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Former US president Barack Obama hit the campaign trail Saturday for fellow Democrats ahead of closely-watched state elections, laying into Donald Trump over his “shambolic” policies and warning of the dangers facing American democracy. Obama, who remains a powerful figure in today’s Democratic Party, took the stage to robust applause in Virginia and then New Jersey to stump for two candidates in gubernatorial elections seen as critical bellwethers ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The 64-ye

In an unprecedented situation, millions of Americans could lose access to a crucial food assistance programme next week amid the federal government shutdown. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has said it does not have the money to pay $8 billion in food stamp benefits for November amid the funding impasse on Capitol Hill that led the government to shut down on October 1. The agency argues it cannot tap into its roughly $6 billion contingency fund to cover next month’s benefits, though Democra

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is “not allowed” to run for a third term, acknowledging the limits laid out in the US Constitution. Trump and his supporters have repeatedly raised the question of a 2028 presidential run for the 79-year-old, drawing concern from his foes and cheers from backers. “I have my highest poll numbers that I’ve ever had and, you know, based on what I read, I guess I’m not allowed to run, so we’ll see what happens… It’s too bad,” Trump said on Air Force One. T

Microsoft hit the milestone a second time, while Nvidia marched toward $5 trillion. Apple on Tuesday became only the third company to break through the $4 trillion market value milestone. Apple shares rose fractionally in early trading, just enough to briefly push the company’s value above the historic level. It ended the trading day at $3.99 trillion. Nvidia and Microsoft crossed the $4 trillion threshold in July. Nvidia’s market valuation has grown even more since then, hitting $4.88 trilli

The U.S. has reached a framework agreement with China to avoid imposing an additional 100 per cent tariff on Chinese imports, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said yesterday. The development comes during the first leg of President Donald Trump’s diplomacy tour in Asia, easing tensions before this week’s highly anticipated meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.  Beyond trade talk, Trump is expected to urge Xi to join the US pressure campaign against Russia. Trump spent the first day of h

Suspects have been arrested over the brazen jewellery heist at the Louvre, just as one of them was about to fly out of France, the Paris prosecutor said on Sunday. Two men in their 30s and originally from the capital's Seine-Saint-Denis suburb - which includes some of the country's most deprived areas - were detained on Saturday evening, according to Le Parisien newspaper, which first broke the story. They were known to French police and one of the suspects was about to fly to Algeria from Cha

Changpeng Zhao, founder of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has been pardoned by US President Donald Trump. Zhao, also known as "CZ", was sentenced to four months in prison in April 2024 after pleading guilty to violating US money laundering laws. Binance also pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay $4.3bn (£3.4bn) after a US investigation found it helped users bypass sanctions. The pardon reignited debate over the White House embrace of cryptocurrency as the Trump family's

The US has announced new sanctions targeting Russia's two largest oil companies in an effort to pressure Moscow to negotiate a peace deal in Ukraine. The announcement came one day after US President Donald Trump said a planned meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Budapest would be shelved indefinitely. "Every time I speak to Vladimir, I have good conversations and then they don't go anywhere," Trump said. While the economic impact to Russia is likely to be minimal, it repres

Mosquitoes have been discovered in Iceland in a first for the island nation, which has long been one of the world’s mosquito-free places, a researcher told AFP Monday. Three Culiseta annulata mosquitoes, two females and one male, were sighted around 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of the capital, Reykjavik, according to Matthias Alfredsson, an entomologist at the Natural Science Institute of Iceland. “They were all collected from wine ropes… aimed at attracting moths,” the researcher said in an