Taipei (AFP) - Taiwan's incoming president Lai Ching-te said on Tuesday that a multi-billion US military aid package will "strengthen deterrence against authoritarianism", as China ramps up political and military pressure on the self-ruled island. Democratic Taiwan is claimed by China, which has said it would never renounce the use of force to bring the island under its control. Taipei has in recent years bolstered its economic and political ties with top partner and weapons provider the United States, a move that China has warned Washington against doing. The US House of Representatives passe...
AFP
New York (AFP) - Donald Trump faces a contempt of court hearing on Tuesday as part of his historic criminal trial, with New York prosecutors insisting the former president repeatedly violated the gag order issued to prevent him from intimidating witnesses. The hearing comes a day after the jury heard opening arguments in Trump's hush money case, with prosecutors placing him at the center of a criminal conspiracy while his defense team insisted he was "cloaked in innocence." The case, which centers on allegations of business fraud in the lead-up to Trump's 2016 election victory, is the first-ev...
AFP
New York (AFP) - Tensions flared between pro-Palestinian student protesters and school administrators at several US universities Monday, as in-person classes were cancelled and demonstrators arrested. The protests, which began last week at Columbia University with a large group of demonstrators establishing a so-called "Gaza Solidarity Encampment" on school grounds, have spread to other campuses, including Yale, MIT and others. Some Jewish students at Columbia have reported intimidation and anti-Semitism amid the days-long protest, which is calling for the prestigious New York institution to ...
AFP
New York (AFP) - Tesla CEO Elon Musk faces heightened pressure with Tuesday's earnings report to reassure investors that recent stumbles are simply unexpected speed bumps -- and not indications of a road to decline. The electric car maker, which enjoyed scorching growth for most of 2022 and 2023, has experienced setbacks that analysts say have raised the stakes for the first-quarter report. Tuesday's earnings and conference call are a "moment of truth" for Tesla and Musk, constituting "one of the most important moments in the company's history in our view," said a note from Wedbush. Heading in...
AFP
New York (AFP) - Donald Trump engaged in "election fraud" by paying hush money to a porn star just days before the 2016 White House vote, prosecutors said Monday at the first ever criminal trial of a former US president. "This case is about a criminal conspiracy and a cover-up," Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo said. "He orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election." Laying out the prosecution's case for the jury, Colangelo said Trump falsified business records to buy the silence of porn star Stormy Daniels over a 2006 sexual encounter that could have i...
AFP
Washington (AFP) - The US Senate is set to vote Tuesday on a major aid package for Ukraine, with its passage all but certain after the House of Representatives -- following months of wrangling -- approved the assistance with broad bipartisan support. Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer, whose party narrowly controls the chamber, said Saturday "the finish line is now in sight" for the assistance package, and that an agreement had been "locked in" for a vote on Tuesday. "The task before us is urgent. It is once again the Senate's turn to make history," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said...
AFP
Washington (AFP) - The US Supreme Court will hear arguments Thursday on whether Donald Trump, as a former president, should be immune from criminal prosecution for acts he committed while in office. The nine justices' ruling could have far-reaching implications for the extent of US executive power -- and Trump's own multiple legal issues as he seeks the White House again. And while most constitutional law experts expect Trump to suffer a legal defeat, he may already have won a political victory. By agreeing to take the case, the court delayed -- perhaps indefinitely -- the start of Trump's tri...
AFP
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - An independent review group on the UN agency for Palestinians found some "neutrality-related issues," its much-anticipated report said Monday, but noted Israel had yet to provide evidence for incendiary allegations that staff were members of terrorist organizations. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) remains "irreplaceable and indispensable to Palestinians' human and economic development" added the 54-page report, which was led by French diplomat Catherine Colonna. The review group was created following allegations made by Israel in Januar...
AFP
New York (AFP) - Donald Trump sat in a New York courtroom Monday watching history unfold, a glum witness to his own turn as the first US president to face criminal prosecution. Most court proceedings are deliberate, scripted and glacial -- tedious for any observer to sit through, let alone a brash real estate mogul used to getting what he wants, when he wants. But the 45th president vying for another go in the nation's highest office is set to spend the next month or two forced to sit in a drafty 15th-floor courtroom with peeling paint and fluorescent lights, speaking only when spoken to. In t...
AFP
Washington (AFP) - President Joe Biden's administration announced a new rule Monday to protect the privacy of women who go out of their home state to have legal abortions, amid fears they could be prosecuted upon their return. The move comes as reproductive rights take center stage in the November presidential election, following a pivotal court decision that abolished or severely curtailed legal abortion in 21 states. "No one should have to live in fear that their conversations with their doctor or that their medical claims data might be used to target or track them," Melanie Fontes Rainer of...
AFP
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