Trump declassifies JFK, RFK, Martin Luther King Jr assassination files

Trump declassifies JFK, RFK, Martin Luther King Jr assassination files
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Updated 24 January 2025
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Trump declassifies JFK, RFK, Martin Luther King Jr assassination files

Trump declassifies JFK, RFK, Martin Luther King Jr assassination files
  • The National Archives has released tens of thousands of records in recent years related to the November 22, 1963 assassination of president Kennedy

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday declassifying files on the 1960s assassinations of president John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
“A lot of people have been waiting for this for years, for decades,” Trump told reporters as he signed the order in the Oval Office of the White House. “Everything will be revealed.”
After signing the order, Trump passed the pen he used to an aide, saying “Give that to RFK Jr,” the president’s nominee to become secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The National Archives has released tens of thousands of records in recent years related to the November 22, 1963 assassination of president Kennedy but held thousands back, citing national security concerns.
It said at the time of the latest release, in December 2022, that 97 percent of the Kennedy records — which total approximately five million pages — had now been made public.
The Warren Commission that investigated the shooting of the charismatic 46-year-old president determined that it was carried out by a former Marine sharpshooter, Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone.
That formal conclusion has done little, however, to quell speculation that a more sinister plot was behind Kennedy’s murder in Dallas, Texas, and the slow release of the government files has added fuel to various conspiracy theories.
President Joe Biden said at the time of the December 2022 release that a “limited” number of documents would continue to be held back at the request of unspecified “agencies.”
Previous requests to withhold documents have come from the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Thousands of Kennedy assassination-related documents from the National Archives were released during Trump’s first term in office, but he also held some back on national security grounds.
Kennedy scholars have said the documents still held by the archives are unlikely to contain any bombshell revelations or put to rest the rampant conspiracy theories about the assassination of the 35th US president.
Oswald was shot to death two days after killing Kennedy by a nightclub owner, Jack Ruby, as he was being transferred from the city jail.
Hundreds of books and movies such as the 1991 Oliver Stone film “JFK” have fueled the conspiracy industry, pointing the finger at Cold War rivals the Soviet Union or Cuba, the Mafia and even Kennedy’s vice president, Lyndon Johnson.
President Kennedy’s younger brother, Robert, a former attorney general, was assassinated in June 1968 while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian-born Jordanian, was convicted of his murder and is serving a life sentence in a prison in California.
Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated in April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.
James Earl Ray was convicted of the murder and died in prison in 1998 but King’s children have expressed doubts in the past that Ray was the assassin.
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Modi, Trump to meet today as India seeks to ease tensions over tariffs, immigration

Modi, Trump to meet today as India seeks to ease tensions over tariffs, immigration
Updated 7 sec ago
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Modi, Trump to meet today as India seeks to ease tensions over tariffs, immigration

Modi, Trump to meet today as India seeks to ease tensions over tariffs, immigration
  • Modi is the fourth leader to visit Trump since his return, following Israeli and Japanese PMs, king of Jordan
  • Trump may visit India this year for a scheduled summit of the Quad that includes Australia, India and Japan

WASHINGTON: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will try to rekindle his bromance with Donald Trump — and avoid the US president’s wrath on tariffs and immigration — when they meet on Thursday at the White House.
Modi will also hold a joint press conference with Trump, the White House said — a rare move from the Indian leader, who is a prolific social media user but seldom takes questions from reporters.
The latest in a series of foreign leaders beating an early path to the Oval Office door since the Republican’s return to power, Modi shared good relations with Trump during his first term.
The premier has offered quick tariff concessions ahead of his visit, with New Delhi slashing duties on high-end motorcycles — a boost to Harley-Davidson, the iconic American manufacturer whose struggles in India have irked Trump.
India also accepted a US military flight carrying 100 shackled migrants last week as part of Trump’s immigration overhaul, and New Delhi has vowed its own “strong crackdown” on illegal migration.
India’s top career diplomat Vikram Misri said last week that there had been a “very close rapport” between the leaders, although their ties have so far failed to bring a breakthrough on a long-sought bilateral trade deal.
Modi was among the first to congratulate “good friend” Trump after his November election win.
For nearly three decades, US presidents from both parties have prioritized building ties with India, seeing a natural partner against a rising China.
But Trump has also raged against India over trade, the biggest foreign policy preoccupation of his new term, in the past calling the world’s fifth-largest economy the “biggest tariff abuser.”
Former property tycoon Trump has unapologetically weaponized tariffs against friends and foes since his return.
Modi “has prepared for this, and he is seeking to preempt Trump's anger,” said Lisa Curtis, the National Security Council director on South Asia during Trump’s first term.
The Indian premier’s Hindu-nationalist government has meanwhile obliged Trump on another top priority: deporting undocumented immigrants.
While public attention has focused on Latin American arrivals, India is the third source of undocumented immigrants in the United States after Mexico and El Salvador.
Indian activists burned an effigy of Trump last week after the migrants on the US plane were flown back in shackles the whole journey, while the opposition accused Modi of weakness.
One thing Modi is likely to avoid, however, is any focus on his record on the rights of Muslims and other minorities.
Trump is unlikely to highlight an issue on which former president Joe Biden's administration offered gentle critiques.
Modi is the fourth world leader to visit Trump since his return, following the prime ministers of Israel and Japan and the king of Jordan.
Modi assiduously courted Trump during his first term. The two share much in common, with both campaigning on promises to promote the interests of their countries' majority communities over minorities and both doggedly pursuing critics.
In February 2020, Modi invited Trump before a cheering crowd of more than 100,000 people to inaugurate the world’s largest cricket stadium in his home state of Gujarat.
Trump could visit India later this year for a scheduled summit of the Quad — a four-way grouping of Australia, India, Japan and the United States.


Suicide bomber sets off explosion near Kabul government offices, Interior Ministry says

Suicide bomber sets off explosion near Kabul government offices, Interior Ministry says
Updated 11 min 4 sec ago
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Suicide bomber sets off explosion near Kabul government offices, Interior Ministry says

Suicide bomber sets off explosion near Kabul government offices, Interior Ministry says
  • Casualties have been reported, but details were not yet available
KARACHI: An explosion occurred near government offices in Kabul on Tuesday, Abdul Matin Qani, spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior, said.
Qani confirmed the explosion to Reuters, adding that a suicide bomber had detonated his explosives before reaching the target, adding that casualties have been reported, but details were not yet available.

German foreign minister: Europe needs to be involved in talks over Ukraine

German foreign minister: Europe needs to be involved in talks over Ukraine
Updated 49 min 6 sec ago
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German foreign minister: Europe needs to be involved in talks over Ukraine

German foreign minister: Europe needs to be involved in talks over Ukraine
  • ‘We can’t have talks without involving Ukraine. Peace in Europe is at stake, that’s why we Europeans need to be brought in’

FRANKFURT: German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said on Thursday that Ukraine and Europe need to be involved in peace talks over Ukraine, after the US president and the Russian president discussed the conflict.
“We can’t have talks without involving Ukraine. Peace in Europe is at stake, that’s why we Europeans need to be brought in,” Baerbock said in an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio.
President Donald Trump discussed the war in Ukraine on Wednesday in phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.


India’s Modi seeks to avoid Trump’s wrath

India’s Modi seeks to avoid Trump’s wrath
Updated 50 min 4 sec ago
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India’s Modi seeks to avoid Trump’s wrath

India’s Modi seeks to avoid Trump’s wrath
WASHINGTON: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will try to rekindle his bromance with Donald Trump — and avoid the US president’s wrath on tariffs and immigration — when they meet on Thursday at the White House.
Modi will also hold a joint press conference with Trump, the White House said — a rare move from the Indian leader, who is a prolific social media user but seldom takes questions from reporters.
The latest in a series of foreign leaders beating an early path to the Oval Office door since the Republican’s return to power, Modi shared good relations with Trump during his first term.
The premier has offered quick tariff concessions ahead of his visit, with New Delhi slashing duties on high-end motorcycles — a boost to Harley-Davidson, the iconic American manufacturer whose struggles in India have irked Trump.
India also accepted a US military flight carrying 100 shackled migrants last week as part of Trump’s immigration overhaul, and New Delhi has vowed its own “strong crackdown” on illegal migration.
India’s top career diplomat Vikram Misri said last week that there had been a “very close rapport” between the leaders, although their ties have so far failed to bring a breakthrough on a long-sought bilateral trade deal.
Modi was among the first to congratulate “good friend” Trump after his November election win.
For nearly three decades, US presidents from both parties have prioritized building ties with India, seeing a natural partner against a rising China.
But Trump has also raged against India over trade, the biggest foreign policy preoccupation of his new term, in the past calling the world’s fifth-largest economy the “biggest tariff abuser.”
Former property tycoon Trump has unapologetically weaponized tariffs against friends and foes since his return.


Modi “has prepared for this, and he is seeking to preempt Trump’s anger,” said Lisa Curtis, the National Security Council director on South Asia during Trump’s first term.
The Indian premier’s Hindu-nationalist government has meanwhile obliged Trump on another top priority: deporting undocumented immigrants.
While public attention has focused on Latin American arrivals, India is the third source of undocumented immigrants in the United States after Mexico and El Salvador.
Indian activists burned an effigy of Trump last week after the migrants on the US plane were flown back in shackles the whole journey, while the opposition accused Modi of weakness.
One thing Modi is likely to avoid, however, is any focus on his record on the rights of Muslims and other minorities.
Trump is unlikely to highlight an issue on which former president Joe Biden’s administration offered gentle critiques.
Modi is the fourth world leader to visit Trump since his return, following the prime ministers of Israel and Japan and the king of Jordan.
Modi assiduously courted Trump during his first term. The two share much in common, with both campaigning on promises to promote the interests of their countries’ majority communities over minorities and both doggedly pursuing critics.
In February 2020, Modi invited Trump before a cheering crowd of more than 100,000 people to inaugurate the world’s largest cricket stadium in his home state of Gujarat.
Trump could visit India later this year for a scheduled summit of the Quad — a four-way grouping of Australia, India, Japan and the United States.

Daesh group claims suicide bombing of Afghan bank

Daesh group claims suicide bombing of Afghan bank
Updated 13 February 2025
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Daesh group claims suicide bombing of Afghan bank

Daesh group claims suicide bombing of Afghan bank
  • Violence has waned in Afghanistan since the Taliban surged back to power and ended their insurgency in 2021
  • But the Daesh group frequently stages gun and bomb attacks challenging their rule

KABUL: The Daesh group claimed Wednesday a suicide bombing of a bank in north Afghanistan which killed five people a day earlier, saying it was targeting Taliban government employees collecting salaries.
Violence has waned in Afghanistan since the Taliban surged back to power and ended their insurgency in 2021, but the Daesh group frequently stages gun and bomb attacks challenging their rule.
On Tuesday police in the northern city of Kunduz said a suicide attack in front of a bank killed five people — including civil servants — and wounded seven others.
The Daesh propaganda wing said Wednesday a “suicide bomber” had “detonated his explosive vest” as “Taliban militia members gathered outside a public bank to collect their salaries.”
The group previously claimed responsibility for a similar bombing in March 2024, outside a bank in the southern city of Kandahar — considered the spiritual heartland of the Taliban movement.
Daesh said it had targeted “Taliban militia” members outside the bank. Taliban authorities said only three people had been killed in last year’s incident, but a hospital source put fatalities far higher at 20.
The Taliban government has declared security its highest priority since returning to power and analysts say they have had some success quashing Daesh with a sweeping crackdown.
But the group remains active — targeting Taliban officials, visitors from abroad, and foreign diplomats.
There are frequently discrepancies between the casualty tolls given by Taliban authorities and those reported by officials on the ground, and attack sites are routinely shut down by security forces.
In December, Daesh claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing which killed the Taliban’s government minister for refugees, Khalil Ur-Rahman Haqqani, in the capital Kabul.