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US President Donald Trump said Monday that tariffs he unveiled on Canada and Mexico are moving forward as planned, addressing reporters after meeting with French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, who urged “fair competition” in trade.The two leaders’ talks, which focused on the conflict in Ukraine, come as Trump threatens allies and adversaries alike with fresh tariffs, sparking a flurry of negotiations.Shortly after taking office, Trump announced duties of up to 25 percent on Canadian and Mexican imports, citing illegal immigration and the flow of deadly fentanyl.But he issued a last-minute halt to the levies for a month as talks continued.The pause ends next Tuesday, and all eyes are on whether the North American neighbors can come to deals to avert their implementation — which would snarl supply chains in key sectors such as auto manufacturing.”The tariffs are going forward on time, on schedule,” Trump told a press conference on Monday.Trump’s update came after Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said earlier Monday that talks with Washington would continue this week to avoid the sweeping levies.She expressed optimism about reaching a deal with Trump, hinting at potential levies on Chinese goods to secure an agreement.Sheinbaum also signaled that Mexico was open to an early review of its trade agreement with the United States and Canada ahead of a 2026 deadline.Separately, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly told reporters Monday that “the threat of tariffs is a real one, and may continue for a while.”Trump reiterated at his press conference with Macron that Washington is also seeking “reciprocity” with other countries.He added: “If somebody charges us, we charge them.”Meanwhile, Macron called on Trump for “fair competition” in trade, noting that the American and European economies are deeply intertwined. While Trump has placed emphasis on trade in goods, Macron pointed out the United States is a major exporter in digital products.He urged for more investments on both sides.Apart from blanket duties on major US trading partners Canada and Mexico, Trump has launched plans for “reciprocal tariffs” that would be tailored to each country, with details to come at a later time. In an interview later Monday with Fox News, Macron hit out at the Trump administration’s pledges to impose tariffs on multiple fronts. “Come on. You cannot have a trade war with China and Europe at the same time,” Macron said, adding that he hoped he convinced Trump as much. “The transatlantic relation is at a very important moment and the top priority is to work together very closely, to have a good, solid and sustainable peace in full transparency,” he said.

Clint Hill, a Secret Service agent who threw himself onto US president John F. Kennedy’s limousine to try and protect him from an assassin’s bullets, has died at the age of 93.The Secret Service, announcing Hill’s death at his home in California, praised the ex-agent’s “unwavering dedication and exceptional service” to the Kennedy family and four other presidents.Hill was a member of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy’s protective detail in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963 when the president was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald while riding in an open car.Hill, who was in a car just behind the president’s limo, dove onto the back of Kennedy’s vehicle in an attempt to shield him and his wife.”If I had reacted just a little bit quicker,” Hill later recounted in an interview with the CBS news show “60 Minutes.” “I’ll live with that to my grave.”The tragic moment was memorialized in a news agency photograph which showed Hill clambering up the trunk of the president’s vehicle.He shielded the bodies of Kennedy and his wife during the ride to the hospital, where the president was declared dead.Hill retired from the Secret Service when he was 43 and wrote several books, including “Five Days in November” about the Kennedy assassination, an event he said had been “seared into my mind and soul.””In the blink of an eye, everything changed,” he wrote. “Those days remain the defining period of my life.”Another book, “Five Presidents,” recounted his service protecting presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

A US judge is to hear arguments on Monday in a lawsuit filed by the Associated Press over the White House’s denial of its access to President Donald Trump’s events.The AP, in the suit filed in Washington against three White House officials, said the move violates the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and of the press.The White House began blocking AP journalists from the Oval Office two weeks ago, over the wire service’s decision to keep using “Gulf of Mexico,” despite a Trump executive order renaming the body of water as the “Gulf of America.”The ban on AP reporters was later extended to Air Force One, where the news agency has long had permanent seats.”The Constitution does not allow the government to control speech,” the AP said in its complaint.”The press and all people in the United States have the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the government,” it said.The suit names as defendants White House chief of staff Susan Wiles, deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich and press secretary Karoline Leavitt.The AP is seeking a temporary restraining order from Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, immediately rescinding the denial of access to AP reporters.Lawyers for the White House officials, in a motion filed with the court, said the case is not about prohibiting the AP from attending press briefings or using press facilities at the White House.”Instead, this case is about the Associated Press losing special media access to the President — a quintessentially discretionary presidential choice that infringes no constitutional right,” they said.”Most journalists have no routine access to the Oval Office, Air Force One, or the President’s home at Mar-a-Lago,” they said. “The President has discretion to decide who will have special media access to exclusive events,” they said.”That same discretion extends to whom he allows into the Oval Office (his personal workspace), Air Force One (his personal plane), and Mar-a-Lago (his private residence),” they said.In its style guide, the AP noted that the Gulf of Mexico has “carried that name for more than 400 years” and said it “will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen.””As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences,” it said.The 180-year-old AP has long been a pillar of US journalism and provides news to print, TV and radio outlets across the United States and around the world. 

The United States voted with Russia Monday against a resolution condemning its invasion of Ukraine, rejecting a text widely adopted by the UN General Assembly.As US President Donald Trump stakes out a new position on the Ukraine war, ending a thaw with Russia, a European-backed text marking the conflict’s third anniversary won93 votes for and 18 votes against, with 65 abstentions.Washington sided with Moscow and Russian allies Belarus, North Korea and Sudan to vote against the text.The resolution — which won far less support compared to previous ones on the war — strongly criticizes Russia, and emphasizes Ukraine’s territorial integrity and inviolability of its borders.Washington drafted a rival resolution amid an intensifying feud between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.Russian ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia had called the US text “a step in the right direction” amid the sudden rapprochement between Russia and the US under Trump.But Washington’s ally France put forward amendments to the US text and told the General Assembly that Paris, along with other European countries including Britain, would “not be able to support in its current form.”These countries, all backers of Ukraine, pushed to reword the US text to say that the “full-scale invasion of Ukraine” had been carried out by Russia.Hungary, whose prime minister Viktor Orban is seen as the most pro-Putin leader in Europe, voted against the amendments.The changes also reaffirmed a commitment to Ukraine’s territorial integrity — which had been omitted from the US text.The US proposal was so heavily amended that Washington ultimately abstained on its own text as the assembly passed it.”Overall the Europeans’ defensive tactics blunted a pretty crude US diplomatic charge over the last few days,” said International Crisis Group’s Richard Gowan. “I think that the US likely miscalculated how many votes they could swing in a very short space of time.”The inviolability of Ukrainian territorial integrity was a cornerstone of previous resolutions passed by the Assembly, with the United States under former president Joe Biden among its strongest supporters.”Neither these amendments, nor the resolution offered by Ukraine will stop the killing. The UN must stop the killing. We urge all Member States to join us in returning the UN to its core mission of international peace and security,” said Washington’s envoy to the UN, Dorothy Shea, ahead of the vote.Following the vote Mariana Betsa, Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister, insisted that “we have a really good working relationship” with Washington after she was asked whether Washington’s maneuver had led to a rupture in ties.- Security Council in spotlight -Following the General Assembly vote, Washington is expected to bring its text — essentially the original, unamended one — to a vote at the Security Council later Monday. A State Department official warned the US would veto any amendments by Russia or the Europeans. The rules at the UN state that  Washington and other  permanent members of the council cannot veto amendments brought at the General Assembly.To be adopted by the Security Council, a resolution needs the votes of at least nine of the 15 members while not being vetoed by any of the five permanent members — the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China.Even if the EU members of the council — France, Slovenia, Denmark and Greece, along with Britain — were to abstain, the US resolution could still pass.That would raise the question of whether France or Britain would be prepared to wield their first vetoes in more than 30 years.Their respective leaders, Emmanuel Macron and Keir Starmer, are visiting the White House this week for key talks on Ukraine. “I do not see how Paris and London can support a text that is so far from their stated positions on Ukraine, but I also do not see how they can veto it,” said Gowan. UN chief Antonio Guterres on Sunday called for a peace that “fully upholds Ukraine’s territorial integrity” and respects the UN Charter.  

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is preparing for the next test flight of its Starship megarocket on Friday, following a dramatic mid-air explosion over the Caribbean during its last trial.A launch window from the company’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, opens at 5:30 PM (2330 GMT), pending regulatory approval.It will mark the eighth test flight of Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, with SpaceX broadcasting the launch live via webcast. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded Starship after its previous flight on January 16 ended with the upper stage disintegrating in a fiery cascade over Turks and Caicos, prompting cleanup and recovery efforts for fallen debris.Under standard procedures, SpaceX must either complete its “mishap investigation” — which the FAA must review and approve — or request an early return to flight before the probe is finalized. The FAA did not immediately respond to a query about the status of the investigation.During Joe Biden’s presidency, Musk frequently accused the FAA of excessive scrutiny of SpaceX over safety and environmental concerns. Now, as President Donald Trump’s closest advisor, the world’s richest man faces allegations of wielding undue influence over regulatory agencies overseeing his companies.For the upcoming flight, SpaceX has implemented numerous upgrades to the upper-stage spaceship that the company says enhance reliability and performance.The mission is expected to last just over an hour and will include another attempt to catch the booster stage using the launch tower’s “chopstick” arms — a feat SpaceX has successfully executed twice, including during the last flight.Additionally, the company will attempt to deploy Starlink simulators, designed to mimic next-generation Starlink satellites. These simulators will burn up upon atmospheric re-entry.Starship plays a crucial role in Musk and SpaceX’s long-term vision of colonizing Mars. Meanwhile, NASA is awaiting a modified version of the rocket to serve as a lunar lander for its Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon.Before these ambitious goals can be realized, SpaceX must first prove Starship is flightworthy and safe for crewed missions. The company also needs to demonstrate the capability for complex in-orbit refueling — using other Starships as fuel tankers — to enable long-distance space travel.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump sought to smooth over a transatlantic rift on Ukraine Monday, with the US president eyeing a deal to end Russia’s invasion “within weeks” backed by European peacekeepers.Hosting Macron at the White House on the third anniversary of the Russian invasion, Trump also said he expected Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky to visit this week or next, to sign a deal giving Washington access to Kyiv’s minerals.Trump hailed Macron as a “very special man” as they shared one of their trademark macho handshakes in the Oval Office — with the French president seeking to use his ties with Trump to shore up support for Ukraine.”I think we could end it within weeks — if we’re smart. If we’re not smart, it will keep going,” Trump said.The US president added that Russian President Vladimir Putin was ready to “accept” European troops deployed in Ukraine as guarantors of a deal to end fighting.Macron said that both leaders wanted a “solid long lasting peace,” proclaimed that Europe was ready to “step up” defense spending and reiterated that Europe was ready to deploy peacekeepers.But he said he wanted “strong” US involvement in any such plan.Both Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer — who is visiting the White House on Thursday — have said their countries are ready to contribute peacekeeping troops in Ukraine if there is a deal.- ‘Cannot be weak’ -The friendly tone of the Oval Office meeting came despite many European nations fearing that Trump’s recent embrace of Russian talking points on Ukraine could herald the end of the 80-year-old transatlantic alliance.Trump sent shock waves around the world when he declared his readiness to resume diplomacy with Russia and to hold talks about the future of Ukraine without the involvement of European allies or Kyiv.It sent European leaders beating a path to Trump’s door, led by Macron. The two leaders earlier Monday dialed in together from the Oval Office to a call with the heads of the G7 leading economies and Zelensky.The French president last week said he would tell the Republican: “You cannot be weak in the face of President Putin.”Trump had hit back last Friday saying that both Macron and Starmer — the leaders of Europe’s two nuclear powers — had done “nothing” to try to end the Ukraine war over the past three years.In recent days Macron has tried to coordinate a European response to Washington’s sudden policy shift.At their meeting, the French leader would present his “proposals for action” to counter the “Russian threat,” an advisor to the president said. They will also hold a joint press conference.Macron is representing the European Union as a whole during his visit, after meeting leaders across the continent, including Moscow-friendly Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the presidential advisor said.The French leader aims to persuade Trump to continue some US support for Ukraine, respecting its sovereignty.- ‘Security guarantees’ -Macron and Starmer, who will visit Trump on Thursday, coordinated on messaging prior to the French president’s departure for the United States this weekend.Britain and France have also discussed the deployment of European forces in Ukraine after a peace agreement is reached to deter Russia from future attacks. “The idea is to deploy soldiers to a second line, not on the front line. This could be combined with a multinational operation, with non-European contingents,” said a French source close to the discussions.Macron and Starmer are expected to ask Trump to provide “solid security guarantees” for the deployed forces, and possibly logistics or intelligence.US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz told reporters on Monday that “we expect to talk quite a bit about the security guarantees that Macron has put on the table.”Trump and Macron would also discuss the thorny issue of trade with the European Union, with the US president threatening sweeping tariffs against the bloc, said Waltz.

Roberta Flack, the Grammy-winning singer behind the classic “Killing Me Softly With His Song” and one of the most recognizable voices of the 1970s, died Monday at age 88.Flack’s publicist announced her death without citing a cause.The influential pop and R&B star in recent years had lost her ability to sing because of ALS, known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, which she was diagnosed with in 2022.”She died peacefully surrounded by her family,” the statement from the publicist said.The classically trained musician with a tender but confident voice produced a number of early classics of rhythm and blues that she frequently described as “scientific soul,” timeless works that blended meticulous practice with impeccable taste.Her exceptional talent was key to the “quiet storm” radio form of smooth, sensuous slow jams that popularized R&B and influenced its later aesthetics.”I’ve been told I sound like Nina Simone, Nancy Wilson, Odetta, Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick, even Mahalia Jackson,” Flack said in 1970 in The New York Times. “If everybody said I sounded like one person, I’d worry. But when they say I sound like them all, I know I’ve got my own style.”Jennifer Hudson hailed Flack as “one of the great soul singers of all time,” and Roots drummer Questlove wrote “Thank You Robert Flack. Rest in Melody.”- ‘A lot of love’ -Born Roberta Cleopatra Flack in Black Mountain, North Carolina on February 10, 1937, the artist was raised in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, DC.Her large, musical family had a penchant for gospel, and she took up the piano in her youth, exhibiting a virtuosity that ultimately earned her a music scholarship to Washington’s Howard University at just 15.She told Forbes in 2021 that her father “found an old, smelly piano in a junkyard and restored it for me and painted it green.””This was my first piano and was the instrument in which I found my expression and inspiration as a young person.”She was a regular playing clubs in Washington, where she was eventually discovered by jazz musician Les McCann.Flack signed at Atlantic Records, launching a recording career at the relatively late age of 32. But her star grew overnight after Clint Eastwood used her romantic ballad “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” on the soundtrack of his 1971 movie “Play Misty for Me.”The song earned her the Grammy for Record of the Year in 1972, a prize which she took home at the following ceremony as well for “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” thus becoming the first artist ever to win the honor two years in a row.Flack has described hearing “Killing Me Softly,” which was recorded by folk singer Lori Lieberman in 1971, on a flight and quickly rearranging it.She performed her version at a show in which she opened for the legendary music tastemaker Quincy Jones, who, blown away by her rendition, told Flack not to publicly perform the song again until she had recorded it and made it her own. It would become the defining hit of her career.A remixed rendition of “Killing Me Softly” was released in 1996 by the Fugees, with Lauryn Hill on lead vocals, bringing Flack a resurgence as it soared to top charts worldwide and scored another Grammy.She also forged a creative partnership with Donny Hathaway, a friend of hers from Howard, releasing an album of duets that included “Where Is The Love” and a rendition of Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend.”Flack’s many accolades included a lifetime achievement honor from the Recording Academy in 2020.She was a figure in the mid-20th century’s social movements, and was friends with both Reverend Jesse Jackson and activist Angela Davis. She sang at the funeral of baseball icon Jackie Robinson, Major League Baseball’s first Black player.She has described growing up “at a time ‘Black’ was the most derogatory word you could use. I went through the civil rights movement. I learned, long after leaving Black Mountain, that being Black was a positive thing, as all of us did, the most positive thing we could be.””I did a lot of songs that were considered protest songs, a lot of folk music,” she said, “but I protested as a singer with a lot of love.”

Employees of the US federal government on Monday faced a deadline imposed by Elon Musk that required them to explain their work achievements in an email or potentially lose their jobs.The demand represents the latest challenge from Musk against government workers as his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) works toward gutting federal staffing and spending.DOGE is a wide-ranging entity run by the tech entrepreneur and world’s richest person, though its cost-cutting campaign has faced increasing resistance on multiple fronts, including court rulings and some pressure from lawmakers.On Saturday, more than two million federal employees received an email from the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) — the government’s HR department — giving them until 11:59 pm Monday to submit “approximately 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week.”The message followed Musk’s post that “all federal workers” would receive the email and that “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”As the deadline neared, President Donald Trump defended Musk’s message, calling it “genius” as it would expose whether “people are working.””If people don’t respond, it’s very possible that there is no such person or they’re not working,” Trump told reporters.The demand resembled similar ultimatums Musk, known for his stringent workforce expectations, sent to staff when he took over Twitter in 2022, before renaming it X.Creating confusion among an already anxious workforce, multiple US federal agencies — including some led by prominent Trump loyalists — told staff to ignore the email, at least temporarily.The list included the Defense Department, which posted a note requesting staff “pause any response to the OPM email titled ‘What did you do last week.'”US media reported that Trump administration-appointed officials at the FBI, the State Department, and the Office of National Intelligence also instructed staff not to respond directly.However, the Treasury Department on Monday directed workers to comply with Musk’s request by midnight.The request “reflects an effort to increase accountability by the federal workforce, just as there is in the private sector,” stated an email sent to Treasury staff, seen by AFP.The Treasury added that the response “will not be difficult or time-consuming.”As confusion spread across the federal workforce, speaking anonymously, an administration official told Politico that employees should defer to their agencies on how to respond to the email.- ‘Dose of compassion’ -Unions quickly opposed Musk’s request, with the largest federal employee union, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), vowing to challenge any unlawful terminations.Several recent polls indicate that most Americans disapprove of the disruption to the nationwide federal workforce.Concern has begun to emerge on Capitol Hill from Trump’s own Republican party, which controls both the House and the Senate.”If I could say one thing to Elon Musk, it’s like, ‘Please put a dose of compassion in this,'” said Senator John Curtis of Utah, whose state has 33,000 federal employees.”These are real people. These are real lives. These are mortgages,” Curtis said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”Dozens of lawsuits against Musk’s threats or demands have yielded mixed results, with some requests for immediate halts to his orders being denied by judges.One federal judge on Monday barred the Education Department and the Office of Personnel Management from sharing sensitive information with the Musk-led department.

UN members backed a resolution supporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity Monday in the face of staunch opposition from Washington which pushed its own language that declined to blame Russia for the war or mention Kyiv’s borders.As US President Donald Trump stakes out a new position on the Ukraine war, a European-backed text marking the conflict’s third anniversary won93 votes for and 18 votes against, with 65 abstentions.Washington sided with Moscow, as well as Russian allies Belarus, North Korea and Sudan, to vote against.The text — which won far less support compared to previous resolution on the war — strongly criticizes Russia, and emphasizes Ukraine’s territorial integrity and inviolability of its borders.Washington drafted a rival resolution amid an intensifying feud between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.Russian ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia had called the US text “a step in the right direction” amid a sudden thaw between Russia and the US under Trump.But Washington’s ally France put forward amendments to the US text telling the General Assembly that Paris, along with European countries and Britain, would “not be able to support in its current form.”The countries, all backers of Ukraine, pushed to reword the US text to say that the “full-scale invasion of Ukraine” has been undertaken by Russia.Hungary, whose prime minister Viktor Orban is seen as the most pro-Putin leader in Europe, voted against the amendments.The amendments also reaffirmed a commitment to Ukraine’s “territorial integrity” — which had been omitted from the US text.The US proposal was so heavily amended that Washington ultimately abstained on its own text.The inviolability of Ukrainian territorial integrity was a cornerstone of previous resolutions passed by the Assembly, with the United States under former president Joe Biden among its strongest supporters.”The attempt to add this language detracts from what we are trying to achieve with this forward looking resolution,” said Washington’s envoy to the UN Dorothy Shea ahead of the vote.- Security Council in spotlight -Following the General Assembly vote, Washington is expected to bring its text to a vote at the Security Council later Monday, with a State Department official warning the US would veto any amendments by Russia or the Europeans. The mechanics of the UN mean that Washington could not veto the amendments brought at the General Assembly.To be adopted by the UNSC, a resolution needs the votes of at least nine of the 15 Security Council members — while not being vetoed by any of the five permanent members  — the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China.Even if the EU members of the council France, Slovenia, Denmark and Greece, along with Britain, were to abstain, the US resolution could still pass.That would raise the question of whether France or Britain would be prepared to wield their first vetoes in more than 30 years.Their respective leaders, Emmanuel Macron and Keir Starmer, are visiting the White House this week for key talks on Ukraine. “I do not see how Paris and London can support a text that is so far from their stated positions on Ukraine, but I also do not see how they can veto it,” Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group told AFP. For the Europeans, the competing votes will be “a test of their standing in the multilateral system.” At the same time, Kyiv could be left “increasingly isolated” if it draws too little support, Gowan said.With core principles of international law at stake, UN chief Antonio Guterres on Sunday called for a peace that “fully upholds Ukraine’s territorial integrity” and respects the UN Charter.  

Mexico’s president said Monday she was optimistic about reaching an agreement with Donald Trump this week to avoid sweeping US tariffs, hinting at possible levies on Chinese goods to secure a deal.Claudia Sheinbaum said talks with Washington would continue this week in an effort to avoid the 25 percent tariffs that Trump agreed on February 3 to “pause” for a month.Teams from Mexico’s economy and finance ministries are in Washington and if necessary Sheinbaum said she would speak with Trump again by phone, adding: “Whatever it takes to reach an agreement.”Asked about a Bloomberg News report that the United States was pushing her government to impose duties on Chinese imports, Sheinbaum said it was important to “prioritize those places where you have trade agreements versus others where you do not have them.””We do not have a free trade agreement with China, for example… So that’s part of what is being worked on in this working group,” she added.Both Trump and Canadian officials have accused Mexico of being a gateway for Chinese products coming into North America.In an apparent bid to ease those concerns, Sheinbaum recently presented a plan to replace Chinese imports with domestically produced goods.She signaled Monday that Mexico was open to an early review of its free trade agreement with the United States and Canada ahead of a 2026 deadline, saying it “can begin now.””The issue is to reach an agreement that allows us to protect and guarantee that there are no tariffs between our countries,” she said.Mexico faces mounting pressure from Washington to do more to curb illegal flows of migrants and drugs, particularly fentanyl.Sheinbaum called for a review of how the chemical precursors used to make the deadly opioid arrive in North America.”Do the precursors enter through the United States? We don’t know. Why is it only said that they enter through Mexico and Canada?” she said.According to the US Drug Enforcement Administration, Mexican drug cartels dominate the illicit fentanyl market using precursor chemicals mostly sourced from China-based suppliers.