White House pulls $1B from rail project in California

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Trump administration canceled nearly $1 billion Thursday in federal money for California’s high-speed rail project, further throwing into doubt the ambitious plan to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The administration said it might also try to force California to return $2.5 billion that has been spent.

The move by the Federal Railroad Administration came several months after President Donald Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom sniped at each other over the project.

Trump made the rail line an issue when he seized on Newsom’s remarks in February that the project as planned would cost too much and take too long.

Newsom declared the action “illegal and a direct assault on California” and said the state would go to court to keep the money. Garbage dump: The Philippines is recalling its ambassador and consuls in Canada over Ottawa’s failure to comply with a deadline to take back truckloads of garbage that Filipino officials say were illegally shipped to the Philippines years ago, officials said Thursday.

Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin tweeted that the Philippines “shall maintain a diminished diplomatic presence in Canada until its garbage is ship bound there.”

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte threatened last month to forcibly ship the containers of garbage back to Canada and dump some at its embassy in Manila if Canadian officials don’t take back the waste. Officials later set a May 15 deadline for Canada to comply.