald Trump.

Paramount has faced criticism for the dinner, which has been seen by some as illustrative of the cozy relationship between the Ellisons and the White House – right as the Trump administration is weighing whether to approve the company’s $110bn merger with CNN parent company WarnerBros Discovery (WBD). The dinner comes before Saturday’s White House correspondents’ dinner, which Trump will attend. His defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, is expected to sit at one of the many tables bought by CBS News for the event.

Earlier Thursday, WBD shareholders voted “overwhelmingly” to approve the merger, which will still require approval from the Department of Justice and European regulators.

Millions more Americans might qualify for dual Canadian citizenship under a recent change to Canada's requirements that has led to a surge in applications from its southern neighbor.

For people like Zack Loud of Farmington, Minnesota, it was a surprise to learn that under a new law, Canada already considered him and his siblings citizens because their grandmother is Canadian.

"My wife and I were already talking about potentially looking at jobs outside the country, but citizenship pushed Canada way up on our list," he said.

Since the new law took effect Dec. 15, immigration lawyers in the United States and Canada say they have been overwhelmed by clients seeking help submitting proof of citizenship applications. Driven by politics, family heritage, job opportunities and other factors, thousands of Americans are exploring whether the easier process makes now the right time to gain dual citizenship.

Houston Police Department leaders late Thursday released an updated order to its officers on how to interact with federal immigration agents that largely returns HPD to the rules it operated under before Houston City Council spurred a fight over the issue this month – and which legal advocates say could expose the city to legal liability.

The council voted two weeks ago to limit HPD’s cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, leading Gov. Greg Abbott to threaten to pull $114 million in grant funding to the city.

Mayor John Whitmire then negotiated amendments to the policy with Abbott’s office and secured council approval of those changes on Wednesday.

The infamous Florida immigrant detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz” can remain open, an appeals court ruled Tuesday, overturning a lower judge’s decision to close the facility because it violated federal environmental laws.

The ruling is the latest development in the months-long legal battle against the center, which was constructed in the Everglades last summer by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration when the Department of Homeland Security needed more detention space to house immigrants pending their deportations.

The case was sent back to the district court. “This fight is far from over,” Samples, the Friends of the Everglades director, said in a statement Tuesday night. “Alligator Alcatraz will go down in history as a boondoggle to taxpayers and a flagrant assault on the Everglades, and we look forward to returning to the District Court to advance our case to shut it down.”

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from enforcing a series of permitting policies that wind and solar energy industry groups say have ⁠stymied the development of new energy generation projects.

Chief U.S. District Judge Denise Casper in Boston issued a preliminary injunction ​sought by nine advocacy ​groups and industry trade ​associations that argued the administration had imposed unlawful roadblocks that have halted the development of wind and solar energy projects nationwide.

The ruling was the latest in a series of judicial rebukes ⁠to ‌the Trump administration’s efforts to block federal approvals for wind ⁠energy projects or stop work on multi-billion-dollar offshore wind farms under construction on the East Coast.

The Department of Justice’s internal watchdog said Thursday that it is reviewing the department’s compliance with the law mandating the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

The review from the inspector general’s office will focus on how the department collected, reviewed and redacted materials in preparation for release and its process for addressing privacy concerns that arose after the files were made public, when Epstein survivors complained that personal information about them was disclosed.

The audit will focus on one of the more politically sensitive chapters of the Trump administration’s Justice Department, when officials bowed to public pressure and to a law from Congress to release millions of pages of records that the executive branch had initially said would not come out.

It marks the first significant effort by the watchdog — since Trump took office for a second time — to scrutinize the actions of a department that has been riven by tumult, including mass firings of employees and allegations of politicization of investigations.

Stagi, a retired hypnotherapist, said she touched the agent’s shoulder to get his attention and then he grabbed her by the hair, put her neck in the crook of his arm and carried her across the street by her head. She said he threw her down an embankment next to the street.

Ellison, chief executive and chairman of Paramount and a major Republican donor, is hosting a dinner with Trump on Thursday at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington DC.

The deal still needs approval from the US Department of Justice and European competition regulators.

The shareholders' backing of the deal follows a dramatic months-long saga, following an earlier takeover bid for Warner Bros by Netflix, which the streaming service later withdrew after Paramount submitted a rival, higher offer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ellison

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Ellison

A judge in rural southern Virginia on Wednesday ordered that the results of Tuesday’s vote not be certified on several grounds, including that state lawmakers did not follow their own rules in passing the redistricting referendum. Tazewell County Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley also called the ballot language put to voters “flagrantly misleading.”

Hurley barred state election officials from modifying election districts or proceeding with the new maps.

The fate of Virginia’s referendum was already before the state Supreme Court, which stayed a previous ruling by Hurley in the run-up to the referendum and allowed Tuesday’s vote to proceed before deciding the merits of that case. The case before the state Supreme Court is still pending.

The U.S. military on Thursday said it seized another tanker transporting oil from Iran in the Indian Ocean, a day after Iran took control of two commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran dismissed Trump's ceasefire extension as meaningless, saying the continued U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports is a violation of the deal and it will not return to negotiations until the blockade is lifted. The U.S. Central Command said it has directed 31 vessels to change course since imposing its blockade earlier this month.

Millar was arrested on June 14, 2025, after he “brandished” a handgun while clashing with a few of the thousands of protesters who attended a peaceful "No Kings" rally in downtown Nashville, according to Metro Nashville police.

A federal grand jury in Nashville recently returned a superseding indictment against Elijah Millar, 20, adding two additional firearms charges, as well as two counts of receiving child porn and possession of art work that depicted children engaged in sex acts.

Those charges are on top of an initial count for possession of a Sig Sauer 9 mm pistol at a June 2025 "No Kings" protest in downtown Nashville. Millar had previously been diagnosed with a mental illness that made it illegal for him to have a firearm.

The company, which is majority owned by Donald Trump, has seen its stock plummet 84 percent under Nunes’ leadership, from its debut price of $58 back in 2024. The current share price of around $9.80 is arguably still optimistic for a company that has lost $1.1 billion since it went public, and recorded just over $10.6 million in revenue in the same time.

Even as the company struggled, Nunes prospered. In 2024 alone, his pay outstripped any revenue the company has made over its lifetime—he drew a salary of $1 million, a bonus of $600,000 and was awarded stock worth another $46 million.

An appeals court has blocked a California law passed in 2025 requiring federal immigration agents to wear a badge or some form of identification.

The Trump administration filed a lawsuit in November challenging the law, arguing that it would threaten the safety of officers who are facing harassment, doxing, and violence and that it violated the constitution because the state is directly regulating the federal government.

Newly released documents show the Trump administration set up a legal framework allowing hundreds of millions of ​dollars in anonymous private donations to fund a planned White House ballroom, while limiting the scope of federal conflict-of-interest ‌reviews tied to the project.

The agreement — signed in October between the White House, the National Park Service and the Trust for the National Mall — lays out the legal and financial framework for a roughly $400 million project that would mark the most significant change to the White House complex in decades.

The contract ‌permits ⁠donors to remain anonymous and includes provisions restricting the disclosure of their identities, according to the document. It also establishes a review process for potential conflicts of interest involving the Park Service and Interior Department, but does not apply similar requirements to the White House or the president.

The planned ballroom would dwarf other parts of the White House campus, with administration officials describing a roughly 90,000-square-foot structure capable of hosting large-scale ​state events and receptions.

Texas can enforce a state law requiring public schools to display posters of the Ten Commandments in classrooms, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

A 9-8 majority of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Texas officials’ favor, concluding that the law does not establish an official state religion.

“It does not tell churches or synagogues or mosques what to believe or how to worship or whom to employ as priests, rabbis, or imams,” according to the ruling. “It punishes no one who rejects the Ten Commandments, no matter the reason.”

The ballot measure will redraw the state's congressional map, and could allow Democrats to win as many as four House seats that are currently held by Republicans.

"Virginia just changed the trajectory of the 2026 midterms," Don Scott, who is the Democratic speaker of Virginia's statehouse, posted on social media.

"At a moment when Trump and his allies are trying to lock in power before voters have a say, Virginians stepped up and leveled the playing field for the entire country."

The Trump family's World Liberty Financial crypto venture is being sued by one of its billionaire backers over allegations of extortion.

Justin Sun has accused World Liberty of an "illegal scheme" to seize his WLFI tokens, a cryptocurrency issued by the company.

Sun alleges the firm, co-founded by US President Donald Trump and his son Eric Trump, has "frozen" all of his tokens and stripped him of his right to vote on governance issues.

World Liberty has denied wrongdoing and accused Sun of "playing the victim while making baseless allegations to cover up his own misconduct".

"The Fed has been plagued by deeply disturbing ethics scandals in recent years involving at least six Fed officials, so it's critical that the next chair have no financial conflicts – none," Warren said. "You have more than $100 million in investments that you have refused to disclose to ethics officials and to the public, so let me ask, do the Juggernaut fund or the TSDFS LLC invest in any companies affiliated with President Trump or his family, companies that have facilitated money laundering, Chinese-controlled companies or financing vehicles established by Jeffrey Epstein?"

Warsh agreed that ethics scandals undermined the Fed's credibility, but Warren redirected him.

"Answer my question please," she said. "I ask, you have $100 million in undisclosed assets, and what I'm asking is, are any of those with this outfit that invests in us companies affiliated with President Trump or his family, companies that have facilitated money laundering, Chinese-controlled companies or financing vehicles set up by Jeffrey Epstein? It's a yes-or-no question."

U.S. airports could face a new wave of long security lines as early as May after ​the nation's homeland security chief said on Tuesday that he will run ‌out of money to pay for 50,000 workers due to a partial government shutdown.

President Donald Trump in late March directed DHS to use emergency funds to pay Transportation Security Administration workers who had gone without paychecks ​for about six weeks, causing disruptions at U.S. airports. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne ​Mullin told "Fox and Friends" on Tuesday that the money would run out ⁠by early May.

Members of both parties have for months been hijacking House Oversight Committee business to call votes on subpoenas for high-profile figures in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation — and Democrats say chair James Comer has quietly instituted a new strategy to contain the practice.

The Kentucky Republican’s workaround, they allege, is to hold “roundtables” on various issues within the panel’s jurisdiction rather than hearings. Roundtables are more informal and don’t permit members to offer motions to subpoena witnesses during unrelated committee business, as is allowed during hearings.

Over the past year, some GOP members have joined with Democrats to take advantage of the panel’s subpoena rules. In July, they voted on a surprise motion to release the full Epstein files when top congressional Republicans were dragging their feet. Lawmakers also compelled now-former Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify and were prepared to haul in Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, too, before he said he would appear before the committee voluntarily.

Now, he's shrugging off a law Congress passed decades ago to preserve White House papers — and historians are taking him to court.

At stake is the fate of millions of papers and electronic messages — not just for Trump's second term in office, but for future presidents and people who want to understand them.

Matthew Connelly, a history professor at Columbia University, says the move shows Trump is trying to ensure the presidency "is answerable to no one, not even the court of history."

"This latest case is just another example of the utter contempt with which they hold not just history but the rights of their fellow citizens to hold them to account," he said, about the current administration.

FBI Director Kash Patel has filed a $250m (£185m) defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic, accusing the magazine of publishing false and damaging claims about his conduct in office.

Patel alleges that the magazine published harmful claims, including accusations of excessive drinking and unexplained absences from duty.

The article, citing sources, also alleged that Patel's conduct created a risk to public safety and national security.

The Atlantic has defended its reporting. To win a defamation suit in the US, public officials must demonstrate that a publisher acted with actual malice.

"We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit," the magazine said in a statement.

Florida has launched a criminal investigation into OpenAI and its chatbot ChatGPT following a deadly shooting at Florida State University in 2025.

Attorney General James Uthmeier said the investigation is tied to a review of chat logs between the gunman and ChatGPT.

“This criminal investigation will determine whether OpenAI bears criminal responsibility for ChatGPT’s actions in the shooting at Florida State University last year,” Uthmeier said.