Author: potus

A chorus of criticism greeted Friedrich Merz, the favorite to become Germany’s chancellor, last month when he broke a taboo against working with a hard-right party to pass legislation. But it was a lone voice of dissent that rocked the country’s political scene: Angela Merkel, the once-beloved former chancellor, who called Mr. Merz’s decision simply “wrong.”Ms. Merkel and Mr. Merz have famously jockeyed to lead Germany’s Christian Democrats for much of this century. Ms. Merkel won the early rounds, served 16 years as chancellor, and retired in 2021. Mr. Merz finally has a chance to win her old job in…

In 1962, not long after President John Kennedy created U.S.A.I.D., the federal agency tasked with administering foreign assistance, he welcomed its first mission directors to the White House. He noted the difficult politics of sustaining foreign assistance but called it essential to America’s role as leader of the free world. “There will not be farewell parades to you as you leave,” he said of their imminent deployments, “or parades when you come back.” The reward was the work itself and the larger cause of freedom it served.A nation’s foreign policy is a good window into its psyche. The America that…

For decades, some members of the white Afrikaner minority have been trying to convince anyone and everyone who would listen that they are the true victims in post-apartheid South Africa.They have made claims of mass killings of their people and widespread land grabs by a Black-led government that they insist is seeking retribution for the sins of the Afrikaner-led apartheid government. Their stories have been false or greatly exaggerated, but that hasn’t stopped them from being widely amplified and repeated online.Afrikaners, an ethnic group that descended from European — primarily Dutch — colonizers, have found a champion of their cause…

Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought has taken on the role of acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to an OMB spokesperson and a source familiar with the situation.Vought, who was confirmed as OMB director Thursday despite strong opposition from Senate Democrats, replaces Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as acting head. Bessent had been named to the role Monday, and shortly after, Democrats accused him of implementing “what appears to be an illegal stop work order.”Mick Mulvaney, President Donald Trump’s OMB director during his first term, took over the CFPB at the president’s behest in 2017.…

WASHINGTON — At the start of the week, President Donald Trump warned ominously that the U.S. will retake the Panama Canal or “something very powerful is going to happen.”By week’s end, he announced that he was killing off a prior mandate for government to buy paper straws, the environmentally friendly sipping utensil that dissolves “disgustingly” in the mouth, he wrote on his social media site.The two pronouncements bookended a frenetic seven-day period in which Trump also made himself head of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with creative sway over performances, signed an order banning transgender athletes from competing…

The National Institutes of Health announced Friday that the agency is making cuts to grants that support research institutions by limiting the amount of indirect funding for research projects to just 15%.In the agency’s announcement, the NIH’s Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration, or OPERA, wrote that $9 billion of the $35 billion total spent on research grants in fiscal year 2023 was allocated from the agency for indirect costs, which cover things like equipment, operations, maintenance, accounting and personnel.When a scientist receives a federal NIH grant for a project — say $500,000 per year — the institution that houses…

Since taking office, President Trump has threatened European countries’ security and economies, angled to take control of Greenland, and promised to “definitely” slap the nations with tariffs. Even parties that would seem to be his natural allies are nervous. Some have quietly tiptoed back from the American president.But Saturday was not the day for disputes. Leaders of far-right parties in Europe came to Madrid for what, on the surface at least, amounted to a boldface names booster rally for a new Trump era.There was Marine Le Pen of France’s far-right National Rally; the Netherland’s populist, Geert Wilders; the leader of…

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump walks with Elon Musk before attending a viewing of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket, in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., November 19, 2024. Brandon Bell | Via ReutersOn Saturday, a federal judge temporarily blocked political appointees and special government employees, including those who work for the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, from accessing sensitive and confidential information stored within the Treasury Department.The decision comes after 19 state attorneys general sued the federal government on Friday, alleging that tech mogul Elon Musk and his DOGE staffers had no authority to access Treasury Department data…

As avian flu drives egg prices to record levels and increasingly poses a risk to humans, moves by the White House to cut spending and restrict communications have hobbled public health officials’ response, with the new administration yet to outline a clear strategy on how it plans to stem the spread of the virus.State and local public health officials have gone weeks without regular updates on avian flu from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after President Donald Trump froze nearly all external communications from the agency, said a person familiar with the situation. It wasn’t until this week…

A federal judge on Saturday temporarily blocked political appointees and special government employees, including those who work for the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, from accessing sensitive and confidential information stored within the Treasury Department.The decision comes after 19 state attorneys general sued the federal government on Friday, alleging that tech mogul Elon Musk and his DOGE staffers had no authority to access Treasury Department data that includes Americans’ social security numbers and other confidential financial information.U.S. District Judge Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued the temporary restraining order, which blocks the government from “granting access to all political appointees,…