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US President Donald Trump on Tuesday brushed off criticism over the demolition of part of the White House to build a new ballroom, saying the sound of the construction work was “music to my ears.”Democrats including former first lady Hillary Clinton accused the Republican of failing to respect the presidential mansion after excavators tore off the facade of the building’s East Wing.”We’re building a world-class ballroom,” Trump told a lunch for Republican senators at the White House as the grinding and beeping of machinery could be heard in the background.”You probably hear the beautiful sound of construction to the back. You hear that sound? Oh, that’s music to my ears. I love that sound.”The 79-year-old property mogul also said taxpayers would not pay for any of the $250-million plan. “When I hear that sound it reminds me of money. In this case it reminds of lack of money because I’m paying for it,” he said of the demolition noise.Trump has said that he is partly funding work on the giant ballroom while private and corporate donors will cover the rest. Last week, Trump hosted a glitzy dinner for donors with guests including several top US tech firms, but the White House has not released a list yet or given any figures.AFP journalists saw demolition work under way for a second day on the East Wing, which is where the offices of US first ladies are located.- ‘Pearl-clutching’ -One former occupant of the East Wing led criticism of Trump’s project.”It’s not his house. It’s your house. And he’s destroying it,” said former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, whose husband Bill Clinton was president from 1993 to 2001, and who lost to Trump in the 2016 election.Other Democrats compared it to Trump’s own radical efforts to reshape the federal government and target his political opponents.”The demolition of the East Wing feels very symbolic of what Trump is doing to our democracy,” Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono said on X. “He’ll lie about protecting it, then destroy it right in front of your face.”Senior Senator Elizabeth Warren said that while Americans faced a “skyrocketing” cost of living, “Donald Trump can’t hear you over the sound of bulldozers demolishing a wing of the White House to build a new grand ballroom.”The White House rejected what it called “pearl-clutching” from critics.”In the latest instance of manufactured outrage, unhinged leftists and their Fake News allies are clutching their pearls over President Donald J. Trump’s visionary addition of a grand, privately funded ballroom to the White House,” it said in a statement.It called the ballroom a “a bold, necessary addition that echoes the storied history of improvements and renovations” by presidents. The White House also pointed out a series of works done by previous presidents — including what it said was President Barack Obama upgrading the tennis court into a full basketball court.Trump has launched a major makeover of the White House in his second term — including paving over the grass of the Rose Garden, where he hosted the Republican senators.

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday the Department of Justice likely owed him damages, after a report that he was seeking millions of dollars in compensation for past investigations. The New York Times reported that lawyers for the Republican were demanding around $230 million in compensation for federal probes into him before he was elected president for a second time.”That decision would have to go across my desk. And it’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about the report.”But I was damaged very greatly.” Trump added of the Department of Justice that “they probably owe me a lot of money — if I get money from our country, I will do something nice with it like to give it to charity or give it to the White House.”Trump has launched a series of legal cases against media firms and other organizations he accuses of bias against him, in some cases winning huge sums.He said it “could be” the case that his legal team had filed a compensation claim, but said that “I don’t know what the numbers are, I don’t even talk to them about it.” A spokesman for Trump’s legal team did not directly confirm the New York Times story but told AFP that the president “continues to fight back against all Democrat-led witch hunts.” These included the investigation into alleged collusion between Trump’s 2016 election campaign and Russia, the spokesman said.But a situation in which a US president seeks compensation from the very government he heads has “no parallel in American history,” the New York Times said, adding that it also threw up major ethical conflicts. One of Trump’s former lawyers, Todd Blanche, is now the deputy US attorney general at the Department of Justice.It declined to comment on the status of the claims but rejected suggestions that top officials would be conflicted.”In any circumstance, all officials at the Department of Justice follow the guidance of career ethics officials,” department spokesman Chad Gilmartin said in a statement to AFP. Trump faced a series of federal investigations after his first presidency into the alleged mishandling of classified material and attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election that Biden won.They were abandoned when Trump was reelected last year.Trump has also been convicted of 34 felonies related to hush money payments to a porn star in a case in New York State. 

Alejandro Carranza’s loved ones say he left home on Colombia’s Caribbean coast to fish in open waters. Days later, he was dead — one of 32 alleged drug traffickers killed in US military strikes.  From Santa Marta, northern Colombia, Carranza’s family is questioning White House claims that he was carrying narcotics aboard a small vessel targeted last month.For his wife Katerine Hernandez, the 40-year-old was “a good man” devoted to fishing.”Why did they just take his life like that?” she asked during an interview Monday with AFP. She denied he had any link to drug trafficking.”The fishermen have the right to live. Why didn’t they just detain them?”Since the United States began bombing boats in the Caribbean in September, critics have accused Donald Trump’s administration of carrying out extrajudicial executions.The White House and Pentagon have produced little evidence to back up their claims that those targeted were involved in trafficking.Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, a critic of the US military presence in the Caribbean, has also claimed Carranza was innocent.Petro said his crew suffered a mechanical failure at sea.”The Colombian boat was adrift with a distress signal, its engine raised,” Petro wrote Saturday on X. “He had no ties to drug trafficking. His daily activity was fishing.”However Colombian media have reported that Carranza had a criminal record for stealing weapons in collusion with gangs.Prosecutors contacted by AFP refused to confirm or deny the reports.The US government has released statements and images purporting to show strikes on at least seven boats allegedly carrying drugs, leaving 32 dead.AFP has not been able to independently verify this toll. – He stopped calling -Before his last trip, Carranza told his father he was heading to a spot “with good fish.” Days passed without contact, until the family learned of the bombing on television.”The days went by and he didn’t call,” Hernandez said.The deadly strikes have sparked a diplomatic row between the United States and Colombia, historically close partners.Petro condemned the attack as a violation of Colombian sovereignty and labeled it an “assassination,” while Trump has lashed out his counterpart, calling him an “illegal drug dealer” and vowing to to halt all US economic aid to the country.Friends interviewed by AFP also insisted Carranza was a fisherman.”He went offshore to catch sierra, tuna, and snapper, which are found far out at this time of year,” said Cesar Henriquez, who has known him since childhood.”He always came back to Santa Marta, secured his boat, and went home. I never knew him to do anything bad,” Henriquez told AFP.A Colombian and an Ecuadoran are the only survivors so far of US attacks in the Caribbean.The Colombian, repatriated in serious condition, will face trial as a “criminal” accused of drug trafficking, according to the government.The Ecuadoran was released after authorities said he had no pending charges.

US President Donald Trump addressed reports Tuesday that he was seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages from his own Justice Department, saying it would be “awfully strange” to effectively pay himself.The New York Times reported that lawyers for Trump were demanding around $230 million in compensation for federal investigations into him before he was elected president for a second time.”They probably owe me a lot of money — if I get money from our country, I will do something nice with it like to give it to charity or give it to the White House,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.”That decision would have to go across my desk. And it’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself…. But I was damaged very greatly.”He later said that he did “not know the numbers.” Trump has launched a series of legal cases against media firms and other organizations he accuses of bias against him, in some cases winning huge sums.But a situation in which a US president seeks compensation from the very government he heads has “no parallel in American history,” the Times said, adding that it also threw up major ethical conflicts. One of Trump’s former lawyers, Todd Blanche, is now the deputy US attorney general at the Justice Department.A spokesman for Trump’s legal team did not directly confirm the New York Times story but told AFP that the president “continues to fight back against all Democrat-led witch hunts.” These included the investigation into alleged collusion between Trump’s 2016 election campaign and Russia, and the “weaponization” of the US justice system by then-president Joe Biden, the spokesman said.Trump faced a series of federal investigations after his first presidency into the alleged mishandling of classified material and attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election that Biden won.They were abandoned when Trump was reelected last year.Trump has also been convicted of 34 felonies related to hush money payments to a porn star in a case in New York State. 

Netflix shares sank on Tuesday after the streaming television powerhouse reported quarterly profit that fell short of market expectations.Netflix recorded a profit of $2.5 billion on revenue of $11.5 billion in the recently ended quarter, saying it was hit with a $619 million expense due to an ongoing dispute with Brazilian tax authorities.Netflix executives told financial analysts on an earnings call that absent the hefty cost in Brazil, it would have exceeded its operating margin forecast in the quarter.”It’s not an income tax; it’s a cost of doing business in Brazil,” said Netflix chief financial officer Spencer Neumann.”It’s not even specific to streaming, so we assume other companies will be impacted by this.”A recent court ruling involving a different company doing business in Brazil boosted the likelihood of Netflix being hit with the expense, so it recorded it in the recently-ended quarter, according to Neumann.Netflix shares were down more than six percent to slightly less than $1,163 in after-market trades that followed release of the earnings figures.- Ads and demon hunters -Netflix viewership in Britain and the US reached their highest levels in about three years, powered by a lineup that included its most popular film ever, “KPop Demon Hunters,” according to the earnings release.Netflix expressed confidence in its momentum in the current quarter, citing attention-getting shows including the final season of “Stranger Things” and “The Diplomat.”A new “Knives Out Mystery” is also slated for release on the platform this quarter, as well as ramped up live events including professional American football and boxing.An ad-supported membership level had its best sales quarter to date as Netflix continues to challenge traditional television programming, the company said.Netflix has more than doubled its ad revenue this year, albeit off a small base relative to the number of subscribers who pay to watch shows without marketing messages, according to co-chief executive Greg Peters.Peters said interest in Netflix is gaining momentum with advertisers given the platform’s size, engaged audience, data analytics, and rich slate of content.”Netflix had its best ad sales quarter to date but still did not provide a figure for how large the ad business is,” said Emarketer senior analyst Ross Benes.”This gives the impression that the sustained revenue growth achieved this quarter, and forecasted for next quarter, will predominantly continue to come from subscription fees.”Netflix touts itself as one of the world’s leading entertainment services with over 300 million paid memberships in over 190 countries.- Buying and building -It is rumored to be interested in acquiring global entertainment company Warner Brothers Discovery, analyst Benes noted.”For that potential purchase to best compliment Netflix, the planned split of WBD would make its studio more attractive without bogging it down with TV networks that aren’t as agile as Netflix,” Benes told AFP.Netflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos said on the call that the streaming service focuses on growing “organically” and is choosy when it comes to acquistions.”It’s our responsibility to look at every significant opportunity,” Peters said when asked whether Netflix is interested in buying Warner Brothers Discovery.”We have a clear framework to evaluate those opportunities, and we’ll do whatever we think is best.”Warner Brothers Discovery on Tuesday put out word it is reviewing its options as a result of unsolicited interest from “multiple parties” for all or parts of the company.

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he had shelved plans for a summit in Budapest with Russia’s Vladimir Putin on the Ukraine war because he did not want a “wasted” meeting.Trump’s reversal came just days after he announced that he would meet Putin in the Hungarian capital within two weeks, following what he called a productive phone call to end Russia’s war.The US leader pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to give up the eastern Donbas region in exchange for peace during “tense” talks last Friday in Washington, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP.But on Tuesday, a White House official said that there were now “no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future” despite the Budapest announcement. “I don’t want to have a wasted meeting,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked why the Putin encounter had been put on ice. “I don’t want to have a waste of time, so I’ll see what happens.”Asked by an AFP journalist what had changed his mind, Trump said: “A lot of things are happening on the war front. And we’ll be notifying you over the next two days as to what we’re doing.”US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also called off an expected meeting to arrange the Budapest summit after speaking by phone on Monday, the White House said.- ‘Going in circles’ -Trump has counted on personal chemistry with Putin to reach a Ukraine peace deal, but has found himself frustrated time and again by the Russian leader.Ukraine and its European allies, meanwhile, have been left scrambling to keep up with the mercurial US president.Zelensky’s talks with Trump at the White House last week were “not easy,” the senior Ukrainian official told AFP, adding that diplomatic efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war felt like they were being “dragged out” and “going in circles.”Trump called last week for both Moscow and Kyiv to stop the war at their current battle lines, and publicly made no references to Ukraine giving up territory.But when asked if Trump urged Zelensky to pull out of land that Ukraine still controlled — one of Putin’s key demands — the Ukrainian official said: “Yes, that’s true.”Zelensky left the meeting empty-handed after Trump, who spoke with Putin the day before, denied his request for long-range Tomahawk missiles and pressured him into making a deal.Ukraine considers the Donbas — a largely industrial area spanning its eastern Lugansk and Donetsk regions — an inseparable part of its territory and has rejected the idea of ceding it many times.- ‘Line of contact’ -The Kremlin said Tuesday there was no “precise” date for any new meeting between Trump and Putin, who held talks in Alaska in August but failed to reach a breakthrough on Ukraine.European leaders have rejected the idea of Ukraine giving up land — instead backing the proposal that fighting should be frozen on the current front lines.In a joint statement published Tuesday, leaders including France’s Emmanuel Macron, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Britain’s Keir Starmer warned that Russia was not “serious about peace.””We strongly support President Trump’s position that the fighting should stop immediately, and that the current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations,” the statement said.NATO leader Mark Rutte was heading to Washington on Tuesday for a meeting with Trump, the military alliance said in a statement.EU leaders are then set to close ranks in support of Ukraine at a Brussels summit on Thursday — followed a day later by a “coalition of the willing” meeting of European leaders in London to discuss the next steps to help Kyiv.Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, describing it as a “special military operation” to demilitarize the country and prevent the expansion of NATO.Russia now occupies around a fifth of Ukrainian territory — much of it ravaged by fighting — while tens of thousands of civilians and soldiers have been killed.burs-dk/aha

JPMorgan Chase officially inaugurated its new Manhattan tower Tuesday, a 60-story skyscraper that also marks a kind of comeback of office working after the pandemic years.Some 10,000 employees of the giant US bank are expected to be in place at the midtown building by the end of 2025. The project cost about $3 billion to build and comprises some 2.5 million square feet of office space.  “For all of us it’s a labor of love,” declared JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon just before the symbolic ribbon-cutting at the building referred to as “270” for its address at 270 Park Avenue.Just five years ago, midtown Manhattan was a wasteland as the pandemic dominated life in a city that had seen some of the darkest times of Covid-19 only months earlier. Even at the end of 2023, some 19 percent of New York office space remained vacant, according to Cresa.”Who remembers 2021 when people were questioning the future of office, questioning the future of New York City?” said Rob Speyer of real estate firm Tishman Speyer, a partner on the project.”JPMorgan really demonstrated tremendous courage and leadership,” Speyer said at the ceremony. “By moving forward with 270 Park, you sent the world a message that you believe in New York, that the city is resilient, that we have a great future.”When the pandemic halted city life in its tracks in March 2020, JPMorgan had just finished the demolition of its old headquarters building at the same address, which had stood for 60 years.At that point, JPMorgan “were kind of committed to this path and really had no effective way to change (its) mind without abandoning a huge investment,” said Joshua Harris, a managing partner at the Lakemont Group consultancy and director of the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Fordham University. The new building’s dramatic arrival comes as vacancy rates in New York sit at their lowest level in five years, according to JLL. The location of project, just above new tracks for the Long Island Railroad, meant that workers had to demolish — and then reconstruct — one of the rail line’s halls. The new building is also entirely powered by energy from a New York state hydroelectric plant, making it the city’s largest “all-electric” skyscraper and boasting net-zero emissions.

US President Donald Trump put plans to meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Budapest on hold Tuesday, as efforts to end the war in Ukraine ran into yet another roadblock.Trump said just days ago that he would meet Putin within two weeks, while at the same time pressuring Ukraine to give up the eastern Donbas region in exchange for peace, a senior Kyiv official told AFP.But Trump has now made yet another abrupt reversal in his bid to end Russia’s three-and-a-half-year invasion, with the Kremlin reportedly still sticking to all of its demands despite his call with Putin last week.”There are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future,” a White House official told AFP on condition of anonymity.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also called off an expected meeting to arrange the Budapest summit after speaking by phone on Monday.”An additional in-person meeting between the secretary and foreign minister is not necessary,” the White House official said, adding that the call was nonetheless “productive.”The Kremlin said Tuesday there was no “precise” date for any new meeting between Trump and Putin, who held talks in Alaska in August but failed to reach a breakthrough on Ukraine.- ‘Going in circles’ -Trump had shown growing frustration with Putin despite what he says is their personal chemistry, but after meeting Zelensky at the White House last week the US president appeared to shift back to Moscow’s side.The US leader pushed Zelensky during the talks to cede Donbas during the “tense” talks last Friday, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP.The source added that the talks with Trump were “not easy,” and that diplomatic efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war felt like they were being “dragged out” and “going in circles.”Trump called last week for both Moscow and Kyiv to stop the war at their current battle lines, and publicly made no references to Kyiv giving up territory.But when asked if Trump urged Zelensky to pull out of land that Ukraine still controlled — one of Putin’s key demands — a senior Ukrainian official told AFP: “Yes, that’s true.”Zelensky left the meeting empty-handed after Trump, who spoke with Putin the day before, denied his request for long-range Tomahawk missiles and pressured him into making a deal.Ukraine considers the Donbas — a largely industrial area spanning its eastern Lugansk and Donetsk regions — an inseparable part of its territory and has rejected the idea of ceding it many times.- ‘Line of contact’ -European leaders have meanwhile rejected the idea of Ukraine giving up land — instead backing the proposal for fighting should be frozen on the current front lines.In a joint statement published Tuesday, leaders including France’s Emmanuel Macron, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Britain’s Keir Starmer warned that Russia was not “serious about peace.””We strongly support President Trump’s position that the fighting should stop immediately, and that the current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations,” the statement said.Zelensky, who is pushing to attend any summit after being shut out of Trump’s meeting with Putin in Alaska, has ruled out territorial concessions.EU leaders are set to close ranks in support of Ukraine at a Brussels summit on Thursday — followed a day later by a “coalition of the willing” meeting of European leaders in London to discuss the next steps to help Kyiv.Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, describing it as a “special military operation” to demilitarize the country and prevent the expansion of NATO.Russia now occupies around a fifth of Ukrainian territory — much of it ravaged by fighting — while tens of thousands of civilians and soldiers have been killed.A Russian drone attack earlier Tuesday on the town of Novgorod-Siverskyi in Ukraine’s northern Chernigiv region killed four people, the state emergency service said.

A New York man who took part in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol and was pardoned by President Donald Trump has been arrested for allegedly threatening to kill a top Democratic member of Congress, police said.Christopher Moynihan, 34, was arrested over the weekend on a felony charge of making a “terroristic threat” against Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the Democratic minority in the House of Representatives, according to a criminal complaint from state police.Moynihan, of Clinton, New York, allegedly sent text messages on Friday to an unidentified individual stating that he planned to “eliminate” Jeffries at a speaking event in New York on Monday, the complaint said.”Jeffries makes a speech in a few days in NYC I cannot allow this terrorist to live,” it quoted a message as saying. “Even if I am hated he must be eliminated. I will kill him for the future.”Jeffries, who addressed the Economic Club of New York on Monday, said in a statement Tuesday that he was the target of a “credible death threat” by a “dangerous individual.””The person arrested, along with thousands of violent felons who stormed the US Capitol during the January 6th attack, was pardoned by Donald Trump on the President’s very first day in office,” the New York lawmaker said.”Since the blanket pardon that occurred earlier this year, many of the criminals released have committed additional crimes throughout the country,” he said. “Threats of violence will not stop us from showing up, standing up and speaking up for the American people.”Moynihan was among the more than 1,500 participants in the attack on the US Capitol who received a pardon from Trump.Moynihan was sentenced in February 2023 to 21 months in prison for taking part in the assault on Congress by Trump supporters who were seeking to block certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential election victory.His arrest comes amid a rise in political violence in the United States.Prominent right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk, 31, was assassinated last month during a speaking event at a university in Utah.In June, a masked shooter killed Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, and her husband at their home. Another elected Democratic official and his wife were also targeted and seriously injured.Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro — touted last year as a potential Democratic presidential hopeful — had his home set alight in April in an alleged assassination attempt.Trump was targeted by a would-be assassin in July 2024 during an election campaign rally in Pennsylvania and escaped with a minor injury to his right ear. 

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he expected to seal a “good” trade deal with China’s Xi Jinping at a regional summit next week — even as he warned the highly anticipated sit-down might yet be cancelled.Trump has repeatedly changed his mind on meeting the Chinese president at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea since first announcing the encounter.”So now we’re going to have a fair deal, and I think we’re going to have a very successful meeting. Certainly, there are a lot of people that are waiting for it,” Trump told a lunch event with Republican senators at the White House.But he then added: “Maybe it won’t happen. Things can happen where, for instance, maybe somebody will say, ‘I don’t want to meet. It’s too nasty.'” But it’s really not nasty.” Trump first announced on September 19 that he would meet Xi in South Korea — which would be their first encounter since his return to the White House — and travel to China early next year.But on October 10 he threatened to scrap the Xi talks and threatened China with massive tariffs after Beijing imposed export curbs on rare earth minerals, only to reverse course.The US president has apparently softened his stance again though, saying as recently as Monday that they would meet and that his trip to China “fairly early next year” was “sort of set.”Xi is not the only leader the 79-year-old Trump has blown hot and cold on recently.He said on Thursday that he would meet Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Budapest within two weeks to discuss the war in Ukraine. But the White House said Tuesday that there were now no plans for a meeting “in the immediate future.”