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Billionaire Elon Musk on Tuesday said he was pulling away from spending his fortune on politics, asserting that his Tesla electric car company was doing well despite blowback due to his support of US President Donald Trump.”In terms of political spending, I’m going to do a lot less in the future,” Musk told Bloomberg’s Qatar Economic Forum in Doha, speaking by video link from Austin, Texas.Musk, the richest person on Earth, spent hundreds of millions of dollars on Trump’s political campaign, and questions were rife in Washington whether his largesse would continue.”If I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it. I don’t currently see a reason,” he said in the often tense interview.The comments will trigger speculation that the close relationship between Trump and Musk may be shifting as the Tesla tycoon steps away from his full-time role as cost-cutting chief for the US administration.Musk confirmed that he has reduced his role as the unofficial head of the administration’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” working there now just two days a week.Tesla, which is the major source of Musk’s wealth, has suffered significant brand damage due to his political work, particularly with Trump. He has also expressed support for the far-right anti-immigration AfD party in Germany. Since Trump took office, Tesla dealerships have become scenes of protest and vandalism in the United States and beyond.When asked if he was worried about the effects of his political positions on sales at the electric carmaker, Musk hit back to say the company was doing fine.Aside from a sales decline in Europe, “we’re strong everywhere else,” Musk said.He pointed to the performance of Tesla’s shares on Wall Street as a sign that the company was on good footing.”We’re now back over a trillion dollars in market cap, so clearly, the market is aware of the situation, so (Tesla) is already turned around,” he said.

US President Donald Trump rallied Republicans on Capitol Hill Tuesday to back a so-called “big, beautiful bill” that is likely to increase the yawning budget deficit and cut health care for millions of Americans.Sharp divisions in the party have slowed the progress through Congress of Trump’s budget bill, which pairs an extension of the billionaire’s signature tax cuts from his first term with a series of savings.But conservatives are angling for much deeper spending cuts to tackle the ballooning deficit, while moderates say the savings would mean millions of the poorest Americans lose health coverage under the Medicaid program.Trump said as he was greeted by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson that there were “one or two grandstanders” blocking the bill but that he was confident of a deal.He warned that without the bill the United States would face huge tax increases.”I think we’re going to have a very good discussion. There are one or two points that some people feel strongly about, but maybe not so strong,” Trump told reporters as he went in to meet lawmakers.Trump has been eager to present the bill as a significant legislative accomplishment early in his second term, after a frenzied first few months where he has governed largely through presidential orders.- Health care fears -Fiscal hawks oppose the bill on the grounds that it would pile on to the already huge US budget deficit. Independent congressional analysts calculate that the mega-bill’s tax provisions would add more than $4.8 trillion over the coming decade.Trump insisted that he was “not touching” Medicaid but just cutting “waste, fraud and abuse” — the slogan of the administration’s cost-slashing drive led by tech tycoon Elon Musk.The bill would, however, add new restrictions on the Medicaid program that helps provide health insurance for more than 70 million lower-income Americans.They would include toughening work requirements for those receiving assistance and cutting it for undocumented migrants.The policy change would result in more than 10 million people losing coverage under the program, according to estimates by the independent Congressional Budget Office.Moderate Republicans fear overly large cuts in the popular program could upset the party’s prospects in the November 2026 midterm elections.The bill — which is formally known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill” — cleared a key hurdle on Sunday when it finally progressed out of the House Budget Committee.Several rebels who had blocked it on Friday dropped their earlier opposition after speaker Johnson spent the weekend persuading them.But Trump will need everyone onside for it to get past Congress.Republicans have a very slim majority in the House, meaning the legislation needs almost unanimous support to pass, with Democrats united against the bill.Even if the bill passes in the House, it will face challenges in the Senate, where Republicans are demanding major changes.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia on Tuesday of delaying peace talks in a bid to pursue its three-year invasion, even as US President Donald Trump pushes for an immediate ceasefire.Trump spoke by phone on Monday to both Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, while Russian and Ukrainian officials met in Istanbul on Friday for their first direct talks on the conflict in more than three years.The talks failed to yield a truce, and Zelensky accused Putin of sending “empty heads” to the negotiating table.”It is obvious that Russia is trying to buy time in order to continue its war and occupation,” Zelensky said in a post on social media.Trump framed his two-hour conversation with Putin, the third so far this year, as a breakthrough.The Republican is seeking an elusive deal to end the war that he had promised on the election campaign trail to solve in 24 hours.But Putin again rebuffed the call for a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire, instead saying only that he was ready to work with Ukraine on a “memorandum” outlining a possible roadmap and different positions on ending the war.Moscow is feeling confident, with its troops advancing on the battlefield and Trump having resumed dialogue with Putin after almost three years of the West shunning the Kremlin chief.”The memorandum buys time for Russia,” Russian political analyst Konstantin Kalachev told AFP.”The cessation of hostilities is not a condition for it, which means that Russia can continue its offensive,” he added.Zelensky said on Monday he had no details of what this “memorandum” would be but was willing to look at Russia’s ideas.Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and has since destroyed swathes of the country’s east, killed tens of thousands and now controls around one-fifth of its territory.- Trump’s no ‘messiah’ -People who spoke to AFP both in Kyiv and Moscow were sceptical about peace prospects and thought the Putin-Trump call had not bring them closer. “I never had any faith in him and now I have none at all,” a retired teacher Victoria Kyseliova told AFP in Kyiv, when asked if she was losing confidence in Trump.Vitaliy, a 53-year-old engineer from Kyiv, said Trump was no “messiah” and that his flurry of diplomacy has changed little. Ukrainian political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko said Trump’s latest calls had only added to the uncertainty.”This conversation not only failed to clarify the future of the negotiations but further confused the situation,” he said.He said Trump had fallen for Putin’s tactics of trying to use talks “as a cover to continue and intensify the war”.In Moscow, there was defiance and confidence.  “I believe that we don’t need these negotiations. We will win anyway,” Marina, a 70-year-old former engineer, told AFP.- Sanctions push -Ukraine and Europe are trying to put pressure on Trump to impose on Moscow a new package of massive sanctions after Putin declined to travel to Turkey for face-to-face talks with Zelensky.Kyiv accused Moscow’s negotiators of making unrealistic demands at the Istanbul talks, including sweeping territorial claims that Ukraine has repeatedly rejected.Zelensky said on Monday that Kyiv and its allies needed to “work hard” to convince Trump of the need for more sanctions.On Tuesday, the European Union formally adopted its 17th round of sanctions on Moscow, targeting 200 vessels of Russia’s so-called shadow maritime fleet, and drawing ire from Russia.”Western politicians and the media are making titanic efforts to disrupt the constructive dialogue between Russia and the United States,” said Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s Direct Investment Fund and lead economic negotiator with the United States.Russia has successfully withstood sanctions, rerouting its vital oil and gas supplies to India and China.Zelensky said he had discussed preparations for the next sanctions package with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. “Russian oil, energy trade infrastructure, banks and financial schemes — these are the areas that hurt Russia the most and therefore contribute the most to peace,” he said. The Ukrainian president added he was closely coordinating every step with the European partners following yesterday’s conversation with Trump. Russia’s key ally China said on Tuesday it also backed direct dialogue between the warring sides.”It is hoped that the parties concerned will carry on with the dialogue… to reach a fair, lasting and binding peace agreement acceptable to all parties,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.

Rising seas will severely test humanity’s resilience in the second half of the 21st century and beyond, even if nations defy the odds and cap global warming at the ambitious 1.5 degrees Celsius target, researchers said Tuesday. The pace at which global oceans are rising has doubled in three decades, and on current trends will double again by 2100 to about one centimetre per year, they reported in a study.  “Limiting global warming to 1.5C would be a major achievement” and avoid many dire climate impacts, lead author Chris Stokes, a professor at Durham University in England, told AFP.”But even if this target is met,” he added, “sea level rise is likely to accelerate to rates that are very difficult to adapt to.”Absent protective measures such as sea walls, an additional 20 centimetres (7.8 inches) of sea level rise — the width of a letter-size sheet of paper — by 2050 would cause some $1 trillion in flood damage annually in the world’s 136 largest coastal cities, earlier research has shown. Some 230 million people live on land within one metre (3.2 feet) of sea level, and more than a billion reside within 10 metres.Sea level rise is driven in roughly equal measure by the disintegration of ice sheets and mountain glaciers, as well as the expansion of warming oceans, which absorb more than 90 percent of the excess heat due to climate change.Averaged across 20 years, Earth’s surface temperature is currently 1.2C above pre-industrial levels, already enough to lift the ocean watermark by several metres over the coming centuries, Stokes and colleagues noted in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.The world is on track to see temperatures rise 2.7C above that benchmark by the end of the century.- Tipping points -In a review of scientific literature since the last major climate assessment by the UN-mandated Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Stokes and his team focused on the growing contribution of ice sheets to rising seas.In 2021, the IPCC projected “likely” sea level rise of 40 to 80 centimetres by 2100, depending on how how quickly humanity draws down greenhouse gas emissions, but left ice sheets out of their calculations due to uncertainty. The picture has become alarmingly more clear since then.”We are probably heading for the higher numbers within that range, possibly higher,” said Stokes. The scientist and his team looked at three baskets of evidence, starting with what has been observed and measured to date. Satellite data has revealed that ice sheets with enough frozen water to lift oceans some 65 metres are far more sensitive to climate change than previously suspected.The amount of ice melting or breaking off into the ocean from Greenland and West Antarctica, now averaging about 400 billion tonnes a year, has quadrupled over the last three decades, eclipsing runoff from mountain glaciers. Estimates of how much global warming it would take to push dwindling ice sheets past a point of no return, known as tipping points, have also shifted.”We used to think that Greenland wouldn’t do anything until the world warmed 3C,” said Stokes. “Now the consensus for tipping points for Greenland and West Antarctica is about 1.5C.”The 2015 Paris climate treaty calls for capping global warming at “well below” 2C, and 1.5C if possible.The scientists also looked at fresh evidence from the three most recent periods in Earth’s history with comparable temperatures and atmospheric levels of CO2, the main driver of global warming.About 125,000 years ago during the previous “interglacial” between ice ages, sea levels were two to nine metres higher than today despite a slightly lower average global temperature and significantly less CO2 in the air — 287 parts per million, compared to 424 ppm today.A slightly warmer period 400,000 ago with CO2 concentrations at about 286 ppm saw oceans 6-to-13 metres higher. And if we go back to the last moment in Earth’s history with CO2 levels like today, some three million years ago, sea levels were 10-to-20 metres higher.Finally, scientists reviewed recent projections of how ice sheets will behave in the future. “If you want to slow sea level rise from ice sheets, you clearly have to cool back from present-day temperatures,” Stokes told AFP.”To slow sea level rise from ice sheets to a manageable level requires a long-term temperature goal that is close to +1C, or possibly lower.”

US President Donald Trump signed a bill on Monday making it a federal crime to post “revenge porn” — whether it is real or generated by artificial intelligence.The “Take It Down Act,” passed with overwhelming bipartisan congressional support, criminalizes non-consensual publication of intimate images, while also mandating their removal from online platforms.”With the rise of AI image generation, countless women have been harassed with deepfakes and other explicit images distributed against their will,” Trump said at a signing ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House.”And today we’re making it totally illegal,” the president said. “Anyone who intentionally distributes explicit images without the subject’s consent will face up to three years in prison.”Websites that fail to remove the images promptly, within 48 hours, will face civil liabilities, Trump said.First Lady Melania Trump endorsed the bill in early March and attended the signing ceremony in a rare public White House appearance.The First Lady has largely been an elusive figure at the White House since her husband took the oath of office on January 20, spending only limited time in Washington. In remarks at the signing ceremony, she described the bill as a “national victory that will help parents and families protect children from online exploitation.””This legislation is a powerful step forward in our efforts to ensure that every American, especially young people, can feel better protected from their image or identity being abused,” she said.Deepfakes often rely on artificial intelligence and other tools to create realistic-looking fake videos.They can be used to create falsified pornographic images of real women, which are then published without their consent and proliferate.Some US states, including California and Florida, have laws criminalizing the publication of sexually explicit deepfakes, but critics have voiced concerns the “Take It Down Act” grants the authorities increased censorship power.The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit focused on free expression, has said the bill gives “the powerful a dangerous new route to manipulate platforms into removing lawful speech that they simply don’t like.” The bill would require social media platforms and websites to have procedures in place to swiftly remove non-consensual intimate imagery upon notification from a victim.- Harassment, bullying, blackmail -An online boom in non-consensual deepfakes is currently outpacing efforts to regulate the technology around the world due to a proliferation of AI tools, including photo apps digitally undressing women.While high-profile politicians and celebrities, including singer Taylor Swift and Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have been victims of deepfake porn, experts say women not in the public eye are equally vulnerable.A wave of AI porn scandals have been reported at schools across US states with hundreds of teenagers targeted by their own classmates.Such non-consensual imagery can lead to harassment, bullying or blackmail, sometimes causing devastating mental health consequences, experts warn.Renee Cummings, an AI and data ethicist and criminologist at the University of Virginia, said the bill is a “significant step” in addressing the exploitation of AI-generated deepfakes and non-consensual imagery.”Its effectiveness will depend on swift and sure enforcement, severe punishment for perpetrators and real-time adaptability to emerging digital threats,” Cummings told AFP.At least one mother hailed the new legislation as a step in the right direction.”It’s a very important first step,” Dorota Mani told AFP on Monday, calling it at “very powerful bill.”As the mother of a young victim, Mani said she felt empowered because “now I have a legal weapon in my hand, which nobody can say no to.”

At first glance, the Instagram profile of Ms Rachel fits the image an influencer who has won millions of devoted subscribers for her sing-songy educational content for toddlers and parenting tips.In a pink hairband and denim dungarees, the 42-year-old mother-of-two doles out advice on potty training kids and moral support for struggling parents — always with a reassuring smile.So it was an abrupt shift last year when she began speaking out about the plight of children in Gaza, peppering her account with appeals for aid that sowed discord among followers and spurred calls for a federal investigation.”I think it should be controversial to not say anything,” she said a recent interview with independent anchor Mehdi Hassan, of the mounting backlash against her fundraising and advocacy.”It’s sad that people try to make it controversial when you speak out for children that are facing immeasurable suffering. Silence wasn’t a choice for me,” she added.That compulsion has put a spotlight on the beloved figure in millions of households, the American early childhood educator and social media sensation known offline as Rachel Accurso.The fallout comes at a perilous moment for children in the war-battered Palestinian enclave, where aid has only just begun to trickle in after Israel cut it off for weeks, and where aid groups have sounded the alarm over food shortages and famine.But the backlash against her activism — which she has aimed at parents on social media, rather than in her videos for children — reflects broader polarization in the United States over the war that has swept campuses, offices and society at large.- ‘All children, in every country’ -In May last year, Accurso launched a fundraising drive that gathered $50,000 for Save the Children.But she spoke also spoke tearfully about the vitriol and “bullying” that came streaming in the form of allegations of anti-Israeli bias.”Palestinian children, Israeli children, children in the US — Muslim, Jewish, Christian children — all children, in every country,” she wrote in response. “Not one is excluded.”Allegations of anti-Israeli bias and anti-Semitism have only mounted since.And so too the toll among children in Gaza, where the Hamas-run health ministry says more than 10,000 children have died since the October 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas that left 1,218 people on the Israeli side dead.A privately funded pro-Israel lobby group last month urged US Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate whether Accurso “is being funded by a foreign party to push anti-Israel propaganda to skew public opinion.”The organization StopAntisemitism, which describes itself as a grassroots watchdog, alleged Accurso was spreading “Hamas propaganda.”But it also acknowledged that Accurso had posted in support of Israeli children, including Ariel and Kfir Bibas who were the youngest hostages taken by Hamas and died in captivity.Accurso told The New York Times the accusation she is being funded by Hamas was “absurd” and “patently false.””The painful reality,” the newspaper quoted her as saying, “is that Palestinian children in Gaza have been killed by the thousands and continue to be killed, maimed and starved right now. The idea that caring about one group of children prevents us from caring about another group of children is false.”- ‘You should be ashamed’ -Accurso has deactivated comments on some of her posts urging support for Palestinian children. But commentators on other posts reflect the depth and breadth of emotions that have erupted over her posts.”Love your show. Not your politics,” one user wrote under a Ms Rachel Instagram post promoting an interview on her activism. Another commentator says: “Ms Rachel is a national treasure.”Among those voicing support for the megastar was Tommy Vietor, who worked with former president Barack Obama and hosts the popular Pod Save America podcast.”Antisemitism is a real problem and cynically and dishonestly making those allegations for political purposes makes things worse, not better,” Vietor wrote, dismissing the anti-Semitism allegations.Accurso has ultimately doubled down, despite the criticism.She recently posted images of her meeting with Rahaf, a three-year-old girl from Gaza who lost both her legs in an attack.”We know treating children like they are being treated in Gaza isn’t right morally and ethically. We know it in our souls and hearts,” she wrote along with a picture of the two embracing.”Leaders who are silent and not helping these children, you should be ashamed. Your silence will be remembered.”

When armed immigration agents made a surprise visit earlier this month to Pupatella, a trendy pizzeria in the US capital’s Dupont neighborhood, they may not have made any arrests, but they delivered a clear message.The show of force, part of an “enhanced operation” by President Donald Trump’s hardline administration, has had ripple effects through an industry reliant on immigrant labor, owners and others in the sector say.The agents asked to see employment eligibility forms known as I-9s, said Natasha Neely, vice president of Pupatella, which has several locations in the Washington area.”They did not have a warrant, and they did not have any form of paperwork, so they were turned away,” she told AFP.A few hours later, agents showed up at Pupatella’s Capitol Hill location, this time with a “notice of inspection,” Neely said. The manager referred them to the restaurant’s corporate office.The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency said it had arrested 189 undocumented migrants after handing out 187 such notices in the Washington area between May 6 and May 9.In a press release, it described the activity as an “enhanced targeted immigration enforcement operation focusing on criminal alien offenders.” While the inspection notices are not unusual, Neely said, they are normally delivered by e-mail due to their administrative nature.”We have never experienced anything like this,” she said, expressing confusion about why the restaurant had been targeted.- Crackdown fear -Trump has made deporting undocumented immigrants a key priority for his second term, after successfully campaigning against an alleged “invasion” by criminals.So far, his administration has deported tens of thousands of migrants, with US courts hearing cases on allegations that the government violated due process in certain cases.Undocumented migrants are “the backbone of our industry. From top to bottom,” Shawn Townsend, president of the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington (RAMW), told AFP.In addition to the restaurant industry, immigrant labor plays a crucial role in many sectors of the economy, including agriculture and construction.Before Trump’s inauguration in January, RAMW knew immigration enforcement “was going to be a priority of the incoming administration, and so we held our first I-9 training workshop,” said Townsend.One restaurant owner, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he felt threatened when immigration agents recently visited his establishment.”I’m going to see what the repercussions of that are. Basically, I don’t know whether they’re going to fine me forever or try to put me in jail,” he said.- Labor impacts -According to a survey by employment law firm Littler Mendelson, 58 percent of executives said they were concerned Trump’s anti-immigration policies would create labor shortages. The manufacturing and hospitality sectors were the most concerned.Since his restaurant was visited, the owner who requested anonymity said “anyone who had any questions about their eligibility to work has left.””They were advised by advocates… to basically just lay low, not come into work.”Townsend said that the “political climate” and economic challenges facing small businesses were likely combining to raise anxiety among restaurant workers.Increased immigration enforcement, as during Trump’s first term in office, “creates a scenario where (staff) may not return to work,” he said.Neely said employees at Pupatella were startled by the surprise ICE visit, but that the restaurant was taking steps to address the situation.”We’ve made sure all of the managers know what the restaurants’ rights are and what each team member’s rights are,” she said.Nevertheless, the raids do have a chilling effect.”Let’s be honest, if anyone shows up at any location in a federal uniform with guns and vests… that’s unnerving.”

The US Supreme Court on Monday allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to end legal protections that have shielded some 350,000 Venezuelans from potential deportation.The top court granted a request by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to revoke temporary protected status (TPS) for the Venezuelans while an appeal proceeds in a lower court.Federal law permits TPS to be granted to foreign citizens who cannot safely return home because of war, natural disasters or other “extraordinary” conditions.Former president Joe Biden extended TPS for Venezuelans for 18 months just days before Trump returned to the White House in January, citing ongoing crises in the South American country under longtime ruler Nicolas Maduro.A federal judge in California put a temporary stay in March on the Trump administration’s plans to end TPS for Venezuelan nationals.US District Judge Edward Chen said the plan to end TPS “smacks of racism” and mischaracterizes Venezuelans as criminals.”Acting on the basis of a negative group stereotype and generalizing such stereotype to the entire group is the classic example of racism,” Chen wrote.Solicitor General John Sauer filed an emergency application with the conservative-majority Supreme Court asking it to stay the judge’s order.Reacting to the Supreme Court’s decision on Monday, Venezuelan-American activist Adelys Ferro blasted “a xenophobic, discriminatory, racist attack, coordinated for more than a year against a community whose only sin was to run away from a criminal dictatorship.”She pointed to the US State Department’s continued Level 4 safety advisory for Venezuela — its highest warning against travel to the country.”The Trump administration is basically becoming our tormentor, at least of the most vulnerable,” Ferro told AFP by phone.Trump campaigned for president promising to deport millions of undocumented migrants and a number of his executive orders around immigration have encountered pushback from judges across the country — including the Supreme Court.The president lashed out at the Supreme Court last week after it blocked his bid to resume deportations of alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua using an obscure wartime law, the 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA).”The Supreme Court of the United States is not allowing me to do what I was elected to do,” he said. “This is a bad and dangerous day for America!”In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court, which includes three justices nominated by Trump, said the alleged Tren de Aragua members were not being given enough time to legally contest their removal.Trump invoked the AEA, which was last used to round up Japanese-American citizens during World War II, on March 15 and flew two planeloads of alleged TdA members to El Salvador’s notorious maximum security CECOT prison.Since taking office, Trump has sent troops to the Mexican border, imposed tariffs on Mexico and Canada for allegedly not doing enough to stop illegal crossings, and designated gangs like TdA and MS-13 as terrorist groups.

US President Donald Trump fueled speculation Monday that Joe Biden’s cancer diagnosis was covered up, saying he was “surprised” the public was not told about his predecessor’s condition earlier.Republican Trump’s extraordinary claim came just a day after it emerged that his bitter Democratic political rival, 82, had an aggressive form of prostate cancer.Trump also tried to tie the issue into a wider political row — sparked by a new book released this week — about whether Biden’s White House covered up evidence of his cognitive decline while in office.Biden had earlier Monday expressed gratitude for an outpouring of “love and support” following his shock diagnosis.”I’m surprised that the public wasn’t notified a long time ago,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked for his reaction to Biden’s cancer.”It takes a long time to get to that situation, to get to a stage nine,” he added, apparently referring to the announcement by Biden’s office that his cancer had “a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5).”Prostate cancer that looks “very abnormal” is assigned the highest rating, Grade 5, according to the American Cancer Society. The Gleason Score goes up to 10, indicating the seriousness of Biden’s disease.Oncologists that AFP spoke with, however, said that screening limitations could very well have left Biden’s condition undetected until now, and that late identification of an advanced cancer would not be unheard of, even for a former president receiving top-of-the-line medical care.- ‘Things going on’ -Suggesting that tests when Biden was president should have picked up signs of the disease, Trump added: “If you take a look it’s the same doctor that said Joe was cognitively fine.””There are things going on that the public wasn’t informed of.” Trump, who spent much of the 2024 election campaign bashing Biden’s cognitive fitness, had said in a statement on Sunday that he was “saddened” by the diagnosis. But 24 hours later he was leaning into accusations by others in his orbit of a cover-up, including his son Don Jr.Don Jr. questioned on Sunday whether the cancer should have been detected earlier — and then on Monday boosted unfounded claims Biden had covered up a previous diagnosis.He posted a clip of Biden — whose son Beau died of brain cancer — saying in an apparent gaffe in 2022 that “I, and so damn many other people I grew up with, have cancer.”Vice President JD Vance meanwhile said that “we really do need to be honest” about Biden’s fitness.”You can separate the desire for him to have the right health outcome with a recognition that — whether it was doctors or whether there were staffers around the former president — I don’t think he was able to do a good job for the American people,” Vance said after a meeting with Pope Leo XIV.- ‘Quick buck’ -The cancer diagnosis comes amid swirling new questions in recent weeks over Biden’s health while in office, with a new book titled “Original Sin” by two journalists alleging his staff worked to conceal his decline.Biden’s granddaughter Naomi lashed out at the book’s authors, CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson, calling it “a bunch of unoriginal, uninspired lies written by irresponsible self promoting journalists out to make a quick buck.”Biden’s team has consistently denied there was any effort to hide fears about his health.His diagnosis had prompted an outpouring of support from other quarters, including Biden’s vice president Kamala Harris and ordinary Americans.”Cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places,” Biden said on social media on Monday, including a photo of him and former first lady Jill Biden.”Thank you for lifting us up with love and support.”Britain’s King Charles, 76, who himself is being treated for an undisclosed form of cancer, wrote to Biden over the weekend to express his well wishes, Buckingham Palace said.The mental and physical health of Biden, the oldest person ever to hold the US presidency, was a dominant issue in the 2024 election.After a disastrous debate performance against Trump, Biden ended his campaign for a second term.

The first group of undocumented migrants who accepted a payment of $1,000 from the US government and agreed to “self-deport” were flown from the United States to Honduras and Colombia on Monday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said.A total of 64 migrants were aboard the “voluntary charter flight” that took off from Houston, Texas, DHS said in a statement.”They received travel assistance, a $1,000 stipend, and preserved the possibility they could one day return to the United States legally,” it said.Thirty-eight of the migrants were flown to Honduras, while the other 26 went to Colombia.DHS Secretary Kristi Noem urged other undocumented migrants in the United States to take advantage of what the department is calling “Project Homecoming.””Take control of your departure and receive financial support to return home,” Noem said. “If you don’t, you will be subjected to fines, arrest, deportation and will never be allowed to return.”If you are in this country illegally, self-deport now and preserve your opportunity to potentially return the legal, right way,” she said.Donald Trump campaigned for president promising to expel millions of undocumented migrants, and he has taken a number of actions since returning to power in January aimed at speeding up deportations.For instance, Trump has invoked an obscure wartime law to summarily deport alleged Venezuelan gang members, has sent troops to the Mexican border, and has imposed tariffs on Mexico and Canada for allegedly not doing enough to stop illegal border crossings.