• Trump increasingly ambiguous on Israel amid Gaza war

    At the start of Israel's war with Hamas in October, Donald Trump loudly presented himself as the key US ally's ultimate champion. But six months and more than 33,000 deaths in Gaza later, he has become increasingly vague on the intensity of that support. Trump has halfheartedly commented on the...
  • White House announces $20bn in grants, loans to boost Intel chip production

    Washington, United States - The White House unveiled almost $20 billion in new grants and loans Wednesday to support Intel's US chip-making facilities, marking the Biden administration's largest funding announcement yet as it tackles China's dominance of the crucial technology. President Joe Biden's decision to make the announcement during a trip...
  • ByteDance’s dilemma: Defending TikTok’s ‘secret sauce’ from US interference

    Seoul, South Korea - As a US campaign to sever TikTok from its Chinese parent heads to the Senate, analysts say Beijing's response to a forced sale of the app -- and its 'secret sauce' algorithm -- will be clear: Hands off. Under new legislation that passed the House of Representatives...
  • Former US treasury secretary says preparing buyout of TikTok

    Washington, US - Former US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday said he is putting together a team of investors to buy TikTok from its Chinese owners. On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill that would force TikTok to divest from its parent company or face a...
  • US all set for Biden-Trump rematch as Haley bows out of race

    Pointedly declining to endorse the man she has portrayed as chaotic and mentally incompetent, former UN ambassador Haley said Trump would have to earn the support of moderates who backed her longshot campaign. Her withdrawal leaves America facing a battle for the White House between two elderly men that many...
  • Trump comes close to ‘Super Tuesday’ clean sweep: US networks

    The former president, bidding for a sensational White House comeback after being unseated by Democrat Joe Biden in 2020, hopes to take home an almost-decisive haul of delegates on Tuesday in his march to the Republican Party nomination. Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, California, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas...
  • Trump wins vote in 3 states, edging toward nomination

    The voting Saturday in Missouri, Michigan and Idaho were hybrid internal elections with differing rules, in some cases reflecting rifts and tensions despite Trump's formidable sway. In Missouri, Trump swamped his main opponent, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, winning every county caucus in the state, The New York Times...
  • Hawkish economic approach on China has bipartisan support in US, say analysts

    WASHINGTON, US  - In a shift from tit-for-tat tariffs and strong-arm tactics to tech restrictions and investment curbs, US policy towards China has become more targeted under President Joe Biden - though still hardline. Despite differences between Democrats and Republicans, analysts expect Washington's approach to Beijing will only become tougher, whether...
  • Trump notches up another win in race for Republican nomination

    Trump completed a sweep of the first four major nominating contests, converting a year of blockbuster polls into a likely insurmountable lead going into the "Super Tuesday" 15-state voting bonanza in 10 days. The margin of victory was not immediately clear but US networks felt able to call the race...
  • Russia cannot be defeated in Ukraine: Putin

    During a two-hour long interview with the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Russia's President Vladimir Putin defended his decision to invade Ukraine in February 2022. The president said the West now realizes that Russia will not be defeated, despite US, European and NATO help to Ukraine.
  • WW3 may begin before US President Biden’s term ends, Trump says

    NEW YORK, US - World War III may break out before US President Joe Biden leaves office, former US president Donald Trump told Fox News. Trump said that Biden is failing to deal with his responsibilities as head of state. "You know, nine months (before the election) is a long...
  • Trump stokes opposition to Biden border plan

    With immigration one of the hottest electoral issues in what increasingly looks like a Trump-Biden rematch for the White House, the fate of the bill being negotiated by the Senate has become a high-stakes battleground. Trump has put immigration front and center in his campaign, issuing dire warnings about the...
  • Trump closes in on Biden rematch after New Hampshire win

    Despite now adding New Hampshire to his previous easy victory in Iowa, Trump kept to his hard-right messaging, with no hint of reaching out to the more moderate voters who supported Hailey. Trump did little actual campaigning in New Hampshire. However, his message has delivered the kind of momentum that...
  • Foreign governments paid Trump firms millions as president, claims US report

    NEW YORK, US - Former US president Donald Trump's businesses received at least $7.8 million from foreign governments including China during his time in the White House, a congressional report claimed. Officials from Saudi Arabia, India, Turkey and Democratic Republic of Congo were among some 20 countries' representatives who paid money...
  • Revealed: Epstein’s 150 high-profile connections

    The unsealing of around 1,000 pages of documents stems from a defamation lawsuit between Ghislaine Maxwell and Virginia Giuffre, offering insights into Epstein's network.
  • Iran says reviving nuclear deal ‘useless’

    Tehran, Iran - Iran said on Saturday that attempting to revive its landmark nuclear deal with world powers that was effectively scrapped by former US president Donald Trump was increasingly "useless". "Today, the more we advance, the more the JCPOA becomes useless," Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in a speech to...
  • Trump business empire under threat as fraud trial opens

    Donald Trump intends to be present for the start of the trial on Monday morning as a civil fraud trial against the former president and two of his sons begins in New York, threatening the Republican frontrunner's business empire as he campaigns to retake the White House with four criminal...
  • Musk says X could charge all users ‘small monthly payment’

    The tech tycoon has made multiple changes since taking over the site for $44 billion in October last year, when it was known as Twitter. He has fired thousands of employees, introduced a paid premium option, cut content moderation and reinstated formerly banned accounts including that of former US president...
  • Secret talks, lasting failures: key Israeli-Palestinian peace bids

    US president Ronald Reagan's administration opens dialogue with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1988 after its exiled leader Yasser Arafat agrees to recognize Israel's right to exist. Three years later, in late 1991, Washington and Moscow co-organize an Israeli-Arab peace conference in Spain.
  • Elon Musk lifts political ad ban at rebranded Twitter

    Welcoming back potentially misleading political messages at X came less than a week after former president Donald Trump posted there for the first time since January 2021. Trump posted his police mugshot after his arrest in Georgia, signaling his return to a platform that was his favorite bullhorn during his...
  • Trump arrested in election case, mug shot released

    Trump was given the inmate number "PO1135809" by the Fulton County Jail, which listed his height as six foot three inches (1.9 meters), his weight as 215 pounds (97 kilograms) and his hair color as "Blond or Strawberry." The billionaire has been criminally indicted four times since April, setting the...
  • Trump indicted for racketeering over 2020 election interference

    Eighteen co-defendants were indicted in the probe, including Trump's former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who pressured local legislators over the result after the election, and Trump's White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows. With Trump already due to go on trial in New York, south Florida and Washington, the latest...
  • Another Trump indictment looms as grand jury hears election case

    Atlanta, United States - Prosecutors investigating Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election in the US state of Georgia were expected to begin presenting evidence to a grand jury Monday for what could be a sprawling, multi-defendant indictment. The case would be the fourth brought against Trump this year --...
  • Trump to seek new judge in election conspiracy trial

    The twice-impeached Republican, who is seeking a return to the White House in 2024, has unleashed a stream of invective against those prosecuting him or running the case in which he faces charges over attempts to overturn the 2020 election results and defraud the United States. His latest target: US...
  • Musk offers legal aid for users in trouble at work over X posts

    Since Musk bought the social media platform for $44 billion last October, its advertising business has collapsed, in part because of its looser approach to blocking hate speech, and the return of previously banned far-right accounts. Musk has repeatedly cited a desire for free speech as motivating his changes.
  • US aims to deploy troops on tankers to deter seizures by Iran

    The US military says Iran has either seized or attempted to take control of nearly 20 internationally flagged ships in the region over the past two years. Washington said its forces blocked two attempts by Iran to seize commercial tankers in international waters off Oman on July 5, while Tehran...
  • Sad day for America, says Trump after court appearance

    Former US president Donald Trump pleaded not guilty on Thursday to criminal charges that he conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election and defraud the American people. Trump also said it was a 'sad day for America'.
  • Donald Trump indicted for trying to overturn 2020 US election

    The former US president now faces the most serious legal threat yet as he campaigns to return to the White House. Since March it is his third criminal indictment and charges him with three counts of conspiracy and one count of obstruction and he is already scheduled to go on...
  • ‘Agenda 47’: What Trump has promised if he wins in 2024

    Trump wants to launch "a great beautification campaign" to improve US cities, making the streets more pleasant for ordinary Americans. The Republican, whose Las Vegas hotel was named one of the world's ugliest skyscrapers by Architectural Digest, says he wants to replace grotesque buildings with "magnificent" classical architecture.
  • US to defund science for Israeli universities in West Bank

    The Biden administration has returned to the long-standing US position of calling for a two-state solution with the Palestinians and criticizing settlement expansion under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Washington has stopped short of any substantive effort at negotiating a peace deal, seeing prospects as highly unlikely with Netanyahu.
  • Donald Trump terms indictment ‘fake’ in address to supporters

    The 37 counts of the indictment -- released on Friday and focused on his alleged mishandling of classified materials -- set the former president up for a far more severe legal reckoning than the charges of personal, political and commercial misconduct he has largely ridden out in the past.
  • AI disinformation potential sparks fears for US 2024 race

    Campaigns on both sides of the political divide are likely to harness this technology -- which is cheap, easily accessible and whose advances have vastly outpaced regulatory responses -- for voter outreach and to churn out fundraising newsletters within seconds. But technologists also warn of bad actors exploiting AI to...
  • Iran seeks end to repeated delays for restoring nuclear deal

    In March, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi visited Tehran after his agency's inspectors in the country found uranium particles enriched to just under weapons-grade level.
  • Alternatives to Musk-owned Twitter fail to catch on

    Bluesky was created by Twitter's co-founder Jack Dorsey and is now the talk of Silicon Valley, leaving those in the know scrambling to secure an invite to join the app that is still at the testing phase. The platform looks and feels like Twitter as its backers want users from...
  • Iran seizes US-bound oil tanker off Oman, says 2 missing in collision

    The US Navy demanded the immediate release of the tanker, saying it was transiting international waters in the Gulf of Oman and slammed Iran's "continued harassment of vessels". It is one of a spate of incidents since 2018, when then US president Donald Trump pulled out of a nuke pact...
  • Twitter restores blue ticks for some media, celebrities

    Many who unwillingly gained blue ticks made it clear that they had not subscribed, as the badge became a symbol of support for Musk. Many official media accounts regained a tick, including AFP, which has not subscribed to Twitter Blue.
  • Facing criminal charges, Trump vows to ‘never’ drop presidential bid

    The Republican real estate magnate, who is facing 34 felony counts in New York over alleged hush money paid to an adult film actress, told Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson that nothing would prevent him from running -- even a conviction. The interview, part two of which is expected to...
  • Trump pleads not guilty to 34 criminal charges, trial in Jan 2024

    Former US president Donald Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records stemming from three pre-election hush-money cases. A New York judge released Donald Trump from custody without any pre-trial restrictions at a historic arraignment.
  • Trump to appear in New York court to face historic criminal charges

    Amid tight security in New York City, the 76-year-old former president will make an unprecedented appearance before a New York judge on Tuesday to answer criminal charges that threaten to throw the 2024 White House race into turmoil. He is the first sitting or former American president to be criminally...
  • Trump’s lawyers denounce indictment as ‘political persecution’

    On Sunday, his attorney Joe Tacopina bluntly dismissed the anticipated charges -- related to a hush-money payment to an adult film star in 2016 -- as "some twilight zone sort of scenario" in an "upside down world."
  • ‘Election interference, Kangaroo court’: Trump on indictment, says judge hates him

    Trump's pending arrest throws a political grenade into next year's White House race and President Joe Biden sidestepped questions from reporters about the indictment of the Republican he beat in 2020 and could potentially face again in November of next year. "I have no comment on Trump," Biden said.
  • Historic indictment: Trump becomes first former US president to face criminal charges

    A New York grand jury has indicted former US President Donald Trump over hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign.
  • Morocco finds it difficult to straddle Israel, Palestinians

    A case in point is the royal palace's reaction after the opposition Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) "deplored" the Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita for allegedly defending Israel publicly, even as it commits "criminal aggression against our Palestinian brothers". King Mohammed VI's office hit back, accusing the PJD of voicing...
  • Former US President Donald Trump claims his arrest is imminent

    Donald Trump called on his supporters to "protest, take our nation back", as he expects to be arrested over an alleged hush-money payment made to a porn star in 2016. Amid growing signs of prosecutors moving closer to an indictment, the 76-year-old billionaire said on his Truth Social platform that...
  • Iran still seeking to kill former US president Donald Trump: general

    Three years after former US president Donald Trump ordered the killing of top Guards' commander Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian genera has warned that his country is still seeking to kill Trump and his secretary of state Mike Pompeo in revenge for assassinating the commander. Tehran has repeatedly vowed to avenge...
  • IAEA in talks with Iran after reported nuclear step-up

    Iran was last known to enrich up to 60 percent, while a 90-percent threshold is required for use in a weapon. Bloomberg News reported that inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Iran last week found uranium enriched to 84-percent purity. Tehran says it is not planning to...
  • Iran castigates IAEA chief after centrifuge report

    The Iranian criticism of Grossi comes after the International Atomic Energy Agency director-general said he plans to visit Tehran in February for talks on getting it to increase cooperation over its activities, amid stalled negotiations to revive a landmark deal over Iran's nuclear program.
  • US shoots down Chinese spy balloon, drawing Beijing’s ire

    The Chinese craft spent several days flying over North America before it was targeted off the coast of the southeastern state of South Carolina with a missile fired from an F-22 plane, Pentagon officials said, falling into relatively shallow water just 47 feet (14 meters) deep.
  • India, Pakistan came close to nuclear war in 2019: Mike Pompeo

    Nearly four years after India and Pakistan used fighter planes to bomb targets in divided Kashmir, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has revealed in his memoir "Never Give an Inch" that the two rivals came close to nuclear war in 2019 and that US intervention prevented escalation.
  • Musk doubtful about reliability of Twitter CEO poll

    In the poll results which were posted on Monday, 57 percent of voters, or 10 million votes, favored Musk stepping down just eight weeks after he took ownership of the company for $44 billion.
  • Twitter to disallow users from promoting rival social platforms

    The move of not allowing users to promote their accounts on several rival social media platforms including Facebook and Instagram was the latest in a growing series of controversies generated by Musk in his short tenure at the helm of Twitter, including layoffs, reinstatement of some far-right accounts and the...