Trump administration revokes visas of UK rap duo over Glastonbury chant
UK rap duo Bob Vylan have had their US visas revoked after leading a controversial anti-Israel chant at Glastonbury, triggering political backlash and a police probe.
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The Trump administration has cancelled the visas of UK rap group Bob Vylan after the band’s frontman led an anti-Israel chant during their Glastonbury performance.
The London-based duo, known for confronting racism and social injustice in their lyrics, drew backlash from British and international politicians after encouraging the crowd to chant “Death to the IDF” — a reference to the Israeli military.
The incident has sparked a police investigation and intensified diplomatic tensions surrounding political speech at major public events.
In a post on X, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau announced the US would revoke visas for both of Bob Vylan’s members, ahead of its American tour dates later this year.
“Foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors in our country,” he wrote.
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US SENATE EDGES NAIL BITING VOTE ON TRUMP SPENDING BILL
US senators began voting on Donald Trump’s flagship spending bill, as the deeply divisive package - expected to slash social programs for the poor and add an eye-watering US$3 trillion to the national debt - entered its frenetic home stretch.
President Trump wants what he calls the “One Big Beautiful Bill” to extend his expiring first-term tax cuts at a cost of US$4.5 trillion to the budget, boost military spending and fund his plans for unprecedented mass deportations and border security.
Yet even as the process reaches its climax, Republican meeting rooms are still reverberating with bitter rows over the deep cuts to welfare programs planned to offset the bill’s massive costs.
Senators eyeing 2026 midterm congressional elections are divided over savings that would strip some US$1 trillion in subsidied health care from millions of the poorest Americans and add more than US$3.3 trillion to the nation’s already yawning budget deficit over a decade.
Mr Trump wants to have the package on his desk by the time Independence Day festivities begin on Friday.
“ONE GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL, is moving along nicely!” he posted on his Truth Social platform late Sunday.
Given Mr Trump’s iron grip on the party, he is expected to get what he wants in the Senate where Republicans hold a razor-tight majority, while Democrats will overwhelmingly vote no.
It will be a huge win for the Republican leader - who has been criticized for imposing many of his priorities through executive orders that sidestep the scrutiny of Congress.
But the vote on final passage will still be a nail-biter and can only take place after a marathon series of attempted amendments.
Known as a “vote-a-rama,” the session allows senators to offer unlimited tweaks to the 940-page text for floor votes, meaning the process can extend well beyond 12 hours.
Even then, the Senate bill will have to pass a separate vote in the House of Representatives, where Republicans also have a narrow majority.
Mr Trump’s heavy pressure to declare victory has put more vulnerable Republicans in a difficult position.
Independent studies have concluded that the bill would ultimately pave the way for a historic redistribution of wealth from the poorest 10 percent of Americans to the richest.
And cuts to the Medicaid program - which helps low-income Americans get coverage in a country with notoriously expensive medical insurance - and cuts to the Affordable Care Act would result in nearly 12 million more uninsured people by 2034, independent analysis shows.
Polls show the bill is among the most unpopular ever considered across multiple demographic, age and income groups.
World’s richest person and former top Trump advisor Elon Musk - who fell out with the president over the bill - said the Senate text was “utterly insane” for seeking to gut government subsidies for clean energy.
“It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future,” said Musk, who is the world’s richest person, and heads electric vehicle company Tesla and space flight firm SpaceX, among others.
TRUMP STEPS UP HARVARD ‘ANTI-SEMITISM’ ATTACKS
The Trump administration has formally accused Harvard University of violating civil rights laws by not doing enough to combat campus antisemitism, and is threatening to pull all federal funding from the prestige school.
The stark warning came by way of a letter from the federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, claiming Harvard has been “in some cases deliberately indifferent, and in others has been a willful participant in anti-Semitic harassment of Jewish students, faculty, and staff” since Hamas’ terror attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.
“Failure to institute adequate changes immediately will result in the loss of all federal financial resources and continue to affect Harvard’s relationship with the federal government,” officials wrote in a letter to Harvard President Alan Garber.
The notice of violation follows an investigation led by the Department of Health and Human Services, which the administration says has given Harvard nearly US$800 million in federal funds since fiscal year 2023.
CANADA CAVES IN TO TRUMP, SCRAPS DIGITAL TAX ON US FIRMS
Canada has abruptly scrapped its plan to enforce a new digital service tax on American tech firms, days after President Trump blasted the “foolish” move as a “direct and blatant attack” on the United States.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney caved just hours before the new levy was slated to come into effect on Monday, as the country now scrambles to revive stalled trade negotiations ahead of a looming July 21 deadline.
A fuming Mr Trump had nixed the trade talks on Friday after Canada said it was sticking with its plan to slap companies including Amazon, Google, Meta, Uber and Airbnb with a 3 per cent levy on revenue from Canadian users.
The tax would have been applied retroactively, leaving the companies with a $2 billion bill due in the US at the end of the month.
Mr Trump ripped the tax and quickly vowed to set a new tariff rate on Canadian goods within the next week, threatening to upend US-Canada relations once again.
Carney’s office has since revealed he spoke with President Trump on Sunday night and agreed to halt the tax in a bid to resume talks.
TRUMP ‘NOT OFFERING IRAN ANYTHING’
President Trump said he was not offering Iran anything nor talking to it “since we totally obliterated” the country’s nuclear facilities.
“I am not offering Iran ANYTHING, unlike Obama,” Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“Nor am I even talking to them since we totally OBLITERATED their Nuclear Facilities.” The statement comes as Iran’s deputy foreign minister told the BBC that talks between Washington and Tehran cannot resume unless the US rules out further strikes on Iran.
Majid Takht-Ravanchi told the British broadcaster that the US had signalled it wants to return to the negotiating table, a week after it struck three Iranian nuclear facilities.
“We have not agreed to any date, we have not agreed to the modality,” said Takht-Ravanchi.
“Right now we are seeking an answer to this question. Are we going to see a repetition of an act of aggression while we are engaging in dialogue?”
The US needs to be “quite clear on this very important question”, he said.
It is not clear yet how much damage the strikes inflicted on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which Mr Trump has said were “totally obliterated”.
UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said Iran would probably be able to begin to produce enriched uranium “in a matter of months”.
Takht-Ravanchi said he did not know how long it would take.
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Originally published as Trump administration revokes visas of UK rap duo over Glastonbury chant
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