Author: potus
MUNICH, Germany (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he directed his ministers not to sign off on a proposed agreement to give the United States access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals because the document was too focused on U.S. interests.The proposal, which was at the center of Zelenskyy’s talks with U.S. Vice President JD Vance on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Friday, did not offer any specific security guarantees in return, according to one current and one former senior official familiar with the talks.Zelenskyy’s decision to reject a deal, at least for now, was described as…
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz and Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff plan to head to Saudi Arabia to initiate negotiations toward peace between Russia and Ukraine, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.Witkoff told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that he is traveling to Saudi Arabia with Waltz on Sunday night.President Donald Trump said he spoke by phone Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about the prospect of beginning negotiations to end the war.“We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations,” Trump wrote…
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar welcomes U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio as he arrives in Israel, on the first leg of his Middle East trip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Feb. 15, 2025.Evelyn Hockstein | ReutersSenior officials from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration will start peace talks with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Saudi Arabia in the coming days, according to a U.S. lawmaker and a source familiar with the planning.Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. national security adviser Mike Waltz and White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Saudi Arabia, U.S. Representative Michael McCaul told…
File: The Amazon distribution center in Garner, N.C. opened in August 2020. Across four floors, the warehouse covers 2 million square feet.Scott Sharpe | Tribune News Service | Getty ImagesAmazon workers at a facility near Raleigh, North Carolina, overwhelmingly voted against unionizing on Saturday.Of the 3,276 ballots cast, there were 2,447 votes opposing the union and 829 in favor, according to Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment (CAUSE), the group seeking to represent workers. The results still need to be certified by the National Labor Relations Board.The election at the facility, named RDU1 and located in the suburb of…
The senior American diplomat slipped quietly into Belarus, a police state run by a strongman reviled for decades in the West, traveling by car across the border for meetings with President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko and the head of his KGB security apparatus.It was Mr. Lukashenko’s first meeting with a senior State Department official in five years, and the start of what could be a highly consequential thawing of frozen relations between the United States and Russia’s closest ally.The below-the-radar American visit to Minsk, the Belarusian capital, on Wednesday came just a day after President Trump had a long telephone call…
A British couple who had been on a motorcycle tour around the world were detained in Iran, Britain’s foreign office said on Saturday.The couple, Craig and Lindsay Foreman, were last heard from on social media in early January. But this week, Iranian state media reported that two British nationals had been detained on suspicion of “security crimes.”Britain’s foreign office confirmed their detention after the Iranian reports, and on Saturday issued a statement on behalf of the couple’s family.“This unexpected turn of events has caused significant concern for our entire family, and we are deeply focused on ensuring their safety and…
The protest comes after Hamas handed over three male Israeli captives as part of the ceasefire agreementThousands of pro-Palestine demonstrators have marched through central London to protest Donald Trump’s proposal for the US to “take over” the Gaza Strip. Waving Palestinian flags and brandishing placards saying “hands off Gaza”, several thousand people walked from Whitehall, in Westminster, to the US embassy in Nine Elms, in southwest London on Saturday. Protesters also held banners that read “Stand up to Trump” and “Mr Trump, Canada is not your 51st state. Gaza is not your 52nd”. A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator carries placards during a…
El canciller de Alemania, Olaf Scholz, acusó el sábado al vicepresidente JD Vance de interferir de manera inaceptable en las inminentes elecciones de su país en nombre de un partido que ha restado importancia a las atrocidades cometidas por los nazis hace 80 años.Un día después de que Vance causara conmoción en la Conferencia de Seguridad de Múnich al decir a los dirigentes alemanes que abandonaran su llamada barrera cortafuegos y permitieran al partido de extrema derecha Alternativa para Alemania, o AfD, entrar en su gobierno federal, Scholz acusó a Vance de violar efectivamente el compromiso de nunca más volver…
The last time President Trump held office, he tried to make deep cuts to foreign aid, but was blocked by Congress. He is finding little resistance from fellow Republicans this time to his move to freeze such funding.During a special counsel’s inquiry in his first term, Mr. Trump expressed a desire to fire the investigator, but White House lawyers stopped him. This term, Mr. Trump has swiftly forced out a slew of federal officials who had oversight roles over his administration.In the final days of his first presidency, Mr. Trump tried to hire a loyalist to help run the F.B.I.,…
Nametags with the IRS logo in a conference room at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) campus in Austin, Texas, US, on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. Jordan Vonderhaar | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesThe IRS will lay off thousands of probationary workers in the middle of tax season, according to two sources familiar with the agency’s plans, and cuts could happen as soon as next week.This comes as the Trump administration intensified sweeping efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce, by ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who had not yet gained civil service protection.It’s unclear how many…