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The United States has removed multimillion-dollar bounties on leaders of Afghanistan’s feared Haqqani militant network, including the current Taliban interior minister, the State Department and the Taliban government said.The Haqqani network was responsible for some of the deadliest attacks during the decades-long war in Afghanistan.The men remain on Washington’s list of “specially designated global terrorists” but the bounty price has been scrapped.Taliban interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani told AFP that Washington had “cancelled rewards” for Sirajuddin Haqqani — who also heads the Haqqani network — as well as other key leaders, Abdul Aziz Haqqani and Yahya Haqqani.Sirajuddin Haqqani had long been one of Washington’s most important targets, with a $10 million bounty on his head.The US State Department said that “the three persons named remain designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs), and the Haqqani Network remains designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a SDGT”.But while the wanted page remains active, the bounty on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) website has been removed.”It is the policy of the United States to consistently review and refine Rewards for Justice reward offers,” a State Department spokesperson told AFP on Wednesday.- ‘Largely symbolic’ -The bounty cancellation came days after the first visit by US officials to Afghanistan since President Donald Trump returned to office, and the announcement afterwards of the release of a US citizen by Taliban authorities.US-based Afghan political analyst Abdul Wahed Faqiri told AFP that the bounty removal is likely “largely symbolic” but a way for the United States to “give credit to Sirajuddin Haqqani”, seen as an emerging more moderate “alternative”. Media reports talk of increasing tensions between the “pragmatic” Haqqani figures and a more hardline circle around Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, who vie for influence within the government.Despite the US bounty and international travel bans, Sirajuddin Haqqani has travelled outside Afghanistan multiple times since the Taliban government swept back to power in 2021.The government in Kabul is not recognised by any country and has expressed hopes for “a new chapter” with Trump’s administration.Trump signed a peace deal with the Taliban during his first term in office, that paved the way for the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and their return to power. 

US President Donald Trump has announced steep tariffs on auto imports and parts, provoking threats of retaliation from trading partners ahead of further promised trade levies next week.Wall Street slumped ahead of Trump’s Wednesday afternoon announcement, while the world’s top-selling automaker Toyota plunged more than three percent.Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Tokyo was “considering all kinds of countermeasures”, while Canada’s Mark Carney branded Trump’s tariffs a “direct attack” on his country’s workers.Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also said his country “cannot stand still” in response to the levies.”What we’re going to be doing is a 25 percent tariff on all cars that are not made in the United States,” Trump said, as he signed the order in the Oval Office.The duties take effect at 12:01 am (0401 GMT) on April 3 and impact foreign-made cars and light trucks. Key automobile parts will also be hit within the month.Trump responded by threatening Canada and the European Union with “large scale tariffs, far larger than currently planned” if they work together to cause “economic harm” to the United States.Peter Navarro, Trump’s senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, in a briefing after Trump’s announcement blasted “foreign trade cheaters” who he said turned America’s manufacturing sector into a “lower wage assembly operation for foreign parts.”He took aim at Germany and Japan for reserving the construction of higher-value parts to their countries.But Washington’s levies appeared to raise eyebrows close to home, including from Trump ally and Tesla boss Elon Musk, who said the cost impact on his firm’s cars was “not trivial”.”To be clear, this will affect the price of parts in Tesla cars that come from other countries. The cost impact is not trivial,” he posted on X.The association of American Automakers said in a statement on Wednesday that Trump’s tariffs must be implemented in a way that “avoids raising prices for consumers” and preserves the industry’s competitiveness. Since beginning his second term in January, Trump has imposed fresh tariffs on imports from major US trading partners Canada, Mexico and China — alongside a 25 percent duty on steel and aluminum.The latest levies will be in addition to those already in place for products.But the White House added that vehicles entering under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) can qualify for a lower rate depending on their American content.Similarly, USMCA-compliant auto parts will remain tariff-free as officials establish a process to target their non-US content.- ‘Devastating impact’ -Uncertainty over Trump’s trade plans and worries they could trigger a downturn have roiled financial markets, with consumer confidence also falling in recent months.Shares in General Motors and Stellantis were each down more than three percent ahead of Trump’s announcement.In Japan, carmakers Nissan lost 2.5 percent, Honda shed 3.1 percent and Mitsubishi Motors gave up 4.5 percent, while Mazda and Subaru both gave up around six percent.South Korea’s Hyundai retreated 2.7 percent in Seoul.Trump has defended the levies as a way to raise government revenue and revitalize American industry.But targeting imported cars could strain ties with close partners such as Japan, South Korea, Canada, Mexico and Germany.”Imposing 25 percent tariffs on imported cars will have a devastating impact on many of our close trading partners,” said Wendy Cutler, vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute and a former US trade negotiator.She added that Washington has free-trade agreements with some affected parties, “calling into question the value of US commitments” under a trade deal.About 50 percent of cars sold in the United States are manufactured within the country. Among imports, about half come from Mexico and Canada, with Japan, South Korea and Germany also being major suppliers.And of the US-made cars, more than half were assembled from foreign parts, said a White House official.The American Automotive Policy Council representing Detroit’s “Big Three” automakers — Ford, General Motors and Stellantis — issued a carefully worded statement on the tariffs, saying it hoped the policy would boost US auto production.But it stressed: “It is critical that tariffs are implemented in a way that avoids raising prices for consumers.”The Center for Automotive Research has previously estimated that US tariffs –- including those on metals and imported autos –- could increase the price of a car by thousands of dollars and weigh on the jobs market.- ‘Liberation Day’ -Besides the automobile industry, Trump is also eyeing sector-specific tariffs, such as on pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and lumber.Wednesday’s announcement comes ahead of Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” for the world’s biggest economy on April 2.He has promised reciprocal levies, tailored to different trading partners to remedy practices Washington deemed unfair. On Wednesday he said these duties will impact all countries.While Trump has invoked emergency economic powers for some recent tariffs, his auto levies build on a government investigation completed in 2019.The probe found that excessive imports were weakening the internal economy and might impair national security.

Booing crowds, a man jabbing his finger and swearing — it is not easy these days for some Republican members of Congress as they face their constituents in town halls dominated by rage over President Donald Trump’s radical cost-cutting policies.And while Republican politicians risk running into loud and angry voters, Democratic lawmakers have found themselves getting berated in public for not doing enough to oppose Trump.The ill-tempered landscape reflects the level of polarization in the United States just two months into Trump’s second presidency.At one such town hall gathering this month in Asheville, North Carolina, congressman Chuck Edwards was jeered by people demanding he explain his support for Trump, who has fired off multiple executive orders to shrink the federal government and axed legions of civil servants.At one point, a man in the crowd stood up, pointed his finger at Edwards and screamed, berating him over some of the many spending cuts Republicans plan to carry out in the coming months.”You’re lying. I’m a veteran and you don’t give a fuck about me. You don’t get to take away our rights,” the man yelled. Edwards signaled for security to escort him out of the meeting.In Wyoming, a conservative pro-Trump state in the West, Republican lawmaker Harriet Hageman also had a rough time as she met with constituents in her district.As people whistled at her and held up hostile signs, Hageman said she got the message. According to the local outlet Wyofile, one man at the meeting then said to her, “Fuck you! That’s what we’re saying.”- ‘Paid agitators’ -In recent weeks, these town hall meetings — meant for lawmakers in congressional recess to confer with the people who put them in office — have become echo chambers of angst.They have emerged as a key way for Americans to express opposition to Trump as he also enacts his anti-immigrant, anti-trans, nationalist and right-wing agenda. At the start of his first term from 2017 to 2021, Trump faced huge demonstrations against him. But this time around, since he returned to office America’s streets have been relatively quiet.Trump has made clear he wants to move quickly and aggressively with all his executive orders, aimed among other things at gutting or even eliminating some departments altogether as part of a small-government, laissez-faire conservative theory of governance.So many town hall meetings are turning into anti-Trump shouting matches that Republican Party officials are telling their lawmakers to just stop holding them, US media have reported.On Sunday, Trump embraced a theory first advanced by his press team that people who speak out against him at these meetings are “agitators” paid by the Democrats.”The room was ‘littered’ with Radical Left Lunatics, mostly Democrats, and all they did was scream, shout and use filthy language. They were largely paid agitators, with fake signs and slogans, and were only there to make TROUBLE!” Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social, refering to the Edwards meeting.- ‘Fighting oligarchy’  -After Republicans put out the word to stop holding such meetings, Democrats swooped in to hold town halls of their own in Republican districts.”While Republicans continue to run and hide from their constituents, Democrats are stepping up and meeting them face to face to ensure they know it’s Trump, Elon Musk and their MAGA minions in Congress making their lives harder,” the Democratic National Committee said Monday, referring to Trump’s ever-present billionaire advisor and the slogan “Make America Great Again.”But Democrats are also facing angry constituents who complain their party has been too quiet and passive as Trump and Musk carry out what critics call a lawless rampage through the federal bureaucracy.”They should try actually fighting for once. They should try to actually be the opposition party,” one man told CNN as he attended a town hall Friday called by Democratic congressman Sean Casten in Illinois.With so many people livid with the Democratic Party and its leaders, some on the American left are trying to step up and lead the opposition to Trump.Senator Bernie Sanders, 83, has embarked on a nationwide “fighting oligarchy tour.” He has been joined by another prominent progressive, the much younger congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.They have drawn tens of thousands of people eager to fight Trump and the Republican agenda.It remains to be seen if this opposition energy will eat away at Trump and help the Democrats in isolated special elections on April 1.

A US appeals court denied on Wednesday a bid by the Trump administration to lift a lower court order barring summary deportations of Venezuelan migrants using an obscure wartime law.A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to temporarily keep in place the ban on deportations carried out under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA).President Donald Trump sent two planeloads of alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to a prison in El Salvador on March 15 after invoking the AEA, which has only been used previously during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.District Judge James Boasberg issued a restraining order that same day temporarily barring the administration from carrying out any further deportation flights under the AEA, which the Justice Department appealed to remove.Attorneys for several of the deported Venezuelans have said that their clients were not members of Tren de Aragua, had committed no crimes and were targeted largely on the basis of their tattoos.Judge Patricia Millett, an appointee of Democratic president Barack Obama, and Judge Karen Henderson, an appointee of Republican president George H.W. Bush, voted to keep the temporary ban on deportations using the AEA in place.The third judge on the panel, Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, dissented.Millett said the Venezuelan migrants had been deported based on the government’s allegations alone “with no notice, no hearing, no opportunity — zero process — to show that they are not members of the gang.””If the government can choose to abandon fair and equal process for some people, it can do the same for everyone,” she said.Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited the prison in El Salvador on Wednesday where the Venezuelans are being held.Noem said on social media before her arrival that she would be meeting Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to discuss how the United States “can increase the number of deportation flights and removals of violent criminals from the US.”- ‘Nazis got better treatment’ -During a hearing on Monday at which the government sought to have the court order lifted, Justice Department attorney Drew Ensign said it “represents an unprecedented and enormous intrusion upon the powers of the executive branch” and “enjoins the president’s exercise of his war and foreign affairs powers.”Millett for her part said “Nazis got better treatment” from the United States during World War II under the AEA.Lee Gelernt, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed suit against the deportations along with other rights groups, welcomed the appeals court move.”The decision means that hundreds of individuals remain protected from being sent to a notorious black-hole prison in a foreign country, without any due process whatsoever,” Gelernt said.Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward, said “President Trump is bound by the laws of this nation, and those laws do not permit him to use wartime powers when the United States is not at war and has not been invaded.”Boasberg, the district court judge, has said migrants subject to potential deportation under the AEA should be “entitled to individualized hearings to determine whether the Act applies to them at all.”Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Boasberg, even going so far as to call for his impeachment, a remark that drew a rare public rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.In his latest outburst, Trump said on Thursday Boasberg was “highly conflicted” and called for an investigation into a courts system that was he said was “rigged” against him.The contentious case has raised concerns among legal experts that the administration may potentially ignore the court order, triggering a constitutional crisis.

US President Donald Trump’s homeland security chief on Wednesday visited the mega-prison in El Salvador where hundreds of Venezuelan migrants have been deported under contested legal grounds.Standing in front of a cell of inmates who were stripped to the waist, revealing their tattooed torsos, Kristi Noem recorded a message telling others that they risked the same consequences.”Do not come to our country illegally. You will be removed and you will be prosecuted,” she said at the maximum security Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT).”Know that this facility is one of the tools in our toolkit that we will use if you commit crimes against the American people.”Trump invoked rarely used US wartime legislation in mid-March to bypass traditional deportation procedures and quickly flew 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador.Washington accused them of all belonging to the Tren de Aragua criminal gang, which it has designated a “terrorist” organization, but relatives and lawyers for several of the migrants say they have no connection to the group.The deportations took place despite a US federal judge, on the same day, ordering a temporary halt.The Trump administration subsequently appealed the halt, but a three-judge panel ruled on Wednesday that it can remain in effect.On Monday, a law firm hired by Caracas filed a habeas corpus petition, demanding justification be provided for the migrants’ continued detention.Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said the motion seeks the release of countrymen he described as having been kidnapped.According to the White House, Washington paid the Bukele administration around $6 million for the detention of the deportees.Noem, on the first stop of a regional tour that will also include Colombia and Mexico, was also due to meet Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.She said earlier that she would discuss how the United States “can increase the number of deportation flights and removals of violent criminals from the US.”In a statement from the US embassy in San Salvador, the United States said that Noem had signed an information sharing agreement with Salvadoran Minister of Justice and Security Gustavo Villatoro. “This agreement strengthens the commitment of both countries in the fight against transnational crime,” the embassy said.- ‘Dangerous step’ -Rights group Amnesty International said the mass expulsion “represents not only a flagrant disregard of the United States’ human rights obligations, but also a dangerous step toward authoritarian practices.”It said there was “a clear and troubling connection” between Bukele’s methods and the recent US actions, as “both rely on a lack of due process and the criminalization of individuals based on discriminatory criteria.”Bukele is hailed at home for his crackdown on violent crime — with tens of thousands of suspected gangsters sent to CECOT.Human rights groups have criticized the drive for a wide range of alleged abuses.Villatoro accompanied Noem on the visit to CECOT, considered the largest prison in Latin America.Guarded by soldiers and police, the jail has high electrified walls and a capacity for 40,000 inmates, who are denied family visits.Human rights organizations have voiced concern that more innocent migrants risk being incarcerated.”There is growing evidence that many people who were sent to El Salvador are not part of Tren de Aragua, and that they are exposed to serious human rights violations,” said Juan Pappier, deputy Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “The main danger is that the US continues sending innocent people” to Salvadoran prisons, he told AFP.Salvadoran authorities have arrested more than 86,000 suspected gang members under Bukele’s crackdown. Several thousand were released after being found innocent.Collaborating with Trump “could be a risky move” for Bukele, despite the potential benefits, said Diego Chaves-Gonzalez, an analyst at the Migration Policy Institute in the United States.”It could also generate tensions if a future US administration considers that these practices violate human rights or affect bilateral cooperation,” he told AFP.Salvadoran analyst and academic Carlos Carcach said the cooperation would reinforce the Central American country’s “negative image” due to Bukele’s methods.”What we are witnessing is the consolidation of an authoritarian regime in El Salvador with the support of the world’s greatest power,” he said.ob/cmm/fj/dr/dc/jgc

President Donald Trump on Wednesday named a right-wing media critic as the US ambassador to South Africa, at a time that Washington’s relations with one of the continent’s richest countries are in free fall.If confirmed in the role by the US Senate, Brent Bozell would be stepping into the job just after the Trump administration threw out South Africa’s own envoy to the United States following perceived criticism of the president.”I am pleased to announce that Brent Bozell will be our next United States Ambassador to South Africa,” Trump posted on his social media platform.”Brent is the Founder of the Media Research Center, which has exposed Fake News hypocrites for many years,” he added, saying Bozell “brings fearless tenacity, extraordinary experience, and vast knowledge to a Nation that desperately needs it.”The Media Research Center is a non-profit that says it works to “expose and counter the leftist bias of the national news media.”The New York Times reported that Bozell’s son was one of almost 1,600 people convicted and sentenced for their role in the January 6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol by Trump supporters, and who was pardoned by the president when he took office this year.Ties between Washington and Pretoria have slumped since Trump cut financial aid to South Africa over what he alleges is its anti-white land policy, its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice and other foreign policy clashes.Egged on by his South Africa-born right-hand man Elon Musk, Trump has accused the country’s government of discriminating against its white minority and last month signed an executive order offering refugee status to Afrikaners, the ethnic minority that once ran the country’s apartheid system.Expelled ambassador Ebrahim Rasool was given a hero’s welcome on his return to South Africa, telling cheering supporters: “It was not our choice to come home, but we come home with no regrets.”South Africa, the current president of the Group of 20 leading economies, last week said it considered improving its relationship with the United States a priority.The United States is South Africa’s second-biggest trading partner.

“Stop Hiring Humans” read a provocative sign at an AI conference in Las Vegas, where the impact of new artificial intelligence models on the world of work had sparked some unease.”We’re not worried about tiptoeing around. We’re sparking the conversation,” said Fahad Alam of Artisan, a startup, at the HumanX AI event.The San Francisco company is promoting AI agents — virtual sales representatives that identify potential customers, contact them, write emails, and schedule appointments.AI agents, which are supposed to make decisions that are usually made by humans, have become the latest buzzword of the generative AI story that began with the release of ChatGPT in 2022.With its offering, Artisan’s typical avatar, Ava, costs 96 percent less than a human performing the same tasks, according to the company’s website.The startup’s straight-to-the-point approach sharply contrasts with most generative AI companies, who tread cautiously on whether ChatGPT-like technologies will leave human workers unemployed by the wayside.”I don’t fundamentally think it’s about displacing employees as much as better leveraging them for the things only humans can do,” said Josh Constine of SignalFire, a venture capital firm.Predictions can vary wildly. Goldman Sachs estimates AI could eliminate 300 million jobs globally through automation.An 2024 Metrigy report found 89 percent of firms surveyed reduced customer relations staff in the previous year due to generative AI.On the other hand, 70 percent of major companies surveyed by the World Economic Forum said they planned to hire workers with AI-related skills in the coming years.”It’s natural evolution,” said Joe Murphy of D-iD, which offers video avatars and recently struck a partnership with Microsoft. “Like the car’s invention, AI will create a new sector. Jobs will be created and lost simultaneously.”Supporting this theory, data from the US Department of Labor shows jobs for secretaries and administrative assistants fell from 4.1 million to 3.4 million between 1992 and 2023, coinciding with the rise of office computing.During the same period, the number of computer scientists more than doubled, from approximately 500,000 to 1.2 million.Still, given the sensitivities about replacing humans, some advise discretion.”You’re selling software that replaces a significant part of their team,” said Tomasz Tunguz, founder of Theory Ventures. “You can’t sell that overtly.””Some clients candidly don’t want it known they’re using AI,” added Alam.- ‘Inevitable’ -There is little doubt that some kind of upheaval of the workplace is underway, but its precise impact remains uncertain.Analysts predict job losses for programmers, call center operators, translators, and travel agents.However, others caution against taking bold statements — or reassurances — by startups at face value.”Technology innovators learn communication skills by overstating the positive, underplaying the negative,” said Mark Hass, marketing professor at Arizona State University.But many startups reject the notion they’re misleading on job impacts.”The majority of people we’re talking to aren’t doing this because of efficiency. They’re doing this because of top-line revenue growth,” said Paloma Ochi of Decagon, a marketing AI startup. “And when the business grows, that’s good for everyone. There are going to be more jobs for humans within that business.””Most customers don’t want to let people go,” said Joshua Rumsey, a senior sales engineer at Aisera, whose AI agents are used in finance and HR. Though they are “looking to grow without hiring new agents as existing ones leave.”Given the disruptions, Hass advocated for greater transparency, warning that surprising the public with negative impacts on livelihoods could lead to backlash.”Talking about the implications doesn’t weaken the case for AI, because I think it’s inevitable. Not talking about it in a wholesome way creates the opportunity for misunderstanding,” he said.

Congressional Republicans on Wednesday took aim at federal funding for US public media, including radio network NPR and broadcast channel PBS, accusing them of “brainwashing the American people” during a hearing.”We will be calling for the complete and total defunding and dismantling of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB),” said Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a hard-right supporter of President Donald Trump, in reference to the nonprofit which oversees US public media funding.Addressing the heads of National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, Greene said: “The content that is being put out through these state-sponsored outlets is so radical it is brainwashing the American people, and more significantly American children.”Greene criticized the outlets for pushing a political agenda which included “the LGBTQ indoctrination of children,” and “the systemic racism narrative,” as well as being “anti-family, pro-crime fake news.”The attacks by Greene echo media criticism by other Republicans and Trump, who frequently refers to legacy news media as the “enemy of the people.”Greene also sits on the House Committee on Government Efficiency, formed in support of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Trump’s billionaire advisor Elon Musk and charged with slashing federal spending.However, the CPB — established nearly 60 years ago — has already had its budget approved by Congress until 2027, with over $500 million in funding.Some 40 million Americans tune in to NPR at least once a week, and about 36 million watch their local PBS station each month, according to estimates from the outlets.The Republican congresswoman from Georgia went on to say NPR and PBS have grown to become “radical left-wing echo chambers for a narrow audience of mostly wealthy, white, urban liberals and progressives.”The critiques drew fierce blowback from Democrats, including Representative Jasmine Crockett from Texas, who said Greene wants “to shut down everybody that is not Fox News,” a broadcaster preferred by many conservatives.NPR chief executive Katherine Maher estimated the radio station received $120 million from the CPB in 2025, “less than five percent” of its budget.Brian Jack, another Republican representative from Georgia, asked Maher if NPR could survive without the funding.”It would be incredibly damaging to the national radios system,” Maher said. “If federal funding for our network goes away, it means that people in rural parts of America would be harmed.”Democrat Stephen Lynch was also critical of the way Republicans led the hearing, saying it should be “talking about the security breach that occurred recently,” in reference to the leaked Signal group chat among US government officials.”Today the controlling House majority is afraid to do its job, it is afraid to hold Trump and Trump’s administration accountable.”

Disney’s Marvel Studios on Wednesday revealed the bumper cast of its next “Avengers” film, six years after “Avengers: Endgame” became the highest-grossing movie of all time.Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen are among those surprisingly returning to the superhero roster for “Avengers: Doomsday,” out May 2026.They will join a raft of widely expected fan favorites, including Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Hemsworth, a viral five-hour-long video announcement confirmed.The Marvel superhero films are comfortably the most lucrative franchise in Hollywood history, having collectively made more than $30 billion.As its title suggests, “Avengers: Doomsday” is intended to be an ensemble blockbuster event in the style of the franchise’s pinnacle, 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” which grossed $2.8 billion.”Endgame” was briefly the highest-grossing movie in history, before the original “Avatar” reclaimed its crown with a theatrical re-release.Like “Endgame,” “Doomsday” will again team up characters and wrap up storylines in a grand finale to more than a dozen preceding Marvel films.While several returning superheroes — and the actors playing them — had been previously announced, Marvel revealed the whole set in a livestreamed video.Surprises included octogenarian thespians Stewart and McKellen, who previously appeared in early “X-Men” films but were thought to have been written out or recast.Returning favorites include Hemsworth’s Thor, Paul Rudd’s Ant Man, and Tom Hiddleston’s Loki.Actors’ names were written on the backs of Hollywood-style directors’ chairs, with a camera slowly panning from one to the next every 10-15 minutes until ending with Downey Jr. appearing in-person. Marvel previously announced that the Oscar winner will return to the franchise as the villainous Doctor Doom.”It all leads to Doom. #AvengersDoomsday is now in production,” said an accompanying message.Downey Jr. kick-started the Marvel big-screen phenomenon back in 2008, playing an entirely different character — Iron Man.The franchise went on an unprecedented red-hot box office streak, raking in billions of dollars.Post-“Endgame,” the films have lost some luster, with a dozen movies since receiving mostly weaker reviews. Box office receipts have also fallen from their peak, though are still enviable compared with almost any other Hollywood franchise.Wednesday’s viral unveiling demonstrates how key to Marvel and Disney the success of “Avengers: Doomsday” — and 2027 follow-up “Avengers: Secret Wars” — will be.The video was watched nearly four million times in its first seven hours.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday dismissed a scandal over leaked plans for Yemen air strikes as a “witch hunt” and defended his embattled Pentagon chief amid calls by Democrats for him to quit.Republican Trump lashed out after the Atlantic Magazine published the transcript of messages accidentally shared with its editor in a chat group of senior US officials on Signal, a commercially available messaging app.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revealed details in the chat including the times of strikes on Iran-backed Huthi rebels and the type of aircraft, missiles and drones used, before the attacks actually happened, the Atlantic said.”Hegseth is doing a great job, he had nothing to do with this,” Trump said when asked by AFP in the Oval Office whether Hegseth should consider his position over the scandal.”How do you bring Hegseth into this? Look, look it’s all a witch hunt,” added Trump, who was taking questions after announcing new tariffs on foreign-made cars.Trump repeated his insistence that no classified information was shared in the breach, and added that National Security Advisor Mike Waltz “took responsibility” for the error.It was Waltz who mistakenly added journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to the chat, sparking what has been dubbed “Signalgate” in the biggest scandal since Trump returned to power in January.- ‘Resign in disgrace’ -The magazine initially withheld the details of the attack plans, but finally published them on Thursday after White House had insisted that no classified details were involved and attacked Goldberg as a liar.The White House and a string of officials involved in the chat lined up to try to downplay the story as the pressure mounted.Hegseth, visiting Hawaii, himself said the exchange on March 15 involved “No names. No targets.”US Vice President JD Vance, who fired a rifle on a shooting range while visiting a Marines base near Washington, said the Atlantic had “overplayed” what happened.Only Secretary of State Marco Rubio admitted that there had been a “big mistake,” while highlighting his own limited role.Democrats have trained much of their fire on Hegseth, a former Fox News contributor and veteran.”The secretary of defense should be fired immediately if he’s not man enough to own up to his mistakes and resign in disgrace,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries told MSNBC.Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth said Trump should sack all the officials in the chat and called Hegseth a “liar” who “could’ve gotten our pilots killed.”Meanwhile Roger Wicker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was seeking an independent report from the Trump administration.- ‘Anti-Trump hater’ -The Atlantic said the texting was done barely half an hour before the first US warplanes took off to hit the Huthis on March 15 — and two hours before the first target was expected to be bombed.”1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package)”, Hegseth writes, referring to US Navy jet fighters, before adding that “Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME.””1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier ‘Trigger Based’ targets).”Hegseth wrote also writes about the use of US drones and Tomahawk cruise missiles.A short time later, Waltz sent real-time intelligence on the aftermath of an attack, writing that US forces had identified the target “walking into his girlfriend’s building and it’s now collapsed.”Peppered with questions at a daily press briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described Goldberg as an “anti-Trump hater.”Elon Musk, the billionaire running a huge government cost-cutting drive for Trump, had offered “technical experts” to find out how he was added to the chat, she added.Trump’s comments came as Huthi media said late Wednesday that new US strikes had hit the rebel-held capital Sanaa, after earlier reporting 19 American raids elsewhere in  Yemen. His administration has stepped up attacks on the Huthi rebels in response to constant attempts to sink and disrupt shipping through the strategic Red Sea. The Huthis claim they are acting in solidarity with Gaza amid Hamas’s war on Israel.