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A man suspected of shooting two National Guard soldiers near the White House was an Afghan national who had served alongside American troops in Afghanistan, US media reported Wednesday, as Washington labelled the incident an “act of terror.”Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, opened fire and wounded the soldiers on patrol Wednesday afternoon, before he was shot and hospitalised, the New York Times, CBS, NBC and others reported.Without naming him, US security chief Kristi Noem said on social media that the suspect “was one of the many unvetted, mass paroled into the United States under Operation Allies Welcome”.The program, launched by former president Joe Biden, offered vulnerable Afghans, including those who served alongside US forces, the chance to resettle in the United States after the return of the Taliban government.NBC quoted a relative of the suspect, who said Lakanwal arrived in the United States in September 2021 having served in the Afghan army for 10 years alongside US Special Forces, largely based in Kandahar.Fox News, citing CIA chief John Ratcliffe, said Lakanwal worked with various US government entities, including the intelligence service.Lakanwal applied for asylum in 2024, which was granted in 2025, CNN and CBS reported, citing public security authorities.US President Donald Trump said that the suspect was an Afghan who arrived in the United States in 2021 “on those infamous flights,” referring to the evacuations of Afghans as the Taliban took over the war-torn country following the US retreat.Soon after Trump’s address, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services suspended all Afghan applications indefinitely.”Effective immediately, processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals is stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols,” the agency wrote on social media.- Controversial military use -Trump condemned the shooting as “an  act of  evil, an  act of  hatred and an  act of  terror”, calling it a “crime against our entire nation.”The shocking attack, carried out early afternoon when the streets and offices of downtown Washington were bustling, has renewed focus on Trump’s controversial militarization of an anti-crime push around the country.The president has deployed troops to several cities, all run by Democrats, including Washington, Los Angeles and Memphis. The deployments have prompted multiple lawsuits and protests from local officials who accuse the Republican of seeking authoritarian powers.Trump’s statement also indicated that his equally controversial drive to root out migrants in the country illegally — the core of his domestic agenda — will get new impetus.”We must now reexamine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan” under Biden, he wrote.”We must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here, or add benefit to our country if they can’t love our country, we don’t want them.”‘- ‘Ambushed’ -Jeffery Carroll, assistant chief of the Washington police, said the gunman “ambushed” his victims.He “came around the corner, raised his arm with a firearm and discharged at the National Guard members.”FBI Director Kash Patel said the two Guards members were in “critical condition.”Trump said earlier on social media the suspect was “also severely wounded, but regardless, will pay a very steep price.”An AFP reporter near the scene heard several loud pops and saw people running.Dozens of bystanders were caught up in the chaos.”We heard gunshots. We were waiting at the traffic light and there were several shots,” said Angela Perry, 42, who was driving home with her two children. “You could see National Guard running toward the metro with their weapons drawn.”Soon after the shootings, security agents flooded the area. Officers carrying rifles stood guard behind yellow tape at the perimeter as a helicopter circled overhead.An AFP reporter saw emergency crews running with a wheeled stretcher and shortly after emerging with a casualty wearing camouflage, who was loaded into an ambulance.- Safety and vetting -AfghanEvac, a group that helped resettle Afghans in the US after Washington’s withdrawal, said they undergo “some of the most extensive security vetting” of any migrants.”This individual’s isolated and violent act should not be used as an excuse to define or diminish an entire community,” said its president, Shawn VanDiver.Washington’s government buildings are heavily guarded, but the city isn’t immune to serious street crime.Trump made it a showcase for his decision to deploy National Guard soldiers — in camouflage and occasionally carrying rifles.In the wake of Wednesday’s shooting, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced 500 more troops would deploy to Washington, bringing the total to 2,500.A federal judge ruled last Thursday that Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops in the US capital was unlawful.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that an Afghan man who fled the Taliban was the suspect in the shooting of two National Guard soldiers near the White House, calling it an “act of terror.”The announcement in a brief video message signaled the intertwining of three politically explosive issues -– Trump’s controversial use of the military at home, immigration, and the legacy of the US war in Afghanistan.The incident, which left two Guard members critically wounded, was “an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror,” Trump said. “It was a crime against our entire nation.”He confirmed that the man taken into custody after the daylight shooting two blocks from the White House was “a foreigner who entered our country from Afghanistan.”The suspect had arrived in the United States in 2021 “on those infamous flights,” Trump said, referring to the evacuations of Afghans fleeing as the Taliban took over the country in the wake of the US retreat after 20 years of war.The shocking attack, carried out next to a metro station at a time when the streets and offices of downtown Washington were bustling, also puts a new focus on Trump’s controversial militarization of an anti-crime push around the country.Trump has deployed troops to several cities, all run by Democrats, including Washington, Los Angeles and Memphis. The deployments have prompted multiple law suits and protests from local officials who accuse the Republican of seeking authoritarian powers.Trump’s statement also indicated that his equally controversial drive to root out migrants in the country illegally — the core of his domestic agenda — will get new impetus.”We must now reexamine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan” under former president Joe Biden, said Trump.”We must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here, or add benefit to our country if they can’t love our country, we don’t want them.”Soon after Trump’s address, US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency overseeing lawful immigration, took action. “Effective immediately, processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals is stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols,” the agency wrote in a post to social media late Wednesday.- ‘Ambushed’ -Jeffery Carroll, assistant chief of the Washington police, said the gunman “ambushed” his victims.He “came around the corner, raised his arm with a firearm and discharged at the National Guard members.”FBI Director Kash Patel said the two Guards members were in “critical condition.”Trump earlier said on social media the suspect was “also severely wounded, but regardless, will pay a very steep price.”An AFP reporter near the scene heard several loud pops and saw people running.Dozens of bystanders were caught up in the chaos.”We heard gunshots. We were waiting at the traffic light and there were several shots,” said Angela Perry, 42, who was driving home with her two children. “You could see National Guard running toward the metro with their weapons drawn.”Soon after the shootings, security agents flooded the area. Officers carrying rifles stood guard behind yellow tape at the perimeter as a helicopter circled overhead.An AFP reporter saw emergency crews running toward the metro with a wheeled stretcher and shortly after emerging with a casualty wearing camouflage who was loaded into an ambulance.– Safety and vetting –AfghanEvac, a group that helped resettle Afghans in the US after Washington’s withdrawal, said they undergo “some of the most extensive security vetting” of any migrants.”This individual’s isolated and violent act should not be used as an excuse to define or diminish an entire community,” said its president, Shawn VanDriver.Washington’s government buildings are heavily guarded, but the city isn’t immune to serious street crime.Trump made it a showcase for his decision to deploy National Guard soldiers — in camouflage and occasionally carrying rifles.In the wake of Wednesday’s shooting, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced 500 more troops would deploy to Washington, adding up to 2,500.Last Thursday a federal judge ruled Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops in the US capital was unlawful.

Two US National Guard soldiers were critically wounded Wednesday in a targeted shooting near the White House — an extraordinary security incident fueling controversy over President Donald Trump’s nationwide crime crackdown.According to multiple US media outlets, the alleged shooter was an Afghan national who had entered the United States in 2021, but US authorities had yet to publicly identify and name the suspect.If confirmed, it would mean a series of painful political issues intertwining in one bloody incident on the streets of the capital -– Trump’s use of the military at home, immigration, and the legacy of the disastrous US war in Afghanistan.Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser called it “a targeted shooting” by a single assailant.”That individual has been taken into custody,” she said.CBS News reported that law enforcement officials told the network the suspect was a 29-year-old who used a handgun to carry out the attack, while sources told NBC News the shooting was being investigated as a possible act of terrorism.Both soldiers — part of a militarized anti-crime deployment around the United States ordered by Trump — were in “critical condition,” FBI Director Kash Patel said.Earlier, West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey mistakenly said the soldiers, both deployed to the capital from his state, had died.It was the most serious violence against the National Guard since Trump began ordering troops onto the streets of several Democratic-run cities shortly after starting his second term this January.The Republican, who was at his Florida golf club, described the shooter as an “animal.”The suspect “is also severely wounded, but regardless, will pay a very steep price,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.- ‘Ambushed’ -The shootings took place at the Farragut West metro station two blocks from the White House and in mid-afternoon, when the streets and nearby businesses were packed.Jeffery Carroll, assistant chief of the Washington police, said the gunman “ambushed” his victims.He “came around the corner, raised his arm with a firearm and discharged at the National Guard members.””He was quickly taken into custody by other National Guard members and law enforcement.”An AFP reporter near the scene heard several loud pops and saw people running.Dozens of bystanders were caught up in the chaos.”We heard gunshots. We were waiting at the traffic light and there were several shots,” said Angela Perry, 42, who was driving home with her two children. “You could see National Guard running toward the metro with their weapons drawn.”Soon after the shootings, security agents flooded the area. Officers carrying rifles stood guard behind yellow tape at the perimeter and a helicopter circled overhead.An AFP reporter saw emergency crews running toward the metro with a wheeled stretcher and shortly after emerging with a casualty wearing camouflage whom they loaded into an ambulance.– Troops controversy –Washington’s government buildings are heavily guarded, but much of the city has suffered from years of sometimes serious street crime.Trump made Washington a showcase for his decision to order National Guard soldiers, in camouflage and occasionally carrying rifles, to patrol cities run by Democratic mayors, also including Los Angeles and Memphis.In the wake of Wednesday’s shooting, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that 500 more troops would deploy to Washington, adding up to 2,500.The policy has prompted bitter complaints from local officials who accuse Trump of stoking tensions, while the deployments are the subject of numerous court challenges.Last Thursday a federal judge ruled that Trump’s deployment of thousands of National Guard troops in the US capital is unlawful.Andrew McCabe, former FBI deputy director, told CNN that the soldiers are not trained for law enforcement.”That adds, I think, a real wild card element to this thing. We don’t really know how those folks would respond if confronted with a violent incident on the street with an armed person.”

The Dominican Republic said Wednesday it will allow the United States to use an air base and airport as part of its controversial operations against alleged drug traffickers that have killed more than 80 people so far.The announcement came during a visit by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to Santo Domingo, as the United States seeks to ramp up pressure on leftist Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, whom Washington accuses of heading a drug cartel.”We have authorized the United States, for a limited time, to use restricted areas at the San Isidro Air Base and the Las Americas International Airport for logistical operations of aircraft,” including refueling and the transport of equipment and personnel, President Luis Abinader told a news conference.Hegseth, who spoke alongside the Dominican leader, confirmed the “temporary deployment of US service members and aircraft,” saying Washington is “deadly serious” about the counter-narcotics mission.”In waging this war on narco-terrorists, we’re willing to go on the offense, go on the offense in a way that changes the dynamic for the entire region, and we think can bring safety, stability and security to our partners,” Hegseth said.”We must meet narco-terrorists and their illegal activities with strength and swift action. It’s the only language they understand,” he added.- Major military buildup -The visit came after the United States designated an alleged Venezuelan drug cartel, Cartel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns), as a foreign terrorist organization, which gives President Donald Trump’s administration legal cover for more action against Venezuelan authorities.The United States began carrying out strikes on alleged drug smugglers — which experts say amount to extrajudicial killings even if they target known traffickers — in early September, and has now destroyed more than 20 vessels it says were used for trafficking.But Washington has yet to make public any evidence that its targets were smuggling narcotics or posed a threat to the United States.Trump has deployed the world’s biggest aircraft carrier and 10 other ships to the Caribbean — a huge force for a mission to counter traffickers — and Washington has also carried out multiple shows of force with B-52 and B-1B bombers flying near Venezuela’s coast.Regional tensions have flared as a result of the strikes and the military buildup, with Maduro accusing Washington of using drug trafficking as a pretext for “imposing regime change” in Caracas to seize Venezuelan oil.Maduro insists there is no drug cultivation in Venezuela, which he says is used as a trafficking route for Colombian cocaine against its will.The Dominican Republic has already been cooperating with the US anti-drug operations.Authorities in the country, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, announced earlier this month that they had seized about 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of cocaine from a boat intercepted during a joint operation with US forces.

A US judge on Wednesday ended the long-running case accusing Donald Trump and his allies of trying to overturn the 2020 election — bringing the curtain down on the final criminal prosecution still shadowing the president’s return to power.The ruling followed a forceful push from prosecutor Pete Skandalakis, who urged Judge Scott McAfee to shut the Georgia case down, arguing it belonged in federal hands, not state courts. With that, the only remaining legal front in the sprawling battle over Trump’s post-election conduct fell away.”LAW and JUSTICE have prevailed in the Great State of Georgia,” Trump posted as he celebrated the ruling on Truth Social.He called the case an “Illegal, Unconstitutional, and unAmerican Hoax” — although several codefendants were convicted — and said it should have “never been brought” in a lengthy statement that repeated his false claims that the election was rigged. The Republican president faced a slew of federal charges following his first term in office, including conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election and hoarding allegedly classified documents that the government said should not have been removed from the White House..Special Counsel Jack Smith dropped both cases following Trump’s election, citing the Justice Department’s policy of not indicting or prosecuting a sitting president.”Indeed, if Special Counsel Jack Smith, with all the resources of the federal government at his disposal… concluded that prosecution would be fruitless, then I too find that, despite the available evidence, pursuing the prosecution of all those involved in State of Georgia v. Donald Trump, et al. on essentially federal grounds would be equally unproductive,” Skandalakis wrote in his filing.He also pointed out that prosecuting a sitting president in Georgia is nearly impossible and that without Trump, the trial would be unworkable for the remaining 14 defendants. McAfee immediately granted the motion to dismiss the case.- ‘On life support’ -Trump and 18 codefendants were charged with racketeering and other offenses in Georgia in 2023 over their alleged efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election in the southern state.The indictment alleged efforts to persuade state officials to “find” votes to reverse Trump’s narrow loss to Joe Biden, pressure election workers, and install false Trump electors. Four of those indicted subsequently admitted lesser charges.A Georgia appeals court in December disqualified Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis from the case over a relationship she had with the man she had hired to be a special prosecutor.Trump has granted pardons to several allies accused of attempting to subvert the 2020 election, but the pardons only apply to federal crimes, not state offenses such as those in Georgia.Among those who received clemency were former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows, both of whom faced charges in Georgia.Skandalakis argued that continuing the Georgia case “in full for another five to ten years” would not serve the state’s voters, saying that the time it would take, combined with unresolved issues like federal versus state jurisdiction and presidential immunity, meant the case was effectively “on life support.””As a former elected official who ran as both a Democrat and a Republican… this decision is not guided by a desire to advance an agenda but is based on my beliefs and understanding of the law,” he said.Willis was removed from the case after Georgia’s appeals court ruled her romantic involvement with special prosecutor Nathan Wade had created an “appearance of impropriety.” She had indicted Trump in August 2023, charging him and his co-defendants under Georgia’s racketeering laws. Trump’s lawyers maintained that his statements about the election were simply political speech, protected by the First Amendment.

Food giant Campbell’s has dismissed as “absurd” claims allegedly made by a senior executive, who has since been placed on leave, that its soups are made with “3D-printed” chicken and consumed by “poor people.”The company said Martin Bally, a vice president and chief information security officer, had been put on temporary leave pending an investigation, after an employee lawsuit accused him of making racist comments and denigrating Campbell’s products during an hour-long, expletive-laced rant.The employee, Robert Garza, said the comments were made in a conversation he secretly recorded and later shared with a local media outlet in Michigan.In the audio, a voice  — allegedly Bally’s — is deriding Campbell’s “highly processed foods” as “shit for … poor people.””Bioengineered meat — I don’t wanna eat a piece of chicken that came from a 3-D printer,” he reportedly says.Garza, who charges the company fired him for reporting the rant, said Bally also called Indian employees “idiots” and stressed how he disliked working with them.The Campbell’s brand enjoys iconic status at home and abroad, and is best known for its line of canned soups which Andy Warhol made the subject of a series of paintings that became synonymous with the artist.While Campbell’s acknowledged using genetically modified crops such as corn and soybean, the chicken “comes from long-trusted” federally-approved suppliers “and meets our high quality standards,” it said in a statement.”The comments heard on the recording about our food are not only inaccurate, they are absurd,” Campbell’s said. “We do not use lab-grown chicken or any form of artificial or bioengineered meat in our soups. We are proud of the food we make and the high-quality ingredients we use.”

As biting prices weigh on families heading into the US holiday season, farmers and business owners say President Donald Trump’s tariffs have driven up production costs on everything from turkeys to vegetables.Grocery prices rose 2.7 percent from a year ago in September, recent government data showed, while a Politico poll found that groceries were the most challenging category for Americans to afford.But appeals against Trump’s tariffs and households’ cost-of-living worries contrast against the administration’s messaging — as officials work to convince Americans of the strength of the world’s biggest economy.”While my great work on the Economy has not yet been fully appreciated, it will be! Things are really Rockin’,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform over the weekend.He stressed that prices were “coming sharply down.”The White House has pointed to cheaper Thanksgiving meals offered by retailers this year, although some observers caution this could be due to a different mix of products available.Even as the country has not seen a broad inflation surge from tariffs, economists, policymakers and business owners note that the levies have added to costs.North Carolina-based farmer Mary Carroll Dodd told reporters this week that “because of increases in our cost, mostly due to tariffs, we’ve had to raise the price of some of our vegetables” like collards and kale.Even before new tariffs, input costs like fertilizer, seed, chemicals, equipment and fuel were already at all-time highs, added Nick Levendofsky, executive director of the Kansas Farmers Union.”With tariffs, they are going up even more,” he added. “Corn and soybeans make up much of the feed for turkeys and other livestock. When those crops cost more to grow, the price per pound of turkey goes up.”Already, wholesale turkey prices are about 40 percent higher due to supply challenges fueled by avian illnesses, the American Farm Bureau Federation said recently.This signals that price pressures will likely persist, even if retail prices fell this year as stores featured Thanksgiving deals to draw in consumers.- Business challenges -The Farm Bureau’s recent survey noted that prices of fresh vegetables have jumped, with a “continued shortage of farmworkers” and fast-growing wages adding to costs.”Almost certainly some of that labor shortage is due to the crackdown on both legal and illegal immigration,” said Jeremy Horpedahl of the libertarian Cato Institute.But proponents of Trump’s trade strategy argue that tariffs are not a direct driver of price hikes in key sectors like housing, food or health care.US beef prices for example have been boosted by a drought in recent years and a shrinking cattle herd, said economist Jeff Ferry at the Coalition for a Prosperous America, a group that supports Trump’s tariffs.”The supply chain, including manufacturers and the importers, are absorbing most of the tariff while holding consumer price increases in check,” he said.But the picture ahead remains complicated.In a nod to farmers’ challenges, the government is considering aid for the sector hit by low crop prices and a trade row with Beijing this year.Levendofsky, however, said: “Farmers don’t want a bailout. They want trade, not aid.”Some small business owners say they struggle to survive, even as the year-end shopping season approaches.Jared Hendricks, who owns Village Lighting Co in Utah, told reporters that his company is “approaching a million dollars in tariffs this year” that were not originally in his forecast.His company specializes in holiday decorations and solutions, placing orders a year in advance with much of the sales tied up in agreements with customers.”We’ve sold a lot of that good to them directly at a loss,” he said. “At this point, we’ve kind of transitioned from working for profits to working for tariffs.””We are just in business to pay off our tariff debt,” Hendricks said.

Russia said Wednesday that ongoing talks to end the war in Ukraine were “serious”, after earlier welcoming parts of a new US plan to halt the deadliest fighting in Europe since World War II.A deal was still a long way off, Russian officials warned, with US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff due in Moscow next week for further talks.But the negotiations were “ongoing, the process is serious,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in televised comments.Washington has not published its new plan, which Trump has called a “fine-tuned” update of a previous 28-point proposal firmly rejected by an alarmed Kyiv and its European allies for being, they said, a Kremlin wish-list.Trump and US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who has been in talks with Russian delegates this week, have also expressed cautious optimism over the revised version.Ukrainian officials have said Driscoll is due for further talks in Kyiv this week. It is not clear how similar the new plan is to the earlier proposal, but an official familiar with the matter told AFP the new draft had fewer points and left sensitive issues concerning territory — a key point for both Russia and Ukraine — unresolved.In comments to a Russian state TV reporter, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said the draft required “truly serious analysis” and that Russia had not yet discussed it with anyone.”Some aspects can be viewed positively, but many require special discussions among experts,” he said.The original plan — drafted without input from Ukraine’s European allies — would have seen Kyiv withdraw from its eastern Donetsk region and the United States de facto recognise the Donetsk, Crimea and Lugansk regions as Russian. It ignited a storm of criticism, with Washington forced to deny claims it was just a Russian “wish list”, throwing an extraordinary element of confusion into the talks. Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky framed it as one of the most difficult choices in Ukrainian history: “either the loss of dignity or the risk of losing a key partner” in Washington.The updated plan appears to please Kyiv more. Ukraine said later it had reached an “understanding” with the United States, and that the two sides had pared back some of the points Kyiv disagreed with following talks in Geneva.Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale military assault on Ukraine in February 2022 — calling it a “special military operation”. Kyiv and its European allies say the war is an unprovoked and illegal land grab that has resulted in a tidal wave of violence and destruction.Tens of thousands of civilians and military personnel have been killed since the war began, while millions of Ukrainians have been forced to leave their homes.- Key sticking points -US officials were upbeat Tuesday about the drive to end the war, even as they acknowledged key sticking points remained over the plan.But the Kremlin cautioned Wednesday it was “too early” to say if a deal was close.Ukraine’s European allies had drafted their own counter-proposal to the original plan, which Russia immediately smacked down, accusing them of “meddling” in the peace process.EU Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday that days of negotiations to refine the US plan had begun to lay the groundwork for a possible settlement.But she warned Russia showed no sign of really wanting to stop the fighting.”I want to be clear from the very outset: Europe will stand with Ukraine and support Ukraine every step of the way,” she told EU lawmakers.As diplomatic efforts to end the war rumbled on, Ukraine on Wednesday reported another night of air attacks.A Russian drone attack on the southern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia overnight left more than a dozen wounded and damaged tens of homes, governor Ivan Fedorov said.

US President Donald Trump raged on Wednesday at a New York Times report that focused on his age and growing signs of fatigue, insisting that he is full of energy and calling the woman author of the article “ugly.””I have never worked so hard in my life. Yet despite all of this the Radical Left Lunatics in the soon to fold New York Times did a hit piece on me that I am perhaps losing my Energy, despite facts that show the exact opposite,” the 79-year-old Republican posted on his Truth Social platform.Trump is the oldest person ever to have assumed the US presidency and the job has clearly weighed on him since starting a second term in January.But in the lengthy post, sprinkled with words in all-caps and a misspelling, Trump said the Times article published Tuesday was ignoring his output.He listed what he said were his many accomplishments, ranging from the election victory last year to a strong US stock market and the settling of wars abroad.He also boasted that he recently underwent a “PERFECT PHYSICAL EXAM AND A COMPREHENSIVE COGNITIVE TEST (‘That was aced’) JUST RECENTLY TAKEN.”Trump does remain an omnipresent figure in the media, frequently fielding questions from journalists for marathon sessions — in sharp contrast to his predecessor Joe Biden, who left office at 81.But while the White House public relations machine continues to portray Trump as improbably virile — creating AI-generated pictures of him as muscle-bound superheroes and warriors — the Republican is visibly slowing down.The report in the influential Times noted that Trump has sharply reduced his public events and domestic travel, compared to his first term, and generally runs a public schedule between the hours of noon and 5:00 pm.During one televised event in the Oval Office earlier this month, Trump appeared to fall asleep briefly.There are unanswered questions about Trump’s health, notably why he had an MRI scan in October and what it showed. Photographs of his swollen ankles and a large bruise on his right hand have also triggered speculation.Trump called the Times “truly an ‘ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE.'”And he branded the female reporter who wrote the Times report “ugly, both inside and out.” Earlier this month, he called another woman journalist “piggy” and yet another “a terrible person.”The Times responded to Trump’s post with a statement saying its “reporting is accurate and built on first hand reporting of the facts.””Name-calling and personal insults don’t change that, nor will our journalists hesitate to cover this administration in the face of intimidation tactics like this.”

Russia has seen the latest copy of a draft US plan to end the Ukraine war and views some of it positively, but wants a discussion about the other parts, the Kremlin said Wednesday.In comments to a Russian state TV reporter, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said the new draft required “truly serious analysis” and that Russia had not yet discussed it with anyone.The plan has not yet been published.US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that it was a “fine-tuned” version of an earlier 28-point plan that Kyiv and Europe had rejected, and that he was sending officials to meet with both sides in the hopes of finalising it.Ushakov said of the plan on Wednesday: “Some aspects can be viewed positively, but many require special discussions among experts.”The original plan, widely criticised in Europe as heeding Moscow’s demands, would have seen Ukraine withdraw from its eastern Donetsk region and the US de facto recognise the Donetsk, Crimea and Lugansk regions as Russian. Ukraine said later it had reached an “understanding” with the US and that the two sides had pared back some of the points Kyiv disagreed with following talks in Geneva.It is not clear which points were removed and which remain, and deep differences remain in Russia and Ukraine’s negotiating positions.Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale military assault on Ukraine in February 2022 — calling it a “special military operation”. Kyiv and its European allies say the war, the largest and deadliest on European soil since World War II, is an unprovoked and illegal land grab that has resulted in a tidal wave of violence and destruction.Tens of thousands of civilians and military personnel have been killed since the war began, while millions of Ukrainians have been forced to leave their homes.- Key sticking points -US special envoy Steve Witkoff will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow next week in a bid to finalise the US administration’s plan, while US army secretary Dan Driscoll will meet the Ukrainian side, Trump said.Ushakov, a senior Russian diplomat and aide to Putin, said Wednesday that Russia needed “serious discussions” on the document.”The peace plan hasn’t been discussed in detail with anyone yet,” he told a state TV reporter.US officials were upbeat Tuesday about the drive to end the war, even as they acknowledged key sticking points remained over the plan.But Ukraine’s European allies, which regarded the original 28-point plan as a Kremlin wish list, have cautioned against conceding too much to Moscow.They drafted their own counter-proposal to the original plan, which Russia immediately smacked down.EU Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday that days of negotiations to refine the US plan had begun to lay the groundwork for a possible settlement.But she warned Russia showed no sign of really wanting to stop the fighting.”I want to be clear from the very outset: Europe will stand with Ukraine and support Ukraine every step of the way,” she told EU lawmakers.As diplomatic efforts to end the war rumbled on, Ukraine reported another night of air attacks.A Russian drone attack on the southern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia overnight left more than a dozen wounded and damaged tens of homes, governor Ivan Fedorov said.