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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Saturday for the creation of a European army, as he insisted Kyiv and its backers on the continent must be listened to in peace talks with Russia. Speaking at a gathering of top policymakers in Munich, the Ukrainian leader said that with the return of President Donald Trump to the White House Europe could no longer count on Washington to always have its back.Trump stunned allies and upended the status quo of US support for Ukraine this week when he announced he would likely soon meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin to start truce talks.Zelensky’s rallying cry came a day after he met US Vice President JD Vance as Kyiv scrambles to ensure it is not sidelined in Washington’s push to wrap up the three-year war. “Let’s be honest –- now we can’t rule out the possibility that America might say no to Europe on issues that threaten it,” Zelensky said. “I really believe that time has come. The Armed Forces of Europe must be created.”The push for a joint continental force has been mooted for years without gaining traction and Zelensky’s intervention seems unlikely to shift the balance. In the short-term, the priority for Kyiv remains ensuring its voice is heard at any peace talks involving Russia and that it doesn’t get a bad deal. “Ukraine will never accept deals made behind our backs without our involvement,” Zelensky said in a speech. “No decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine. No decisions about Europe without Europe.”Zelensky cautioned Putin would seek to use Trump as a “prop in his own performance”, possibly by trying to get him to Moscow for Russia’s WWII victory parade in May.Zelensky is pushing for “security guarantees” from both the United States and Europe to ensure that any peace deal does not allow Moscow just to restart the war later.”Putin cannot offer real security guarantees, not just because he is a liar but because Russia in its current state needs war to hold power together,” he said. The Ukrainian leader said forceful sanctions on Russia and building up Ukraine’s military could help secure peace, and said he was “open” to eventually having European peacekeepers.- ‘No time to lose’ -European leaders backed up Zelensky’s call to action and for their continent to play a key role. “There will only be peace if Ukraine’s sovereignty is secured,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the Munich Security Conference.Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk pressed Europe to establish its own stances on Ukraine and security as the United States sows doubts about its commitment to Europe.”Europe urgently needs its own plan of action concerning Ukraine and our security, or else other global players will decide about our future,” Tusk said. “This plan must be prepared now. There’s no time to lose.”NATO boss Mark Rutte said that leaders in Europe were “now getting into the concrete planning phase” of possible security guarantees. US officials have said that Ukraine will not be left in the cold after three years of battling Russia’s invasion. Vance said after his sit-down with Zelensky that Washington was looking for a “durable, lasting peace” that would not lead to further bloodshed in coming years.- Rare earths deal? -But US officials have sent mixed messages over Washington’s strategy after Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth appeared to rule out Ukraine joining NATO or retaking all of its territory. That has sparked major worries in Kyiv and Europe that Ukraine could be forced into a bad deal that leaves the continent facing an emboldened Putin. In a bid to keep Washington close, Kyiv has held talks over granting access to its rare earths mineral deposits in return for future US security support.Zelensky said the negotiations were ongoing after his meeting with Vance. While Zelensky engages in his diplomatic push, on the ground in Ukraine the situation for his forces continued to deteriorate. Russia’s army on Saturday claimed to have captured a village in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region close to a road linking key towns as Moscow slowly eats up territory.Despite suffering heavy battlefield losses, the Russian army has been creeping forwards in eastern Ukraine for more than a year as it looks to cut off access to Pokrovsk.The advances came after a Russian drone struck a cover built to contain radiation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, with radiation levels remaining normal.”A country that launches such attacks does not want peace. Not. They don’t want it,” Zelensky said.”It is not preparing for dialogue.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday warned the United States not to strike a deal with Russia “behind our backs”, as he urged Europe to stand up and make its voice heard.Speaking at a gathering of top policymakers in Munich, the Ukrainian leader issued a rallying cry for Europe to take responsibility for its own security — including by eventually forming a continental army.The plea from Zelensky came a day after he met US Vice President JD Vance as Kyiv scrambles to ensure it is not sidelined in Washington’s push to wrap up the three-year war.”Ukraine will never accept deals made behind our backs without our involvement,” Zelensky said in a keynote speech. “No decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine. No decisions about Europe without Europe.”US President Donald Trump stunned allies and upended the status quo of US support for Ukraine this week when he announced he would likely soon meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin to start truce talks. Zelensky cautioned Putin would seek to use Trump as a “prop in his own performance” — possibly by trying to get him to Moscow for Russia’s WWII victory parade in May. Kyiv has urged Washington to come up with a “common plan” to confront Russia but Zelensky suggested there was not yet a joint stance after his meeting with Vance.Zelensky is pushing for “security guarantees” from both the United States and Europe to ensure that any peace deal does not allow Moscow just to restart the war later.”Putin cannot offer real security guarantees, not just because he is a liar but because Russia in its current state needs war to hold power together,” he said. The Ukrainian leader said forceful sanctions on Russia and building up Ukraine’s military could help secure peace, and said he was “open” to eventually having European peacekeepers.- ‘No time to lose’ -European leaders backed up Zelensky’s call to action — and for their continent to play a key role. “There will only be peace if Ukraine’s sovereignty is secured,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the Munich Security Conference.Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk pressed Europe to establish its own stances on Ukraine and security as the United States sows doubts about its commitment to Europe.”Europe urgently needs its own plan of action concerning Ukraine and our security, or else other global players will decide about our future,” Tusk said. “This plan must be prepared now. There’s no time to lose.”NATO boss Mark Rutte said that leaders in Europe were “now getting into the concrete planning phase” of possible security guarantees. US officials have said that Ukraine will not be left in the cold after three years of battling Russia’s invasion. Vance said after his sit-down with Zelensky that Washington was looking for a “durable, lasting peace” that would not lead to further bloodshed in coming years.- Rare earths deal? -But US officials have sent mixed messages over Washington’s strategy after Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth appeared to rule out Ukraine joining NATO or retaking all of its territory. That has sparked major worries in Kyiv and Europe that Ukraine could be forced into a bad deal that leaves the continent facing an emboldened Putin. In a bid to keep Washington close, Kyiv has held talks over granting access to its rare earths mineral deposits in return for future US security support.Zelensky said the negotiations were ongoing after his meeting with Vance. While Zelensky engages in his diplomatic push, on the ground in Ukraine the situation for his forces continued to deteriorate. Russia’s army on Saturday claimed to have captured a village in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region close to a road linking key towns as Moscow slowly eats up territory.Despite suffering heavy battlefield losses, the Russian army has been creeping forwards in eastern Ukraine for more than a year as it looks to cut off access to Pokrovsk.The advances came after a Russian drone struck a cover built to contain radiation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, with radiation levels remaining normal.”A country that launches such attacks does not want peace. Not. They don’t want it,” Zelensky said.”It is not preparing for dialogue.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he sought “security guarantees” as he met with the US vice president on Friday to discuss the Trump administration’s efforts to broker a truce deal with Moscow.Zelensky’s sitdown with JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference comes as Kyiv scrambles to ensure it is not sidelined in Washington’s push to wrap up the three-year war.President Donald Trump stunned allies and upended the status quo of US support for Ukraine this week when he announced he would likely soon meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin to start truce talks. Speaking with reporters in Munich, Zelensky stressed the need to “speak more” with the White House before any endgame to the war is formulated.”We want peace very much but we need real security guarantees,” he said after his first meeting with Vance.Zelensky’s anxiety was also on display in a preview of his interview with US media outlet NBC, saying Ukraine “will have low, low chance to survive without support of the United States”. Vance meanwhile described “good conversations” with Zelensky, and acknowledged the administration’s goal of bringing the war to a close.”We want to achieve a durable, lasting peace, not the kind of peace that’s going to have Eastern Europe in conflict just a couple years down the road,” Vance said as the meeting wrapped up.Zelensky later wrote on X that an envoy from Washington would visit Kyiv.”We are ready to move as quickly as possible towards a real and guaranteed peace,” he wrote.The Ukrainian leader has acknowledged that it was “not very pleasant” that his own phone call with Trump this week came after Putin’s 90-minute call.US officials have insisted that Ukraine will be not be left in the cold after three years of battling Russia’s invasion. Vance said ahead of the Munich meeting that the United States was prepared to pressure Russia, adding that Europe should “of course” be at the table. But he also told Europe to “step up” bolstering its own defence to allow Washington to focus on threats elsewhere in the world. – Trump’s phone number -US officials have sent mixed messages over Washington’s strategy after Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth appeared to rule out Ukraine joining NATO or retaking all of its territory. That has sparked major worries in Kyiv and Europe that Ukraine could be forced into a bad deal that leaves the continent facing an emboldened Putin. But Vance told the Wall Street Journal that Trump would put everything “on the table” in potential talks, and that Washington could even use “military leverage” against Russia to force a deal. He did not give more away in a keenly awaited keynote speech, which mostly focused on scolding Europe over immigration and free speech. Saudi Arabia, after being named by Trump as a likely venue for a meeting with Putin, said it would welcome holding any talks between the two leaders.Zelensky appeared to address fears that Trump was cutting out Kyiv by saying the US president had given him his personal number when they spoke.European allies, who along with Washington are Ukraine’s strongest backers, demanded they also be included in negotiations that will impact their continent’s security. French President Emmanuel Macron said he assured Zelensky that it is “Ukrainians alone who can drive the discussions for a solid and lasting peace” with Russia.Zelensky said he had discussed with Macron “many important issues, including security guarantees and specific proposals from France”.In a bid to keep Washington close, Kyiv has held talks over granting access to its rare mineral deposits in return for future US security support.EU chief Ursula von der Leyen warned that forcing Ukraine into a bad deal would harm US interests. “I believe that by working together, we can deliver that just and lasting peace,” she said. – Chernobyl strike -While Europe nervously monitors the US stance on Ukraine, there is little ambiguity on Trump’s determination to get Europe to spend more on its defence. Fears that Vance could announce a major US troop reduction in Europe did not materialise, but he repeated warnings that Washington needed to focus more on other parts of the globe. On the sidelines of the conference, Vance also met with leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel, according to German press.It comes as Vance criticised Germany for blocking the far right from possibly sharing power in upcoming elections.The conservative candidate and poll favourite Friedrich Merz insists he would not govern with the AfD or actively seek its support.Amid the diplomatic flurry in Munich, Zelensky said that back on the ground in Ukraine a Russian drone had struck a cover built to contain radiation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, though he added that radiation levels were normal.The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched 133 drones across the country overnight, including attack drones, targeting northern regions of the country where the Chernobyl plant lies.Zelensky said the attack was evidence that “Putin is definitely not preparing for negotiations — he is preparing to continue deceiving the world”.

OpenAI’s board chairman on Friday said it has unanimously rejected an Elon Musk-led offer to buy the hot 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,” chairman of the board Bret Taylor said in a statement posted by the company on Musk-owned X, formerly Twitter.”Any potential reorganization of OpenAI will strengthen our nonprofit and its mission to ensure AGI (artificial general intelligence) benefits all of humanity,” the statement continued.Musk filed court documents on Wednesday saying that he would withdraw the offer to buy OpenAI if its board returns the artificial intelligence pioneer to a non-profit “charity” model.OpenAI currently operates a hybrid structure, as a non-profit with a money-making subsidiary.The change to a for-profit model — one that Altman considers crucial for the company’s development — had 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 called xAI early in 2023 after OpenAI ignited global fervor over the technology.The massive costs of designing, training, and deploying AI models have compelled OpenAI to seek a new corporate structure that would give investors equity and provide more stable governance.The transition to a traditional for-profit company requires approval from California and Delaware authorities, who will scrutinize how the non-profit arm of OpenAI is valued when it becomes a shareholder in the new company.Current investors prefer a lower valuation to maximize their share of the new company. Musk’s bid, valuing the OpenAI non-profit at $97.4 billion — approximately $30 billion above the level in current negotiations, according to The Information — appears designed to disrupt the company’s fundraising efforts.OpenAI’s Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane has said Musk’s offer came from a competitor “who has struggled to keep up with the technology and compete with us in the marketplace”.

The National Park Service has scrubbed references to transgender and queer people from the website of a monument to the 1969 Stonewall riots, a foundational moment in the struggle for LGBTQ rights, igniting protests in New York City on Friday.The move comes as President Donald Trump has sought a return to a strict binary definition of gender in the United States, leading attacks on transgender people and issuing an executive order that states the country only has two genders — male and female. The website — managed by the National Park Service, a branch of the federal government — had provided information about the monument, which includes a visitor center as well as the famed Stonewall Inn.The small Greenwich Village gay bar was raided by police on June 28, 1969, igniting six days of rioting that birthed the modern gay rights movement, later extended to transgender and non-binary people, who do not identify as male or female.But on Friday the widely-used “LGBTQ” acronym — which stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer — had been changed throughout the website to “LGB” and all reference to transgender or queer people erased.Several hundred people carried signs bearing slogans such as “Silence = death” and “there’s no Stonewall without the T” as they rallied in New York City against the move. “This is just cruel and petty,” posted New York Governor Kathy Hochul on social media.”Transgender people play a critical role in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights — and New York will never allow their contributions to be erased,” she wrote.Trump has demonized any recognition of gender diversity, attacking transgender people — notably transgender women in sports — and gender-affirming care for children — in both his rhetoric and in executive orders.

The US Justice Department filed court papers Friday to dismiss a corruption case against New York Mayor Eric Adams, despite a barrage of resignations from prosecutors who refused to drop the charges.Adams, who pleaded not guilty in September to charges of fraud and bribery, has denied allegations he asked for the case to be dropped in exchange for enforcing President Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration agenda.The Justice Department motion seeks dismissal without prejudice — meaning the case could still be prosecuted in the future and would hang over Adams’s head as he runs for re-election in November.NBC reported that acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove promised leadership positions to government lawyers who agreed to file the dismissal motion, which must still be approved by a judge.Several prosecutors in the Southern District of New York who brought the charges resigned over the Justice Department order to drop the case.The most recent was assistant US attorney Hagan Scotten, who said Friday only a “fool” or a “coward” would comply.Scotten’s boss, acting US attorney Danielle Sassoon, submitted her resignation to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday while several members of the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section in Washington, which handles corruption cases, also quit this week after refusing to dismiss the Adams indictment.Pressure has been mounting on the Democratic mayor to resign or for New York Governor Kathy Hochul to remove him as leader of the largest US city.- Adams denial -“I want to be crystal clear with New Yorkers: I never offered — nor did anyone offer on my behalf — any trade of my authority as your mayor for an end to my case,” Adams said.Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday, Trump said he knew “nothing about the individual case” but it looked to be “very political” coming ahead of Adams’s reelection bid.The president said the prosecutors who resigned were “mostly people from the previous administration” who were “going to all be gone and dismissed.”Sassoon, the acting US attorney, is a Republican and was appointed by Trump while his permanent nominee awaits Senate confirmation.A graduate of Yale Law School and a member of the conservative Federalist Society, Sassoon led the 2023 prosecution of disgraced crypto tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried.Scotten, a decorated US Army veteran and Harvard Law School graduate, was a former clerk to conservative US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.Department of Justice chief of staff Chad Mizelle said the decision to drop the Adams indictment is “yet another indication that this DOJ will return to its core function of prosecuting dangerous criminals, not pursuing politically motivated witch hunts.””The fact that those who indicted and prosecuted the case refused to follow a direct command is further proof of the disordered and ulterior motives of the prosecutors,” Mizelle said in a statement. “Such individuals have no place at DOJ.”- Blistering resignation -In asking for the charges against Adams to be dropped, Bove said the prosecution was restricting the mayor’s “ability to devote full attention and resources to illegal immigration and violent crime.”Scotten sent Bove a blistering resignation email, which was published online by multiple news outlets.”No system of liberty can allow the Government to use the carrot of dismissing charges, or the stick of threatening to bring them again, to induce an elected official to support its policy objectives,” Scotten said.”Our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials,” he said.”If no lawyer within earshot of the President is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion,” he said. “But it was never going to be me.”Hochul, the New York governor, in an interview with MSNBC on Thursday, denounced the Justice Department’s interference in the Adams case calling it “unbelievably unprecedented.”Asked if she would remove Adams as mayor, Hochul said: “The allegations are extremely concerning and serious, but I cannot, as the governor of this state, have a knee-jerk, politically motivated reaction.”The Justice Department, which Trump has accused of unjustly prosecuting him, has been the target of a sweeping shakeup since the Republican took office and a number of high-ranking officials have been fired, demoted or reassigned.

US Vice President JD Vance pledged Friday that Washington sought to secure a “lasting” peace as he held a first meeting with Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss Donald Trump’s push for a deal with Moscow.The talks in Munich were seen as a key moment for Kyiv as it tries to keep Washington on its side after Trump stunned allies by announcing truce efforts with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.”We want to achieve a durable, lasting peace, not the kind of peace that’s going to have Eastern Europe in conflict just a couple years down the road,” Vance said as the meeting wrapped up.He said “good conversations” had been had with Zelensky about how they could reach that goal, and they would have more talks “in the days, weeks and months to come”.Zelensky also hailed a “good conversation”, saying the encounter with Vance was “our first meeting, not last, I’m sure”.”We are ready to move as quickly as possible towards a real and guaranteed peace,” Zelensky later wrote on X, adding that an envoy from Washington would visit Kyiv. Trump rattled Ukraine and its European allies on Wednesday by agreeing to launch ceasefire talks in his first publicly announced call with Putin since returning to office. The dramatic thaw in relations sparked fears Ukraine could be left out in the cold after nearly three years battling Moscow’s invasion. “We will have low, low chance to survive without support of the United States,” Zelensky said in a clip from an NBC interview, which will be aired on full Sunday. US officials have insisted that Zelensky will be involved in negotiations — and the Ukrainian leader said he would be prepared to sit down with Putin after agreeing a “common plan” with Trump. Vance said ahead of the meeting that the United States was prepared to pressure Russia, adding that Europe should “of course” be at the table. But he also told Europe to “step up” bolstering its own defence to allow Washington to focus on threats elsewhere in the world. – Trump’s phone number -US officials have sent mixed messages over Washington’s strategy after Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth appeared to rule out Ukraine joining NATO or retaking all of its territory. That has sparked major worries in Kyiv and Europe that Ukraine could be forced into a bad deal that leaves the continent facing an emboldened Putin. But Vance told the Wall Street Journal that Trump would put everything “on the table” in potential talks, and that Washington could even use “military leverage” against Russia to force a deal. He did not give more away in a keenly awaited keynote speech, which mostly focused on scolding Europe over immigration and free speech. Saudi Arabia, after being named by Trump as a likely venue for a meeting with Putin, said it would welcome holding any talks between the two leaders.Zelensky appeared to play down fears that Trump was cutting out Kyiv, saying the US president had given him his personal number when they spoke.European allies, who along with Washington are Ukraine’s strongest backers, demanded they be included in negotiations that will impact their continent’s security. French President Emmanuel Macron said he assured Zelensky that it is “Ukrainians alone who can drive the discussions for a solid and lasting peace” with Russia.Zelensky said he had discussed with Macron “many important issues, including security guarantees and specific proposals from France”.In a bid to keep Washington close, Kyiv has held talks over granting access to its rare mineral deposits in return for future US security support.EU chief Ursula von der Leyen warned that forcing Ukraine into a bad deal would harm US interests. “I believe that by working together, we can deliver that just and lasting peace,” she said. – Chernobyl strike -While Europe nervously monitors the US stance on Ukraine, there is little ambiguity on Trump’s determination to get Europe to spend more on its defence. Fears that Vance could announce a major US troop reduction in Europe did not materialise, but he repeated warnings that Washington needed to focus more on other parts of the globe. On the sidelines of the conference, Vance also met with leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel, according to German press.It comes as Vance criticised Germany for blocking the far right from possibly sharing power in upcoming elections.The conservative candidate and poll favourite Friedrich Merz insists he would not govern with the AfD or actively seek its support.Amid the diplomatic flurry in Munich, Zelensky said that back on the ground in Ukraine a Russian drone had struck a cover built to contain radiation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, though he added that radiation levels were normal.The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched 133 drones across the country overnight, including attack drones, targeting northern regions of the country where the Chernobyl plant lies.Zelensky said the attack was evidence that “Putin is definitely not preparing for negotiations — he is preparing to continue deceiving the world”.

A woman who accused hip-hop stars Sean “Diddy” Combs and Jay-Z of sexually assaulting her when she was 13 dropped her civil lawsuit on Friday, court records showed.Jay-Z — real name Shawn Carter — was accused in December of raping the girl with Combs at a party following the MTV Video Music Awards in September of 2000. The document filed with the US District Court for the Southern District of New York claims the accuser “hereby gives notice that the above-captioned action is voluntarily dismissed, with prejudice” — meaning the suit cannot be refiled.It was not immediately clear if the stars had reached a settlement with the woman, who has not been identified.But 55-year-old billionaire Jay-Z welcomed the closure of the case, which he slammed as “frivolous, fictitious and appalling.””This civil suit was without merit and never going anywhere. The fictional tale they created was laughable, if not for the seriousness of the claims,” he said in a statement.”I would not wish this experience on anyone. The trauma that my wife, my children, loved ones and I have endured can never be dismissed.”The complaint said Combs and Carter — who is married to pop superstar Beyonce — took turns assaulting the plaintiff as another celebrity stood by and watched.”Many others were present at the after party, but did nothing to stop the assault,” it went on.”Carter has been with Combs during many such instances described herein. Both perpetrators must face justice.”Combs, also 55, has separately been charged with sex trafficking and racketeering. Federal prosecutors allege that he sexually abused women and coerced them into drug-fueled sex parties using threats and violence.He has denied all charges, and his criminal trial is currently slated to begin on May 5.

A top prosecutor who brought corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams resigned on Friday, saying only a “fool” or a “coward” would comply with a Trump Justice Department demand to drop the case.Hagan Scotten, an assistant US attorney for the Southern District of New York, is the latest federal prosecutor to quit this week in protest over the extraordinary request.Scotten’s boss, Danielle Sassoon, the acting US attorney, submitted her resignation to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday after being asked to drop the case against Adams.Several members of the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section in Washington, which handles corruption cases, have also resigned this week after refusing to dismiss the Adams indictment.Pressure has been mounting on the Democratic mayor to resign or for New York Governor Kathy Hochul to remove him as leader of the largest US city.Adams, who pleaded not guilty in September to charges of fraud and bribery, has denied allegations he asked for the case to be dropped in exchange for enforcing President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda.”I want to be crystal clear with New Yorkers: I never offered — nor did anyone offer on my behalf — any trade of my authority as your mayor for an end to my case,” he said, adding that it was time to “put this difficult episode behind us.”Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday, Trump said he knew “nothing about the individual case” but it looked to be “very political” coming ahead of Adams’s November reelection bid.The president also said the federal prosecutors who resigned were “mostly people from the previous administration” who were “going to all be gone and dismissed.”Sassoon, the acting US attorney, is a Republican and was actually appointed by Trump to the position while his permanent nominee awaits Senate confirmation.A graduate of Yale Law School and a member of the conservative Federalist Society, Sassoon led the 2023 prosecution of disgraced crypto tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried.Scotten, a decorated US Army veteran and Harvard Law School graduate, was a former clerk to conservative US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.- ‘Unbelievably unprecedented’ -Department of Justice chief of staff Chad Mizelle said the decision to drop the Adams indictment is “yet another indication that this DOJ will return to its core function of prosecuting dangerous criminals, not pursuing politically motivated witch hunts.””The fact that those who indicted and prosecuted the case refused to follow a direct command is further proof of the disordered and ulterior motives of the prosecutors,” Mizelle said in a statement. “Such individuals have no place at DOJ.”In asking for the charges against Adams to be dropped, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove said the prosecution was restricting the mayor’s “ability to devote full attention and resources to illegal immigration and violent crime.”Scotten sent Bove a blistering resignation email, which was published online by multiple news outlets.”No system of liberty can allow the Government to use the carrot of dismissing charges, or the stick of threatening to bring them again, to induce an elected official to support its policy objectives,” Scotten said.”Our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials,” he said.”If no lawyer within earshot of the President is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion,” he said. “But it was never going to be me.”Hochul, the New York governor, in an interview with MSNBC on Thursday, denounced the Justice Department’s interference in the Adams case calling it “unbelievably unprecedented.””The Bondi administration in that Department of Justice is already showing they’re corrupt,” she said.Asked if she would remove Adams as mayor, Hochul said: “The allegations are extremely concerning and serious, but I cannot, as the governor of this state, have a knee-jerk, politically motivated reaction.”The Justice Department, which Trump has accused of unjustly prosecuting him, has been the target of a sweeping shakeup since the Republican took office and a number of high-ranking officials have been fired, demoted or reassigned.

Nearly half of an elite US epidemiology program known as the “disease detectives” were dismissed by the Trump administration on Friday, according to sources familiar with the matter, dealing a blow to public health efforts as fears rise over bird flu.The sackings come as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency pushes to downsize the federal government and as newly-confirmed Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr vows to overhaul the nation’s health agencies. “I’m so angry,” a senior epidemiologist in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who supervised some of those affected by the cuts told AFP. “We’re on the verge of potentially another pandemic and we’re firing the people who have probably more expertise than anyone else in the country collectively.”The cuts, first reported by CBS News, are part of broader efforts to remove employees still in their probationary periods, who can be dismissed more easily.Established in 1951, the Epidemic Intelligence Service is a two-year post-doctoral training program whose officers have been on the frontline of investigating outbreaks from the first Ebola cases in Africa in the 1970s to the earliest case reports of Covid-19 in the United States. “Without those officers we would not have eliminated smallpox from the globe,” the official said. “We had people fanning across countries, wading through mud and navigating rivers on boats to eliminate smallpox.”- ‘Directly impact health security’ -Known colloquially as the “disease detectives,” the researchers are hired annually through a competitive process that each year whittles down hundreds of applicants — including doctors, nurses, scientists and more — to a class of a few dozen.While some are stationed at CDC headquarters in Atlanta, others are posted around the country. Several former CDC directors began their careers as EIS officers, highlighting the program’s role as a pipeline for leadership in public health.There are approximately 140 officers across two classes. On Friday, the class of 2024 was informed they would receive termination emails that afternoon, while the class of 2023 was informed that their status was still under review.Around 30 officers from both classes were hired through a different mechanism under the US Public Health Service, meaning they remain unaffected for now.In total, nearly 1,300 CDC employees — roughly 10 percent of the agency’s workforce — were dismissed, according to CBS News.”The Epidemic Intelligence Service is one of the most storied and prestigious programs of the CDC,” infectious disease physician Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins University told AFP.  “Any attempts to end this program will directly impact the national and health security of the US.”Health Secretary RFK Jr. has made no secret of his disdain for infectious disease research, suggesting recently that it should be paused entirely for eight years while the focus shifts to addressing chronic conditions. Beyond his well-known anti-vaccine stances, Kennedy has also expressed skepticism about widely accepted infectious disease science, questioning whether germs cause disease and whether HIV causes AIDS.