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Donald Trump Administration
The United States is warning shipping companies that they could face sanctions for making payments to Iran to safely pass through the Strait of Hormuz. The alert posted Friday by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control adds another layer of pressure in the standoff between the US and Iran over control of the Strait of Hormuz. About a fifth of the world's trade in oil and natural gas typically passes through the strait at the mouth of the Persian Gulf in peacetime. Iran effectively closed the strait to normal traffic by attacking and threatening to attack ships after the US and Israel launched a war on Feb. 28. It later began offering some ships safe passage by detouring them through alternate routes closer to its shoreline, charging fees at times for the service. That "tollbooth" effort is the focus of the US sanctions warning. The payment demands could include transfers not only in cash but also "digital assets, offsets, informal swaps, or other in-kind payments," including ...
President Donald Trump said Friday that his administration was still weighing a taxpayer-funded takeover of Spirit Airlines, with talks ongoing and no final decision yet on whether to move forward with a potential bailout for a carrier mired in bankruptcy proceedings for the second time in less than two years. Trump emphasised that a deal to rescue the financially strapped airline remained under review. The president did not provide details but said an announcement could come later Friday or Saturday. "We're looking at it. If we could do it, we'll do it. But only if it's a good deal," he said, speaking to reporters before departing the White House for Florida. The possibility of a bailout first emerged publicly last week, when Trump floated the idea of the US government offering Spirit a financial lifeline to help keep the airline from going bust and out of business. Separately, a lawyer for the airline told a US Bankruptcy Court that Spirit was in advanced talks with the government
Dr. Nicole Saphier is President Donald Trump's latest pick for the vacant role of US surgeon general, a nomination that ended the embattled campaign of his previous candidate, Dr. Casey Means, after it became clear she didn't have the votes to advance out of a Senate committee. Saphier, a radiologist and former Fox News Channel contributor, has promoted several aspects of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again agenda, including removing food additives, cutting ultraprocessed foods from diets and encouraging exercise. But she has been a more vocal advocate for vaccination than Kennedy, and at times she has criticized the Trump administration's handling of health issues as "embarrassing." If confirmed as the nation's doctor, Saphier would be empowered to issue advisories that warn of public health threats. Surgeons general also have used the office to advocate on vaccination issues - though the office doesn't create vaccine policy. Means, a Stanford ...
The Trump administration is arguing that the war in Iran has already ended because of the ceasefire that began in early April, an interpretation that would allow the White House to avoid the need to seek congressional approval. The statement furthers an argument laid out by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during testimony in the Senate earlier Thursday, when he said the ceasefire effectively paused the war. Under that rationale, the administration has not yet met the requirement mandated by a 1973 law to seek formal approval from Congress for military action that extends beyond 60 days. A senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the administration's position, said for purposes of that law, "the hostilities that began on Saturday, Feb 28 have terminated." The official said the US military and Iran have not exchanged fire since the two-week ceasefire that began April 7. While the ceasefire has since been extended, Iran maintains its chokehold on th
President Donald Trump on Wednesday levelled a new threat against NATO ally Germany, suggesting he could soon reduce the US military presence there as he continues to feud with Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the US-Israel war against Iran. Trump made the threat after Merz earlier this week said that the US was being "humiliated" by the Iranian leadership and criticised Washington's lack of strategy in the war. Trump has also repeatedly railed against NATO for the alliance's refusal to assist the US in its two-month-old war. "The United States is studying and reviewing the possible reduction of Troops in Germany, with a determination to be made over the next short period of time," Trump said in a social media post. Merz had said earlier Wednesday that his personal relationship with Trump remained "as good as ever," but he had "had doubts from the very beginning about what was started there with the war in Iran." During his first term in the White House, Trump also moved to cut US ..
Jerome Powell said he plans to remain on the board of the Federal Reserve after his term as chair ends next month "for an undetermined period of time," citing the "unprecedented" legal attacks against the central bank by the Trump administration. "I worry these attacks are battering this institution and putting at risk the things that really matter to the public," Powell said at a press conference after the Fed announced its decision to keep its benchmark interest rate steady. Powell's decision to stay denies President Donald Trump a chance to fill a seat on the central bank's seven-member governing board with his own appointee. The Senate Banking Committee earlier approved Powell's successor as chair, Trump appointee Kevin Warsh, on a party-line vote. Powell would continue as a Fed governor, possibly until January 2028. U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said on X Friday that her office was ending its probe into the Fed's extensive building renovations because
Making his first appearance before Congress since the Trump administration went to war against Iran, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced withering questioning Wednesday from sceptical Democrats over a costly conflict being waged without congressional approval. The war has cost USD 25 billion so far, according to Pentagon numbers presented to the House Armed Services Committee during a contentious hearing ostensibly focused on the administration's 2027 military budget proposal. It would boost defence spending to a historic USD 1.5 trillion. While Republicans focused on the details of military budgeting and voiced support for the Iran operation, Democrats grilled Hegseth and Gen Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about the ballooning costs of the war, the huge drawdown of critical US munitions and the bombing of a school that killed children. Some lawmakers also questioned President Donald Trump's dealings with allies and his shifting justification for the ...
The US Federal Communications Commission has ordered an early review of American Broadcasting Company's (ABC) local station broadcast licences, after US President Donald Trump called for firing of the network's late night host Jimmy Kimmel. The early review of broadcast licences is considered as an extraordinary move against the network whose programming has often angered the president. "Disney's ABC is hereby directed to file license renewals for all of their licensed TV stations within 30 days - in other words, by May 28, 2026," the FCC order published Tuesday read. The FCC review covers eight channels of the network and is related to an ongoing investigation into the network's diversity initiatives. However, the order came a day after Trump and First Lady Melania called for the firing of Kimmel for his "expectant widow" remarks on his show last week. Trump sought to link Kimmel's remarks with the attempted storming of the White House Correspondents' Association dinner on Saturd
Donald and Melania Trump both called for ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel on Monday after a joke last week in which the late-night comic described the first lady as having "the glow of an expectant widow." The remark about the president's wife was part of a routine on Thursday's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" where the host pretended to deliver a comedy routine at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. That event two nights later was cut short when a man armed with guns and knives tried to enter the Washington ballroom where the Trumps and much of the nation's political leadership had gathered. "People like Kimmel shouldn't have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate," Melania Trump said in a social media post later echoed by her husband. There was no immediate comment from ABC. Trump has long been on receiving end of Kimmel's routines ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kimmel has long targeted the president in his comedy,
The Justice Department will adopt firing squads as a permitted method of execution as the Trump administration moves to ramp up and expedite capital punishment cases, officials said Friday. The Justice Department is also reauthorising the use of single-drug lethal injections with pentobarbital that were used to carry out 13 executions during the first Trump administration - more than under any president in modern history. The Biden administration had removed pentobarbital from the federal protocol over concerns about the potential for unnecessary pain and suffering. The moves were announced as part of a broader push to step up federal executions after a moratorium under the Biden administration. Only three defendants remain on federal death row after Democratic President Joe Biden converted 37 of their sentences to life in prison, though the Trump administration has so far authorised seeking death sentences against 44 defendants. "The prior administration failed in its duty to prot
Navy Secretary John Phelan is leaving his job, the Pentagon abruptly announced Wednesday, the first head of a military service to depart during President Donald Trump's second term but just the latest top defense leader to step down or be ousted. No reason was given for the unexpected departure of the Navy's top civilian official, coming as the sea service has imposed a blockade of Iranian ports and is targeting ships linked to Tehran around the world during a tenuous ceasefire in the war. Another Trump loyalist is taking over as acting head of the Navy: Undersecretary Hung Cao, a 25-year Navy combat veteran who ran unsuccessful campaigns for the U.S. Senate and House in Virginia. Phelan's departure is the latest in a series of shakeups of top leadership at the Pentagon, coming just weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the Army's top uniformed officer, Gen. Randy George. Hegseth also has fired several other top generals, admirals and defense leaders since taking office ..
Immigrants who acquire US citizenship should think of themselves as Americans and not the country where they came from, US Vice President J D Vance said here. Addressing students at the University of Georgia on Tuesday, Vance said he is married to the daughter of Indian immigrants, who have greatly contributed to the US, but his father-in-law never asked him to do anything specifically in the interest of his country of origin. "When you become an American citizen, whether your family is nine generations of lineage in the United States or whether your family has zero generations of lineage in the United States, one of the responsibilities that we must expect of citizens is that you have to think about the best interest of the country, and not the country you came from beforehand and not of any sort of any any group that you came from," Vance said in response to a question from a student of Indian-origin. The student complained of fraud in the H1-B visa system and said her parents wer