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The U.S. Department of Transportation has ordered state officials to scrutinize all projects that received federal grant spending over the past four years on bike lanes, electric vehicle charging stations and other “green infrastructure,” with an eye toward potentially canceling any project that doesn’t align with the Trump administration’s goals.

The University of Washington and Washington State University are among more than 50 universities under investigation for alleged racial discrimination as part of President Donald Trump’s campaign to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs that his officials say exclude white and Asian American students.

The Education Department announced the new investigations Friday, a month after issuing a memo warning America’s schools and colleges that they could lose federal money over “race-based preferences” in admissions, scholarships or any aspect of student life.

Not long after the hearing, however, the attorney reached back out to the court to claim that he had been mistaken. “I was wrong,” Cohen said. “The Commission does not have resource constraints, and we are fully prepared to litigate this case,” the lawyer relayed. “Please be assured that the FTC will meet whatever schedule and deadlines the court sets.”

Amazon has shot down the idea that the government isn’t prepared for the case. “There has been no showing on this call that the government does not have the resources to proceed to trial with the trial date as presently set,” said John Hueston, the company’s lawyer. “What I heard is that they’ve got the whole trial team still intact. Maybe there’s going to be an office move. And by the way, both in government and private sector, I’ve never heard of an office move being more than a few days disruptive.”

In Wednesday’s court filing, the bank said it had temporarily frozen the accounts of climate grant recipients at the FBI’s recommendation. Citibank said it had been informed by the federal government that the Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which issued the grants, was “subject to an ongoing criminal investigation.” This fund was authorized in 2022 through the Inflation Reduction Act and received $27 billion in funding.

Tech Crunch reported that the FBI asked Citibank to freeze several “nonprofit and state government agency accounts, including Habitat for Humanity, United Way, the Colorado Clean Energy Fund, and New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.”

Saying the Trump administration is sabotaging civil rights enforcement by the Department of Education, a federal lawsuit filed Friday morning seeks to stop the president and Secretary Linda McMahon from carrying out the mass firing of civil rights investigators and lawyers.

Two parents and the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, a national disability rights group, jointly filed the lawsuit. It alleges that decimating the department’s Office for Civil Rights will leave the agency unable to handle the public’s complaints of discrimination at school. That, they said, would violate the equal protection clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

In Thursday's hearing in San Francisco, California, Judge Alsup countered the DOJ lawyer's arguments from the bench, citing evidence including termination letters that stated the firings were carried out on OPM's instructions.

"That should not have been done in our country," Judge Alsup said. "It was a sham in order to avoid statutory requirements."

Danielle Leonard, a lawyer representing a coalition of government employee unions, said probationary employees were targeted because they lacked the right to appeal.

During the hearing, Judge Alsup also lamented the firing of a government worker in Albuquerque, New Mexico who had been given top marks for performance but was then issued a pink slip citing performance as the cause of their termination.

"I just want to say it is a sad day when our government would fire a good employee and say it's for performance when they know good and well that's a lie," Judge Alsup said.

Passengers on an American Airlines flight were evacuated on to the tarmac of an airport in Colorado as a fire broke out on the plane, sending smoke billowing into the air.

Footage of the evacuation showed passengers huddled on the wing of the Boeing airliner, some holding bags, with flames burning near the bottom of the plane.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said passengers used inflatable slides to reach the ground safely at the Denver International Airport. The agency said that it would investigate the cause of the incident.

There were no reports of serious injuries, although the airport later confirmed 12 people were taken to hospital for minor injuries.

His remarks came at the start of the quarterly meeting of the Business Roundtable, a nonpartisan Washington-based economic advocacy group comprising more than 200 CEOs with the following high profile members.

• Apple CEO Tim Cook
• JPMorgan Chase boss Jamie Dimon
• GM chief Mary Barra
• Walmart CEO Doug McMillon

The meeting came as financial markets continued their downward slide on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost as much as 700 points before ending the trading day down 478 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq also closed lower.

Much of Wall Street’s uncertainty has centered on Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs on Canada and Mexico. But Trump has brushed off calls for clarity from the business community, as well as fears that his expanding tariff plans risk stoking an out-of-control trade war.

The announcement came after Bloomberg reported last Thursday that Walmart had asked some Chinese suppliers, including makers of kitchenware and clothing, to lower prices by as much as 10% for each round of U.S. tariffs.

“If this is true, it is unreasonable for Walmart to require Chinese suppliers to bear all tariffs, which will disrupt fair competition and foreign trade order,” the report said, according to a CNBC translation of the Chinese.

Walmart’s reported move “may create the risk of supply chain disruption and harm the interests of Chinese and American companies and American consumers,” it added, warning of further actions if the company fails to correct its course.

Canadians who visit the US for more than 30 days will be required to register with authorities and have their fingerprints taken, as the Trump administration tightens migration rules amid soaring tensions between the North American neighbors.

The new requirement, effective from 11 April, will harden enforcement of an existing law, which states that all foreign nationals 14 years old or older who plan to stay in the US for 30 days or more must register with the authorities.

In practice, that rule has not been applied consistently to Canadians entering the United States across the 5,525-mile land border between the two countries.

A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked parts of President Trump's executive order targeting a prominent law firm for its representation of Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign and for causes unpopular with his administration.

President Trump issued an executive order last week that accuses Perkins Coie of "dishonest and dangerous activity" and seeks to impose several punitive measures, including suspending security clearances held by Perkins Coie employees and prohibiting government contractors from retaining the firm. It also bars the firm's employees from federal buildings, and prohibits federal employees from engaging with Perkins Coie staff.

At a hearing in federal court in Washington, D.C., U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell issued a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of the executive order. Ruling from the bench, Howell said the president's order against Perkins Coie is clearly intended to punish the firm, and likely violates its First, Fifth and Sixth amendment rights.