US President Donald Trump's adviser Carrie Lake has announced that the US will cancel its contracts with the world's three major news agencies - Agence France-Presse, Associated Press and Reuters, AFP reported, quoted by BTA.
Former journalist Lake told "Ex" that the US should no longer "pay foreign media companies to tell us what the news is".
Last month, Ms. Lake became a special adviser to the US Agency for Global Media (AGMM), a US government agency that oversees a number of media outlets operating abroad, including "Voice of America" and "Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty".
"Today I stepped in to cancel the US Agency for Global Media's burdensome and unnecessary contracts with news agencies, including tens of millions of dollars worth of contracts with the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse", Lake wrote on the social network.
"We must produce the information ourselves. And if we can't, the American taxpayer has a right to know why", she added.
AFP notes that for years it has had contracts with the AAGM media to provide dispatches, photos and videos.
Billionaire Elon Musk, to whom Donald Trump entrusted a non-governmental mission to cut public spending, called for the complete closure of "Voice of America" and "Radio Free Europe", describing them as useless, under-popular and expensive.
In December, Trump chose Lake to head the "Voice of America", but she has not yet been confirmed in the post.
US President Donald Trump said he still maintains good relations with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, with whom he held several summits during his first term. He also called North Korea a "nuclear power" again, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
Asked by reporters during a meeting in the Oval Office with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte if he had any plans to restore relations with Kim, Trump replied: "I would ... I have a great relationship with Kim Jong-un and we'll see what happens, but he is certainly a nuclear power".
On January 20, when he was taking office for his second term, Trump declared North Korea a "nuclear power", which raised questions about whether, if relations with Pyongyang were restored, he would not negotiate arms reductions instead of denuclearization - efforts that failed during his first term.
"It would be a great achievement if we could reduce the number of them", Trump said regarding the Russian and Chinese nuclear arsenals. "We have so many weapons and they are so powerful".
"And first of all, you don't need them to that extent. And then we're going to have to include others because, as you know, to a lesser extent - Kim Jong-un has a lot of nuclear weapons, by the way, a lot, and others have them too. You have India, you have Pakistan, you have others that have them, and we're including them", Trump added.
However, a White House official told Reuters that "President Trump will seek the complete denuclearization of North Korea, as he did in his first term."
On February 15, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Japanese and South Korean counterparts reaffirmed their "strong commitment to complete denuclearization" of North Korea in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions.
Last week, Kim Jong-un's influential sister, Kim Yo-jong, criticized the Trump administration for stepping up "provocations" and said that this justifies the increase in the forces to deter North Korea's nuclear program.
This week, North Korea launched several ballistic missiles - the first since Trump took office.
The US government has not renewed the exemption that allows Russian banks to continue using American payment systems for transactions related to already concluded contracts in the Russian oil industry, Agence France-Presse reported, quoted by BTA, citing a statement from the US Department of Economy.
This means that Russian banks will not have access to the American payment system for large energy-related transactions, Ukrinform notes.
"The US Treasury Department confirms that the 8L general license expired at 00:01 on March 12," a ministry spokesman said.
Earlier yesterday, Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said his department was prepared to strengthen sanctions against Russia.
"This is part of President Trump's desire to create the necessary conditions for successful negotiations. He is ready to exert maximum pressure on both sides," the minister stressed.
This license allowed Russian banks, even those subject to sanctions, to continue using the US payment system for certain categories of energy-related transactions. It was granted by the administration of former President Joe Biden in the final days of his presidency.
The Russian Central Bank and RosBank are among the institutions that benefited from the exception under this regime, AFP reports.