AFP USA

President Donald Trump signed a sweeping defense policy bill into law Thursday that signaled strong bipartisan support for Europe and defied the US leader’s increasingly hostile posture toward NATO and America’s closest allies.The annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), one the few remaining rituals of cross-party cooperation in Congress even as divisions sharpen elsewhere in Washington, sets out the country’s national security and foreign policy priority areas for the coming year, according to lawmakers.White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said Trump signed into law a measure which raises pay for US troops, codifies the country’s “PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH agenda,” and “funds the Golden Dome” air and missile defense system backed by Trump. The NDAA, at some $900 billion, also “removes woke priorities” like diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs opposed by many conservatives, and “requires promotions based on merit, not DEI,” Kelly added. The Senate easily passed the NDAA measure on Wednesday following the House’s green light last week. The success comes amid unease in European capitals over Trump’s rhetoric, especially after the recent White House national security strategy painted Europe as over-regulated, culturally adrift and insufficiently committed to its own defense.The strategy questioned the continent’s strategic value and openly echoed themes championed by far-right parties, fueling fears of a widening transatlantic rift.By contrast, the NDAA reflects lawmakers’ determination to anchor the United States firmly in Europe.The bill bars US troop levels on the continent from falling below 76,000 for more than 45 days and restricts the removal of major military equipment, effectively tying the administration’s hands on any rapid drawdown.It also boosts resources for frontline NATO states, particularly in the Baltic region, reinforcing the alliance’s northeastern flank.The measure authorizes roughly $8 billion more than the administration requested, a signal of congressional assertiveness on defense priorities.Beyond Europe, the NDAA locks in $400 million in security assistance for Ukraine, aiming to preserve a baseline of support even as broader funding debates grind on, and places new limits on any reduction of the 28,500 US troops stationed in South Korea.As ever, the NDAA drew fire from multiple directions — from conservative critics of Ukraine aid to safety experts warning about aviation provisions rolling back critical air-safety requirements for military aircraft operating in Washington’s restricted airspace.But none came close to derailing a package long seen as must-pass legislation.

An official appointed by incoming New York mayor Zohran Mamdani to a senior role in his transition team resigned one day later on Thursday after past antisemitic posts on social media emerged, US media reported.The Muslim mayor-elect faced repeated accusations of antisemitism during the mayoral campaign over his strident support for the Palestinian cause and conservative figures have vowed to closely scrutinize his administration when he takes office on January 1.Catherine Almonte Da Costa, Mamdani’s “head of appointments” stepped down after antisemitic statements in old Twitter posts form 2011 surfaced, NBC News reported. The posts were uncovered by The Judge Street Journal newsletter.She had appeared alongside Mamdani at a press event on Wednesday following her appointment.”I spoke with the Mayor-elect this afternoon, apologized, and expressed my deep regret for my past statements. These statements are not indicative of who I am,” Da Costa told the online outlet.”As the mother of Jewish children, I feel a profound sense of sadness and remorse at the harm these words have caused. As this has become a distraction from the work at hand, I have offered my resignation.””Money hungry Jews smh (shaking my head),” Da Costa allegedly posted on X on January 4, 2011. The account, which had been used to post several other antisemitic tropes, is no longer online.Mamdani’s transition team did not comment.

US President Donald Trump sealed his takeover of Washington’s famed Kennedy Center on Thursday after the White House said the institution’s board voted to rename it the “Trump-Kennedy Center.”Trump hand-picked new board members of the US national cultural center and installed himself as chairman earlier this year, as part of a crackdown on institutions he branded too woke.But family members of slain US president John F. Kennedy, after whom the arts venue is named, slammed the decision as “beyond wild” and said it could not be renamed without the approval of Congress.Adding his own name to the storied venue is the latest in a series of grandiose Trump schemes including the demolition of the White House East Wing to build a $400-million ballroom, and planning a large triumphal arch.”I was surprised by it, I was honored by it,” Trump told reporters after the announcement of the board decision — despite having repeatedly talked about a name change for the center in the past.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the “highly respected” board of the Kennedy center had “voted unanimously” to take the extraordinary step of renaming it after a living president.Leavitt said it was “because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building.””Congratulations to President Donald J. Trump, and likewise, congratulations to President Kennedy, because this will be a truly great team long into the future!” she added.Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. The imposing white-marble arts center, which sits on the banks of the Potomac River, opened in 1971.The website of the Kennedy center later had a new “Trump-Kennedy Center” logo.But the move met fierce condemnation from the Kennedy family, America’s most storied political clan. “Can we not see what is happening here? C’mon, my fellow Americans! Wake up!” JFK’s niece Maria Shriver said on X. She added that it was “beyond wild” of Trump to think it was acceptable to add his name before her uncle’s.Former congressman Joe Kennedy III said the center was a “living memorial” to his great-uncle and “can no sooner be renamed than can someone rename the Lincoln Memorial, no matter what anyone says.”The full name of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is set out in federal statute. Congress created the center in 1958 and later renamed it by law to honor Kennedy after his assassination.- ‘Whoops’ -Democrats meanwhile denied that the vote was unanimous.Joyce Beatty, a lawmaker from Ohio who still holds a place on the board through a congressional mandate, said she was “muted on the call.” Trump had hinted at the name change on a number of occasions in recent months. Earlier this month he referred to a “big event at the Trump-Kennedy Center, whoops, excuse me, at the Kennedy Center… Pardon me, such a terrible mistake.”Trump made the comments at a peace institute that had also been recently renamed after him. Since his return to office he has also named a new “golden” visa and bank accounts for newborns after himself.The Kennedy Center has sparked Trump’s ire since his first term.Until this year he had never attended the annual fundraising gala for recipients of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors, as many of those artists vocally opposed his policies.But in his second term Trump moved quickly to make the center his own.He rid the board of trustees of its Democratic appointees, ousted its president and packed it with allies as part of a wider assault on federally funded cultural institutions he deemed too “woke.”The construction tycoon has also taken a personal interest in revamping the building, making a number of visits to inspect work on the center and raving about the white marble he was bringing in.Trump finally presented the honors this year himself, giving awards to “Rocky” actor Sylvester Stallone, disco legend Gloria Gaynor and rock band KISS.Days earlier, at the draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup on December 5, Trump received a new peace prize from football’s governing body and made a speech on stage.

Nike reported a drop in quarterly profits Thursday, citing a drag from higher US tariffs and continued weakness in China in results that sent shares sharply lower.The sports giant — which plans product rollouts around the Olympics, World Cup and other major 2026 events — stands “in the middle innings of our comeback,” said CEO Elliott Hill, who pointed to revenue gains in North America as a strong point.But Hill cited Greater China, which saw a 17 percent drop in revenues, as in need of further overhaul, saying improvements are “not happening at the pace we like.””It’s going to take a fresh perspective, a new approach,” said Hill, who has reorganized his executive team so that the division’s chief now reports directly to him.”We will return Nike to a beloved, premium and innovative brand in China,” Hill said.Nike reported profits of $792 million, down 32 percent from the year-ago period. Revenues edged up one percent to $12.4 billion during the period, the second quarter of the company’s fiscal 2026 calendar.A robust performance in North America and the running franchise were assets during the quarter, according to Chief Financial Officer Matthew Friend, who said China had made progress that additional actions were needed to “break the cycle that we’ve been managing through,” Friend said.Friend said the company’s inventory position has improved in North America compared with earlier quarters when a glut of merchandise depressed profit margins.But tariffs remained a drag. Friend estimated a full-year tariff hit of $1.5 billion, the same as it projected in September.Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, said Nike’s results show some progress but that the company must find ways to replicate its success in running across other sports.Nike remains “behind the curve” in the casual and fashion areas, while weakness in China “reflects a brand that is not connecting culturally in a way that rivals are,” Saunders said.”All in all, we think Nike is making progress,” Saunders said in the note. “However, this quarter’s results underline how much work remains to be done.”Shares fell 10.5 percent in after-hours trading.

US officials have identified a suspect in the shooting at Brown University that killed two students and injured several others, US media reported Thursday, in a major breakthrough in the case.CNN cited two unnamed law enforcement officials familiar with the case as saying investigators believe they have pinpointed a suspect. CBS News reported similar information.The shooting happened Saturday, when a man with a rifle burst into a campus building at the Ivy League college where students were taking exams. The man opened fire, killing two students and then fleeing.Investigators appeared to have little to go on, releasing images of a person of interest and an individual who was seen standing near that person in an effort to trace them.Officials have given daily media updates at which they have voiced increasing frustration with the so far fruitless manhunt.The two students killed were Ella Cook, vice president of Brown’s Republican Party association, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, originally from Uzbekistan, who had hoped to become a neurosurgeon.One survivor was in critical but stable condition, five were in stable condition, and two had been discharged from hospital, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley told the briefing.Authorities initially detained a man in connection with the shooting, but later released him.The university has faced questions, including from President Donald Trump, about its security arrangements after it emerged that none of its 1,200 security cameras were linked to the police’s surveillance system.There have been more than 300 mass shootings in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot. Attempts to restrict access to firearms still face political deadlock.

The newly named pro-migrant archbishop of New York called himself an “unworthy servant” during his first Mass in the city after Pope Leo XIV named his fellow Chicago native to replace a conservative cardinal Thursday.In a significant shift for the US Catholic Church, Leo replaced Timothy Dolan, who stepped down after reaching the church’s retirement age of 75, with Ronald Hicks, a 58-year-old bishop from Illinois.”I’ve always loved the energy of New York,” Hicks said at a Mass for the staff of the New York archdiocese in Manhattan’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which he also addressed in Spanish. He will be formally installed February 6.The New York archdiocese is among the largest in the United States and the pick ends months of speculation about who would follow Dolan, widely regarded as being close to President Donald Trump.Hicks’s appointment is the most consequential Leo has made since his election to head up the world’s Catholics in May and signals a desire to push back firmly on the US administration’s policies.Hicks shares several similarities with Leo including outspoken solidarity with migrants at a time when Trump is ordering mass deportations and portraying migrants and refugees as criminals.”Thanks to all of you…and thanks to God,” Hicks said in Spanish.More than 36 percent of New Yorkers are foreign-born and 1.8 million speak Spanish at home, per official data.In November, the pope endorsed a rare statement from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops which heavily criticized the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policies toward undocumented migrants.Hicks said the statement “affirms our solidarity with all our brothers and sisters as it expresses our concerns, opposition, and hopes with clarity and conviction.”It is grounded in the Church’s enduring commitment to the Catholic social teaching of human dignity and a call for meaningful immigration reform,” he said.Dolan walked Hicks around the imposing cathedral with one hand on his shoulder, the other on his ceremonial crozier staff, telling congregants “we got a good one.””He will do a very good job, and because he is young, he will stay a long time,” Margie Javier, an 82-year-old volunteer in the New York archdiocese, told AFP. Hicks earlier quipped at a media briefing that he has the necessary diplomatic skills to manage the culinary and sporting rivalry between his native Chicago and New York City.”Potentially my first controversial statement: I’m a Cubs fan and I love deep-dish pizza,” he said. “However, I am going to start rooting for the New York sports teams, and I already love your pizza.”Hicks said his childhood home was just 14 blocks from Pope Leo’s.”In my 31 years of priesthood, I was formed in Chicago,” he said.- ‘Great affinity’ -Hicks spent five years of ministry in El Salvador in Central America, heading a church-run orphanage program that operated across nine Latin American and Caribbean countries. Leo spent two decades in service in Peru.The outgoing bishop of Joliet, Illinois, also served in several parishes in the archdiocese of Chicago, the city where Leo was born — though the pair only met for the first time in 2024.Dolan, a ruddy-faced extrovert with Irish-American roots, has served in New York since 2009.A theological conservative fiercely opposed to abortion, Dolan sparked controversy in September by comparing slain conservative political activist and Trump supporter Charlie Kirk to a “modern-day Saint Paul.”At Thursday’s Mass, an annual event for the staff of the archdiocese, Dolan heaped praise on his successor.- Abuse challenge -Dolan oversaw the fallout from a major sexual abuse scandal in the diocese.Just weeks ago, the archdiocese announced the creation of a $300 million fund to compensate victims of sexual abuse who had filed complaints against the Church.At the time, Dolan said that a “series of very difficult financial decisions” were made, including layoffs and a 10-percent reduction of its operating budget.Hicks is no stranger to managing the fallout of the abuse scandal. The Joliet diocese he now leaves was criticized under his predecessors for its handling of pedophile priests.The scandal was “something that is never going to be behind us,” Hicks told Vatican News.

The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on two more judges of the International Criminal Court after they rejected an attempt by Israel to end a war crimes probe in Gaza.Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had already ordered sanctions on judges and prosecutors in the case, explicitly linked the new measures to a vote Monday in which the two judges sided with the majority and upheld arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant.”We will not tolerate ICC abuses of power that violate the sovereignty of the United States and Israel and wrongly subject US and Israeli persons to the ICC’s jurisdiction,” Rubio said in a statement.”We will continue to respond with significant and tangible consequences to the ICC’s lawfare and overreach,” he wrote.It brings the number of ICC judges sanctioned by the Trump administration to at least eight, along with at least three prosecutors including chief prosecutor Karim Khan.The Hague-based ICC responded that it “strongly rejects” the fresh sanctions.The measures are “a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution,” the ICC said in a statement.Israel praised the US move. “Thank you, Secretary Rubio, for this moral clear stance,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar wrote on X.The judges newly slapped with sanctions were Gocha Lordkipanidze, formerly Georgia’s justice minister, and Erdenebalsuren Damdin of Mongolia.The sanctions ban the judges from entering the United States and block property or financial transactions with them in the world’s largest economy.Lordkipanidze was formerly an adjunct professor at Columbia University in New York.Monday’s 44-page ruling upheld the decision to investigate alleged war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza.Netanyahu and Gallant both face accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the relentless Israeli offensive in the Palestinian territory launched after the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.The latest action puts the United States in league with Russia, which last week sentenced ICC judges and prosecutor Khan in absentia.The ICC had also issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladmir Putin related to the invasion of Ukraine.The United States, Israel and Russia are among the countries that reject the ICC, which is backed by nearly all Western democracies.The ICC was set up in 2002 as a court of last resort when countries do not have adequate legal systems to ensure accountability.During Trump’s first term, the United States also took action against the top ICC prosecutor in a successful attempt to block an investigation into alleged abuses during the US-led war in Afghanistan.Former president Joe Biden’s administration lifted the sanctions and sought limited cooperation with the court, especially over Ukraine. 

The United States will host talks in Miami on Friday to push the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire, as President Donald Trump said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would likely visit him at the close of the year.Trump’s roving special envoy Steve Witkoff is to meet senior officials from Qatar, Egypt and Turkey in Florida, a White House official told AFP Thursday, amid fears that efforts to reach the second stage of the deal are stalling.Under the second stage, Israel is supposed to withdraw from its positions in Gaza, an interim authority is to govern the Palestinian territory instead of Hamas, and an international stabilization force is to be deployed.But progress in moving to that phase of October’s agreement between Israel and Hamas, which was brokered by Washington and its regional allies, has so far been slow.The ceasefire also remains fragile with both sides alleging violations, and mediators fearing that Israel and Hamas alike are stalling.Israel said it had struck and killed the head of weapons production in Hamas’s military wing in the Gaza Strip last weekend, a move that reportedly sparked Trump to warn of jeopardizing the truce.Trump said Netanyahu would “probably come to see me in Florida,” where the US president will be staying over the Christmas holidays at his Mar-a-Lago resort.”He would like to see me. We haven’t set it up formally, but he’d like to see me,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about a report by the Axios news site that Netanyahu was expected to visit on December 29.- ‘Justice is served’ -Trump said in a televised address to the nation on Wednesday that the Gaza truce had brought peace to the Middle East “for the first time in 3,000 years.”In the first phase of the Gaza deal, Palestinian militants committed to releasing the remaining 48 living and dead captives held in the territory. So far, they have released all of the hostages except for one body.But the Trump administration is now keen to proceed to the difficult second stage, with the provision for Hamas to lay down its weapons being a particular sticking point.Hamas’s Gaza chief Khalil al-Hayya said Sunday that the militant group had a “legitimate right” to hold weapons. Israel has repeatedly insisted Hamas “will be disarmed.”The third phase includes the reconstruction of the vast areas of Gaza levelled by Israel’s retaliatory military campaign for Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel.Turkey said Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan would represent Ankara at the talks with Witkoff. “Turkey will continue to fight determinedly on every front to ensure that what is happening in Gaza is not forgotten, that justice is served,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a speech on Wednesday.Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner played a key role in the shuttle diplomacy that led to the deal to end the Gaza war.The US pair are also involved in talks to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and will meet Russian officials in Miami over the weekend.

The $1,776 payments to US troops announced by President Donald Trump will come from funds already allocated by Congress to supplement military housing allowances, officials said on Thursday.Trump announced the so-called “warrior dividend” in an address to the nation on Wednesday. He said it would be paid for with revenue from the sweeping tariffs he has imposed and presented it as a new initiative.Lawmakers from the opposition Democratic Party sharply criticized the president over the announcement, while a top Republican senator confirmed that the funding Trump is employing was aimed at offsetting housing costs for troops.The “$1,776 ‘warrior checks’ aren’t Christmas bonuses — you’re just stealing money out of a fund meant to help our troops find affordable housing,” Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), wrote on X.Democratic Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, also took aim at Trump, saying he “isn’t giving our brave service members a bonus, he’s just shuffling around money so he can claim he is.”Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said the planned payments are the result of Trump’s “unwavering commitment to our warriors and the provisions provided in the One Big Beautiful Bill” — a reference to a major legislative package that Trump signed into law in July.Senator Roger Wicker, the Republican chairman of SASC, praised the announcement by Trump, saying it would implement additional funding provided by Congress in that law “to help offset housing costs for service members.”The law provided for $2.9 billion in funding “to supplement the basic allowance for housing” for members of the military.

The US health department on Thursday announced proposed measures that would effectively ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth, a major escalation of the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back protections for trans people.The series of sweeping proposals announced by US health chief Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other officials would cut off vital federal funding from hospitals that provide pediatric gender transition services — including puberty blockers, hormone therapies and surgical interventions — even in states where they are legal.In announcing his proposals — which are not final and must go through lengthy review and public comment — Kennedy called gender-affirming care “malpractice” based on “junk science driven by ideological pursuits.” His health department this year released a report largely written by critics of gender transition that emphasized risks of gender-affirming care and urged counseling before interventions — a document that proved central to Thursday’s announcement.The proposed measures would prohibit reimbursements for minors’ gender-affirming care from Medicaid, the federal program that provides health care coverage to low-income children and adults.Even more limiting, it would revoke all funding from both Medicaid and Medicare — the health care program for elderly adults and disabled people — from any hospital that provides such care.Such a move would place extreme financial hardship on facilities if they continued to provide such health services.It puts medical providers in an “extremely precarious position,” said Michael Ulrich, a Boston University professor of public health and law.”I’m not sure there’s a provider that exists that doesn’t rely substantially on federal money,” he told AFP.- ‘Life-saving’ care -The American Civil Liberties Union vowed a legal battle, calling the proposals “cruel” as well as “unconstitutional, saying they target “a vulnerable population for political gain.”The American Academy of Pediatrics — which just abruptly lost federal funds in the millions including for initiatives to prevent infant death, according to a Washington Post report — called Thursday’s actions and rhetoric “harmful.””These rules help no one, do nothing to address health care costs, and unfairly stigmatize a population of young people,” the organization’s president said in a statement.The LGBTQ advocacy organization Human Rights Campaign said the proposals would “force providers into an impossible choice: stop providing health care to trans youth in order to protect federal funding for every other patient.”Zoe Taylor, a family doctor in the western US state of Washington, called gender-affirming health care “life-saving.”The physician, a fellow with the advocacy organization Physicians for Reproductive Health, said in her practice she’s seen “youth thrive once their gender dysphoria is treated.””Treating trans kids with gender-affirming care prevents and treats other mental health issues that come from society’s reaction to trans youth, and also to their own gender dysphoria,” she told AFP.The proposals are an intrusion on the relationship between patients, their families and physicians, she said.- ‘Extremely dangerous’ -Throughout the first year of his second term, President Donald Trump has demonized any recognition of gender diversity and placed strong focus on attacking transgender people.But the push to withhold broader federal health funding from any provider who offers transgender care scaled up Trump’s crusade dramatically.And it came one day after a split House of Representatives narrowly passed a bill that would criminalize providing gender-affirming medical care to trans minors.Transgender people are a small proportion of the population, but lawyer Ulrich said the issue is both “extremely bad for transgender youth” and could “open the door” for other controversial government health care decisions.”I don’t think that enough people recognize the extent to which this is the federal government saying, ‘We have the authority to declare to hospitals throughout the country what kind of health care they can and cannot provide,'” he said. “It’s an extremely, extremely dangerous proposition for the future.”