Federal judge pauses Trump's triumphal arch for 14 days

US District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Friday ordered a 14-day pause on any construction of the 250-foot (76-metre) triumphal arch President Donald Trump has proposed building by Arlington National Cemetery in Washington. The order came a day after the National Capital Planning Commission approved the arch by a final vote of 8 to 4, following a nine-hour hearing on Thursday at which dozens of witnesses spoke against the project, and despite the administration having said last week that construction could begin as soon as Thursday.

The ruling follows a series of lawsuits challenging the arch, including one filed in February by a group of Vietnam war veterans who argued in court filings that the line of sight between Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial was carefully designed to symbolise the unification of the country after the Civil War, and that the arch could block it. Trump first proposed the arch last year to mark 250 years of US independence. The pause is temporary and is not a final ruling on the project.