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Melania Trump returns to Washington after four-week absence.

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After a four-week absence from Washington, first lady Melania Trump returned to the White House on Saturday for an annual dinner and reception with the nation’s governors. “She worked very hard on making sure that everything was beautiful. And she’s very good at that,” President Donald Trump said in brief remarks to governors in the candlelit East Room, his wife seated nearby at a table filled with overflowing vases of white hydrangeas and tulips. While Melania Trump may be preparing the White House for visitors — she announced in a statement last week that tours of the historic home are reopening to the public — the first lady apparently has had less interest in spending time there.  Since her husband took the oath of office on January 20, she has not spent significant time at the White House, according to sources with direct knowledge of her schedule. Melania Trump was an active presence during the first days of the president’s second term, but after joining her husband for...
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Congratulations to insults... Trump and Zelensky, in their own words.

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  US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky have entered a war of words after the US leader initiated talks with Russia about ending the conflict, but did not include Ukraine. After Zelensky said Trump was in a "disinformation space", Trump called Zelensky a "dictator" - a remark condemned by Kyiv's allies. The two have traded barbs in the past, but Zelensky has usually tried to toe a diplomatic line with Trump. Here is a look back at what the two have said to, and about, one another, and how their public relationship has developed over the years. Zelensky is elected, and relations remain cordial 21 April 2019:  On the day Zelensky is elected president of Ukraine, Trump, still in his first term, calls Zelensky to congratulate him. Trump says it was an "incredible election" and adds that "you will do a great job". 2019:  Allies of Trump begin stoking allegations that Joe Biden, then Democratic frontrunner for p...
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GOP-led states quickly mirror Trump’s policy agenda.

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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...
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Five key takeaways from Modi-Trump talks.

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  Despite the hype, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first visit to Washington under Donald Trump's second term was a sober, business-first affair - unsurprising for a working visit, which lacks the pomp of a state visit. Trump announced expanded US military sales to India from 2025, including F-35 jets, along with increased oil and gas exports to narrow the trade deficit. Both sides agreed to negotiate a trade deal and finalise a new defence framework. He also confirmed the US had approved the extradition of  Tahawwur Rana , a Chicago businessman accused of playing a role in the 2008 terror attack in Mumbai. "That's a  lot of deliverables  for an administration less than a month old," Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center's South Asia Institute in Washington told the BBC "Overall, both sides seem comfortable continuing Biden-era collaborations, particularly in tech and defence, though many will be rebranded under Trump." Still, major challenges...
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'There were wounded soldiers on our dining table': Somalis recall Black Hawk crash.

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  The expression Black Hawk Down, the title of a Hollywood film, has become shorthand for a 1993 US military disaster in Somalia. Eighteen American soldiers lost their lives in the fighting that began on 3 October, but so did hundreds of Somalis. As Netflix launches a documentary about those events, the BBC has spoken to some Somalis still scarred by what happened. Despite being surrounded by the debris of an ongoing civil war, Mogadishu's residents in the early 1990s embraced the moments of serenity. The warm Sunday sunshine and cooling ocean breeze made for the perfect opportunity for Binti Ali Wardhere, 24 at the time, to visit relatives with her mother. "That day was calm," she remembers. But like everyone else in the city she was unaware that the Americans were getting ready to attack warlord Mohamed Farah Aideed – and what happened would change her life forever. The US had deployed soldiers to Somalia in 1992. They were there to support a UN mission that offered hum...
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Trump’s Gaza ‘Riviera’ vision needed an Arab reality check. This royal visit only encouraged it.

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It was supposed to be the moment US President Donald Trump’s vision of bringing peace to the Middle East by redeveloping the war-torn Gaza strip into “Riviera” style premium housing and permanently relocating its more than 2 million residents finally got a reality check. Instead, it was the moment the true scale of the challenge facing America’s Arab allies became clear.  When King Abdullah II of Jordan met Trump at the Oval Office on Tuesday, there were widespread expectations that his visit – as the first Arab leader to meet the US president since his reelection – might help to rein in some of the more far-fetched elements of Trump’s vision.  (To recap, Trump apparently envisions the US taking control of the territory, rehoming millions of Palestinian refugees in Jordan and Egypt, replacing the rubble of Gaza with glass towers with Mediterranean views and inviting “the world’s people” to move in.) But it became clear almost as soon as Trump began talking at their joint p...
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Five key takeaways from Modi-Trump talks.

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  Despite the hype, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first visit to Washington under Donald Trump's second term was a sober, business-first affair - unsurprising for a working visit, which lacks the pomp of a state visit. Trump announced expanded US military sales to India from 2025, including F-35 jets, along with increased oil and gas exports to narrow the trade deficit. Both sides agreed to negotiate a trade deal and finalise a new defence framework. He also confirmed the US had approved the extradition of  Tahawwur Rana , a Chicago businessman accused of playing a role in the 2008 terror attack in Mumbai. "That's a  lot of deliverables  for an administration less than a month old," Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center's South Asia Institute in Washington told the BBC "Overall, both sides seem comfortable continuing Biden-era collaborations, particularly in tech and defence, though many will be rebranded under Trump." Still, major challenges...
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