Category Archives: Donald Trump

Canada to be first non-European nation at EPC summit as Carney seeks allies

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PM’s attendance at European Political Community meeting in Yerevan seen as part of effort to build new ties after US rupture

Canada is to become the first non-European country to attend a meeting of the European Political Community when the prime minister, Mark Carney, joins Monday’s summit of the 48-plus nation grouping in Yerevan, Armenia.

Carney has said he is determined to build a new network of trade and diplomatic alliances after the loss of US markets under Donald Trump. His presence will also represent a show of western support for Armenia in its efforts to distance itself from Russia at a time when Washington’s approach to Moscow’s opponents, such as Ukraine, is at best ambiguous. Canadian diplomats have rejected suggestions Ottawa might seek EU membership.

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Republicans ‘concerned’ after Trump threatens to withdraw more US troops from Germany

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US announced withdrawal of 5,000 soldiers last week after German chancellor said US was being ‘humiliated’ by Iran

Donald Trump has threatened to withdraw more US troops from Germany after stunning European leaders and some senior members of his own party by last week announcing the withdrawal of 5,000 soldiers from Germany.

The move left 30,000 US troops still in the country, according to CNN. But Trump threatened on Saturday that more cuts were coming. “We are going to cut way down, and we’re cutting a lot further than 5,000,” he told reporters on Saturday.

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Marco Rubio to visit Rome, reportedly to ‘thaw’ US relations with Pope and Meloni

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US secretary of state will be in Italian capital on Thursday and Friday, the one-year anniversary of Pope Leo’s papacy

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is to travel to Rome this week for a visit reportedly aimed at thawing frosty relations with the Italian government and the Vatican.

Rubio is scheduled to be in the Italian capital on Thursday and Friday, which will also mark the one-year anniversary of the papacy of Pope Leo, the first US-born pontiff.

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Trump says US navy will ‘guide’ trapped ships from strait of Hormuz amid ‘very positive’ talks with Iran

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US president’s post follows flurry of mixed signals including concern Tehran had not ‘paid big enough price’

Donald Trump has announced that the US will “guide” ships trapped by the Iran war out of the Gulf through the strait of Hormuz on Monday morning, and claimed his representatives were having “very positive” discussions with Iran.

Trump wrote on his social media site that the operation, called “Project Freedom”, would be a humanitarian gesture “on behalf of the United States, Middle Eastern Countries but, in particular, the Country of Iran”.

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Nato seeks to ‘understand the details’ of US decision to withdraw troops from Germany

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German government calls redeployment of 5,000 troops ‘anticipated’ and reminder of Europe’s need to invest in its own defence

Nato is seeking to “understand the details” of a US decision to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany, a redeployment ordered by Donald Trump amid a feud with the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz.

The German government sought to play down the severity of Trump’s move, describing it as “anticipated”, and a reminder of Europe’s need to invest in its own defence. The US withdrawal, which the Pentagon said would take place over the next six to 12 months, comes after criticism from Merz over Trump’s war with Iran and his handling of subsequent talks with Tehran.

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The White House power play post-dinner shooting: do what we say or else

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After correspondents’ dinner shooting, administration has rushed to capitalize in pursuit of its political goals

Less than 72 hours after a man was arrested for trying to assassinate Donald Trump at the White House, the justice department rushed to court to make an extraordinary filing.

The subject of the emergency was a lawsuit by the National Trust for Historic Preservation seeking to halt the construction of a new White House ballroom. A federal judge ruled earlier this month that construction had to stop, though an appeals court later paused that ruling.

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Trump claims hostilities have ended in Iran in letter to congressional leaders

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President seemed to suggest that legislative deadline to approve war no longer applies as Democrats push back

Donald Trump said in a letter sent to congressional leaders on Friday that hostilities with Iran have “terminated”, suggesting that the 60-day deadline to seek approval from the legislative branch no longer applied.

Friday marks 60 days since the US president notified members of Congress that the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on 28 February. Under the War Powers Act of 1973, the president can deploy troops to respond to an “imminent threat” but must receive congressional approval within 60 days to continue military operations.

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Pope appoints former undocumented immigrant as bishop of West Virginia

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Leo, who has criticized Trump’s hardline immigration policy, selected Evelio Menjivar-Ayala as state’s new bishop

Pope Leo XIV has appointed a man who had once entered the United States as an undocumented immigrant, hidden in the trunk of a car, as the new bishop of West Virginia.

The pope approved the resignation of Bishop Mark E Brennan of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, and selected Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, 55, of Washington to take his place, reported OSV News.

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‘He’s probably good’: Donald Trump Jr gets muted endorsement from his father for The Apprentice reboot

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Speculative reports say Amazon is considering relaunching the reality show once hosted by the US president, with his eldest son floated as a possible host

Amid speculative reports that Donald Trump Jr is being considered by Amazon to lead a reboot of The Apprentice, he’s already received a slightly muted endorsement from the reality show’s former host: his father.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Amazon was considering rebooting The Apprentice, which was hosted by the now US president Donald Trump between 2004 and 2015, for its streaming service Prime Video.

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Trump withdraws nomination of Casey Means for US surgeon general

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US president said he was instead nominating radiologist and Fox News contributor Dr Nicole Saphier for the post

Donald Trump on Thursday pulled his nominee to become the US surgeon general, Casey Means, and replaced her.

The US president said that Means will continue to fight for the so-called Make America Healthy Again (Maha) movement spearheaded by health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. He stated this was despite opposition from Bill Cassidy, the Republican US senator of Louisiana, to Means’s nomination.

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Man charged with attempting to assassinate Trump to remain in custody

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Cole Tomas Allen, 31, allegedly stormed the White House correspondents’ association dinner

The man accused of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump by rushing the black-tie press gala in Washington DC at the weekend where the US president was a guest, agreed on Thursday to remain in custody while his federal criminal case moves forward.

The suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, 31, was not planning immediately to contest prosecutors’ arguments that he was a danger to the community and should remain in jail, his attorney, Tezira Abe, said during a federal court hearing in the capital.

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Trump threatens to reduce troop numbers in Germany amid growing row with Nato allies

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US president’s threat comes after Germany’s Friedrich Merz suggests Trump team is being outplayed in its negotiations with Iran

The US may reduce its number of troops deployed in Germany, Donald Trump has announced, days after the country’s chancellor said America was being “humiliated” by Iran.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, the US president said his administration was “studying and reviewing the possible reduction of troops in Germany, with a determination to be made over the next short period of time”.

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Britain to create joint naval force with nine European countries as ‘complement’ to Nato

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Royal Navy chief says unified naval force will deter future Russian threats from the ‘open sea border’ to the north

Britain has agreed to create a unified naval force with nine European countries to deter future Russian threats from the “open sea border” to the north, the head of the Royal Navy has announced.

Gen Sir Gwyn Jenkins said that despite the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, where the strait of Hormuz remains closed after the US-Israeli war in Iran, “Russia remains the gravest threat to our security”.

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Trump makes fresh Iran threat after claiming King Charles agrees with him over nuclear weapons – US politics live

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US president posts image on Truth social saying Iran ‘better get smart soon’ as king to travel to New York to lay wreath at 9/11 memorial

An attempt by the Trump administration to gain access to Arizona’s detailed voter records was thwarted by the courts on Tuesday, when a federal judge dismissed the US justice department’s lawsuit against the state.

The ruling marks the latest legal setback in an unprecedented nationwide effort by the administration before the midterm elections to collect sensitive information about tens of millions of Americans. The DoJ has sued at least 30 states and the District of Columbia seeking to force release of the data, which includes dates of birth, addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial social security numbers.

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King Charles agrees with me on Iran nuclear weapon ban, claims Trump

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Remarks by US president likely to cause embarrassment for aides of UK monarch, who usually remains neutral

Donald Trump has said King Charles agrees with him that Iran should never be allowed nuclear weapons.

Trump made the remarks at a White House state dinner on Tuesday in honour of the visiting Charles and Camilla, after the two men sat down to bilateral talks earlier that day.

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Trump administration labels Australia’s media bargaining laws ‘foreign extortion’

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Albanese defends plan forcing Meta, Google and TikTok to make deals with Australian news publishers through a levy

The Trump administration has described Australia’s moves to make big tech companies pay for news online as “extortion” but Anthony Albanese defended the plan by saying it was about protecting and rewarding media outlets for the work they produce.

Labor’s plan to encourage Meta, Google and TikTok to make deals with Australian news publishers, or face a 2.25% levy, is likely to be supported by the Coalition and Greens in parliament. But a bigger problem may be the ire of Donald Trump, who has strongly opposed extra regulation being imposed on US-based tech companies. A major tech industry lobby group on Wednesday urged the White House to consider retaliatory trade measures.

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How the UAE’s decision to leave Opec could recast the Middle East

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Defection is damaging to Saudi Arabia’s prestige – and could strengthen the US hand in the region

The United Arab Emirates’ decision to walk out of Opec is a political as much as business decision, and will reignite the simmering rows between the UAE and Saudi Arabia – which had been covered up by their shared anger with Iran over its attacks on the Gulf states since the start of the US-Israel war on Tehran.

In the short term, leaving the oil producing cartel it joined in 1967 gives the UAE the freedom to respond quickly to a long-term prospect of constrained supplies, and to maximise profit. But it is a decision the UAE has considered before, as UAE and Saudi tensions over production quotas have been longstanding.

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UAE quits Opec in win for Trump as oil cartel weakened

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US president has accused organisation of ‘ripping off the rest of the world’ by inflating oil prices

The United Arab Emirates has quit the Opec oil cartel after 60 years of membership, in a heavy blow to the group and its de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, as global energy markets contend with the biggest supply crisis in history.

The shock loss of the UAE, Opec’s third-largest oil producer, is expected to weaken the group, which for decades has worked together to use its collective oil production to influence global oil market prices.

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King Charles arrives in Washington for state visit fraught with tension

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The British monarch and Queen Camilla come to a city still reeling from shooting at dinner attended by Trump

King Charles and Queen Camilla arrived at the White House on Monday for a state visit in Washington, a city still rattled by a weekend shooting and a transatlantic alliance showing fresh signs of strain.

British flags could be seen lining lamp-posts outside the White House, where Donald Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, were set to host the royals for a private tea and a tour of the newly expanded White House beehive on the south lawn.

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US is being ‘humiliated’ by Iran’s leadership, says Friedrich Merz

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German chancellor suggests Trump administration is being outwitted at negotiating table by Tehran

The US is being “humiliated” by Iran’s leadership, according to Friedrich Merz, Germany’s chancellor, who suggested the Trump administration was being outwitted at the negotiating table by Tehran.

Two days ago Donald Trump cancelled a trip by US negotiators to Islamabad for indirect talks with an Iranian delegation. A previous round in the Pakistani capital two weeks earlier, when JD Vance, the American vice-president, led the US delegation, broke up without progress.

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