WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has revealed plans to build a massive new ballroom at the White House, marking one of the biggest changes to the presidential residence in more than a century.

Construction crews have already started tearing down part of the East Wing to make way for the grand project, which the US president says will be “big, beautiful, and built to last for generations.”

A mechanical excavator had ripped through the façade of the East Wing, leaving a tangle of broken masonry, rubble and steel wires, AFP journalists at the scene saw.

Republican Trump said, as he hosted college baseball players at the White House on Monday, that “right on the other side you have a lot of construction that you might hear occasionally.”

The 79-year-old billionaire later officially announced that work had started on the ballroom, the biggest addition to the US presidential mansion in more than a century.

“I am pleased to announce that ground has been broken on the White House grounds to build the new, big, beautiful White House Ballroom,” Trump said on his Truth Social network.

Trump said the East Wing was being “fully modernised as part of this process, and will be more beautiful than ever when it is complete!”

The East Wing is where US first ladies have traditionally had their offices. The president works in the West Wing, and the couple live in the Executive Mansion.

‘Generous Patriots’

But while Trump said that the East Wing is “completely separate from the White House itself,” it is, in fact, physically joined to the main mansion by a covered colonnade.

Trump says the new 90,000-square-foot ballroom with a capacity of 1,000 people is needed to host large state dinners and other events that currently have to be held in a tent.

The former reality TV star held a glitzy dinner at the White House last week for donors to the ballroom.

The guests included representatives from tech firms like Amazon, Apple, Meta, Google, Microsoft and Palantir, and defence giant Lockheed Martin — all companies with significant contracts or other dealings with the government.

They also included twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the founders of crypto platform Gemini, who were made famous as jilted investors in the film The Social Network about the birth of Facebook.

“The White House Ballroom is being privately funded by many generous Patriots, Great American Companies, and, yours truly. This Ballroom will be happily used for generations to come!” he said on Monday.

It is the largest part of the huge makeover Trump has given the White House since returning to power in January, including covering the Oval Office with gold décor and paving over the Rose Garden.

Trump has also unveiled plans for a huge triumphal arch in Washington, which was dubbed the “Arc de Trump” after AFP first revealed the proposal.

ABU DHABI: At least Nine Arab nationals have been referred to the court in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over allegations of kidnapping and blackmail stemming from a financial dispute.

Authorities said the suspects detained a victim for a week, assaulted him, and recorded footage showing him bound and in a compromising state. The video was later circulated on social media in an attempt to extort money from his family.

The UAE Federal Public Prosecution said the suspects were swiftly arrested. Investigators also seized mobile phones and vehicles used in the crime, uncovering evidence that pointed to the gang’s coordinated criminal operations.

Officials said the gang operated in a highly coordinated manner and posed a direct threat to public safety and law and order. The accused face severe penalties, including life imprisonment or the death sentence.

UAE Attorney General Dr Hamad Saif Al Shamsi stressed that national security and stability remained the highest priority. 

He confirmed that the Public Prosecution would continue to take strict and impartial action against anyone committing crimes that threaten public peace or the nation’s security.

• Tehran confirms scrapping nuclear monitoring deal with IAEA.
• Development follows reimposition of UN sanctions last month.
• Iran may review fresh IAEA proposals despite deal’s cancellation.

DUBAI: Iran has called off its nuclear cooperation deal with the UN’s atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it signed in September, the country’s state media reported, citing its Supreme National Security Council Secretary on Monday.

The decision comes after Western powers reimposed UN sanctions on Tehran. The move is seen as another blow to efforts aimed at rebuilding trust and monitoring Iran’s nuclear activities.

The statement came around three weeks after Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, said Tehran would scrap the agreement, which allowed the IAEA to resume inspections of its nuclear sites, if Western powers reinstated UN sanctions.

Those were reinstated last month.

The confirmation will be a setback for the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has been trying to rebuild cooperation with Tehran since Israel and the United States bombed the nuclear sites in June.

“The agreement has been cancelled,” Ali Larijani said while meeting his Iraqi counterpart in Tehran, according to state media.

“Of course, if the agency has a proposal, we will review it in the secretariat,” he added.