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Donald Trump declared “America is back” Tuesday in his first address to Congress since returning to power, touting his radical policies in the face of raucous Democratic hostility while proclaiming a breakthrough on Ukraine.In the longest presidential speech to lawmakers on record, the Republican repeatedly hailed billionaire advisor Elon Musk’s controversial assault on the federal bureaucracy and said his administration was “just getting started”.”The American Dream is unstoppable,” said Trump in a speech lasting over one hour and 40 minutes, which beat Bill Clinton’s record for his State of the Union speech in 2000.Almost every line got loud applause from Republican Party members, including on two occasions when Trump singled out SpaceX and Tesla tycoon Musk, who stood up to salute Congress.But protests also began within minutes.One Democratic congressman, Al Green, was ejected because he refused to stop heckling Trump over healthcare programs, and shaking his walking stick at the president.Other Democrats silently held up placards including “False” and “Musk steals” and “That’s a lie!”And at one moment, numerous Democrats yelled “January 6!” at Trump, referring to his supporters’ violent attack on the Capitol in 2021 after he refused to concede his election loss.The 78-year-old president was undeterred, hailing his first six weeks and vowing to press on with his polarizing bid to reshape the US government and end the Ukraine war — whatever the cost.- Reality TV style -Trump reverted to his tried-and-tested reality TV instincts. At one point he called attention to a boy with brain cancer who — in front of Congress — was handed an official ID by the head of the Secret Service.But in what mostly sounded like a campaign speech rather than an address to the nation, Trump made no attempt to reach out to opponents and at times mocked them.To cheers of “USA” and “Trump, Trump, Trump”, he proclaimed that his culture war on diversity programs and transgender rights meant “our country will be woke no longer.”He claimed that he was trying to resolve an “economic catastrophe,” despite inheriting the strongest developed economy in the world from his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden.He defended his disruptive economic moves — even as the trade war he launched against Canada, China and Mexico is prompting jitters on world markets.”We have been ripped off for decades by nearly every country on earth,” Trump said.After a torrent of warnings that tariffs will badly hurt US exporters, including politically powerful farmers, he conceded they would bring “a little disturbance.”And after enumerating a series of murders committed by migrants, Trump got big applause when he vowed to “wage war” on Mexican drug cartels.Well before he had finished, dozens of Democrats had already walked out.- Quest for power -Trump is pushing to extend presidential power to its limits, with the popular vote behind him and a Republican-controlled House and Senate doing his bidding.Aided by Musk, Trump has cracked down on the federal bureaucracy, firing thousands of workers, shuttering entire agencies and decimating foreign aid.”The days of rule by unelected bureaucrats are over,” Trump said.But there are early signs in the polls that Trump’s sweeping cuts and his failure to tackle inflation are hitting his popularity.Trump is also upending US foreign policy with his pivot to Moscow over the Ukraine war, which has stunned Kyiv and allies alike.Days after a televised row in the Oval Office with Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump said Ukraine’s leader had told him he was now ready for talks with Russia and a US minerals deal.”I received an important letter from President Zelensky of Ukraine. The letter reads (that) Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer,” Trump said.Trump also doubled down on his controversial vows on “taking back” the Panama Canal and getting Greenland from Denmark by “one way or another.”Democrats have so far struggled to counter Trump’s flood-the-zone strategy and his hogging of the news cycle with constant press conferences.On the Democrats’ rebuttal speech, Senator Elissa Slotkin aimed her sober address at middleclass Americans, calling Trump and Musk “reckless” at home and giving up on “American leadership” abroad.

A US judge on Tuesday denied Elon Musk’s request to prevent OpenAI from becoming a for-profit business in a loss for the Tesla tycoon amid his feud with Sam Altman.US District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Musk and his xAI startup failed to prove an injunction against OpenAI was necessary as the case heads to trial.Musk sued in California federal court to stop OpenAI from transitioning from a nonprofit to a for-profit business, arguing the startup violated antitrust law and betrayed his trust in their mission as a co-founder of OpenAI.The judge wrote that, while Musk did not prove the need for an injunction, she is prepared to expedite a trial on that claim later this year.The ruling leaves OpenAI free to continue its transition from nonprofit to for-profit enterprise.Musk’s injunction bid argued that OpenAI’s co-founders, including chief executive Altman, “took advantage of Musk’s altruism in order to lure him into funding the venture,” according to court documents.Musk contended in filings that it was clear his backing of OpenAI was contingent on it remaining a nonprofit, offering a few email exchanges to support the claim.”Whether Musk’s emails and social media posts constitute a writing sufficient to constitute an actual contract or charitable trust between the parties is debatable,” the judge said in her ruling.OpenAI’s board chairman in February rejected a Musk-led offer to buy the valuable artificial intelligence company for $97.4 billion.”OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Mr. Musk’s latest attempt to disrupt his competition,” OpenAI Board Chair Bret Taylor said in a statement posted by the company on Musk-owned X, formerly Twitter.OpenAI currently operates in a hybrid structure, as a nonprofit with a money-making subsidiary.The change to a for-profit model — one that Altman considers crucial for the company’s development — has exacerbated ongoing tensions with Musk.Musk and Altman were among the 11-person team that founded OpenAI in 2015, with the former providing initial funding of $45 million. Three years later, Musk departed the company, with OpenAI citing “a potential future conflict for Elon… as Tesla continues to become more focused on AI.”Musk established his own artificial intelligence company, dubbed xAI, in early 2023 after OpenAI ignited global fervor over the technology.The massive cost of designing, training, and deploying AI models has compelled OpenAI to seek a new corporate structure that would give investors equity and provide more stable governance.

There was dismay on the left and jubilation on the right as Donald Trump’s addressed the US Congress on Tuesday in a tense atmosphere and with Washington’s political divisions rarely more visible. Trump entered the chamber to cheers from Republicans and took a languid stroll down the center aisle to the podium, taking his time and pressing flesh along the way. As he passed Democrat Melanie Stansbury, the New Mexico congresswoman held up a sheet of paper reading “This is not normal.” A Republican politician snatched the sign out of her hands — a harbinger of the tensions to come. The ultra-Trumpist Marjorie Taylor Greene, always a politician to wear her support on her sleeve, sported a red “Trump was right about everything” cap — in violation of a ban on headwear introduced almost two centuries ago.When Trump arrived at the podium, the Republican half of the chamber chanted “USA! USA!” their jubilation evident in their broad grins. On the other side of the room, the Democratic members remain seated and stony-faced. The only (presumed) Republican who might have bested the president on the applause-o-meter: his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, who waved to acknowledge the raucous applause as she took her place, wearing a charcoal gray suit. “To my fellow citizens, America is back!” Trump enthused as he began his address, whose theme was “Renewal of the  American Dream.”- Yellow and blue -Minutes later, Democrat congressman Al Green stood up and yelled at the president: “You don’t have a mandate.” His protest was drowned out by the uproarious Republicans, who ordered him to take a seat as they dived into another stirring round of patriotic chants. Green refused to sit down, and was quickly escorted out of the chamber, as he was jeered by his political opponents on the Republican side. When Trump called predecessor Joe Biden the “worst president” in history, there were whistles from a few triggered Democrats, some of whom denounced the “lies.” Many were wearing scarves, striped ties, or lapel ribbons in the yellow and blue colors of the Ukrainian flag, as a sign of solidarity for a war-torn ally they consider the Trump administration to have betrayed.Indeed, the speech came just after Trump had ordered a pause in American military aid to Kyiv, and the atmosphere was markedly different from Biden’s March 2022 address to Congress, five days after the start of the Russian invasion.On that occasion marked a demonstration of unity from both sides of Congress, and both chambers, as Democrat and Republican alike rose at Biden’s beckoning to offer solidarity with the Ukrainian people. That unanimity is decidedly a thing of the past in the Washington of the “America First” movement which has Trump as its standard-bearer. In addition to Ukrainian yellow and blue, a number of Democrats came in pink outfits to protest against what they see as the Trump administration’s anti-women policies.Some of the House Democrats left the chamber before Trump had even got into his stride and Texas Democrat Jasmine Crockett removed her jacket to reveal a t-shirt with the word “Resist” emblazoned on the back. – Musk the spectator -Some traditions hold, even in the norm-breaking Trump era, and the usual bevy of Supreme Court justices could be found in the front row, enjoying the pomp and circumstance. With many of the Trump administration’s decisions already the subject of legal challenges, the judicial panel — with its strong conservative tilt —  is likely to have its hands full in the weeks and months ahead. But if Trump was expecting a sold-out speech, he will have been disappointed. A number of Democrats, such as left-winger Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, had previously announced that they would be giving the event a wide berth. Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and Trump’s point man on drastically downsizing the federal government, watched from the galleries, a spectator to the drama for once. Yet, even from the sidelines, he still managed to command the attention of the TV cameras as Trump invited applause for a man whose millions helped get the Republican elected.A few hours before Trump’s arrival, a dozen protesters outside the US Capitol waved signs reading “Stand up to tyranny” and “Musk must go.” Trump seemed to provide a direct retort during his speech, as he warned: “We’re just getting started.”

More people watched the Oscars than previously thought, Disney said Tuesday, after they totted up those tuning in on their mobile phones and laptops.The company, which owns network ABC and streamer Hulu, had initially reported that ratings were down for the show, which saw indie sex worker romp “Anora” take home a bevy of awards.But on Tuesday they said an additional 1.6 million people had watched on a mobile device, taking the total on-the-night viewership to 19.69 million.”As viewing patterns continue to evolve, there is the potential to see a greater difference” between initial figures and the final number, the company said in a statement.”In the case of Sunday night’s live telecast of ‘The Oscars,’ we saw dramatic growth with younger viewers from mobile and PC viewing that was not captured” in the early viewing figures.Disney said the revised number made the broadcast the most watched Oscars in five years.The show went live on streaming for the first time this year, but the stream was beset by technical glitches that left some viewers unable to see the final prizes.The revised figure is slightly up from last year’s early ratings of 19.5 million, for a gala that saw Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster “Oppenheimer” dominate prizes, and featured live musical performances from smash hit “Barbie.” During the Covid-19 pandemic, Oscars ratings sank as low as 10.4 million.The Academy Awards telecast regularly topped 40 million just a decade ago.

President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the retaliation they attracted will likely weigh on US growth and boost inflation, according to analysts, but, beyond that, uncertainty surrounding the levies threatens to overshadow optimism about his future policies.Trump reignited trade wars this week with hefty duties on Canadian, Mexican and Chinese imports, drawing sharp retaliation from Ottawa and Beijing, including new tariffs on key American farm products.Collectively, these could dent US GDP growth by one percentage point and hike inflation by 0.6 points if kept in place for the year, said Nationwide chief economist Kathy Bostjancic.”Tariffs represent a negative supply shock. It hurts production, raises prices,” she told AFP, warning that business and consumer confidence also take a hit from levies.And the unpredictability of Trump’s tariff plans stand to offset positivity about the president’s promises of deregulation and tax cuts, which are seen as pro-growth, she said.”That hope and excitement right now is overwhelmed by the uncertainty of what’s going to play out,” she added.It also remains unclear if new tariffs will be long-lasting, and they come atop cost-cutting measures in the federal government which are being challenged in courts, KPMG chief economist Diane Swonk said.The fallout from these efforts can undermine demand.Trump has not only quickened the pace of tariff hikes in his second term by tapping emergency economic powers to impose them without an investigation period, but his levies cover a larger value of goods.Trump’s first-term tariffs hit $380 billion worth of US imports over 2018-2019, mainly from China, said Erica York of the Tax Foundation.But his latest duties introduced over a month impact $1.4 trillion of imports, mostly from allies, she added.”Because of the faster implementation and the larger magnitude, the new tariffs will be much more disruptive to the US economy than Trump’s first trade war,” York said.- Prices, jobs -While the situation is fluid, Bostjancic said prices of products like motor vehicle parts could rise by 10 percent within months, given how integrated North American supply chains are.This could inflate consumer costs for big ticket items. Used car prices could increase if producing new vehicles became pricey, analysts said.New homes stand to become more expensive too, potentially making property owners reluctant to move and weighing on the housing market, said Jessica Lautz at the National Association of Realtors.Trump’s latest 25 percent tariff on Canadian goods hits lumber imports, which are important to homebuilders.With the breadth of Trump’s current tariff plans, “some companies may not be able to maintain the same level of employment,” Swonk of KPMG warned.During Trump’s first term, despite an initial uptick in steel industry employment when he imposed tariffs on imports of the metal, these were more than offset by higher input costs and layoffs elsewhere, she noted.- ‘Choke points’ -Other near-term effects include countries’ readiness to to hit US “choke points” following experiences from his first administration, said Swonk.”They’re going to look for the places that are the biggest pinch points for the president’s party and that’s the Republican Party,” she told AFP.This means taking aim at Republican-dominated states.When the world’s biggest economy takes action like sweeping tariffs other countries tend respond strategically, targeting countermeasures at areas which likely have more political sway over the administration, she said.Farm and food products are often primary targets of retaliation, said Wendong Zhang of Cornell University. This could spark the need for federal aid to farmers subsequently.Already, China said it would impose 10 percent and 15 percent levies on various US agricultural exports including soybeans.In Trump’s first term, retaliatory tariffs on the United States caused more than $27 billion in US agricultural export losses from mid-2018 to late-2019.Economists say the hit to growth and inflation in 2025 could be somewhat counterbalanced by aggressive deregulation efforts next year, as Trump’s government seeks to rein in the budget deficit and make certain tax cuts permanent.For now, the “uncertainty effect,” serves as a tax of its own, Swonk said.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is now aiming for Wednesday to conduct the next test flight of its massive Starship rocket, following a last-minute cancellation on Monday.The world’s biggest and most powerful launch vehicle is set to lift off from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, during a launch window that opens at 5:30 pm local time (2330 GMT).It will be Starship’s eighth orbital mission — all so far uncrewed — and the first since its dramatic mid-air explosion over the Caribbean during its last test.Standing 403 feet (123 meters) tall — about 100 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty — Starship is designed to eventually be fully reusable and is key to Musk and SpaceX’s vision of colonizing Mars.Meanwhile, NASA is awaiting a modified version of Starship as a lunar lander for its Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon this decade.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 the Turks and Caicos Islands, prompting cleanup efforts for fallen debris.Last Friday, the FAA announced that Starship could proceed with its next flight before the agency finalizes its review of SpaceX’s “mishap investigation.”During Joe Biden’s presidency, Musk frequently accused the FAA of excessive scrutiny over SpaceX’s safety and environmental concerns. Now, as one of President Donald Trump’s closest advisors, the world’s richest person faces allegations of wielding undue influence over regulatory agencies overseeing his companies.For the upcoming flight, SpaceX says it has introduced numerous upgrades to the upper-stage spaceship that enhance its reliability and performance.The mission, expected to last just over an hour, includes another attempt to catch the booster stage using the launch tower’s “chopstick” arms — a feat SpaceX has successfully executed twice, including in the last flight.Additionally, Starship will deploy Starlink simulators designed to mimic Starlink satellites, which will burn up upon atmospheric re-entry.Eventually, SpaceX aims to recover the upper stage as well, but for now, it is targeting splashdown in the Indian Ocean off the western coast of Australia, as in previous flights.In a recent interview on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Musk said the toughest engineering hurdle is building a “fully reusable orbital heat shield — a problem that has never been solved before.”Despite the challenge, Musk remains optimistic, predicting that Starship will be fully and rapidly reusable by next year, a milestone he describes as the “fundamental breakthrough required for life to be multiplanetary.”

Florida’s attorney general said Tuesday that a criminal investigation has been opened into self-described misogynist influencer Andrew Tate and his brother, who flew to the southern US state last week from Romania, where they faced rape and human trafficking charges.”These guys have publicly admitted to participating in what very much appears to be soliciting, trafficking, preying upon women around the world,” James Uthmeier said in comments posted online by a reporter with EW Scripps broadcasting.”This is an ongoing criminal investigation and we’re going to use every tool we have to ensure that justice is served,” he said.Andrew Tate arrived in the United States on Thursday — the first time he has been out of Romania since his 2022 arrest.Prosecutors in the eastern European country allege that Tate, 38, his brother Tristan, 36, and two women set up a criminal organization in Romania and Britain in early 2021 and sexually exploited several victims.Andrew Tate, speaking to reporters after arriving in Fort Lauderdale last week, said he and his brother have “yet to be convicted of any crime in our lives ever.””We live in a democratic society where it’s innocent until proven guilty, and I think my brother and I are largely misunderstood,” he said.The government in Bucharest said the Tates, who have British and US nationalities and have been under judicial supervision in Romania, need to return to court on March 24, with a no-show potentially leading to “preventive arrest.”Four British women, who have accused Tate of rape and coercive control in a separate civil case in the United Kingdom, recently voiced concern that the US government would help the Tates escape.In a joint statement, the four British women said they “feel retraumatized by the news that the Romanian authorities have given in to pressure from the Trump administration to allow Andrew Tate to travel.” Romanian Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu has said Richard Grenell, special envoy for President Donald Trump, raised the case at the Munich Security Conference in February.Trump last week denied all knowledge of any advocacy for the Tates from his administration.”I know nothing about that,” Trump told reporters. “We’ll check it out.”A Romanian court has granted a British request to extradite the Tates, but only after legal proceedings in Romania have concluded.Andrew Tate moved to Romania years ago after first starting a webcam business in the United Kingdom.He leapt to fame in 2016 when he appeared on the “Big Brother” UK reality television show, but was removed after a video emerged showing him attacking a woman.He then turned to social media platforms to promote his often misogynistic and divisive views on how to be successful.Banned from Instagram and TikTok for his views, Tate is followed by more than 10 million people on X, where his posts are often homophobic and racist.

An internet rights group on Tuesday raised alarm over reports the United States may steer billions of dollars to Elon Musk’s Starlink by making changes to a rural broadband deployment program.Net neutrality supporter Free Press spoke out after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Commerce could set Musk up for a windfall by overhauling a $42.5 billion program established under former President Joe Biden to bring broadband internet service to rural parts of the country.Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has told staff he plans to significantly increase the share of money available to satellite-internet providers such as Starlink rather than firms that use fiber-optic cables to deliver high-speed internet service, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.Starlink is a unit of Musk’s SpaceX company.Musk — the world’s wealthiest person and a top donor to Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign — has status as a “special government employee” and “senior adviser to the president.”Trump put Musk in charge of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency that has been slashing the ranks of US agencies under the auspices of budget cutting.”The Trump administration is undermining an essential bipartisan program designed to bring reliable and affordable broadband to tens of millions of Americans — and it’s doing so just to line Elon Musk’s already bulging pockets,” Free Press co-chief Craig Aaron said in a statement.The Commerce Department did not respond to a request for comment.During the Biden administration, the Federal Communications Commission rejected Starlink’s application for nearly $900 million in subsidies on the grounds it failed to show it could meet service requirements, Free Press noted.Fiber optic cables are considered faster and more reliable than satellites for broadband internet service.Congress created the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program as part of a 2021 infrastructure bill that Biden signed into law.Proposals from every US state have been approved, but critics argue the program is moving too slowly.The bill called on states to prioritize reliable, fast broadband service built to last, according to Free Press.”The Trump administration is throwing out this sensible approach to favor only providers who are stationed inside the White House,” Aaron said.”From the FAA to the Defense Department, giving billions to Musk seems to be the Trump administration’s top priority, and now the Commerce Department is getting in on the action,” he added.Starlink internet service can currently be accessed by anyone in the United States, and the company doesn’t need taxpayer subsidies, Free Press argued.