AFP USA

The US government admitted it was liable for a deadly midair collision between a military helicopter and a passenger jet outside Washington earlier this year, killing 67 people, according to a court document filed Wednesday.The 209-page filing by the US Department of Justice, obtained by AFP, was part of a civil lawsuit by one of the passengers killed on the jet against the US government and the commercial airlines operating the plane.”The United States admits that it owed a duty of care to Plaintiffs, which it breached, thereby proximately causing the tragic accident,” the document begins.The crash occurred on January 29 when an American Eagle airliner from Wichita, Kansas, was approaching the landing strip at Ronald Reagan National Airport when a military Black Hawk helicopter operated by the US Army crashed into the jet, causing both aircraft to fall into the freezing Potomac River.The disaster marked the deadliest crash of a US commercial flight in decades and prompted tighter air safety protocols at Reagan Airport.In the court documents, the government admitted that safety risks “of midair collision cannot be reduced to zero” in the airspace outside Reagan Airport. It also admitted to the failure of the US Army pilots of the Black Hawk “to maintain vigilance so as to see and avoid other aircraft and their failure was a cause-in-fact and proximate cause of the accident.” The court filing also cited improper actions by an air traffic controller at the airport, saying they “did not comply” with federal regulations.Earlier this year, a preliminary investigation by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) highlighted faulty instruments and communication problems as possible contributing factors to the crash.The inquiry found the air traffic controller’s warning to the helicopter about the jet was muffled, and it did not receive crucial instructions to veer out of the flight path moments before the midair collision.The full NTSB investigation, which can take up to a year, is ongoing and a final report remains pending.

Deputy FBI director Dan Bongino, a former right-wing podcaster, announced on Wednesday that he would step down in January after less than 10 months on the job.The 51-year-old Bongino, in a post on X announcing his resignation, did not give a reason for the move.But President Donald Trump said he believes Bongino wants to return to his popular podcast.”Dan did a great job,” Trump told reporters. “I think he wants to go back to his show.”Bongino had a law enforcement background before joining the Federal Bureau of Investigation — he served as a New York police officer and Secret Service agent — but his appointment was unusual in that the FBI’s number two job is traditionally held by a career employee.His brief tenure at the FBI, which began in March, was marked by reports of tensions with Attorney General Pam Bondi.In his X post, Bongino thanked Trump, Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel “for the opportunity to serve with purpose.”Bongino’s eponymous podcast had one of the largest audiences in the country and frequently pushed conspiracy theories, including claims the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from Trump.

A manhunt for the mass shooter who opened fire in an exam room at one of America’s top universities stretched into a fifth day Wednesday with no apparent police progress in identifying a suspect or a motive.The only new information from police at a media briefing Wednesday was an appeal for a witness believed by investigators to have come close to the suspected gunman on the grounds of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. The shooting happened Saturday, when a man with a rifle burst into a campus building at the Ivy League college where students were sitting exams. The man opened fire. killing two students then fleeing.”Investigators are asking for the public’s help in identifying and speaking to the individual shown in these photos who was in proximity of the person of interest,” the Providence police department wrote on X with images of an individual wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt and a dark overcoat.”They may have relevant information to the investigation,” Providence police chief Oscar Perez told Wednesday’s briefing. Perez said this individual, who was not named, was “close enough” to the suspect “that we feel that we need to speak with them.”Perez also called on web users not to share artificial intelligence-generated images linked to the shooting.The two students killed Saturday were Ella Cook, vice president of Brown’s Republican Party association, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, originally from Uzbekistan, who had hoped to become a neurosurgeon.One survivor was in critical but stable condition, five were in a stable condition, and two had been discharged from hospital, Providence’s mayor Brett Smiley told the briefing.Authorities initially detained a man in connection with the shooting, but they later released him.The university has faced questions about its security arrangements after it emerged that none of its 1,200 security cameras were linked to the police’s surveillance system.”Why did Brown University have so few Security Cameras? There can be no excuse for that,” US President Donald Trump wrote on social media.The university issued a lengthy statement addressing the criticism, saying that its security cameras don’t extend every part of the over 250 buildings on campus.There have been more than 300 mass shootings in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot. Attempts to restrict access to firearms still face political deadlock.

Venezuela struck a defiant note Wednesday, insisting its crude oil exports were not impacted by US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a potentially crippling blockade.Trump’s declaration on Tuesday marked a new escalation in his months-long campaign of military and economic pressure on Venezuela’s authoritarian leftist President Nicolas Maduro.Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, shrugged off the threat of more pain, insisting it was proceeding with business as usual.”Export operations for crude and byproducts continue normally. Oil tankers linked to PDVSA operations continue to sail with full security,” state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) said.Trump said Tuesday he was imposing “A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela.”Referring to the heavy US military presence in the Caribbean — including the world’s largest aircraft carrier — he warned “Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America.”On Wednesday, he reiterated that US forces would not “let anybody go in… that shouldn’t be going through,” and accused Venezuela once again of taking “all of our oil.””They took all of our energy rights, they took all of our oil, from not that long ago, and we want it back,” he said, apparently referring to the nationalization of Venzuela’s oil industry.Oil prices had surged in early trading Wednesday in London on news of the blockade, which comes a week after US forces seized a sanctioned oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast.Maduro held telephone talks with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to discuss what he called the “escalation of threats” from Washington and their “implications for regional peace.”Guterres urged both sides to “exert restraint and de-escalate tensions to preserve regional stability.”- ‘We are not intimidated’ -Venezuela’s economy, which has been in freefall over the last decade of increasingly hardline rule by Maduro, relies heavily on petroleum exports.Trump’s campaign appears aimed at undermining domestic support for Maduro, but the Venezuelan military said Wednesday it was “not intimidated” by the threats.The foreign minister of China, the main market for Venezuelan oil, defended Caracas in a phone call with his Venezuelan counterpart Yvan Gil.”China opposes all unilateral bullying and supports all countries in defending their sovereignty and national dignity,” he said.Last week’s seizure of the M/T Skipper, in a dramatic raid involving US personnel rappelling from a helicopter, marked a shift in Trump’s offensive against Maduro.In August, the US leader ordered the biggest military deployment in the Caribbean Sea since the 1989 US invasion of Panama — purportedly to combat drug trafficking, but taking particular aim at Venezuela, a minnow in the global drug trade.US strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific have left at least 95 people dead since.Caracas believes that the anti-narcotics operations are a cover for a bid to topple Maduro and steal Venezuelan oil.The escalating tensions have raised fears of a potential US intervention to dislodge Maduro.Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum waded into the dispute Wednesday, declaring that the United Nations was “nowhere to be seen” and asked that it step up to “prevent any bloodshed.”- Oil lifeline -The US blockade threatens major pain for Venezuela’s crumbling economy.Venezuela has been under a US oil embargo since 2019, forcing it to sell its production on the black market at significantly lower prices, primarily to Asian countries.The country produces one million barrels of oil per day, down from more than three million in the early 2000s.Capital Economics analysts predicted that the blockade “would cut off a key lifeline for Venezuela’s economy” in the short term.”The medium-term impact will hinge largely on how tensions with the US evolve — and what the US administration’s goals are in Venezuela.”burs-cb/des

President Donald Trump will set out plans to make the United States “stronger than ever” in a televised address to the nation Wednesday as his popularity dips over his handling of the economy.Trump’s speech at the end of his first year back in the White House comes amid Republican fears that voters angered by the cost of living will punish them in the November 2026 midterms.”The message this evening is we inherited a mess, and we’ve done a great job, and we continue to, and our country is going to be stronger than ever before very soon,” Trump told reporters.He spoke after attending a somber ceremony marking the return of the bodies of two US soldiers and an American civilian who were shot dead in Syria over the weekend.Republican Trump is also expected to tease his policies for 2026, following a blitz of hardline protectionist and nationalist policies at the start of his second term.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the speech would focus on his “historic accomplishments” including tackling inflation, which Trump blames on his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, and curbing immigration.Leavitt said on Tuesday that the president would also talk about his plans “to continue delivering for the American people over the next three years.”Billionaire Trump, the oldest elected president in US history, has boasted of a new “golden age” in America. He recently rated the economy as “A++++” and rages against what he called an “affordability hoax” by rival Democrats.- ‘Make America affordable again’ -But polls show US voters are increasingly angry about high prices of everything from gas to groceries, which experts say are partly fueled by the tariffs he has slapped on trading partners. Trump got his worst approval ratings ever for his handling of the economy in a PBS News/NPR/Marist poll published Wednesday, with 57 percent of Americans disapproving and expressing concerns about the cost of living.A YouGov poll published Tuesday showed that 52 percent of Americans thought the economy was getting worse under Trump. He even faces criticism from within his Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement for focusing on peace deals in Ukraine and Gaza and on tensions with Venezuela, instead of domestic issues.But there are signs Trump’s team has had a wake-up call in recent weeks, with next year’s midterm elections for the control of Congress already looming.Republicans lost heavily in elections in November for the mayor of New York and governorships in Virginia and New Jersey, while Democrats ran them close in a previously safe area in Tennessee.The president is now ramping up his domestic travel to push his economic message.Last week in Pennsylvania he promised to “make America affordable again,” and on Friday he is due to give another campaign-style rally in North Carolina on Friday.Vice President JD Vance — who is rapidly becoming Trump’s messenger on the issue as he eyes his own presidential run in 2028 — urged voters to show patience during a speech on Tuesday.”They know Rome wasn’t built in a day,” Vance said in the swing state of Pennsylvania.Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles said in a Vanity Fair article published Tuesday that his program would feature “more talks about the domestic economy and less about Saudi Arabia.”

The US Senate on Wednesday approved President Donald Trump’s re-nomination of billionaire Jared Isaacman to head NASA, following months of backtracking and uncertainty over the space agency’s future.The 42-year-old businessman made his fortune in online payment processing and has a personal passion for space. He will take over as administrator of the US agency at a sensitive time — when it faces major budget cuts and pressure to travel to the Moon again and eventually reach Mars.The Trump administration wants to send a manned US mission to the Moon as soon as possible to outpace similar plans by China.During his second confirmation hearing in December, Isaacman pledged he would ensure the success of the Artemis lunar exploration program that began in 2017, during the first Trump administration. “America will return to the Moon before our great rival, and we will establish an enduring presence to understand and realize the scientific, economic and national security value on the lunar surface,” Isaacman said.NASA’s Artemis program, however, has faced numerous delays, and experts warned in September that the lunar lander developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX might not be ready in time.Trump first nominated Isaacman after the president’s 2024 election victory, but withdrew the nomination in April 2025, before re-issuing it again in November.Musk had lobbied for Isaacman to get the job. The back-and-forth reflected the president’s on-again, off-again relationship with the SpaceX founder, who has been skeptical of the goal of returning to the Moon.While the Trump administration was open several months ago to revising the Artemis program in favor of Mars, this prospect now seems to be fading.Isaacman has emphasized that returning to the Moon is now the priority.The entrepreneur has flown twice with SpaceX, and in 2024 became the first private astronaut to perform a spacewalk.

US President Donald Trump, who has made no mystery of his enmity for his Democratic predecessors, recently took things a step further with unorthodox White House plaques repeating his long-standing grievances against the former leaders.The 79-year-old Republican had previously caused a stir by installing a gallery of former presidents’ portraits outside the Oval Office, but replacing Joe Biden’s photograph with an autopen.The substitution is a reference to Trump’s claim that Biden, who left office in January aged 82, was so senile that he did not know what was being signed in his name.On Wednesday, journalists allowed access to the famed West Colonnade noted that new plaques had been installed under the presidents’ photos.The descriptions for Biden and former president Barack Obama were strikingly negative.The inscription below Obama, the first Black president in US history, calls him “one of the most divisive political figures in American history.”It also includes his middle name, Hussein, as Trump often does when referring to his Democratic predecessor, after having stoked conspiracy theories about the 44th president’s birthplace.Biden is described as “by far, the worst President in American history.”The plaque also repeats Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him.As for the current officeholder, his bio is expectedly glowing.It states that he ended eight conflicts in eight months, a figure viewed as inaccurate, and that he attracted an unverifiable sum of trillions of dollars in investment to the United States.The new plaques are the latest White House alteration since Trump’s return in January.The billionaire real estate developer has torn down the entire East Wing to make way for an extravagant ballroom, added copious amounts of gold to the Oval Office and other rooms, and hung portraits of himself — contrary to the custom of the president’s image only being displayed after leaving office.

US First Lady Melania Trump made a rare foray onto center stage Wednesday with the first trailer for her Amazon documentary — fixing the camera with an unflinching gaze and summing up her husband’s comeback in four words: “Here we go again.”The teaser for “Melania” — out January 30 — follows the famously private Slovenian-American former model as she walks into the US Capitol for President Donald Trump’s second swearing-in.Reports put Amazon’s licensing deal for the film at around $40 million. The Wall Street Journal reported that Melania, who served as executive producer, will receive 70 percent of that sum — a figure that has raised eyebrows among her critics.Amazon MGM promises “unprecedented access” in the documentary which chronicles the 20 days leading up to Inauguration Day in January, from transition planning to closed-door meetings and off-stage moments. The brisk trailer oscillates between choreographed grandeur and scenes that feel intentionally awkward.The first lady glides through the White House and the couple’s Florida estate in sharply tailored looks — sunglasses, stilettos, a strapless inaugural ball gown — while stepping in to fine-tune her husband’s rhetoric as he rehearses a speech.”Peacemaker and unifier,” she interjects as Trump practices a line about his proudest legacy being that of a “peacemaker.”One exchange has already sparked intrigue for what it suggests about the couple’s dynamic.In a gilded high‑rise office, Melania calls to applaud her husband for the speech — “Hi Mr. President. Congratulations,” she says — and, when he asks, “Did you watch it?” replies: “I did not… I will see it on the news.”Elsewhere, the footage flashes through a January photo shoot in the White House, travel shots, and more intimate moments — including placing a white flower at a graveside.Amazon says the film offers a rare glimpse “inside Melania Trump’s world” as the first lady reenters public life, with “exclusive footage” of critical meetings and private conversations.The documentary will debut in theaters worldwide on January 30, followed by a three-part companion series and a streaming run on Prime Video.”Melania” is directed by Brett Ratner. It is his first major project since multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct in 2017, allegations he denies.

The Oscars will be shown only on YouTube from 2029, the Academy said Wednesday, in a radical gambit for a movie industry that remains wary of streaming platforms even as viewing habits shift online.The new five-year deal means Hollywood’s most prestigious awards ceremony will be viewable exclusively online for the first time, ending a decades-long relationship with US broadcaster ABC.The decision will allow the Academy Awards to reach “the largest worldwide audience possible — which will be beneficial for our Academy members and the film community,” said Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences CEO Bill Kramer and President Lynette Howell Taylor in a statement.The annual Oscars, which celebrate the year’s top achievements in film and draw the world’s biggest A-list stars, are regularly watched by around 20 million Americans, and millions more globally.ABC’s latest contract to broadcast the show had been due to end in 2028, with the 100th Academy Awards. The Disney-owned channel will continue to air the Oscars up until then.But the new deal with Google-owned YouTube represents a bold new direction for the show at a time when audiences increasingly watch all types of content online.Streamers owned by Silicon Valley firms have lured top talent away from traditional Hollywood studios with massive contracts — despite filmmakers’ concerns that they rarely show movies on the big screen in theaters for extended runs.Streamers have also gradually gained wider acceptance at the Academy Awards, where Apple won best picture for “CODA” in 2022.The SAG Awards, another important Hollywood awards gala which recently rebranded as The Actors Awards, have already moved to Netflix.YouTube accounts for the biggest share of television viewing time in the United States of any streaming platform, dwarfing even Netflix.”This collaboration will leverage YouTube’s vast reach and infuse the Oscars and other Academy programming with innovative opportunities for engagement while honoring our legacy,” said the Academy statement.Financial terms of the new Oscars deal were not disclosed.Industry website Deadline said “the amount that YouTube was willing to pay didn’t make sense for Disney,” citing anonymous insiders.- ‘Proud home’ -An ABC Entertainment spokesperson told AFP: “ABC has been the proud home to The Oscars for more than half a century.”We look forward to the next three telecasts, including the show’s centennial celebration in 2028, and wish the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences continued success.”Like Hollywood more broadly, the Oscars have endured a challenging time in recent years, as younger generations’ viewing habits shift.During the Covid-19 pandemic, Oscars ratings sank as low as 10.4 million.The most recent Oscars were viewed by 19.69 million people — the highest in five years — as the ceremony was shown live simultaneously on Disney’s streamer Hulu along with ABC.But the Hulu stream suffered technical glitches that left some viewers unable to see the final prizes.The Academy Awards telecast regularly topped 40 million just over a decade ago.

Former special counsel Jack Smith defended his prosecution of Donald Trump on Wednesday, telling lawmakers the US president had engaged in a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election.Smith’s testimony to the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee was being held behind closed doors, but several US media outlets obtained excerpts of his prepared remarks.”The decision to bring charges against President Trump was mine, but the basis for those charges rests entirely with President Trump and his actions,” Smith was quoted as telling the panel.”Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power,” Smith said.”If asked whether to prosecute a former president based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether the president was a Republican or Democrat,” he added.Smith had requested that his deposition be delivered in public, but the Republican majority on the House Judiciary Committee declined his request.Trump was accused by Smith of mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House and plotting to overturn the results of the White House race he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.Neither case came to trial and Smith — in line with a Justice Department policy of not prosecuting a sitting president — dropped them both after Trump won the November 2024 presidential election.Smith declined to speak to reporters as he arrived for the deposition before the committee, which is examining his decision to bring the two criminal cases against Trump.- ‘Unprecedented retribution campaign’ -Lanny Breuer, Smith’s lawyer, said the former special counsel, in testifying, was “showing tremendous courage in light of the remarkable and unprecedented retribution campaign against him by this administration and this White House.””Jack Smith, a career prosecutor, conducted this investigation based on the facts and based on the law and nothing more,” Breuer told reporters.Since taking office for the second time, Trump has urged the Justice Department to bring cases against Smith and a number of other perceived political opponents.Cases brought against Trump foes James Comey, a former FBI director, and New York Attorney General Letitia James collapsed last month after a judge ruled that the prosecutor who brought the charges was unlawfully appointed.Representative Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, has criticized the decision by the Republicans on the oversight panel not to allow Smith to testify publicly.”What are our colleagues so afraid of, that they won’t let the American people hear directly from the special counsel?” Raskin said.”The American people deserve to hear the full unvarnished truth about special counsel Smith’s years-long effort to investigate and prosecute the crimes committed by Donald Trump and his co-conspirators,” he said.