Key events
European allies should not worry about the United States’ commitment to Nato, Mark Rutte, the chief of the military alliance, said on Tuesday, speaking before a summit that is likely to sign off a big new spending goal.
The two-day gathering is intended to signal to Russian president Vladimir Putin that Nato is united, despite US president Donald Trump’s previous criticism of the alliance, and determined to expand and upgrade its defences to deter any attack from Moscow.
“There is total commitment by the US president and the US senior leadership to Nato,” Rutte told a public forum before the formal opening of the summit, adding, however, that such backing came with an expectation that European countries and Canada spend more on defence.
The WhatsApp messaging service has been banned on all US House of Representatives devices, according to a memo sent to House staff on Monday.
The notice to all House staff said that the “Office of Cybersecurity has deemed WhatsApp a high-risk to users due to the lack of transparency in how it protects user data, absence of stored data encryption, and potential security risks involved with its use.”
The memo, from the chief administrative officer, recommended use of other messaging apps, including Microsoft Corp’s Teams platform, Amazon.com’s Wickr, Signal, Apple’s iMessage, and Facetime.
Meta, which owns WhatsApp, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
New Yorkers vote in mayoral primary as polls show Mamdami leading Cuomo
Adam Gabbatt
New Yorkers are headed to the polls on Tuesday in a primary election that is both likely to decide the city’s next mayor and have major political implications for the future of the Democratic party.
The race pits two drastically different Democrats against one another. Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist endorsed by the progressive wing of the Democratic party, is the main challenger to Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor who has been backed by the party’s centrists and billionaire donors.
Cuomo, who resigned as governor in 2021 after more than a dozen women accused him of sexual harassment, was the clear frontrunner earlier in the year. But Mamdani has enjoyed a meteoric surge in polls in recent weeks, and could benefit from the primary’s ranked-choice voting system.
Voters can rank five candidates in order of preference, and a poll released on Monday showed Mamdani winning the primary after multiple rounds of counting. Last week, Mamdani announced he was “cross-endorsing” with Brad Lander, a fellow progressive who was recently arrested by Ice agents while visiting an immigration court.
US supreme court allows Trump officials to deport migrants to countries other than their own
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We start with news that the US supreme court on Monday paved the way for the Trump administration to resume deporting migrants to countries they are not from, including to conflict-ridden places such as South Sudan.
In a brief, unsigned order, the court’s conservative supermajority paused the ruling by a Boston-based federal judge who said immigrants deserved a “meaningful opportunity” to bring claims that they would face the risk of torture, persecution or even death if removed to certain countries that have agreed to take people deported from the US.
As a result of Monday’s ruling, the administration will now be allowed to swiftly deport immigrants to so-called “third countries”, including a group of men held at a US military base in Djibouti who the administration tried to send to South Sudan.
The court offered no explanation for its decision and ordered the judge’s ruling paused while the appeals process plays out. The three liberal justices issued a scathing dissent.
The Department of Homeland Security hailed the decision as a “victory for the safety and security of the American people”.
“DHS can now execute its lawful authority and remove illegal aliens to a country willing to accept them,” spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “Fire up the deportation planes.”
Read the full story here:
In other developments:
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Donald Trump announced that Israel and Iran had reached a ceasefire in a post published on his social media platform. Iran and Israel had not immediately verified the deal. The news came just hours after Iran launched a retaliatory strike on a US military base in Qatar.
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CIA director John Ratcliffe and director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard will brief members of Congress today on US military action in Iran. Top Democrats began calling for a classified briefing after the United States launched military strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities over the weekend. Democratic members of “the Gang of Eight” say they have not been briefed on the situation yet, although Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson was briefed this morning.
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Health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr met with major health insurers today, extracting pledges that they will take additional measures to simplify their requirements for prior approval on medicines and medical services. Kennedy, who is known for pushing anti-vaccine conspiracies, is set to speak this week at a fundraising event for Gavi, a public-private partnership which helps buy vaccines for the world’s poorest children.
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Canada signed a defense pact with the European Union – the latest sign of the North American country’s shift away reliance on the United States amid strained relations with Donald Trump. Trump is set to attend a two day Nato summit beginning tomorrow. The White House said that at the summit, Trump will push Nato members to increase defense spending.
