Page 95 - United States

Greenland loves US: Trump Jr as Prez-elect keeps option on controlling open

In a post on Truth Social Trump Jr posted a picture of himself holding the American flag alongside a group of people in Greenland wearing MAGA hats

Remote but resource-rich Greenland occupies key position in warming world

Remote, icy and mostly pristine, Greenland plays an outsized role in the daily weather experienced by billions of people and in the climate changes taking shape all over the planet. Greenland is where climate change, scarce resources, tense geopolitics and new trade patterns all intersect, said Ohio University security and environment professor Geoff Dabelko. The world's largest island is now "central to the geopolitical, geoeconomic competition in many ways," partly because of climate change, Dabelko said. Since his first term in office, President-elect Donald Trump has expressed interest in acquiring Greenland, which is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, a longtime US ally and a founding member of NATO. It is also home to a large US military base. Why is Greenland coveted? Think of Greenland as an open refrigerator door or thermostat for a warming world, and it's in a region that is warming four times faster than the rest of the globe, said New York University climate scient

Honda Motor cautious about new EV production ahead of Trump presidency

Honda will also be cautious about its battery plant plans in Canada, mindful of government regulations and EV market trends

30,000 under evacuation orders as wildfire whips through Los Angeles

Firefighters scrambled to corral a fast-moving wildfire in the Los Angeles hillsides dotted with celebrity homes as a fierce windstorm hit Southern California on Tuesday, fanning the blaze seen for miles as scores of residents abandoned their cars and fled on foot to safety with roads blocked. Nearly 26,000 people in more than 10,000 households and more than 13,000 structures are under threat from the blaze, said Kristin Crowley, fire chief of the LA Fire Department. One resident described seeing people crying and screaming as they ran away carrying their children and pets. Officials said the worst of the winds are expected overnight Tuesday into Wednesday. Forecasters predicted the windstorm would last for days, producing isolated gusts that could top 100 mph (160 kph) in mountains and foothills including in areas that haven't seen substantial rain in months. Roughly half a million utility customers were at risk of having their power shut off to reduce the risk of equipment sparki

Biden admin asks court to block plea deal for mastermind of 9/11 attacks

The Biden administration on Tuesday asked a federal appeals court to block a plea agreement for accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two co-defendants that would spare them the risk of the death penalty. The Justice Department argued in a brief filed with a federal appeals court in the District of Columbia that the government would be irreparably harmed if the guilty pleas were accepted. It said the government would be denied a chance for a public trial and the opportunity to seek capital punishment against three men charged with a heinous act of mass murder that caused the death of thousands of people and shocked the nation and the world. The military judge at Guantanamo Bay and a military appeals panel rejected Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin's effort to throw out the plea agreement, saying he had no power to do so after the senior Pentagon official for Guantanamo approved it in July. Mohammed was due to enter his guilty plea on Friday and his two co-defendants next ..

US opens Tesla probe focused on tech that remotely returns car to driver

US regulators have opening an investigation into 2.6 million Tesla after reports of crashes involving the use of company technology that allows drivers to remotely command their vehicle to return to them, or move to another location, using a phone app. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also said Tuesday that Tesla has failed to report any of the accidents. Tesla is under order to report crashes on publicly accessible roads involving vehicles being operated through its autonomous driving technology. The new investigation follows another probe launched in October looking into the company's Full Self-Driving system after getting reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. That investigation covers 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years. Tesla did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press on Tuesday. One driver filed a complaint after a crash while using Tesla's Actually Smart Summon .

Jimmy Carter eulogised by Harris, congressional leaders at US Capitol

Nearly 44 years after Jimmy Carter left the nation's capital in humbling defeat, the 39th president returned to Washington for three days of state funeral rites starting Tuesday. Carter's remains, which had been lying in repose at the Carter Presidential Centre since Saturday, left the Atlanta campus Tuesday morning, accompanied by his children and extended family. Special Air Mission 39 departed Dobbins Air Reserve Base north of Atlanta and arrived at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. A motorcade carried the casket into Washington for a final journey to the Capitol, where members of Congress will pay their respects. In Georgia, eight military pallbearers held Carter's casket as cannons fired on the tarmac nearby. They carried it to a vehicle that lifted it to the passenger compartment of the aircraft, the iconic blue and white Boeing 747 variant that is known as Air Force One when the sitting president is on board. Carter never travelled as president on the jet, which first flew as Ai

China exports push Nippon to seek growth in US, India after blocked deal

Japan's top steelmaker, battling declining domestic demand, made the $14.9 billion bid for the US producer in an attempt to grow its footprint in a stronger market

Backlash over H-1B visas shows Indians they're not so special anymore

The temporary work permits are the only real way to employ Indian immigrants in the US, since national caps make it nearly impossible for them to get a green card

Trump Jr visits Greenland after his father suggests US ownership of Nuuk

The visit to a freezing, snow-covered Nuuk was expected to last four to five hours, and no meetings were scheduled with government officials, a local official told Reuters

Blinken on Japan visit as Nippon Steel decision weighs on relations

Ahead of his trip, the State Department said that Blinken wanted to build on the momentum of US-Japan-South Korea trilateral cooperation

Boeing culture overhaul a 'work in progress': Outgoing US transport secy

US aviation safety regulators dramatically stepped up scrutiny of the planemaker during Buttigieg's last year in office in response to the near-catastrophe

Trump Jr plans surprise visit to Greenland after talk of US purchase

The visit is private and Trump has scheduled no official meetings, Kleist said. Trump Jr. does not have an official role within his father's incoming administration

US reports first death from bird flu in Louisiana, say health officials

The first US bird flu death has been reported a person in Louisiana who had been hospitalised with severe respiratory symptoms. Louisiana health officials announced the death on Monday. Health officials have said the person was older than 65, had underlying medical problems and had been in contact with sick and dead birds in a backyard flock. They also said a genetic analysis had suggested the bird flu virus had mutated inside the patient, which could have led to the more severe illness. They have disclosed few other details about the person. Since March, 66 confirmed bird flu infections have been reported in the US, but previous illnesses have been mild and most have been detected among farmworkers exposed to sick poultry or dairy cows. In two cases and adult in Missouri and a child in California health officials have not determined how they caught it. The origin of the Louisiana person's infection was not considered a mystery. But it was the first human case in the U.S. linke

Judge denies Trump's bid to halt Friday's hush money case sentencing

US President-elect Donald Trump was thwarted Monday in his bid to indefinitely postpone this week's sentencing in his hush money case while he appeals a ruling that upheld the verdict and put him on course to be the first president to take office convicted of crimes. Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan ordered Friday's sentencing to proceed as scheduled, rejecting arguments from Trump's lawyers who said it should be halted while they ask a state appeals court to reverse his decision to let the conviction stand. Trump can still ask the appeals court to intervene and order a stay, or pause. Otherwise, he'll be sentenced a little more than a week before he is inaugurated to a second term. Trump's lawyers have told Merchan that if his sentencing happens, he will appear by video rather than in person. The judge had given him the option in light of the demands of the presidential transition process. Merchan last Friday denied Trump's bid to throw out the verdict because of his impending retu

PM Modi appreciates letter from President Biden handed over by NSA Sullivan

During the meeting, PM Modi recalled his meetings with Biden, including during his visit to the US for Quad Leaders' Summit in September last year

US eases restrictions on Syria to allow aid, keep sanctions in place

The US on Monday eased some restrictions on Syria's transitional government to allow the entry of humanitarian aid after Islamist insurgents ousted Syrian leader Bashar Assad last month. The US Treasury issued a general license, lasting six months, that authorizes certain transactions with the Syrian government, including some energy sales and incidental transactions. The move does not lift sanctions on the nation that has been battered by more than a decade of war, but indicates a limited show of US support for the new transitional government. The general license underscores America's commitment to ensuring its sanctions do not impede activities to meet basic human needs, including the provision of public services or humanitarian assistance, a Treasury Department statement reads. Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo said his agency "will continue to support humanitarian assistance and responsible governance in Syria. Since Assad's ouster, representatives from the nation's new

US NSA highlights challenges posed by China's 'predatorial strategies'

Sullivan emphasised the significance of stronger defence cooperation between the US and India, citing its role in enabling greater security across the region

Carter had little use for presidents club, made friends with Gerald Ford

Jimmy Carter and the man he beat for president, Gerald Ford, got so tight after office that their friendship became a kind of buddy movie, complete with road trips that were never long enough because they had so much to gab about. Carter did not get along nearly so well with the other living presidents. The outsider president was an outlier after his presidency, too. Nevertheless, past and present Oval Office occupants will attend Carter's state funeral this week in what could be the largest gathering of the presidents club since five attended Washington services for George H W Bush in December 2018. As a member of that elite, informal club, Carter was uniquely positioned to do important work for his successors, whether Democrat or Republican. He achieved significant results at times, thanks to his public stature as a peacemaker, humanitarian and champion of democracy, and his deep relationships with foreign leaders, troublemakers included. But with Carter, you never knew when he'd

Two Indian firms indicted in US for importing opioid fentanyl ingredients

Athos Chemicals and Raxuter Chemicals, both based in Gujarat, were each charged in Brooklyn with distributing the ingredients and conspiring to distribute them