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US President Donald Trump called Wednesday for the jailing of Democratic officials in Illinois resisting his mass deportation campaign, a day after armed troops from Texas arrived in the state to bolster the operation.Chicago, the largest city in Illinois and third-largest in the country, has become the latest flashpoint in Trump’s hardline drive to deport millions of immigrants, which has prompted allegations of rights abuses and myriad lawsuits.The operation is being led by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), whose masked agents have surged into several Democratic-led cities to conduct raids, stoking outrage among many residents and protests outside federal facilities.”Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!” Trump posted Wednesday on his social media platform.Local officials argue that city and state law enforcement are sufficient to handle the protests, but Trump claims the military is needed to keep federal agents safe, heightening concerns by his critics of growing authoritarianism.After National Guard deployments in Los Angeles and Washington, DC, 200 troops arrived in Illinois on Tuesday.Trump’s attacks on Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, both Democrats, follow similar extraordinary public calls by the president for his political opponents to face legal charges.It comes the same day that former FBI director James Comey was arraigned on charges of lying to Congress — an indictment which came just days after Trump urged his attorney general to take action against him and others.- ‘Full-blown authoritarianism’ -Pritzker, seen as a potential Democratic candidate in the 2028 presidential election, has become one of Trump’s most fiery critics.He pledged Wednesday to “not back down,” listing a litany of grievances against Trump’s immigration crackdown.”Making people feel they need to carry citizenship papers. Invading our state with military troops. Sending in war helicopters in the middle of the night,” he wrote on X.”What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?” he asked. “We must all stand up and speak out.”By “war helicopters,” Pritzker was referring to a major raid last week in which Black Hawk helicopters descended on a Chicago housing complex.Dozens of people were arrested in the surprise operation, according to the Trump administration, but US media reported that American citizens were detained for hours.Mayor Johnson has since announced “ICE-free zones” where city-owned property will be declared off-limits to federal authorities.Johnson accused Republicans of wanting “a rematch of the Civil War.”Trump’s immigration crackdown is aimed at fulfilling a key election pledge to rid the country of what he called waves of foreign “criminals.”Trump has nonetheless faced some legal setbacks, including a federal judge in Oregon blocking his bid to deploy troops in Portland, saying his descriptions of an emergency there were false and that the US is a “nation of Constitutional law, not martial law.”Trump says he could invoke the rarely used Insurrection Act to force deployments of troops around the country if courts or local officials are “holding us up.”

Former FBI director James Comey pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to felony charges in a case widely seen as an escalation of President Donald Trump’s campaign of retribution against political opponents.Comey, 64, a prominent critic of the president, was indicted by a grand jury last month on charges of making false statements to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding.Comey’s lawyer, Patrick Fitzgerald, entered a not guilty plea before District Judge Michael Nachmanoff during his arraignment in a packed federal courtroom in Alexandria, Virginia.Fitzgerald also said he intended to file a motion seeking to have the case dismissed on the grounds it is a vindictive and selective prosecution.Comey spoke briefly, replying “I do, your honor” when asked by the judge if he understood the charges against him.The judge scheduled a trial date of January 5.Comey’s indictment stems from sworn testimony he gave to the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020 on the probe he led into whether Russia interfered in the 2016 US presidential election.He is accused of falsely stating that he had not authorized another FBI employee to be an anonymous source in news reports.He faces up to five years in prison if convicted.Comey was appointed to head the FBI by president Barack Obama in 2013 and was fired by Trump in 2017 amid the probe into whether any members of the Trump presidential campaign had colluded with Moscow to sway the 2016 vote.The charges against Comey came just days after Trump publicly urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to take action against the former FBI director and others he sees as enemies — a stunning departure from the principle that the Justice Department must be free from White House pressure.The 79-year-old Trump — the first convicted felon to serve as US president — hailed the indictment, calling Comey “one of the worst human beings this country has ever been exposed to.”- ‘Costs to standing up’ to Trump -Since taking office in January, Trump has taken a number of punitive measures against perceived enemies, purging government officials he deemed to be disloyal, targeting law firms involved in past cases against him and pulling federal funding from universities.Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor, said Comey’s legal argument that he is the victim of a vindictive prosecution could be bolstered by Trump’s actions.”Vindictive or selective prosecution arguments are difficult to win, but Trump’s many posts and other public statements may convince this judge,” Tobias told AFP.Comey is the first Trump critic to be indicted but the president has also called for the prosecution of New York Attorney General Letitia James, Democratic Senator Adam Schiff and his own former National Security Advisor, John Bolton.Comey’s indictment came after the US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Erik Siebert, stepped down after reportedly telling Justice Department leaders there was insufficient evidence to charge him.Trump replaced Siebert with Lindsey Halligan, one of his former personal lawyers, who brought the case to a grand jury and secured an indictment.Fitzgerald, Comey’s lawyer, told the judge during the arraignment that he planned to file a motion challenging Halligan’s appointment as illegal.Comey has proclaimed his innocence and said “my family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump.”Comey’s daughter Maurene was summarily fired in July as a prosecutor in Manhattan and has sued the Justice Department over her dismissal.Trump was the target of several investigations after leaving the White House in 2021.The FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago home in 2022 as part of a probe into mishandling of classified documents.Trump was also charged by Special Counsel Jack Smith with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election — culminating with the January 6, 2021 assault on Congress by his supporters.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 vote.

Authorities investigating one of the deadly fires that tore through Los Angeles in January said Wednesday they had arrested a man they believe deliberately started the blaze.The arrest comes as America’s second-largest city is still grappling with the aftermath of two huge fires that together killed 31 people and left thousands of acres (hectares) in ruins, as they displaced thousands of people.Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, was taken into custody in Florida on suspicion of destruction of property by means of fire, Acting United States Attorney Bill Essayli said.”The complaint alleges that a single person’s recklessness caused one of the worst fires Los Angeles has ever seen, resulting in death and widespread destruction in Pacific Palisades,” he said.Rinderknecht is alleged to have ignited the Palisades Fire in the early minutes of New Year’s Day on a popular hiking trail above the well-heeled suburb, which is home to celebrities and is one of the most sought-after pieces of real estate in the United States.The blaze was initially contained by firefighters, but smoldered underground in the roots of plants.Investigators believe powerful winds that swept through the area a week later reignited it.Those flames grew to engulf Pacific Palisades and parts of Malibu, destroying thousands of homes and killing a dozen people.A separate fire that erupted in the more modest suburb of Altadena at the same time also caused devastation over a wide area, killing 19 people.- AI images -Essayli said Rinderknecht, who lived in Pacific Palisades at the time, was working as an Uber driver in the area and had dropped passengers off moments before he ignited the blaze.At a press conference, investigators showed AI-generated images that they allege the suspect had created in the weeks before the blaze, showing a cityscape on fire.Rinderknecht was also alleged to have repeatedly watched the video for a French rap track that included images of fire.Kenny Cooper of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), one of the agencies that investigated the fire, said he could not speak to motive at this stage.”I wish we could get into somebody’s head, but we can’t,” he said. “Evil people do evil things.”The two major fires that gripped the Los Angeles area in January were among the deadliest blazes in California history.They were also one of the costliest natural disasters ever, with estimates of damage running into hundreds of billions of dollars.Firefighters struggled for days to contain the fires, hampered by 100-mile (160-kilometer) -an-hour winds that prevented them from using helicopters and planes.The scale of the blazes created difficulties, as did an urban water supply that was never designed to cope with such enormous conflagrations.The arrest came after an intense investigation, with speculation that errant fireworks may have sparked the Palisades Fire.In July, the Southern California Edison power company said it would begin paying compensation to those affected by the Eaton Fire that destroyed Altadena.While no official cause of the fire has been revealed yet, the finger of blame has been pointing for months at a power line in the hills behind Altadena.Several videos and witness accounts suggest the equipment produced sparks that could have caused the fast-moving conflagration.

Three scientists won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry Wednesday for developing a method of designing molecular structures whose multiple uses include tackling climate change by capturing carbon dioxide and harvesting water from desert air.Japan’s Susumu Kitagawa, UK-born Richard Robson and American-Jordanian Omar Yaghi were honoured for their groundbreaking discoveries dating from the late 1980s to the early 2000s.Thanks to the trio’s discoveries, said the jury, chemists had been able to build tens of thousands of so called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).”Some of these may contribute to solving some of humankind’s greatest challenges,” it added.It listed applications such as “separating PFAS from water, breaking down traces of pharmaceuticals in the environment, capturing carbon dioxide or harvesting water from desert air”.- Revolutionary discoveries -In 1989, Robson, 88, tested using the properties of atoms in a new way using copper ions.”When they were combined, they bonded to form a well-ordered, spacious crystal,” the jury said. “It was like a diamond filled with innumerable cavities.”While Robson, a professor at the University of Melbourne, realised the potential of his discovery the molecular construction was unstable.It was Kitagawa, a professor at Kyoto University, and Yaghi, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who provided a proper foundation for the building method.Between 1992 and 2003, working separately, they made a series of revolutionary discoveries.Kitagawa “showed that gases can flow in and out of the constructions and predicted that MOFs could be made flexible,” said the jury.Yaghi created “a very stable MOF” and showed that it could be modified using rational design, giving it new and desirable properties,” it added.- ‘Like a sponge’ -Reacting to the award, specialists in the field agreed on the importance of the work.For Dorothy J. Phillips, president of the American Chemical Society, the most exciting application was the capture of carbon dioxide.”We’re in the midst of climate change, we really want to do things like track and reduce the carbon dioxide… that’s a tremendous application,” she told AFP.Ross Forgan, a professor of materials chemistry at the University of Glasgow, told AFP that MOFs could be described as “solids that are full of holes”.”They have a ridiculously high storage-capacity inside them because they are hollow, and they can soak up other molecules like a sponge,” Forgan said.David Fairen-Jimenez, a professor who studies MOFs at the University of Cambridge, explained that they could also be assembled to make new “functional materials.”It’s very easy to imagine as a molecular building game,” he added, making a comparison to “playing with Lego”.- ‘Quite a journey’ -In an interview with the Nobel Foundation, Yaghi said he was “astonished, delighted, overwhelmed” on learning he had won the award.He was in an airport switching flights when the Academy called him to announce the news.Yaghi was born into a family of Palestinian refugees in Amman, Jordan.”I grew up in a very humble home,” he said. “And, you know, we were a dozen of us in one small room, sharing it with the cattle that we used to raise.”School provided a refuge for Yaghi, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in its statement. He moved to the US to study at the age of 15.”So it’s quite a journey,” he said — and science had allowed him to make it, he added.”Science is the greatest equalising force in the world,” Yaghi said.- A diploma, a medal and a cheque -The chemistry prize follows the physics award, which on Tuesday honoured Briton John Clarke, Frenchman Michel Devoret and American John Martinis for work putting the theory quantum mechanics into action. On Monday, the Nobel Prize for Medicine went to Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell, of the United States, and Japan’s Shimon Sakaguchi for research into the human immune system.The Nobel literature prize will be announced on Thursday, followed by the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.The economics prize wraps up the 2025 Nobel season on October 13.The Nobel consists of a diploma, a gold medal and a $1.2-million cheque, to be shared if there is more than one winner in a discipline.

Nobel chemistry laureate Omar Yaghi was born to Palestinian refugees in Jordan, a quiet, studious child in a “large, rowdy family” that shared a single room with cattle they raised.Which made Wednesday’s news that the chemist at the University of California, Berkeley was among 2025’s class of Nobel winners all the more emotional, Yaghi told journalists as he heralded the US public school system he said he is a product of.He also emphasized that publicly financed education and research have been key to his career, at a moment when US President Donald Trump is upending the long-standing funding structures that undergird the work of universities.”This recognition is really a testament of the power of the public school system in the US that takes people like me with a major disadvantaged background, a refugee background, and allows you to work, and work hard, and distinguish yourself,” Yaghi said.He described how his parents spent “every minute of their time dedicated to their kids and to their kids’ education, because they saw that as a way to lift themselves and the kids out of challenging situations.”Their home had no electricity or running water. His father had finished school through sixth grade and his mother could neither read nor write.”We didn’t have a lot of the conveniences that many others do, but we had a lot of love and a lot of care,” the scientist said.Yaghi won the 2025 prize together with Susumu Kitagawa of Japan and UK-born Richard Robson for their groundbreaking discoveries on metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), whose uses include capturing carbon dioxide and harvesting water from desert air.Born in 1965, he spent his childhood in Amman, Jordan, before leaving for the United States at the age of 15, on the advice of his stern father who saw for his son an opportunity to thrive. At that point young Yaghi had already grown enamored with molecular structures after being drawn to “unintelligible but captivating” images in a book.”I fell in love with them, even before I knew they were molecules,” Yaghi said. – ‘Equalizing force’ of science -He began at a community college in upstate New York before transferring and finishing a degree at the State University of New York at Albany, supporting himself by bagging groceries and mopping floors.Yaghi completed his PhD at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1990 and went on to work at a number of US universities before landing at UC Berkeley in 2012.He emphasized Wednesday that groundbreaking research was made possible with grants that stemmed from federal sources.”They were absolutely key in enabling me to go off in my own direction” and experiment, Yaghi said. “Science costs money, and it’s an investment into our future.”He louded the “amazing” higher education, research and mentorship system in the United States that public funding is vital to: “Science is a jewel in the crown of our country.””We cannot allow that to slip.”Yaghi was en route to Brussels via Frankfurt for a chemistry conference when the Nobel organizers got in touch with him with news of his prestigious honor, which he said “surprised and delighted” him.”You cannot prepare for a moment like that,” he said. Yaghi’s accomplishments include leading a research group that extracted water from desert air in Arizona, work his students have told him has garnered more than 250,000 citations.The child of refugees told the Nobel Foundation Wednesday that “science is the great equalizing force in the world.””Smart people, talented people, skilled people exist everywhere,” Yaghi said.”That’s why we really should focus on unleashing their potential through providing them with opportunity.”

The global economy is doing better than expected, even as it faces prolonged uncertainty and underwhelming medium-term growth prospects, the head of the IMF said Wednesday. The world economy is doing “better than feared, but worse than we need,” International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told reporters in Washington.She added that the Fund now expects global growth to slow “only slightly this year and next,” propped up by better-than-expected conditions in the United States, and among some other advanced, emerging market and developing countries. Georgieva’s remarks came ahead of next week’s gathering of finance ministers and central bank governors at the World Bank and the IMF in Washington. Trade is once again likely to dominate the agenda at the annual meetings, following US President Donald Trump’s decision earlier this year to unleash sweeping tariffs against many trading partners.- ‘Multiple shocks’ -“All signs point to a world economy that has generally withstood acute strains from multiple shocks,” Georgieva said, pointing to “improved policy fundamentals,” the adaptability of the private sector, lower-than-expected tariffs, and supportive financial conditions. “The world has avoided a tit-for-tat slide into trade war — so far,” she added. She noted that the average US tariff rate has fallen from 23 percent in April to 17.5 percent today, while the US effective tariff rate of around 10 percent remains “far above” the rest of the world.But, she warned, the full effect of those tariffs “is still to unfold,” adding that the resilience of the world economy has yet to be “fully tested.” Against this backdrop, the Fund still expects global growth to remain at roughly three percent over the medium term, in line with previous forecasts — below the 3.7 percent, on average, seen before the Covid-19 pandemic.”Global growth patterns have been changing over the years, notably with China decelerating steadily while India develops into a key growth engine,” Georgieva said. To boost lackluster growth prospects elsewhere, she called on countries to act swiftly to “durably” lift output, rebuild fiscal buffers, and address “excessive” trade imbalances. The Fund’s prescriptions for policymakers differed by region, with Asia urged to deepen its internal trade, and to strengthen the service sector and access to finance. Carried out correctly, this could raise economic output by as much as 1.8 percent in the long run, Georgieva said. African countries should promote “business-friendly reforms” and continue with efforts to build up the Continental Free Trade Area which, she said, could lift their real GDP per capita by “over 10 percent.””Gains from this region can be especially large,” she said. – Tough love for Europe -Georgieva reserved her harshest criticism for Europe, which has struggled with economic growth in recent years, in marked contrast to the United States.To raise competition in the bloc, Georgieva called on the European Union to appoint a new “single market czar” to drive reforms, a move that would simplify the EU’s structure and consolidate the power to make the changes required. These changes include steps to deepen EU single market integration in financial services and energy. “Catch up with the private sector dynamism of the US,” she said, adding that Europe must “recognize that there will be some sacrifices on the way.”For the world’s largest economy, Georgieva urged the Trump administration to address the country’s federal deficit and to take steps to incentivize household savings. And for China, the world’s second-largest economy, Georgieva reiterated the IMF’s ongoing calls for fiscal reforms to boost private consumption and reduce dependence on industrial policy to drive growth. 

Republicans say Democrats want to hand out free health care to illegal immigrants. Democrats accuse Republicans of trying to blow up Obamacare — again. And somewhere in the middle, the US federal government is stuck in shutdown mode, with the finger-pointing in full swing over insurance subsidies that millions of Americans rely on.Here is a look at what’s driving a clash that is proving a bitter pill for Americans to swallow.  – Why is Washington shut down? -Congress failed to pass a bill to keep federal departments and agencies funded and functioning past October 1, triggering a shutdown. The sticking point? Health care.Democrats are demanding an extension of subsidies for Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans — financial aid that keeps premiums affordable for millions.Republicans — who run Congress and the White House but need Democratic votes to set budgets — say that debate should happen later, not as part of a must-pass funding bill.Both sides have repeatedly blocked the other’s reopening proposals in the Senate, meaning federal agencies have been closing and placing some 750,000 nonessential workers on enforced leave, while essential employees have been working without pay. – What are these subsidies about? -The subsidies are enhanced tax credits for people who buy insurance through the ACA — or “Obamacare” — marketplace. They were boosted during the Covid-19 pandemic but are set to expire at the end of the year.If Congress does not act, premiums could rise by an average of 114 percent in 2026 for 24 million Americans who rely on Obamacare, according to health care policy research group KFF. That means someone paying the 2025 average of $888 would suddenly owe $1,904 in 2026. The Congressional Budget Office estimates four million people could lose coverage altogether. Democrats say letting the subsidies expire would be a disaster for working families, especially in rural areas and Republican-voting states like Texas and Florida, where Obamacare enrollment is highest.- Why are Republicans saying no? -Republican leaders argue that health care policy should be debated separately from government funding. They have proposed a “clean” bill with no strings attached to keep the lights on through November 21.But there is division within the party, with moderates supporting extending the subsidies and hardline conservatives pushing for an end to “Covid-era handouts.”Even Georgia congresswoman and staunch conservative Marjorie Taylor Greene broke ranks, saying she is “disgusted” that premiums could double for her own grown-up children.- How does this tie into Obamacare? -The ACA has been a political battleground since it passed in 2010. Republicans have tried for years to dismantle it, while Democrats have fought to protect and expand it.In this latest chapter of the battle, Democrats want to make the enhanced subsidies permanent, framing it as a defense of affordable health care. Republicans see the shutdown as a chance to revisit the ACA and push for reforms — or rollbacks.Some Republicans are also pushing for restrictions on subsidies going to insurers that cover abortion, adding another layer of controversy.- What is each side telling voters? -Democrats say Republicans are risking the health of millions by refusing to extend ACA subsidies. Their message: “Protect working families. Extend the subsidies. Reopen the government.”Republicans say Democrats are holding the government hostage over unrelated demands. Their message: “Pass a clean bill. Debate health care later.”Trump and his allies have added to the noise by pushing misleading claims that Democrats want to give free health care to undocumented immigrants.US law bars such migrants from receiving the health care benefits under debate, and the Democrats have not called for a new act of Congress to change that.Polls show most Americans side with Democrats on the health care issue. A recent KFF survey found 78 percent support extending the subsidies, including 59 percent of Republicans.

Russia said Wednesday that momentum towards reaching a peace deal in Ukraine had largely vanished following Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump’s presidential summit in Alaska, dimming hopes for a quick end to the three-and-a-half year war.The two leaders met at an air base in the Alaskan city of Anchorage in August, but failed to reach any kind of peace agreement to end the fighting.Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have since stalled, with both Moscow and Kyiv launching deadly strikes into each other’s territory and Russia advancing on the battlefield.Trump has grown increasingly frustrated at Putin’s apparent reluctance to accept a deal, saying last month he was “very disappointed” with the Russian leader.”Unfortunately, we must admit that the powerful momentum generated by Anchorage in favour of agreements… has largely gone,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said, according to Russian news agencies.He blamed Europe for the impasse, accusing them of wanting to wage a “war to the last Ukrainian”.Trump reached out to Putin within weeks of returning to the White House, casting himself as a neutral mediator. But he has failed to extract any major concessions from the Kremlin.Trump has since grown more hostile towards Moscow while expressing sympathy for Ukraine.In September, he wrote on Truth Social that Kyiv should try to “take back” all its occupied territory with Europe’s and NATO’s help.Last month, US Vice President JD Vance told broadcaster Fox News that Washington was considering sending long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine.Putin warned that such a move would mean a “whole new level of escalation”.On Wednesday, Ryabkov said sending Tomahawks to Ukraine would have “severe” consequences and urged Washington to reconsider the decision.US-Russian ties were “cracking” at their “foundation”, said Ryabkov — and “the Americans are to blame for this”.- Sports hall hit -Both Moscow and Kyiv accused each other of attacking civilians early Wednesday, while Moscow said it had captured a village. In Russia’s Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, a missile strike killed three people in the village of Maslova Pristan, about 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the border, the local governor said.The governor said the strike had partially destroyed a “social facility” and posted images of what appeared to be a sports hall, its facade partially shattered.A Russian strike on the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson killed two elderly people, local officials said.Russia fired at least 183 drones at Ukrainian territory between late Tuesday and early Wednesday, the Ukrainian air force said.Among the targets were rail and energy infrastructure, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.Moscow’s defence ministry said it had intercepted 53 Ukrainian drones overnight, most of them over the Belgorod region, a frequent target of attacks.Russia launched its full-scale offensive on Ukraine in February 2022, describing it as a “special military operation” to demilitarise the country and prevent the expansion of NATO.Kyiv and its European allies have cast the war as an illegal land grab that has resulted in tens of thousands of civilian and military casualties and widespread destruction.Millions of Ukrainians have been forced to leave their homes since 2022, while Russia now occupies around a fifth of Ukrainian territory — much of it ravaged by fighting.

Former FBI director James Comey, a prominent critic of US President Donald Trump, is to make his first court appearance on Wednesday to face charges of making false statements and obstructing a congressional proceeding.Comey’s arraignment, during which he is expected to plead not guilty, is to be held at 10:00 am (1400 GMT) at a federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, before district judge Michael Nachmanoff.Comey, 64, was indicted last month on two felony counts in an escalation of Trump’s campaign of retribution against the Republican president’s political foes.Appointed to head the FBI by former president Barack Obama in 2013, Comey is charged with lying to Congress and obstruction of a congressional proceeding stemming from sworn testimony he gave to the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020.He is accused of falsely stating that he had not authorized another FBI employee to be an anonymous source in news reports. He faces up to five years in prison if convicted.Trump fired Comey in 2017 amid a probe into whether any members of the Trump presidential campaign had colluded with Moscow to sway the 2016 vote.The charges came just days after Trump had publicly urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to take action against Comey and others he sees as enemies — a stunning departure from the principle that the Justice Department must be free from White House pressure.Trump, the first convicted felon to serve as US president, hailed the indictment, saying Comey is “one of the worst human beings this country has ever been exposed to.”Trump has taken a number of punitive measures against his perceived enemies and political opponents since taking office in January.The 79-year-old Republican has stripped former officials of their security clearances, targeted law firms involved in past cases against him and pulled federal funding from universities.Comey’s indictment came after the US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Erik Siebert, stepped down after reportedly telling Justice Department leaders there was insufficient evidence to charge Comey.Trump replaced Siebert with Lindsey Halligan, a former personal lawyer to the president, who brought the case to a grand jury and secured an indictment.In a video posted on Instagram following the indictment, Comey proclaimed his innocence and said “my family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump.”Trump was the target of several investigations after leaving the White House in 2021.The FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago home in 2022 as part of a probe into mishandling of classified documents and Trump was charged by Special Counsel Jack Smith with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.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 vote.

Donald Trump has made no secret of the fact that he is obsessed with winning the Nobel Peace Prize. But so far the award has eluded him throughout his two US presidencies.Trump’s push for the prize, whose 2025 winner will be named on Friday, is fueled by a potent mix of a desire for prestige and a long rivalry with former president Barack Obama.Sometimes Trump, who is often better known for his divisive rhetoric, anti-migration drive and embrace of foreign authoritarians, has appeared to acknowledge that he is an unlikely candidate.”Will you get the Nobel Prize? Absolutely not. They’ll give it to some guy that didn’t do a damn thing,” Trump said during a speech to hundreds of the US military’s top officers in September.But in the same breath Trump revealed his true feelings.”It’d be a big insult to our country, I will tell you that. I don’t want it, I want the country to get it. It should get it because there’s never been anything like it,” he said at the same gathering.- ‘Seven wars’ -As the Norwegian committee’s announcement has drawn nearer, the steady drumbeat of Trump’s campaigning for the peace prize has intensified to unprecedented levels.In recent weeks, barely a public event has gone by without Trump bragging about what he says is his role in ending seven wars.Trump’s administration recently listed them as being between Cambodia and Thailand; Kosovo and Serbia; the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda; Pakistan and India; Israel and Iran; Egypt and Ethiopia; and Armenia and Azerbaijan.But while Trump has been quick to claim credit for some — for example announcing a ceasefire between nuclear-armed Delhi and Islamabad in May — many of the claims are partial or inaccurate.Trump has even bombed one of the countries he mentions. He ordered US military strikes on Iran’s nuclear program in June.But perhaps the biggest issue is that the two main wars that Trump promised to end within days of his inauguration — in Gaza and Ukraine — are still raging.His push for a deal between US ally Israel and Hamas to end the brutal two-year war in Gaza has reached a climax just days before the Nobel announcement — but is almost certainly too late to sway the committee.Foreign leaders seeking to curry favor with Trump have been quick to talk up Trump’s chances.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nominated Trump for the prize, as did an Israeli advocacy group campaigning for the release of hostages in Gaza.Pakistan also nominated Trump while the leaders of several African countries paid tribute to his supposed peacemaking efforts in a visit earlier this year.- Obama rivalry -But while Trump wants international recognition as “peacemaker-in-chief,” there is another driving factor.Since the beginning of his presidential ambitions 10 years ago, “he has put himself in opposition to Barack Obama, who famously won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009,” Garret Martin, a professor of international relations at American University, told AFP.The prize awarded to the Democratic former president, barely nine months after he took office, sparked heated debate — and continues to annoy Republican Trump.”If I were named Obama I would have had the Nobel Prize given to me in 10 seconds,” Trump complained in October 2024, during the final stretch of the presidential campaign.Three other US presidents have also won the award: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Jimmy Carter, although Carter won his decades after his presidency for his subsequent peace efforts.