Author: ALJAZEERA

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and self-proclaimed “first buddy” of United States President Donald Trump, has stepped up criticism of the president’s massive tax legislation in recent days, leading to a blow-up which saw Tesla stock plunge and Musk saying he would decommission Dragon aircraft immediately. NASA relies on SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station under a contract worth roughly $4.9bn. The capsule is the only US spacecraft capable of flying humans in orbit. Musk’s statement marks a dramatic escalation in an intensifying fight with Trump that burst into public view this week,…

In a news statement this week, the White House cherry-picked personal income tax-related elements in the “big, beautiful bill”, the wide-ranging tax and spending bill being pushed by United States President Donald Trump, and claimed that, in opposing the legislation as a whole, the Democratic Party was opposed to every individual item contained within it. Such a tactic is misleading, particularly since the White House cited measures in the bill that have been championed by Democrats to improve the lives of Americans and are not the reasons the Democrats have given for opposing the “big beautiful bill”. Here’s a fact-check…

Billionaire Elon Musk has renewed his criticisms of United States President Donald Trump’s signature budget bill, calling it a “disgusting abomination” in a series of social media posts. On Tuesday, just days after leaving his post in the Trump administration, Musk offered yet another broadside against the legislation, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill. “I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,” Musk wrote. “Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.” His subsequent posts laid out the reasoning for his…

A federal appeals court has temporarily reinstated (PDF) US President Donald Trump’s tariffs a day after a trade court ruled that it exceeded the authorities granted to the president. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington temporarily blocked the lower court’s decision on Thursday, but provided no reasoning for the decision, only giving the plaintiffs until June 5th to respond. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted an emergency motion from the Trump administration arguing that a halt is “critical for the country’s national security”. The White House has applauded the move. “You…

Google has been back in federal court to fend off the United States Department of Justice’s attempt to topple its internet empire at the same time it is navigating a pivotal shift to artificial intelligence (AI) that could undercut its power. On Friday, the legal and technological threats facing Google were among the key issues being dissected during the closing arguments of a legal proceeding that will determine the changes imposed upon the company in the wake of its dominant search engine being declared an illegal monopoly by US District Judge Amit Mehta last year. Brandishing evidence presented during a recent…

United States President Donald Trump has bid goodbye to Elon Musk at a White House event marking the billionaire’s departure from his role in government. Speaking from the Oval Office on Friday, Trump showered Musk with praise for his work as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an initiative to reduce federal bureaucracy and spending. “ I just want to say that Elon has worked tirelessly helping lead the most sweeping and consequential government reform programme in generations,” Trump said. He credited Musk with delivering “a colossal change in the old ways of doing business in Washington” and…

The lawsuit came three days after a similar case by NPR, which also saw its funds cut.PBS has filed a lawsuit against United States President Donald Trump and other administration officials to block his order stripping federal funding from the 330-station public television system, three days after NPR did the same for its radio network. In its lawsuit filed on Friday, PBS relied on similar arguments, saying Trump was overstepping his authority and engaging in “viewpoint discrimination” because of his claim that PBS’s news coverage is biassed against conservatives. “PBS disputes those charged assertions in the strongest possible terms,” lawyer Z…

The US Court of International Trade has ruled that Donald Trump does not have ‘unbounded authority’ to impose tariffs.

US electronic design automation software makers were told via letters to stop supplies to China, the FT reported.United States President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered US firms that offer software used to design semiconductors to stop selling their services to Chinese groups, the Financial Times has reported, citing people familiar with the move. Electronic design automation software makers, which include Cadence, Synopsys and Siemens EDA, were told via letters from the US Commerce Department to stop supplying their tech, the report, which was published on Wednesday, said. A spokesperson for the Commerce Department declined to comment on the letters but…

Law to take effect on January 1 has support of social media companies, but Apple and Google oppose it.Texas Governor Greg Abbott has signed into law a bill requiring Apple and Alphabet’s Google to verify the age of users of their app stores, putting the second most populous state in the United States at the centre of a debate over whether and how to regulate smartphone use by children and teenagers. The bill was signed into law on Tuesday. The law, which goes into effect on January 1, requires parental consent to download apps or make in-app purchases for users…