Trump

February 20, 2025 11:21 PM

IRS fires 6,000 employees as Trump slashes government

A tearful executive at the U.S. Internal Revenue Service told staffers on Thursday that about 6,000 employees would be fired, a person familiar with the matter said, in a move that would eliminate roughly 6% of the agency's workforce in the midst of the critical tax-filing season. The cuts are part of President Donald Trump's radical downsizing effort that has targeted bank regulators, forest workers, rocket scientists and tens of thousands of other government employees. The effort is being led...

February 20, 2025 11:00 PM

Kremlin offers Trump support in Zelenskiy spat as Putin ally says US leader is ‘200% right’

The Kremlin offered Donald Trump support in his standoff with Volodymyr Zelenskiy, accusing the Ukrainian president of making "inadmissible" remarks about world leaders as a Russian official said he was stunned by how fast the U.S stance had shifted. Trump's return to the presidency has begun to warm moribund U.S.-Russia ties, which fell to their lowest point since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis under Joe Biden, Trump's predecessor, due to Moscow's war in Ukraine. By contrast, Kyiv's ties with ...

February 20, 2025 8:26 PM

Zelenskiy calls for US pragmatism after Trump calls him a ‘dictator’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he was counting on Ukrainian and European unity and U.S. pragmatism as Kyiv faces a mounting crisis in relations with its hitherto key U.S. ally under the leadership of President Donald Trump. In an extraordinary rift, Trump said on Wednesday that Zelenskiy was a "dictator without elections" who should act quickly or lose his country, unthinkable rhetoric from a U.S. leader for most of Russia's three-year-old all-out war. Trump is pushing for a quic...

February 20, 2025 11:11 AM

Trump says he will announce a range of tariffs over ‘next month or sooner’

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he will announce tariffs related to lumber, cars, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals "over the next month or sooner." "I'm going to be announcing tariffs on cars and semiconductors and chips and pharmaceuticals, drugs and pharmaceuticals and lumber, probably and some other things over the next month or sooner," Trump said at a conference in Miami. He did not provide further details. Since returning to office on January 20, Trump has initiated nume...

February 19, 2025 4:44 PM

Putin-Trump meeting is possible this month but may be later, Kremlin says

Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump could meet this month, although the first face-to-face encounter between a Russian and a U.S. leader since 2021 could take longer to prepare, the Kremlin said on Wednesday. Trump said on Tuesday he would probably meet Putin this month and dismissed Ukraine's concern about being left out of U.S.-Russian talks in Saudi Arabia, while suggesting Kyiv could have reached a deal with Russia earlier. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said ...

February 19, 2025 12:12 PM

Musk calls himself ‘tech-support’ for Trump, blasts U.S. bureaucracy for blocking executive orders

Tesla CEO and DOGE Head Elon Musk has accused the U.S. bureaucracy of obstructing President Donald Trump’s executive orders, claiming that officials are "fighting against the will of the people." In a Fox News interview aired Tuesday, Musk criticized the slow implementation of Trump’s directives and asserted that his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is working to ensure the orders are enforced. "The president makes these executive orders, which are very sensible and good for the c...

February 19, 2025 10:40 AM

Major risks loom as Trump upends US Russia policy

When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago, then-U.S. President Joe Biden took a firm stand in solidarity with Kyiv, forged a bulwark of European allies and set veteran advisers to the task of isolating Moscow economically and diplomatically. Washington's approach changed dramatically with Tuesday's initial meeting between U.S. and Russian negotiators. The officials met just a month after Donald Trump returned to the White House, with Ukraine ...

February 19, 2025 9:29 AM

Trump, Musk target tax enforcers, rocket scientists, bank regulators for job cuts

President Donald Trump's administration targeted on Tuesday bank regulators, rocket scientists and tax enforcers for dismissal, as a federal judge gave the green light for its unprecedented remaking of the U.S. civil service, at least for now. With Trump's blessing and praise, tech billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has swept through federal agencies slashing thousands of jobs since Trump became president last month and put Musk, his biggest campaign donor...

February 14, 2025 9:20 PM

India, US ask Pakistan to ensure its territory is not used for cross-border terrorist attacks

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump have jointly called on Pakistan to ensure its territory is not used for cross-border terrorism, emphasizing the need for decisive action against terror groups operating from its soil. During a joint press conference following bilateral talks, PM Modi praised the US decision to extradite Tahawwur Rana, an accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, to India. PM Modi asserted that Indian courts would now take appropriate legal action again...

February 14, 2025 11:42 AM

‘He’s a great leader….He is a special man’: What President Trump said about PM Modi during US visit

US President Donald Trump praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a “great leader,” lauding his impactful leadership in India and global stature. He also acknowledged PM Modi’s sharp negotiation skills, admitting that he was a tougher and more effective negotiator than himself. Welcoming Prime Minister Modi with a warm hug at the White House, President Trump said, “We missed you a lot.” In his book, ‘Our Journey Together’, Trump penned a message for PM Modi, callin...