Elon Musk's DOGE revealed Tuesday that President Donald Trump has saved taxpayers a staggering $55 billion in less than a month. It said the savings were found through a combination of detecting and deleting fraud, cancelling contracts and leases, and selling assets.
The group - nicknamed the 'nerd army' - also ending grants, fired federal employees, changed some programs, and saved money with regulatory reforms. 'DOGE's total estimated savings are $55 billion,' read a message on the official doge.gov website, citing data since February 17.
It said users of the website could expect updates twice a week, promising additional updates and improvements with time. The listed savings were primarily found within the US Agency For International Development (USAID), the Department of Education, the Office of Personnel Management, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Agriculture, according to the website.
Savings listed on the website feature million of dollars in cancelled contacts for diversity, equity, and inclusion training as well as cancelled subscriptions for Politico Pro and other news organizations. Elon Musk and the DOGE efforts to cut government waste continue capturing the headlines as Democrats and government workers continue protesting in the streets about the disruptive and draconian cuts.
Democrat protesters continue assailing Musk as an unelected oligarch that should not be trusted to access data from the federal government to find fraud and savings cuts. On Monday, the White House clarified in court papers that Musk’s title was ‘senior adviser to the president’ and that he is 'not the U.S. DOGE Service Administrator.
Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and former chairman of Twitter, seems like a good guy. He stumped up £608,000 from his philanthropic fund last month to help fund independent news in developing nations.
Dorsey’s donation to the charity BBC Media Action will go into a pot that does vital work in protecting the world’s information ecosystem. The charity supports some of the few Afghan women journalists still working under the Taliban. It trains media workers in Nepal and Bangladesh to convey life-saving warnings of landslides and cyclones caused by climate change.
Elon Musk, who bought Twitter for £35bn in 2022 and renamed it X, seems less of a good guy. This month Musk effectively prised away £2.6m in annual funding from BBC Media Action – 8 per cent of its budget – as he froze the work of USAid, the US government’s development agency.
He then exacerbated the damage by questioning the independence of the London-based charity – and the BBC itself – by suggesting that US taxpayers have been bankrolling the broadcaster. “BBC is literally state-funded media,” he tweeted.
The BBC charity has been forced into fire-fighting. It works with media outlets in 30 countries and in 50 languages. Aside from USAid, it receives funding from the Foreign Office, Unicef, and development agencies in Canada, Switzerland and Sweden. Its CEO Simon Bishop, who previously worked for the Power of Nutrition, an international development organisation, protested that BBC Media Action is “editorially completely separate from BBC News”.
The charity’s board of trustees is chaired by Fran Unsworth, former head of BBC News, and includes the familiar news presenter Reeta Chakrabarti. But the relationship with the newsroom is limited to upholding the “editorial values and standards” of the BBC. The actual journalism supported by BBC Media Action is done by the likes of Wambaz Oleman Learat, an investigative reporter exposing the impact of cattle rustling in rural Kenya, where he works for Sidai FM radio station. It supports Ukrainian media workers in providing basic public service information in devastated cities such as Dnipro and Zaporizhzhya, combating the swirl of false rumours on the Telegram social media app.
The West owes such support. The women working at the 10 female-focused Afghan radio stations helped by BBC Media Action were let down – along with all Afghan women – by the chaotic abandonment of Kabul by Joe Biden’s administration in 2021. In Bangladesh, the BBC charity gives media training to Rohingya refugees who were driven out of Myanmar in atrocities that partly resulted from hate whipped up on Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook.
WELLINGTON (Reuters) -New Zealand expressed renewed concern on Monday about the Cook Islands' prime minister travelling to China this week to sign agreements without properly consulting with Wellington despite the two nations' constitutional ties.
New Zealand has become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific region and the potential threats it poses to the country’s national security.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on Monday at a press conference New Zealand expected transparency and consultation with Cook Islands after its prime minister, Mark Brown, announced that he was heading to China seeking a partnership in national development including infrastructure, trade and the economy.
The Cook Islands is a self-governing country in free association with New Zealand, which provides budget support and commits to defend the South Pacific nation, whose people are New Zealand citizens.
"Under our constitutional arrangements, we expect, you know, matters of defence and security to be transparently discussed between partners. That's all we're asking for here," Luxon said.
He said once New Zealand knew what was in the proposed partnership, the government would respond.
China did not confirm the visit, but its foreign ministry on Monday called the Cook Islands an important partner in the South Pacific.
"China believes that New Zealand and the Cook Islands are both important partners of China," ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a news briefing, adding that China's ties with the Pacific nation are not aimed at any third party.
New Zealand has repeatedly asked the Cook Islands to consult on the contents of agreements that Brown plans to sign with China but has not received a proper response, deputy prime minister Winston Peter's office said in a statement on Sunday.
"To those who suggest that our engagement with China is somehow secretive, I reject that completely," Brown said in a video statement on Cook Islands Television News Facebook page on Friday, without providing specifics on that engagement.
"Every agreement we enter into will be in the best interest of the Cook Islands," he said.
Cook Islanders have also questioned secrecy around the agreement. Tina Browne, leader of the opposition Democratic party, told New Zealand-based radio station 531pn that people were concerned about the lack of consultation firstly about a proposed Cook Islands' passport and then about the agreement with China.
“If there is nothing to hide, why are we not consulting with New Zealand?” Browne said.
China has filed a World Trade Organisation (WTO) complaint against US president Donald Trump's 10 per cent tariffs on Chinese goods after a trade war between two global powers began this week.
Mr Trump’s 10 per cent tariff on Chinese goods, which Beijing called a “serious violation” of international trade rules, came into effect on Tuesday. Beijing responded by imposing 15 per cent levies on coal and liquefied natural gas and 10 per cent on oil and agricultural levies.
The WTO on Wednesday said China submitted a request for consultations with the US on the tariffs.
China in its complaint accused the US of making "unfounded and false allegations" about Beijing's role in the flow of fentanyl opioids and their precursor chemicals to the US to justify the tariffs. Beijing added that the measures were "discriminatory and protectionist" which violated the trade rules.
A flurry of naval drills surrounding the Philippines involving the United States and its partners has prompted complaints from Beijing, which claims the entire South China Sea and accuses Manila of colluding with others to destabilize the region.
The U.S. 7th Fleet based in Japan said forces from Australia, Japan, the Philippines, and the U.S. conducted a “multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity” within the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone on Wednesday.
Such drills “strengthen the interoperability of our defense/armed forces doctrines, tactics, techniques, and procedures," the fleet said in a news release. The maneuvers were taking place within the Philippines’ zone, but the fleet gave no details on the exact location.
More exercises involving the U.S., Japan and France were planned for later this week in the Philippines Sea, which China does not claim.
That exercise “is designed to advance coordination and cooperation between French, Japanese and U.S. maritime forces while simultaneously demonstrating capabilities in multi-domain operations,” the fleet said.
Meanwhile, Tian Junli, spokesperson for China's Southern Theater Command, accused the Philippines of “colluding with outside countries to organize ‘so-called joint patrols’, " which he said ”destabilize the region," Chinese state media said on Thursday.
Tian said the Philippines actions were “an attempt to endorse its ‘illegal claims’ in the South China Sea and ”undermine China’s maritime rights and interests." He specifically pointed to U.S.-Philippines joint patrols on Tuesday and said China had carried out its own patrols in the region on Wednesday.
"If you are a member of something, it means you've accepted membership. Anything with 'ship' on the end, it's giving you a clue: it's telling you that's maritime law. That means you've entered into a contract."
This isn't your standard legal argument and it is becoming clear that I am dealing with an unusual way of looking at the world.
I'm in the library of a hotel in Leicestershire, a wood panelled room with warm lighting, and Pete Stone, better known as Sovereign Pete, is explaining how 'the system' works. Stone is in his mid-50, bald with a goatee beard and wearing, as he always does for public appearances, a black T-shirt and black jeans.
With us are six other people, mainly dressed in neat jumpers. They're members of the Sovereign Project (SP), an organisation Stone founded in 2020, which, he says, now has more than 20,000 paying members.
As arcane as this may sound, it represents a worldview that is becoming more influential - and causing problems for authorities. Loosely, they're defined as "sovereign citizens" or "freemen on the land".
Their fundamental point is that nobody is required to obey laws they have not specifically consented to - especially when it comes to tax. They have hundreds of thousands of followers in the UK across platforms including YouTube, Facebook and Telegram.
.....they are focussed on issues like questioning the obligation to pay taxes, as Stone explains, referencing the feudal system that operated in the Middle Ages....
...."Do you know about the feudal system when people were slaves and were forced to pay tax?" he asks.
"Now, unless the feudal system still operates today, and we still have serfs and slaves, then the only way that you can pay taxes is to have a contract, you have to agree to it and consent to it.".....
.....He explains that, really, the UK government isn't actually in control: there is a shadow government above them.
"These are the people who control government," he explains.
"A lot of people say this could be the crown council of 13, this could be a series of Italian families."......
....."We've got the Magna Carta - all these checks and balances. We just need to pack up, go down to Parliament and say: It's time to dismiss you. You're not fit for purpose."....
A family accused of masquerading as Afghans to illegally claim asylum in the UK will not stand trial until 2026 - a decision that will cost the taxpayer another £164,000, MailOnline can reveal today.
Gurbakhsh Singh, 72, his wife Ardet Kaur, 68, their son Guljeet Singh, 44, and his wife Kawaljeet Kaur, 37, all appeared on bail at Croydon Crown Court last Thursday.
The husband, wife, son and daughter-in-law are accused of claiming to be from Afghanistan when they arrived at Heathrow Airport just before Christmas 2023.
But they were then accused of twice having failed to obtain visas to come to Britain as Indian citizens earlier that year.
They are currently living in a £575,000 luxury house in the exclusive Home Counties commuter town of Hemel Hempstead. Until recently they were housed at Wembley's Holiday Inn, which has been completely booked by the UK Government and is currently not accepting any customers.
Based on Home Office-accepted figures, it costs the UK around £164,000-a-year to house a family of four asylum seekers.
The Singh Kaurs have been in Britain illegally for 13 months and with their trial now set for February 2026, they are set to cost the taxpayer the same amount again bringing their accommodation bill to at least £328,000 by next year.
Last week they appeared at Croydon Crown Court for the first time, but the hearing was adjourned because no Punjabi or Dari Afghan interpreters had been booked.
It is alleged they had all previously declared themselves to be Indian nationals and provided documentary evidence in two failed visa applications three months earlier.
They are also all charged with making a false statement or representation at Heathrow Airport, namely requesting asylum as Afghan citizens when Home Office records confirm they are Indian nationals, contrary to the Immigration and Asylum Act.
All four are also charged with knowingly entering the UK without leave on December 23, last year, contrary to the Immigration Act.
A daughter of former South African President Jacob Zuma has been arrested and is expected to appear in court on Thursday to face terrorism charges.
Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, who is also a member of the South African Parliament, is accused of inciting violence during riots in July 2021 which led to the deaths of more than 350 people.
“The arrest is as a result of a meticulous investigation by the Durban Crimes Against the State unit of the Serious Organized Crime Investigation, following the unrest that brought the country to a standstill in 2021,” police spokesperson Brigadier Thandi Mbambo said.
Canadian Town Fined £7,800 For Refusing To Fly Pride Flags: 'We Only Have 3 Flags—Canadian, Provincial, and Municipal'
A small Canadian town has been fined £7,800 ($10,000) for its refusal to recognise Pride Month or fly the rainbow flag, sparking national debate over inclusion and tradition. Emo, a township of approximately 1,300 residents located near the Minnesota border, has also been ordered to provide mandatory human rights training to its mayor and council members following a legal complaint.
Controversial Decision Draws Criticism The dispute began in May 2020 when Borderland Pride, a local LGBTQ advocacy group, requested that the town formally declare June as Pride Month and fly the rainbow flag. During a council meeting to review the request, Mayor Harold McQuaker made remarks that later became central to the case. He stated, "There's no flag being flown for the other side of the coin... there's no flags being flown for the straight people," as reported by National Post.
McQuaker, along with council members Harrold Boven and Warren Toles, voted against the motion, defeating it 3-2. Critics viewed the decision as a step backward for inclusion, with Borderland Pride Co-Chair Douglas Judson describing the move as "extremely disappointing."
Tribunal Ruling and Financial Penalties The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario ruled in November 2024 that the town's actions violated provincial human rights codes. Tribunal Vice-Chair Karen Dawson stated that the mayor's remarks were "demeaning and disparaging" to the LGBTQ community, constituting discrimination under the law.
As part of the ruling, the township was fined £7,800 ($10,000), with Mayor McQuaker personally fined an additional £3,900 ($5,000). These penalties were less than what Borderland Pride initially sought, which included £11,800 ($15,000) from the township and £7,800 ($10,000) from each councillor who voted against the proclamation.
Borderland Pride argued that symbolic proclamations like Pride Month are now routine in larger cities such as Toronto and Hamilton. "These are basic gestures of inclusion and support," Judson said. "They shouldn't be controversial."
The Destruction of Western Countries continues.
"Wealthy" countries yesterday agreed to triple the amount of aid they pay to developing nations to tackle climate change in a last-minute deal at the Cop29 summit.
Developed countries including the UK, US and EU nations agreed to pay $300billion (£239billion) a year – up from the $100billion they pay now.
The sum was described by the United Nations as ‘an insurance policy for humanity’. But the action – which excludes the world’s biggest polluter China – was dismissed as ‘too little, too late’ by developing countries.
India branded it a ‘paltry sum’, as it falls well short of the $1.3trillion (£1.04trillion) that was pushed for.
China, the world’s second-biggest economy, presents a problem as it is not obliged to contribute. It was until recently a ‘developing’ country and is not yet among the ‘developed’ nations. So it falls between two stools and has merely been ‘invited’ to contribute.
Poorer countries say global warming was caused by wealthier Western countries who got rich from burning fossil fuels – and now developing nations are being told they cannot use oil, gas and coal to power their own economies.
But climate groups labelled the funding agreement, designed to help developing nations combat global warming and to modernise their economies, a ‘drop in the ocean’ of rising seawaters.
Dr David Kelly was a weapons inspector who died of apparent suicide. Blair was considered by many to be responsible for his death.
An ex-government minister who investigated the death of weapons inspector David Kelly has called for him to be awarded a posthumous honour.
Former Lib Dem MP Norman Baker believes the scientist should get a knighthood for his work on the biological weapons threat from Russia and Iraq.
The former transport minister, whose book The Strange Death Of David Kelly has been updated, also called for an inquest to be held into the weapons inspector's death, which shocked Britain more than two decades ago.
Dr Kelly, 59, was at the centre of a row between the BBC and Tony Blair's Labour government over claims that No10 'sexed up' a dossier on Iraq's weapons capability.
After he was named as a source for a BBC report – as Mr Blair was making a case for Britain to join the US in a war in Iraq – he was hauled before MPs to give evidence.
Days later, on July 18, 2003, his body was found in woodland near his home in Oxfordshire after he apparently took his own life.
Mr Baker has investigated claims Dr Kelly was murdered or assassinated because of his role in the 'dodgy dossier' row or his work as a weapons inspector in Iraq.
......the Government-commissioned Hutton Inquiry was 'a travesty'.
It found Dr Kelly committed suicide. Critics of the Hutton Inquiry claim it failed to fully examine how Dr Kelly died, including the official cause of death.
Dr Kelly was a weapons inspector in Iraq between 1991 and 1998, following the first Gulf War, and was nominated for a Nobel peace prize. He spent most of his career as a consultant on arms control for the Ministry of Defence and other government departments.
The health regulator is being sued over its decision to approve a private trans clinic for children which has been set up by former Tavistock staff.
Gender Plus was registered by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to prescribe hormones for those aged 16 and over despite a crackdown on such treatment by NHS England.
That decision will now be reviewed in the High Court after the judge granted permission for judicial review in a case brought by a Tavistock whistleblower and the mother of a trans teenager.
Paul Conrathe, Senior Consultant Solicitor at Sinclairslaw, said: “Despite well-known concerns about gender medical treatment for children with gender dysphoria, the CQC registered the first hormonal clinic run by ex-Tavistock clinicians.
“The High Court has ordered that a full trial should take place which could result in the clinic’s licence being revoked.”
The private clinic was set up by Dr Aidan Kelly, a clinical psychologist who worked at the Tavistock for five years, and it employs a number of former GIDS staff members.
It was registered with the CQC in January, making it the first of its kind to be approved by the health regulator to prescribe cross-sex hormones to over-16s. It is an offence for providers of regulated healthcare activities in the UK to operate if they are not registered.
The CQC made the decision despite previously publishing a highly critical inspection report which was instrumental in the closure of the Tavistock.
It approved Gender Plus just months before the publication of the long-awaited Cass review.
The report by Dr Hilary Cass, a paediatric consultant, made 32 recommendations, including calling for the “unhurried” care of those under 25 who think they may be transgender and an end to the prescribing of powerful hormones to under-18s.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards planned to assassinate Masih Alinejad while she delivered a talk to students in Connecticut’s Fairfield University.
The 48-year-old dissident journalist uncovered corruption and women’s rights in the theocratic regime for years, but fled her home country more than a decade ago, moving to New York to build a new life.
The FBI this week informed her that she was on an Iranian hit list, with the date of her lecture chosen for the assassination attempt.
That was the first surprise. The second was that the hitman assigned to kill her, whom authorities have named as Farjad Shakeri, was also under orders to kill Donald Trump, the president-elect.
“I am shocked. I just learned from the FBI that two men were arrested yesterday in a new plot to kill me at Fairfield University, where I was scheduled to give a talk,” Ms Alinejad wrote on social media.
“I also learned that the person assigned to assassinate [Mr Trump] was also assigned to kill me on US soil,” she continued, adding that the “alleged killers” had turned up at her house in Brooklyn.
She was catapulted to fame as a reporter in the Iranian parliament, questioning powerful men in a country where women do not have the vote and have been beaten to death for leaving home without a hijab.
She once approached a politician for an interview, only for him to wave a fist in her face and threaten to beat her when he spotted a few hairs poking out of her head covering.
Ms Alinejad says she shouted back: “All this fuss about two strands of hair. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
In an interview with the Iranian president, Mohammad Khatami, she asked why other countries should “respect our Islamic values” when western women were forced to wear a hijab in Iran. Khatami, by her account, was left “speechless”.
Italian judges have ordered seven men detained in a migration hub in Albania to be transferred to Italy, in another blow to a controversial deal between the far-right Rome government and Tirana aimed at curbing the arrival of asylum seekers.
The men arrived at the Albanian port of Shëngjin aboard a military vessel on Friday after being rescued in international waters while trying to make their way to Europe.
The Italian government had argued that all should be returned to their “safe” home countries of Egypt and Bangladesh. One man who had originally formed part of the group was already taken to Italy after he was deemed vulnerable.
“Another political sentence, not against the government, but against Italians and their security,” said the deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini.
Under the deal, men from countries deemed “safe” and intercepted in international waters while attempting to cross from Africa to Europe are supposed to be held in Albania while their asylum claims are processed. The scheme, which excludes women, children and vulnerable individuals, could process up to 3,000 men a month.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has provoked outrage after refusing to release the names of 900 Nazis who escaped to Canada after World War Two.
This decision has been called “disgraceful” by Jewish groups who claim it dishonours victims of the Holocaust.
Numerous Ukrainian SS Waffen soldiers relocated to Canada following the war. The list of members of the Nazi-led SS Galicia unit was put together by the Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada, led by retired Superior Court of Quebec judge Jules Deschênes.
They then met with members of the Ukrainian community and a “discrete group of individuals or organisations” to help decide if the names should be released.
FBI thwarts Iranian murder-for-hire plan targeting Donald Trump
President-elect Donald Trump has begun preparing for the Oval Office by naming Susie Wiles as his new White House chief of staff.
This comes as three people have been charged in an alleged Iranian plot to kill the president-elect.
The Attorney General, Merrick Garland, said: “The Justice Department has charged an asset of the Iranian regime who was tasked by the regime to direct a network of criminal associates to further Iran’s assassination plots against its targets, including President-elect Donald Trump.”
The Republicans are expected to retain control of the House, likely handing the GOP a trifecta as they’re set to take back the Senate, possibly handing Trump full control of the levers of power in Washington.
Another pleasing article from the not so Independent!
When Donald Trump first came to the White House, he did so under rocky circumstances. Yes, he had beaten Democrats in the Blue Wall of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. But he also lost the popular vote — and Democrats had picked up Senate seats in Illinois and New Hampshire, as well as flipping a few seats in the House.
Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House at the time, would regularly say, “I haven’t seen the tweet,” when asked about Trump’s worst Twitter rants. Mitch McConnell would blow off anything Trump said as he turned the Senate into a judicial confirmation factory. John McCain famously voted down Trump’s planned repeal of Obamacare. Senate Republicans balked at his desire to get rid of the filibuster. After the January 6 riot, ten House Republicans voted to impeach Trump and seven Republican senators voted to convict him.
That won’t be the case this time. This time, Trump comes to Washington with an overwhelming mandate, having swept all seven battleground states. John McCain is dead. Mitt Romney will leave the Senate at the end of this year. Paul Ryan is out of politics and Liz Cheney is deemed a heretic. McConnell will leave his post as Republican leader at the end of this year, too.
In short, this will be a much more pliable Republican Congress.
As of right now, it’s unclear whether Democrats will flip the House of Representatives or Republicans will hold it. But it will likely come down to a narrow margin, as was the case in the last two Congresses.
Which is to say, if Republicans hold the House, Trump wins. If Democrats flip the House, he still wins — because he can pick off a few frontliners to vote for popular parts of his agenda.
Trump will have much more free rein to pass his legislative agenda and confirm judicial appointments. In 2017, he needed to dispatch Mike Pence to break a tie to confirm Betsy DeVos as education secretary. The existence of more mainstream Republicans meant that he could not pick his initial choice for labor secretary, Andrew Puzder.
And Trump has every reason to make the case that people have to fall in line. He will likely target Democrats who won in districts who voted for him to go along with him. Republican elders in the Senate can no longer brush off his commands during press conferences now that they realize the party is not on loan to him; instead, they work for a party he decisively owns.
Iraq is poised to slash the legal age of consent from 18 to to nine, allowing men to marry young children.
The proposed legal change also deprives women of rights to divorce, child custody and inheritance.
Iraq’s parliament, which is dominated by a coalition of conservative Shia Muslim parties, is preparing to vote through an amendment that would overturn the country’s “personal status law”.
The legislation, also known as Law 188, was heralded as one of the most progressive in the Middle East when it was introduced in 1959 and provides an overarching set of rules governing the affairs of Iraqi families, regardless of their religious sect.
As well as bringing down the legal marriage age, the amendment would also remove women’s rights to divorce, child custody and inheritance.
Thousands of British troops could lead a multi-national military force in Ukraine as part of controversial plans to end the conflict with Russia. The shock proposal emerged last night as Vladimir Putin – in his first remarks since Donald Trump's election victory – dismissed Nato as 'a blatant anachronism'
Under a peace bid being considered by Mr Trump's security advisers, UK and other European troops would enforce an 800-mile buffer zone between the Russian and Ukrainian armies. Yesterday President Zelensky met European leaders in Budapest at a summit of the European Political Community, where he warned offering concessions to Russia would be 'suicidal' for Europe.
No United States troops would be sent to the warzone and it would be for Britain and other states to pick up the tab. The plan, first reported in the Wall Street Journal, matches the isolationist rhetoric of Mr Trump's presidential bid. On the campaign trail Mr Trump criticised the scale of US support for Ukraine – a commitment of $175 billion – and boasted he could broker a deal to end the conflict.
The plan, as outlined, favours Russia and is exactly what the Kremlin wants to hear.' Former UK military intelligence officer Philip Ingram added: 'Any forced peace that would give Russia a veneer of winning territory would potentially stimulate World War Three.'
NATO has assured Ukraine of further help after the transfer of North Korean troops to Russia. A statement released by the council of 32 NATO countries on Friday said the allies "remain as resolute as ever in supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes for Ukraine to prevail."
Kiev says there have already been casualties in skirmishes between Ukrainian and North Korean soldiers in the Russian border area. "Yes, there have already been losses. That is a fact," said President Volodymyr Zelenksy on Thursday, without giving details.
He said some of the 11,000 North Korean soldiers in the Russian border area of Kursk are involved in combat against the Ukrainian army.
Correct me if I am wrong. But if memory serves me correct, are these two "election workers" the ones who pulled suitcases of fake ballots from under the table.
Donald Trump’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani could be held in contempt of court if he fails to turn over property to election workers he defamed in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.
The cash-strapped former New York City mayor was ordered to a federal court hearing in Manhattan on Thursday after attorneys for a mother-daughter pair of election workers accused him of moving around and hiding a long list of valuables he has been court-ordered to turn over.
District Judge Lewis Liman initially gave Giuliani one week to turn over his property, including a New York penthouse and a 1980 Mercedes-Benz convertible. He was spotted riding in the passenger seat of the car while outside Trump’s polling location in Palm Beach, Florida, on Election Day.
Giuliani will have until November 14 to hand it all over, or risk severe sanctions, after attorneys for the women argued in court filings and in front of a judge that he has deliberately evaded their attempts to recover any of it.
Caruso also accused the women’s legal team of a “vindictive” campaign to collect what the courts say they are owed, including Giuliani’s grandfather’s watch.
During a bankruptcy hearing earlier this year, Giuliani claimed that Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee owe him for unpaid legal fees for work he did in a spurious attempt to overturn 2020 election results — a saga that also saw him make defamatory statements about Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, the two election workers in Georgia who were later awarded nearly $150 million at the conclusion of a defamation case last year.
Outside the court, Giuliani told reporters that he does not have any regrets about defaming the women before he corrected himself to say that he does not believe he ever defamed them.
“Mr. Trump doesn’t have to help me get out of this,” he said as he got into a car. “All Mr. Trump has to do is straighten out the legal system, and you’ll find out who the real criminals are.”
I don't like the Independent, but this article was ok.
Donald Trump’s 18-year-old son Barron is said to have had the last say on which podcasts the Republican appeared on during his campaign.
Earlier this year, Trump, 78, began trying to court young male voters by engaging with YouTubers and “bro” podcasters, many of whom were young, wildly popular with Gen-Z and sympathetic toward his MAGA movement.
Surrounded by middle-aged campaign aides, the former president turned to his youngest son for his advice.
According to a new 3800-word report by Time’s Eric Cortellessa, Trump campaign chair Susie Wiles tasked campaign advisor Alex Bruesewitz with drawing up a list of shows the then-GOP candidate could go on.
“I have a list of podcasts I wanted to pitch you on,” the campaign advisor is said to have asked Trump.
“Have you talked this over with Barron?” Trump retorted, before Bruesewitz confessed: “No, sir.”
“Call Barron and see what he thinks and let me know,” Trump concluded, according to the report.
Cortellessa said in a post on X on Wednesday that the aide finally did get sign-off from the teenage Trump for any such appearances.
“After scrambling to contact Trump’s youngest son, who Melania has shielded from the political fray, Bruesewitz got Barron’s sign off,” the Time journalist wrote.
The initial shift from traditional media to social media took Trump – and much of his campaign – through uncharted waters, prompting him to turn to Barron and his influencer best friend Bo Loudon to help navigate the world of internet celebrities and influencers.
“They don’t grow up watching television the same way as we did,” Trump told the Daily Mail in September of young prospective voters. “They grow up looking at the internet or watching a computer, right?” An unnamed campaign source previously coined the aggressive new media tactic “Trump on steroids” when speaking to CNN.
During his third White House bid, Trump sat down with the likes of YouTuber Logan Paul, comedian Theo Von, podcaster Lex Freidman, YouTubers the Nelk Boys, political commentator Ben Shapiro, entrepreneur Patrick Bet-David and, most recently, the most popular podcaster in the world Joe Rogan.
Sadiq Khan is on a four-day trip to New York during which he hopes to hit the headlines by expressing opposition to Donald Trump regaining the US presidency.
The London mayor, who was described by Mr Trump as a “stone cold loser” during a presidential visit to the UK in 2019, is expected to use a series of media interviews to endorse current vice-president Kamala Harris.
Mr Khan will speak at several events: the Concordia Annual Summit, the Climate Pledge Summit and the NYC Climate Week Hub.
He will look to link a discussion about the summer riots in the UK and the need for economic migration with concern at the policies he expects Mr Trump to follow should he win a second term in November.
He will deliver the keynote address at a Clinton Global Initiative session on “Leveraging Technology and Nature for Equitable Urban Resilience”.
Mr Khan is expected to describe the Londonwide Ulez (ultra-low emission zone) as being “even more successful than expected”, in terms of accelerating the switch to Ulez-compliant vehicles by motorists.