MAGA backlash as Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy defend visa program for skilled workers: Live updates

After nearly three years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the future of the country’s fight against Vladimir Putin’s forces is more uncertain than ever.

Donald Trump’s sweeping victory in the US presidential race, off the back of promises to end the war in eastern Europe in 24 hours, seemingly even if that means forcing Kyiv to cede territory to Russia, seems to spell the end of the West’s long-held policy of helping Ukraine defeat Vladimir Putin’s forces entirely. Negotiations with Russia, after years of silence, are back on the agenda.

This is causing significant stress in Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. As Kira Rudik, a Ukrainian opposition leader, puts it: “The world needs to understand how crucial it is not to end the war on any idea of negotiating with Russia.”

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Elon Musk started 2024 as the controversial owner of a social media platform, but ends it as one of the most powerful individuals in the world and a key adviser to the incoming US president.

The debate around the billionaire has moved on dramatically over the last 12 months, from whether the way he was running X, formerly Twitter, would be viable or sustainable in the long-term, to whether Mr Musk’s own influence over global politics through his wealth and social media megaphone made him a threat to democracy.

The biggest story of 2024 around Mr Musk has been has dramatic swing behind the US President-elect Donald Trump ahead of the November election and how Mr Musk effectively reconfigured X into a vehicle to support the Republican candidate, alongside his personal fortune.

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Russia has warned it “rules out nothing” regarding nuclear testing in response to Donald Trump’s “radical” position on the issue during his first term as president.

Deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov, who oversees arms control, warned the United States that its nuclear arsenal is intended to “sober up” countries on the “brink of direct armed conflict” with Russia.

Russia, the US and China are all undertaking major modernisations of their nuclear weapons just as the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) of the Cold War era between the Soviet Union and the US is starting to fall apart.

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Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and President-elect Donald Trump’s“first buddy,” revealed on Christmas night that he was using the medication Mounjaro for weight loss while dubbing himself “Ozempic Santa” in a holiday-themed social media post.

The revelation also comes just a couple of weeks after he clashed with Trump’s designated Health and Human Services chief Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over the widespread use and long-term benefits of GLP-1 inhibitors in battling obesity.

Posting to his social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Musk shared an image of himself dressed as Santa Claus next to a Christmas tree alongside the caption “Ozempic Santa.” The post quickly went viral, gathering over 200,000 likes and 26 million views.

“Like Cocaine Bear, but Santa and Ozempic!” Musk added in a separate tweet.

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Elon Musk has declared that “hateful, unrepentant racists” should be removed from the Republican Party “root and stem” as the in-party feud over H-1B visas intensifies.

Conversations around H-1B visas have divided Donald Trump’s party, with his Department of Government Efficiency heads Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy on one side and other allies like Laura Loomer on the other. The Space X founder escalated the feud on Friday night when he called for some “contemptible fools” in the GOP to be removed.

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Two Canadian Cabinet ministers met with President-elect Donald Trump‘s nominee for commerce secretary at Mar-a-Lago on Friday as Canada tries to avoid sweeping tariffs when Trump takes office.

Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly met with Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, as well as North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Trump’s pick to lead the Interior Department.

Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian products if Canada does not stem what he calls a flow of migrants and fentanyl into the United States — even though far fewer of each cross into the U.S. from Canada than from Mexico, which Trump has also threatened.

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Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Ainsley Earhardt announced their engagement after privately dating for several years, the latest Fox News couple to take their relationship to the next level.

In an official statement from the network, the two said they got engaged at their home church over Christmas with the blessing and support of their families – including their children from previous marriages.

Hannity, 62, and Earhardt, 48, have become well-known conservative commentators due to their longtime careers on Fox News. Hannity hosts his own primetime show, Hannity, while Earhardt co-hosts the morning show, Fox & Friends.

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The man charged with implementing Donald Trump’s ambitions for what he calls the “largest deportation operation in American history” is previewing his agenda.

Trump and his “border czar” Tom Homan are likely to face a volley of lawsuits and legal obstacles from city and state officials. Homan, in turn, has threatened to prosecute them if they don’t “get the hell out of the way.”

Throughout his 2024 campaign, Trump pledged to arrest, detain and deport people living in the country without legal permission as part of his “day one” agenda. The president-elect promises to deploy federal, state and local law enforcement into immigrant communities he says are “poisoning the blood of the country,” relying on stories of violent crime to support a brutal crackdown that could impact millions of families.

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The United States is expected to announce that it will send $1.25 billion in military assistance to Ukraine, U.S. officials said Friday, as the Biden administration pushes to get as much aid to Kyiv as possible before leaving office on Jan. 20.

The large package of aid includes a significant amount of munitions, including for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems and the HAWK air defense system. It also will provide Stinger missiles and 155 mm- and 105 mm artillery rounds, officials said.

The officials, who said they expect the announcement to be made on Monday, spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public.

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