May 21, 2026

A United States trade court has ruled against President Donald Trump’s universal 10 per cent tariff rate, dealing another blow to his signature economic policy. A panel of judges at the US Court of International Trade found two-to-one that the Trump administration lacks a justification to impose the tariffs under a 1970s law. Mr Trump ordered the tariffs on most imports to the US in February, after the Supreme Court deemed his wide swathe of “Liberation Day” tariffs unlawful. A group of small businesses challenged the new rate, which was enacted for 150 days, or through to July. Today’s decision … Read more

May 21, 2026

Trump says Iran’s response to peace proposal “totally unacceptable”

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The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday announced a new round of sanctions against 10 individuals and companies it accused of helping enable Iran’s drone and ballistic missile programs. The sanctions, implemented by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, target those “that are enabling efforts by Iran’s military to secure weapons, as well as raw materials with applications in Iran’s Shahed‑series unmanned aerial vehicles and ballistic missile program,” the Treasury Department said in a news release. The State Department was targeting another four entities with sanctions, the Treasury Department said.  Among those sanctioned were companies based in China, Dubai, … Read more

May 21, 2026

Election results, Iran, NCAA in Daily Briefing

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Updated May 20, 2026, 7:34 a.m. ET Welcome to the Daily Briefing. Here’s what’s breaking this morning: Nicole Fallert here. Gooo Gunners! We have the news to know on Wednesday, including results from primaries across the country and college baseball heating up. Trump-backed candidate advances in Kentucky Yesterday was packed with elections across six states for U.S. Senate, House and gubernatorial races, among other state-level elections. Here are a few key takeaways: President Donald Trump catapulted his least favorite House Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie out of office in another successful Make America Great Again purge ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. … Read more

May 20, 2026

Breaking with the US will be painful for Australia in many ways – but it’s inevitable | John Quiggin

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Donald Trump’s announcement of a “liberation day”, involving the imposition of tariffs on almost every country in the world, is one of a series of measures which call for an urgent reorientation of Australia’s economic and foreign policy. It is, in effect, a commitment to remove the United States from the global economy, which is seen by Trump as unfair and exploitative of Americans. The 10% tariff imposed on Australian exports is not of great concern in itself. The US is only our fifth-largest export market and would be ranked even lower by measures that aggregated the EU and Asean … Read more

May 20, 2026

Trump orders U.S. to attack Iran boats mining Strait of Hormuz

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A 21-year-old woman in Lebanon spoke to NBC News about Israel’s war against Hezbollah from a refugee facility in Beirut. The house, previously a school, is holding 400 people, including 120 children. Marwa Yazbek is from Dihariya, a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut, which was ground zero for Israeli strikes when the war broke out. “The bomb started beside us, actually, and then we tried to go and get our stuff,” she said. Yazbek is studying medicine and is living with her family among strangers in the refugee camp, trying to study on her iPad while kids play tag in … Read more

May 20, 2026

Why the Iran war is breaking the US-European strategic alliance | Politics

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