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World News Live Today January 15, 2025: Donald Trump says to create new department to collect revenue from foreign sources on inauguration day

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World News Live Today January 15, 2025: Donald Trump says to create new department to collect revenue from foreign sources on inauguration day

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World News Live: Get real-time updates on international politics, economic changes, conflicts, and environmental issues. Access the latest breaking news and in-depth stories as they happen, keeping you informed of events shaping the world.

Latest news on January 15, 2025: Trump did not specify whether the new agency would replace collections of tariffs, duties, fees and fines by US Customs and Border Protection.

World News Live: Welcome to our World News live blog, your go-to source for instant updates on major events across the globe. Whether it’s political shifts, economic trends, environmental crises, or international conflicts, we deliver real-time reports to keep you informed and engaged with the latest global developments. Disclaimer: This is an AI-generated live blog and has not been edited by Hindustan Times staff.…Read More

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Jan 15, 2025 12:30 AM IST

US News Live : Donald Trump says to create new department to collect revenue from foreign sources on inauguration day

  • Donald Trump said in a social media post he would create the department on January 20, the day he takes office as president for a second term

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Jan 15, 2025 12:15 AM IST

US News Live : Speaker Johnson orders US Capitol flags raised to full height for Donald Trump’s inauguration

  • The Republican leader’s decision means that President-elect Donald Trump will not take the oath of office for his second term under a half-staff flag

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Donald Trump Jr invests in ‘steroid Olympics’

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Donald Trump Jr invests in ‘steroid Olympics’

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Donald Trump’s son has backed a proposed sports event for athletes using performance enhancing drugs as the US president shakes up health policy and sports governance.

The Enhanced Games, dubbed by critics as the “steroid Olympics”, announced on Thursday that Donald Trump Jr’s venture fund 1789 Capital would co-lead an investment round for the sports group.

The vision for the games is to allow athletes in the competition to use almost any legally available performance enhancing drugs in an effort to break world records. One person close to the deal said the fundraising round would raise double digit millions of dollars for the project.

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“For over 100 years, elites in charge of global sports have stifled innovation, crushed individual greatness, and refused to let athletes push the limits of what’s possible. That ends now,” said Trump Jr.

“The Enhanced Games represent the future — real competition, real freedom, and real records being smashed.”

​The Trump administration​ has championed an unorthodox agenda on drugs and health policy, driven by health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. Trump Jr is seen as a close adviser to his father but does not hold a formal position in the administration.

The games have already received financial support from tech investor Peter Thiel, another figure with close ties to the White House, crypto investor Balaji Srinivasan and Christian Angermayer, a German financier who is a leading investor in commercial psychedelics.

Aron D’Souza, president of the Enhanced Games, said: “We’re building something revolutionary — sports without hypocrisy, where the best can actually be the best.”

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The Enhanced Games have yet to announce a host city or date for the competition. The games would include athletics, swimming, and “strength” events, although only one athlete, retired Australian Olympic team member James Magnussen, has enlisted in the games.

The Enhanced Games have emphasised the scientific grounding and pioneering nature of the contest. It has promised athletes they will receive comprehensive medical testing and supervision. 

D’Souza told the FT that the games would be partly funded by advertising by pharmaceutical and biotech firms.

Former president Joe Biden’s White House issued a statement condemning the Enhanced Games last year. Both the World Anti-Doping Association and the International Olympic Committee have also expressed concerns about the games. 

“D’Souza believes that data collected from chemically boosted Enhanced Games athletes might help his billionaire investors live longer and richer lives,” said John Hoberman, a professor at the University of Austin who has authored several books on the use of performance enhancing drugs.

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The Trump Jr endorsement of the Enhanced Games comes at a time when the US is at loggerheads with the World Anti-Doping Agency.

The US last year accused Wada of failing to conduct a proper investigation into allegations of doping rule breaches by 23 Chinese swimmers in the run up to the Tokyo Olympics.

China’s own doping watchdog said the swimmers were accidentally exposed to a banned heart drug by a chef working in a hotel kitchen. The athletes were allowed to compete in the Olympics, with some going on to win medals.

An independent prosecutor appointed by Wada found no evidence of wrongdoing in the body’s handling of the case. The incident came to light last year following investigations by the New York Times and German TV channel ARD.

The US, the biggest government contributor to Wada funding, withheld a $3.6mn payment due late last year.

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Donald Trump opens the door to Vladimir Putin’s grandest ambitions

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Donald Trump opens the door to Vladimir Putin’s grandest ambitions

Vladimir Putin’s initial plan to capture Ukraine in a few days ended in disaster. But after Donald Trump set up direct peace talks with Moscow, bypassing Kyiv and European allies, the Russian president is now closer than ever to getting what he wanted from his three-year-long invasion.

Putin’s main ambition, said people who have spoken to him during the war, is to establish a new security architecture that gives Russia a sphere of influence in Europe — much as the Yalta conference did for the Soviet Union at the end of the second world war.

Now, the US may be open to letting him have it. Defence secretary Pete Hegseth has dismissed Ukraine’s aspirations to join Nato and reclaim its territory from Russia. Putin and Trump discussed “bilateral economic co-operation”, suggesting that the US was prepared to roll back its sanctions against Moscow.

And Trump appears intent on rolling back the US’s commitment to Nato and leaving to European countries the job of sustaining a peace.

“The situation looks much more favourable for Putin than at any point during the entire war over the last three years,” said Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin. “If the US just unilaterally ends its military and diplomatic support, as well as intelligence sharing, then Ukraine will be in a very tough position. And it’ll be hard to get out of it even if the Europeans get more involved.”

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In Moscow, there was palpable joy following Wednesday’s call between Trump and Putin.

“A single call can change the course of history — today, the leaders of the US and Russia have possibly opened a door to a future shaped by co-operation, not confrontation,” said Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian sovereign wealth fund chief involved in back-channel talks with the US over prisoner exchanges.

Winston Churchill, Franklin D Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin at the Yalta conference in 1945 © Keystone/Getty Images

The call marked a dramatic about-face from US policy under Joe Biden, Trump’s predecessor, who pledged to support Ukraine for “as long as it takes” while working with other western countries to isolate Russia. Now, the US has said victory on Ukraine’s terms is not “realistic” — a shift that Moscow hailed as a return to reason.

“Finally, the Americans are taking things seriously without the pointless illusions they have been feeding to the Ukrainians since the start of the war. It’s common sense. And a chance to stop the war,” said a former senior Russian official.

“Putin rid himself of any illusions three days in,” when Russia realised its plans for a blitzkrieg victory had failed, the former official added. “But the Europeans and Americans have been under them ever since, and they’re only starting to see sense now.”

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Senior Ukrainian and western officials said Trump and Putin would probably try to secure a ceasefire by one of two significant upcoming dates: Easter, which the Orthodox and Catholic churches will both celebrate on April 20 this year; or May 9, when Russia celebrates the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany.

“Putin will want [a deal] on a notable day like this,” said a Ukrainian official.

Russian soldiers fire towards Ukrainian positions
Russian soldiers fire towards Ukrainian positions on February 4 © Russian Defense Ministry Press Service/AP
Konstantin Malofeyev
Konstantin Malofeyev was one of pro-war hardliners who welcomed the recent developments © Bloomberg

In Moscow, markets reacted with glee. The rouble strengthened 5 per cent against the dollar and Moscow’s main exchange index rose 2.8 per cent to its highest level in nine months.

Pro-war hardliners hailed the call as a sign that Russia’s victory was at hand.

“It must really hurt for the EU and Ukraine to hear this. But their opinion doesn’t matter any more,” said Konstantin Malofeyev, a conservative tycoon who runs several Russian volunteer units fighting in Ukraine. “Ukraine is just the pretext for a grand dialogue between two great countries about the start of a new era in human history.”

Putin told Trump he wanted to “settle the reasons for the conflict”, indicating that Russia has not dropped its goal of stopping Ukraine’s ambitions to join the west and rolling back the post-cold war security order.

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Moscow is also demanding that Ukraine cede control over four partly occupied south-eastern regions, none of which Russia fully controls, and expects the west to end all sanctions over the war.

Since Russia holds the upper hand on the battlefield, Putin could choose to continue the war if Trump does not agree to all his demands, said Dmitry Trenin, a research professor at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics.

“Russia is serious about the need to solve the Ukraine issue. It is not suing for peace. It knows that the only guarantees it can rely on are those it can provide itself,” Trenin said. “A deal that falls short of Russia’s vital security requirements would only guarantee that there will be another war soon. Russia will not permit that.”

He added: “The fighting will not stop with the start of the talks; and if there is no deal, it will go on.”

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Notably, the delegation Trump appointed to negotiate with Russia does not include his own envoy on the conflict, Keith Kellogg, who had been the most outspoken US official calling to increase sanctions pressure on Moscow and maintain arms supplies to Ukraine.

“It suggests the administration is not going to take Ukraine’s core concerns seriously,” said a former senior US official. “Putin would have seen that as an endorsement of his view of the world and a step towards realising his dream of having really deep friction between the US and Europe.”

Trump’s drive to end the war quickly has blindsided Ukraine. Kyiv had hoped it could convince Trump to work out a common position on bringing Russia to the table, and had offered access to its reserves of rare earth metals in return for US support.

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, told the Financial Times it had been “a challenge” to develop close relationships with Trump’s team and admitted it would “take time” before they can build the same type of relationship they had with those in the Biden administration.

For now, Kyiv and its European allies are looking on, aghast, from the outside, fearful the US will strike an unfavourable deal to end the war with Putin — and stick them with the bill.

“Trump is proving to be as bad as we feared. He is willing to make a deal with Putin at the expense of Ukraine, and still wants Ukraine to pay him in mineral resources,” said Volodymyr Kulyk, a professor of political science at the Kyiv School of Economics. “The question is, what Ukraine and Europe will do.”

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Additional reporting by Polina Ivanova in Berlin and Daria Mosolova in London

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‘No signs of slowing’: US egg prices soar as avian flu rips across farms

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‘No signs of slowing’: US egg prices soar as avian flu rips across farms

US egg prices are soaring to record highs as farmers are forced to slaughter millions of chickens in an attempt to halt the spread of bird flu, which has ripped through the nation’s poultry barns in recent months.

A dozen eggs reached more than $8 in wholesale markets this week, more than double the price of a year ago and the highest ever recorded, according to Expana, a commodity price information service. Grocers including Walmart and Kroger have begun to ration purchases in certain cases. The Waffle House chain — a staple in the US south and Midwest — has tacked a surcharge of 50 cents an egg on to its dishes.

Supplies of fresh eggs are falling short as farmers cull millions of hens to control a variant of avian influenza that first emerged in a US commercial flock three years ago.

Like petrol prices, eggs are a visible, if volatile, signpost of inflation to consumers. The consumer price index increased by 3 per cent year on year in January, with an index for eggs climbing more than 50 per cent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Wednesday. The average US resident will eat about 270 eggs this year, the US Department of Agriculture forecasts.

Egg prices also have political resonance and were an attack line in last year’s campaign for the White House. Then US vice-presidential candidate JD Vance in September stood before a supermarket egg case to criticise the economic policies of his predecessor Kamala Harris, when the US city average price of large Grade A eggs was $3.82 a dozen, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The price was $4.95 in January. 

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Democrats have now seized on the issue. “We went to get some eggs, and we can see the prices of these eggs had now jumped to about $8. But there were no eggs,” Ted Lieu, a Democratic representative from California, said this week of a recent trip to the grocery store.

A menu in a Waffle House restaurant displays a sticker advising customers of a 50 cent price rise per egg ‘due to the nationwide rise in cost of eggs’ in Houston, Texas on February 6 2025
Waffle House, a popular US breakfast chain, has implemented a 50 cent surcharge per egg © AFP/Getty Images

The top egg retailers are Walmart, Costco, Kroger, Albertsons and Aldi, according to Numerator. A majority — 55 per cent — of consumers have noticed shortages or out-of-stock eggs local retailers, the market research firm said. 

Chains including Kroger, Aldi and Walmart have imposed restrictions on purchases, at certain locations or in certain package sizes.

“Although supply is very tight, we’re working with suppliers to try and help meet customer demand, while striving to keep prices as low as possible,” said Walmart, which is limiting purchases of 60-count cartons to two per visit.

Cal-Maine Foods, the largest US producer and distributor of fresh shell eggs, said demand was outpacing supply as it reported quarterly gross profit of $356mn, a fourfold increase from a year before.

“Without question, we have recently faced significant challenges within our company and the entire egg industry due to the ongoing outbreaks” of avian influenza, Sherman Miller, chief executive, said last month. 

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Farmers have lost about 46mn laying hens in the past four months, or 15 per cent of a national flock of 304mn, said Karyn Rispoli, managing editor at Expana. “While bird flu has come and gone in waves over the past few years, this current outbreak is the most severe yet, with no signs of slowing,” she said. 

Gino Lorenzoni, associate professor of poultry sciences and avian health at Penn State University, said the virus is typically spread from farm to farm by wild birds. Workers coming into contact with their droppings can carry it into a chicken barn on their boots.

Once a single case is detected, an entire flock must be culled.  

“The virus is very deadly,” Lorenzoni said, but the industry tries “to get there very fast and kill the animals before the virus has a chance to spread to other facilities”. 

A woman sells eggs at the Union Square Greenmarket in New York City on February 10 2025
A woman sells eggs at the Union Square Greenmarket in New York on February 10 2025 © Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Egg prices have risen not only because the flock of laying hens had declined, but because enhanced biosecurity measures such as disposable coveralls, booties and hairnets and enhanced disinfection protocols were driving up operating costs on farms, he said. 

As well, market demand for cage-free eggs had been increasing costs, as each barn contains fewer animals, Lorenzoni said. 

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The USDA this week raised its forecast for the average wholesale price of Grade A eggs to $4.44 a dozen for 2025, up by more than half from its projection in January. The department projected US hens will lay 8.96bn dozen eggs this year, cutting its outlook from last month.

Prices have remained robust in part because of solid demand over the winter holidays, said Amy Smith, vice-president at Advanced Economic Solutions, a food and agriculture consultancy. Severe winter storms in the south-east last month led households to stock up, while consumers who are taking popular GLP-1 weight-loss drugs have been shifting their diets towards proteins.

Supermarkets have in some cases kept their retail egg price below the wholesale price as a loss leader, to attract customers to stores, said Smith and at Expana’s Rispoli. 

“While some price increases have been passed through, they haven’t been significant enough to curb consumer interest,” Rispoli said.

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