US First Lady Melania Trump on Monday threw her support behind a bill aimed at protecting Americans from deepfake revenge pornography, in her first solo public engagement since her husband returned to the White House.Appearing in a roundtable discussion on Capitol Hill, she sought to shine a spotlight on the Take It Down Act, which criminalizes the online publication of non-consensual sexual imagery that is often created using cheap and widely available artificial intelligence tools.”In today’s AI-driven world, the threat of privacy breaches is alarming and high,” the first lady told the panel, sitting next to two teenage female victims of deepfake porn.”It’s heartbreaking to witness young teens, especially girls, grappling with the overwhelming challenges posed by malicious online content,” she added.The bill, introduced by Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, would require social media platforms and websites to have procedures in place to swiftly remove non-consensual intimate imagery, including AI-generated pornography, upon notification from a victim.Though it has passed a vote in the US Senate, the bill has yet to clear the House of Representatives.While urging bipartisan support for the bill, Melania took a dig at Democrats for not prioritizing its passage.”I expected to see more Democrat leaders with us here today to address this serious issue,” she said.”Surely as adults, we can prioritize American children ahead of partisan politics.”An online boom in non-consensual deepfakes is currently outpacing efforts to regulate the technology around the world due to a proliferation of AI tools, including photo apps digitally undressing women.A handful of US states including California and Florida have passed laws making sexually explicit deepfakes a punishable offense, and campaigners are calling on Congress to urgently pass a host of bills to regulate their creation and dissemination, including the Take It Down Act.While high-profile politicians and celebrities, including singer Taylor Swift, have been victims of deepfake porn, experts say women not in the public eye are equally vulnerable.A wave of AI porn scandals have been reported at schools across US states — from California to New Jersey — with hundreds of teenagers often targeted by their own classmates.Such non-consensual imagery can lead to harassment, bullying or blackmail, sometimes causing devastating mental health consequences, experts warn.The scandals led to a warning from the FBI last year that such child sexual abuse material, including realistic AI-generated images, was illegal.”In an era where digital interactions are integral to daily life, it is imperative that we safeguard children from mean-spirited and hurtful online behavior,” the first lady said.The roundtable marked Melania’s first solo public engagement since Donald Trump began his second White House term.The first lady has largely been an elusive figure at the White House, spending only limited time in Washington since her husband took the oath of office on January 20. 

With his flailing of Ukraine’s leader, Donald Trump is making clearer than ever that he cares more about power than friends — a chilling message for America’s global network of allies.In the eight decades since World War II, the United States has sought to lead a global order by promoting international rules and ensuring the security of democracies in Europe and East Asia as well as oil-rich Gulf Arab monarchies.US presidents, self-proclaimed “leaders of the free world,” have dropped or weakened support to dependent partners before, including Afghanistan, South Vietnam and, when forging relations with Beijing, Taiwan.Still, there was little precedent for the dramatic, on-camera rupture Friday in the Oval Office in which Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has relied on Western support to withstand a three-year Russian invasion.Vance accused Zelensky of ingratitude for billions of dollars in US assistance and Trump threw a spotlight on the US ally’s weakness, telling him angrily, “You don’t have the cards.”Trump had days earlier declared that he was making a “decisive break” with past US foreign policy, which he described as “foolish” and responsible for “the deaths of many, many people.”Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called for the United States to act like Russia and China in pursuing self-interest first — a contrast to former president Joe Biden, who prioritized alliances as a force multiplier for US influence.- ‘Profound shift’ on democracy -Trump has long described NATO allies as trade competitors who freeload off the US military, although last week he voiced support for the alliance’s mutual defense commitment.He mocked Zelensky as a “dictator” for not holding elections since the invasion, while praising Vladimir Putin, who has been president or prime minister of Russia for 25 years.Trump has also refused to rule out military force to seize Greenland and the Panama Canal, saying that the United States — not unlike Russia — should take what it wants.While Washington’s championing of democracy has “rightly been accused of hypocrisy, now there’s not even any pretense that the United States is upholding those values,” said Max Bergmann, director of the Europe, Russia and Eurasia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.”I think that’s going to be very bad for nascent democracies around the world, for democratic movements and for human rights. So I think this is a really profound shift in the international global order,” he said.Bergmann said that Trump was also providing a “real opening” to rival China.”The United States has been trying to convince countries that when you do deals with China, that China could betray you,” Bergmann said.”Well, here’s the United States essentially doing the ultimate betrayal, or completely switching sides, and stopping to support a democracy at war.”- Message on Taiwan? -European leaders immediately spoke of ramping up defense without the United States. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said a “new age of infamy has begun” after the “unspeakable” scene in the White House.Among places to feel the greatest jolt: former Soviet bloc nations that eagerly joined NATO as protection against Moscow, and Taiwan, the self-governing democracy claimed by Beijing.Trump said Monday that a Chinese invasion would be a “catastrophic event” as Taiwanese chip-making giant TSMC announced $100 billion of investment in the United States.Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the German Marshall Fund’s Indo-Pacific program, said Taiwan “has reason to be nervous.” Unlike Ukraine, which has backing from nearly all of Europe, Taiwan relies for weapons exclusively on the United States.But she said the economic stakes also made the situations different and pointed to Taiwan’s influence as the world’s foremost chipmaker and a major investor.In the words of Trump to Zelensky, “Taiwan has cards,” Glaser said — though the US president himself said Monday that the TSMC deal could mitigate that slightly.Joshua Rovner, a political scientist at American University, said Trump sees uncertainty as part of his strategy and in his first term, despite criticizing Europe, actually raised US troop levels on the continent.”Trump’s language you can interpret in a million different ways,” Rovner said.”What really matters is what he ultimately does with US forces.”

North Korea has slammed the United States for “political and military provocations” over the visit of a US Navy aircraft carrier to the South Korean port of Busan.The statement by Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korea’s ruler Kim Jong Un, was published Tuesday by the state-owned Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).”As soon as its new administration appeared this year, the US has stepped up the political and military provocations against the DPRK, ‘carrying forward’ the former administration’s hostile policy,” her statement read.DPRK is the acronym for the North’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.The USS Carl Vinson, the flagship of a carrier strike group, arrived in Busan for a scheduled port visit on Sunday, the US Navy said in a statement.”The visit to Busan exemplifies the US commitment to the region, further enhancing relationships with ROK leaders and the local population,” the US Navy said, using the acronym for the South’s formal name.Military cooperation between Seoul and Washington regularly invites condemnation from Pyongyang, where the government sees such moves as preparation for an invasion, and often carries out missile tests in response. “The US vicious moves for confrontation with the DPRK have been intensified in March with the appearance of Carl Vinson in the Korean peninsula,” said Kim Yo Jong.Relations between Pyongyang and Seoul have been at one of their lowest points in years, with the North launching a flurry of ballistic missiles last year in violation of United Nations sanctions.Last week, North Korea carried out a test-launch of strategic cruise missiles in the Yellow Sea, in a drill Pyongyang said was aimed at showing off its “counterattack” capabilities.Joint South Korea-US “Freedom Shield” military exercises are set to begin this month.The two Koreas remain technically at war since the 1950-1953 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.Kim Yo Jong’s missive ended with what appeared to be a threat to “renew its records” in the testing of nuclear-capable missiles and other such technology.”If the US continues to renew its records in the anti-DPRK military demonstration, the DPRK will be naturally compelled to renew its records in the exercise of strategic deterrence,” she said.She said the United States and its allies were the “root cause of escalating tension” in the region, and that the North “bitterly condemns the reckless visible actions and muscle-flexing” of Washington.

US President Donald Trump warned Monday he would “not put up” much longer with Volodymyr Zelensky’s stance on the war with Russia, as the Ukrainian leader countered he wanted to end it “as soon as possible.”In a new sign of frayed ties following their White House blow-up last week, Trump called Zelensky’s assertion that an agreement to end the war remained distant “the worst statement that could have been made” by him.”America will not put up with it for much longer,” Trump said on social media.The comment came after the Ukrainian president accused Russia — which invaded Ukraine in 2014 and greatly expanded the conflict in 2022 — of not being serious about peace.Zelensky warned that tough security guarantees were the only way to end the conflict.But Trump’s attacks on Zelensky have upended US support for Ukraine, and Washington’s allies more broadly, and stoked concern about the United States pivoting to Russia.The US president stepped up his threats during an event at the White House later Monday, suggesting that Zelensky “won’t be around very long” without a ceasefire deal with Moscow.Trump said Zelensky should be “more appreciative” of the billions of dollars of military aid that Washington has contributed to Kyiv’s fight against Russia.But he offered hope that a minerals deal that fell through last week due to the row could be revived, and played down reports that he could halt military aid.- European support -“Now, maybe somebody doesn’t want to make a deal, and if somebody doesn’t want to make a deal, I think that person won’t be around very long,” Trump said.After weekend crisis talks in London, Britain and France are investigating how to propose a one-month truce “in the air, at sea and on energy infrastructure” — potentially backstopped by troops on the ground.Zelensky said discussions were still focusing on the “first steps,” adding: “An agreement on ending the war is very, very far away” — a comment that angered Trump.Zelensky added in a video statement Monday that “real, honest peace” would only come with security guarantees for Ukraine, which agreed to denuclearize in 1994 only in exchange for protection provided by the United States and Britain.”It was the lack of security guarantees for Ukraine 11 years ago that allowed Russia to start with the occupation of Crimea and the war in Donbas, then the lack of security guarantees allowed Russia to launch a full-scale invasion,” Zelensky said.Russia dismissed his comments, accusing him of not wanting peace — echoing US criticisms after he was shouted down in the Oval Office on Friday.On the ground, Ukrainian officials reported fatalities from a Russian missile strike on a military training facility, some 130 kilometers (80 miles) from the front line.A respected military blogger said between 30 and 40 soldiers were killed and 90 more wounded in the attack near Dnipro on Saturday.- ‘Deliberate escalation’? -Trump has previously called Zelensky, president since 2019, a “dictator” for not holding elections, even though martial law precludes any vote because of the war. Zelensky dismissed calls for him to resign, repeating his pledge to do so only if Ukraine were given NATO membership, which Russia — and now the United States under Trump — opposes.In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov blamed Zelensky for Friday’s White House blow-up with Trump and Vice President JD Vance, saying he “demonstrated a complete lack of diplomatic abilities.””He doesn’t want peace,” Peskov told reporters.But Germany’s likely next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said the astonishing clash was a “deliberate escalation” by Trump.US and Russian officials have held talks on ending the war, enraging Ukraine and Europe for being sidelined, and prompting fears in Kyiv and beyond that any deal could threaten the country’s future.Zelensky triggered Trump and Vance’s ire by questioning whether Russia could be trusted to uphold a truce.French President Emmanuel Macron told daily newspaper Le Figaro that a truce would not, initially at least, cover ground fighting, as the size of the meandering front line would make it hard to enforce.Macron met Trump in Washington last week, as did Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who insisted Sunday that the United States was “not an unreliable ally,” despite Trump’s overtures to Putin.