Layoffs and funding cuts to Fema and Noaa will impact how they predict and respond to disasters, warns professor Samantha Montano

The Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to disaster management will cost lives in the US, with hollowed-out agencies unable to accurately predict, prepare for or respond to extreme weather events, earthquakes and pandemics, a leading expert has warned.

Samantha Montano, professor of emergency management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy and author of Disasterology: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis, said the death toll from disasters including hurricanes, tornadoes and water pollution will rise in the US unless Trump backtracks on mass layoffs and funding cuts to key agencies. That includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), whose work relies heavily on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), which is also being dismantled.

JP Morgan boss says Buffett represents ‘everything good about American capitalism and America itself’

Leading figures in the business world have lined up to pay tribute to Warren Buffett after the 94-year-old announced he would retire as chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway and hand over the reins to his vice-chair, Greg Abel.

Buffett shocked an arena full of shareholders over the weekend when he announced he would step down as the CEO and chair of the trillion-dollar conglomerate at the end of this year.

Billionaire shocked audience of investors with disclosure and said his vice-chair, Greg Abel, should take over

Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor and philanthropist, has announced his intention to retire at the end of this year. He is 94 years old.

Buffett, the fifth-richest person in the world, shocked an arena full of shareholders on Saturday when he announced that he would step down as the CEO and chair of the trillion-dollar conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway at the end of 2025. He will recommend to the 11-person board that his vice-chair, Greg Abel, who currently oversees most of the company’s investments, be named as his successor, Buffett said.

Mohsen Mahdawi, student detained by Ice last month, pens blistering attack on Trump’s deportation policies

Mohsen Mahdawi, the Palestinian green-card holder and Columbia University student freed on Wednesday after more than two weeks in immigration detention, has issued a stark warning about the US’s descent into authoritarianism.

“Once the repression of dissent, in the name of security, becomes a key objective of a government, authoritarian rule and even martial law are not far off. When they look at my case, all Americans should ask themselves: what is left of our democracy, and who will be targeted next?” said Mahdawi in an op-ed for the New York Times.

The broadcaster, a target of president’s sweeping cuts to US media agencies, could be back on air as soon as next week

Voice of America (VoA), the US-taxpayer funded news service for overseas listeners, could be back on the air as soon as next week, after a federal appeals court granted a temporary stay on an executive order dismantling the broadcaster.

VoA was effectively shut down after Trump signed an order on 14 March dismantling or shrinking seven agencies including the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM).

Guardian reporters map out how Trump is eviscerating efforts to protect the natural world – from ‘drill, baby, drill’ to mass firings

• 100 days of Trump: inside Trump’s whirlwind start to his second term

Donald Trump has never been mistaken for an environmentalist, having long called the climate crisis a “giant hoax” and repeatedly lauding the supposed virtues of fossil fuels.

But the US president’s onslaught upon the natural world in this administration’s first 100 days has surprised even those who closely charted his first term, in which he rolled back environmental rules and tore the US from the Paris climate agreement.

Taken more than 140 actions to roll back environmental rules and push for greater use of fossil fuels.

Set about rewriting regulations that limit pollution from cars, trucks and power plants.

Officially reconsidering whether greenhouse gases actually cause harm to public health.

Legally targeted states that have their own laws on tackling the climate crisis.

Speeded up environmental reviews of drilling projects, from years to just a few weeks.

Winding back water efficiency standards for showers and toilets and halting a phase-out of plastic straws