Page 37 - Donald Trump

Trump to hand Kennedy Center control to Congress after court setback

Trump decried the judge's ruling and said he would be 'working with Congress to transfer this failing Institution back to them so they can make a determination as to what to do with it'

US judge orders removal of Trump's name from Kennedy Center, blocks closure

A federal judge ruled on Friday that President Donald Trump's name was illegally added to the Kennedy Center and blocked the administration from closing the cultural and arts venue for major renovations -- the latest legal setback for Trump's efforts to leave his personal mark on the landscape of the nation's capital. US District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington, DC, ruled that the Kennedy Center board's March 16 vote to close the facility was "ill-informed and seemingly preordained" with no regard for its legal obligations. The administration had announced the work would begin in July and last approximately two years, but Cooper's ruling halts those plans for now. "The trustees might have assessed the propriety of closure in a number of prudent ways. This was not one," he wrote. Cooper also concluded that the board "overstepped its statutory bounds" by unilaterally adding Trump's name to the centre. Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it, h

Trump weighs Iran deal after White House meeting, decision pending

US President Donald Trump held a White House Situation Room meeting with his advisers on Friday but has not yet made a decision on whether to move forward with a deal to extend the Iran ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran said the agreement has not been finalised. Ahead of the meeting, Trump said he was looking to make a "final determination". A senior administration official later said the roughly two-hour meeting with national security aides had concluded without a decision. The official, who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Trump would only sign a deal that "satisfies his redlines" and curbs Iran's nuclear ambitions. Trump confirmed the high-level talks the day after The Associated Press and other news outlets reported that US and Iranian negotiators had come to terms on a tentative agreement. The deal would extend the fragile ceasefire by 60 days as new talks are held on Iran's disputed nuclear programme. Trump wrote o

Trump to meet with aides on proposed Iran deal, may lift Hormuz blockade

Trump says he will take a final call on a potential Iran deal after Situation Room meeting, outlining conditions including reopening the Strait of Hormuz

US-Iran draft tentative plan to end conflict: All you need to know

US and Iranian officials say they are closing in on the terms of a preliminary agreement; yet sticking points, particularly over the Strait of Hormuz, remain

Trump's pressure campaign brought Iran to the table: US Treasury secy

Speaking about the potential US deal with Iran, Bessent stressed that it depends on President Donald Trump, who is resolute on his demand against Iran's nuclear programme

US Treasury Secy Bessent confirms steps toward $250 bill featuring Trump

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday that his department has prepared the design for a USD 250 bill featuring President Donald Trump, anticipating the passage of stalled legislation in Congress to put the president on a new denomination of legal tender. Bessent said at the White House that authorising the new currency will be up to lawmakers on Capitol Hill, but that "we have created the bill" because "we have to be prepared". The secretary downplayed the idea that the administration is pushing the matter, despite Trump's penchant for infusing his name and likeness across the nation's capital and into the observances of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Yet he also insisted there is nothing inappropriate about Trump's visage being part of the seminal national celebration. "The president does not do it; the House and the Senate have to do it," Bessent said at the White House, referring to legislation, introduced by Representative Joe Wilson, R-SC,

Carney calls for new partnership with US ahead of Trump's decision on FTA

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called for a new partnership with the United States on Thursday, just weeks before President Donald Trump decides on whether to renew the free trade agreement between the countries. Carney said in a speech at the Economic Club of New York that there should be a "true partnership" that re-imagines cooperation in specific sectors challenged by global competition. He made the remarks ahead of the mandatory review of United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, in July. Carney said Canada is diversifying away from the US and signing trade deals with dozens of countries around the world. "Our core objective across these partnerships is to increase our strategic autonomy. Because we live in a world where integration has been weaponised. Because a country that cannot feed, fuel or defend itself is not truly sovereign," Carney said. Trump's actions -- including launching a trade war and suggesting Canada become the 51st US state -- have infuriated .

US, Iran reach tentative deal to extend ceasefire, launch nuclear talks

US and Iranian negotiators have reached a tentative agreement to extend the ceasefire by 60 days and launch talks on Iran's nuclear program, according to a US official familiar with the matter. The official, who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said President Donald Trump still needs to sign off on the emerging memorandum of understanding. The tentative agreement worked out by the two sides comes at a moment when the fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran appeared to be wavering. The US military earlier on Thursday accused Iran of violating the ceasefire after Kuwait reported coming under attack following an American strike against the Islamic Republic. It was the latest flare-up of fighting to threaten ongoing negotiations to end the war. Details of the tentative agreement were first reported by the news outlet Axios.

Trump refiles $10 billion defamation suit against WSJ over Epstein report

Trump's lawsuit said the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper tarnished his reputation with an article describing a birthday card to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as bearing Trump's signature

GIFT Nifty tumbles 300 pts after fresh US strikes on Iran, crude oil surge

The US attacked an Iranian military facility, leading to escalated geopolitical tensions despite ongoing negotiations between Washington and Tehran to end the three-month-long conflict

Trump's Iran bind deepens as Hormuz crisis fuels war pressure at home

Adding to the challenge are his own comments over the years, lambasting his predecessors for signing or considering deals similar to the one that has the best chance of success

'No nation will control Hormuz': Trump as he threatens to blow up Oman

Iran's Tasnim news agency cited a military source as saying that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Navy fired toward a US oil tanker that was trying to transit the strait, forcing it to turn back

US imposes sanctions on Iranian agency trying to control shipping in Hormuz

The Trump administration on Wednesday placed additional sanctions on Iran as part of a sprawling economic pressure campaign during the war, this time targeting the country's newly-created agency that is trying to control shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. The move, first reported by The Associated Press, is the latest US effort to use economic leverage on top of military action to push Iran's leadership into an agreement to end the war and open the waterway where a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas normally passes. President Donald Trump has said a deal is imminent, but talks are ongoing. It comes as rising energy prices and other costs stemming from Iran's effective closure of the strait have heaped political pressure on Trump and other Republicans ahead of the midterm congressional elections. "The Iranian military's latest attempt to extort global maritime trade is proof that Economic Fury has left the regime desperate for cash," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in

Trump admin tells prosecutors to stand down on Venezuela's Delcy Rodriguez

The Trump administration has quietly instructed federal prosecutors in Miami to avoid pursuing criminal investigations into Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez, a longtime target of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, according to current and former US law enforcement officials, in the latest sign of warming relations between the White House and the oil-rich nation. It is unclear whether prosecutors had implicated Rodriguez in any crimes or whether investigators were moving toward an indictment. A Justice Department spokesperson said in an email "there was never an investigation into her to shut down". But DEA records obtained by The Associated Press earlier this year show she consistently surfaced on the radar of federal law enforcement dating to at least 2018, though she has never been criminally charged in the US like several other senior Venezuelan officials. The directive to pause scrutiny into Rodriguez was meant to avoid upsetting the administration's efforts to

US launches fresh defensive strikes on Iran after drone threat near Hormuz

The US military on Wednesday conducted its second defensive strike this week against Iran after officials said they observed aggressive activity from the Iranian military. Two US officials told The Associated Press that US military forces shot down four Iranian drones and struck a base that was about to launch a fifth drone after determining they posed a threat to the Strait of Hormuz. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive military operations. President Donald Trump asserted on Wednesday that Iran is "negotiating on fumes" and insisted that November's midterm elections will not make him rush into a deal to end the nearly three-month-old conflict that has spurred unease across the global economy. Speaking at the start of a Cabinet meeting, Trump expressed confidence that a deal is near. Over the weekend, he even declared that his administration and Tehran had "largely negotiated" a settlement, though the talks are still in flux. The president i

Zelenskyy asks Trump for more US air defence aid against Russian attacks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has written to US President Donald Trump and Congress asking for more American-made air defence ammunition to counter intensifying Russian ballistic missile attacks, Kyiv said Wednesday. Meanwhile, Russian lawmakers have backed a draft bill to have bank employees join the fight against Ukraine's long-range drones that strike deep inside Russia - with trained bank staff shooting down the unmanned aircraft. The steps came after a recent escalation in aerial attacks by both sides in the more than four-year war that followed Russia's all-out invasion of its neighbor. Neither side has been able to make much progress on the 1,250-km front line. Also on Wednesday, Anne Keast-Butler, head of UK's intelligence agency GCHQ, asserted that Russian President Vladimir Putin is "going backwards on the battlefield". New data shows that "almost half a million Russian soldiers have now been killed since the conflict began," she added. Ukraine has pounded Russ

Iran 'negotiating on fumes', says Trump, shrugs off midterms' impact on war

President Donald Trump asserted on Wednesday that Iran is "negotiating on fumes" and insisted that November's midterm elections won't make him rush into a deal to end the nearly three-month-old conflict that's spurred unease across the global economy. Speaking at the start of a Cabinet meeting, Trump expressed confidence that a deal is near. Over the weekend, he even declared that his administration and Tehran had "largely negotiated" a settlement, though the talks are still in flux. The president is looking for a settlement that will reopen the Strait of Hormuz and provide him with a credible argument that Iran's nuclear capability has been diminished enough to declare victory, winding down a conflict that's been politically unpopular for Republicans. But as things stand, Trump also risks finding that closure to his war of choice comes with an unsatisfactory ending. The emerging deal puts off many critical issues to be resolved later and has already exposed the Republican presiden

US rejects Iranian media's report on 'draft deal' to restore Hormuz traffic

The remark came after Iranian state television reported that Tehran had committed to restoring commercial transit through the Strait of Hormuz to pre-war levels within one month

Trump set to meet Cabinet as he looks to seal deal to end Iran war

President Donald Trump will meet with his Cabinet on Wednesday at a precarious moment for talks aimed at ending the war with Iran, just days after insisting that his administration and Tehran had "largely negotiated" a settlement but with the negotiations still in a state of flux. As he prepares to huddle with his top aides, Trump is projecting confidence that he's closing in on a deal that will reopen the Strait of Hormuz and provide him a credible argument that Iran's nuclear capability has been diminished enough to declare victory, winding down a conflict that's been politically unpopular for Republicans. But as things stand, Trump also risks finding closure to his war of choice comes with an unsatisfactory ending. The emerging deal puts off many critical issues to be resolved later and has already exposed the president to fierce criticism - even from some of his own supporters - that Iran's hardline leaders will emerge from the conflict battered but emboldened. It all comes to