Politics
Charlie Kirk’s Connection to Trump: How the Medal of Freedom Speech Revealed It All!
President Donald Trump on Tuesday posthumously awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor to Charlie Kirk, the late Turning Point USA founder, calling him “a true American hero” whose name would be “entered forever into the eternal roster of American heroes” on what would have been Kirk’s 32nd birthday.
Addressing Kirk’s widow, Erika, who accepted the award on her late husband’s behalf, Trump said she had “endured unspeakable hardship with unbelievable strength” and said her “love and courage” in the weeks since her husband’s killing had been “an inspiration to all of us.”
The ceremony, held on the patio that replaced much of the White House Rose Garden this past summer, was something akin to an officially sanctioned memorial for the slain activist, with much of Trump’s cabinet and other high-ranking officials from across the administration, plus a who’s who of Republican politics and right-wing media in attendance.
But while the president focused his prepared remarks on Kirk and the slain conservative operative’s legacy, his speech often drifted away from its script to “weave” through a topic more interesting to the president: his own administration.
In moments that were jarring and surreal, the president would pivot from solemn remarks about Kirk and his family to brag about his work in office on seemingly mundane issues, including a frequent point of bragging: his insistence that D.C. restaurants were booming and dinner reservations were hard to find in the wake of his deployment of National Guard troops across the District of Columbia.
Among those in attendance Trump shouted out during his remarks were Vice President JD Vance, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso and Majority Leader John Thune. Others at the ceremony included a wide range of big-name conservatives including Fox News hosts past and present — Bill O’Reilly, Tucker Carlson, Jesse Watters and others were all spotted.
Trump also noted that Argentine President Javier Milei was in attendance.
“We have everybody,” he said. “Wow.”
Trump remarked that “people are loving” the polarizing renovation and suggested that the temperate weather was due to God not wanting bad weather for the ceremony to honor “the late, great Charlie Kirk.”
He called the late activist “a fearless warrior for liberty” and “a beloved leader who galvanized the next generation like nobody I’ve ever seen before” as well as “an American patriot of the deepest conviction, the finest quality and the highest caliber.”
“Five weeks ago, our nation was robbed of this extraordinary champion. He was a champion in every way,” Trump said before recalling how Kirk’s assassination at a Utah college campus last month cut him down “in the prime of his life for boldly speaking the truth” and “loving his faith and relentlessly fighting for a better and stronger America.”
“It was a horrible, heinous, demonic act of murder,” Trump said, adding that it was a “privilege” to award Kirk the nation’s highest civilian honor.
Trump continued eulogizing Kirk, calling him “a visionary and one of the greatest figures of his generation” as well as “an amazing figure” who “knew that the fight to preserve our heritage is waged not only on the battlefield and in the halls of power.”
He recalled how Kirk had founded Turning Point at age 18 and remarked how the organization has become “bigger in the last few weeks than Charlie ever thought.”
“With hard work and joyful spirit and endless enthusiasm and determination … Charlie grew Turning Point into the largest conservative youth organization in the entire country. He fought for free speech, religious liberty, strong borders and a very strong and proud America … everything he did was historic,” Trump said.
He described how Kirk had helped him in his 2016 and 2024 presidential campaign wins, enabling him to win what he claimed was “more young people than any Republican by far in the history of our country” during the latter contest last year.
After another aside bragging about his 2024 win, he shifted gears to Kirk’s spirituality, telling attendees that he “never missed an opportunity to remind us of the Judeo Christian principles of our nation’s founding or to share his deep Christian faith.”
“In his final moments, Charlie testified to the greatness of America and to the glory of our Savior with whom he now rests in heaven,” Trump said.
“So today, like those martyrs before him Charlie’s voice, his message and his legacy, are stronger and greater than ever before.”
He added that Kirk’s death had “brought out the greatness of Charlie” with “great love” before pivoting to attacking “far-left radicals” who “resort to desperate acts of violence and terror because they know that their ideas and arguments are persuading no one.”
“They have the devil’s ideology, and they’re failing. And they know it, they feel it, and they become violent,” he said.
As he spoke about the supposed one-sidedness of American political violence, the president singled out Jay Jones, the Democratic nominee for Virginia attorney general set to face a Republican opponent in next month’s election. Controversial texts wherein the candidate joked about violence against Republicans have hounded Jones’s campaign and pushed the race into winnable territory for the GOP, and Trump and others have used Jones as an example of a Democrat supposedly endorsing the kind of violent rhetoric they blame for Kirk’s murder.
“Let’s see how that turns out,” Trump said of Jones’s race. He has endorsed Jason Miyares, Jones’s Republican opponent for the position, but has avoided endorsing Winsome Sears — the party’s candidate for governor.
“ Especially in the wake of Charlie’s assassination, our country must have absolutely no tolerance for this radical Left violence, extremism, and terror,” Trump added.
Kirk is the first person to be awarded the Medal of Freedom under Trump’s second presidency. During his first term, he awarded it to other conservative allies including Rep. Jim Jordan, conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh, and former Sen. Orrin Hatch.
In his second term, Trump has announced plans to award the Medal of Freedom to his disbarred former attorney Rudy Giuliani, and Ben Carson.
An airplane carrying Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was forced to make an emergency landing in the UK Wednesday due to a crack in its windshield, officials said.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell wrote on social media that on the way back to the U.S. after NATO’s Defense Minister meeting in Belgium, the plane made an “unscheduled landing in the United Kingdom” because of a crack in the aircraft’s windshield.
The plane landed based on standard procedures, and all of the passengers on board, including Hegseth, were safe, Parnell added.
“All good. Thank God,” Hegseth wrote on X. “Continue mission!”
Hegseth was traveling in a C-32A, a modified Boeing 757 used by the Air Force for VIP transport. Other top leaders, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance and occasionally, even President Donald Trump, use the aircraft when visiting airports with runways too short for the modified Boeing-747 Trump typically uses as Air Force One.
It was unclear what caused the crack in the plane’s windshield.
Flight tracking data showed that the plane took off from Brussels and made it past Ireland before turning around to land at Royal Air Force Mildenhall in England at 7:07 p.m. local time. It was not known what time the plane initially took off.
Hegseth and previous Secretaries of Defence have traditionally used a different aircraft for foreign travel, the Boeing E-4B.
The Boeing E-4B is a modified Boeing-747 that has been hardened for use as an airborne command post by the president or Pentagon leadership during nuclear conflicts. It is known within the Air Force as “Air Force One when it counts” and the “Doomsday plane.”
It was not immediately clear why Hegseth was traveling on the smaller, C-32 plane.
The C-32, which had to perform an emergency landing, has less capabilities than the E-4B, but is decked out with a more luxurious interior thanks to upgrades made during Trump’s first term as president.
During his time in Brussels, Hegseth warned the U.S. would “impose costs on Russia for its continued aggression” if the war in Ukraine does not come to an end.
“If we must take this step, the U.S. War Department stands ready to do our part in ways that only the United States can do,” Hegseth said at a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group of Kyiv’s allies at NATO headquarters.
Hegseth did not elaborate. His comments came as Trump’s administration is considering a request by Ukraine for long-range Tomahawk missiles.
Earlier this year, an Air Force plane carrying Rubio to Munich was forced to return to Washington after experiencing a mechanical problem.
The trade war between China and the US intensified this week with both nations imposing new port fees on each other’s ships.
The latest escalation in tensions between the world’s two largest economies sent bilateral relations, and the markets, into a tailspin.
After Beijing announced stricter restrictions on rare earth exports – in retaliation for the US dramatically expanding sanctions on Chinese firms – president Donald Trump threatened 100 per cent tariffs and new curbs on “all critical software”.
Trade analysts suspect that Mr Trump’s threatened three-digit tariff will heighten market uncertainty in the near term, especially in sectors with strong supply chain exposure to China like manufacturing and technology.
Rare earths, vital for use in electric vehicles, aircraft engines, military radars and a range of everyday electronics, are a key sticking point in negotiations between the sparring nations.
China produces almost 70 per cent and processes nearly 90 per cent of the world’s rare earth elements.
The Chinese announcement was an apparent surprise to Mr Trump, who called it an “out of the blue” move. But, over the weekend, he sounded more conciliatory than in the past, although he still refused to withdraw the tariff threat.
In a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump said: “The U.S.A. wants to help China, not hurt it!!!”
China seems unfazed by Mr Trump’s threats and its export boom suggests Beijing may be gaining the upper hand in the trade war.
“China’s position is consistent. If there’s a fight, we will fight to the end; if there’s a talk, the door is open,” a Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday.
“The US cannot demand talks while simultaneously imposing new restrictive measures with threats and intimidation. This is not the right way to engage with China.”
Is China winning the trade war?
China appears to be gaining the upper hand in the ongoing trade dispute with the US, nearly six months after Mr Trump imposed steep import levies on the Asian economic giant.
Chinese exports rose 8.3 per cent in September from a year earlier to about £246bn even as shipments to the US fell about 27 per cent.
After Mr Trump declared his worldwide tariffs in April, several major countries moved to diversify their foreign trade, signalling a global shift towards a system where the US was no longer the central market.
In line with this shift, Chinese shipments to non-US destinations grew 14.8 per cent, the fastest since March 2023, according to data from the General Administration of Customs. The exports to the EU grew 14 per cent, to Asean countries by 16 per cent and to Africa about 56 per cent.
The minimal impact of the Trump tariffs on its overall trade only strengthened China’s resolve to adopt a firmer position in negotiations with Washington, as reflected in the stricter restrictions on exports.
Strong demand from markets beyond the US indicates that Chinese exporters may be less vulnerable to the additional tariffs threatened by Mr Trump. Chinese imports were up 7.4 per cent last month, pointing to a potential recovery in domestic consumption.
A self-driven recovery in China would mark a clear erosion of US dominance in the global economy. But analysts caution it is too soon to declare a winner in the trade dispute.
“While China’s recent export growth suggests some resilience, it doesn’t necessarily indicate that Beijing has gained an advantage in the trade war,” Lukman Otunuga, a senior market analyst at broker FXTM, told The Independent.
“Much of that uptick could reflect front-loading of shipments ahead of new tariffs or shifts in trade routes. The overall picture remains mixed, with both economies experiencing structural challenges amid the prolonged trade tensions.”
Mr Otunuga said the additional US levies were likely to heighten market uncertainty in the near term, and “investors may see higher volatility as markets weigh the impact on corporate earnings and global growth prospects”.
What are the new levies?
Mr Trump last week unveiled an additional levy of 100 per cent on Chinese imports to the US, along with new export controls on critical software, from 1 November. He also threatened to cancel a planned in-person meeting with President Xi Jinping, their first in six years, but US treasury secretary Scott Bessent later told Reuters the two leaders were on track to meet in South Korea in late October.
Bloomberg Economics estimates that a 100 per cent tariff hike by the US will raise effective rates on Chinese goods to 140 per cent, which could halt trade altogether.
“So far this year, China has shown that while it does not wish for a trade war, it is willing to retaliate to escalations as needed,” Lynn Song, chief Greater China economist at ING Bank NV, told Bloomberg.
“The export resilience will likely strengthen confidence in this approach ahead of the talks later this month.”
According to the Peterson Institute for International Economics, average US tariffs on Chinese imports reached 58 per cent by end of September, while Chinese tariffs were at 33 per cent.
Despite current rates already sitting 25 percentage points above the global average, China’s manufacturing strength continues to drive export growth.
In a tit-for-tat move, China hit US-owned vessels docking in the country with new port fees, which came into effect on Tuesday.
Vessels owned or operated by American companies or individuals would be subjected to a 400 yuan (£42) per net tonne fee per voyage if they were to dock in China, Beijing announced last week. The fees would be applied on the same ship for a maximum of five voyages each year, and would rise every year until 2028, when it would jump to 1,120 yuan (£117) per net tonne.
The duties are largely aligned with the port fees introduced by the US. Vessels owned or operated by Chinese entities will be charged $50 (£37) per net tonne for each voyage to the US, which will rise by $30 (£22) per net tonne each year until 2028.
China’s new port fees could affect oil tankers accounting for 15 per cent of global capacity, according to Clarksons Research.
Will Donald Trump meet Xi Jinping to negotiate trade?
Mr Trump and Mr Xi were expected to meet at the Apec summit in South Korea at the end of October. There was also talk of the US president visiting Beijing in January, but those meetings appeared less probable after the recent escalation in tensions.
Mr Bessent said the US president remained on track to meet the Chinese leader as he sought to reassure traders and investors on both sides of the Pacific, highlighting the cooperation between their negotiating teams and the possibility they could yet find a way forward from the current tariff truce.
“We have substantially de-escalated,” Mr Bessent told Fox Business Network on Monday.
Substantial communications between the two sides had taken place over the weekend and there would be US-China staff-level meetings this week in Washington on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual gatherings, he added.
“The 100 per cent tariff does not have to happen,” Mr Bessent said. “The relationship, despite this announcement last week, is good. Lines of communication have reopened, so we’ll see where it goes.”
“President Trump said the tariffs would not go into effect until November 1,” he added. “He will be meeting with Party Chair Xi in Korea. I believe that meeting will still be on.”
Washington and Beijing have been negotiating since May.
China’s commerce ministry confirmed on Tuesday that a working-level meeting had taken place the previous day.
It also highlighted formal negotiations held earlier in London, Stockholm and Madrid, culminating in a 90-day tariff extension.
The ministry, however, warned that “the US cannot ask for talks while simultaneously threatening new restrictive measures”.
Politics
Latest Ukraine-Russia War Update: Trump Official Says Putin Will Pay the Price if Fighting Continues!
US pressures Japan to halt Russian oil imports
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said he has urged Japan to halt all imports of Russian energy, signalling a harder line from the Trump administration toward allies maintaining limited trade ties with Moscow.
“Minister Kato and I also discussed important issues pertaining to the US–Japan economic relationship and the Administration’s expectation that Japan stop importing Russian energy,” Bessent posted on X after his meeting with Japan’s finance minister Katsunobu Kato in Washington.
The two met on the sidelines of the IMF annual meetings and the G7 and G20 finance leaders’ gatherings being held this week in Washington.”
Japan will do what it can based on the basic principle of coordinating with G7 countries to achieve peace in Ukraine in a fair manner,” Kato told reporters, when asked whether Japan was urged by Bessent to stop importing Russian energy.
Tokyo has already pledged to phase out Russian oil imports as part of the G7’s coordinated sanctions response to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
However, Japan continues to buy Sakhalin Blend crude – a byproduct of liquefied natural gas (LNG) production from the Sakhalin-2 project in Russia’s Far East.
The energy source remains crucial for Japan, providing about 9 per cent of its total LNG imports, a key component of its energy security.
Shweta Sharma16 October 2025 04:01
IMF chief plans to visit Ukraine, Bloomberg reports
The International Monetary Fund’s managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, plans to travel to Ukraine, supporting its efforts to secure a new loan package in the fourth year of the war, Bloomberg has reported.
An IMF spokesperson said: “Our staff remains actively engaged with the Ukrainian authorities on macroeconomic policies aimed at maintaining stability, financing essential expenditures, and restoring debt sustainability, with a view to continued IMF support.”
The exact time of the visit is yet to be determined.
Harriette Boucher16 October 2025 04:00
India to stop buying Russian oil, Trump claims
Trump said on Wednesday that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to stop buying oil from Russia, India’s top oil supplier, but could not halt its shipments “immediately”.
The announcement comes as Trump tries to step up efforts to cut off Moscow’s energy funding.
“Now I’ve got to get China to do the same thing,” Trump told reporters.
The Indian embassy in Washington has not yet confirmed this.
Harriette Boucher16 October 2025 03:00
Zelensky and Greek PM discuss possibility of U.S.-supplied natural gas
Zelensky and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis discussed the possibility of the U.S. supplying natural gas to Ukraine as it struggles with the consequences of Russia’s multiple attacks on the country’s energy system.
Ukraine’s president said he was working to strengthen its air defence as much as possible before winter begins.
Harriette Boucher16 October 2025 02:00
Ukraine has prepared its ‘homework’ ahead of meeting with Trump, says Zelensky
Ukraine has prepared its “part of the homework” ahead of Zelensky’s meeting with Trump in Washington on Friday.
He says the agenda will be substantive, and the meeting could bring the war closer to an end.
We have already prepared our part of the homework ahead of the meeting with President Trump – both the military component and the economic one. Every detail is ready. The agenda of our meeting with the President of the United States is very substantive, and I thank everyone who… pic.twitter.com/Jwpp5bdn5h
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 15, 2025
Harriette Boucher16 October 2025 01:02
Kremlin denies Trump’s warning that Russian economy set to ‘collapse’
The Kremlin has hit back at accusations by Donald Trump that the Russian economy is on its way to “collapse”.
Asked about Trump’s remarks at an energy conference in Moscow, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who oversees energy and the economy for the government, said that Russia had a stable supply of gasoline.
“We have a stable domestic market supply, we see no problems in this regard,” Novak said.
“The balance is maintained between production and consumption, and we, on the part of the government and the relevant ministries, are doing everything to ensure that this remains the case.”
You can read more below…
Nicole Wootton-Cane16 October 2025 00:00
Nato defence ministers agree ‘counter-drone measures’, Rutte says
A meeting of Nato country defence ministers have agreed additional counter-drone measures to step up support to Ukraine, chief Mark Rutte said.
In a post on X he wrote: “Excellent discussions with Defence Ministers, reaffirming increased defence investment, enhanced defence production & stepping up support to Ukraine.
“We will also implement additional counter-drone measures — #NATO is ready to do what it takes to keep our 1bn people safe & our territory secure.”
Nicole Wootton-Cane15 October 2025 23:00
Ukraine has relied on trains during the war – Russia is creating new technology to target them
As war rages on in Ukraine, the country has become reliant on its rail networks, which it has so far managed to keep running despite repeated strikes.
But officials and analysts are warning that advances in Russian drone capabilities and the growing tempo of attacks pose a serious threat to the vital infrastructure.
You can read more below…
Nicole Wootton-Cane15 October 2025 22:00
Trump has threatened to give Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine – but can they turn the tide of the war?
Washington may give access to powerful Tomahawk missiles, with Moscow threatening to respond. Experts tell Nicole Wootton-Cane that the weapons could significantly boost Ukraine – but their power shouldn’t be overstated.
Nicole Wootton-Cane15 October 2025 21:30
Watch: Zelensky confirms meeting with Trump in Washington
Nicole Wootton-Cane15 October 2025 21:00
