AFP USA

US President Donald Trump blasted the United Nations and Europe on his return to the world body Tuesday, warning that migration is sending Western nations “to hell” and dismissing climate change as a “con job.”In a blistering speech during his first UN General Assembly appearance since his White House comeback, Trump also accused the world body of failing to help him as he tried to broker peace deals including in Gaza and Ukraine.”What is the purpose of the United Nations?” asked Trump in a wide-ranging speech lasting nearly an hour. “It has such tremendous potential, but it’s not even coming close to living up to that.”Trump’s first speech to the UN back in 2018 saw fellow leaders laughing at the Republican, but this time his full-frontal attack on the global organization and US allies was received in near total silence.The 79-year-old’s litany of complaints even extended to a broken escalator and teleprompter at the New York headquarters of the UN.After the speech, he met with Ukraine’s wartime leader Volodymyr Zelensky and caused surprise by announcing a short while later that he now thought Kyiv could regain all its territory invaded by Russia — a complete shift from his previous statements.- ‘Going to hell’ -Trump’s fieriest words of the speech were on migration, as he advised the world to follow his lead on one of the core political messages that drove his two US election victories.Trump lambasted the UN for “funding an assault” on Western nations that he described as an “invasion,” before turning his fire on his supposed allies in Europe.”Your countries are going to hell,” he told European leaders. Trump also criticized the UN for failing to get involved in what he claims are seven wars that he has ended, or in his failed attempts to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza.”All they seem to do is write a really strongly worded letter,” he said. “It’s empty words, and empty words don’t solve war.”But the US leader later dramatically escalated his rhetoric on Ukraine, saying that NATO nations should shoot down Russian planes violating their territory.And after talks with Zelensky on the sidelines of the summit, he posted on Truth Social that he thinks “Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form.”- ‘Con job’ -On Gaza, a subject that has dominated the UN summit, Trump called recognition of a Palestinian state by US allies including France and Britain a “reward” to Hamas for “horrible atrocities ” in the armed group’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday, however, that Trump could only achieve his long-held goal of a Nobel Peace Prize if he stopped the Gaza war.The US president meanwhile took a typically strident stance on climate change too, saying he was “right about everything” as he pushes for oil drilling and the rolling back of green policies.”Climate change — it’s the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” said the billionaire property tycoon. Trump’s second term has opened with a blaze of nationalist policies curbing cooperation with the rest of the world.He has moved to pull the United States out of the World Health Organization and the UN climate pact, severely curtailed US development assistance and wielded sanctions against foreign judges over rulings he sees as violating US sovereignty.Opening the annual summit, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that aid cuts led by the United States were “wreaking havoc” in the world.After meeting Guterres, Trump appeared to call for a change in leadership, telling reporters: “The UN could be unbelievable with certain people running it.”Trump’s other meetings included his Argentinian counterpart and close ally Javier Milei, with the US president saying he did not believe the struggling South American country needed a bailout. Security was tight for the summit, with New York’s UN district swarming with heavily armed police.The US Secret Service said they had disrupted a plot to potentially disrupt telecommunications around the UN that involved “nation-state threat actors.”

A man charged with attempting to assassinate Donald Trump at his Florida golf course during last year’s presidential campaign was convicted by a federal jury on all counts Tuesday.Ryan Routh, 59, of Hawaii, appeared to try to stab himself in the neck with a pen after the guilty verdict was read in court but was restrained by marshals, US media said.Routh was handcuffed and removed from the courtroom. He did not appear to be injured when he was brought back in a short time later.Routh was convicted of attempted assassination of a presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer and firearms offenses after a 12-day trial during which he represented himself.He faces a possible sentence of life in prison for attempting to kill Trump. Sentencing was set for December 18.Trump congratulated Attorney General Pam Bondi and Justice Department prosecutors for securing the conviction.”This was an evil man with an evil intention, and they caught him,” the US president said in a post on Truth Social.Bondi said the guilty verdict “illustrates the Department of Justice’s commitment to punishing those who engage in political violence.””This attempted assassination was not only an attack on our president, but an affront to our very nation itself,” Bondi said in a statement.- ‘I am so sorry I failed you’ -Routh was arrested on September 15, 2024 after a Secret Service agent saw the barrel of a rifle poking from bushes on the perimeter of the West Palm Beach golf course where Trump was playing a round.The agent opened fire and Routh, who fled in a vehicle, was arrested shortly after.A loaded AK-style rifle, equipped with a scope and a magazine containing additional rounds of ammunition, was recovered from his hiding place.During the trial, a witness testified that Routh had dropped off a box at his residence that included a handwritten letter which stated: “Dear World. This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, but I am so sorry I failed you.”Acting as his own lawyer at his trial in Fort Pierce, Florida, Routh made rambling remarks which tried the patience of District Judge Aileen Cannon, who cut short his opening statement.Routh has a fixation on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and reportedly traveled to Kyiv in an effort to join foreign volunteer units before being rejected due to his age and lack of experience.Trump was also the target of an assassination attempt on July 13, 2024, when Thomas Matthew Crooks fired several shots during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. One of them grazed Trump’s right ear.Crooks was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper.

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Ukraine could win back all of its territory from Russia — and even go further — in a major pivot after meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky.The astonishing turnaround came shortly after Trump also called for NATO countries to shoot down any Russian jets that violate their airspace. “I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form,” Trump said on his Truth Social network after his talks with Zelensky.Trump also said Russia was “fighting aimlessly” after three years of war, in an apparent change of heart just over a month after he met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.The US president has previously shown lukewarm support for Zelensky, with whom he had a huge televised Oval Office bust-up in February during which he told the Ukrainian “you don’t have the cards” to win.But in his social media post on Tuesday, Trump dismissed Russia as a “paper tiger,” saying that “Putin and Russia are in BIG Economic trouble, and this is the time for Ukraine to act.””With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO, the original Borders from where this War started, is very much an option. Why not?” Trump wrote.He added that as Russia’s economy gets worse “Ukraine would be able to take back their Country in its original form and, who knows, maybe even go further than that!”- ‘Escalation trap’ -During his meeting at with Zelensky on the margins of the UN General Assembly, Trump said he had “great respect for the fight that Ukraine is putting up. It’s pretty amazing actually.”Zelensky thanked Trump for his “personal efforts to stop this war” and echoed Trump’s call for European countries to stop buying Russian oil.And after a series of recent incursions by Russian fighter jets and drones that have rattled Washington’s NATO allies in Europe, Trump said they would be within their rights to act.”Yes I do,” Trump said when a reporter asked if NATO countries should shoot down Russian aircraft if they enter their airspace.Trump however deflected questions about whether he believed Russian leader Vladimir Putin was still a reliable negotiating partner despite Moscow’s continued attacks on Ukraine.”I’ll let you know in about a month from now, okay?” Trump said when asked if he still trusted Putin.The 79-year-old Republican has previously, and repeatedly, given deadlines of two weeks to make a decision on whether to take steps including fresh sanctions against Russia.Tensions between Russia and Europe over Ukraine have escalated with the recent spate of aerial violations. NATO scrambled jets after three Russian MiG-31 fighters on Friday breached Estonian airspace for some 12 minutes, prompting Estonia to call for a meeting of the UN Security Council and talks with NATO allies.Fellow NATO member Poland said earlier this month that Russian drones had repeatedly violated its airspace during an attack on Ukraine, in what Warsaw called an “act of aggression.”Germany reacted cautiously to Trump’s comments on shooting down Russian planes, highlighting the need to avoid an “escalation trap.””Level-headedness is not cowardice and not fear, but a responsibility towards your own country and towards peace in Europe,” German defence minister Boris Pistorius said Tuesday.EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday she discussed Russia’s airspace violations with Trump at the UN, and agreed on the need to cut Moscow’s energy revenues.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he ended seven wars since returning to the White House earlier this year, making the inaccurate claim again during a Tuesday speech at the UN General Assembly.”In a period of just seven months, I have ended seven unendable wars,” Trump said.Below, AFP examines the US president’s mixed record on the conflicts between the seven pairs of countries he named in his UN speech.- Cambodia and Thailand -Five days of hostilities between Cambodia and Thailand left dozens dead in July after a territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border combat.A truce began after phone calls from Trump, as well as mediation from Malaysia’s prime minister — chair of the ASEAN regional bloc — and a delegation of Chinese negotiators.Cambodia’s prime minister subsequently said he nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, crediting the US president with “visionary and innovative diplomacy.”- Kosovo and Serbia -Serbia and Kosovo have not signed a final peace treaty, and NATO-led peacekeeping forces have been stationed in the latter area since the end of the 1998-1999 war between ethnic Albanian guerillas and Serbian forces.Kosovo declared independence in 2008 — a move that Belgrade has not recognized.While Trump did not forge a peace between Kosovo and Serbia, his administration did broker an economic normalization agreement between them during his first term.- Congo and Rwanda -Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo signed a peace accord in late June, but intense clashes between Rwandan-backed anti-government M23 fighters and Congolese forces have taken place in the eastern part of the country despite the agreement, which Trump took credit for at the time.The M23 and the Congolese army accused each other in weekend statements of “trampling” on peace efforts or “violating” the accord’s principles.- Pakistan and India -India and Pakistan fought an intense four-day conflict in May that left more than 70 people dead on both sides before Trump announced a ceasefire between the nuclear-armed neighbors.But Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in late July that no world leader had pushed his country to stop fighting Pakistan, without specifically naming Trump.The government of Pakistan, however, has said it would recommend Trump for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize “in recognition of his decisive diplomatic intervention and pivotal leadership” during the conflict.- Israel and Iran -Israel launched an unprecedented 12-day air campaign targeting Iranian nuclear sites, scientists and top military brass in June in a bid to end the country’s nuclear program — an effort later joined by Washington’s forces, which carried out strikes on three nuclear sites as well.Trump announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran — which he later accused both countries of violating.He worked to maintain it, seeking to turn around Israeli planes that were in the air, while the Israeli premier’s office said the country had “refrained from further strikes” after a call from Trump.- Egypt and Ethiopia -Tensions between Ethiopia and its downstream neighbor Egypt are heightened over the former country’s inauguration of a massive dam earlier this month.Egypt, dependent on the Nile for 97 percent of its water, has long decried the project, with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi calling it an “existential threat” to the country’s water security.During his first term in office, Trump publicly mused that Egypt could bomb the dam — leading Ethiopia to accuse the then US leader of trying to provoke a war.Trump has demanded credit for “keeping peace” between Egypt and Ethiopia, but he has not ended a war between them.- Armenia and Azerbaijan -Armenia and Azerbaijan have feuded for decades over their border and the status of ethnic enclaves within each other’s territories, and went to war twice over the disputed Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan recaptured from Armenian forces in 2023.Both Armenia and Azerbaijan have praised US efforts to settle the conflict, and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said he would back Trump’s nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.- Other conflicts -Trump’s efforts to broker a peace in Gaza have been unsuccessful and he has singularly failed to end the conflict in Ukraine — a war he had boasted he could resolve in a single day once he became president.

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he did not believe struggling Argentina needed a bailout, as he backed his counterpart and close ally Javier Milei in a meeting on the sidelines of a UN summit.”We’re gonna help them but I don’t think they need a bailout. He’s doing a fantastic job,” said Trump of his right-wing ally Milei, who describes himself as an “anarcho-capitalist.”The pair also laughed as Trump handed Milei a printout of one of his own posts on his Truth Social network describing the Argentine — famous for posing with chainsaws — as a “truly fantastic and powerful leader.”Trump’s comments came a day after the US Treasury said it stood ready to “do what is needed” to support the South American country’s economy and calm jittery financial markets.Budget-slashing libertarian Milei has been faced with a run on the peso following a provincial election trouncing for his party that was seen as a litmus test for national mid-terms next month.Argentina, which has a track record of economic crises and hyperinflation, is the IMF’s biggest debtor.But as he shook hands with Milei on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York, Trump said he was giving Milei his “full endorsement.””He, like us, inherited a mess and what he’s done to fix it is good. … We need to make Argentina great again,” Trump told reporters, echoing his own “Make America Great Again” slogan.The White House said there would be further announcements about Argentina’s financial situation after the meeting.”Thank you very much, President Donald Trump, for your great friendship and this extraordinary gesture,” Milei said on X.Free-marketeer Milei’s election was cheered by investors in 2023 but he has begun to hemorrhage support after two years of biting austerity and a corruption scandal involving his sister.US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who was also due to meet Milei on Tuesday, said on Monday that “all options for stabilization are on the table” for Argentina.

Stock markets marked time Tuesday as traders monitored key economic indicators, with US inflation data due later this week that could influence Federal Reserve policy.On Wall Street, the Dow stood just in positive territory more than two hours into the session but the tech-heavy Nasdaq was off 0.3 percent and the broader S&P 500 was also marginally into the red.London ended the day flat and Paris and Frankfurt added barely half of one percent as investors digested purchasing managers’ index (PMI) data — a closely watched gauge of economic health. The index showed eurozone business activity hit a 16-month high in September, partly driven by solid growth in Germany, while France weighed on performance.Britain’s reading came in below expectations, suggesting the economy is losing momentum, analysts noted, as inflation fears linger.Gold pushed to another all-time high and the dollar steadied. Oil prices rose around two percent after the OECD on Tuesday raised its forecast for world economic growth this year.Among shares on the move, while a clutch of major tech firms took a breather, consumer health company Kenvue rose around four percent, bouncing back from a record low in the previous session, after medical experts including the World Health Organization refuted US President Donald Trump’s linking of the firm’s popular pain reliever Tylenol to autism. In focus remains Friday’s report on US personal consumption expenditures, the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation. Markets expect two further interest rate cuts by the Fed by the end of the year as officials aim to shore up the stuttering labour market despite elevated inflation.With US indices looking to build on a start to the week which saw them finish at fresh all-time highs, David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation, said that while “leading tech companies are investing hundreds of billions in generative AI… some investors continue to question if this is money well spent”.Yet, “despite this, equities continue to grind higher with little indication that there’s anything on the horizon which could derail the current rally,” he added.With trade subdued by a holiday in Japan and an approaching typhoon in Hong Kong, Asian markets mostly drifted as Hong Kong and Shanghai both closed lower. Taipei jumped more than one percent, with chip titan TSMC soaring over three percent as it tracked US counterpart Nvidia, which announced a $100-billion investment in OpenAI for next-generation artificial intelligence.A rise in tech giants helped lift major Wall Street indices to fresh highs on Monday.However, there are growing worries that the surge may have gone too far and markets are due a pullback with eyes on a possible government shutdown in Washington.Elsewhere, investors will keep an eye on an expected meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Argentine counterpart Javier Milei at the UN General Assembly after the US Treasury pledged to “do what is needed” to support Argentina’s economy, which has faced a plunge in the peso, stocks and bonds. – Key figures at around 1550 GMT -New York – Dow: UP 0.2 percent at 46,461.99 pointsNew York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.1 percent at 6,684.53New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 22,723.02 London – FTSE 100: FLAT at 9,223.32 (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.5 percent at 7,872.02 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.4 percent at 23,611.33 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.7 percent at 26,159.12 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.2 percent at 3,821.83 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: Closed for a holidayEuro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1791 from $1.1799 on MondayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3514 from $1.3515Dollar/yen: UP at 147.88 yen from 147.87 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 87.25 pence from 87.30 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 2.4 percent at $63.76 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 2.0 percent at $67.91 per barrel

US President Donald Trump blasted the United Nations and Europe on his return to the world body Tuesday, warning that Western countries were “going to hell” because of migration and calling climate change a “con job.”In a blistering speech during his first UN General Assembly appearance since his White House comeback, Trump also accused the world body of failing to help him as he tried to broker a series of peace deals including in Gaza and Ukraine.”What is the purpose of the United Nations?” asked Trump in a wide-ranging speech lasting nearly an hour. “It has such tremendous potential but it’s not even coming close to living up to that.”Trump’s first speech to the UN back in 2018 saw fellow leaders laughing at the Republican, but this time his full-frontal attack on the global organization and US allies was received in near total silence.The 79-year-old’s litany of complaints even extended to a broken escalator and teleprompter at the New York headquarters of the UN, which he has repeatedly targeted during both of his presidential terms.”These are the two things I got from the United Nations: a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter,” he said.- ‘Going to hell’ -Trump began his speech by criticizing the UN for failing to get involved in what he claims are seven wars that he has ended, or in his failed efforts to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza.”All they seem to do is write a really strongly worded letter,” he said. “It’s empty words, and empty words don’t solve war.”He then called recognition by a slate of Washington’s allies of a Palestinian state a “reward” to Hamas for “horrible atrocities ” in the armed group’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.Trump had more harsh words for European allies for failing to stop oil purchases from Russia. He criticized China and India on the same score — but Moscow itself escaped relatively lightly.His strongest language was reserved for blasting migration, one of the core political messages that has driven his two US election victories.Trump lambasted the UN for “funding an assault” on Western nations that he described as an “invasion.””Your countries are going to hell,” he told European leaders.The US president took a typically controversial stance on climate change too, calling it a “hoax” made up by “evil people.” He has pushed for oil drilling and rolled back environmental protections since returning to office.”Climate change — it’s the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” said Trump. – ‘Wreaking havoc’ -Trump boasted of his tough crime policies, including sending troops to Washington and deadly US strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug smuggling boats.”To every terrorist thug smuggling poisonous drugs into the United States of America, please be warned that we will blow you out of existence,” Trump said.Trump’s second term has opened with a blaze of nationalist policies curbing cooperation with the rest of the world.He has moved to pull the United States out of the World Health Organization and the UN climate pact, severely curtailed US development assistance and wielded sanctions against foreign judges over rulings he sees as violating sovereignty.Opening the annual summit, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that aid cuts led by the United States were “wreaking havoc” in the world.Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva meanwhile warned in his speech of “anti-democratic forces” targeting institutions after an alleged coup plot orchestrated by his predecessor, who has won backing from Trump.Trump however said he and Lula shared a brief hug at the UN and had agreed to meet next week.On Ukraine, Trump will meet President Volodymyr Zelensky for the second time since he sat down in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin in August — a summit that broke Moscow’s isolation in the West but yielded no progress.Ahead of Trump’s speech, the US Secret Service said they had disrupted a plot to potentially disrupt telecommunications around the UN that involved “nation-state threat actors.”

The US Secret Service said Tuesday it had dismantled a network of electronic devices that could have crashed New York’s telecommunications network in an attack ahead of the UN General Assembly.The protective agency did not say who was responsible for the sophisticated material but linked it to “nation-state” actors and “individuals that are known to federal law enforcement.”ABC News quoted a law enforcement source briefed on the investigation as saying officials “believe the plot is connected to the Chinese government.””The potential for disruption to our country’s telecommunications posed by this network of devices cannot be overstated,” Secret Service Director Sean Curran said.In a statement released shortly before President Donald Trump began addressing world leaders at the UN headquarters in New York, the Secret Service said the network of devices was uncovered after threats were made against senior US officials.”In addition to carrying out anonymous telephonic threats, these devices could be used to conduct a wide range of telecommunications attacks,” the agency said.”This includes disabling cell phone towers, enabling denial of services attacks and facilitating anonymous, encrypted communication between potential threat actors and criminal enterprises.”Secret Service special agent Matt McCool said the agency was “working towards identifying those responsible and their intent, including whether their plan was to disrupt the UN General Assembly.”McCool said no arrests have been made so far.He said the investigation that led to the seizure of the electronics began this spring in an effort to identify what he called the “fraudulent calls” made to senior US officials.- 300 servers, 100,000 SIM cards -The Secret Service said the devices it seized were located within a 35-mile (56-kilometer) radius of the UN and included 300 computer servers and 100,000 SIM cards across multiple sites.”Given the timing, location and potential for significant disruption to New York telecommunications posed by these devices, the agency moved quickly to disrupt this network,” it said.”Early analysis indicates cellular communications between nation-state threat actors and individuals that are known to federal law enforcement,” it said.The New York Times said an initial analysis of data on SIM cards has identified ties to “at least one foreign nation” as well as drug cartel members.The newspaper said 80 grams of cocaine and illegal firearms had been found at locations where the electronic devices were found.

The leader of a US congressional delegation to China warned Tuesday of the “risk of a misunderstanding” between the two countries’ militaries as advances in defence technology move at breakneck speed.Adam Smith, the most senior Democrat on Washington’s Armed Services Committee, told journalists in Beijing that China needs to talk more about its military with other global powers “for basic de-confliction”.”We’ve seen this with our ships, our planes, their ships, their planes coming entirely too close to one another,” he said at a news conference at the US Embassy.”We need to have a better conversation about de-conflicting those things.”The four-person delegation also includes other members of the same Armed Services Committee — Democrats Ro Khanna and Chrissy Houlahan — as well as Republican congressman Michael Baumgartner, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. The group on Monday met Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun, with whom they talked about the importance of “working through our differences” and more candid dialogue, according to a statement from the US side.Dong called on the visitors to “remove disruptive and restrictive factors” between them, China’s Xinhua state news agency reported.Speaking on Tuesday alongside the other lawmakers and the US Ambassador to China, David Perdue, Smith said: “AI and drone warfare and cyber and space is moving so rapidly and innovation is happening so quickly. “The risk of a misunderstanding of capabilities on one side or the other is great,” he said, adding the two sides need to talk so they “don’t stumble in any sort of conflicts”. – Tariffs, TikTok and Taiwan -The bipartisan congressional delegation comes just days after Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump spoke by telephone for the second time since the return to the White House of Trump, who has tried to keep a lid on tensions despite his once virulent criticism of China.Trump said he would meet Xi on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea starting at the end of next month and that he would travel to China next year. He said Xi would also visit the United States at an unspecified time and that the two leaders would speak again by telephone. Both sides dramatically hiked tariffs against each other during a months-long dispute earlier this year, disrupting global supply chains. Washington and Beijing then reached a deal to reduce levies, with the United States imposing 30 percent duties on imports of Chinese goods and China hitting US products with a 10 percent tariff. The deal expires in November. Smith’s group on Monday held talks with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, in which they discussed the ongoing trade talks and the hot-button issues of fentanyl, critical minerals and the future of TikTok. The White House has said a US version of TikTok would feature a homegrown model of the app’s prized algorithm, potentially clearing one of the main obstacles to keeping the Chinese-owned platform online in the United States.Asked about the TikTok issue, Smith said: “My understanding is that I don’t think that has been 100 percent resolved.”The delegation later met Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who said the “current stabilisation of China-US relations is hard-won and should be cherished”, according to a readout from Beijing.But the top diplomat took a swipe at Washington over Taiwan, telling the group of lawmakers: “The United States has made a political commitment on the one-China issue. “To safeguard peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, it is necessary to firmly oppose ‘Taiwan independence’.”

From the unproven medical claims to the self-proclaimed expertise, anyone watching Donald Trump’s autism announcements Monday could have been forgiven for having flashbacks.There were strong echoes of the US president’s pandemic performance during his first term, when he once famously mused about injecting disinfectant to counter Covid.Five years later, the Republican’s claims were almost as eye-popping.And with the health of millions at stake as he urged pregnant women not to take the painkiller Tylenol — before expounding his theories on vaccines — the stakes were just as high.”There’s a rumor — and I don’t know if it’s so or not — that Cuba, they don’t have Tylenol because they don’t have the money for Tylenol. And they have virtually no autism,” Trump said at the White House.It was perhaps the most outrageous of the claims Trump made during a more than hour-long press conference attended by an AFP reporter — but it was far from the last.”The Amish, as an example. They have essentially no autism,” Trump said of the traditionalist people, known for their horse-drawn carts and rejection of modern technology.Turning to his vaccine-skeptic Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, as he asked whether that was actually true, Trump added: “Bobby wants to be very careful with what he says. I’m not so careful with what I say.”Time and again the 79-year-old Trump admitted that his personal theories were just that — theories — even as he cast himself in the role of America’s physician-in-chief.”This is based on what I feel,” said Trump as he repeated long debunked concerns over the MMR shot combining vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella.Trump also urged further spacing for childhood vaccines that have been the cornerstone of public health programs around the world for decades — before adding: “I’m not a doctor but I’m giving my opinion.”- ‘Tough it out’ -The billionaire former reality TV star has long made his name challenging the conventional wisdom on politics and diplomacy, and it has won him two elections.But it is on health where his views have often veered furthest from the mainstream. During the Covid pandemic Trump repeatedly resisted lockdowns and masking measures, while throwing his weight behind unproven drugs like hydroxychloroquine.He was widely mocked when, during one of his many freewheeling White House briefings on Covid in 2020, he gave some increasingly bizarre suggestions about how to treat the disease.Trump mused about bringing “light inside the body” — and disinfectant.”I see the disinfectant, it knocks it out in a minute… is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside,” he asked a bemused expert.During his second term, Trump’s pick of Kennedy as his health secretary has brought once fringe medical ideas into the heart of the government.Trump himself says he has long been preoccupied with autism, and showed supreme confidence in his views on Monday — even as he struggled to pronounce “acetaminophen,” or paracetamol, the active ingredient in Tylenol.”Don’t take it,” Trump said repeatedly.He urged pregnant women in pain to avoid the drug and “tough it out,” but had few answers for what they should do for fevers that could harm them or their babies.Veering off on the subject of vaccines, Trump also had his own theories.He insisted that children should not be vaccinated against Hepatitis B until the age of 12, versus soon after birth, saying: “Hepatitis B is sexually transmitted. There’s no reason to give a baby that’s almost just born hepatitis B.”Trump added that children were being loaded up with “too much liquid” while being innoculated against potentially fatal diseases — repeating a frequent anti-vaccine talking point.”They pump so much stuff into those beautiful little babies, it’s a disgrace,” he said. “It looks like they’re pumping into a horse.”