Donald Trump's humiliating day as his name is taken off the Kennedy Centre

Donald Trump's humiliating day as his name is taken off the Kennedy Centre It's Trump's birthday on Sunday, but judges in Washington seem in no mood to give him an early gift. Meanwhile, Iran might be nearly sorted... but we've said that before. Here's everything you need to know Washington DC feels very weird at the moment. It's always a pretty weird place, but a number of factors have combined to make it even weirder than usual. There's a giant spider looming over the White House, ready to host the UFC fight to mark Trump's 80th birthday. The Capitol end of the National Mall is fenced off as a FIFA World Cup "Fan Zone" - which keeps getting rained off, in typical Washington in June fashion. Most of the rest of the Mall is fenced off while the interior department builds the "Great American State Fair", part of the 250th Anniversary celebration - and which will include a scale model of Trump's plan for a giant triumphal archway a mile or so to the west. And the Lincoln Memorial was fenced off last night so Trump's UFC pals could hold a "press conference" - by which they mean lining up the guys who are about to beat each other senseless for Trump's amusement, and pretending to break them up when they pretend their aggression has bubbled over and start scrapping on stage. Meanwhile, there's a tarp over the Kennedy Centre, because Donald Trump loved it so much he slapped his name on it...and a judge said "no I don't think so." My point is, if you were visiting DC for the first time this week, you'd barely be able to see it for the sponsorship hoardings. Meanwhile in Trumpworld - Trump's name scrubbed off Kennedy Centre - Claude AI model slapped with ban - Iran deal 'closer than ever" - US 'kills gang leader' - Iran deal 'closer than ever' Here's everything you need to know Donald Trump gets his name scrubbed off the Kennedy Centre Hundreds of locals gathered to watch Donald Trump's name get scrubbed from the Kennedy Center after judges denied repeated pleas from the administration. Trump added his name to the concert hall and theatre without warning in December, after mounting a takeover of its board and installing himself as chair. Workmen, who had been interrupted both by thunderstorms and by attempts by the Justice Department to stall progress, worked into the early hours of this morning, building scaffolding around the world famous performing arts centre. A Federal Judge had ordered the removal of Trump's name two weeks ago, ruling the name of a Presidential memorial can only be changed with an act of Congress. But hours before the deadline the administration appealed against the ruling, and demanded a pause to allow the appeal to progress. When this was denied, they later demanded an injunction from the appeals court. This too was denied. As the midnight deadline passed, with workers still constructing the enormous scaffolding apparently necessary to unscrew the letters of his name, the administration filed a third motion - this time asking for more time in order to avoid being in contempt of court. They asked for a 12 hour extension, because their progress had been hampered by thunderstorms. Which it had been, but not for 12 hours. In fact, the longest delays had been caused by the Trump administration filing last-minute motions that were never going to work. As I write this, the workers have pulled a tarp around the entire signage, so the gathered crowd couldn't watch them remove the errant name after all. There were cries of "shame" as the curtain was drawn around the building. Trump slaps export ban on new Claude AI model The Trump administration has slapped export controls on a newly released Claude AI model, over national security fears. Developers Anthropic yanked the Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models from users overnight, after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik decreed it may only be used by American citizens, and not by foreign nationals. This caused a particular issue for Anthropic, because many of their staff are foreign nationals. In a statement Anthropic insisted the government was concerned about nothing, and that strong safeguards were in place to prevent Fable 5 being used as a hacking tool. US 'kills gang leader' Trump claims the alleged leader of the Tren de Aragua gang has been killed in a US strike. He said a “swift and lethal kinetic” strike has killed Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, whom he called “the infamous leader” of the Tren de Aragua gang. Tren de Aragua has been labeled by the United States as a terrorist organization. Guerrero Flores was charged in a New York federal court with racketeering conspiracy and other crimes, including lending support to terrorists in crimes that stretched more than a decade, authorities announced in December. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X that the strike occurred earlier in the week on a Tren de Aragua compound in Venezuela. Iran deal 'closer than ever' Pakistan’s prime minister said Friday the United States and Iran have agreed to wording of an agreement aimed at ending their war in the Middle East and that mediators were working with both sides to finalise a deal. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the U.S. and Iran have reached a “final, agreed upon text.” He said Pakistan, which has taken the lead in mediation efforts, was working with the warring countries on next steps. "Peace has never been this close as it is now,” Sharif said in a post on X. The apparent breakthrough in negotiations comes after Iran exchanged fire with the US and Israel over three days this week, threatening to return the Middle East to full-scale war.