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Washington has approved $11 billion-worth of arms to Taiwan, Taipei said Thursday, announcing one of the largest weapons packages for the island as it seeks to deter a potential Chinese invasion.While Washington is traditionally Taiwan’s biggest arms supplier, remarks by US President Donald Trump raised doubts about his willingness to defend the democratic island.Taiwan has ramped up its defence spending in the past decade as China has intensified military pressure, but Trump’s administration has pushed the island to do more to protect itself.The arms sale announced on Thursday, which still needs US Congressional approval, would be the second since Trump returned to office in January, after the $330 million sale of parts and components in November.The latest, much bigger cache features HIMARS rocket systems, howitzers, anti-tank missiles, drones and other equipment, according to Taipei’s foreign ministry.”This is the second arms sale to Taiwan announced during the Trump administration’s second term, once again demonstrating the US’s firm commitment to Taiwan’s security,” Taipei’s foreign ministry said.The potential size of the sale rivals the $18 billion authorised under former US president George W. Bush in 2001, although that was ultimately downsized after commercial negotiations.Bush ended up selling $15.6 billion-worth of weapons to Taiwan over his eight years in office.During Trump’s first term, the United States approved $10 billion in arms sales to Taiwan, including $8 billion for fighter jets.The latest package is expected to soon receive a Congressional rubber stamp, given the cross-party consensus on Taiwan’s defence.Taiwan maintains its own defence industry but the island would be massively outgunned in a conflict with China, and so remains heavily reliant on US arms.The latest arms sale shows Washington has continued to assist Taipei in “rapidly building robust deterrence capabilities”, Taiwan’s defence ministry said in a statement. Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te’s government has vowed to ramp up defence spending to more than three percent of the GDP next year and five percent by 2030, following US pressure.It is also plans to seek up to NT$1 trillion in special funding to upgrade the island’s air defence systems and increase capacity to produce and store ammunition.The defence spending proposals need backing from the island’s opposition-controlled parliament before they can take effect.China deploys military aircraft and warships around Taiwan on a near-daily basis, which analysts describe as “grey-zone” operations — coercive tactics that fall short of an act of war.Taipei’s defence ministry said 40 Chinese military aircraft, including fighters, choppers and drones, as well as eight naval vessels, were detected around Taiwan in a 24-hour period ending early Thursday.On Tuesday, Beijing’s third and newest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, sailed through the Taiwan Strait, according to Taipei. 

As he gears up for his first Christmas as leader of the world’s Catholics, Pope Leo XIV is starting to show more noticeable differences in leadership style with his predecessor Francis.Pope Leo has set a more guarded and formal tone than the charismatic Francis but is equally unafraid to speak his mind — even on sensitive topics like social justice, poverty and immigration.”The pope communicates by how he dresses, his gestures, his signals,” Roberto Regoli, an Italian priest and a professor at the Vatican’s Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, told AFP.Whereas “Francis’s style was very linked to his words” and improvisation, Leo XIV communicates emotions “with his face and his penetrating gaze”.”He is not a physically imposing person,” he said, underlining his “soft” and “very assured” manner.Robert Francis Prevost became the first US pope on May 8 and has so far differed little from his Argentine predecessor in terms of substance.He has only had to make a few nominations to top Vatican positions — usually seen as a good indicator of papal intentions — since his election.Leo has also not yet moved into the Apostolic Palace — which Francis eschewed for more humble lodgings nearby — and the Church’s long-planned Jubilee Holy Year has taken up much of his agenda.On the international stage, Leo has only carried out one foreign visit to Turkey and Lebanon — which had already been decided under Francis.But the trip earlier this month gave important insights into their different styles.Pope Leo spoke with emotion but without being particularly effusive to fervent crowds in Lebanon.He stuck to the text of written speeches and soberly greeted the faithful during the visit, remaining measured even in crowded environments.- ‘Sure of his ideas’ -Pope Leo has revived an old tradition of taking a weekly day of rest on Tuesdays in Castel Gandolfo — the papal summer residence near Rome which Francis had mostly stayed away from.Leo said he plays tennis, swims, reads and takes phone calls there.Everyone “should do some activity” in order “to look after themselves. Body, soul, all together”, the 70-year-old told journalists last month.Before returning to the Vatican on Tuesdays, he usually answers journalists’ questions — a new way of communicating.Francis granted several exclusive media interviews during his pontificate while Leo has only done one in seven months.In recent weeks, he has become highly critical of US President Donald Trump — calling the treatment of migrants in the US “extremely disrespectful”.”He doesn’t shy away from answering questions. He says what he thinks because he is sure of his ideas and his management,” Regoli said.”He is really a modern head of state. He believes a pope can speak informally on issues that are not directly related to his remit,” a Vatican source said on condition of anonymity.The pope’s message reaches a wide audience also because of his knowledge of languages.He speaks confidently in English, Italian and Spanish, a language he masters well after spending two decades in Peru as a missionary.- Cape and smartwatch -In Vatican corridors there is some satisfaction with Leo’s greater respect for institutions and officialdom, a more methodical form of governance and detailed knowledge of the issues at stake.”His timidity is also an evangelical way of working — of having respect for people because with Francis it was not aways the case,” a diplomatic source told AFP.Francis was known for his sometimes explosive character in private and could dismiss staff from one day to the next.Leo has also taken strong decisions — such as going back on some reforms in the running of the Vatican undertaken by his predecessor.He has also brought back greater formality in papal wear, donning the red capes and gold-embroidered stoles that Francis had rejected.The one novel twist on tradition is the smartwatch on his wrist that can sometimes be seen under the lace sleeve of his white garments.

President Donald Trump promised Americans an economic boom in an address to the nation on Wednesday, while blaming Democratic predecessor Joe Biden for high prices that have hit the Republican’s popularity.”Good evening America. Eleven months ago I inherited a mess, and I’m fixing it,” the 79-year-old said in his live speech from the White House at the end of his first year back in power.Trump faces growing voter anger over the issue of affordability despite his efforts to dismiss it as a “hoax” by Democrats, sparking Republican fears they could be punished in the 2026 midterm elections.The billionaire president insisted that prices of gas and groceries that have worried Americans were “falling rapidly, and it’s not done yet. But boy, are we making progress.”In a surprise announcement, Trump said that 1.45 million United States military service members would each receive “warrior dividend” bonus checks for $1,776 before Christmas, paid for with revenues raised from tariffs.He added that specific amount was in honor of the year of the founding of the United States, the 250th anniversary of which the country will celebrate next year.Trump then promised that “we are poised for an economic boom the likes of which the world has never seen” in 2026, when the United States will co-host the FIFA World Cup, with Canada and Mexico.But while the White House had billed the speech as a chance for Trump to set out his economic agenda for the rest of his second term, much of it consisted on attacks on familiar targets.He repeatedly raged against Biden, the Democrats, and migrants whom he said “stole American jobs.”Democrats fired back after the speech, with Senator Chuck Schumer saying in a statement that Trump “just showed he lives in a bubble completely disconnected from the reality everyday Americans are seeing and feeling.” “The facts are that prices are going up. Unemployment is going up. And there’s no end in sight,” he added.Trump’s speech comes at the end of a whirlwind year in which he has launched an unprecedented display of presidential power, including a crackdown on migration and the targeting of political opponents. – Poll worries for Trump -But polls show what Americans are most concerned about is high prices, which experts say are partly fueled by the tariffs he has slapped on trading partners around the world.Trump got his worst approval ratings ever for his handling of the economy in a PBS News/NPR/Marist poll published Wednesday, with 57 percent of Americans disapproving and expressing concerns about the cost of living.A YouGov poll published Tuesday showed that 52 percent of Americans thought the economy was getting worse under Trump. He has also faced criticism from his Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement for focusing on peace deals in Ukraine and Gaza and on tensions with Venezuela, instead of domestic issues.Trump did not mention Ukraine or Venezuela, but did boast about the Gaza ceasefire, the US attacks on Iran’s nuclear program, and what he calls a war on drug traffickers.There are signs Trump’s team has had a wake-up call on the economy in recent weeks, with next year’s midterm elections for the control of Congress already looming.Republicans lost heavily in elections in November for the mayor of New York and governorships in Virginia and New Jersey, while Democrats ran them close in a previously safe area in Tennessee.The president is now ramping up his domestic travel to push his economic message.Last week in Pennsylvania he promised to “make America affordable again,” and on Friday he is due to give another campaign-style rally in North Carolina.Vice President JD Vance — who is rapidly becoming Trump’s messenger on the issue as he eyes his own presidential run in 2028 — also urged voters to show patience during a speech on Tuesday.

The US government admitted it was liable for a deadly midair collision between a military helicopter and a passenger jet outside Washington earlier this year, killing 67 people, according to a court document filed Wednesday.The 209-page filing by the US Department of Justice, obtained by AFP, was part of a civil lawsuit by one of the passengers killed on the jet against the US government and the commercial airlines operating the plane.”The United States admits that it owed a duty of care to Plaintiffs, which it breached, thereby proximately causing the tragic accident,” the document begins.The crash occurred on January 29 when an American Eagle airliner from Wichita, Kansas, was approaching the landing strip at Ronald Reagan National Airport when a military Black Hawk helicopter operated by the US Army crashed into the jet, causing both aircraft to fall into the freezing Potomac River.The disaster marked the deadliest crash of a US commercial flight in decades and prompted tighter air safety protocols at Reagan Airport.In the court documents, the government admitted that safety risks “of midair collision cannot be reduced to zero” in the airspace outside Reagan Airport. It also admitted to the failure of the US Army pilots of the Black Hawk “to maintain vigilance so as to see and avoid other aircraft and their failure was a cause-in-fact and proximate cause of the accident.” The court filing also cited improper actions by an air traffic controller at the airport, saying they “did not comply” with federal regulations.Earlier this year, a preliminary investigation by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) highlighted faulty instruments and communication problems as possible contributing factors to the crash.The inquiry found the air traffic controller’s warning to the helicopter about the jet was muffled, and it did not receive crucial instructions to veer out of the flight path moments before the midair collision.The full NTSB investigation, which can take up to a year, is ongoing and a final report remains pending.

Deputy FBI director Dan Bongino, a former right-wing podcaster, announced on Wednesday that he would step down in January after less than 10 months on the job.The 51-year-old Bongino, in a post on X announcing his resignation, did not give a reason for the move.But President Donald Trump said he believes Bongino wants to return to his popular podcast.”Dan did a great job,” Trump told reporters. “I think he wants to go back to his show.”Bongino had a law enforcement background before joining the Federal Bureau of Investigation — he served as a New York police officer and Secret Service agent — but his appointment was unusual in that the FBI’s number two job is traditionally held by a career employee.His brief tenure at the FBI, which began in March, was marked by reports of tensions with Attorney General Pam Bondi.In his X post, Bongino thanked Trump, Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel “for the opportunity to serve with purpose.”Bongino’s eponymous podcast had one of the largest audiences in the country and frequently pushed conspiracy theories, including claims the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from Trump.

A manhunt for the mass shooter who opened fire in an exam room at one of America’s top universities stretched into a fifth day Wednesday with no apparent police progress in identifying a suspect or a motive.The only new information from police at a media briefing Wednesday was an appeal for a witness believed by investigators to have come close to the suspected gunman on the grounds of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. The shooting happened Saturday, when a man with a rifle burst into a campus building at the Ivy League college where students were sitting exams. The man opened fire. killing two students then fleeing.”Investigators are asking for the public’s help in identifying and speaking to the individual shown in these photos who was in proximity of the person of interest,” the Providence police department wrote on X with images of an individual wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt and a dark overcoat.”They may have relevant information to the investigation,” Providence police chief Oscar Perez told Wednesday’s briefing. Perez said this individual, who was not named, was “close enough” to the suspect “that we feel that we need to speak with them.”Perez also called on web users not to share artificial intelligence-generated images linked to the shooting.The two students killed Saturday were Ella Cook, vice president of Brown’s Republican Party association, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, originally from Uzbekistan, who had hoped to become a neurosurgeon.One survivor was in critical but stable condition, five were in a stable condition, and two had been discharged from hospital, Providence’s mayor Brett Smiley told the briefing.Authorities initially detained a man in connection with the shooting, but they later released him.The university has faced questions about its security arrangements after it emerged that none of its 1,200 security cameras were linked to the police’s surveillance system.”Why did Brown University have so few Security Cameras? There can be no excuse for that,” US President Donald Trump wrote on social media.The university issued a lengthy statement addressing the criticism, saying that its security cameras don’t extend every part of the over 250 buildings on campus.There have been more than 300 mass shootings in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot. Attempts to restrict access to firearms still face political deadlock.

Venezuela struck a defiant note Wednesday, insisting its crude oil exports were not impacted by US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a potentially crippling blockade.Trump’s declaration on Tuesday marked a new escalation in his months-long campaign of military and economic pressure on Venezuela’s authoritarian leftist President Nicolas Maduro.Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, shrugged off the threat of more pain, insisting it was proceeding with business as usual.”Export operations for crude and byproducts continue normally. Oil tankers linked to PDVSA operations continue to sail with full security,” state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) said.Trump said Tuesday he was imposing “A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela.”Referring to the heavy US military presence in the Caribbean — including the world’s largest aircraft carrier — he warned “Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America.”On Wednesday, he reiterated that US forces would not “let anybody go in… that shouldn’t be going through,” and accused Venezuela once again of taking “all of our oil.””They took all of our energy rights, they took all of our oil, from not that long ago, and we want it back,” he said, apparently referring to the nationalization of Venzuela’s oil industry.Oil prices had surged in early trading Wednesday in London on news of the blockade, which comes a week after US forces seized a sanctioned oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast.Maduro held telephone talks with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to discuss what he called the “escalation of threats” from Washington and their “implications for regional peace.”Guterres urged both sides to “exert restraint and de-escalate tensions to preserve regional stability.”- ‘We are not intimidated’ -Venezuela’s economy, which has been in freefall over the last decade of increasingly hardline rule by Maduro, relies heavily on petroleum exports.Trump’s campaign appears aimed at undermining domestic support for Maduro, but the Venezuelan military said Wednesday it was “not intimidated” by the threats.The foreign minister of China, the main market for Venezuelan oil, defended Caracas in a phone call with his Venezuelan counterpart Yvan Gil.”China opposes all unilateral bullying and supports all countries in defending their sovereignty and national dignity,” he said.Last week’s seizure of the M/T Skipper, in a dramatic raid involving US personnel rappelling from a helicopter, marked a shift in Trump’s offensive against Maduro.In August, the US leader ordered the biggest military deployment in the Caribbean Sea since the 1989 US invasion of Panama — purportedly to combat drug trafficking, but taking particular aim at Venezuela, a minnow in the global drug trade.US strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific have left at least 95 people dead since.Caracas believes that the anti-narcotics operations are a cover for a bid to topple Maduro and steal Venezuelan oil.The escalating tensions have raised fears of a potential US intervention to dislodge Maduro.Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum waded into the dispute Wednesday, declaring that the United Nations was “nowhere to be seen” and asked that it step up to “prevent any bloodshed.”- Oil lifeline -The US blockade threatens major pain for Venezuela’s crumbling economy.Venezuela has been under a US oil embargo since 2019, forcing it to sell its production on the black market at significantly lower prices, primarily to Asian countries.The country produces one million barrels of oil per day, down from more than three million in the early 2000s.Capital Economics analysts predicted that the blockade “would cut off a key lifeline for Venezuela’s economy” in the short term.”The medium-term impact will hinge largely on how tensions with the US evolve — and what the US administration’s goals are in Venezuela.”burs-cb/des

President Donald Trump will set out plans to make the United States “stronger than ever” in a televised address to the nation Wednesday as his popularity dips over his handling of the economy.Trump’s speech at the end of his first year back in the White House comes amid Republican fears that voters angered by the cost of living will punish them in the November 2026 midterms.”The message this evening is we inherited a mess, and we’ve done a great job, and we continue to, and our country is going to be stronger than ever before very soon,” Trump told reporters.He spoke after attending a somber ceremony marking the return of the bodies of two US soldiers and an American civilian who were shot dead in Syria over the weekend.Republican Trump is also expected to tease his policies for 2026, following a blitz of hardline protectionist and nationalist policies at the start of his second term.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the speech would focus on his “historic accomplishments” including tackling inflation, which Trump blames on his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, and curbing immigration.Leavitt said on Tuesday that the president would also talk about his plans “to continue delivering for the American people over the next three years.”Billionaire Trump, the oldest elected president in US history, has boasted of a new “golden age” in America. He recently rated the economy as “A++++” and rages against what he called an “affordability hoax” by rival Democrats.- ‘Make America affordable again’ -But polls show US voters are increasingly angry about high prices of everything from gas to groceries, which experts say are partly fueled by the tariffs he has slapped on trading partners. Trump got his worst approval ratings ever for his handling of the economy in a PBS News/NPR/Marist poll published Wednesday, with 57 percent of Americans disapproving and expressing concerns about the cost of living.A YouGov poll published Tuesday showed that 52 percent of Americans thought the economy was getting worse under Trump. He even faces criticism from within his Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement for focusing on peace deals in Ukraine and Gaza and on tensions with Venezuela, instead of domestic issues.But there are signs Trump’s team has had a wake-up call in recent weeks, with next year’s midterm elections for the control of Congress already looming.Republicans lost heavily in elections in November for the mayor of New York and governorships in Virginia and New Jersey, while Democrats ran them close in a previously safe area in Tennessee.The president is now ramping up his domestic travel to push his economic message.Last week in Pennsylvania he promised to “make America affordable again,” and on Friday he is due to give another campaign-style rally in North Carolina on Friday.Vice President JD Vance — who is rapidly becoming Trump’s messenger on the issue as he eyes his own presidential run in 2028 — urged voters to show patience during a speech on Tuesday.”They know Rome wasn’t built in a day,” Vance said in the swing state of Pennsylvania.Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles said in a Vanity Fair article published Tuesday that his program would feature “more talks about the domestic economy and less about Saudi Arabia.”

The US Senate on Wednesday approved President Donald Trump’s re-nomination of billionaire Jared Isaacman to head NASA, following months of backtracking and uncertainty over the space agency’s future.The 42-year-old businessman made his fortune in online payment processing and has a personal passion for space. He will take over as administrator of the US agency at a sensitive time — when it faces major budget cuts and pressure to travel to the Moon again and eventually reach Mars.The Trump administration wants to send a manned US mission to the Moon as soon as possible to outpace similar plans by China.During his second confirmation hearing in December, Isaacman pledged he would ensure the success of the Artemis lunar exploration program that began in 2017, during the first Trump administration. “America will return to the Moon before our great rival, and we will establish an enduring presence to understand and realize the scientific, economic and national security value on the lunar surface,” Isaacman said.NASA’s Artemis program, however, has faced numerous delays, and experts warned in September that the lunar lander developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX might not be ready in time.Trump first nominated Isaacman after the president’s 2024 election victory, but withdrew the nomination in April 2025, before re-issuing it again in November.Musk had lobbied for Isaacman to get the job. The back-and-forth reflected the president’s on-again, off-again relationship with the SpaceX founder, who has been skeptical of the goal of returning to the Moon.While the Trump administration was open several months ago to revising the Artemis program in favor of Mars, this prospect now seems to be fading.Isaacman has emphasized that returning to the Moon is now the priority.The entrepreneur has flown twice with SpaceX, and in 2024 became the first private astronaut to perform a spacewalk.

US President Donald Trump, who has made no mystery of his enmity for his Democratic predecessors, recently took things a step further with unorthodox White House plaques repeating his long-standing grievances against the former leaders.The 79-year-old Republican had previously caused a stir by installing a gallery of former presidents’ portraits outside the Oval Office, but replacing Joe Biden’s photograph with an autopen.The substitution is a reference to Trump’s claim that Biden, who left office in January aged 82, was so senile that he did not know what was being signed in his name.On Wednesday, journalists allowed access to the famed West Colonnade noted that new plaques had been installed under the presidents’ photos.The descriptions for Biden and former president Barack Obama were strikingly negative.The inscription below Obama, the first Black president in US history, calls him “one of the most divisive political figures in American history.”It also includes his middle name, Hussein, as Trump often does when referring to his Democratic predecessor, after having stoked conspiracy theories about the 44th president’s birthplace.Biden is described as “by far, the worst President in American history.”The plaque also repeats Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him.As for the current officeholder, his bio is expectedly glowing.It states that he ended eight conflicts in eight months, a figure viewed as inaccurate, and that he attracted an unverifiable sum of trillions of dollars in investment to the United States.The new plaques are the latest White House alteration since Trump’s return in January.The billionaire real estate developer has torn down the entire East Wing to make way for an extravagant ballroom, added copious amounts of gold to the Oval Office and other rooms, and hung portraits of himself — contrary to the custom of the president’s image only being displayed after leaving office.