Zelenskiy meets U.S. Vice President Vance, says source in Ukrainian delegation
KYIV, May 18 (Reuters) - Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of Pope Leo's inauguration on Sunday, a source in the Ukrainian delegation told Reuters.
It was the first meeting between Zelenskiy and Vance since they clashed during talks at the White House in February over the future of the war in Ukraine.
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Sky News
26 minutes ago
- Sky News
Trump warns of 'consequences' if Musk funds rivals - as post claiming president appears in Epstein files removed
Donald Trump has warned of "serious consequences" if Elon Musk funds his political rivals, as a social media post claiming the US president appears in files relating to the disgraced paedophile Jeffrey Epstein has been removed. Speaking on Saturday to Sky News' US partner NBC News, Mr Trump warned of repercussions if Musk funded Democrats who opposed his sweeping budget bill. "If he does, he'll have to pay the consequences for that," Trump said in a phone interview. "He'll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that," he added, not specifying what those consequences would be. 'The truth will come out' It came after the tech billionaire made the allegation on X as he traded blows with the US president in a dramatic public row. In the post, which now appears to have been deleted, Musk said: "@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. "Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out." He gave no evidence for the claim, which was dismissed by the White House - with the post disappearing from his social media platform by Sunday. Users clicking on the message - first posted on Thursday - were instead greeted with: " page doesn't exist. Try searching for something else." Epstein killed himself in his jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking minors. JD Vance has his say Amid the fallout, vice president JD Vance said Musk was making a "huge mistake" going after Mr Trump but characterised him as an "emotional guy" who got frustrated. He made the comments in an interview with comedian and podcaster Theo Von - one of the "manosphere" influencers the Trump team targeted to gain votes with young men during the election. "I hope that eventually Elon comes back into the fold. Maybe that's not possible now because he's gone so nuclear," Mr Vance said. He also claimed that such outbursts "happen to everyone", adding: "I've flown off the handle way worse than Elon Musk did in the last 24 hours." 'Big ugly spending bill' Musk and Mr Trump's relationship broke down publicly on Thursday, just days after the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive left his role as a special government employee. In a fiery exchange, Musk posted a series of messages on X criticising the president's signature tax and spending bill as a "big ugly spending bill". President Trump posted on Truth Social, saying Musk had been "wearing thin" and claimed he "asked him to leave" his government position - something Musk denied. Musk then hit back with his claim about the US president appearing in the Epstein files. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the comment in a statement. "This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted," she said. "The president is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again." The spat hit Tesla shares, which closed down 14.3% on Thursday, losing about $150bn (£111bn) in value. In an interview with ABC News, Mr Trump was asked about reports a phone call was scheduled between him and Musk on Friday.
Telegraph
28 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Has Nigel finally shown he can actually be a team player?
Court intrigue always makes good copy, and for that reason we journalists should be sure to add to any speculation about Zia Yusuf's dramatic yo-yoing in and out of Reform UK this week an important qualifier: his proffered explanation, that it was a misjudgement due to 'exhaustion', is perfectly plausible. Politics can be a gruelling business at the best of times, especially when trying to bootstrap a new party into a national force – not to mention a culture shock for people more used to the world of business. Yet if speculation was rife about Yusuf's spectacular (if short-lived) departure, it was in large part because Nigel Farage has in his long career in politics proven time and again that for all his strengths as a campaigner, he has a critical weakness: an apparently chronic inability to work with others and build institutions that last. No potential leadership rival lasts long. In 2015, he recommended Suzanne Evans as his replacement as leader of Ukip – only for the party to end up 'rejecting his resignation', leaving his rival's wings well and truly clipped. A year later, Diane James had the privilege of being Farage's successor for less than three weeks before he was back once again as interim leader (although he did then step back for good). Most recently, we have seen Reform UK struggle to coordinate even a small number of MPs, most obviously with the expulsion of Rupert Lowe (single-handedly responsible for almost half the recorded parliamentary work of Reform's entire caucus). But before that, Farage almost wrecked his party's alliance with the Northern Irish TUV by endorsing his old friend, the DUP's Ian Paisley Jr, against TUV leader Jim Allister – despite Allister having the Reform logo all over his leaflets. Awkwardly, Allister went on to win North Antrim. Things were eventually smoothed over, but the deal had to be renegotiated, and the cost of that may have been huge: had the Commons authorities accepted Allister as counting as a Reform candidate at the election, the party would have had six MPs – the magic number needed to unlock hundreds of thousands of pounds more in public funding each and every year. The history of the Faragist parties tells the same story. If Yusuf has his work cut out building a national campaigning force from scratch, part of the reason is that Farage allowed decades of effort to fall by the wayside when he abandoned Ukip. At the 2015 election, Ukip came second in a hundred seats; it had also started to make a breakthrough in local councils, albeit with many of the same teething problems now facing Reform. It even won seven seats in the Welsh Assembly in 2016. Farage's ability to snap his fingers and call a new party out of the earth, as he did with the Brexit Party, is undoubtedly impressive. But it reset the clock on all that organisational effort. In Europe, Right-wing parties successfully challenging the status quo tend to have a decade of work behind them: Spain's Vox and Germany's AfD were both founded in 2013; Giorgia Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia in 2012. Patching things up with Yusuf removes one big question mark about the long-term viability of Reform UK. But only one. Back-room organisation is necessary but not sufficient for sustained success, and Farage has yet to prove he can work with other politicians, especially ones of the calibre to succeed him one day. Until he does, Reform will remain a one-man band – and it's hard to build the party of the future around a man in his sixties who has already, more than once, tried to leave politics behind.
The Independent
36 minutes ago
- The Independent
Zia Yusuf returns to Reform UK just 48 hours after quitting as chairman
Zia Yusuf is returning to Reform UK just 48 hours after quitting as party chairman, claiming his resignation was a 'mistake'. The 38-year-old businessman said his decision to stand down had been the result of 'exhaustion' and working for 11 months 'without a day off'. Party leader Nigel Farage, speaking to the Sunday Times newspaper alongside Mr Yusuf, said the former chairman will now effectively be doing 'four jobs', though his title has not yet been decided. He will lead Reform's plans to cut public spending – the so-called 'UK Doge', based on the US Department of Government Efficiency which was led by tech billionaire Elon Musk. The ex-chairman will also take part in policymaking, fundraising and media appearances. Mr Yusuf said he was quitting Reform following the latest in a series of internal rows, in which he described a question to the Prime Minister concerning a ban on burkas from his party's newest MP as 'dumb'. Announcing his resignation on Thursday afternoon, he said: 'I no longer believe working to get a Reform government elected is a good use of my time, and hereby resign the office.' Mr Yusuf said he had been left feeling undervalued by some in the party and drained after being subjected to relentless racist abuse on X, and made the comments in 'error'. 'I spoke to Nigel and said I don't mind saying I made an error. It was a function of exhaustion,' he said. Asked about the row over talk of banning the burka, Mr Yusuf said he 'certainly did not resign because I have any strong views about the burqa itself' but felt blindsided by Sarah Pochin's question to Sir Keir Starmer. He said that 'if there were a vote and I was in parliament, I would probably vote to ban it actually' but that 'philosophically I am always a bit uneasy about banning things which, for example, would be unconstitutional in the United States, which such a ban no doubt would be'. Reform will hope the show of unity between Mr Farage and the former chairman is enough to quell concerns about internal personality clashes, amid recent scrutiny of the leader's fallings out with former allies. It follows the suspension of MP Rupert Lowe from the party following complaints about his conduct, which he denied, and suggested the leader had a tendency to row with colleagues he felt threatened by. Labour branded Mr Yusuf's return a 'humiliating hokey-cokey' and said working people could not afford 'the risk of economic chaos with Reform UK'. Party chairwoman Ellie Reeves said: 'Reform's revolving door shows that the party is all about one person – Nigel Farage. 'Zia Yusuf's humiliating hokey-cokey is laughable but there is nothing funny about Farage's £80 billion in unfunded commitments. 'His reckless plan is Liz Truss's disastrous mini-budget on steroids and would spark economic chaos that increases bills and mortgages. 'Working people simply can't afford the risk of economic chaos with Reform UK.'
