Posts

Showing posts from February 6, 2025

GOP-led states quickly mirror Trump’s policy agenda.

-
Image
In his nearly four weeks in office, President Donald Trump has unveiled a constant stream of policy priorities in quick succession, from shrinking government, to cutting taxes, to waging a war on diversity initiatives, illegal immigration and transgender rights. His allies in the states are rushing to keep up.   The Florida and Tennessee legislatures have passed sweeping immigration packages that will make it easier for state law enforcement and federal immigration officials to coordinate during recent special sessions. Leaders in Ohio and Arkansas are renewing efforts to place work requirements on Medicaid recipients. And Republicans in at least nine states have moved to create government efficiency task forces inspired by the initiative helmed by billionaire Elon Musk.  Across the country, Republican governors and legislatures are taking advantage of the national spotlight – and friendlier regulatory environment – the Trump administration has created to advance lo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Saudi Arabia says no Israel normalisation without Palestinian state.

-
Image
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Feb 5, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Saudi Arabia said Wednesday it will not normalise ties with Israel unless a Palestinian state is established, after Israel's prime minister said he thought normalisation with the Gulf kingdom was "going to happen". "Saudi Arabia will continue its relentless efforts to establish an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital, and will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without that," the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement on X.  The "unwavering position" of the Gulf kingdom "is non-negotiable and not subject to compromises." Both US President Donald Trump and his predecessor Joe Biden have seen diplomatic relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia as a major foreign policy goal. Riyadh paused tentative talks on the matter early in the Gaza conflict and hardened its rhetoric as the war continued.  The foreign ministry's statement came sw...
Post a Comment
Read more

Trump says US will ‘take over’ Gaza as he welcomes Netanyahu

-
Image
  President Donald Trump made an extraordinary proposal for the United States to “take over” the Gaza Strip, as he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for crucial talks on the truce with Hamas. Trump also doubled down on his call for Palestinians to move out of the war-battered territory to Middle Eastern countries like Egypt and Jordan, despite the Palestinians and both nations flatly rejecting his suggestion. “The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it, too. We’ll own it,” Trump told a joint press conference with Netanyahu. Trump said the United States would get rid of unexploded bombs, “level the site” and remove destroyed buildings, and “create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.” But Trump appeared to suggest that it was not Palestinians who would return there. “It should not go through a process of rebuilding and occupation by the same people that have really stood there...
Post a Comment
Read more

China hits back with targeted tariffs after Trump imposes new levies.

-
Image
China on Tuesday imposed tariffs on some US imports in a swift response to new US duties on Chinese goods, raising the stakes in a showdown between the world's top two economies even as President Donald Trump offered reprieves to Mexico and Canada. Additional 10 per cent tariff across all Chinese imports into the US came into effect at 12:01 am ET on Tuesday (0501 GMT) after Trump repeatedly warned Beijing it was not doing enough to halt the flow of illicit drugs into the United States. Within minutes, China's Finance Ministry said it would impose levies of 15 per cent for US coal and LNG and 10 per cent for crude oil, farm equipment and a the small number of trucks as well as big-engine sedans shipped to China from the United States. China also said it was starting an anti-monopoly investigation in Alphabet Inc's GOOGL.O Google, while including both PVH Corp PVH.N the holding company for brands including Calvin Klein, and U.S biotechnology company Illumina ILMN.O on a list...
Post a Comment
Read more

Popular posts from this blog

Trump says India 'will do what's right' on illegal immigration.

-
Image
  US President Donald Trump has said India "will do what's right" on the deportation of  illegal migrants following a phone call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The leaders spoke on Monday, their first conversation since Trump's inauguration last  week. They discussed immigration, security issues and trade in what the White House  described as a "productive call". Trump told reporters after the call that Modi was likely to visit the United States  "sometime in February". Since taking office on 20 January, Trump has announced a number of  immigration-related executive orders, paving the way for a widespread effort to crack  down on undocumented migrants in the US. According to the Pew Research Center, there are an estimated 725,000 undocumented  Indian immigrants in the US as of 2024. Last week, India's foreign ministry said Delhi would take in Indians overstaying  "anywhere in the world" as long as their documents were shared and n...
Read more

OpenAI says Chinese rivals using its work for their AI apps

-
Image
  The maker of ChatGPT, OpenAI, has complained that rivals, including those in China, are using its work to make rapid advances in developing their own artificial intelligence (AI) tools. The status of OpenAI - and other US firms - as the world leaders in AI  has been dramatically undermined this week  by the sudden emergence of DeepSeek, a Chinese app that can emulate the performance of ChatGPT, apparently at a fraction of the cost. Bloomberg has reported that Microsoft is investigating whether data belonging to OpenAI - which it is a major investor in - has been used in an unauthorised way. The BBC has contacted Microsoft and DeepSeek for comment. OpenAI's concerns have been echoed by the recently appointed White House "AI and crypto czar", David Sacks. Speaking on Fox News, he suggested that DeepSeek may have used the models developed by OpenAI to get better, a process called knowledge distillation. "There's substantial evidence that what DeepSeek did here is ...
Read more

Australian police find explosives for possible antisemitic attack

-
Image
  Authorities in Sydney are investigating whether explosives discovered in a caravan were intended for an antisemitic attack. The explosives could have caused a 40-metre-wide blast and "significant damage,"  police said on Wednesday, adding that the threat was contained. A note was found in the caravan that displayed antisemitic messages, investigators said. "This is the discovery of a potential mass casualty event," New South Wales Premier  Chris Minns said. New South Wales Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson told a news conference  that the caravan was discovered on 19 January in Dural, a suburb of north-west Sydney. The investigation became public on Wednesday after details of it were leaked to the  media. There was "some indication that the explosives might be used in some form of  antisemitic attack," Mr Hudson said, but he wouldn't be drawn on the possible target. He said officers had "mitigated the risk as much as possible" but str...
Read more