News & Current Events

[ad_1] Office of Management and Budget Director Russel Vought at White House (AP) Russell Vought, President Trump's top budget official and a leading figure behind the controversial Project 2025 agenda, is set to succeed Elon Musk as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). As first reported by The Wall Street Journal, the billionaire tech mogul is stepping down from his government role, making way for Vought, who has already been quietly shaping many of DOGE’s policies from behind the scenes.This transition marks a significant shift in how the federal government is managed under Trump’s second term. Musk, who has overseen the department since January 2025, was tasked with executing deep budget cuts and rolling back federal regulations. His approach drew praise from fiscal conservatives but also sparked mass protests and agency shutdowns. Now, Vought, already director of the […]

[ad_1] DHAKA/NEW DELHI: Bangladesh's deposed PM Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League on Sunday rejected "with disgust" the interim govt's decision to ban the party and vowed to continue its operations despite the restriction.The Muhammad Yunus-headed interim govt's council of advisers or the cabinet on Saturday night slapped a ban on "all activities of Awami League", including in cyberspace, under an anti-terrorism law. Reacting to the move, Awami League said, "We are rejecting and protesting the fascist autocrat Yunus govt's decision with disgust... Awami League will carry on its activities in an appropriate course, defying the decision of the fascist Yunus govt." The party expressed regret that "independent Bangladesh" had to witness the ban by an "undemocratic fascist" govt that runs the country "without people's mandate", while the country "earned independence and sovereignty under Awami League's leadership". "We strongly believe people of […]

[ad_1] Donald Trump has defended the reported plan to accept a luxury jet from the Qatari royal family for use as Air Force One, describing it as a “GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE.” In his first public reaction to the controversy, the US president took to Truth Social on Sunday, accusing Democrats of being outraged over a transparent and cost-saving arrangement.“So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40-year-old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane. Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!! MAGA,” Trump wrote.Reports first surfaced over the weekend, with ABC News and The New York Times revealing that the Qatari government is in […]

[ad_1] LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will on Monday unveil plans to tighten immigration rules, confronting an issue that has bedeviled successive governments and fuelled the rise of a new anti-immigrant party that could threaten the country's political establishment.Starmer, whose centre-left Labour Party won a landslide victory last July, is facing pressure from voters who are increasingly frustrated by high levels of immigration that many believe have strained public services and inflamed ethnic tensions in some parts of the country.Starmer is pledging to end what his office described as "Britain's failed experiment in open borders," less than two weeks after Reform UK rode the immigration issue to victories in local elections. Labour and the center-right Conservatives, long the dominant parties in British politics, both saw their support crater in the contests for local government councils and mayors. "Every area […]

[ad_1] Representative Image (AI-generated) The leaders of Denmark, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Norway will meet Monday for talks on Arctic security, Denmark's government said, as US President Donald Trump's vies to gain control of Greenland.Trump has repeatedly said the US needs the strategically-located resource-rich Arctic island for security reasons, and has refused to rule out the use of force to secure it.Trump's comments have sparked concern in other Arctic regions as well, including Iceland and Norway's Svalbard archipelago.The remarks have also angered Danish and Greenlandic leaders, who have insisted that the island will decide its own future and the US "will not get Greenland." "Even though our countries meet in different parts of the world, it is natural that we, in this circle of countries, meet to discuss the current security situation in the Arctic and the North […]

[ad_1] Newark airport experience another outage on Sunday morning resulting in flight cancellations and delays. At least 80 flights were cancelled and around 40 were delayed at Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday morning amid a back-to-back aviation crisis in Newark. The FAA said in a statement that a telecommunications issue at the Philadelphia TRACON Area C facility, which guides aircraft in and out of Newark, caused the agency to issue a ground stop for 45 minutes. Operations have returned to normal now but this was the third time that air traffic got affected in Newark. On Friday morning, radar screens at the airport went black for about 90 seconds, according to the FAA. During the outage, which unfolded about 3:55 a.m., air traffic controllers could be heard telling a FedEx plane that their screens went dark and then asking […]

[ad_1] Trump will accept Boeing 747-8 from the Qatar royal family, reports said. During his visit to the Middle East, President Donald Trump would receive the most expensive gift ever extended to the United States from a foreign government -- from the royal family of Qatar.It is a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet that President Trump will use as his new Air Force One.Is it legal for Trump to accept a plane from a country?ABC News reported that the gift is expected to be announced next week when Trump visits Qatar on his first foreign trip of his second term. A Qatari official said that it is not a gift to Trump, individually. But it is more of a government-to-government transaction. Trump and his aides toured the plane earlier this year at the airport in Palm Beach and Trump […]

[ad_1] Elon Musk said 'quiet trials' are going on over Trump's gold card. Elon Musk Sunday confirmed that Donald Trump's ambitious gold card program is on track and a quiet trial is now going on. Musk was tasked to come up with the technical part of it -- to make a site where people can apply for this 'US citizenship-for-money' program.Musk provided the latest update on the program and said it will be rolled out to the public through an announcement made by the president."It's the high-roller fast lane to U.S residency: no woke quotas, no endless backlogs - just cash, credentials, and country club-level vetting. Trump wants to sell 1 million of them. Lutnick says 1,000 already sold. Elite access. Elite minds. Elite price. Welcome to immigration, Trump-style," X user Mario Nawfal wrote.In reply to this post, Elon Musk […]

[ad_1] Qatar dismissed reports of possibly gifting its super jet to Trump and said no decision has been taken. Qater reacted to the report that President Donald Trump is going to be gifted a luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet as a gift from the ruling family of Qatarduring his trip to the Middle East and said the matter remains under review. Ali Al-Ansari, Qatar’s media attaché, in a statement, said, "Reports that a jet is being gifted by Qatar to the United States government during the upcoming visit of President Trump are inaccurate."“The possible transfer of an aircraft for temporary use as Air Force One is currently under consideration between Qatar’s Ministry of Defense and the US Department of Defense,” the statement said. “But the matter remains under review by the respective legal departments, and no decision has been made.”What […]

[ad_1] Representative Image (AI-generated) Sudan's army-aligned government has told energy firms to prepare to stop handling crude oil from South Sudan, which relies on its neighbour for exports, after attacks on key facilities, according to a letter seen by AFP.In the letter dated Friday, the Sudanese energy and petroleum ministry informed its South Sudanese counterpart that "the risk of stoppage of export operations is very high" after a spate of drone attacks blamed on rival paramilitaries.A key pump station and a fuel depot in army-controlled areas of Sudan were struck this week, the letter said, as the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have increasingly targeted government infrastructure across the country, impacting critical electricity and fuel facilities.The war between the regular army and the RSF since April 2023 has killed tens of thousands, uprooted 13 million and sent ripples through East […]