Category Archives: US foreign policy

Google Maps will rename Gulf of Mexico as Gulf of America in US

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Tech firm to make change in line with Trump’s executive order, using both names in world outside US and Mexico

Google has confirmed it will rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America on Google Maps in the US, after an executive order from Donald Trump.

It will remain the Gulf of Mexico in Mexico, while users outside of the US and Mexico will see both names on Google Maps. The Alaskan peak Denali, the tallest mountain in North America, will also be changed to Mount McKinley in the US in line with Trump’s executive order on 20 January.

Reuters contributed to this report

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What would happen if the US military went after cartels on Mexican soil?

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Experts say any incursion could come with serious repercussions, include violence against US tourists

Evan Hafer, a popular veteran and founder of Black Rifle Coffee, was on Joe Rogan’s podcast after the November election. As with any Maga acolyte, the US-Mexico border figured prominently in his mind.

“If we declare war on the cartel, these dudes are not going to understand what the fuck is going on. They are in for a world of ultra-violence,” said Hafer, who served in the Green Berets and the CIA.

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Trump threatens ‘disciplinary action’ for USAid staff ignoring foreign aid freeze

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Memo offers further guidance to ‘stop-work’ directive and how to achieve Trump’s America first policy

Donald Trump urged US Agency for International Development (USAid) workers to join the effort to transform how the federal government allocates aid around the world in line with his America first policy. His administration threatened “disciplinary action” for any staff ignoring the its orders, issued days into Trump’s second presidency.

A sharply-worded memo sent Saturday to more than 10,000 staff at USAid offered further guidance to Friday’s “stop-work” directive that effectively put a sweeping freeze on US foreign aid worldwide. The memo, reviewed by Reuters, laid out expectations for the workforce on how to achieve Trump’s goals.

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Donald Trump says residents of Greenland want to be part of US

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President tells reporters he believes US will take control of island, after reports of ‘horrendous’ call with Denmark PM

Donald Trump has said he believes the US will take control of Greenland, after details emerged of a “horrendous” call in which he made economic threats to Denmark, which has said the territory is not for sale.

Speaking onboard Air Force One on Saturday, Trump said: “I think we’re going to have it,” and claimed that the Arctic island’s 57,000 residents “want to be with us”.

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Trump again demands to buy Greenland in ‘horrendous’ call with Danish PM

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Source says: ‘The Danes are in crisis mode’ after US president’s call with prime minister Mette Frederiksen

Donald Trump had a fiery phone call with Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen over his demands to buy Greenland, according to senior European officials.

Speaking to the Financial Times, officials said that Trump, then still president-elect, spoke with Frederiksen for 45 minutes last week, during which he was described to be aggressive and confrontational about Frederiksen’s refusal to sell Greenland to the US.

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US orders halt to virtually all foreign aid except for Israel and Egypt

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Internal memo to US state department staff explicitly makes exceptions for military assistance to Israel and Egypt

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has ordered a halt to virtually all foreign aid, but made an exception for funding to Israel and Egypt, according to an internal memo to staff at the US state department.

“No new funds shall be obligated for new awards or extensions of existing awards until each proposed new award or extension has been reviewed and approved … as consistent with President Trump’s agenda,” said the memo.

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How the world has responded to Trump’s Paris climate agreement withdrawal

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From Europe to Africa and South America, countries reaffirm commitment to tackle crisis

World leaders, senior ministers and key figures in climate diplomacy have, one by one, reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris agreement this week, in response to the order by Donald Trump to withdraw the US from the pact.

The prospect of the world keeping temperatures to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, as the treaty calls for, was damaged by the incoming US president’s move. Hopes of meeting the target were already fast receding, and last year was the first to consistently breach the 1.5C limit, but the goal will be measured over years or even decades and stringent cuts to emissions now could still make a difference.

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North Korea preparing to send more troops to Ukraine war, says South Korea

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Pyongyang said to be planning to increase support despite high casualties among estimated 11,000 already sent

North Korea is preparing to send more soldiers to fight in the Ukraine war, military officials in South Korea have said, despite reports of heavy casualties among troops from the communist state who have already been sent to the battlefield.

The claim that Pyongyang could be planning to increase its support for the Kremlin came as Donald Trump suggested he would attempt to rekindle his relationship with Kim Jong-un, describing the North Korean leader as a “smart guy” in an interview with Fox News.

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Trump threatens Putin with taxes, tariffs and sanctions over Ukraine war

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US president tells his Russian counterpart to ‘settle now and stop this ridiculous war’ or face repercussions

Donald Trump has threatened Russia with taxes, tariffs and sanctions if a deal to end the war in Ukraine is not struck soon, as the new US president tries to increase pressure on Moscow to start negotiations with Kyiv.

Writing in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump said Russia’s economy was failing and urged Vladimir Putin to “settle now and stop this ridiculous war”.

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Top Iranian politician appeals to Trump to restart nuclear deal negotiations

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Mohammad Javad Zarif says he hopes new Trump administration will be more serious, focused and realistic

A senior Iranian politician has appealed to Donald Trump to begin new negotiations with Tehran over its civil nuclear programme, saying: “I hope that this time around, [Trump 2.0] will be more serious, more focused, more realistic.”

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s vice-president for strategic affairs, pointed out that the returning US president had not reappointed figures from his first term such as the former secretary of state Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton, who persuaded him in 2018 to quit the nuclear deal on the basis that withdrawal would lead to the regime’s collapse.

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Trump threatens China sanctions and puts diversity staff on leave – US politics live

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New US president threatens to ignite trade war, accusing China of ‘sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada’

The Wall Street Journal has spoken to some federal workers affected by the slew of executive orders signed by president Donald Trump at the outset of his second term as president, and reports “a sense of anxiety and confusion” among staff.

One person, a product-support manager for the US navy, said “It’s leaving a lot of uncertainty that folks have never really had to feel. It seems like there is a level of distrust with how things are working.”

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Qatari, US and Egyptian negotiators set up Cairo hub to shore up Gaza ceasefire

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Communication lines open 24 hours intended to avoid breakdown over reported violations and other issues

Qatari, US and Egyptian negotiators are running a communications hub in Cairo to protect the ceasefire in Gaza, as Donald Trump said he was not confident the break in fighting would hold.

Violations have already been reported. Medics in Gaza said on Monday that eight people had been hit by Israeli fire. The start of the ceasefire was also delayed when Hamas did not provide the names of hostages to be released.

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Strike Houthis while Iran is weak, UN-backed Yemeni government urges west

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Tehran ‘massively weakened’ by reverses in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza, says vice-president of Aden-based administration

The west should seize the opportunity to target the Tehran-backed Houthi leadership in Yemen while the Iranian government is weakened, the vice-president of the UN-backed government in Aden has said.

Aidarus al-Zoubaidi said that Iran’s reverses in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza had left the country “massively weakened”. “They have one remaining domain and that is Yemen,” Zoubaidi told the Guardian. “Now is the time to counter the Houthis and push them back into their position.”

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Putin and Xi hold video call in show of unity hours after Trump inauguration

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Timing may show two leaders want to coordinate approach in engaging with new US administration over Ukraine

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, held a video call with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in a symbolic display of unity just hours after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the US.

Speaking from his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Putin highlighted the close ties between the two countries, stating that their relations were based on “shared interests, equality, and mutual benefit“, calling Xi his “dear friend”.

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Trump refugee ban ‘strands Afghans endangered by US withdrawal’

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More than 1,600 people eligible to resettle in the United States are waiting to flee Afghanistan and Pakistan, say advocates

More than 1,600 Afghans eligible to enter the US as refugees will see their entry blocked under an executive order signed by Donald Trump on Monday evening that suspends the resettlement of all refugees to the United States for an indefinite period of time.

The decision has led to panic among prospective Afghan refugees, including family members of hundreds of active-duty service personnel and children waiting to be reunited with family members already in the US, according to a leading refugee resettlement activist and a US official who spoke with the Guardian on condition of anonymity.

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Trump claims to be ‘peacemaker’ as he vows to ‘take back’ Panama canal

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Desire to be ‘unifier’ rubs up against 47th US president’s ambitions for territorial expansion

Donald Trump offered a bombastic and contradictory vision for US foreign policy at his inauguration on Monday, declaring that he would be a “peacemaker and unifier” even as he repeated his vow to “take back” the Panama canal.

In his speech, Trump said that the Panama canal, which was built by the US in the early 1900s but ultimately given to Panama in 1977 under a treaty that guaranteed its neutrality, was a “foolish gift that should never have been made”.

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ICC braces for swift Trump sanctions over Israeli arrest warrants

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Leadership at international criminal court fears new US administration will move quickly to shut it down

The international criminal court is bracing itself for Donald Trump to launch aggressive economic sanctions against it this week, amid fears such a move could paralyse its work and pose an existential threat.

ICC officials are preparing for Trump’s new US administration to act quickly once in office to impose draconian financial and travel restrictions against the court and senior staff, including its chief prosecutor and judges.

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Why is TikTok working again in the US as Trump takes office?

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App has resumed operations after saying it received assurance over de facto ban, but its future remains uncertain

TikTok is restoring its service in the US after Donald Trump said he would issue an executive order when president to allow the app to continue operating.

It had shut itself down late on Saturday in advance of a Sunday deadline to divest its Chinese shareholders or face a ban, but resumed operations on Sunday, the day before Trump’s inauguration, saying it had received the appropriate assurances from the president-elect.

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The world braces for Trump, hoping for the best, unprepared for the worst

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His pick for secretary of state may have given measured assessment of world affairs, but ‘crazy’ Trump will call the shots

Western allies of the US are braced for the return of Donald Trump, still hoping for the best, but largely unprepared for what may prove to be a chaotic and disorientating worst.

The run-up to his inauguration has sent out a catherine wheel of signals as Trump turned up the volume on tariffs against Canada, China and Mexico, vowed to buy – and if not, invade – Greenland and the Panama canal, and used his leverage to press Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a Gaza ceasefire that the Israeli PM had resisted since May.

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Trump ally says Peter Mandelson’s US ambassador job will not be blocked

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Newspapers had reported that new president might veto UK pick, as ministers brace for a turbulent four years

Donald Trump will not block the appointment of Peter Mandelson as British ambassador to the US, according to a London-based ally of the president-elect, as ministers brace for a turbulent four years of British-American relations.

Greg Swenson, the head of the UK branch of Republicans Overseas, told the BBC on Sunday he did not believe Trump would prevent the Labour peer from taking up his post in Washington, despite reports to the contrary.

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