Page 2 - Us President

Joe Biden on his maiden visit to Angola; seeks to strengthen US-Africa ties

President Joe Biden arrived for his long-awaited first presidential visit to sub-Saharan Africa on Monday to the cheers of thousands in Angola, where he will highlight an ambitious US-backed railway project meant to counter China's influence on the continent of over 1.4 billion people. Biden's three-day visit to Angola will focus largely on the Lobito Corridor railway redevelopment in Zambia, Congo and Angola. It aims to advance the US presence in a region rich in the critical minerals used in batteries for electric vehicles, electronic devices and clean energy technologies. Biden's trip comes weeks before Republican Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20, finally delivering on Biden's pledge to visit sub-Saharan Africa. On his way to Angola, he stopped in the Atlantic Ocean island nation of Cape Verde for a brief, closed-door meeting with Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva. Biden plans to meet with Angolan President Joo Loureno in the capital, Luanda, where crowds lined the stree

California lawmakers begin special session to protect state laws from Trump

California Governor Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers returned to the state Capitol on Monday to begin a special session to protect the state's progressive policies ahead of another Trump presidency. The Democratic governor, a fierce critic of President-elect Donald Trump, is positioning California to once again be the center of a resistance effort against the conservative agenda. He is asking his Democratic allies in the Legislature, who hold supermajorities in both chambers, to approve additional funding to the attorney general's office to prepare for a robust legal fight against anticipated federal challenges. Democratic Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel on Monday introduced legislation to set aside USD25 million for legal fees to respond to potential attacks by the Trump administration on state policies regarding civil rights, climate change, immigration and abortion access. While we always hope to collaborate with our federal partners, California will be ready to vigorously defend ou

Some Democrats frustrated over Biden reversing course, pardoning son Hunter

Already reeling from their November defeats, Democrats now are grappling with President Joe Biden's pardoning of his son for federal crimes after the party spent years slamming Donald Trump as a threat to democracy who disregarded the law. The president pardoned Hunter Biden late Sunday evening, reversing his previous pledges with a grant of clemency that covers more than a decade of any federal crimes his son might have committed. The 82-year-old president said in a statement that his son's prosecution on charges of tax evasion and falsifying a federal weapons purchase form were politically motivated. He believes in the justice system, but he also believes that politics infected the process and led to a miscarriage of justice, said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who along with Biden and other White House officials insisted for months that Hunter Biden would not get a pardon. That explanation did not satisfy some Democrats, angry that Biden's reversal could make it

Hunter Biden gets presidential pardon: What were the charges against him?

Outgoing US President Joe Biden pardons his son Hunter Biden on tax and weapons charges, sparking political debate

Joe Biden begins long-awaited Africa trip to secure win against China

At stake are vast supplies of minerals like copper and cobalt, which are found in Congo and are a key component of batteries and other electronics, and China is the top player in Congo as of now

Outgoing President Biden pardons son Hunter despite previous pledges not to

President Joe Biden has pardoned his son, Hunter, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family members. The Democratic president had previously said he would not pardon his son or commute his sentence after his convictions in the two cases in Delaware and California. The move comes weeks before Hunter Biden was set to receive his punishment after his trial conviction in the gun case and guilty plea on tax charges, and less than two months before President-elect Donald Trump is set to return to the White House. It caps a long-running legal saga for the president's son, who publicly disclosed he was under federal investigation in December 2020 a month after Joe Biden's 2020 victory. In June, as Hunter was facing trial in the gun case in Delaware, Biden ruled out a pardon or clemency for his son in an interview with ABC

Canada's Trudeau returns home after meeting Trump without tariff assurances

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau returned home Saturday after his meeting with Donald Trump without assurances the president-elect will back away from threatened tariffs on all products from the major American trading partner. Trump called the talks "productive" but signalled no retreat from a pledge that Canada says unfairly lumps it in with Mexico over the flow of drugs and migrants into the United States. After the leaders' hastily arranged dinner Friday night at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, Trudeau spoke of "an excellent conversation." Trump said in a Truth Social post later Saturday that they discussed "many important topics that will require both Countries to work together to address." For issues in need of such cooperation, Trump cited fentanyl and the "Drug Crisis that has decimated so many lives as a result of Illegal Immigration," fair trade deals "that do not jeopardize American Workers" and the US trade deficit with its ally to the north. Trump asserted tha

Lucky Loser: A deep dive into the myths of Donald Trump's fortunes

Buettner and Craig are Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporters at the New York Times who have been reporting on Donald Trump's businesses and personal finances since 2016

Putin says Trump can stop the Ukraine war, raises concerns about his safety

The Russian President also criticised the Biden administration's recent support for Ukraine, suggesting it could be part of a strategy to strain relations between the US and Russia

How Scott Bessent became Trump's treasury secretary from Democrat donor

Bessent was not part of Trump's political orbit during his first campaign or term as president, but he has known the Trump family for decades and was close friends with Trump's late brother, Robert

Trump expected to pick Brooke Rollins for agriculture secretary post

If confirmed, Rollins would lead a 100,000-person agency with offices in every county in the country, whose remit includes farm and nutrition programs, forestry, home and farm lending

US gathers allies to talk AI safety as Trump vows to undo existing policy

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to repeal President Joe Biden's signature artificial intelligence policy when he returns to the White House for a second term. What that actually means for the future of AI technology remains to be seen. Among those who could use some clarity are the government scientists and AI experts from multiple countries gathering in San Francisco this week to deliberate on AI safety measures. Hosted by the Biden administration, officials from a number of US allies among them Australia, Canada, Japan, Kenya, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the 27-nation European Union began meeting Wednesday in the California city that's a commercial hub for AI development. Their agenda addresses topics such as how to better detect and combat a flood of AI-generated deepfakes fueling fraud, harmful impersonation and sexual abuse. It's the first such meeting since world leaders agreed at an AI summit in South Korea in May to build a network of publicly backed safety

Africans worry Trump will reimpose abortion 'gag rule' governing US aid

Carrying her infant daughter, 19-year-old Sithulisiwe Moyo waited two hours to get birth-control pills from a tent pitched in a poor settlement on the outskirts of Zimbabwe's capital, Harare. The outreach clinic in Epworth provides Moyo with her best shot at achieving her dream of returning to school. I am too young to be a baby-making machine," she said. "At least this clinic helps me avoid another pregnancy. But the free service funded by the US government, the world's largest health donor, might soon be unavailable. As he did in his first term, US President-elect Donald Trump is likely in January to invoke the so-called global gag rule, a policy that bars US foreign aid from being used to perform abortions or provide abortion information. The policy cuts off American government funding for services that women around the world rely on to avoid pregnancy or to space out their children, as well as for heath care unrelated to abortion. Four decades of on-again, off-again ...

G20 Summit: Biden's legacy fades into rainforest at last major gathering

His trip to the region for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Lima and the Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro was meant to reassure allies

Prosecutors oppose tossing Trump's conviction, may allow sentencing delay

New York prosecutors oppose any effort to dismiss President-elect Donald Trump's hush money conviction but expressed openness on Tuesday to delaying sentencing until after his second term. In a court filing, the Manhattan district attorney's office said Trump's forthcoming presidency isn't grounds for dropping a case that was already tried. But, citing "the need to balance competing constitutional interests", prosecutors said "consideration must be given" to shelving the case until after he's out of office. Prosecutors said they're OK delaying Trump's sentencing -- which had been set for November 26 -- while his lawyers fight to get the case tossed out. Judge Juan M Merchan has not said when he will rule on the fate of the first criminal conviction of a former, and now future, US commander-in-chief. But with the sentencing schedule now effectively on hold, Trump's lawyers are pursuing multiple legal paths to try to dispose of the case -- an effort that could reach the Supreme Court

Trump may pick Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick for Commerce chief

The Donald Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump adds Kevin Warsh, Marc Rowan to list of Treasury secretary candidates

Trump has not announced his nominee for the role, but Howard Lutnick, the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, and investor Scott Bessent have been considered as top candidates

Biden to be first sitting US president to visit Amazon rainforest

Joe Biden will become the first sitting U.S. president to set foot in the Amazon rainforest during a brief stop Sunday in the Brazilian city of Manaus, coming as the US is expected to scale back its commitment to combating climate change under the incoming administration of Donald Trump. The massive Amazon it's about the size of Australia stores huge amounts of the world's carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas driving climate change, even as it's rapidly deforested. Biden is expected to take an aerial tour over part of the world's largest tropical rainforest, meet local and indigenous leaders and visit an Amazonian museum as he looks to highlight his commitment to the preservation of the region. The Biden administration announced plans last year for a $500 million contribution to the Amazon Fund, the most significant international cooperation effort to preserve the rainforest, primarily financed by Norway. So far, the US government said it has provided $50 million, according to a July

Kerry expects Trump to give orders, hopes leaving Paris Agreement isn't one

With President-elect Donald Trump set to assume office soon, former US Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday suggested that he may issue "a series of executive orders" on day one itself, hoping that one of those will not be about pulling out of the Paris Agreement. During an interactive session at the HT Leadership Summit 2024 here, Kerry also said diplomacy requires a ripeness to be able to solve a problem, and given the circumstances, he thought Ukraine is a place where "things are ripe". Post the inauguration ceremony in January next year, Trump (78) will return to the White House for his second term after registering a resounding victory in the recently-held US presidential elections that paved the way for an extraordinary political comeback. "First of all, I think everybody in the world has learnt that it is very hard to predict anything about President Trump. There is no way to know with certainty exactly what will happen. And that unpredictability is something that he ...

Trump builds White House staff with Cheung as communications director

US President-elect Donald Trump announced Friday that Steven Cheung will serve as his White House communications director and Sergio Gor will run the personnel office. Both have been advisers to the president-elect since his 2016 campaign, Trump said. Both positions could be influential in the new administration, helping to develop its public messaging and internal workforce. Cheung led communications for Trump's latest campaign, where he gained a reputation for combative and insulting attacks on the Republican's opponents. A native of Sacramento, California, he worked in Republican politics and for the Ultimate Fighting Championship before joining Trump's team in 2016. Gor ran Winning Team Publishing, which he started with Donald Trump Jr. The company has published books by Trump and his allies. Gor also led the super PAC Right for America. The Presidential Personnel Office will likely be a focal point of Trump's efforts to shape his administration's staff with loyalists. Trump .