Page 78 - United States

EU leaders scramble to avoid friction with US, avoid 'stupid tariff war'

After three years spent trying to deter Russia from destroying Ukraine, European Union leaders grappled on Monday with how to respond to a major ally who appears determined to start a trade war or even seize part of their territory. It would be a cruel paradox if, during the time of this direct Russian threat and Chinese expansion, the EU and the United States might end up in a conflict among allies," said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose country currently holds the EU's rotating presidency. Since taking office last month, US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on EU imports and refused to rule out military force to take control of Greenland, an autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark. Trump has also mystified Europeans by showing little sign of how he intends to end the war in Ukraine within six months as promised, let alone in a day, as he boasted while campaigning last year. We have to do everything to avoid this totally unnecessary and stupid tarif

Donald Trump's tariff reversal feeds reputation as paper tiger on trade

Trump's threats and the prospect of them becoming real dropped US stocks and the currencies of his targets, including the Canadian dollar, Mexican peso, euro

Trump admin ends temporary deportation protection for 350,000 Venezuelans

US President Donald Trump's administration is ending protections that shielded roughly 350,000 Venezuelans from deportation, leaving them with two months before they lose their right to work in the US. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's order affects 348,202 Venezuelans living in the US with Temporary Protected Status slated to expire in April. That's about half of the approximately 600,000 who have the protection. The remaining protections are set to expire at the end of September. The termination notice will be published Wednesday and go into effect 60 days later. It's among the latest Trump administration actions targeting the immigration system, as officials work to make good on promises of cracking down on people illegally living in the country and to carry out the largest mass deportation effort in US history. Congress created TPS in 1990 to prevent deportations to countries suffering from natural disasters or civil strife, giving people authorization to work in ...

Here's all you need to know about USAID and why Trump, Musk want to end it

Dozens of senior officials put on leave. Thousands of contractors laid off. A freeze put on billions of dollars in humanitarian assistance to other countries. Over the last two weeks, President Donald Trump's administration has made significant changes to the US agency charged with delivering humanitarian assistance overseas that has left aid organisations agonising over whether they can continue with programmes such as nutritional assistance for malnourished infants and children. Then-President John F Kennedy established the US Agency for International Development, known as USAID, during the Cold War. In the decades since, Republicans and Democrats have fought over the agency and its funding. Here's a look at USAID, its history and the changes made since Trump took office. What is USAID? Kennedy created USAID at the height of the United States' Cold War struggle with the Soviet Union. He wanted a more efficient way to counter Soviet influence abroad through foreign assistance and

Panama offers concessions to US after Rubio meets President Mulino

The Panamanian leader played down the tensions but reiterated his country won't give up the canal, as his government offered other concessions to the US

WHO proposes to cut budget by $400 mn after US exit, defends its work

The budget cut will be addressed at the Feb. 3-11 Geneva meeting, during which member state representatives will discuss the agency's funding and work for the 2026-27 period

EU leaders hold summit no longer certain about aims of their old ally, US

European Union leaders are gathering on Monday for informal talks focused on defence with no clear sign yet from US President Donald Trump about how he intends to try to end Russia's war on Ukraine. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte will join the bloc's 27 leaders at a self-styled retreat at Egmont Place in the Belgian capital, Brussels. The summit will focus on EU-US cooperation, military spending and ramping up Europe's defense industry. The meeting comes as Europe's biggest land conflict since World War II approaches its third anniversary, and with confidence in Trump shaky as he threatens his allies with tariffs. Trump already slapped duties on European steel and aluminum during his first term. Last month, Trump also left open the possibility that the American military might be used to secure Greenland, as well as the Panama Canal. We need Greenland for national security purposes, he said. Greenland, home to a large US military base, is an ..

Black Hawk crash: Why was Rebecca Lobach's name kept secret for so long?

Following the crash between an American Airlines plane and Army Black Hawk, the identity of pilot Rebecca Lobach was not revealed until yesterday

WHO chief asks countries to push Trump to reconsider its withdrawal

The World Health Organisation chief asked global leaders to lean on Washington to reverse President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the UN health agency, insisting in a closed-door meeting with diplomats last week that the US will miss out on critical information about global disease outbreaks. But countries also pressed WHO at a key budget meeting last Wednesday about how it might cope with the exit of its biggest donor, according to internal meeting materials obtained by The Associated Press. A German envoy, Bjorn Kummel, warned: The roof is on fire, and we need to stop the fire as soon as possible. For 2024-2025, the US is WHO's biggest donor by far, putting in an estimated $988 million, roughly 14% of WHO's $6.9 billion budget. A budget document presented at the meeting showed WHO's health emergencies program has a heavy reliance on American cash. Readiness functions in WHO's Europe office were more than 80% reliant on the $154 million the US contributes. The document

Trump bans China's 'de minimis' route: What it is and why it matters

Trump's new tariffs suspend China's de minimis exemption, blocking duty-free shipments under $800 - a move aimed at curbing fentanyl inflows and impacting Chinese e-commerce firms

Carter wins posthumous Grammy for narrating book of Sunday school lessons

Former US president Jimmy Carter has won a posthumous Grammy award. Carter, the peanut farmer who won the presidency in the wake of the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, died in December at age 100. Prior to his passing, Carter was nominated in the audio book, narration, and storytelling recording category at the 2025 Grammys for Last Sundays in Plains: A Centennial Celebration, recordings from his final Sunday School lessons delivered at Maranatha Baptist Church in Georgia. Musicians Darius Rucker, Lee Ann Rimes and Jon Batiste are featured on the record. It's Carter's fourth Grammy. His posthumous Grammy joins his three previous ones for spoken word album. If the former president won before his death, he would've become the oldest Grammy award winner in history. Jason Carter, Jimmy Carter's grandson who now chairs The Carter Center governing board, received the award on his behalf. Having his words captured in this way for my family and for the world is truly remarkable, he said

Philadelphia plane crash: 5 injured remain in hospital, 3 critical

Three people injured on the ground when a jet crashed in a busy Philadelphia neighbourhood, killing seven people, remain in critical condition, Mayor Cherelle Parker said Sunday. Parker said 22 people were injured and five of them remain hospitalised. At least 11 homes were significantly damaged, along with some businesses. Our city continues to mourn their loss and they are in our thoughts and prayers, Parker said of the deceased victims. A Mexico-bound air ambulance plummeted to the ground Friday evening, less than a minute after it had taken off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport with six people on board, including a girl who had spent months being treated at a city hospital. One of the deceased was killed inside a car as debris from the Learjet 55 crash exploded into the neighbourhood, damaging nearby homes. The investigation into the crash remained ongoing, Parker said, adding that officials were going door-to-door to seek information from neighbourhood residents. The crash

Panama must reduce Chinese influence around canal or face US action: Rubio

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Panamanian President Jos Ral Mulino on Sunday that the Central American ally must immediately reduce Chinese influence over the Panama Canal area or face potential retaliation from the Trump administration. Rubio, on his first foreign trip as America's top diplomat, held face-to-face talks with Mulino, who has resisted pressure from the new US government over Panama's management of a waterway that is vital to global trade. Mulino told reporters after the meeting that Rubio made no real threat of retaking the canal or the use of force. Speaking on behalf of President Donald Trump, who has demanded that the canal be returned to U.S. control, Rubio told Mulino that Trump had made a preliminary determination that China's presence in the canal area violates a treaty that led to the United States turning the waterway over to Panama in 1999. That treaty calls for the permanent neutrality of the American-built canal, which Rubio planned to tour later .

Remains of 55 of 67 victims of midair collision recovered: Officials

Authorities said Sunday they have recovered the remains of 55 of the 67 people killed in the deadliest US air disaster since 2001. Washington, D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said at a news conference that divers still need to find the bodies of 12 more victims and are committed to the dignified recovery of remains as they prepare to lift wreckage from the Potomac River as early as Monday morning. Reuniting those lost in this tragic incident is really what keeps us all going, said Colonel Francis B. Pera of the Army Corps of Engineers. Portions of the aircraft will be loaded onto flatbed trucks and taken to a hangar for further investigation. They spoke hours after families of the victims visited the crash site just outside Washington, D.C., walking along the banks of the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport to memorialize their loved ones. Dozens of people arrived in buses with a police escort close to where an American Airlines jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter ..

Democrats elect Ken Martin, Minnesota party leader, as their national chair

Democrats on Saturday elected Ken Martin, the party leader in Minnesota, as the national chair, turning to a low-profile Midwestern political operative to coordinate their resistance to Donald Trump's presidency. Martin succeeds Jaime Harrison of South Carolina atop the Democratic National Committee. Harrison did not seek another term after the 2024 election when Trump became the first Republican to win the popular vote in two decades and made modest gains with core Democratic constituencies African Americans, Latinos and working-class voters, among them. Martin offered a warning to Trump and his Republican allies after the vote was announced: We're coming. This is a new Democratic Party. We're taking the gloves off. Martin now becomes one of the most important players in the Democratic Party's comeback attempt as Trump pushes the limits of presidential power. While Martin promised bold changes, he said he could not discuss specific actions until the party conducted a postelection

US Congress blocks DeepSeek AI over security concerns; Italy launches probe

US Congress bans Chinese AI chatbot DeepSeek over security risks, citing malware threats. Italy follows suit, blocking access and launching a probe into its data practices

US limits helicopter flights after Washington DC crash, 'black boxes' found

Investigators were able on Friday to recover the helicopter's black box, which captures flight data and voices in the cockpit

Black box search in DC plane crash: What is it and how does it work?

Every commercial aircraft must have two black boxes-one to record flight data like airspeed and altitude, and the other to capture cockpit conversations

At least seven killed, 19 injured in air ambulance crash in Philadelphia

A medical transport jet crashed in Philadelphia on Friday about 30 seconds after taking off, setting homes ablaze, strewing debris and rattling residents after the second air disaster in as many days. Two people were on board, the Federal Aviation Administration said. A doorbell camera captured footage of the plane falling from the sky in a streak of white and exploding in a fireball as it hit the ground in a residential neighborhood near a shopping mall and major roadway. All we heard was a loud roar and didn't know where it was coming from. We just turned around and saw the big plume, said Jim Quinn, the owner of the doorbell camera. The crash happened less than 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) from Northeast Philadelphia Airport, which primarily serves business jets and charter flights. The plane, a Learjet 55, quickly disappeared from radar after taking off from the airport at 6:06 pm and climbing to an altitude of 1,600 feet (487 meters). It was en route to Springfield, Missouri, and

US Senators push to reverse auto-renewal of work permits back to 180 days

Two influential Republican Senators have introduced a resolution to reverse a Biden-era rule that increased the period for renewing work permits from 180 to 540 days. The automatic extension of the Employment Authorisation Document (EAD) from 180 days to 540 days was of great help to the spouses of H-1B visa holders, a significant number of whom were from India. The rule finalised by the Department of Homeland Security on January 13 applies broadly to immigrants, refugees, green card holders, spouses of H-1B visa holders and more. Introduced on Thursday jointly by Senators John Kennedy and Rick Scott, the resolution seeks disapproval under Congressional Review Act (CRA) procedures for the Biden administration's rule that automatically extended the renewal period for an immigrant EAD to almost a year-and-a-half before officials could review those permits. The Biden administration's dangerous rule automatically extended work permits for immigrants to 540 days. Giving immigrants more