Musk, who has recently been considering donating £100m to Farage’s far-right party, pinned a message at the top of his Twitter/X feed which read “Free Tommy Robinson!” earlier this week (Image: Martini)
REFORM UK leader Nigel Farage has branded Elon Musk a hero, despite the latter’s calls for far-right activist Tommy Robinson to be released from prison.
Musk, who has recently been considering a £100 million donation to Farage’s party, pinned a message at the top of his Twitter/X feed which read “Free Tommy Robinson!” earlier this week.
Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was jailed in October 2024 for contempt of court after he repeated false claims against a Syrian refugee.
The Clacton-on-Sea MP told conference attendees in Leicester that Musk had “a whole range of opinions, some of which I agree with very strongly, and others of which I am more reticent about”.
Farage expressed his admiration for Musk, calling him a “remarkable new entrant” into American politics who is “very helpful” for Reform and branding the world’s richest man a “hero”.
The billionaire Musk has downplayed the party’s extremist views in posts on X and in an op-ed in a German newspaper.
Mega-billionaire Elon Musk, owner of the social media site X, plans to hold an online audio discussion on the platform with the leader of a far right German party, amplifying the party’s fascist and neo-Nazi ideology.
The discussion between him and Alice Weidel, a leader for Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the party’s candidate for chancellor in the February 23 snap elections, will take place”very soon,” a spokesperson for Weidel said, indicating that it will “definitely” happen before the elections. The German-based newswire agency dpa reported that the talk between Weidel and Musk would occur on January 10.
Donald Trump, pictured during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago in December, says the sentencing should not go ahead. Pic: AP
Donald Trump’s spokesperson called the hush money case “lawless” and a “witch hunt” in a statement released after the sentencing date was announced. “President Trump will continue fighting against these hoaxes until they are all dead,” he added.
A judge has ordered US president-elect Donald Trump to be sentenced next week in his New York hush money case – but has suggested he will not jail him.
In a surprise move, the sentencing has been set for 10 January, just 10 days before the presidential inauguration.
Trump‘s spokesperson called the case “lawless” and a “witch hunt” in a statement released after the date was announced.
Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over the trial, has now confirmed sentencing will go ahead, but signalled in a written decision that he would hand down what is known as a conditional discharge, in which a case gets dismissed if a defendant avoids re-arrest.
The cartoon depicts Jeff Bezos, as well as Mark Zuckerberg and other media and tech moguls, kneeling and holding up bags of money before a massive Donald Trump. Photo / Ann Telnaes
An award-winning political cartoonist for the Washington Post has announced her resignation after a cartoon depicting the newspaper’s billionaire owner grovelling before United States President-elect Donald Trump was rejected.
Ann Telnaes posted on Substack late Friday local time that this was the first time she “had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at”.
The cartoon – which she included in her post – depicts Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, as well as Facebook and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and other media and tech moguls, kneeling and holding up bags of money before a massive Trump.
Also shown is a prostrated Mickey Mouse, the symbol of the Disney Company, which owns ABC News. The television network recently reached a US$15 million ($26m) settlement with Trump after he sued for defamation over reporting on his sexual abuse trial in New York.
Telnaes wrote that while previous sketches of hers had been rejected, this was the first time that had happened because of her “point of view”.
“That’s a game changer … and dangerous for a free press,” she said.
The cartoon depicts Jeff Bezos, as well as Mark Zuckerberg and other media and tech moguls, kneeling and holding up bags of money before a massive Trump. Photo / Ann Telnaes
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Amazon and Meta have both announced US$1m donations to Trump’s inauguration fund, as reportedly has Cook in a personal capacity.
People demonstrate outside the U.S. Consulate in Tel Aviv, Israel, on November 20, 2024, ahead of a vote by the U.S. Senate on legislation to block offensive U.S. weapons sales to Israel. Photo by Saeed Qaq/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Multiple human rights organizations and international bodies have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza
The administration of US President Joe Biden announced on Saturday an arms sale to Israel valued at $8 billion, just ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Biden has repeatedly rejected calls to suspend military backing for Israel because of the number of civilians killed during the war in Gaza. Israel has killed more than 45,000 people in Gaza, primarily women and children.
The sale includes medium-range air-to-air missiles, 155mm projectile artillery shells for long-range targeting, Hellfire AGM-114 missiles, 500-pound bombs, and more.
Human rights groups, former State Department officials, and Democratic lawmakers have urged the Biden administration to halt arms sales to Israel, citing violations of US laws, including the Leahy Law, as well as international laws and human rights.
The Leahy Law, named after former Sen. Patrick Leahy, requires the US to withhold military assistance from foreign military or law enforcement units if there is credible evidence of human rights violations.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s most significant Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called Biden’s new $8 billion arms deal “racist” and “sociopathic.”
Multiple human rights organizations and international bodies have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for committing war crimes.
The US is, by far, the biggest supplier of weapons to Israel, having helped it build one of the most technologically sophisticated militaries in the world.
CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said on Saturday:
“We strongly condemn the Biden administration for its unbelievable and criminal decision to send another $8 billion worth of American weapons to the government of indicted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu instead of using American leverage to force an end to the genocide in Gaza.
“Only racists who do not view people of color as equally human, and sociopaths who delight in funding mass slaughter, could send Netanyahu even more bombs while his government openly kidnaps doctors, destroys hospitals, and exterminates the last survivors in northern Gaza.
“If President Biden is actually the person who approved this new $8 billion arms sale, then he is a war criminal who belongs in a cell at The Hague alongside Netanyahu. But if Antony Blinken, Brett McGurk, Jake Sullivan, and other aides are making these unconscionable decisions as shadow presidents, then anyone with a conscience in the administration should speak up now about their abuses of power.”
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the US accounted for 69% of Israel’s imports of major conventional arms between 2019 and 2023.
On the other hand, incoming President-elect Donald Trump has also pledged unwavering support for Israel and has never committed to supporting an independent Palestinian state.
