Page 80 - United States

US has options to address Chinese influence in Panama, says official

President Donald Trump has vowed that the United States would take back the Panama Canal but has given no further details on when or how he intended to reclaim the canal

President Trump calls for 'Iron Dome' for US homeland missile defence

It says Trump will order the construction of an "Iron Dome" shield, comparing it to Israel's vaunted system, which was developed in coordination with the US

In early going, Trump 2.0 approach on foreign policy is to talk loudly

Donald Trump in his first week back in the White House has offered an early preview to his second-term foreign policy approach: Talk loudly and wield a big stick. Over the weekend, Trump threatened to levy massive tariffs on Colombia after the country's leftist president refused to allow a US military plane returning deported migrants from the South American nation to land in the country. He's needled the Ukrainian president for talking so brave instead of negotiating with Russia. He's flummoxed even Republican allies with his calls on Mideast nations to take in Palestinian refugees from Gaza, potentially moving out enough of the population to just clean out the war-torn area to create a virtual clean slate. Through economic coercion and sharp rhetoric, Trump is signalling that he intends to be a bull in the China shop in hopes of extracting what he wants from allies and adversaries alike. In the Colombia episode, President Gustavo Petro quickly relented in the face of Trump's ...

Intel sharing by US, allies saved lives, but Trump could test those ties

As Russia moved closer to invading Ukraine nearly three years ago, the United States and its allies took the extraordinary step of declassifying and sharing intelligence to expose Moscow's plans. Information flew across the Atlantic from US spy agencies to NATO and Western partners showing that Russia was poised to launch the biggest attack on a European country since World War II. It was designed to muster support for Kyiv, and on the strength of the US warning, some nations sent weapons to Ukraine, which moved some equipment out of the range of Russian strikes. Now, officials are bracing for a potentially changed security landscape under President Donald Trump. He has criticized America's allies and lambasted its intelligence agencies. He's been accused of disregarding secrecy rules and hoarding classified documents. Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's pick for director of national intelligence, has parroted Russian propaganda while his nominee to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, has promised change

Trump pauses all US foreign aid for 90 days; orders review; NGOs decry move

Donald Trump's directive, which halts all non-military foreign assistance for 90 days pending a review, has sparked widespread concern among humanitarian organisations

Trump should rethink revoking ex-officials' security details: Tom Cotton

President Donald Trump should rethink his decision to remove security details from three former senior national security officials, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Sunday. That protection is not just for them, but also the public, said Sen. Tom Cotton, a Trump loyalist who nonetheless is pushing back against the president's targeting of those he perceived as adversaries. Cotton said a president needs to keep qualified individuals interested in serving the White House and that may sometimes require enhanced security for officials. The Arkansas senator said he would encourage Trump to revisit the decision for those people former National Security Adviser John Bolton, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Brian Hook, a former senior policy adviser to Pompeo. All were involved in planning and discussions of the deadly drone strike on Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani in January 2020. The threat to anyone involved in President Trump's strike on Qasem Soleimani is .

CIA suspects Covid originated from a lab but lacks confidence in finding

The CIA now believes the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic likely originated from a laboratory, according to an assessment released Saturday that points the finger at China even while acknowledging that the spy agency has low confidence in its own conclusion. The finding is not the result of any new intelligence, and the report was completed at the behest of the Biden administration and former CIA Director William Burns. It was declassified and released Saturday on the orders of President Donald Trump's pick to lead the agency, John Ratcliffe, who was sworn in Thursday as director. The nuanced finding suggests the agency believes the totality of evidence makes a lab origin more likely than a natural origin. But the agency's assessment assigns a low degree of confidence to this conclusion, suggesting the evidence is deficient, inconclusive or contradictory. Earlier reports on the origins of COVID-19 have split over whether the coronavirus emerged from a Chinese lab, ...

US mission in India 'reviewing' foreign aid after Trump's executive order

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reportedly ordered an immediate halt to work on virtually all existing foreign aid programmes pending a review

Trump believes US will get Greenland after Danish PM denied it earlier

Insisting that Greenland needs to be part of the US, President Donald Trump has said that it would be an "unfriendly act" on the part of Denmark if they did not let this happen. Greenland, which is under the control of Denmark, is the world's largest island. I think we're going to have it (Greenland). I think the people want to be with us. As you know, there's 55,000 people there. They want to be with us, Trump told reporters on Saturday. Trump's comments come after reports that Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen insisted Greenland was not for sale in a fiery phone call with the US president last week. I don't really know what claim Denmark has to but it would be a very unfriendly act if they didn't allow that to happen because it's for protection of the free world. It's not for us. It's for the free world right now, Trump said in response to a question. Trump said that the people of Greenland don't like the way they've been treated by Denmark. You have Russian ships; you ha

We join them in recognising enduring significance: US wishes India on R-Day

US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, in a statement, said the India-US relationship continues to reach new heights and will be the defining relationship of the 21st century

US has not stopped military aid to Ukraine, says President Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday the US has not stopped military aid to Ukraine after newly sworn in US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced he would pause foreign aid grants for 90 days. Zelenskyy did not clarify whether humanitarian aid had been paused. Ukraine relies on the US for 40% of its military needs. I am focused on military aid; it has not been stopped, thank God, he said at a press conference with Moldovan President Maia Sandu. The two leaders met in Kyiv on Saturday to discuss the energy needs of Moldova's Russian-occupied Transnistria region, which saw its natural gas supplies halted on Jan 1 due to Ukraine's decision to stop Russian gas transit. Ukraine has said it can offer coal to the Transnistrian authorities to make up for the shortfall. The future of US aid to Ukraine remains uncertain as President Donald Trump begins his second term in office. The American leader has repeatedly said he wouldn't have allowed Russia's invasion of Ukraine t

State Department halts new funding for nearly all US aid programmes

The State Department has frozen new funding for almost all US foreign assistance, making exceptions to allow humanitarian food programmes and military aid to Israel and Egypt to continue. The sweeping order threatened a quick halt to countless projects globally aiding health, education, development, job training and other efforts by the United States, the largest provide of foreign aid. It appears to begin enforcement of a pledge to eliminate aid programs that President Donald Trump judges not to be in US interests. The order sent in a cable to US embassies worldwide and obtained by The Associated Press prohibits new government spending, which appears to limit programs to running only as long as they have cash on hand. Some leading aid organizations on Friday were interpreting the directive as an immediate stop-work order for US-funded aid work globally, a senior aid organization official said. Many would likely cease operations immediately so as not to incur more costs, the ...

India sees 2nd-highest mobile downloads of GenAI apps in 2024, shows data

The country saw downloads of GenAI apps hit 177 million in CY24, accounting for 11.8 per cent share of total global downloads at 1,490 million

Essar Group to invest $650 mn more in US steel plant: Prashant Ruia

Company to focus on energy, metals and mining, infrastructure and technology in India, he says

US business activity at 9-month low in January; hiring accelerates

S&P Global said on Friday that its flash US Composite PMI Output Index, which tracks the manufacturing and services sectors, declined to 52.4 this month

US will let sanctioned Russian oil tankers offload by Feb 27: Oil Secy

India became the top buyer of Russian sea-borne oil sold at a discount after Western nations imposed sanctions on Moscow

Trump signs executive order to declassify JFK, RFK, MLK assassination files

Donald Trump's executive order directs the director of national intelligence and the attorney general, once confirmed, to devise a plan within 15 days to release the remaining JFK files

WHO chief plans cost cuts, revised priorities after US exit, document shows

The United States is by far the WHO's biggest financial backer, contributing around 18% of its overall funding. WHO's most recent two-year budget, for 2024-2025, was $6.8 billion

Putin ready to speak to Trump, wants to start nuclear cuts talks: Kremlin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has also made clear he wants to restart nuclear arms cuts talks as soon as possible

US lawmaker condemns policy for 'ageing out' children of H-1B visa holders

A powerful US lawmaker has criticised the policy affecting children of H-1B visa holders who "age out" their immigration status upon turning 21. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China. Children of H-1B visa holders who turn 21 before their parent secures a Green Card can lose their dependent status and age out of the ability to obtain a permanent resident card. A Green Card allows a non-US citizen to live and work permanently in America. The extensive Green Card backlogs for high-skilled workers mean that H-1B visa holders must wait decades and even centuries before a Green Card is available to them, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, senior Democratic member of the House Judiciary Committee, said during a Congressional hearing on restoring ..