America

    In this Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 file photo, fire and smoke billows from the north tower of New York's World Trade Center after terrorists crashed two hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and brought down the twin. MIAMI  The man who says he was the mastermind of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack seeks to justify the plot as a natural reaction to U.S. foreign policy in a blistering letter sent to then President Barack Obama from the Guantanamo prison. Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, one of five Guantanamo prisoners facing trial by military commission for their alleged roles in the hijacking plot, also writes in the letter released Wednesday that it does not matter to him if he receives a life sentence or the death penalty from the tribunal. If your court sentences me to life ...

    President Trump accused television pundits and other critics of playing the racist card when they characterize him or his policies as anti-Muslim or anti-black. Fox News Channel personality Bill O'Reilly asked Trump in an interview that aired Tuesday night whether his feelings are hurt when critics are making you into a hater. No, because they always do it, Trump replied. The first thing they do with the Republicans or conservatives is the racist card. They pull out the racist card. They always do that. It's not just me. I mean, they do it with everybody. And I see that and once you know that you feel a lot better about it. Trump's comments came in an interview that was taped at the White House last Friday as part of Fox's Super Bowl coverage. Fox News has been airing new ...

    The BBC has raised eyebrows for its lack of impartiality in describing John Bercow's bid to stop Donald Trump speaking in Parliament as magisterial. Current affairs programme Newsnight also set the Speaker of the Commons comments, in which he accused the US president of racisim and sexism, to the soundtrack of the patriotic hymn Jerusalem. Ending Monday evening's show with a clip of Mr Bercow's speech, presenter Naga Munchetty said: He was asked about the prospect of Donald Trump addressing Parliament during his upcoming state visit. The Speaker's response was typically magisterial. Impartiality is supposed to be the cornerstone of the BBC's news coverage, but viewers took to social media after the programme to describe the segment as bare faced bias. However another viewe...

    Jack Ma, who met US President Donald Trump last month and announced his company Alibaba would help create one million jobs in the United States, added: The world needs globalisation, it needs trade. Speaking in Melbourne at the launch of Alibaba's Australia and New Zealand headquarters, he said: Everybody is concerned about trade wars. If trade stops, war starts. But worry doesn't solve the problem, he added, Business Insider Australia reports. The only thing you can do is get involved and actively prove that trade helps people to communicate. We should have fair, transparent and inclusive trade. Speaking a month after meeting Mr Trump, he said the world was in an interesting period requiring new leadership. Mr Trump's first executive order withdrew the US from the Trans-P...

    President Donald Trump drew fire from Republicans and Democrats alike Sunday, after he defended a softer stance on Russia, playing down political assassinations and Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Trump now two weeks into his four-year term showed no signs of yielding to demands from within his own Republican Party to distance himself from President Vladimir Putin, plunging himself into a fresh political firestorm. President Donald Trump speaks with reporters on board Air Force One before departing from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, on February 3, 2017 I do respect him. Well, I respect a lot of people, but that doesn't mean I'll get along with them, Trump said in an excerpt of a Super Bowl interview with Fox News's Bill O'Reilly that will air in full on Sunday. When pr...

    Judges have rejected Donald Trump's appeal to have his travel ban immediately reinstated. Federal Judge James Robart halted the ban on Friday after questioning the constitutionality of the President's controversial executive order, which blocks citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US and all refugees. The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Sunday denied a formal request by the US Department of Justice to lift the ruling. Instead, it gave the Trump administration until Monday afternoon to file more arguments - and challengers of the ban to respond to the emergency appeal. Acting solicitor general Noel Francisco had argued on Saturday night that the President's authority is "largely immune from judicial control" when it comes to deci...

    Donald Trump He has only been in office for two weeks, but with each controversial policy announcement coming hard upon the heels of another, Donald Trump has the lowest approval rating of any new President, according to the latest poll. Over half of US respondents at 53 per cent disapprove of the way their new President is handling the job, according to the CNN/ORC International poll released on Friday. Just 44 per cent of respondents gave Mr Trump their approval, making him the only President since polls began to hold a negative approval rating at such an early stage in his White House tenure. However, there is little surprise expressed among Americans to the way in which Mr Trump has begun his presidency, with 78 per cent saying he is handling things exactly as they wou...

    The White House on Thursday gently warned Israel that new or expanded settlements in the West Bank “may not be helpful” in achieving a Middle East peace, while insisting it has no official position on settlement activity. A statement issued by press secretary Sean Spicer said that although the administration does not believe settlements are “an impediment to peace, the construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders may not be helpful in achieving that goal. The American desire for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians has remained unchanged for 50 years, Spicer’s statement said, a reference to President Trump’s insistence that a return to the Middle East negotiating table is a goal he hopes to achieve. While ...

    The mounting possibility of military confrontation between the US and China would be disastrous for the region, experts have warned amid inflammatory statements from both nations. Donald Trump has followed up his incendiary campaign claim that China was financially raping the US by threatening to impose a 45 per cent tariff on imports, after vowing to buy American in his inaugural speech. The new President has also shaken Beijing by questioning the One China policy, which does not formally recognise Taiwan, and speaking to the island nation’s President over the phone in a break with decades of diplomatic policy. Tensions ramped up further when Mr Trump accused the Chinese military of stealing an underwater research vessel in the South China Sea in an unprecedented act. Bei...