Category: World

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump is planning to merge the country’s international aid agency, USAID, into the State Department as part of a wider shake-up aimed at cutting staff and bringing aid spending in line with his “America First” policy. Trump has entrusted Elon Musk, the billionaire heading his drive to shrink the federal government, to oversee the project. On Sunday, Trump said USAID had “been run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we’re getting them out,” while Musk called it “a criminal organisation” without providing any evidence and…

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Tech billionaire Elon Musk, appointed by United States President Donald Trump to lead efforts in reducing the federal government, has announced plans to eliminate the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Musk, who is overseeing a federal cost-cutting panel through the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), announced his plans during a social media discussion on Monday on the social media platform, X, which he also owns. The discussion, which also featured former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Senators Joni Ernst and Mike Lee, begain with the Tesla and…

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OTTAWA: Canada has decided to impose 25% levies on imports from the United States following President Donald Trump’s decision to charge tariffs on the Canadian goods entering the country. Relations between the long-time allies who share the world’s longest land border have reached a new low with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warning Americans that Trump’s actions would have real consequences for them. Speaking at a news conference, PM Trudeau he was slapping tariffs on C$155 billion ($107 billion) of US goods. Those on C$30 billion will take effect on…

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China said Sunday it “firmly opposes” new tariffs imposed on Beijing by US President Donald Trump, vowing to take “corresponding countermeasures to resolutely safeguard our own rights and interests”. Unveiling sweeping measures against major trade partners on Saturday, Trump announced an additional 10% tariff on Chinese imports on top of existing duties. In a statement on Sunday, China’s commerce ministry slammed Washington’s “erroneous practices”, saying Beijing was “strongly dissatisfied with this and firmly opposes it”. The ministry said Beijing would file a lawsuit at the World Trade Organisation, arguing that…

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PORT SUDAN: At least 56 people across greater Khartoum were killed by artillery shelling and air strikes on Saturday, according to a medical source and activists, the latest bloodshed in Sudan’s devastating war. Since April 2023, Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been locked in a battle for power that has intensified this month with the army fighting to take back control of the capital. RSF shelling killed 54 and injured 158 people at a busy market in army-controlled Omdurman, part of greater Khartoum, overwhelming…

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US President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered sweeping tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China, demanding they stanch the flow of fentanyl — and illegal immigrants in the case of Canada and Mexico — into the United States, kicking off a trade war that could dent global growth and reignite inflation. Mexico and Canada, the top two US trading partners, immediately vowed retaliatory tariffs, while China said it would challenge Trump’s move at the World Trade Organisation and take other “countermeasures.” In three executive orders, Trump imposed 25% tariffs…

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Marco Rubio heads Saturday to Panama on his debut trip abroad as US secretary of state as he looks for how to follow up on President Donald Trump’s extraordinary threat to seize the Panama Canal. Rubio’s travel comes the same day that Trump’s promised tariffs on the three largest US trading partners — Canada, Mexico and China — are set to come into effect, another step showing a far more aggressive US foreign policy. Rubio will travel later to four other small Latin American countries for an agenda focused on…

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More than three weeks after two deadly wildfires erupted on either side of Los Angeles, fire officials announced on Friday that the Eaton Fire, which burned more than 14,000 acres (57 square kilometers) east of the city, was 100% controlled. According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), the larger Palisades Fire, which has burned 23,448 acres (95 square kilometers) on the west side of Los Angeles, was also completely doused. The two major fires plus several smaller ones created the worst natural disaster in Los…

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PHILADELPHIA: A small jet carrying six people crashed in a busy Philadelphia suburb on Friday, officials said as the wreckage scattered over a large area and started fires, which badly damaged homes and vehicles. The aircraft, which the Federal Aviation Administration said was a Learjet 55 executive aircraft, crashed around 2330 GMT into the densely populated district of the city, packed with homes, shops and busy roads.] It was bound for Springfield-Branson National Airport in Missouri and had taken off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport, the FAA said in a statement confirming…

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STOCKHOLM: Sweden’s prime minister on Thursday said a foreign power may have been involved in the murder of an Iraqi refugee who stoked international tensions by burning Holy Qurans at protests in 2023. The murder incident took place hours before a trial verdict was going to be announced on Thursday over his burning the religious book. 38-year-old Salwan Momika was shot in a house on Wednesday in Sodertalje town near Stockholm. Without stating if the shooter was one of them, police said a prosecutor directed them to detain five persons.…

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