Australia and New Zealand said on Tuesday they hope to salvage the Trans-Pacific Partnership by encouraging China and other Asian nations to join the trade pact after U.S. President Donald Trump kept his promise to pull out of the accord. The TPP, which the United States had signed but not ratified, was a pillar of former U.S. President Barack Obama’s policy to pivot to Asia.
Category: US Politics
Trump moves to pull US out of Pacific-Rim trade deal
President Donald Trump moved to pull the United States out of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact Monday, fulfilling a campaign promise as he began his first full week in office. “Great thing for the American worker that we just did,” Trump said as he signed a notice in the Oval Office.
Trump moves to pull US out of Pacific-Rim trade deal
President Donald Trump moved to pull the United States out of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact Monday, fulfilling a campaign promise as he began his first full week in office. “Great thing for the American worker that we just did,” Trump said as he signed a notice in the Oval Office.
Syria talks may signal shift in conflict dynamics
During the presidential inauguration Friday, which should be a day of celebration, three things happened – two that should have and one that shouldn’t have. On Jan. 7, the FBI released another 300 emails and the Hillary Clinton unauthorized server “saga” continued.
Fight for the right: Dutch PM says integrate or leave
During the presidential inauguration Friday, which should be a day of celebration, three things happened – two that should have and one that shouldn’t have. On Jan. 7, the FBI released another 300 emails and the Hillary Clinton unauthorized server “saga” continued.
Trump, amid combative start, pledges to rise to moment
After a combative start to his presidency, Donald Trump delivered a more unifying message Sunday and sought to reassure Americans he was ready to begin governing a divided nation. Trump began rolling out his plans for diplomatic outreach, speaking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and announcing plans for early meetings with Netanyahu and other world leaders.
How to choose a terrible song for your wedding or inauguration
Music is a glorious, personal, subjective thing and there’s literally no accounting for people and their terrible, terrible taste. The world was reminded of this fact on Friday when new US President Donald Trump enjoyed an awkward dance with his First Lady Melania to the strains of My Way : a song sung from the perspective of a dying man making futile protests as he nears the grave.
Suspected US drone strike kills 3 alleged al-Qaida in Yemen
Suspected U.S. drone strikes have killed three alleged al-Qaida operatives in Yemen’s southwestern Bayda province, security and tribal officials said, the first such killings reported in the country since Donald Trump assumed the U.S. presidency Friday. The two Saturday strikes killed Abu Anis al-Abi , an area field commander, and two others, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release the information to journalists.
NYC Women’s March sets more than 400G protesters upon Trump Tower
The streets of President Trump’s hometown were steeped in protesters Saturday – the masses set on showing the nation’s new commander-in-chief they won’t be silent. More than 400,000 people marched through Midtown to stand in solidarity for women’s rights and to let Trump know they want a greater voice for women in political life.
Trump brings Churchill bust back to Oval Office
President Donald Trump restored the bust of Winston Churchill to the Oval Office immediately after assuming the presidency on Friday, the most notable move in an aesthetic redecoration of the space. Trump signed his first executive orders at the Resolute Desk before new gold curtains with a blue trim, a new sunburst-patterned carpet and new brocade couches.
Jerusalem mayor praises ‘friend’ Trump and slams Obama
Nothing will rain on our parade! Triumphant Donald Trump promises a beautiful day as he tells his supporters: ‘I’m going to be cheering YOU’ Trump lays wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns in somber Arlington Cemetery ceremony just one day before he becomes commander-in-chief Jerusalem mayor praises ‘friend’ Trump and slams Obama for ‘surrendering’ to radical Islam in video welcoming The Donald as President The mayor of Jerusalem has praised Donald Trump as a ‘friend’ while slamming outgoing U.S. president Barack Obama accusing him of ‘surrendering’ to radical Islam. Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat released a video on Thursday ahead of Trump’s inauguration urging people to welcome him when he is sworn in as president.
Emerging – Trump Doctrine’ Toward Europe Upends Historic Alliance
For most of the past seven decades, U.S. relations with Europe revolved around a set of shared beliefs: Russia was the common adversary, Germany’s industrial might would be the core of the Continent’s economy and a unified Europe was in everyone’s interests. Donald Trump is having none of it.
COMMENTARY: Obama’s self-revealing final act
Barack Obama did not go out quietly. His unquiet final acts were, in part, overshadowed by a successor who refused to come in quietly and, in part, by Obama’s own endless, sentimental farewell tour.
Brave new Anglosphere: Israel revels in fresh support from US-UK-Australia triumvirate
It’s springtime for Israel’s relations with the Anglosphere. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu loves to talk about burgeoning ties with the Arab world, but in the months and years ahead, a newly formed pro-Israel triumvirate of English-speaking countries looks set to form the backbone of international support for the Jewish state.
The Latest: Obama Lashes out at Congress Over Guantanamo
President Barack Obama is criticizing Congress for refusing to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying there’s “simply no justification beyond politics” to keep it open. Obama pledged at the start of his presidency to close the facility in his first year.
Tigerair to resume flights between Australia and Bali
‘Help, we are dying of the cold’: Desperate guests trapped in Italian ski hotel send texts to loved-ones after huge avalanche hits the building killing up to 30 people The wedge salads are on me! Trump pays one fan’s $1,000 dinner bill as he’s mobbed while stopping by his DC hotel for a meal after ditching press pool 36 hours before inauguration Aaron Rodgers’ family doesn’t ‘trust’ Olivia Munn: More details of NFL star’s rift with relatives emerge ‘after he chose model over her’ Overweight and rather whiffy, the REAL young Queen Victoria: New book claims Lord Melbourne dropped hints to the monarch about her personal hygiene and gave her slimming tips ‘Nope’: The last word of cold-blooded killer as he is executed for invading family’s home and murdering two young girls and their parents who had left the door open while preparing New Year’s party Poll shows Hillary Clinton would BEAT Bill … (more)
America’s Russian hypocrisy
Russia was never fully welcome in the Western world order, much less able to participate in it on equal terms. By Nina L. Khrushcheva I hate agreeing with Vladimir Putin, even a little.
Mideast expects big changes under Trump
Donald Trump’s all-but-dismissal of human rights as a foreign policy principle could land like an earthquake across a Middle East landscape beset by warring factions and beleaguered governments, with some players eyeing the prospect of once unimaginable new alliances. Syria is the foremost test of Trump’s promise of a return to a hard-headed realpolitik and could quickly show whether America is truly abandoning promotion of democracy and the rule of law in a way that could reshape much of the region’s post-Cold War, post-9/11 order.
Haley supports moving US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem
UN Ambassador-designate, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, arrives for a meeting with Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017. WASHINGTON — South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley declared her support for moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a shift firmly endorsed by Donald Trump but one that could trigger increased violence in the Middle East.
Obama defends decision to commute Chelsea Manning’s sentence
President Barack Obama firmly defended his decision to cut nearly three decades off convicted leaker Chelsea Manning’s prison term Wednesday, arguing in his final White House news conference that the former Army intelligence analyst had served a “tough prison sentence” already. Obama said he granted clemency to Manning because she had gone to trial, taken responsibility for her crime and received a sentence that was harsher than other leakers had received.
Chelsea Manning’s family welcome imminent release of whistleblower
Protesters mount a Free Bradley Manning demonstration at the US Embassy in Dublin after he was sentenced to 35 years in prison for sending classified information to WikiLeaks The Welsh-Irish family of whistleblower Chelsea Manning have said they are “overjoyed” she will soon be free after her sentence was commuted by outgoing US President Barack Obama. A statement released on behalf of her mother, Susan Manning, and other family members said they hoped the transgender former intelligence analyst, born Bradley Manning, would “now be able to get on with the rest of her life”, adding there would “always be a welcome for her here in Wales”.
In Africa, Obamaa s presidency couldna t help but be personal
Africa was electrified by the rise of Barack Obama, the first U.S. president of African descent. It was in Africa that he signaled a historic opening toward Cuba, took aim at the twin scourges of corruption and dictatorship and sent thousands of troops to fight one of the most terrifying disease outbreaks in decades.
House lawmaker introduces bill calling for relisting N. Korea as terror sponsor
A US House lawmaker has introduced a bill calling for relisting North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism. Rep. Ted Poe brought in the legislation that requires “a report on the designation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism.”
Obama Trumpets ‘Steadfast’ Defense of Israel on Iran Deal Anniversary
President Barack Obama said his administration had remained “steadfast” in countering Iranian threats to Israel in the wake of the Iran nuclear deal. Obama and his secretary of state, John Kerry, in their final week in office, marked the anniversary Monday of the implementation of the deal reached between Iran and six major powers led by the United States exchanging sanctions relief for a nuclear rollback.
China’s Xi takes spotlight at Davos as US makes transition
From right, Swiss Federal President Doris Leuthard, China’s President Xi Jinping, Xi’s wife Peng Liyuan and Doris Leuthard’s husband Roland Hausin, attend a gala dinner in Bern, Switzerland, Sunday, Jan. 15, 2017. Xi… .
Pence tries to calm worries about Trump’s foreign policy
Vice President-elect Mike Pence attempted to calm European fears on Monday that President-elect Trump is pulling the United States away from its traditional allies and toward Russia. Speaking on Fox News, Pence said Trump’s statements to foreign newspapers that NATO is obsolete that caused a stir Monday, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel saying Europe’s fate is in “our own hands,” shouldn’t be seen so negatively.
Oman says it accepts 10 Guantanamo Bay detainees
Oman said Monday it accepted 10 detainees from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay ahead of President Barack Obama leaving office, part of his efforts to shrink the facility he promised to close. Oman’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it had accepted the prisoners at Obama’s request.
Biden: Trump should retain sanctions on Russia
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, on a last foreign trip before leaving office, has met with Ukraine’s president and called on the impending Donald Trump administration to retain Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia. Biden’s comments Monday at a briefing with President Petro Poroshenko came after Trump indicated in a Times of London interview that he could end sanctions imposed in the aftermath Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea in return for a nuclear arms reduction deal.
Kremlin counts days to Trump’s inauguration, blasts Obama
In this Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017 file photo Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Russian prosecutors in Moscow, Russia. Careful not to hurt chances for a thaw in U.S.-Russia relations, President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have deferred questions about their plans for future contacts with Trump and any agenda for those talks until he takes office on Friday, Jan. 20, 2017.
Kremlin counts days to Trump’s inauguration, blasts Obama
In this Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017 file photo Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Russian prosecutors in Moscow, Russia. Careful not to hurt chances for a thaw in U.S.-Russia relations, President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have deferred questions about their plans for future contacts with Trump and any agenda for those talks until he takes office on Friday, Jan. 20, 2017.
Explosive memos suggest that a Trump-Russia tit-for-tat was at…
An unverified dossier provided to US intelligence officials alleges that President-elect Donald Trump “agreed to sideline” the issue of Russian intervention in Ukraine during his campaign after Russia promised to feed the emails it stole from prominent Democrats’ inboxes to WikiLeaks. The dossier was part of an opposition-research project conducted by a former British spy , Christopher Steele, at the behest of anti-Trump Republicans and, later, Democrats.
From startling insight to random insult: A guide to the uses and misuses of “fake news”
Stories like those about ” as word of the year, defining the term as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Now, in Orwellian fashion, the term “fake news” itself is being stretched and deformed into its semantic opposite.
Trump’s foreign policy nominees flat-out disagree with him
Secretary of State-designate Rex Tillerson testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington at his confirmation hearing. Donald Trump ‘s foreign policy nominees launched a Reassurance Offensive last week, promising Congress – and the rest of us – that the next president won’t be as scary as he sounds.
Davos marks the emergence of a confident, strong China
Xi Jinping is set to become the first Chinese president to attend the World Economic Forum’s annual gathering high in the mountains of Switzerland. It’s a visit rich in symbolism: Beijing is positioning itself as a global leader at a time when Western powers, and especially the United States, are retreating from the world stage.
Decades-long clash of ideals, political theater meet again in Hill’s ‘Pig Painting,’
There was Pussy Riot, the female punk music act jailed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and condemned as sacrilegious by the Russian Orthodox Church after an unauthorized performance inside a Moscow cathedral. Pablo Picasso’s massive mural “Guernica” depicts the horrors of the German Luftwaffe bombing a tiny, Basque village at the request of Spanish nationalists.
Hilarious backlash as Chelsea Handler tries to pin nuclear aggression on Trump
Lord save us from celebrities who are dumber than a box of rocks. Chelsea Handler made a fool of herself calling President-elect Donald Trump out for not handling North Korea.
US policy change on Cuban migrants leaves many stranded
It took three months for Gabriel Marin and his wife, Yansiel, to make it from their home in eastern Cuba to this migrant shelter in Panama’s capital. The goal was the United States and now the door that spurred their odyssey has slammed shut.
Obama ends visa-free path for Cubans who make it to US soil
President Barack Obama announced Thursday he is ending a longstanding immigration policy that allows any Cuban who makes it to U.S. soil to stay and become a legal resident. The repeal of the “wet foot, dry foot” policy is effective immediately.
Obama ends visa-free path for Cubans who make it to US soil
President Barack Obama announced Thursday he is ending a longstanding immigration policy that allows any Cuban who makes it to U.S. soil to stay and become a legal resident. The repeal of the “wet foot, dry foot” policy is effective immediately.
The guardians of the liberal order now foresee its collapse
Want smart analysis of the most important news in your inbox every weekday along with other global reads, interesting ideas and opinions to know? Sign up for the Today’s WorldView newsletter . At his farewell address in Chicago earlier this week, President Obama offered a plaintive lament for a world under threat.