Category Archives: Donald Trump

Chrystia Freeland will run to replace Trudeau as Canada’s prime minister

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Ex-journalist and senior government minister dubbed a ‘nasty woman’ by Trump aims to lead ailing Liberal party

A former journalist turned senior government minister – who was dubbed a “nasty woman” by Donald Trump after bruising trade negotiations with the US – has announced that she will run for leadership of Canada’s ailing Liberal party.

Chrystia Freeland declared her intention to become the next Liberal leader – and the country’s next prime minister – on Friday with a post on social media, with plans for a formal campaign launch in Toronto on Sunday.

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Can Australia’s political centre hold off the populist embers being set ablaze by Trump?

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Donald Trump is unlike any politician Australia has ever seen. But could a demagogue in his image emerge?

At midday on Monday in Washington DC, Donald J Trump will finish the oath of office committing to “preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States”. His political resurrection will be complete.

The paradox of his promise to defend the constitution will be starkly apparent.

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Xi Jinping sends China vice-president to Donald Trump’s inauguration

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Chinese president declines US president-elect’s unusual invitation but sends special representative Han Zheng

The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, will not attend Donald Trump’s inauguration, but he is sending his vice-president, Han Zheng, as his special representative.

The decision, announced on Friday in China by the foreign ministry, came more than a month after Trump extended the unusual invitation to Xi, a break from tradition since no heads of state have previously made an official visit to the US for the inauguration.

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Trump v Bannon, Musk v Farage: who hates who in Magaland

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The feuds and rivalries within the US president-elect’s Maga ecosystem – including some British sympathisers

The task of deconstructing the internal manoeuvrings of the leadership of the Soviet Union was once regarded as little short of a science such was the paucity of information. Today, the court of Donald Trump is perhaps no less enigmatic – but for quite different reasons. Trumpologists trying to keep up with the machinations of the Make America Great Again (Maga) movement and its sympathisers in Britain are faced with a torrent of information via social media posts and podcast rants. Sworn enemies today can easily be the closest of conspirators tomorrow. Steve Bannon has let it be known that he intends to bring down fellow Trump acolyte Elon Musk in time for inauguration day (with days to go). It is no easy task to make sense of it all but here is what we know of the current feuds and rivalries in the Maga ecosystem:

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Democrats concerned after Mike Johnson fires top Republican from House committee reportedly at Trump’s request – live

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House speaker removed intelligence committee chair Mike Turner, whose stances have run afoul with Trump

Here’s what Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, wrote on X about his decision to name the state’s attorney general, Ashley Moody, to replace Marco Rubio in the Senate:

Florida deserves a senator who stands unapologetically for conservative principles, supports law enforcement, has a strong record of combatting illegal immigration, and is ready to deliver on President Trump’s agenda. Attorney General Ashley Moody’s exemplary track record shows her commitment to these principles. A fifth-generation Floridian, she has served the people of Florida honorably as a prosecutor, judge, and Attorney General.

I look forward to seeing Senator Moody fight the good fight against the entrenched interests in Washington, and I know she will be a critical part of bringing President Trump’s America First agenda to fruition.

I’m very proud to have served on the House Intelligence Committee and as its chairman. There are great members on the Committee, and I’m honored to have served with them.

Under my leadership, we restored the integrity of the Committee and returned its mission to its core focus of national security. The threat from our adversaries is real and requires serious deliberations.

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Trump names Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone as Hollywood ‘special ambassadors’

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Duties remain unclear for the three actors, who are Trump supporters and are no strangers to controversy

Donald Trump has tapped three of his longstanding celebrity supporters – Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone – to purportedly make Hollywood “stronger than ever before” as “special ambassadors” to the movie capital.

The president-elect announced the new appointments, whose duties remain unclear, on Truth Social on Thursday, four days before his inauguration. “It is my honor to announce Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone, to be Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California,” he wrote.

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Donald Trump reportedly weighing up TikTok ban delay

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President-elect ‘has warm spot’ for platform and wants political solution to ‘preserve app but protect data’

Donald Trump is considering suspending a TikTok ban in the US with an executive order when he enters the White House on 20 January, according to a report.

The president-elect is exploring an executive order that would postpone enforcement of a sale-or-ban law due to come into force on 19 January, said the Washington Post. The report added, however, that Trump’s legal grounds for suspending a law passed by Congress are questionable.

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Brazil court rejects Jair Bolsonaro’s bid to attend Trump’s inauguration

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Judge rules former president’s passport will not be returned in case he uses it to flee abroad amid coup investigation

Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro – who is under investigation for allegedly plotting a coup – has seen his hopes of attending Donald Trump’s inauguration dashed after a judge ruled his confiscated passport would not be returned in case the disgraced politician used it to flee abroad.

Bolsonaro’s travel document was seized by federal police last February as investigators deepened their inquiries into what they call a sprawling conspiracy to dismantle Brazil’s 40-year-old democracy.

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Pam Bondi claims justice department ‘targeted’ Trump but says she won’t pursue ‘political’ prosecutions – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For the latest on Bondi’s confirmation hearing, read our full report

Under questioning from Democratic ranking member Dick Durbin, attorney general nominee Pam Bondi dodged when asked if she believed Donald Trump lost his bid for re-election in 2020.

“To my knowledge, Donald Trump has never acknowledged the legal results of the 2020 election. Are you prepared to say today, under oath, without reservation, that Donald Trump lost the presidential contest to Joe Biden in 2020?” Durbin asked.

All I can tell you, as a prosecutor, is from my first-hand experience, and I accept the results. I accept, of course, that Joe Biden is president of the United States. But what I can tell you is what I saw first-hand when I went to Pennsylvania as an advocate for the campaign. I was an advocate for the campaign, and I was on the ground in Pennsylvania, and I saw many things there. But do I accept the results? Of course, I do. Do I agree with what happened? I saw so much.

You know, no one from either side of the aisle should want there to be any issues with election integrity in our country. We should all want our elections to be free and fair, and the rules and the laws to be followed.

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UK stalls Chagos Islands deal until Trump administration can ‘consider detail’

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Future of Diego Garcia military base should be considered before handover to Mauritius signed off, No 10 says

The UK government will not sign off a deal to hand back the Chagos Islands to Mauritius until Donald Trump’s administration has had a chance to consider the future of the joint military base, Downing Street has confirmed.

Allies of the US president-elect have been critical of the deal because of the implications for the strategically important Diego Garcia base, with concerns that it could bolster Chinese interests in the Indian Ocean.

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Europe must take responsibility for its own security, says Polish minister

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‘Very difficult time’ anticipated as Poland takes over EU presidency against backdrop of geopolitical uncertainty

Europe must “take responsibility” for its own security, Poland has told its fellow EU member states, as Warsaw takes over the rotating presidency of the bloc at a time of increasing geopolitical uncertainty.

Poland has started its six-month presidency as Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House having promised to bring a negotiated end to Russia’s war in neighbouring Ukraine and threatened to seize Greenland using military force.

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European jitters about Trump 2.0 not shared by much of world, poll finds

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Exclusive: Findings suggest ‘weakening of west’ as relations become more transactional, say report’s authors

European anxiety about Donald Trump’s return to the White House is not shared in much of the world, a poll has shown, with more people in non-western powers such as China, Russia, India and Brazil welcoming his second term than not.

The 24-country poll, which also included Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Indonesia and Turkey, found that Switzerland, the UK, 11 EU nations surveyed and South Korea were alone in feeling Trump 2.0 would be bad for their country and for peace in the world.

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‘I’m not perfect’: Pete Hegseth testifies on sexual assault and drinking claims

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Trump Pentagon pick grilled by Democrats at Senate confirmation hearing amid concerns of his personal history

Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s pick for US secretary of defense, defended his record in a contentious Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, acknowledging he was “not a perfect person” as Democratic lawmakers grilled the military veteran and Fox News host on allegations of sexual assault, excessive alcohol use and financial mismanagement.

Hegseth can only afford to lose the votes of three Senate Republicans, assuming every Democratic senator opposes his nomination, but none appeared ready to break ranks despite some having previously voiced concerns about Hegseth’s personal history and his views on women in the military.

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France must stand firm in face of ‘new world disorder’ embodied by Musk, says PM

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François Bayrou said France must look global powers ‘face on’ in reference to Donald Trump’s return to office

The French prime minister has said the country must stand firm in the face of figures such as Elon Musk, who represents a “new world disorder”.

In his first policy speech to parliament on Tuesday, François Bayrou, a veteran centrist, said there was “a new world disorder, that threatens all equilibrium and all rules of defence. There are a certain number of people who embody this without complex, such as Elon Musk.”

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Afghans evacuated by US in chaos of withdrawal are languishing in foreign camps, documents reveal

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Exclusive: records show evacuees with pending applications to enter US ‘forced to remain in limbo’ in at least 36 countries, some in ‘untenable conditions’

Afghan citizens who fled the country with American assistance after the US’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan remain stranded in third countries, new documents shared exclusively with the Guardian suggest, some at prison-like facilities and many with no clarity about their prospects for resettlement.

US officials won’t say exactly how many Afghans remain at such sites, where they were taken after the withdrawal that involved hundreds of thousands fleeing for their lives during the Taliban’s lightning takeover in 2021. Some advocates estimate that “hundreds” remain stranded in temporary facilities in up to three dozen countries.

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Trump interest in Greenland is ‘wake-up call to Copenhagen’, says minister

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Greenlandic minister says Denmark has failed to act over demands for action on minerals and alleged state abuses

A Greenlandic government minister has said she views Donald Trump’s interest in the territory as positive, saying it has acted as a “wake-up call to Copenhagen” after years of failing to adequately respond to its demands for action on minerals and alleged abuses by the Danish state.

Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister for housing, infrastructure, minerals, justice and gender equality, said the government had been trying to drum up interest in collaboration with both the EU and the US for “many years”, but it was only now that it was getting the attention it had been seeking.

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Biden insists US is ‘winning’ on world stage – what would losing look like?

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The president defended his record on Ukraine, Gaza and Afghanistan but foreign policy successes have been few

On paper, few US presidents could boast the foreign policy bona fides of Joe Biden, a veteran statesman with nearly a half-century of experience before he even stepped into office.

But as his term comes to an end, critics have said that the president will leave a legacy of cautious and underpowered diplomacy, as even allies have conceded that the administration is still grasping for a cornerstone foreign policy success.

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Dangerous winds expected to amplify California wildfires as death toll hits 24

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Warning of ‘particularly dangerous situation’ with gusts expected as LA fire chief says: ‘We are not in the clear yet’

Firefighters battling the disastrous wildfires around Los Angeles were prepared for a return of dangerous winds that could again stoke the flames as the death toll in the tragedy has hit at least 24.

Fierce gusts known as Santa Ana winds have been largely blamed for turning the wildfires into devastating infernos that leveled huge tranches of neighborhoods around America’s second-largest city, which has also been hit by drought.

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Pope’s pick for Washington archbishop sets stage for conflict with Trump, experts say

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Appointment of progressive Robert McElroy comes as rightwing Catholics wield significant influence in US capital

When the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, sought to shut down a Catholic charity that was was providing shelter and aid to undocumented migrants at the border, the San Diego cardinal, Robert McElroy, took a robust public stand against the attempt.

“The state of Texas is using governmental pressure to curtail the work of the Church in one of its most fundamental obligations: to feed the hungry, to shelter the homeless, and to provide drink to the thirsty,” McElroy said in a statement at the time. “No government can morally tell us to abandon or limit this mission.”

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LA wildfires: death toll rises to 24 as winds threaten further destruction

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More than 1,800 structures destroyed as Eaton and Palisades fires still less than 30% contained

The death toll from the Eaton and Palisades fires that have consumed large swathes of Los Angeles county – and are still less than 30% contained – has risen to 24, according to medical examiners.

The county of Los Angeles medical examiner published a list of fatalities without giving details of any identities. Eight of the dead were found in the Palisades fire zone, and 16 in the Eaton fire zone, the document said.

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