Page 8 - Us President

Trump flies US flag at full height amid Jimmy Carter's mourning period

US flags at President-elect Donald Trump's private Mar-a-Lago club are back to flying at full height. Flags are supposed to fly at half-staff through the end of January out of respect for former President Jimmy Carter, who died on December 29. A large flag on Trump's property was initially lowered to half-staff according to protocol but has since been raised in the days after Carter was buried Thursday in his hometown of Plains, Georgia. Both President Joe Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis directed that US flags be flown at half-staff for 30 days from the date of Carter's death or through January 28. Trump has expressed annoyance that flags will be at half-staff on January 20 when he takes the oath of office for his second term. During the presidential campaign, he repeatedly criticised Carter, but offered praise for the 39th president in a statement after his death at the age of 100. A spokesperson for Trump on Monday did not immediately respond to an emailed request for ...

Inside Mark Zuckerberg's sprint to remake Meta for Donald Trump's era

The entire process was highly unusual. Meta typically alters policies that govern its apps by inviting employees, civic leaders and others to weigh in

EAM Jaishankar to attend Donald Trump's oath taking ceremony on January 20

Last month, Jaishankar was in the US to kickstart high-level engagements between the incoming Trump 2.0 administration

US Prez Biden to deliver farewell address on January 15 from Oval Office

US President Biden will reflect on his decades of public service, presidential achievements, and vision for America's future during his farewell address on January 15

We don't want to be Americans: Greenland's PM as Trump covets territory

Greenland's prime minister said on Friday that the mineral-rich Arctic territory's people don't want to be Americans, but that he understands US President-elect Donald Trump's interest in the island given its strategic location and he's open to greater cooperation with Washington. The comments from the Greenlandic leader, Mte B. Egede, came after Trump said earlier this week that he wouldn't rule out using force or economic pressure in order to make Greenland which is an autonomous territory belonging to Denmark a part of the United States. Trump said that it was a matter of national security for the US. Egede acknowledged that Greenland is part of the North American continent, and a place that the Americans see as part of their world. He said he hasn't spoken to Trump, but that he's open to discussions about what unites us. Cooperation is about dialogue. Cooperation means that you will work towards solutions, he said. Egede has been calling for independence for Greenland, casti

US President-elect Donald Trump is on a collision course with the Budget

Government deficits are the difference between annual revenues and expenditures, and the national debt is the sum of past deficits

Biden administration wages battle over plea for accused 9/11 mastermind

The Biden administration doubled down Thursday on its unusual court battle to derail a plea deal that the government itself had reached with accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. It urged a federal appeals panel to block Mohammed's guilty plea from going forward as scheduled Friday at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Defence lawyers described the attempts to throw out the agreement as the latest in two decades of fitful and negligent mishandling of the case by the US military and successive administrations. The fight has put the Biden administration at odds with the US military officials it had appointed to oversee justice in al-Qaida's attacks on Sept 11, 2001, that killed nearly 3,000 people. It was the latest tumult and uncertainty in two decades of troubled prosecution tied to one of the deadliest attacks on American soil. A new filing Thursday from Justice Department lawyers argued that the gravity of the extraordinarily important case warranted Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin ..

Man carrying machete, knives held at US Capitol ahead of Trump visit

The machete was detected by an X-ray machine at the entrance to the visitor centre, according to a statement released by Capitol Police

Trump's sentencing in hush money case: What to expect and what it means

Donald Trump's sentencing is scheduled for 9:30 am EST (8 pm IST) on Friday, January 10, following a ruling by Judge Juan Merchan last week

President-elect Trump vows to undo new Biden ban on offshore drilling

President-elect Donald Trump complained on Tuesday that President Joe Biden was undermining his transition to power a day after the incumbent moved to ban offshore energy drilling in most federal waters. Biden, whose term expires in two weeks, used his authority under the federal Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to protect offshore areas along the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and portions of Alaska's Northern Bering Sea from future oil and natural gas leasing. All told, about 625 million acres of federal waters were withdrawn from energy exploration by Biden in a move that may require an act of Congress to undo. I'm going to put it back on day one," Trump told reporters at his private club in Florida. He pledged to take it to the courts if we need to." Trump said Biden's effort part of a series of final actions in office by the Democrat's administration was undermining his plans for once he's in office. You know, they told me that, we're going to do everythin

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

Trump declines to rule out military action to take Panama Canal, Greenland

He reiterated his interest in making Canada into a US state and criticized American spending on Canadian goods and military support for Canada, one of the country's closest allies

Biden tells New Orleans mourners they are not alone; honours victims

President Joe Biden told mourners in New Orleans on Monday that they are not alone as he paid tribute to victims of the deadly New Year's attack and channelled the pain felt by their loved ones. Biden made the remarks at St. Louis Cathedral in the city's historic French Quarter. not far from the area where an Army veteran drove a truck into revellers last week, killing 14 and injuring 30 more. Biden praised so many that ran toward the chaos, trying to help save others," including first responders. He noted the city's enduring strength and resilience amid tragedy, invoking past devastation like Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The city's people get back up," Biden said. "That's the spirit of America as well. Biden met privately with grieving families, survivors and first responders before the prayer service. He also stopped at a makeshift memorial where the attack had begun to unfold. It is being investigated as an act of terrorism inspired by the Islamic State group. Biden has made doze

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

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

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

Americans shouldn't forget Capitol attack, but it won't repeat: Biden

President Joe Biden is decrying what he calls an unrelenting effort to downplay a mob of Donald Trump supporters overrunning the US Capitol in an attempt to block certification of the 2020 election seeking to contrast that day's chaos with what he promises will be an orderly transition returning Trump to power for a second term. In an opinion piece published Sunday in The Washington Post, Biden recalled Jan. 6, 2021, writing that violent insurrectionists attacked the Capitol. We should be proud that our democracy withstood this assault," Biden wrote. "And we should be glad we will not see such a shameful attack again this year. Congress will convene amid snow in Washington on Monday to certify Trump's victory in November's election in a session presided over by the candidate he defeated, Vice President Kamala Harris. No violence, or even procedural objections, are expected this time, marking a return to a US tradition that launches the peaceful transfer of presidential power. Tha

President Biden inks Social Security bill in rare public signing ceremony

Social Security Fairness Act will boost Social Security payments to more than 2.5 million retirees - some by as much as $550 a month- by changing formulas used to reduce benefits for certain beneficia

Ex-US President Carter's six-day state funeral begins in Georgia's Americus

Mourners lined the main street in Plains, where Carter was born and lived most of his life

Elon Musk a majority-maker, and he won't let US Congress forget it

A political action committee controlled by the world's richest man spent $19.2 million in the final six weeks of the 2024 election to back Republicans in too-close-to-call races around the country