36 h. ago Rubio pledges aid for Ecuador, to ‘wage war’ on gangs in drug fight

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday promised security aid to Ecuador and announced terrorist designations as he vowed to ramp up a regional fight against criminals following a US strike on a boat allegedly linked to Venezuela. Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, an emerging ally of US President Donald Trump, has deployed troops to combat violence that has transformed the country from one of Latin America’s safest to one of its most dangerous. Rubio, meeting with Noboa in the...

Events

55 h. ago Trump hints US troops could go into New Orleans, a blue city in a red state

US President Donald Trump suggested Wednesday that New Orleans could be his next target for deploying the National Guard to fight crime, potentially expanding the number of cities around the nation where he may send federal law enforcement. Trump has already said he plans to send the National Guard into Chicago and Baltimore following his administration deploying troops and federal agents to patrol the streets of Washington last month. “So we’re making a determination now,” Trump told reporters...

Politics

55 h. ago Trump suggests US troops could go into New Orleans, a blue city in a red state

US President Donald Trump suggested Wednesday that New Orleans could be his next target for deploying the National Guard to fight crime, potentially expanding the number of cities around the nation where he may send federal law enforcement. Trump has already said he plans to send the National Guard into Chicago and Baltimore following his administration deploying troops and federal agents to patrol the streets of Washington last month. “So we’re making a determination now,” Trump told reporters...

Politics

57 h. ago Trump offers more US troops to Poland’s nationalist president

US President Donald Trump hosted new Polish President Karol Nawrocki on Wednesday at the White House with a military flyover and an offer to send more US troops to the eastern European ally. Talks were expected to focus on efforts to end the war in Ukraine, where Trump’s peacemaking efforts have been struggling to get traction. Trump called it a “stupid war” and said he thought ending it would have been “much easier” for him. “It’s going to get done,” he vowed to reporters in the Oval Office,...

Politics

57 h. ago Trump offers more US troops to Poland’s new nationalist president

US President Donald Trump offered Wednesday to send more troops to Poland as he welcomed the country’s new nationalist president Karol Nawrocki to the White House with a military flyover. Trump also hinted at taking stronger action against Russia if it fails to end its war with Ukraine, which has put Nato ally Poland on edge since Moscow’s invasion in 2022. Nawrocki, a conservative historian and fervent Trump supporter, visited the White House during Poland’s election campaign and is now making...

Politics

1 week ago ‘Stay out of our city’: Chicago officials slam Trump’s military deployment threat

US President Donald Trump on Friday said Chicago is likely to be the next target of his efforts to crack down on crime, homelessness and illegal immigration. Trump indicated that the Midwestern city could receive similar treatment to what he has done in Washington, where he has deployed 2,000 troops on the streets. “I think Chicago will be our next,” Trump told reporters at the White House, adding, “And then we’ll help with New York.” The comments came as the Pentagon on Friday began ordering...

Events

1 week ago Armed and ready: National Guard in Washington start carrying guns, rifles

Some National Guard units patrolling the US capital at the direction of President Donald Trump have started carrying firearms, an escalation of his military deployment that makes good on a directive issued late last week by his defence secretary. A Defence Department official who was not authorised to speak publicly said some units on certain missions would be armed – some with handguns and others with rifles. The official said that all units with firearms had been trained and were operating...

Events

2 w. ago US troops in Washington to be armed, as Trump escalates policing role

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered that National Guard troops patrolling the streets of Washington for President Donald Trump’s law enforcement crackdown will start carrying firearms, the Pentagon said on Friday. The Defence Department did not offer any other details about the new development or why it was needed. The step is an escalation in Trump’s intervention into policing in the nation’s capital and comes as nearly 2,000 National Guard members have been stationed in the heavily...

Events

2 w. ago Trump sent US troops into Washington. Now they’re being given guns. Why?

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered that National Guard troops patrolling the streets of Washington for President Donald Trump’s law enforcement crackdown will start carrying firearms, the Pentagon said on Friday. The Defence Department did not offer any other details about the new development or why it was needed. The step is an escalation in Trump’s intervention into policing in the nation’s capital and comes as nearly 2,000 National Guard members have been stationed in the heavily...

Politics

2 w. ago Trump says he’ll join US troops to patrol streets of Washington

US President Donald Trump said he plans to patrol Washington’s streets on Thursday with troops he deployed to the US capital in a show of force against what he claims is a “crime emergency”. Trump ordered hundreds of National Guard to deploy in Washington last week vowing to “take our capital back”, despite protests by some residents and statistics showing violent offences falling. “I’m going to be going out tonight I think with the police and with the military of course ... We’re going to be...

Politics

2 w. ago Trump visits police, troops in Washington after saying he would patrol streets

US President Donald Trump visited a Park Police operations facility on Thursday to thank federal law enforcement officers he deployed to patrol the streets of Washington, saying he expected their deployment to last “for a while”. “We’re going to then go on to other places, but we’re going to stay here for a while,” Trump said. “We want to make this absolutely perfect, it’s our capital.” The visit to the building in Washington’s Anacostia neighbourhood appeared less dramatic than his suggestion...

Politics

2 w. ago ‘Putin isn’t interested’: Ukrainians feel hopeless about US push to end war

In east Ukraine, where invading Russian forces are steadily gaining ground in costly metre-for-metre battles, Ukrainian troops holding the line see US President Donald Trump’s push for peace as a lost cause. “The war will continue as long as Russia remains as it is,” said 45-year-old Ukrainian serviceman Vitaliy, who withheld his full name in line with military protocol. “These barbarians will not stop until they are stopped by force. They only understand force,” he said. His assessment came the...

Politics

2 w. ago In White House, Trump and Zelensky say trilateral with Putin may follow

US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed on Monday that a trilateral meeting includes their Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, might be the next step in a flurry of recent diplomatic efforts to halt Moscow’s war against its neighbour. In his third face-to-face meeting with the Ukrainian president in his second term, Trump also dangled the possibility of US troops supporting Ukraine. He added that he would speak to Putin about the plan, a call that reportedly...

Politics