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Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are set for a new chapter in their longtime rivalry.

‘Ridiculous amounts of money’: Bezos gets serious in Musk space race

Jeff Bezos and Amazon are set to launch a massive rocket and a set of satellites that could take on SpaceX’s dominance.

  • 7 mins ago
  • Karen Weise

This Month

Bill Clinton earlier in December.

Bill Clinton admitted to hospital after developing a fever

The former US president is in “good spirits” after being admitted to hospital in Washington DC.

  • Justin Sink
Wall Street had a thin trading session ahead of Christmas.

ASX to edge higher as US big tech rallies

Wall Street slid briefly before recovering after data showed US consumer confidence unexpectedly sank for the first time in three months.

  • Rita Nazareth
Luigi Mangione with lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo in New York State Supreme Court on Monday (Tuesday AEDT).

Mangione pleads not guilty to murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO

An attorney told the court that officials, including New York Mayor Eric Adams, had turned the accused into a political pawn, depriving him of a fair trial.

  • Michael Sisak and Jake Offenhartz
President Joe Biden speaks about the sudden collapse of the Syrian government under Bashar Assad from the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Biden commutes sentences for 37 out of 40 inmates on federal death row

The move will frustrate Donald Trump’s plan to expand executions. Unlike executive orders, clemency decisions cannot be reversed by a president’s successor.

  • Nandita Bose
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President-elect Donald Trump speaks at the AmericaFest on Sunday (Monday AEDT).

Trump threatens to take back Panama Canal

The president-elect argued that ships were charged “ridiculous” fees to pass through the vital transportation channel linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

  • Bill Barrow and Will Weissert
The guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg.

US shoots down its own F/A-18 over Red Sea

The American military’s Central Command said that the two pilots had been safely recovered after they ejected from their fighter jet.

  • Yan Zhuang and Matthew Mpoke Bigg
Governments around the world have raised concerns about TikTok’s alleged data harvesting.

Trump hints at change of heart on TikTok ban

The role of the popular social media app in last month’s election victory may have convinced the president-elect to give parent company ByteDance a reprieve.

  • Gram Slattery
Donald Trump speaking last week.

Republican revolt shows limits of Trump’s power

The rebellion over the funding bill cast doubt on whether the US president-elect will be able to fulfil his election campaign promises.

  • Benedict Smith
China’s advanced manufacturing muscles have exploded in size, sophistication and quantity.

China’s staggering manufacturing muscle needs to be seen to be believed

Since Trump was last in office, Beijing has doubled down on its efforts to gain global supremacy in electric cars, robots and rare materials. America could be toast if it doesn’t respond.

  • Thomas Friedman
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks briefly to reporters just before a vote on an interim spending bill to prevent a government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. The vote failed to pass. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

US funding bill passes hours before government shutdown

Hours before a midnight US government shutdown, the House approved a new plan that would temporarily fund federal operations.

  • Lisa Mascaro, Farnoush Amiri and Matt Brown
Wall Street is lifting.

Wall Street leaps, cutting losses after a dismal week

US stocks rallied on Friday to more than halve their losses in what had been one of their worst weeks of the year.

  • Stan Choe
Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance attend a college football game in Maryland.

‘President Musk’ draws first blood as government shutdown looms

The billionaire led the charge to kill a bipartisan deal to avert a freeze on federal funding, leaving Congress with just 24 to avert a government shutdown.

  • Michael D. Shear and Ryan Mac
If Donald Trump wins in November, expect even greater strain on American institutions. But he’s unlikely to be an “imperial president” abroad.

How long will Donald Trump’s dream run last?

The president-elect returns to Washington with a huge stock of political capital and a big to-do list.

  • Matthew Cranston
Donald Trump is a child king cum tycoon cum rabble-rouser.

Autocrats rise as Trump scorches the land of the free

Strongman leaders have lit a bonfire of the orthodoxies: the role of the state, neoliberalism, globalisation and the international “rules-based” order.

  • James Curran
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Luigi Mangione was taken to New York where he could eventually face the death penalty.

Mangione could face death penalty in fresh charges

The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO was whisked to New York by plane and helicopter to face new federal charges of murder and stalking.

  • Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs
Trump’s DOGE is a good first step toward stopping the rot.

I’m the guy Barron’s called the Bond King. Here’s why US debt is a problem

There is the real possibility of a quasi-default by the Treasury and few are likely to be spared from the resulting upheaval.

  • Jeffrey Gundlach
Trump, 78, told reporters before Christmas that he was trying to ease tensions around the world.

Trump torpedoes funding bill, triggering government shutdown fears

The president-elect has intervened in a bipartisan deal to continue government funding for programs, raising the odds of a federal shutdown before the holidays.

  • Lisa Mascaro and Kevin Freking
Big tech executives, including Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Tim Cook of Apple and Sundar Pichai of Google, are bending the knee to Donald Trump.

‘What choice do they have?’: US CEOs bend the knee to Trump

From Hollywood to Silicon Valley and Wall Street, senior executives have been bending over backwards to meet Donald Trump since he won the election.

  • James Politi and James Fontanella-Khan
Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

Why Musk has hit payday even before Trump takes office

The Tesla chief executive and other super-wealthy entrepreneurs could benefit from deregulation with the new president, but some are already reaping rewards.

  • Edward Luce
 Luigi Mangione at an extradition hearing in Pennsylvania last week.

Mangione charged with terrorism act over UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting

The district attorney said Brian Thompson’s death on a midtown Manhattan street “was a killing that was intended to evoke terror. And we’ve seen that reaction”.

  • Jake Offenhartz and Jennifer Peltz
Tulsi Gabbard arrives before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Pittsburgh on November 4.

The transformation of Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s intelligence tsar pick

The once rising-star of the Democratic party is now a MAGA champion with unorthodox views on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and ousted Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad.

  • Amy Mackinnon
Sales at auto dealerships jumped 2.6 per cent, likely boosted by residents replacing motor vehicles damaged by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

US November retail sales rev higher on new motor vehicles

Retail sales jumped 0.7 per cent last month, more than expected, and October’s sales were revised higher, consistent with the economy’s underlying momentum.

  • Lucia Mutikani
The ABC News ticker in Times Square.

‘Libel warfare’: ABC payout to Trump sends chill across US media

There are now fears that Trump, who has threatened libel lawsuits against news media for decades, could use presidential power to muzzle the press.

  • Anna Nicolaou, Christopher Grimes and James Politi
Novonix CEO Chris Burns: “If you step away from the noise, we continue to see that the battery and critical minerals sectors will be supported.”

US backs Oz firm’s graphite factory to loosen China’s EV grip

The energy department has offered Novonix a $1.2 billion loan to underwrite construction of the first large-scale synthetic graphite facility in North America when complete.

  • Nic Fildes and Harry Dempsey

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/world/north-america