White House

Wayne Wall Appointed as White House Senior Director for the Middle East

The White House appointed Wayne Wall as senior director for the Middle East at the National Security Council (NSC), according to an official source and an official close to the matter cited by Axios. His appointment comes on the heels of a major reorganization initiated by President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Marco Rubio. A Discreet but ...

China Vice Premier to Meet US Delegation for Trade Talks

Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng will meet a US delegation for talks next week in Britain, Beijing announced Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He will visit the United Kingdom from June 8 to 13 at the invitation of the British government, China's foreign ministry said in a statement. It said He and ...

Trump Scuppers Idea of Calling Musk After Row, May Ditch Tesla

US President Donald Trump has no plans to speak to billionaire Elon Musk and may even ditch his red Tesla car, the White House said Friday after a stunning public divorce fraught with risk for both men. Trump's camp insisted that he wanted to move on from the row with the South African-born Musk, with officials telling AFP that the tech tycoon ...

Trump Has No Plans to Call Musk, White House Says After Feud

The White House squashed speculation that Donald Trump and Elon Musk would patch up their stunning public feud, saying the US president had no plans to call his billionaire former aide Friday. Trump lobbed fresh insults at the South African-born Musk a day after the fiery implosion of their unlikely political marriage, saying the tech tycoon had ...

Musk Says to Remain 'Friend and Advisor' to Trump

Billionaire Elon Musk said Friday he would remain a "friend and advisor" to Donald Trump, as the US president hosted an Oval Office farewell for the man who led his turbulent cost-cutting drive. "I look forward to continuing to be a friend and advisor to the president," Musk told reporters after Trump handed a golden key as a gift to the ...

Trump Administration to End All Financial Contracts with Harvard

The US government intends to cancel all remaining financial contracts with Harvard, a senior official said Tuesday, in President Donald Trump's latest attempt to force the prestigious university to submit to unprecedented oversight. The administration "will send a letter to federal agencies today asking them to identify any contracts ...

Syria Says it Arrested Islamic State Members Near Damascus

Syrian authorities said they arrested members of an Islamic State group cell near Damascus on Monday, accusing them of preparing attacks against the country. Since the fall of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, IS attacks on the country's new rulers have been scarce, but the Islamist-led authorities have been trying to ...

Donald Trump Calls for a “New Middle East” During his Visit to Saudi Arabia

On an official two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, U.S. President Donald Trump called for a fundamental reshaping of the geopolitical balance in the Middle East. In a speech delivered to an audience of Arab leaders, Trump advocated for an expansion of the Abraham Accords and increased cooperation in addressing regional threats, particularly those ...

U.S./China: Talks in Geneva to Deescalate Trade Tensions

The trade talks between senior U.S. and Chinese officials scheduled for this weekend in Geneva, Switzerland, are "a positive and constructive step toward de-escalation," said WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Friday. "A sustained dialogue between the two largest economies in the world is essential to ease trade tensions, prevent ...

Starmer Says UK-US Trade Deal a 'Fantastic, Historic Day'

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Thursday it was a “really fantastic, historic day," after he agreed a US-UK trade deal with President Donald Trump. The agreement lifts tariffs on UK steel and aluminum products and slashes levies on British car exports from 27.5 percent to 10 percent, Downing Street said. "This is a really fantastic, ...

Trump Appoints Rubio as Interim National Security Advisor Following Waltz's Departure​

US President Donald Trump confirmed Thursday that he was replacing his national security advisor Mike Waltz following a chat group leak, saying he planned to move him to the United Nations. In the first major cabinet shake-up of Trump's new term, the president said Secretary of State Marco Rubio would now also serve as his "interim" national ...

Trump Says Canada's Carney to Visit 'in Next Week'

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney would visit Washington in the coming week, hailing him as "very nice" despite tensions over Trump's tariffs and annexation threats. "He's a very nice gentleman, and he's going to come to the White House very shortly, within the next week or less," Trump said after ...