₦airaland Forum

Bittersweetnig:
I'm here, they can't catch me, never

helinues:
Toh

Paraman:
The IGP is not under the PSC.

eepeepook:
Many children on Nairaland deserve this treatment. Una no sabi una mates.

Mryacks:
Yes ooh...it was a mistake going up against Shady/Aftamath. They had to contend with Eminem, 50 Cent, Dr Dre and others. That was the beginning of the end for Inc

kedeojo:
Just because of jealousy. Na wah oh, billionaires still kill their fellow billionaires. What is the reason.

CoronaVirusPro:
Every other president can expand tariffs too. Trump does not have a monopoly of that.

The meeting in Caracas, first reported by CNN, was notable given Washington does not officially recognize the presidency of Maduro – who opposition leaders in Venezuela have accused of stealing last year’s elections.

US officials have not yet given details of the six detainees released, but Trump’s envoy for special missions Richard Grenell posted a picture on X of himself with the men aboard a plane.

“I’ve just been informed that we are bringing six hostages home from Venezuela,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “Thank you to Ric Grenell and my entire staff. Great job!”

Grenell’s picture shows four of the released Americans wearing light blue outfits commonly worn by people held in the Venezuelan prison system.

“We are wheels up and headed home with these six American citizens. They just spoke to President Trump, and they couldn’t stop thanking him,” Grenell wrote in his post.

Maduro’s claim to a third term has been contested by the country’s opposition, which has published thousands of voting tallies that suggested their candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, won the election in July last year. They were backed by independent observers such as the Carter Center and the Colombian Electoral Mission.

Like the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada, the US does not recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. It has placed a raft of sanctions or visa restrictions on Maduro-aligned officials. Washington has no diplomatic presence in Venezuela.

In September the US seized Maduro’s airplane.

Friday’s prisoner release came after a meeting between Grenell and Maduro, which had been expected to cover the deportation of Venezuelan nationals from the US. Trump has prioritized his campaign promise of mass deportations but Maduro has refused to take Venezuelan nationals back – and the US has generally been unable to send Venezuelans back because of frosty relations.

Gonzalez, who the US recognizes as Venezuela’s president-elect and who attended Trump’s inauguration, has warned the White House against cutting a deal with Maduro on deportation flights.

As Grenell headed to the meeting on Friday, Trump was asked if his envoy being photographed with Maduro would lend legitimacy to the Venezuelan leader.

The US President told reporters he wanted to “do something with Venezuela,” but noted that he was “a big opponent of Venezuela and Maduro.”

“They’ve treated us not so good, but they’ve treated, more importantly, the Venezuelan people, very badly,” he said.

Maduro said in an annual speech to the judiciary late on Friday evening that the meeting with Grenell had yielded some initial deals and he looked forward to “new deals for the good of the two countries and the region,” according to Reuters.

“President Donald Trump, we have made a first step, hopefully it can continue,” Maduro said.

Maduro and Grenell also discussed issues of migration and sanctions, according to a Venezuelan government statement on Friday.

Under Maduro – in office since 2013 – oil-rich Venezuela has fallen into a deep economic and political crisis, gripped by hyperinflation. Millions of people have fled the country in fear and desperation.

The State Department advises Americans against traveling to Venezuela, warning that “there is a high risk of wrongful detention of U.S. nationals.”

In August last year, Venezuelan intelligence agency SEBIN detained a US Navy sailor, according to an official who spoke to CNN.

Nine Americans were brought home from Venezuela by the Biden administration in 2022 after five years of detention in the country.

In December 2023, the US secured the release of six wrongfully detained Americans and four other Americans held in Venezuela.

CoronaVirusPro:
Morafvcker going to find out the hard way!

Grab your pop corn and wait for Canada, Mexico and China’s retaliation!

It’s gonna be a cold winter!

Why you shouldn’t fvcking vote an illiterate into power. One who will increase tariffs at a point when inflation is cooling off, and so stupid to do it with his biggest trading partners.

Chibuzoripob:
this village stewpid GOAT go wreck USA economy with his DUMBNESS . Wen everybody don hide/run from work;him eyes go clear

Grand jurors at the District Court for the Parish of West Baton Rouge unanimously issued an indictment against Dr. Margaret Carpenter; her company, Nightingale Medical, PC; and the minor’s mother. All three were charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, a felony.

In addition to Carpenter, an arrest warrant was issued for the mother, who has not been publicly identified to protect the identity of the minor. District Attorney Tony Clayton told The Associated Press that the mother turned herself in to police on Friday.

The case appears to be the first instance of criminal charges against a doctor accused of sending abortion pills to another state, at least since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and opened the door for states to have strict anti-abortion laws.

"We expect Dr. Carpenter to come to Louisiana and answer these charges, and if 12 people (jurors) think he's innocent, let it go" Clayton said.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a video posted on social media, “I will never, under any circumstances, turn this doctor over to the state of Louisiana under any extradition requests,” signaling a potential legal battle between the states.

Last year, the Port Allen, Louisiana, woman requested abortion medication online from Carpenter for her daughter, whose age has not been specified. Clayton said the request was made through a questionnaire only and no consultation with the girl.

A “cocktail of pills” was mailed to the woman who directed her daughter to take the pill, Clayton said.

After taking the drug, the girl experienced a medical emergency while alone, called 911 and was transported to the hospital where she was treated. While responding to the emergency, a police officer learned about the pills and under further investigation found that a doctor in New York state had supplied the drugs and turned their findings over to Clayton’s office.

It is unclear how far along the girl was in her pregnancy.

“The (adult) mother has since been arrested, but the other person we believe is just as culpable here is the person who sat in an office, wrapped a box of pills, put a stamp on the box and mailed it to the state of Louisiana for a child to take,” Clayton said.

Carpenter was sued in December by the Texas attorney general under similar allegations of sending pills to that state. That case did not involve criminal charges.

Carpenter did not immediately return a message from the AP.

The indictment comes just months after Louisiana became the first state with a law reclassifying both mifepristone and misoprostol as “controlled dangerous substances.” The drugs are still allowed, but medical personnel must take extra steps to access them.

Under the legislation, if someone knowingly possesses either medication without a valid prescription, they could be fined up to $5,000 and sent to jail for one to five years. The law carves out protections for pregnant women who obtain the drug without a prescription to take on their own.

“I have said it before and I will say it again: We will hold individuals accountable for breaking the law,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, a Republican, said in a statement on Friday.

Abortion opponents and reproductive rights groups alike flooded social media scrutinizing the indictment.

“We cannot continue to allow forced birth extremists to interfere with our ability to access necessary healthcare,” Chasity Wilson, executive director of the Louisiana Abortion Fund, said in a statement. “Extremists hope this case will cause a chilling effect, further tying the hands of doctors who took an oath to care for their patients.”

Since the fall of Roe v. Wade, Louisiana has had a near-total abortion ban, without any exceptions for rape or incest. Under the law, physicians convicted of performing an illegal abortion, including one with pills, face up to 15 years in prison, $200,000 in fines and the loss of their medical license.

“Make no mistake, since Roe v Wade was overturned, we’ve witnessed a disturbing pattern of interference with women’s rights,” the Abortion Coalition of Telemedicine, where Carpenter is one of the founders, said in a statement. “It’s no secret the United States has a history of violence and harassment against abortion providers, and this state-sponsored effort to prosecute a doctor providing safe and effective care should alarm everyone.”

Friday’s indictment could be the first direct test of New York’s shield laws, which are intended to protect prescribers who use telehealth to provide abortion pills to patients in states where abortion is banned. New York Attorney General Letitia James said “we will not allow bad actors to undermine our providers’ ability to deliver critical care.”

“This cowardly attempt out of Louisiana to weaponize the law against out-of-state providers is unjust and un-American,” James added.

Pills have become the most common means of abortion in the US, accounting for nearly two-thirds of them by 2023. They’re also at the center of political and legal action over abortion. In January, a judge let three states continue to challenge federal government approvals for how one of the drugs usually involved can be prescribed.

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, DC, on January 30.

President Donald Trump announced extraordinary new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China — signing the long-promised economic policy at his Mar-a-Lago club on Saturday. The Trump administration said tariffs are aimed at curbing the flow of drugs and undocumented immigrants into America, but they potentially risk substantial price increases for American consumers across a wide array of common goods.

The new policy represents a reversal of virtually duty-free trade between the three North American nations that’s existed for several years — and an expansion of a frosty trade war between China and the United States that has escalated over the course of the past two administrations.

As Trump has repeatedly promised over the past several months, the tariffs will amount to a significant 25% duty on all imports from Mexico and most goods from Canada and a 10% tariff on Chinese goods imported into the United States. Although Trump administration officials said Saturday the tariffs were designed to stop the flow of fentanyl and undocumented immigrants, they gave no specific benchmark for the new import taxes to be lifted — other than the cessation of the drugs and undocumented immigrants coming into the country.

The tariffs are expected to invite retaliation, perhaps igniting a trade war that could significantly damage the economies of the targeted countries and the United States. In anticipation of that, Trump’s executive action includes a clause that allows the president to expand the tariffs if a country imposes new tariffs on the United States.

Notably, the tariffs included an important carve-out — the tariff on Canadian energy products will be 10%. Many Americans rely on Canadian energy products, including oil, electricity, natural gas, for fuel and home heating. The cost of those items could rise when the tariffs are put in place.

To put the tariffs in place, Trump in his executive action declared a national economic emergency, invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, known as “IEEPA,” which unilaterally authorizes a president to manage imports during a national emergency. The tariffs are set to go into effect on Tuesday morning at 12:01 am ET.


"Today, I have implemented a 25% Tariff on Imports from Mexico and Canada (10% on Canadian Energy), and a 10% additional Tariff on China,” Trump said in a message posted to Truth Social on Saturday. “This was done through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) because of the major threat of illegal aliens and deadly drugs killing our Citizens, including fentanyl. We need to protect Americans, and it is my duty as President to ensure the safety of all.”

Saturday’s tariffs amount to a starting gun on what could escalate into a global trade war, perhaps inviting retaliation from Mexico, Canada and China in the form of higher tariffs on goods that the United States exports to those countries. That could lead to potentially much higher costs, disrupted supply chains and the loss of jobs. In a call with reporters Saturday, a Trump administration official said any retaliation from Mexico, China or Canada would likely result in even higher tariffs for that country. Even Trump acknowledged the potential for adverse consequences on American consumers.

"There could be some temporary, short-term disruption, and people will understand that,” Trump said Friday when pressed by reporters on the cost of tariffs being passed on to importers, and, by extension, consumers. “But the tariffs are going to make us very rich and very strong — and we’re going to treat other countries very fairly.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in anticipation of Trump’s actions, has said previously that Canada would retaliate forcefully and swiftly if the United States imposed tariffs. The country’s trade representatives met with Trump administration officials as recently as Friday in an attempt to stave off the tariffs.

Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s natural resources minister, said in a post on X that Canada did “nothing to provoke tariffs” from the United States but is “prepared and ready to fight” for its residents.

Tariffs are one of the few policies Trump has consistently supported for decades, a rare through-line from his days as a New York developer to his time in public office (another is immigration). As a candidate, he swore he’d use tariffs — “the most beautiful word in the dictionary” — to wield US leverage abroad.

And in 2023, Mexico overtook China as the top nation exporting goods to the US, marking the first time in two decades China was not the top-ranking exporter. Tariffs the first Trump administration put in place, which the Biden administration largely maintained, have negatively impacted the amount of goods the US imports from China. Mexican and Canadian goods have been imported in the US virtually duty-free as a result of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, that Trump negotiated with America’s bordering nations during his first administration.

Mexico maintained that top position last year as well, exporting $467 billion worth of goods to the US, followed by China and Canada, which exported $401 billion and $377 billion worth of goods, respectively.

That’s according to Commerce Department figures from last year through November, the most recent month of available data. Collectively, the three countries accounted for 42% of the nearly $3 trillion worth of goods the US imported worldwide last year.

Canada was the top country the US exported goods to last year, valued at $322 billion, followed by Mexico and China, which received $309 billion and $131 billion worth of goods from the US, respectively. US exports to the three countries accounted for over 40% of the $1.9 trillion worth of goods the US exported globally last year.

Kaycee9242:
The ones we have been doing with our heads where has it gotten us to? Allow them abeg

GodisStriking:
Observe the stark contrast.






Tik Tok is used as an education platform in China not the brain dead buffoonery of America.