World

United States President Donald Trump said today that he had pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the man behind the “Silk Road” online marketplace that facilitated millions of dollars of drug sales.In 2015, Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of masterminding the “dark web” platform, on which some US$200 million ($353m) in narcotics were sold to customers across the world.Ulbricht, who ran Silk Road under the alias “Dread Pirate Roberts” and who had also been accused of commissioning five murders, was sentenced to two life sentences for narcotics distribution and criminal enterprise.On the campaign trail last year, Trump had promised to free Ulbricht during a speech at the Libertarian National Convention, as he sought to gain the fringe party’s support.Ross Ulbricht. Sourc...

While campaigning, Trump had vilified diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies in the federal government and corporate world, saying they discriminated against white people – men in particular.He also demonised any recognition of gender diversity, attacking transgender people – notably transgender women in sports – and gender-affirming care for children.In front of a crowd of supporters in Washington Monday – his first day in office – the Republican wiped out 78 executive orders, actions and presidential memoranda issued by his Democrat predecessor Joe Biden.New: OPM says that by tomorrow at 5 pm agency heads are required to inform "all employees of DEIA offices that they are being placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately as the agency takes steps to close/end all DE...

Donald Trump on Wednesday called a Washington bishop “nasty” and demanded an apology after she told the US President from the pulpit that he was sowing fear among the country’s immigrants and LGBTQ people.“The so-called bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a radical left hard-line Trump hater,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.“She brought her church into the world of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart,” wrote Trump, after attending a service at the Washington National Cathedral given by Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde arrives as US President Donald Trump looks on during the National Prayer Service at Washington National Cathedral. Photo ...

Donald Trump’s most trusted advisers are always his family. And this time around there are fresh faces, including his youngest son, Barron, and granddaughter Kai, primed to spread the Maga message to Gen Z. Ever since the revolting colonists gave that tyrant King George the boot, there has been a dynastic vacuum at the apex of American society. “We were educated in royalism - no wonder if some of us retain that idolatry still,” observed Thomas Jefferson, the third US president, arguing for the Bill of Rights to entrench republicanism in succeeding generations of free Americans. But the yearning for pomp, circumstance and intrigue in public life remained, with the royal burden falling mainly on the first family of the “elective king”, as Theodore Roosevelt, the 26...

Displaced Palestinian Ghadeer Abdul Rabbo, 30, told AFP she hopes that “with or without Trump”, the ceasefire will hold, and that world governments will help to “maintain this calm, because we are afraid”.If all goes to plan, the first phase of the truce would last six weeks, during which the parties would negotiate a permanent ceasefire, which has not been agreed yet.Israel has dropped more tons of bombs on Gaza than the total bombing of London, Dresden, Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.London: 20,000 tons in 1940-1944Hiroshima and Nagasaki: 15,000 tons in 1945.Dresden: 3,900 tons in 1945.Gaza: 100,000+ tons in 15 months. pic.twitter.com/vn5sQy0MwS— Mohamad Safa (@mhdksafa) January 19, 2025 Despite the risks, hundreds of Palestinians were streaming through an apocalyptic lands...

Trump, 78, was a political outsider at his first inauguration in 2017 as the 45th President, but this time around he is surrounded by America’s wealthy and powerful.The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon chief Jeff Bezos and Google CEO Sundar Pichai all had prime seats in the Capitol alongside Trump’s family and Cabinet members.Musk, who bankrolled Trump’s election campaign to the tune of a quarter of a billion dollars and promotes far-right policies on the X social network, will lead a cost-cutting drive in the new administration.AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.While Trump refused to attend Biden’s 2021 inauguration after falsely claiming electoral fraud by the Democrat, this time Biden has been keen to restore the sense of tradition.Biden joined former pre...

Obeid has not seen his damaged house in northern Gaza for more than a year. How bad, he wondered, is the damage? Who will rebuild a decimated Gaza? And will Hamas still run it?Weissglas worried about the conditions of the hostages set to be freed gradually over the next few weeks from dank quarters in the territory. And he grimaced about exchanging them for hundreds of Palestinian detainees, many of whom are serving life sentences for attacks on Israelis. “There is relief,” he said, “wrapped in caution, fears and concern”.It was an apt summary of the mood on both sides of the divide Sunday, as Israelis and Palestinians expressed feelings of elation tinged with doubt.AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.For Palestinians, the truce is meant to provide at least six weeks without strikes on Gaza. ...

When will Trump actually become President?Under the terms laid out in the US Constitution, the President takes office at exactly midday on January 20 (unless January 20 falls on a Sunday, which is not the case this year).This will take place at 6am on Tuesday, January 21 NZT.From that moment, Trump will become the United States of America’s 47th President.What will Inauguration Day be like?All going to plan, outgoing President Joe Biden will accompany President-elect Trump into the Capitol for the swearing-in ceremony on January 20.It is part of the protocol for the outgoing president to leave a note in the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office that is addressed to his successor.AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.Then, a few minutes before midday on Inauguration Day, Trump, along with his Vice-Pr...

Trump previewed to the crowd at the 20,000-seat Capital One Arena a flurry of day-one executive actions on the border, oil drilling, and repealing policies from the outgoing Biden Administration. He also suggested he would grant some form of clemency for those charged in the attack on the US Capitol four years ago, whom he repeatedly pledged to pardon.“You’re going to see executive orders that are going to make you extremely happy. Lots of them,” Trump said. “Everybody in this very large arena will be very happy with my decision on the J6 hostages.”Trump also promised to root out “divisive diversity, equity, and inclusion mandates” across government and repeal “every radical and foolish executive order of the Biden Administration” within his first hours in office.AdvertisementAdvertise wi...

— Jack Smith, the Justice Department special counsel who oversaw two indictments of Trump, related to election interference and mishandling of classified documents. “Jack Smith should be considered mentally deranged, and he should be thrown out of the country,” Trump said in October 2024.Special counsel Jack Smith. Photo / Doug Mills, The New York Times— Letitia James, the New York state attorney general who sued Trump over the valuation of his real estate properties, costing him hundreds of millions of dollars. James “should be prosecuted”, Trump said in November 2023.AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.— Arthur Engoron, the New York Supreme Court judge who oversaw that case. Trump said at a campaign rally last January that both Engoron and James “should be arrested and punished accordingly”...