Donald Trump fired General Charles “CQ” Brown as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and said he would replace people in five other senior positions, in an unprecedented shake-up of the Pentagon. Mr Trump is cracking down on those he blames for pushing diversity, equity and inclusion policies. The Pentagon was already braced for sweeping cuts to its budget and staff.
In an interview with Fox News Mr Trump dismissed Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, as powerless, saying he has “no cards” in negotiations. He also accused Sir Keir Starmer, Britain’s prime minister, and France’s Emmanuel Macron, of doing “nothing” to end the war. Earlier Mike Waltz, America’s national security adviser, said he expects Mr Zelensky to sign a minerals agreement with America “very soon”.
Israelis and Palestinians awaited a hostage exchange on Saturday amid Israeli accusations that two young children abducted on October 7th were murdered by Hamas. The militant group returned the children’s bodies to Israel on Thursday along with two others’, but failed to return that of their mother, Shiri Bibas. Israel’s army confirmed that a body repatriated on Friday was hers.
Apple will stop offering secure encryption to users of its cloud storage in Britain, after the government sought access to the data. Last month the American tech firm received notice of the government’s request under a law that critics call the “snooper’s charter”. Britain’s government says it is necessary to investigate criminal activity. Apple’s encrypted communication services, such as iMessage, are not affected.
The man who attacked Salman Rushdie at a literary festival in upstate New York in 2022 was found guilty of attempted murder. Hadi Matar stabbed Sir Salman several times, blinding him in one eye. He faces up to 32 years in jail. The author has been the target of assassination plots since 1989, when Iran’s supreme leader issued a fatwaagainst him.
Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, said the Securities and Exchange Commission would drop its lawsuit over whether crypto assets should be regulated as securities. American regulators had argued that certain crypto tokens traded on the exchange functioned like investment contracts and should be regulated as such. Coinbase disagreed. The move follows a policy shift under the SEC’s Republican leadership to deregulate the crypto industry.
A federal judge declined to immediately dismiss corruption charges against Eric Adams, New York City’s mayor, but indefinitely delayed his trial, which was set for April. America’s justice department had asked for charges against Mr Adams to be dropped, prompting several prosecutors to resign. The judge said he would appoint an outside lawyer to argue against doing so. Mr Adams denies the charges.
Word of the week: guang gun, a Chinese term meaning “bare branches”, used to describe unmarried men who are unable to continue their family line. Read the full story.
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