Tag: Donald Trump

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Canada to recognise Palestinian state at UN General Assembly

Canada plans to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday, a major policy shift that drew an angry response from US President Donald Trump and was rejected by Israel.

Carney said the move was necessary to preserve hopes of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a long-standing Canadian goal that was “being eroded before our eyes.”

“Canada intends to recognise the State of Palestine at the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2025,” the prime minister said.

This makes Canada — a G7 nation — the third country, following recent announcements by France and the United Kingdom, to signal plans to recognise a Palestinian state in September.

Carney said the worsening suffering of civilians in Gaza left “no room for delay in coordinated international action to support peace.”

Israel blasted Canada’s announcement as part of a “distorted campaign of international pressure,” while Trump warned that trade negotiations with Ottawa may not proceed smoothly.

“Wow! Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for Palestine,” the US president wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them.”

Asked by reporters if there was a scenario where Canada could change its position before the UN meeting, Carney said: “There’s a scenario (but) possibly one that I can’t imagine.”

Canada’s intention “is predicated on the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to much-needed reforms,” Carney said, referring to the body led by President Mahmoud Abbas, which has civil authority in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Carney said his plans were further predicated on Abbas’s pledge to “hold general elections in 2026 in which Hamas can play no part, and to demilitarise the Palestinian state.”

With Wednesday’s announcement, Carney positioned Canada alongside France, after President Emmanuel Macron said his country would formally recognise a Palestinian state during the UN meeting, the most powerful European nation to announce such a move.

The Israeli embassy in Ottawa said, “Recognising a Palestinian state in the absence of accountable government, functioning institutions, or benevolent leadership, rewards and legitimises the monstrous barbarity of Hamas on October 7, 2023.”

The PA’s Abbas welcomed the announcement as a “historic” decision, while France said the countries would work together “to revive the prospect of peace in the region.”

Canada’s plan goes a step further than this week’s announcement by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Starmer said the UK will formally recognise the State of Palestine in September unless Israel takes various “substantive steps,” including agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza.

Carney stressed that Canada has been an unwavering member of the group of nations that hoped a two-state solution “would be achieved as part of a peace process built around a negotiated settlement between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority.”

“Regrettably, this approach is no longer tenable,” he said, citing “Hamas terrorism” and the group’s “longstanding violent rejection of Israel’s right to exist.”

The peace process has also been eroded by the expansion of Israeli settlements across the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, Carney said.

The prime minister said a two-state solution was growing increasingly remote, with a vote in Israel’s parliament “calling for the annexation of the West Bank,” as well as Israel’s “ongoing failure” to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

He framed his decision as one aimed at safeguarding Israel’s future.

“Any path to lasting peace for Israel also requires a viable and stable Palestinian state, and one that recognises Israel’s inalienable right to security and peace,” Carney said. (Punch)

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US FCC clears $8bn Skydance-Paramount merger

An $8bn (£5.9bn) merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media has been approved by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The merger between the independent film studio and one of Hollywood’s oldest and most storied companies was first announced in 2024.

The approval came just weeks after Paramount Global agreed to pay $16m (£13.5m) to settle a legal dispute with US President Donald Trump over an interview it broadcast on subsidiary CBS with former Vice-President Kamala Harris.

The settlement did not include a statement of apology or regret.

FCC head Brendan Carr, who was appointed by the president, announced the merger’s approval on Thursday, saying he welcomed Skydance’s ideas to make “significant changes” at CBS.

The approval means the merger could be finalised soon but Paramount did not provide an expected completion date when asked by the BBC. Skydance did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The FCC agreed to transfer broadcast licences for 28 owned-and-operated CBS television stations to the new owner.

“Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly,” Mr Carr said. “It is time for a change.”

Mr Carr said Skydance had made promises to the agency, including a “commitment to unbiased journalism” where the merged company would install a ombudsman to evaluate complaints of bias.

Skydance also promised to end diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, something the Trump administration has targeted.

The FCC voted 2-1 to approve the deal, with one commissioner, Anna Gomez, a Democrat, dissenting.

“After months of cowardly capitulation to this administration, Paramount finally got what it wanted. Unfortunately, it is the American public who will ultimately pay the price for its actions,” she wrote.

Paramount Global traces its origins back more than a century to the founding of Paramount Pictures Corporation in 1914. The studio has made many hit films, including the Godfather, Star Trek, and Mission: Impossible series.

Paramount owns streaming service Paramount+, as well as Paramount Pictures, CBS, Nickelodeon, BET, MTV, Comedy Central and other media brands.

But the entertainment giant has struggled over the past decade.

Skydance is owned by David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, who founded US technology giant Oracle.

The FCC’s approval was necessary for the deal to move forward.

The deal, which includes CBS, Paramount Pictures and Comedy Central, was approved after a series of moves by Paramount, including settling a lawsuit from Trump.

According to both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, the settlement over the 60 Minutes interview was agreed – with the help of mediator – so as to not affect the planned merger, which the FCC was reviewing and therefore Trump technically had the power to halt.

Trump had alleged the network had deceptively edited an interview that aired on its 60 Minutes news programme with his presidential election rival Kamala Harris, to “tip the scales in favour of the Democratic party”.

Paramount said it would pay to settle the suit, but with the money allocated to Trump’s future presidential library, not paid to him “directly or indirectly”.

It also comes just days after CBS, owned by Paramount, announced it would end The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, who has been critical of Trump.

The network said the move “is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night [television]” and “is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters”. (BBC)

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Ellen DeGeneres says she moved to Britain because of Trump

US TV star Ellen DeGeneres has made her first public appearance since moving to the UK, saying she decided to settle in England the day after Donald Trump was re-elected US president.

The comedian and host told a crowd in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, that life “is just better” in the UK.

Ellen said she and wife Portia de Rossi were considering getting married again in England after some moves in the US to reverse the right to gay marriage, and that America can still be “scary for people to be who they are”.

She also addressed allegations of a toxic workplace that led to the end of her long-running chat show in 2022, admitting she could be “very blunt”, but dismissed the stories as “clickbait”.

Ellen was one of the biggest names on US TV for 30 years, thanks to her daytime chat show, as well as for her self-titled 1990s sitcom, for hosting the Oscars, Grammys and Emmys, and for voicing Dory in Finding Nemo.

After her talk show was cancelled, she went on a “final stand-up tour” in the US in 2024 then bought a house in the Cotswolds, a historic and picturesque area mainly spanning parts of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire.

On Sunday at the Everyman theatre in nearby Cheltenham, she was in conversation with broadcaster Richard Bacon, who asked whether reports that she moved because of Donald Trump were correct. “Yes,” she replied.

The 67-year-old said she and De Rossi had initially planned to spend three or four months a year in the UK and bought what they thought would be “a part-time house”.

“We got here the day before the election and woke up to lots of texts from our friends with crying emojis, and I was like, ‘He got in’,” she said. “And we’re like, ‘We’re staying here’.”

Ellen has been giving glimpses of her new rural life on social media, in videos showing her farm animals including sheep – although they have now been sold after they kept escaping.

“It’s absolutely beautiful,” she said. “We’re just not used to seeing this kind of beauty. The villages and the towns and the architecture – everything you see is charming and it’s just a simpler way of life.

“It’s clean. Everything here is just better – the way animals are treated, people are polite. I just love it here.

“We moved here in November, which was not the ideal time, but I saw snow for the first time in my life. We love it here. Portia flew her horses here, and I have chickens, and we had sheep for about two weeks.”

On her last tour, she joked that she had been “kicked out of show business twice” – the first time being when she came out as gay in 1997.

That effectively led to the end of her sitcom after advertisers pulled out and the network stopped promoting it, she told the Cheltenham crowd on Sunday.

Bacon asked whether her visibility had encouraged other people to come out. “I would say no,” she replied. “I imagined a lot of people coming out like meerkats poking out of a hole and going back in again. ‘How’s she doing? OK, no, no.'”

But it is “a really hard decision” that doesn’t suit everyone, she continued, and said things are better today “in some ways” but not others.

“If it was [better], all these other people that are actors and actresses that I know they’re gay, they’d be out, but they’re not, because it’s still a problem. People are still scared.”

Ellen also referenced a recent move by the Southern Baptist Convention to endorse the reversal of a Supreme Court case allowing same-sex marriage. At least nine state legislatures have introduced bills to do the same.

“The Baptist Church in America is trying to reverse gay marriage,” she said. “They’re trying to literally stop it from happening in the future and possibly reverse it. Portia and I are already looking into it, and if they do that, we’re going to get married here.”

Later, in response to an audience question, she added: “I wish we were at a place where it was not scary for people to be who they are. I wish that we lived in a society where everybody could accept other people and their differences.

“So until we’re there, I think there’s a hard place to say we have huge progress.”

However, the younger generation are “more comfortable with it” and are “just kind of fluid”, she added. “So I think the younger generation is going to show us the way.”

After some former workers on her talk show made allegations of a toxic workplace culture, the star – who ended every episode by telling viewers to “be kind to one another” – was dubbed as “mean” in the media.

Following the scandal three producers were sacked amid allegations of misconduct and sexual harassment, and the final season of the show opened with Ellen giving an on-air apology.

She addressed that in her 2024 tour and the accompanying Netflix stand-up special.

“No matter what, any article that came up, it was like, ‘She’s mean’, and it’s like, how do I deal with this without sounding like a victim or ‘poor me’ or complaining? But I wanted to address it.

“It’s as simple as, I’m a direct person, and I’m very blunt, and I guess sometimes that means that… I’m mean?” (BBC)

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Donald Trump files suit against Rupert Murdoch, Dow Jones over Wall Street Journal’s Jeffrey Epstein story

Donald Trump has followed through on his threat to sue Rupert Murdoch and his media companies over the Wall Street Journal‘s report on a bawdy letter in his name that was included in an album given to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003.

A defamation lawsuit (read it here) was filed in a Florida federal court Friday seeing damages “not less than $10 billion” and a jury trial. It names Murdoch, Journal publisher Dow Jones, parent company News Corp and its CEO Robert Thomson and the reporters on the story, Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo.

Trump confirmed the filing in a Truth Social post, writing in part, “This lawsuit is filed not only on behalf of your favorite President, ME, but also in order to continue standing up for ALL Americans who will no longer tolerate the abusive wrongdoings of the Fake News Media.”

He added, “I hope Rupert and his ‘friends’ are looking forward to the many hours of depositions and testimonies they will have to provide in this case.”

The WSJ story published on Thursday included Trump’s denials that he ever wrote the letter, as well as his legal threat.

A spokesperson for the Journal said, “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”

The WSJ report centered on a birthday album that was given to Epstein in 2003, featured collected letters from some of his friends. Among the letters was one bearing Trump’s name that “contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker,” the Journal reported, adding that a “pair of small arcs denotes the woman’s breasts, and the future president’s signature is a squiggly ‘Donald’ below her waist, mimicking pubic hair.”

The letter text included an imaginary conversation between Trump and Epstein, according to the Journal, that concluded with the line, “A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”

In the president’s lawsuit, he claimed that the reporters “falsely pass off as fact that President Trump, in 2003, wrote, drew, and signed this letter. And on the other hand, Defendants Safdar and Palazzolo failed to attach the letter, failed to attach the alleged drawing, failed to show proof that President Trump authored or signed any such letter, and failed to explain how this purported letter was obtained. The reason for those failures is because no authentic letter or drawing exists. Defendants concocted this story to malign President Trump’s character and integrity and deceptively portray him in a false light.”

The Journal reported that it was Ghislaine Maxwell who collected the letters from Trump and dozens of Epstein’s other associates. The story described the letter as one “bearing Trump’s name.”

Trump’s lawsuit stated that the letter “does not explain whether Defendants have obtained a copy of the letter, have seen it, have had it described to them, or any other circumstances that would otherwise lend credibility to the Article.”

The lawsuit claimed that Murdoch and Thomson “authorized the publication of the Article after President Trump put them both on notice that the letter was fake and nonexistent.” In a Truth Social post on Thursday, Trump wrote that he “told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn’t print this Fake Story.”

To prevail in a defamation case, Trump would have to show not only that the article’s statements were false, but that they were done with malice or reckless disregard for the truth. He claimed in the lawsuit that the defendants acted with “actual malice, oppression and fraud in that they were aware at the time of the falsity of the publication and thus, made said publications in bad faith, out of disdain and ill-will directed towards Plaintiff without any regard for the truth.”

Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier on Friday, “I look forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his ‘pile of garbage’ newspaper, the WSJ. That will be an interesting experience!!!” (Deadline)

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Colbert says The Late Show will end after 33 years

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will end in May 2026 after 33 years on air, the CBS television network announced in a surprise statement on Thursday.

The move “is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night [television]” and “is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters”, CBS said.

Colbert broke the news at a taping of the show, earlier on Thursday evening, triggering a chorus of boos from the live studio audience.

“I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners,” he said, adding: “And of course, I’m grateful to you, the audience, who have joined us every night in here, out there, all around the world.”

The move brings a close to the more than three-decade old programme, leaving the network without a late-night comedy talk show for the first time since 1993.

Colbert, who took over the CBS programme from David Letterman in 2015, has become one of US President Donald Trump’s staunchest critics on late-night TV.

The presenter was informed of the decision to cancel his show on Wednesday night, he told the audience during his Thursday monologue.

“Yeah, I share your feeling,” he said as the crowd in the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York shouted “no” and booed.

“It’s not just the end of our show, but it’s the end of The Late Show on CBS. I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away,” he continued. “It is a fantastic job. I wish somebody else was getting it.”

The announcement comes two weeks after CBS parent company Paramount settled a lawsuit with Trump stemming from a CBS interview with his 2024 election rival Kamala Harris.

The Late Show was created by CBS, the BBC’s US news partner, in 1993 as a competitor to NBC’s own talk show. It came after a dispute between hosts David Letterman and Jay Leno over who should succeed Johnny Carson on the wildly-popular Tonight Show.

Before taking over the job at The Late Show, Colbert had been the host of “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central – a programme which skewered US conservative politics and culture.

The announcement of the ending of the programme came amid talks between Paramount and Skydance Media to merge the two companies, a move that would require approval from the US federal government.

Democratic Senator Adam Schiff posted on X on Thursday that he had finished taping an interview with Colbert just before the cancellation was announced.

He questioned whether the announcement was tied to the $16m (£12m) settlement the network agreed to pay to Trump, writing: “If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserved to know”.

Another US senator, Elizabeth Warren, echoed those sentiments, posting on X: “America deserves to know if his show was cancelled for political reasons.”

The settlement came after Trump sued CBS last October alleging the network had deceptively edited an interview that aired on its 60 Minutes news programme with his presidential election rival Kamala Harris, to “tip the scales in favour of the Democratic party”.

Paramount said it would pay to settle the suit, but with the money allocated to Trump’s future presidential library, not paid to him “directly or indirectly”. (BBC)

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White House says Trump diagnosed with vein condition after questions about bruises

US President Donald Trump is suffering from a chronic vein condition, the White House announced on Thursday, after days of speculation regarding photographs showing bruising on the president’s hand.

After recently experiencing swelling in his legs, Trump underwent a “comprehensive exam” including a diagnostic vascular study, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Leavitt said Trump’s bruised hand was consistent with “tissue damage from frequent handshaking” while taking aspirin, which she said is “part of a standard cardio-vascular prevention regimen”.

Trump, 79, has regularly touted his good health and once described himself as “the healthiest president that’s ever lived”.

The vein condition discovered in the recent exam is called chronic venous insufficiency, which occurs when leg veins fail to pump blood to the heart, causing it to pool in the lower limbs, which can then become swollen.

Leavitt said that there was “no evidence of deep vein thrombosis or arterial disease” and that all results from the test were “within normal limits”.

According to a note from White House physician Sean Barbabella released to reporters, the condition is “benign and common”, especially in people over age 70.

Additional testing showed “no signs of heart failure, renal impairment, or systemic illness” in Trump, Barbabella said in the note, which confirmed the information from Leavitt’s earlier briefing.

Overall, Trump is in “excellent health”, the doctor wrote.

Photographers captured what appeared to be Trump’s swollen legs during the Fifa Club World Cup final in New Jersey on 13 July, with subsequent photos taken earlier this week showing his bruised hands during a meet with Bahraini Prime Minister Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa at the White House.

A bruised hand on the president had previously been photographed during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in February.

The swollen legs and bruising prompted online speculation and rumours that the president may have been experiencing an illness that hadn’t been made public.

Following an annual physical exam in April, Barbabella wrote that Trump “exhibits cognitive and physical health”.

Trump was 78 years and seven months old when he was sworn in for his second term in January, making him the oldest president to ever be inaugurated as US leader. (BBC)

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US Senate approves $9bn cuts to foreign aid and public broadcasting funds

The US Senate has passed a bill that seeks to cut $9bn (£6.7bn) from funds previously approved for spending by Congress, including cuts to public broadcasting and foreign aid.

The 51-48 vote happened just before dawn on Thursday, following an hours-long overnight “vote-a-rama”, as the Republican-led Senate negotiated amendments.

The bill – a so-called rescissions package that allows Congress to claw back approved funding – is part of a larger effort to reduce federal spending by President Donald Trump.

It now returns to the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Congress that had previously passed a version of the bill with $9.4bn in proposed cuts.

“It’s a small but important step toward fiscal sanity that we all should be able to agree is long overdue,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said before the final vote.

Senators had previously disagreed over a proposition in the House version of the bill that would have included roughly $400m in cuts to Pepfar, the US-backed HIV/Aids programme.

Republicans were able to reach a majority after an amendment was made to keep the funding in the budget.

However, dozens of other amendments to maintain international aid spending levels and funding for public broadcasting were rejected.

The Senate version of the bill approved on Thursday would still cut roughly $8bn from multiple aid programmes, including global health programmes under USAID, the US’s main philanthropic arm.

The bill would also cut more than $1bn from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, disproportionately impacting radio stations relied upon by rural Americans.

Senator Lisa Murkowski, from Alaska, was one of two Republicans who joined all Democrats in voting against the bill, in part due to the cuts to public broadcasting.

The bill will next head to the House for a vote, where its path remains unclear after $400m was reduced from House-proposed spending cuts.

When asked about the changes, House Speaker Mike Johnson said: “We wanted them to pass it unaltered like we did.”

Both the House and Senate must agree on a version of the rescissions package before it expires on Friday, and Republicans lose their chance to cut the funds. (BBC)

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Palmer stars as Chelsea stun PSG to win Club World Cup final

Cole Palmer scored two goals and made another as Chelsea stunned Paris Saint-Germain in the final of the Club World Cup on Sunday, beating the European champions 3-0 at the MetLife Stadium to win the first edition of FIFA’s new competition.

PSG were the favourites for a game attended by Donald Trump after coming to the United States fresh from winning the UEFA Champions League and having destroyed Real Madrid 4-0 in the semi-finals.

But having been three goals ahead midway through the first half in the semis, this time the roles were reversed as PSG found themselves 3-0 down by the break.

Palmer opened the scoring midway through the first half and struck again to make it two on the half-hour mark, before taking advantage of passive defending to set up Joao Pedro for the third on 43 minutes.

A bad day for PSG was summed up when Joao Neves was shown red following a VAR review four minutes from the end for pulling Marc Cucurella by the hair off the ball.

It was a scoreline that few could have predicted as Chelsea capped what has been a long but memorable season — they are the first ever winners of the 32-team Club World Cup having also won the UEFA Conference League and finished fourth in the Premier League.

They will also take away around $125 million in prize money, meaning the prospect of a drastically curtailed summer break before returning for next season will surely feel worth it.

For PSG, meanwhile, the financial rewards are similar but there will be genuine disappointment at falling short of adding this title to their Champions League triumph and French league and cup double.

Nevertheless, conquering Europe was always the main aim this season for Luis Enrique’s team, who now have exactly a month to digest this and take a holiday before returning to action in the UEFA Super Cup against Tottenham Hotspur.

There was a real sense of occasion at the MetLife Stadium, with the backdrop of the Manhattan skyline and with President Trump in attendance along with First Lady Melania Trump in a crowd of 81,118.

There was even the first-ever half-time show at a FIFA tournament, adding a Super Bowl feel to a final played at the home of NFL sides the New York Giants and New York Jets.

As for the football, for the second time in six weeks PSG found themselves involved in a final that quickly turned into a one-sided affair.

The club claimed a historic 5-0 win over Inter Milan in the Champions League final, but here they were ripped apart by Chelsea on another hot afternoon.

Palmer almost put Chelsea ahead inside the opening 10 minutes, before PSG should have scored at the other end only for Desire Doue to try to pass to Achraf Hakimi rather than shoot inside the box, allowing Cucurella to block.

It was Chelsea who struck in the 22nd minute as Malo Gusto got the better of Nuno Mendes down the right before seeing his shot blocked by Lucas Beraldo. The ball came back to Gusto and he teed up Palmer to finish into the bottom-left corner.

Palmer has been the face of Chelsea on billboards in the United States during the tournament and he lived up to his star billing by scoring again on the half-hour. (Punch)

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Donald Trump threatens to revoke Rosie O’Donnell’s US citizenship

Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.

In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”

He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.

O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.

“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.

“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”

O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.

She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.

O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.

This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.

But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.

Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.

“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.

“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.” (SkyNews)

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Nvidia becomes world’s first $4tn company

Nvidia has become the first company in the world to reach a market value of $4tn.

Shares in the chip-maker rose by as much as 2.4% to $164 on Wednesday, as the company continues to benefit from the ongoing surge in demand for the tech that powers artificial intelligence (AI).

The US-based company reached a market value of $1tn for the first time in June 2023, and has continued to climb rapidly since.

Tech analyst Dan Ives, of Wedbush Securities, said in a note that was in a historic moment for Nvidia.

“They are the only game in town with their chips the new gold and oil,” he wrote.

“There is one company in the world that is the foundation for the AI Revolution and that is Nvidia.”

Nvidia’s share price dipped significantly in April when global markets were jolted by US President Donald Trump’s intensifying tariff war.

Though concerns over Trump’s trade policies have not gone away, Nvidia’s share price has grown strongly since spring to hit this new landmark.

Eight years ago, Nvidia’s stock was worth less than 1% of its current price.

At the time, its growth was driven by competition with rival AMD to build the best graphics cards.

More recently, Nvidia has surged due to rising demand for chips powering generative AI models like ChatGPT.

Its meteoric rise has also elevated CEO Jensen Huang’s profile.

Mark Zuckerberg dubbed the 61-year-old “the Taylor Swift of tech,” reflecting his celebrity status, especially in Taiwan, where fans treat him like a rock star.

Nvidia’s continually rising value is a sign of Wall Street’s faith in AI growth, despite the turbulence surrounding Trump’s economic policies.

The company reported a total revenue of $44.1bn in the first quarter, marking a 69% jump from a year ago along with a profit of 81 cents a share. (BBC)