The US will supply Taiwan with $345 million in defense equipment, services and training, using the fast-track authority

Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) called on Republican donors to force candidates who have little to no chance to win the Republican nomination for president out of the race to prevent Donald Trump from winning. The 2012 Republican presidential nominee-turned-chief critic of the former president within the GOP wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal that any candidate had a shot of beating Mr Trump if the contest became a two-person race. “For that to happen, Republican megadonors and influencers – large and small – are going to have to do something they didn’t do in 2016: get candidates they support to agree to withdraw if and when their paths to the nomination are effectively closed,” he said. Mr Romney set the deadline of 26 February, which would be after the Iowa caucuses, the New Hampshire primary, the Nevada caucus and the South Carolina primary. He said plenty of Republican candidates with no chance of winning benefit greatly from their candidacies. “Left to their own inclinations, expect several of the contenders to stay in the race for a long time,” Mr Romney noted. “They will split the non-Trump vote, giving him the prize. A plurality is all that is needed for winner-take-all primaries.” Mr Romney also cited the presidential candidacy of his father, the late George Romney, when he ran in 1968 and how many moderate Republicans got behind him before the elder Romney dropped out and they pledged their support to Nelson Rockefeller to stop Richard Nixon. But Mr Romney said such circumstances don’t exist today because of the rise of super PACs, which allow for unlimited fundraising. “A few billionaires have already committed tens of millions of dollars,” he said. “They have a responsibility to give their funds with clear eyes about their candidate’s prospects.” Mr Romney is the only Republican Senator who voted to convict Mr Trump for both of the former president’s impeachments in 2020 and 2021. The former Massachusetts governor said donors who back a candidate with a slim chance should receive a hard pledge that they will drop out and back the candidate with the best chance of beating Mr Trump by 26 February. “Donors may think that party leaders can narrow the field,” he wrote. “Not so. Candidates don’t listen to party officials, because voters don’t listen to them either. And the last people who would ever encourage a candidate to withdraw are the campaign staff and consultants who want to keep their jobs for as long as possible.” Polling in early states showed Mr Trump continues to hold a commanding lead in many of the early states, including Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. “Our party and our country need a nominee with character, driven by something greater than revenge and ego, preferably from the next generation,” he said. “Family, friends and campaign donors are the only people who can get a lost-cause candidate to exit the race. After Feb. 26, they should start doing just that.” Read More Trump news – live: Trump shares QAnon post on Truth Social as ex-NYPD boss hands evidence to Jan 6 probe Watch: Jill Biden meets France’s first lady to celebrate US rejoining Unesco Hunter Biden's guilty plea is on the horizon, and so are a fresh set of challenges Judge vacates desertion conviction for former US soldier captured in Afghanistan Putting a floating barrier in the Rio Grande to stop migrants is new. The idea isn't.

As the six-month sprint to the Iowa caucuses begins, the sprawling field of Republican presidential candidates is facing growing pressure to prove they can emerge as serious challengers to former President Donald Trump

KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine's top military command said on Monday its forces were engaged in heavy battles in frontline hot spots,

Former President Donald Trump has dropped his $500 million lawsuit against Michael Cohen, his former lawyer and fixer who is now a key witness in a criminal case against him

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 12, 2023--

Former president Donald Trump showed highly-classified information to unauthorised persons on two separate occasions, according to a copy of the indictment against him that has been obtained by The Independent. The 49-page, 37-count indictment was unsealed on Friday after Mr Trump released a series of social media posts revealing that he has been indicted by a grand jury under supervision of Special Counsel Jack Smith. The indictment details the charges against Mr Trump and Walter Nauta, a former US Navy noncommissioned officer who left government service to work for Mr Trump after his term ended in January 2021. It also lays out the two instances on which Mr Trump showed classified documents to unauthorised persons at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club. The first, in July 2021, was during an interview with a writer and a publisher who were working on a book by his ex-chief of staff, Mark Meadows. According to the indictment, Mr Trump showed the writer, the book publisher, and two staff members who lacked security clearances a “plan of attack” put together by General Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who had recently been reported as criticising Mr Trump by the New Yorker. The second instance involved a classified map of an unnamed country, and staff working for Mr Trump’s political action committee. The indictment states that Mr Trump acknowledged that he lacked the authorization to show the documents at issue to the people who were present for both incidents. According to the indictment, the 37 charges against Mr Trump and Mr Nauta include willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, concealing a document in a federal investigation, scheme to conceal, and false statements and representations. More follows... Read More Rep. Santos says he's protecting family members by seeking to keep bond cosigners secret DoJ unseals Trump classified papers indictment as aide also faces charges - live Trump ‘body man’ Walt Nauta has been indicted alongside ex-president

Fourteen countries in US-led Indo-Pacific trade talks agreed on supply chain coordination, the most substantial progress so far

Kai Cenat and IShowSpeed approached several groups of Japanese girls on their trip to Tokyo Disneyland, making most of them laugh with their antics

By Clare Jim HONG KONG (Reuters) -Golfers have stepped up their fight to stop the Hong Kong government from taking

Police say a man was arrested and a woman described as his hostage was released unharmed after an hourslong standoff in a room at the Caesars Palace resort on the Las Vegas Strip

Global stock markets and Wall Street futures are mixed after a report that showed growth in service industries is slowing stoked concern the U.S. economy is weakening