AFP USA

Andrew Tate, a right-wing influencer charged with rape and human trafficking in Romania, arrived in the United States on Thursday — the first time he has been out of the eastern European country since his 2022 arrest.Romanian prosecutors allege that former kickboxer Tate, 38, his brother Tristan, 36, and two women set up a criminal organization in Romania and Britain in early 2021 and sexually exploited several victims.The brothers traveled to Florida together on a private jet, their lawyer Ioan Gilga told CNN — but received a frosty reception just before landing as state authorities said they were not welcome. The Tates have not stated publicly the purpose of this trip. The government in Bucharest said the Tates, who have British and US nationality and have been under judicial supervision in Romania, need to return to court on March 24 and a no-show could lead to “preventive arrest.”Four British women, who have accused Tate of rape and coercive control in a separate case, voiced concern last week that the US government might push Romania to ease the Tates’ travel restrictions and let them escape.Romanian Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu has said Richard Grenell, special envoy for President Donald Trump, raised the case at the Munich Security Conference earlier in February.But Trump denied all knowledge of any advocacy for the Tates from his administration — or help in bringing them to Florida.”I know nothing about that. I don’t know — you’re saying he’s on a plane right now? Yeah, I just know nothing about it. We’ll check it out. We’ll let you know,” he told reporters when asked about the visit.Justice Minister Radu Marinescu told AFP on Thursday he was “not aware of any pressure from anyone” and had “not received any kind of request from the US authorities.”A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer — who was visiting Trump in Washington — declined to comment on the situation or whether the UK wanted to see Tate extradited to Britain.A Romanian court has already granted a British request to extradite the Tates, but only after legal proceedings in Romania have concluded.- Not welcome -In a joint statement on Thursday, the four British women said they “feel retraumatized by the news that the Romanian authorities have given in to pressure from the Trump administration to allow Andrew Tate to travel.” The women are bringing a civil case in the UK against Tate, accusing him of rape and coercive control between 2013 and 2016.Matthew Jury, their lawyer, said Starmer should raise the issue “on behalf of the many British women who Tate is alleged to have raped and sexually assaulted who may now be denied justice.”On Thursday, a Romanian court granted the Tate brothers’ appeal to lift the seizure of their assets — properties, vehicles, bank accounts and company shares, their PR team said.Andrew Tate moved to Romania years ago after first starting a webcam business in the UK.He leapt to fame in 2016 when he appeared on the UK’s “Big Brother” reality television show, but was removed after a video emerged showing him attacking a woman.He then turned to social media platforms to promote his often misogynistic and divisive views on how to be successful.Banned from Instagram and TikTok for his views, Tate is followed by more than 10 million people on X watching his homophobic and racist posts.Last year, the Tates were sentenced in a tax fraud case in Britain.Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said before the brothers landed that the state was not involved in organizing their trip, did not welcome them and had been exploring legal options to prevent the visit.”Florida is not a place where you’re welcome with that type of conduct in the air,” he told a news conference.”And I don’t know how it came to this. We were not involved, we were not notified.”

King Charles III has invited US President Donald Trump for an unprecedented second state visit to Britain, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said while visiting the White House on Thursday.Trump will become the first political leader to receive a second state visit to Britain, after he visited in 2019 during his first term as president.”This is really special, this has never happened before, this is unprecedented,” Starmer said in the Oval Office as he handed Trump a hand-signed letter from the monarch containing the invitation.”This is truly historic.”The US president has long been a vocal fan of the British royal family.He also has a close affinity to the UK due to the fact his mother was born in Scotland.Political observers will see the offer as clever ploy by Starmer to try to flatter Trump as he seeks to win over the US president on Ukraine and tariffs, among other contentious issues.Britain rolled out the red carpet for Trump six years ago when he met the late Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles’s mother.”His majesty the king wants to make this even better,” said Starmer, who was at the White House to push Trump to give US security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a deal to end the war with Russia.Reading the letter, Trump pointed out that he had been invited to Windsor Castle, near London, one of the royal family’s ancient homes.But the letter from Charles also suggested Trump might want to visit Balmoral in northeast Scotland, which is close to a golf resort Trump has there.After reading the letter, Trump said of Charles: “He’s a beautiful man, a wonderful man — I’ve gotten to know him very well, actually. First term and now second term.”He added: “On behalf of our wonderful First Lady Melania and myself, the answer is yes and we look forward to being there and honoring the King and honoring really your country.”Your country is a fantastic country and it’ll be our honor to be there. Thank you very much,” he told Starmer.Starmer said the offer of a second state visit “symbolizes the strength of the relationship between us”.

Oscar-winning cinema giant Gene Hackman and his wife have been found dead in their home in an incident police are calling “suspicious.”The bodies of Hackman, 95, and his classical pianist wife Betsy Arakawa, 63, along with that of a pet dog, were discovered at their property in New Mexico on Wednesday.Authorities initially reported there were no signs of foul play, but a search warrant said a detective believed the deaths were “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation.”Police officers called to the home by maintenance workers found the door unlocked and open, and pills scattered next to Arakawa’s body, which was in the bathroom with a space heater near to her head.It appeared Arakawa had been dead “for some time,” with the body in a state of decomposition, the warrant noted.Hackman’s body was found in another room, fully clothed, with sunglasses next to his body, apparently having fallen suddenly.A German Shepherd was found dead in the bathroom, and two other healthy dogs were at the house.Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza did not provide a cause of death for the couple, who had been married since 1991, but Hackman’s daughter Elizabeth Jean told entertainment outlet TMZ that carbon monoxide poisoning may be to blame.Initial testing by the local fire department found no signs of a gas leak, the search warrant said.Hackman, a two-time Academy Award winner, was credited for intense performances of everyman characters inspired by his troubled upbringing, notching up dozens of movie credits extending into his 70s.He is perhaps best known as vulgar New York cop Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in the 1971 crime thriller “The French Connection” — for which he won an Oscar for best actor.He won another golden statuette two decades later for best supporting actor for his portrayal of the brutal small-town sheriff “Little Bill” Daggett in the 1992 western “Unforgiven.”- ‘Inspiring and magnificent’ -Hollywood director Francis Ford Coppola on Thursday mourned his death.”The loss of a great artist, always cause for both mourning and celebration: Gene Hackman a great actor, inspiring and magnificent in his work and complexity,” Coppola wrote in a post on Instagram.Not blessed with leading man good looks, Hackman drew on his talents and versatility, taking on a series of gritty roles and delivering thoughtful, intelligent performances.”I wanted to act, but I’d always been convinced that actors had to be handsome,” the actor once said.”We have lost one of the true giants of the screen. Gene Hackman could play anyone, and you could feel a whole life behind it,” “Star Trek” actor George Takei wrote on X.Born in Illinois during the Great Depression, Hackman came from a broken family.His father left when he was 13, waving enigmatically as he drove away one day, and his mother later died in a fire.He also served an unpleasant stint in the US Marines, which he joined at 16 by lying about his age. But he later used his personal turmoil to flesh out his characters.Hackman came to acting relatively late in life after dabbling in a series of jobs and only attracting attention in his 30s.According to Hollywood legend, after his enrollment at the Pasadena Playhouse in California in the late 1950s, he and a fellow student, one Dustin Hoffman, were voted the “least likely to succeed.”On graduation, Hackman found work off-Broadway and began to turn heads. He earned his first Oscar nomination for best supporting actor in “Bonnie and Clyde.” That landmark 1967 film, in which Hackman played Clyde’s brother Buck Barrow, put him on track for stardom. Into the 21st century, he starred in “The Heist” and “The Royal Tenenbaums” in 2001, the latter winning him his third competitive Golden Globe, before announcing his retirement in 2008.”It really costs me a lot emotionally to watch myself on screen,” Hackman once said. “I think of myself, and feel like I’m quite young, and then I look at this old man with the baggy chins and the tired eyes and the receding hairline and all that.”

Venezuelan migrant Omar Virguez took to the streets of New York to protest, hiding his face fearing he would be targeted by immigration enforcement carrying out President Donald Trump’s promised mass deportations.Panic is spreading among undocumented migrants and their supporters in the United States following Trump’s return to the White House and the Democratic mayor of New York’s alignment with the Republican president on the issue of migration.”I’m afraid, like all immigrants, because we don’t know what’s going to happen to us,” said nurse Virguez, 42, who recently arrived from Venezuela. “I hide when I see police officers.” He joined the February protest against ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who are uniformly known as “la migra” among Spanish-speaking migrants.He stood well back from the police lines, his face hidden by a thick black covering.The melting pot city of 8.3 million people has seen an inflow of 232,000 migrants since 2022, and migrant advocacy groups accuse the mayor of abandoning its status as a sanctuary city.Sanctuary city status means that local officials, including the police, do not routinely cooperate with national immigration enforcement operations, and provide other relief to undocumented migrants.In a stark break with his past positions, Mayor Eric Adams has raised the prospect of immigration officers returning to the city’s largest prison complex, Rikers Island.He has also warned that churches, hospitals and schools — previously spared from immigration raids under a memo protecting sensitive locations that Trump tore up — should not obstruct officers.”With this new president… we are always with that fear on our minds that they are going to stop us to ask us for documents or… look for undocumented people like me,” said Victor who was living in a church that offers shelter to people in his situation.- ‘Time to prepare’ -At the entrance of Manhattan’s Trinity Lutheran Church, a sign taped to a gate announces that “law enforcement, ICE and DHS cannot enter without a warrant signed by a judge.””Repeal of the sensitive space memo has hit our congregants,” said pastor Alyssa Kaplan who added “there’s so much anxiety” among those using the church against a backdrop of visceral anti-migrant rhetoric.”The veil of respect for those places is gone.””He’ll bark if they come,” Pastor Alicia said jokingly, petting the church dog, a black Labrador.”We are in a good position here with the (camera) doorbell and the gate, it gives us time to prepare.”In a sign of mounting fear, migrant associations have been deluged by requests for “bust cards” — legal crib sheets in 19 languages to which undocumented migrants can refer if they stopped by officers.One symptom of the fear in the community has been a jump in migrant children missing school, warns Yari Michel, a Brooklyn teacher and member of the United Federation of Teachers.”Our kids need to know… what to do if ICE shows up at home, what to do if they’re approached in the streets,” said Michel who helped start a local collective supporting migrants.She suggested that Trump’s move to drop corruption charges against Adams was “in exchange for Adams to let ICE carry out mass deportations un-interfered.”Adams has denied that, saying Monday that New York remains a sanctuary city.Despite Trump’s visceral language on deportations, there has not yet been the promised waves of mass round-ups.Levels remain similar to under former president Joe Biden when thousands of undocumented migrants were also deported. But anxiety is up, with Amy Vazquez, a 21-year-old Mexican-American telling AFP that she had to become the head of her household in case her undocumented parents were caught up in raids.”When Trump went into office, that’s when the fear really started hitting,” she said.Her parents, a waitress and a Mexican carpenter who have been living in New York for 20 years, put everything in her name.”(They are) making sure that if anything were to happen, I have custody of my little sister” — as well as control of the family’s affairs, she said.Many in the Latino community report that they have stopped venturing out.”I don’t want to wake up one day and then come home from school and they’re not there,” she said tearfully.

Andrew Tate, a right-wing influencer facing charges of human trafficking and rape in Romania, left for the United States on Thursday, the first time he has been out of the eastern European country since his 2022 arrest.Romanian prosecutors allege that former kickboxer Tate, 38, his brother Tristan, 36, and two women set up a criminal organisation in Romania and Britain in early 2021 and sexually exploited several victims.Ioan Gilga, their lawyer, told CNN the brothers, who have British and American nationality and have been under judicial supervision in Romania, were headed to Florida together on a private jet.Justice Minister Radu Marinescu said the brothers need to return to Romania for their next court appearance on March 24 and could be subject to “preventive arrest” if they fail to appear.Four British women, who have accused Tate of rape and coercive control in a separate case, voiced concern last week that the US government might push Romania to ease the Tates’ travel restrictions and let them escape.Romanian Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu has said Richard Grenell, special envoy for President Donald Trump, raised the case with him at the Munich Security Conference earlier in February.But Marinescu, the justice minister, told AFP on Thursday that he was “not aware of any pressure from anyone” and had “not received any kind of request from the US authorities.”A Trump administration official said they “have no insight right now on anything related to the Tate brothers” when asked by reporters if there had been any involvement in their departure.A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office declined to comment on the situation or whether the UK wanted to see Tate extradited to Britain.”But more widely, the prime minister has been clear that human trafficking should be viewed as a global security threat, similar to terrorism,” the spokesperson added.A Romanian court has already granted a British request to extradite the Tates, but only after legal proceedings in Romania have concluded.- ‘Retraumatised’ -In a joint statement on Thursday, the four British women said they “feel retraumatised by the news that the Romanian authorities have given into pressure from the Trump administration to allow Andrew Tate to travel.” The women are bringing a civil case in the UK against Tate, accusing him of rape and coercive control between 2013 and 2016.Matthew Jury, the lawyer for the four women, said Starmer should raise the issue “on behalf of the many British women who Tate is alleged to have raped and sexually assaulted who may now be denied justice.”Starmer is currently visiting the United States for a meeting with Trump.On Thursday, a Romanian court granted the Tate brothers’ appeal to lift the seizure of their assets — properties, vehicles, bank accounts, and company shares, their PR team said.Andrew Tate moved to Romania years ago after first starting a webcam business in the UK.He leapt to fame in 2016 when he appeared on the UK’s “Big Brother” reality television show, but was removed after a video emerged showing him attacking a woman.He then turned to social media platforms to promote his often misogynistic and divisive views on how to be successful.Banned from Instagram and TikTok for his views, Tate is followed by more than 10 million people on X watching his homophobic and racist posts.Last year, the Tates were sentenced in a tax fraud case in Britain.

Pop star Katy Perry is set to “shoot across the sky” this spring when she lifts off as part of a six-member, all-female crew on Blue Origin’s next space flight, the company announced Thursday.As if answering the call of her hit song “E.T.,” Perry will embark on a star-studded journey alongside journalist Lauren Sanchez, who is Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos’s fiancee, and CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King.Blue Origin began launching wealthy tourists and celebrities into space in 2021 aboard its New Shepard rocket, named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space.To date, the company has flown 52 people to suborbital space across 10 crewed missions.New Shepard missions launch from the company’s Launch Site One in West Texas.Flights typically last just 10 or 11 minutes from liftoff to landing, with passengers experiencing a few minutes of microgravity as their capsule soars beyond the Karman line — the internationally recognized boundary of space, 100 kilometers (62 miles) above sea level.The rocket booster makes an upright vertical landing, while the capsule deploys parachutes for a gentle touchdown in the Texas desert.Also on board will be research scientist Amanda Nguyen, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, and film producer Kerianne Flynn.Past luminaries aboard New Shepard include Star Trek legend William Shatner, as well as Bezos himself, who flew on the inaugural crewed flight.Ticket prices remain undisclosed, though celebrities are often given complimentary seats.This mission will mark the first all-female spaceflight crew since Valentina Tereshkova’s historic solo flight in 1963.Like Elon Musk — the only person wealthier than him — Jeff Bezos has an enduring passion for space.But while Musk dreams of colonizing Mars, Bezos envisions shifting heavy industry off-planet onto floating space platforms to preserve Earth, “humanity’s blue origin.”In January, the company successfully launched its giant New Glenn rocket for the first time — a crucial step in its expansion into the lucrative commercial launch sector.Blue Origin already holds a NASA contract to build a lunar lander for one of the upcoming Artemis missions, which will return Americans to the Moon.New Glenn will also support the deployment of Project Kuiper, a satellite internet constellation designed to rival Musk’s Starlink.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer meets Donald Trump Thursday to plead for a US “backstop” to any Ukraine ceasefire, insisting it would be the only way to deter Russia’s Vladimir Putin from invading again.Starmer’s trip to the White House builds on a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron, amid growing concerns in Europe that the US leader is about to sell Kyiv short in negotiations with Putin.London and Paris are spearheading proposals to send a European peacekeeping force to Ukraine if Trump’s shock decision to pursue talks directly with Russia’s president brings a deal to end the war.But they are calling for US security guarantees in return, amid spiraling concerns in Europe that Trump is taking Russia’s side and will sever the decades-old transatlantic alliance.”The security guarantee has to be sufficient to deter Putin,” Starmer told reporters on the plane to Washington.”If there is a ceasefire without a backstop, it will simply give him the opportunity to wait and to come again, because his ambition in relation to Ukraine is pretty obvious.” The Europeans are seeking possible US contributions like air cover, intelligence and logistics to support any troops sent to monitor a ceasefire.- ‘Trade-off’ -Trump has appeared cool on providing US security, with the president having long pushed for European nations to take more of the burden for supporting Ukraine.”Well I’m not going to make security guarantees beyond very much. We’re going to have Europe do that,” Trump told reporters as he held the first cabinet meeting of his second term on Wednesday.A senior Trump administration official said the backstop was “obviously very high on our European allies’ agenda” but said securing a proper ceasefire first was more important.”The type of force depends very much on the political settlement that is made to end the war. And I think that trade-off is part of what the leaders today are going to be discussing,” the official told reporters.The Oval Office meeting promises to be a clash of styles between the mild-mannered Labour leader, a former human rights lawyer, and the brash Republican tycoon.Starmer, who will hold a joint press conference with the US president, has pitched himself as a “bridge” between Trump and Europe on Ukraine.The British premier also comes bearing a gift for Trump.His announcement Tuesday that UK defense spending will rise to 2.5 percent by 2027 was particularly aimed at the American leader, who has regularly badgered European countries to pay more towards NATO.”We are very pleased with Prime Minister Starmer’s announcement,” the senior US official said.- ‘Nice guy’ -Starmer will meanwhile hope to avoid sweeping tariffs that Trump has promised to slap on the European Union.Trade “will certainly be part of the conversation,” added the US official.But like Macron on Monday, he will have his work cut out to persuade Trump on Ukraine.Last week Trump called Starmer a “very nice guy” — but complained that he and Macron had done “nothing” to end the war in Ukraine.The US president stunned allies when he began negotiations with Russia, without including Ukraine or its European allies.Concerns deepened when Trump attacked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “dictator” and echoed Moscow talking points blaming Kyiv for Russia’s February 2022 invasion.Despite that, there have been growing signs of movement in recent days on a deal to end more than three years of bloody fighting.Zelensky is due at the White House on Friday to sign a deal giving Washington access to Ukraine’s rare minerals, which Trump has demanded as payback for US military aid.The Ukrainian president is hoping the deal will provide a guarantee of future US support.Starmer is then hosting Zelensky, Macron and other European leaders in Britain on Sunday as momentum grows.In Moscow, Putin on Thursday said that initial Russia-US talks “give some hope” of resolving “problems” like the Ukraine conflict.

An unvaccinated child in Texas has died from measles, authorities said Wednesday, marking the first US fatality from the highly contagious disease in nearly a decade as health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. downplayed a growing outbreak.The death comes as immunization rates decline nationwide, with the latest cases concentrated in a Mennonite religious community that has historically shown vaccine hesitancy.It arrives at a delicate moment for US public health as Kennedy, who has long spread falsehoods about the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, begins his tenure leading the Department of Health and Human Services.”The school-aged child who was not vaccinated was hospitalized in Lubbock last week and tested positive for measles,” the state health department said in a statement, with city officials adding the child died “within the last 24 hours.”This year more than 130 measles cases already have been reported in west Texas and neighboring New Mexico, the vast majority in unvaccinated children.Around 20 have been hospitalized in Texas, and officials warn the outbreak is likely to grow.During a meeting of President Donald Trump’s cabinet, Kennedy downplayed the situation, stating, “It’s not unusual. You have measles outbreaks every year.”He also stated the death toll as two — but neither the Texas nor New Mexico health departments said they knew of any additional fatality.The confirmed death “should serve as a reminder that there was a reason that the vaccine was developed and that the vaccine is a value to individuals,” infectious disease physician Amesh Adalja of Johns Hopkins University told AFP.Lara Johnson, chief medical officer at Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, Texas where the child was treated, told reporters that when she graduated from medical school in 2002, “I was confident I would never see a measles outbreak unless I chose to work internationally.”- Religious exemptions -The outbreak’s epicenter is Gaines County, home to a large Mennonite community, a Christian sect related to the Amish.Texas law allows vaccine exemptions for reasons of conscience, including religious beliefs.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends a 95 percent vaccination rate to maintain “herd immunity.”However, coverage among kindergartners has dropped from 95.2 percent in the 2019–2020 school year to 92.7 percent in 2023–2024, leaving some 280,000 children vulnerable.The last US measles-related death was in 2015, when a woman in Washington state died from pneumonia caused by the virus. She had been vaccinated but was taking immunosuppressive medication. Before that, the previous recorded measles death was in 2003.- Airborne threat -Measles is a highly contagious respiratory virus spread through droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes or simply breathes.Known for its characteristic rash, it poses a serious risk to unvaccinated individuals, including infants under 12 months who aren’t ordinarily eligible for vaccination, and those with weakened immune systems.During outbreaks, about one in five infected individuals requires hospitalization, and one in 20 develops pneumonia. In rare cases, measles leads to brain swelling and can be fatal.The good news is vaccination is exceedingly effective at conferring lifetime immunity — with one dose estimated to be 93 percent effective, and two doses 97 percent.Before the measles vaccine’s introduction in 1963, it is thought that millions of Americans contracted the disease annually, and several hundred died. While measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000, outbreaks persist each year.The United States reported 285 measles cases in 2024, according to the CDC. The largest recent outbreak was in 2019, with 1,274 cases, primarily in Orthodox Jewish communities in New York and New Jersey, the highest national total in decades.RFK Jr. has repeatedly and falsely linked the MMR vaccine to autism, a claim thoroughly debunked by scientific research.In one of his first actions as health secretary, the federal health department postponed a routine meeting of an independent advisory panel that makes vaccine recommendations to the CDC.

The United States has slashed its multi-year aid contracts by 92 percent, as it sought around $60 billion in savings in development and overseas humanitarian programs, the State Department said Wednesday.President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office, demanding a 90-day freeze on all US foreign aid to give his administration time to review overseas spending, with an eye to gutting programs not aligned with his “America First” agenda.A federal judge had given the Trump administration on Tuesday less than two days to unfreeze all aid after a previous court order issued nearly two weeks earlier went ignored.But the Trump administration filed an emergency petition to the US Supreme Court, which issued an administrative stay late Wednesday, pausing the lower court’s order.”At the conclusion of a process led by USAID leadership, including tranches personally reviewed by Secretary (Marco) Rubio, nearly 5,800 awards with $54 billion in value remaining were identified for elimination as part of the America First agenda — a 92 percent reduction,” a State Department spokesperson said in a statement.The administration’s review in part targeted multi-year foreign assistance contracts awarded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), with the vast majority eliminated during its course.It also looked at more than 9,100 grants involving foreign assistance, valued at more than $15.9 billion. Following the review, 4,100 grants worth almost $4.4 billion were targeted to be eliminated, a 28 percent reduction. “These commonsense eliminations will allow the bureaus, along with their contracting and grants officers, to focus on remaining programs, find additional efficiencies and tailor subsequent programs more closely to the Administration’s America First priorities,” the State Department statement said.USAID distributes US humanitarian aid around the world, with health and emergency programs in around 120 countries.Programs that were not cut included food assistance, life-saving medical treatments for diseases like HIV and malaria, and support for countries including Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela and Lebanon, among others, the State Department spokesperson said.Late Wednesday, US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued the administrative stay, which grants the Trump administration temporary reprieve from having to unfreeze around $2 billion in payments for overdue foreign aid.The decision also gives the court more time to consider the matter.- ‘Bankrupt’ without cuts -USAID, created after a bill passed by Congress in 1961, had a workforce of more than 10,000 employees before the freeze, which sparked shock and dismay among personnel.During his election campaign, Trump promised to slash federal government spending and bureaucracy, a task he bestowed upon his top donor and close advisor Elon Musk, as part of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).Trump has said USAID was “run by radical lunatics” while Musk has described it as a “criminal organization” needing to be put “through the woodchipper.”The agency announced on February 23 that it was laying off 1,600 of its employees in the United States and placing most of the remaining staff on administrative leave.Musk, the world’s richest person, spoke about the controversial DOGE program at Trump’s first cabinet meeting Wednesday. “If we don’t do this, America will go bankrupt,” the tech tycoon told cabinet members, adding that he was “taking a lot of flak, and getting a lot of death threats.” One-third of his DOGE staff resigned in protest on Tuesday after he engineered a mass email to the federal government’s two million workers, ordering them to justify their work or risk being fired.US media reported that some cabinet members had expressed frustration over the DOGE emails, but Trump insisted at the cabinet meeting that his team was “thrilled” with Musk.Trump also signed an executive order on Wednesday broadening DOGE’s power to review federal spending on contracts, grants and loans.The order said it “commences a transformation in Federal spending” and called for a number of changes, including a “credit card freeze.””To the maximum extent permitted by law, all credit cards held by agency employees shall be treated as frozen for 30 days from the date of this order.”The freeze does not extend to staff in critical services such as “disaster relief or natural disaster response benefits.”

Oscar-winning US actor Gene Hackman and his long-time wife Betsy Arakawa have been found dead inside their home in New Mexico, media outlets reported on Thursday.Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said the couple was found dead on Wednesday afternoon, adding that there was no immediate indication of foul play, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican and Sky News. Mendoza did not provide a cause of death.The media reports said the couple, who were married since 1991, died along with their dog. Hackman, who had turned 95 late last month, was once voted as likely to flop in showbiz but instead went on to win two Oscar awards. Arakawa was a 63-year-old classical pianist.Hollywood director Francis Ford Coppola on Thursday mourned the loss of Hackman.”The loss of a great artist, always cause for both mourning and celebration: Gene Hackman a great actor, inspiring and magnificent in his work and complexity,” Coppola wrote in a post on Instagram. “I mourn his loss, and celebrate his existence and contribution.”Hackman is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the tough and vulgar New York cop Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in the 1971 crime thriller “The French Connection” — for which he won an Oscar for best actor.He won another golden statuette two decades later for best supporting actor for his portrayal of the brutal small-town sheriff “Little Bill” Daggett in the 1992 western “Unforgiven.”Throughout his acting career, Hackman drew on his talents and versatility, taking on a series of gritty roles and delivering thoughtful, intelligent performances.”It really costs me a lot emotionally to watch myself on screen,” the actor once said. “I think of myself, and feel like I’m quite young, and then I look at this old man with the baggy chins and the tired eyes and the receding hairline and all that.”- Unlikely star -Born in Illinois during the Great Depression, Hackman came from a broken family.His father left when he was 13, waving enigmatically as he drove away one day, and his mother later died in a fire.Hackman later used his personal turmoil as fuel to flesh out his characters.He was an unlikely star, coming to acting relatively late in life after dabbling in a series of jobs, and only attracting attention in his 30s.According to Hollywood legend, after his enrollment at the Pasadena Playhouse in California in the late 1950s, he and a fellow student, one Dustin Hoffman, were voted the “least likely to succeed.”Upon graduation, Hackman earned work off-Broadway and began to turn heads.He earned his first Oscar nomination for best supporting actor in “Bonnie and Clyde.” That landmark 1967 film, in which Hackman played Clyde’s brother Buck Barrow, put him firmly on track for stardom. Hackman notched up dozens of film credits in his career, working well into his 60s and 70s although he stayed out of the limelight, instead writing and painting.Into the 21st century, he starred in “The Heist” and “The Royal Tenenbaums” in 2001, the latter winning him his third competitive Golden Globe, before announcing his retirement in 2008.