Trump condemned for ‘dangerous’ move to seize control of DC police and deploy national guard | First Thing

Good morning.

Donald Trump has ordered the national guard to Washington DC and seized control of the city’s police force, describing a “lawless” city in ways that are sharply at odds with official crime statistics.

The president’s move was swiftly condemned as a “disgusting, dangerous and derogatory” assault on the political independence of a racially diverse city. The federal takeover is expected to be in effect for 30 days, the White House confirmed to the Guardian.

Speaking at a White House press conference on Monday, Trump alleged DC was “one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the world”, even though violent crime is at a 30-year low.

What do the crime figures tell us? That Trump is spreading a false narrative about DC crime – just as he did with LA. Violent crime in DC is at a 30-year low. In January, the Metropolitan police department and US attorney’s office released a report indicating that total violent crime in DC in 2024 was down 35% from the prior year, marking the lowest rate in over 30 years.
How are Democrats responding? Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic minority leader in the House, described Trump as a “wannabe king” and said: “We stand with the residents of the District of Columbia and reject this unjustified power grab as illegitimate.”

Global outrage mounts as funeral held for five journalists killed by Israel

The death of the prominent Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif, killed along with four colleagues in an Israeli airstrike on Sunday, prompted condemnation from around the world, as hundreds of mourners carried their bodies through the streets of Gaza City.

Sharif, one of Al Jazeera’s most recognisable faces in Gaza, was killed while inside a tent for journalists outside al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Sunday night. Seven people were killed in the attack, including the Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and the camera operators Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa, according to the Qatar-based broadcaster.

How deadly has the war been for journalists? Before Sunday’s airstrike, the Committee to Protect Journalists recorded at least 186 journalists and media workers killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel and Lebanon since the war began, making it the deadliest period for journalists since it began gathering data in 1992. The CPJ accuses Israel of directly targeting and killing 20 journalists and media workers. Any deliberate attack on a civilian could constitute a war crime, experts say. Israel, which has refused to let international media into Gaza, denies the accusation.

Trump nominates rightwing Heritage Foundation economist as labor statistics chief

Donald Trump has announced he is nominating EJ Antoni, the chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation, as the next commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The nomination comes after Trump fired the BLS commissioner, Erika McEntarfer, earlier this month following the release of a weak jobs report.

Trump, without evidence, alleged McEntarfer “faked” employment numbers in the run-up to the 2024 election to boost Kamala Harris’s chances and said that the recent data was “rigged” to make Trump and Republicans look bad.

What happens next? The Senate will have to confirm Antoni’s nomination to lead the BLS, an independent agency under the labor department. Experts fear Trump’s interventions will undermine the credibility of the agency’s economic data – long seen as a gold standard.

In other news …

Donald Trump said he and Vladimir Putin would discuss “land swapping” when they meet on Friday in Alaska for a summit on the Ukraine war, and expressed frustration with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Meanwhile, Trump again delayed implementing sweeping tariffs on China, announcing another 90-day pause hours before the last agreement expired.
An explosion at a US Steel plant in Pennsylvania killed two people and injured at least 10 on Monday. “It felt like thunder,” said one worker near the scene.
Spain’s central government has ordered officials in a Spanish town to scrap a ban on religious gatherings in public sports centers, describing it as a “discriminatory” measure mainly affecting Muslims.

Stat of the day: Farmers displaced by $1.5bn Trump golf course reportedly being offered rice and cash

Villagers whose farms in Vietnam will be bulldozed to make way for a $1.5bn golf resort backed by the Trump family have reportedly been offered rice provisions and cash compensation of as little as $12 for a square meter of land by state authorities. Thousands of villagers will be offered compensation based on land size and location, according to a report by Reuters.

Don’t miss this: ‘If these words reach you … Israel has succeeded in killing me’ – the last words of journalist Anas al-Sharif killed by Israel

Anas al-Sharif, an Al Jazeera reporter, was killed by an Israeli airstrike on Sunday night. Before his killing, he prepared a message for his family, and calling for the world not to forget Gaza. “I have lived through pain in all its details, tasted suffering and loss many times, yet I never once hesitated to convey the truth as it is, without distortion or falsification,” he writes.

Climate check: How ‘nurdles’ are polluting the oceans

Nurdles: they’re buoyant, the size of a lentil and almost impossible to recover. Millions of these tiny plastic pellets are being washed up on the coast of Kerala in India in the latest in a series of global spills – with sea creatures thinking they’re eggs – as plastic treaty talks continue in Geneva until Thursday.

Last Thing: What’s behind the surprising boom in ventriloquism?

Ventriloquism is back in vogue on stage and online. Its new hip practitioners explain why their vocal tricks and errant dummies are wowing audiences again. “It is very stripped back. That’s why it feels fresh,” one ventriloquist says.