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Donald Trump appears to be back on Twitter after an online poll voted for his return.

The platform’s new owner Elon Musk had announced on Saturday evening that following the vote, the former president would be reinstated, almost two years after he was removed following the 6 January US Capitol riots.

On hearing the news, the former US president had originally said he had no interest in re-joining but later on Saturday a blue-tick verified account calling itself “@RealDonald Trump, 45th President of the United States of America” appeared and the words “He’s Back” was trending in the US.

The Twitter poll, accompanied by the words “Vox Populi, Vox Dei” – a Latin phrase meaning “the voice of the people is the voice of God” – had asked users to vote on whether Mr Trump should be allowed to return, and the result was that he should.

More than 15 million votes were cast, but the former president had told a rally on Saturday evening: “I don’t see any reason for it (returning).”

He said he would stick with his new social media platform, Truth Social.

Mr Trump was permanently suspended from Twitter in January 2021 after the attack by his supporters on the US Capitol that left several people dead.

Twitter said the decision, after the riot, was “due to the risk of further incitement of violence”.

FILE PHOTO: Elon Musk photo and Twitter logo are seen through magnifier in this illustration taken November 4, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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Elon Musk has overseen huge changes to Twitter in just the first few weeks as owner

However, Mr Musk earlier this year called the ban a “mistake” and “morally wrong”.

The reinstatement poll was close – the yes vote was 51.8%, the no, 48.2%.

Many on the right of the political spectrum have long argued Twitter and other social media sites are biased against their views and quick to “deplatform” them.

After his exit, Mr Trump established Truth Social – his own social media platform, which was an almost carbon copy of Twitter.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Twitter employees were estimated to have decided to leave the company after an announcement from Musk that staffers agree to longer, more intense working patterns or quit.

A view of the Twitter logo at its corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California, U.S. November 18, 2022. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
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Twitter’s corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California

The exodus adds to the rapid change and chaos that have marked Mr Musk’s first three weeks as Twitter’s owner, during which the company’s headcount had already been more than halved by redundancies and other departures to around 3,700.

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With so much of Twitter’s workforce now gone, there is speculation the site will crash during the football World Cup – one of the site’s busiest traffic events.

Many high-profile, blue-tick celebrities have tweeted farewells on the platform “in case”.

To add to Mr Musk’s business woes, Tesla is recalling more than 300,000 vehicles in the US because a software glitch can make rear lights go off intermittently, increasing the risk of a collision.

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Two killed after suspect shot at firefighters in Idaho, authorities say

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Two killed after suspect shot at firefighters in Idaho, authorities say

Two people have been killed after a suspect shot at firefighters responding to a fire in the US state of Idaho, authorities have said.

Police were still “taking sniper fire” near the city of Coeur d’Alene on Sunday afternoon, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office said.

Crews were responding to a fire at Canfield Mountain around 1.30pm and gunshots were reported around half an hour later, the force said.

Officers gather near the scene. Pic: Reuters
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Pic: Reuters

Sheriff Bob Norris said officials believe the two killed were firefighters, and he did not know if anyone else was shot.

“We don’t know how many suspects are up there, and we don’t know how many casualties there are,” he said. “We are actively taking fire sniper as we speak.”

Mr Norris said the sniper appeared to be hiding in the rugged terrain and using a high-powered rifle, adding he had instructed his deputies to fire back.

“I’m hoping that somebody has a clear shot and is able to neutralise, because they’re not at this point in time showing any evidence of wanting to surrender,” the sheriff said.

Armoured police vehicles at the scene. Pic: Reuters
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Pic: Reuters

Governor Brad Little said “multiple” firefighters were attacked.

“This is a heinous direct assault on our brave firefighters,” he said on X. “I ask all Idahoans to pray for them and their families as we wait to learn more.”

The president of the International Association of Firefighters said a third firefighter was in surgery.

In a statement on social media Edward Kelly said the firefighters “were ambushed in a heinous act of violence”. He added: “Two of our brothers were killed by a sniper, and a third brother remains in surgery.”

The sheriff’s office in neighbouring Shoshone County said authorities were “dealing with an active shooter situation where the shooter is still at large”.

Smoke billows into the air after several firefighters were attacked while responding to a fire. Pic: Reuters
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Smoke billows into the air after several firefighters were attacked while responding to a fire. Pic: Reuters

The fire was still raging, Mr Norris said.

“It’s going to keep burning,” he added. “Can’t put any resources on it right now.”

The FBI was sending technical teams and tactical support to the scene, its deputy director Dan Bongino said.

“It remains an active, and very dangerous scene,” he said on X.

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Canfield Mountain is a popular hiking and biking spot on the outskirts of Coeur d’Alene, a city of around 55,000 people in northern Idaho.

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Donald Trump says ‘very wealthy group’ has agreed to buy TikTok in the US

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Donald Trump says 'very wealthy group' has agreed to buy TikTok in the US

Donald Trump has said the US government has found a buyer for TikTok that he will reveal “in about two weeks”.

The president told Fox News “it’s a group of very wealthy people”, adding: “I think I’ll probably need China approval, I think President Xi will probably do it.”

TikTok was ordered last year to find a new owner for its US operation – or face a ban – after politicians said they feared sensitive data about Americans could be passed to the Chinese government.

The video app’s owner, Bytedance, has repeatedly denied such claims.

It originally had a deadline of 19 January to find a buyer – and many users were shocked when it “went dark” for a number of hours when that date came round, before later being restored.

However, President Trump has now extended the deadline several times.

The last extension was on 19 June, when the president signed another executive order pushing it back to 17 September.

More on Tiktok

Mr Trump’s latest comments suggest multiple people coming together to take control of the app in the US.

Among those rumoured to be potential buyers include YouTube superstar Mr Beast, US search engine startup Perplexity AI, and Kevin O’Leary – an investor from Shark Tank (the US version of Dragons’ Den).

Bytedance said in April that it was still talking to the US government, but there were “differences on many key issues”.

It’s believed the Chinese government will have to approve any agreement.

The president said the identity of the buyer would be disclosed in about two weeks. Pic: Fox News
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The president said the identity of the buyer would be disclosed in about two weeks. Pic: Fox News

President Trump’s interview with Fox News also touched on the upcoming end of the pause in US tariffs on imported goods.

On April 9, he granted a 90-day reprieve for countries threatened with a tariff of more than 10% in order to give them time to negotiate.

Deals have already been struck with some countries, including the UK.

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The president said he didn’t think he would need to push back the 9 July deadline and that letters would be sent out imminently stating what tariff each country would face.

“We’ll look at the deficit we have – or whatever it is with the country; we’ll look at how the country treats us – are they good, are they not so good. Some countries, we don’t care – we’ll just send a high number out,” he said.

“But we’re going to be sending letters out starting pretty soon. We don’t have to meet, we have all the numbers.”

The president announced the tariffs in April, arguing they were correcting an unfair trade relationship and would return lost prosperity to US industries such as car-making.

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Iran could begin enriching uranium again in months, says UN nuclear watchdog chief

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Iran could begin enriching uranium again in months, says UN nuclear watchdog chief

Iran will have the capacity to begin enriching uranium again in “a matter of months”, the UN’s nuclear watchdog boss has said.

Rafael Grossi, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said that US strikes on three sites a week ago had caused “severe damage” but it was not “total”.

Middle East: live updates

Mr Grossi told CBS News: “The capacities they have are there. They can have, you know, in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium, or less than that.

“But as I said, frankly speaking, one cannot claim that everything has disappeared and there is nothing there.”

Iran still has “industrial and technological capabilities… so if they so wish, they will be able to start doing this again”, he added.

A satellite overview shows excavators at tunnel entrances at the Fordow site in Iran. Pic: Maxar/Reuters
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A satellite overview shows excavators at tunnel entrances at the Fordow site in Iran. Pic: Maxar Technologies/Reuters

Iranian nuclear and military sites were attacked by Israel on 13 June, with the Israelis claiming Tehran was close to developing a nuclear weapon.

The US then carried out its own strikes on 22 June, hitting Iranian nuclear installations at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, under Operation Midnight Hammer.

Iran has insisted its nuclear research is for civilian energy production purposes.

US President Donald Trump said last weekend that the US deployment of 30,000lb “bunker-busting” bombs had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programme.

But that claim appeared to be contradicted by an initial assessment from the US Defence Intelligence Agency.

A source said Iran’s enriched uranium stocks had not been eliminated, and the country’s nuclear programme, much of which is buried deep underground, may have been put back only a month or two.

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Did the US destroy Iran’s nuclear sites?

Mr Trump has rejected any suggestion that the damage to the sites was not as profound as he has said.

And he stated he would consider bombing Iran again if Tehran was enriching uranium to worrying levels.

At a news conference on Thursday alongside US defence secretary Pete Hegseth, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff General Dan Caine, told reporters the GBU-57 bunker buster bombs had been designed in some secrecy with exactly this sort of target in mind.

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US: Iran nuclear sites ‘obliterated’

The head of the CIA has also said a “body of credible intelligence” indicates Iran’s nuclear programme was “severely damaged”.

Director John Ratcliffe revealed that information from a “historically reliable and accurate source” suggests several key sites were destroyed – and will take years to rebuild.

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Meanwhile, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said his country “slapped America in the face” by launching an attack on 23 June against a major US base in Qatar, adding the nation would never surrender.

The 12-day air conflict between Israel and Iran ended with a US-brokered ceasefire.

But the Iranian armed forces chief of staff, General Abdolrahim Mousavi, has said his country doubts Israel will maintain the truce.

A spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry said the US strikes had caused significant damage to Tehran’s nuclear facilities.

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