tariff

White House slams court decision blocking Trump tariffs

BY BEIYI SEOW AND DANNY KEMP

  • The White House called the ruling "blatantly wrong," filing an appeal and expressing confidence that the decision would be overturned.
  • The White House on Thursday blasted a federal court's decision to block many of President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs -- a major setback to his trade strategy.
  • The White House called the ruling "blatantly wrong," filing an appeal and expressing confidence that the decision would be overturned.
The White House on Thursday blasted a federal court's decision to block many of President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs -- a major setback to his trade strategy.
Since returning to the presidency in January, Trump has moved to reconfigure US trade ties with the world while using tariffs to force foreign governments to the negotiating table.
But the stop-start rollout of levies, impacting both allies and adversaries, has roiled markets and snarled supply chains.
The three-judge Court of International Trade ruled Wednesday that Trump had overstepped his authority, and barred most of the tariffs announced since he took office.
The court gave the White House 10 days to complete the process of halting affected tariffs.
The White House called the ruling "blatantly wrong," filing an appeal and expressing confidence that the decision would be overturned.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters that the judges "brazenly abused their judicial power to usurp the authority of President Trump."
In a court filing, the Justice Department called for an immediate administrative halt on the decision pending the appeal, saying the administration plans to seek emergency relief from the Supreme Court as soon as Friday.
Leavitt said the Supreme Court "must put an end" to the tariff challenge, though stressing that Trump has other legal means to impose levies.

'Nothing's really changed'

Trump's trade advisor Peter Navarro said on Bloomberg Television: "Nothing's really changed."
Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, told Fox Business that although officials have other options that would "take a couple of months" to implement, they are not planning to pursue these right now.
He insisted that "hiccups" sparked by the decisions of "activist judges" would not affect negotiations with other trading partners, adding that three deals are close to finalization.
Trump's import levies -- aimed at punishing economies that sell more to the United States than they buy -- have roiled global markets.
The president has argued that trade deficits and the threat posed by drug smuggling constituted a "national emergency" that justified the widespread tariffs -- which the court ruled against.

China: 'cancel the wrongful' tariffs

Trump unveiled sweeping import duties on nearly all trading partners in April, at a baseline 10 percent -- plus steeper levies on dozens of economies including China and the EU, which have since been paused.
The US court's ruling also quashes duties that Trump imposed on Canada, Mexico and China separately using emergency powers.
But it leaves intact 25 percent duties on imported autos, steel and aluminum.
Beijing -- which was hit by additional 145 percent tariffs before they were temporarily reduced to make space for negotiations -- reacted to the court ruling by saying Washington should scrap the levies.
"China urges the United States to heed the rational voices from the international community and domestic stakeholders and fully cancel the wrongful unilateral tariff measures," said commerce ministry spokeswoman He Yongqian.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said his government welcomed the court decision, but warned trade ties were still "profoundly and adversely threatened" by sector-specific levies.
Asian markets rallied Thursday but US indexes were mixed and Europe closed slightly down.

'Extraordinary threat'

The federal trade court was ruling in two separate cases -- brought by businesses and a coalition of state governments -- arguing that the president had violated Congress's power of the purse.
The judges said the cases rested on whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA) delegates such powers to the president "in the form of authority to impose unlimited tariffs on goods from nearly every country in the world."
The judges stated that any interpretation of the IEEPA that "delegates unlimited tariff authority is unconstitutional."
Analysts at London-based research group Capital Economics said the case may end up with the Supreme Court, but would likely not mark the end of the tariff war.
burs-bys/sst

Fed

Trump steps up call for US rate cuts in talks with Fed chief

  • Trump told Powell that he was "making a mistake by not lowering interest rates," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a press briefing after the meeting.
  • US President Donald Trump on Thursday stepped up the pressure on Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell to cut interest rates, in their first sit-down since the Republican returned to the White House in January.
  • Trump told Powell that he was "making a mistake by not lowering interest rates," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a press briefing after the meeting.
US President Donald Trump on Thursday stepped up the pressure on Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell to cut interest rates, in their first sit-down since the Republican returned to the White House in January.
Trump has in recent months trained his fire on the Fed chair -- whom he first nominated to lead the independent central bank back in 2017 -- accusing him of being "too slow" to cut rates to boost economic growth.
Powell and his colleagues on the Fed's rate-setting committee have insisted they will only cut rates from current levels when economic conditions allow.
Trump told Powell that he was "making a mistake by not lowering interest rates," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a press briefing after the meeting.
Trump also said in the meeting that holding interest rates high was putting the United States at an "economic disadvantage" to other countries, including China, Leavitt said.  
Earlier Thursday, the Fed said Powell had defended US central bank independence over interest rates during the unusual meeting, which Trump had called to discuss "economic developments including for growth, employment, and inflation."
"Chair Powell did not discuss his expectations for monetary policy, except to stress that the path of policy will depend entirely on incoming economic information and what that means for the outlook," the Fed said in a statement.  
Powell said the Fed's rate-setting committee would make its decisions "based solely on careful, objective, and non-political analysis," it added. 
The meeting, the first since Trump began his second term, marks a ratcheting up of the pressure on Powell following the president's frequent social media posts criticizing him for moving too slowly to cut rates -- a process that stokes both growth and inflation. 
Trump and Powell met on several occasions during the president's first term in office.  
da/sst

education

Harvard graduation overshadowed by Trump threats

BY GREGORY WALTON

  • A federal judge in Boston said she would issue an order that "gives some protection" to international students while courts consider the legality of Trump's effort to block Harvard from enrolling foreign students.
  • Thousands of Harvard students in crimson-fringed gowns celebrated their graduation Thursday, as a federal judge said she would temporarily block Donald Trump's bid to bar the prestigious university from enrolling international scholars.
  • A federal judge in Boston said she would issue an order that "gives some protection" to international students while courts consider the legality of Trump's effort to block Harvard from enrolling foreign students.
Thousands of Harvard students in crimson-fringed gowns celebrated their graduation Thursday, as a federal judge said she would temporarily block Donald Trump's bid to bar the prestigious university from enrolling international scholars.
Trump has made Harvard the central target of his campaign against elite US universities, which he has threatened with funding freezes and action against their foreign students over what he says is liberal bias and anti-Semitism.
A federal judge in Boston said she would issue an order that "gives some protection" to international students while courts consider the legality of Trump's effort to block Harvard from enrolling foreign students.
"We want to make sure there's no more shenanigans between now and then," said Harvard's lawyer Ian Gershengorn. 
"Our students are terrified and we're (already) having people transfer" to other universities, he said.
In an eleventh-hour filing ahead of the hearing, the Trump administration issued a formal notice of intent to withdraw Harvard's ability to enrol foreign students -- kickstarting the process.
The filing gave Harvard 30 days to produce evidence showing why it should not be blocked from hosting and enrolling foreign students.
Judge Allison Burroughs had already temporarily paused the policy affecting some 27 percent of Harvard's student body, extending that pause Thursday.
She said she would seek to determine "whether they were terminated for a retaliatory motive."
A law professor present in the packed court said the Trump administration was prolonging the suffering of international students.
"Harvard is in this purgatory. What is an international student to do?" said the Harvard Law School graduate, who declined to be named.

'Bully and threaten'

There also remained "this specter of other actions" the government could take to block Harvard having international students, she added.
The Ivy League institution has continually drawn Trump's ire while publicly rejecting his administration's repeated demands to give up control of recruitment, curricula and research choices.
"Harvard is treating our country with great disrespect, and all they're doing is getting in deeper and deeper," Trump said Wednesday.
Harvard president Alan Garber got a huge cheer Thursday when he mentioned international students attending the graduation with their families, saying it was "as it should be" -- but Garber did not mention the Trump fight directly. 
He at one point received a standing ovation, which one student told AFP was "revealing of the community's pride and approval."
Garber has led the legal fightback in US academia after Trump targeted several prestigious universities -- including Columbia, which made sweeping concessions to the administration in an effort to restore $400 million of withdrawn federal grants.
He has acknowledged that Harvard does have issues with anti-Semitism and that it has struggled to ensure that a variety of views can be safely heard on campus.
Ahead of the ceremony, members of the Harvard band sporting distinctive crimson blazers and brandishing their instruments filed through the narrow streets of Cambridge, Massachusetts -- home to the elite school, America's oldest university.
In front of a huge stage, hundreds of students assembled to hear speeches, including one entirely in Latin, in a grassy precinct that was closed off to the public for security.
Many students from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government carried inflatable plastic globes at the ceremony to symbolize the international makeup of the school's student body. 
"In the last two months it's been very difficult, I've been feeling a lot of vulnerability," said one such student, Lorena Mejia, 36, who graduated with a masters in public administration and wore robes marking her as a Colombian.
gw/st

health

'Make America Healthy Again' report cites nonexistent studies: authors

BY MARISHA GOLDHAMER

  • Noah Kreski, a Columbia University researcher listed as an author of a paper on adolescent anxiety and depression during the Covid-19 pandemic, told AFP the citation is "not one of our studies" and "doesn't appear to be a study that exists at all."
  • At least four of the studies cited in a flagship White House report on children's health do not exist, authors listed in the document told AFP Thursday, casting doubt on the paper outlining Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s agenda.
  • Noah Kreski, a Columbia University researcher listed as an author of a paper on adolescent anxiety and depression during the Covid-19 pandemic, told AFP the citation is "not one of our studies" and "doesn't appear to be a study that exists at all."
At least four of the studies cited in a flagship White House report on children's health do not exist, authors listed in the document told AFP Thursday, casting doubt on the paper outlining Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s agenda.
The highly anticipated "Make America Healthy Again" (MAHA) report was released May 22 by the presidential commission tasked with assessing drivers of childhood chronic disease.
But it includes broken citation links and credits authors with papers they say they did not write.
The errors were first reported Thursday by NOTUS, a US digital news website affiliated with the nonprofit Allbritton Journalism Institute.
Noah Kreski, a Columbia University researcher listed as an author of a paper on adolescent anxiety and depression during the Covid-19 pandemic, told AFP the citation is "not one of our studies" and "doesn't appear to be a study that exists at all."
The citation includes a link that purports to send users to an article in peer-reviewed medical journal JAMA, but which is broken. Jim Michalski of JAMA Network Media Relations said it "was not published in JAMA Pediatrics or in any JAMA Network journal."
AFP also spoke with Harold Farber, pediatrics professor at Baylor College of Medicine, who said the paper attributed to him "does not exist" nor had he ever collaborated with the co-authors credited in the MAHA report.
Similarly, Brian McNeill, spokesperson for Virginia Commonwealth University, confirmed that professor Robert Findling did not author a paper the report says he wrote about advertising of psychotropic medications for youth.
A fourth paper on ADHD medication, was also not published in the journal Pediatrics in 2008 as claimed in the MAHA report. 
"I can confirm that we didn't find that title in a site search," said Alex Hulvalchick, media relations specialist for the journal's publisher the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment, referring questions on the apparent errors to the White House.
Kennedy was approved as health secretary earlier this year despite widespread alarm from the medical community over his history of promoting vaccine misinformation and denying scientific facts. 
Since taking office, he has ordered the National Institutes of Health to probe the causes of autism -- a condition he has long falsely tied to the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine.
The report's chronic disease references appear to nod to that same disproven theory, discredited by numerous studies since the idea first aired in a late 1990s paper based on falsified data.
It also rails against the "over-medicalization" of children, citing surging prescriptions of psychiatric drugs and antibiotics, and blaming "corporate capture" for skewing scientific research.
mgs/st

education

China condemns 'discriminatory' US plan to revoke student visas

BY MARY YANG WITH SHAUN TANDON IN WASHINGTON AND GREGORY WALTON IN CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

  • On Wednesday, Rubio heaped pressure on China, saying Washington will "aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.
  • Beijing reacted in fury Thursday at the US government's vow to revoke Chinese students' visas, condemning President Donald Trump's crackdown on international scholars as "political and discriminatory".
  • On Wednesday, Rubio heaped pressure on China, saying Washington will "aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.
Beijing reacted in fury Thursday at the US government's vow to revoke Chinese students' visas, condemning President Donald Trump's crackdown on international scholars as "political and discriminatory".
Trump's administration on Wednesday said it would "aggressively" remove permissions for Chinese students, one of the largest sources of revenue for American universities, in his latest broadside against US higher education.
The US will also revise visa criteria to tighten checks on all future applications from China and Hong Kong, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
Blasting the US for "unreasonably" cancelling Chinese students' visas, foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Beijing had lodged its opposition with Washington.
Rubio had upped the ante after China criticised his decision a day earlier to suspend visa appointments for students worldwide at least temporarily.
The Trump administration has already sought to end permission for all international students at Harvard University, which has rebuffed pressure from the president related to student protests.
Young Chinese people have long been crucial to US universities, which rely on international students paying full tuition.
China sent 277,398 students in the 2023-24 academic year, although India for the first time in years surpassed it, according to a State Department-backed report of the Institute of International Education.
Trump in his previous term also took aim at Chinese students but focused attention on those in sensitive fields or with explicit links with the military.

Global uncertainty

Beijing's Mao on Wednesday said that China urged the United States to "safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of international students, including those from China."
Rubio has already trumpeted the revocation of thousands of visas, largely to international students who were involved in activism critical of Israel.
A cable signed by Rubio on Tuesday ordered US embassies and consulates not to allow "any additional student or exchange visa... appointment capacity until further guidance is issued" on ramping up screening of applicants' social media accounts.
On Wednesday, Rubio heaped pressure on China, saying Washington will "aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.
"We will also revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong," he said.
But the slew of measures also threaten to pressure students from countries friendly to the United States.
In Taiwan, a PhD student set to study in California complained of "feeling uncertain" by the visa pause.
"I understand the process may be delayed but there is still some time before the semester begins in mid-August," said the 27-year-old student who did not want to be identified.
"All I can do now is wait and hope for the best."

Protests at Harvard

Trump is furious at Harvard for rejecting his administration's push for oversight on admissions and hiring, amid the president's claims the school is a hotbed of anti-Semitism and "woke" liberal ideology.
A judge paused the order to bar foreign students pending a hearing scheduled for Thursday, the same day as the university's graduation ceremony for which thousands of students and their families had gathered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The White House has also stripped Harvard, as well as other US universities widely considered among the world's most elite, of federal funding for research.
"The president is more interested in giving that taxpayer money to trade schools and programmes and state schools where they are promoting American values, but most importantly, educating the next generation based on skills that we need in our economy and our society," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News.
Some Harvard students were worried that the Trump administration's policies would make US universities less attractive to international students.
"I don't know if I'd pursue a PhD here. Six years is a long time," said Jack, a history of medicine student from Britain who is graduating this week and gave only a first name.
Harvard has filed extensive legal challenges against Trump's measures.
burs-sct/mlm/cms/hmn

education

Foreign students seek to quit Harvard amid Trump crackdown

  • She said that a handful of domestic students at Harvard had also "expressed serious interest" in transferring elsewhere because they did not want to attend a university with no international students.
  • Harvard University has been flooded with requests from foreign students to transfer to other institutions as US President Donald Trump's administration seeks to ban it from hosting international scholars, a staff member said Wednesday.
  • She said that a handful of domestic students at Harvard had also "expressed serious interest" in transferring elsewhere because they did not want to attend a university with no international students.
Harvard University has been flooded with requests from foreign students to transfer to other institutions as US President Donald Trump's administration seeks to ban it from hosting international scholars, a staff member said Wednesday.
"Too many international students to count have inquired about the possibility of transferring to another institution," Maureen Martin, director of immigration services, wrote in a court filing.
Trump has upended the United States' reputation among foreign students, who number around one million, as he presses a campaign against US universities he sees as obstructing his "Make America Great Again" populist agenda.
He has blocked Harvard from hosting international scholars in a maneuver being challenged legally, targeted non-citizen campus activists for deportation, and most recently suspended student visa processing across the board.
The president's crackdown has prompted "profound fear, concern, and confusion" among students and staff at the elite university, which has been "inundated with questions from current international students and scholars about their status and options", Martin wrote.
More than 27 percent of Harvard's enrollment was made up of foreign students in the 2024-25 academic year, according to university data.
"Many international students and scholars are reporting significant emotional distress that is affecting their mental health and making it difficult to focus on their studies," Martin wrote in the filing.
Some were afraid to attend their graduation ceremonies this week or had canceled travel plans for fear of being refused re-entry into the United States, she added.
She said that a handful of domestic students at Harvard had also "expressed serious interest" in transferring elsewhere because they did not want to attend a university with no international students.
A judge last week suspended the government's move to block Harvard from enrolling and hosting foreign students after the Ivy League school sued, calling the action unconstitutional.
A hearing into the case was scheduled for Thursday.
At least 10 foreign students or scholars at Harvard had their visa applications refused immediately after the block on foreign students was announced, including students whose visa applications had already been approved, Martin wrote.
"My current understanding is that the visa applications that were refused or revoked following the Revocation Notice have not yet been approved or reinstated," despite a judge suspending the move, she said.
bur-cms/dhw

Musk

Musk's most memorable moments as Trump's advisor

  • Musk announced he was quitting his US government role shortly after. cat/rmb/dw/sla/sms/cms/pbt
  • Billionaire Elon Musk has said he is leaving his role in the US government, in which he was tasked with reducing federal spending, shortly after his first major break with Donald Trump over the president's signature spending bill.
  • Musk announced he was quitting his US government role shortly after. cat/rmb/dw/sla/sms/cms/pbt
Billionaire Elon Musk has said he is leaving his role in the US government, in which he was tasked with reducing federal spending, shortly after his first major break with Donald Trump over the president's signature spending bill.
While classified as a "special government employee" and "senior advisor to the president," the South African-born tycoon has left indelible marks on American politics as Trump's most visible backer.

The 'Nazi' salute

Being Trump's right-hand man took on a new meaning when the world's richest person made headlines by dramatically throwing out his arm -- twice -- at a rally celebrating Trump's January 20 inauguration.
Standing at a podium bearing the presidential seal, Musk's right arm was straight, his hand open, his palm facing down. Historians agreed with Democratic politicians that the sharp gesture looked exactly like a Nazi salute.
The Tesla boss -- whose electric vehicles were soon dubbed "swasticars" by critics -- dismissed the claims, posting on his X social media platform: "The 'everyone is Hitler' attack is sooo tired."
Whatever the display meant, Nazi-related jokes and memes dominated public reactions to the day meant to mark Trump's triumphant return to office.

Endorsing Germany's extreme-right

Hot off his salute shock, Musk participated virtually at a January rally for Germany's anti-immigration, ultra-nationalist AfD party.
Musktold the crowd "you really are the best hope" for Germany and urged them to be "proud of German culture and German values."
His endorsement of the AfD shook mainstream German parties, which said they viewed it as foreign interference by Trump's advisor. Vandals burned four Teslas in the streets of Berlin afterward.
Despite record gains at the polls, AfD ultimately took second place in the election behind Germany's conservatives. 

Brings kid to work

Dressed down in MAGA hats and
t-shirts, Musk became a near-constant presence in the White House. For a while, so did his four-year-old son named X.
During Musk's first appearance before reporters since his arrival in Washington to run DOGE, the child was trotted out and Trump said: "This is X and he's a great guy."
The boy was filmed picking his nose while his father boasted about his cost-cutting exploits while standing next to the Oval Office's Resolute Desk.

Brings chainsaw to budget

Unelected and unconfirmed by the Senate, Musk has repeatedly bashed the "unelected, fourth unconstitutional branch of government, which is the bureaucracy" and immediately made brutal cuts to the federal workforce and budget.
To illustrate his management style, Musk donned sunglasses and brandished a chainsaw on stage at a conservative get-together in Washington.
It was handed to him -- not turned on -- by right-wing Argentine President Javier Milei, who made the machine a symbol of slashing bureaucracy and state spending in his own country.

Overshadowing Trump's cabinet

At Trump's first cabinet meeting on February 26, Musk had a starring role even though he is not part of the cabinet. He stood looming near a doorway, wearing a t-shirt with the words "Tech Support" across the chest as the cabinet met.
Even without a literal seat at the table Musk, who helped bankroll Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, overshadowed the country's most powerful officials.
Trump downplayed this tension shortly before the meeting, posting on his social media platform: "ALL CABINET MEMBERS ARE EXTREMELY HAPPY WITH ELON."

Trump the Tesla salesman

With Musk's Tesla car company taking a battering on the stock market and sales dropping sharply, and with vandals targeting his brand, the White House hosted a highly publicized test drive to boost Tesla's reputation. 
With a Tesla Cybertruck and a Model S parked on the South Portico, Trump and Musk mounted a sales pitch.
Trump even said he had purchased one.
The stunt didn't ultimately turn around Tesla's plummeting sales, with the electric vehicle maker reporting a 71 percent drop in first-quarter profits.

Fails to sway court election

Money can't buy you everything, Musk discovered, after pouring $25 million into the most expensive court race in US history to try to get a pro-Trump Republican judge elected to Wisconsin's Supreme Court.
Musk paid voters $100 to sign a petition opposing "activist judges" and even handed out $1 million checks to voters, beseeching the public to select the conservative judge. 
The court's docket was packed with precedent-setting cases over abortion and reproductive rights, the strength of public sector unions, voting rules and congressional district boundaries.
The US state instead chose a liberal judge by a wide margin in April, dismaying the billionaire -- who had spent roughly $277 million in 2024 in the national race to help get Trump elected.

Tariff dissenter

After Trump announced his sweeping US tariffs, deeply affecting major trading partners China and the European Union, Musk made the case for a free-trade zone between the United States and Europe.
This clashes with Trump's trade policy.
Shortly after, he called Trump's economic advisor Peter Navarro, a longtime advocate for trade barriers, "dumber than a sack of bricks."
Navarro had taken aim at Tesla, saying the carmaker mostly sourced assembled major components from factories in Asia.
Musk retorted with studies he said showed "Tesla has the most American-made cars."
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt tried to play down the public feud, saying that "boys will be boys."

Big, Beautiful Bill

Musk said he was "disappointed" by Trump's divisive mega-bill, which offers sprawling tax relief and spending cuts, in a rare split with the Republican president.
The tech tycoon said the "One Big, Beautiful Bill Act" -- which passed the US House last week and now moves to the Senate -- would increase the deficit and undermine the work of DOGE, which has fired tens of thousands of people.
Critics warn the legislation will gut health care and balloon the national deficit by as much as $4 trillion over a decade.
"I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing," Musk told CBS News.
Musk announced he was quitting his US government role shortly after.
cat/rmb/dw/sla/sms/cms/pbt

virus

US cancels $590 million contract with Moderna for bird flu shot

  • The statement added Moderna would "explore alternatives" for funding the development and manufacturing of the vaccine.
  • US President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday canceled a $590 million contract with Moderna to develop an avian flu vaccine, the US biotech company said.
  • The statement added Moderna would "explore alternatives" for funding the development and manufacturing of the vaccine.
US President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday canceled a $590 million contract with Moderna to develop an avian flu vaccine, the US biotech company said.
It marked the latest move against vaccines by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who has spent decades promoting misinformation about immunization. 
The contract, announced on January 17 -- three days before Trump took office -- was for an mRNA vaccine targeting the H5N1 influenza strain, which has been circulating in birds and cattle. 
Experts have warned the virus could jump to humans and spark a pandemic.
American pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Moderna disclosed the news as it announced positive results from an early stage clinical trial of 300 people designed to test safety and immune response.
"While the termination of funding from HHS adds uncertainty, we are pleased by the robust immune response and safety profile observed in this interim analysis of the Phase 1/2 study of our H5 avian flu vaccine and we will explore alternative paths forward for the program," said CEO Stephane Bancel in a statement. 
"These clinical data in pandemic influenza underscore the critical role mRNA technology has played as a countermeasure to emerging health threats."
The statement added Moderna would "explore alternatives" for funding the development and manufacturing of the vaccine.
Dr. Ashish Jha, a public health expert who served as former president Joe Biden's Covid-19 response coordinator, reacted with dismay.
"The attack on mRNA vaccines is beyond absurd," he posted on X. "It was President Trump's Operation Warp Speed that gave us mRNA vaccines."
ia/sla

economy

Musk to exit US government role after rare break with Trump

BY DANNY KEMP

  • "As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President Donald Trump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending," he wrote on his social media platform X. "The DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government," he added.
  • Billionaire Elon Musk on Wednesday announced he was leaving his role in US government, intended to reduce federal spending, shortly after his first major break with President Donald Trump over his signature spending bill.
  • "As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President Donald Trump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending," he wrote on his social media platform X. "The DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government," he added.
Billionaire Elon Musk on Wednesday announced he was leaving his role in US government, intended to reduce federal spending, shortly after his first major break with President Donald Trump over his signature spending bill.
"As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President Donald Trump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending," he wrote on his social media platform X.
"The DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government," he added.
The South African-born tech tycoon had said Trump's bill would increase the deficit and undermine the work of Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has fired tens of thousands of people.
Musk -- who was a constant presence at Trump's side before pulling back to focus on his Space X and Tesla businesses -- also complained that DOGE had become a "whipping boy" for dissatisfaction with the administration.
"I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing," Musk said in an interview with CBS News, an excerpt of which aired late Tuesday.
Trump's "One Big, Beautiful Bill Act" -- which passed the US House last week and now moves to the Senate -- offers sprawling tax relief and spending cuts and is the centerpiece of his domestic agenda.
But critics warn it will decimate health care and balloon the national deficit by as much as $4 trillion over a decade.
"A bill can be big, or it can be beautiful. But I don't know if it can be both. My personal opinion," Musk said in the interview, which will be aired in full on Sunday.
The White House sought to play down any differences over US government spending, without directly naming Musk.
"The Big Beautiful Bill is NOT an annual budget bill," Trump's Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said on Musk's social network, X, after the tech titan's comments aired.
All DOGE cuts would have to be carried out through a separate bill targeting the federal bureaucracy, according to US Senate rules, Miller added.
But Musk's comments represented a rare split with the Republican president whom he helped propel back to power, as the largest donor to his 2024 election campaign.

'Whipping boy'

Trump tasked Musk with cutting government spending as head of DOGE, but after a feverish start Musk announced in late April he was mostly stepping back to run his companies again.
Musk complained in a separate interview with the Washington Post that DOGE, which operated out of the White House with a staff of young technicians, had become a lightning rod for criticism.
"DOGE is just becoming the whipping boy for everything," Musk told the newspaper at the Starbase launch site in Texas ahead of Space X's latest launch on Tuesday.
"Something bad would happen anywhere, and we would get blamed for it even if we had nothing to do with it."
Musk blamed entrenched US bureaucracy for DOGE's failure to achieve all of its goals -- although reports say his domineering style and lack of familiarity with the currents of Washington politics were also major factors.
"The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realized," he said. "I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in DC, to say the least."
Musk has previously admitted that he did not achieve all his goals with DOGE even though tens of thousands of people were removed from government payrolls and several departments were gutted or shut down.
Musk's own businesses suffered in the meantime.
Protesters against the cost-cutting targeted Tesla dealerships while arsonists even torched a few of the electric vehicles, and the firm's profits slumped.
"People were burning Teslas. Why would you do that? That’s really uncool," Musk told the Post.
Musk has also been focusing on Space X after a series of fiery setbacks to his dreams of colonizing Mars -- the latest of which came on Tuesday when its prototype Starship exploded over the Indian Ocean.
The tycoon last week also said he would pull back from spending his fortune on politics, having spent around a quarter of a billion dollars to support Trump.
dk/jgc/sla

politics

Foreign students wary of US as Trump presses 'dehumanizing' campaign

BY GREGORY WALTON

  • "International students already represent the most tracked and vetted category of nonimmigrants in the United States.
  • Donald Trump's expanding crackdown on elite universities is prompting some international students to abandon applications to campuses in the United States and spreading stress and anxiety among those already enrolled.
  • "International students already represent the most tracked and vetted category of nonimmigrants in the United States.
Donald Trump's expanding crackdown on elite universities is prompting some international students to abandon applications to campuses in the United States and spreading stress and anxiety among those already enrolled.
The president has upended the country's reputation among foreign students, who number around one million, as he presses a campaign against US universities he sees as obstructing his "Make America Great Again" populist agenda.
He has blocked Harvard hosting international scholars in a maneuver being challenged legally, targeted non-citizen campus activists for deportation, and most recently suspended student visa processing across the board.
Harvard applied mathematics and economic student Abdullah Shahid Sial, 20, said the Trump administration's campaign against US universities that the president accused of being hotbeds of liberal bias and anti-Semitism had been "dehumanizing."
"It's really unfortunate that this is the case for 18, 19, and 20-year-olds who came here without any family, and in most cases, haven't been to the US before," said Sial, who is from Pakistan and hopes to be able to return to Harvard next academic year.
Sial said he advised acquaintances to have backup plans if US colleges became inaccessible, and that a friend applied to Harvard's law school, as well as Columbia's, and two less reputable British institutions -- ultimately opting to go to the UK.
"He definitely liked Harvard way more (but) he doesn't want this amount of uncertainty surrounding his education," Sial said.
Karl Molden, a Harvard government and classics student from Austria, said Trump's move to block the university hosting and enrolling foreign students meant he was unsure if he would be able to return after summer vacation.

'In the dark'

While that decision -- affecting some 27 percent of the overall Harvard population -- was paused by a judge pending a hearing Thursday, the move still threw student plans into chaos.
"I kind of figured I would be in the target group of Trump. I'm personally right in the middle of it, so an option for me would be to study abroad... I have applied to study at Oxford because of all the action" taken by Trump, said Molden, 21.
"It's just really hard."
Harvard academics say they have already started to feel the impact of Trump's vendetta against the school, in feedback from colleagues based outside the United States. 
"I've already heard this from professors in other countries who say 'we encourage our best students to go to the United States'," Harvard professor Ryan Enos told AFP at a noisy rally against Trump's policies Tuesday, adding "we wonder if we can tell them that anymore."
The halt to visa processing revealed this week is reportedly to allow for more stringent screening of applicants' social media -- and protest activity.
"International students already represent the most tracked and vetted category of nonimmigrants in the United States. It is a poor use of taxpayer dollars," said the NAFSA Association of International Educators non-profit.
Trump meanwhile continued his assault on Harvard, saying university leaders have "got to behave themselves.
"Harvard is treating our country with great disrespect, and all they're doing is getting in deeper and deeper," he said Wednesday in the White House.
One Spanish student of politics and statistics, who declined to be named for fear of retaliation, told AFP she would not be deterred from pursuing her planned year abroad at Columbia University.
"It's scary, because we think to ourselves that all our activity on social networks could be monitored, for example if we like pro-Palestinian posts or anti-Trump posts. All of that could see us denied a visa," she said.
Students due to return to Harvard after the summer break are in limbo pending a ruling on Harvard's exclusion from the foreign student system.
"I'm completely in the dark," said 20-year-old Alfred Williamson, a Welsh-Danish physics and government student in his second year at Harvard.
"As for my other options, and like all other international students, I'm just clinging on to the hope that Harvard will win this battle against the White House."
Sial, the Harvard student from Pakistan, said foreign students like him were "made to fight this battle which no one signed up for."
"It's really unfortunate that it's come down to that."
gw/mlm

internet

In new battle, Rubio to refuse US visas over online 'censorship'

BY SHAUN TANDON

  • Rubio said the United States will begin to restrict visas to foreign nationals who are responsible for "censorship of protected expression in the United States."
  • The United States said Wednesday it will refuse visas to foreign officials who block Americans' social media posts, as President Donald Trump's administration wages a new battle over free expression.
  • Rubio said the United States will begin to restrict visas to foreign nationals who are responsible for "censorship of protected expression in the United States."
The United States said Wednesday it will refuse visas to foreign officials who block Americans' social media posts, as President Donald Trump's administration wages a new battle over free expression.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio -- who has controversially rescinded visas for activists who criticize Israel and ramped up screening of foreign students' social media -- said he was acting against "flagrant censorship actions" overseas against US tech firms.
He did not publicly name any official who would be denied a visa under the new policy. But last week he suggested to lawmakers that he was planning sanctions against a Brazilian Supreme Court judge, Alexandre de Moraes, who has battled X owner and Trump ally Elon Musk over alleged disinformation.
The administration of Trump -- himself a prolific and often confrontational social media user -- has also sharply criticized Germany and Britain for restricting what the US allies' governments term hate and abusive speech.
Rubio said the United States will begin to restrict visas to foreign nationals who are responsible for "censorship of protected expression in the United States."
"It is unacceptable for foreign officials to issue or threaten arrest warrants on US citizens or US residents for social media posts on American platforms while physically present on US soil," Rubio said in a statement.
"It is similarly unacceptable for foreign officials to demand that American tech platforms adopt global content moderation policies or engage in censorship activity that reaches beyond their authority and into the United States," he said.
"We will not tolerate encroachments upon American sovereignty, especially when such encroachments undermine the exercise of our fundamental right to free speech."
Rubio has said he has revoked the US visas for thousands of people, largely students who have protested against Israel's offensive in Gaza.
Among the most visible cases has been Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University who had written an opinion piece in a student newspaper criticizing the school's position on Gaza.
Masked agents arrested her on a Massachusetts street and took her away. A judge recently ordered her release.
Rubio on Tuesday suspended further appointments for students seeking visas to the United States until the State Department drafts new guidelines on enhanced screening of applicants' social media postings.

Anger at Brazilian judge

Social media regulation has become a rallying cry for many on the American right since Trump was suspended from Twitter, now X, and Facebook on safety grounds after his supporters attacked the US Capitol following his defeat in the 2020 election to Joe Biden.
In Brazil, where supporters of Trump ally Jair Bolsonaro similarly stormed the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court in 2023 after Bolsonaro's election loss, Moraes has said he is seeking to protect democracy through his judicial power.
Moraes temporarily blocked X across Brazil until it complied with his order to remove accounts accused of spreading disinformation.
More recently he ordered a suspension of Rumble, a video-sharing platform popular with conservative and far-right voices over its refusal to block the account of a user based in the United States who was wanted for spreading disinformation.
Germany -- whose foreign minister met Wednesday with Rubio -- restricts online hate speech and misinformation, saying it has learned a lesson from its Nazi past and will ostracize extremists.
US Vice President JD Vance in a speech in Munich in February denounced Germany for shunning the far-right, noting the popularity of its anti-immigrant message.
In an essay Tuesday, a State Department official pointed to social media regulations and said Europeans were following a "similar strategy of censorship, demonization and bureaucratic weaponization" as witnessed against Trump and his supporters.
"What this reveals is that the global liberal project is not enabling the flourishing of democracy," wrote Samuel Samson, a senior advisor for the State Department's human rights office.
"Rather, it is trampling democracy, and Western heritage along with it, in the name of a decadent governing class afraid of its own people."
sct/mlm

economy

Musk says 'disappointed' by Trump mega-bill

  • He said in May that he did not achieve all his goals with DOGE even though tens of thousands of people were removed from government payrolls and several government departments were gutted or shut down altogether.
  • Billionaire Elon Musk, who has stepped back from his role of slashing US government spending by firing tens of thousands of people, has criticized President Donald Trump's signature spending bill.
  • He said in May that he did not achieve all his goals with DOGE even though tens of thousands of people were removed from government payrolls and several government departments were gutted or shut down altogether.
Billionaire Elon Musk, who has stepped back from his role of slashing US government spending by firing tens of thousands of people, has criticized President Donald Trump's signature spending bill.
The "One Big, Beautiful Bill Act" -- which passed in the House of Representatives and now moves to the Senate -- would usher into law Trump's vision for a new "Golden Age," led by efforts to shrink social safety net programs to pay for a 10-year extension of his 2017 tax cuts. 
But critics say it will decimate health care for the poorest Americans and cause the national debt to balloon.
"I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing," Musk said in an interview with CBS News. 
An excerpt was aired Tuesday evening with comments that put him at odds with Trump, who tasked Musk with cutting government spending as head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
The spending bill is the centerpiece of Trump's domestic policy agenda and could define his second term in the White House.
Independent analysts have warned it would increase the deficit by as much as $4 trillion over a decade.
"I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful," Musk told CBS News, "but I don't know if it can be both. My personal opinion." The full interview will be aired Sunday.
In a separate interview with the Washington Post, Musk, the head of Tesla and SpaceX, looked back on his work leading the reforms, in which many civil servants lost their jobs with little or no warning.
"The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realized," he said. "I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in DC, to say the least.”
Musk announced in late April he was stepping back from government to run his companies again.
He said in May that he did not achieve all his goals with DOGE even though tens of thousands of people were removed from government payrolls and several government departments were gutted or shut down altogether.
Musk told the Post he would keep working with DOGE but focus on upgrading federal government computer systems rather than firing more people.
rle/dw/bgs

conflict

Trump says Putin 'playing with fire' as sanctions pressure grows

BY DANNY KEMP

  • "What Vladimir Putin doesn't realize is that if it weren't for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He's playing with fire!"
  • US President Donald Trump warned Vladimir Putin Tuesday that he was "playing with fire," taking a fresh jab at his Russian counterpart as Washington weighs new sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine war.
  • "What Vladimir Putin doesn't realize is that if it weren't for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He's playing with fire!"
US President Donald Trump warned Vladimir Putin Tuesday that he was "playing with fire," taking a fresh jab at his Russian counterpart as Washington weighs new sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine war.
Trump's latest broadside showed his frustration with stalled ceasefire talks and comes two days after he called the Kremlin leader "absolutely CRAZY" following a major drone attack on Ukraine.
Moscow, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, insisted it was responding to escalating Ukrainian strikes on its own civilians and accused Kyiv of trying to "disrupt" peace efforts.
Diplomatic efforts to end the war have intensified in recent weeks, but Putin has been accused of stalling peace talks.
"What Vladimir Putin doesn't realize is that if it weren't for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He's playing with fire!" Trump said on his Truth Social network.
Trump did not specify what the "really bad" things were.
But the Wall Street Journal and CNN both reported that the Republican was now considering fresh sanctions as early as this week.
Trump told reporters on Sunday he was "absolutely" weighing such a move.

'Provocative'

The White House said Trump was keeping "all options" open.
"This war is Joe Biden's fault, and President Trump has been clear he wants to see a negotiated peace deal. President Trump has also smartly kept all options on the table," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told AFP in a statement.
Biden, Trump's Democratic predecessor, imposed sweeping sanctions after Russia's invasion. Trump has so far avoided what he says could be "devastating" sanctions on Russian banks.
But Trump's recent rebukes mark a sharp change from his previous attitude towards Putin, of whom he often speaks with admiration.
His frustration at his failure to end a war he said he could solve within 24 hours boiled over at the weekend after Russia's drone barrage killed at least 13 people.
"I've always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY!" Trump posted.
Russia has kept up attacks despite a phone call eight days ago in which Trump said Putin had agreed to immediately start talks.
Moscow did not react to Trump's comments on Tuesday, but it earlier sought to blame Ukraine for the impasse.
"Kyiv, with the support of some European countries, has taken a series of provocative steps to thwart negotiations initiated by Russia," the Russian defense ministry said.
Civilians including women and children were injured in what it said were Ukrainian drone strikes. Russian air defenses destroyed 2,331 Ukrainian drones between May 20 and 27, it said.
Fresh drone attacks were also reported overnight to Wednesday.
Russian authorities said almost 150 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted, including 33 heading toward Moscow.

'Eternal waiting'

Ukraine said it was Russia that had targeted civilians.
"We need to end this eternal waiting -- Russia needs more sanctions," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff Andriy Yermak said Tuesday on Telegram.
US lawmakers have stepped up calls for Trump to slap sanctions on Russia.
Veteran Republican Senator Chuck Grassley called for strong measures to let Putin know it was "game over."
Two other senators, Republican Lindsay Graham and Democrat Richard Blumenthal, also called for heavy "secondary" sanctions on countries that buy Russian oil, gas and raw materials.
Trump's Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg told Fox News that the next peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, if they happen, would likely take place in Geneva after Moscow rejected the Vatican as a venue.
The aim would then be to get Trump, Putin and Zelensky together "and hammer this thing out," he added.
The Swiss government would not confirm that it would host the talks.
"Switzerland remains ready to offer its good offices," the foreign ministry told AFP in a statement, adding that it was "in contact with all parties."
Russia and Ukraine held their first direct talks in more than three years in Istanbul in early May.
dk/bgs/fec/md/mtp

politics

Trump's drive for ocean bed mining threatens law of the sea

BY AMéLIE BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS

  • And the Canadian deep-sea mining frontrunner The Metals Company has already filed an application in the United States to conduct commercial mining on the high seas -- bypassing the International Seabed Authority (ISA).
  • US President Donald Trump's move to sidestep global regulations and begin pushing for seabed mining in international waters could pose a wider threat of competing countries claiming sovereignty over the ocean, experts say.
  • And the Canadian deep-sea mining frontrunner The Metals Company has already filed an application in the United States to conduct commercial mining on the high seas -- bypassing the International Seabed Authority (ISA).
US President Donald Trump's move to sidestep global regulations and begin pushing for seabed mining in international waters could pose a wider threat of competing countries claiming sovereignty over the ocean, experts say.
Trump last month signed an executive order to accelerate the permit-granting process for deep-sea mining in domestic and international waters, citing an obscure 1980 US law.
And the Canadian deep-sea mining frontrunner The Metals Company has already filed an application in the United States to conduct commercial mining on the high seas -- bypassing the International Seabed Authority (ISA). This is the body entrusted by a United Nations convention with managing the ocean floor outside of national jurisdictions.
Ocean law is largely guided by that accord -- the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), first signed in 1982 to prevent "a competitive scramble for sovereign rights over the land underlying the world's seas and oceans," according to Maltese diplomat Arvid Pardo, the convention's forebearer.
The United States never ratified the convention, which took effect in 1994, though it has applied many of its clauses.
Coalter Lathrop, an attorney at the US law firm Sovereign Geographic, told AFP that the United States is "a huge beneficiary of the parallel set of customary international law rules" despite not being a party to UNCLOS.
For instance, the United States has one of the largest Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) which gives states sovereignty over maritime areas up to 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from their coastline -- protecting them from foreign fishing boats, among other extractive industries.
If the US enjoys the benefits of ocean law, Lathrop argues, "but then you disregard the other part of the package deal -- that the seabed and its minerals in areas beyond national jurisdiction are the common heritage of humankind -- that is going to be destabilizing, to say the least, for the general legal order of the oceans."
"US unilateral permitting could lead to the disintegration of a system that has been carefully curated and created by the United States, largely for its own benefit," he added.

'Unraveled'

The US and Canadian moves sparked an international outcry from ISA member states, including China, whose foreign ministry spokesman warned it violates international law.
ISA secretary general Leticia Carvalho expressed similar concern, saying that "any unilateral action... sets a dangerous precedent that could destabilize the entire system of global ocean governance."
The Metals Company does maintain contracts with ISA members like Japan -- where it has a partnership with smelting company Pamco. And experts note such ISA member states could invoke their obligation to UNCLOS to enforce maritime law on The Metals Company via these proxies, even if it ultimately receives a permit from the Trump administration.
Guy Standing, an economist at the University of London, told AFP: "It's the most dangerous thing he's done so far," referring to Trump.
If marine laws "were to come sort of unraveled," Standing said, "you could have a carve up in different parts of the world, with Russia, China and America carving up the Arctic."
However, not all scholars in the field are in agreement.
James Kraska, a professor of international maritime law at US Naval War College, said "it's naive to think the United States has that kind of influence."
"I just disagree with the people that are saying that it's somehow a legal obligation to comply with a treaty that you never joined," he told AFP.
"I just can't see any way that it's unlawful. I understand that there's sort of political opposition to it, but I would just distinguish between politics and the law."
abd/cyb/jgc/dw

Congress

Biden book exposes age-old problem for Democratic 'gerontocracy'

BY FRANKIE TAGGART

  • At the heart of the problem is the Democrats' long-honored seniority system, which prioritizes lawmakers based on experience when allocating plum committee assignments, leadership posts and office space. 
  • As a damning expose on Joe Biden's cognitive decline scandalizes Washington, Democrats in Congress are facing their own reckoning over a seniority system that critics say is holding back younger talent.
  • At the heart of the problem is the Democrats' long-honored seniority system, which prioritizes lawmakers based on experience when allocating plum committee assignments, leadership posts and office space. 
As a damning expose on Joe Biden's cognitive decline scandalizes Washington, Democrats in Congress are facing their own reckoning over a seniority system that critics say is holding back younger talent.
Six Democratic lawmakers have died in a little over a year -- dispiriting bereaved colleagues but also leaving the rank-and-file critically under-resourced when it comes to opposing President Donald Trump.
House Republicans passed Trump's sprawling tax relief and spending cuts by a solitary vote last week, approving a package that Democrats say will deprive more than eight million Americans of health care.
Democrats did not have the numbers to cause problems for the bill because of three empty seats on their side -- all recently vacated by lawmakers in their 70s who had died after battling cancer.
"Imagine if one of the older and sicker Dems would've retired instead of died in office and what that would've meant for millions of people," political consultant Rebecca Katz posted on X.
The complicated math means that even a full Democratic contingent would likely only have been able to delay rather than torpedo the bill.
But it is being seen as a lost opportunity that has laid bare the party's problems with aging members clinging to office despite ailing health -- in a party desperate for new blood.
One of the vacancies was the Virginia seat formerly held by Gerry Connolly, 75, who had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer and died just a day earlier.

Oldest president

Democrats had just picked Connolly to be their leader on the powerful oversight committee, choosing his experience over the energy and social media savvy of Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, 40 years his junior.
"By elevating someone who was more of a standard politician, they sort of lost out on getting into the culture," left-leaning political commentator Molly Jong-Fast told MSNBC.
"And ultimately that was, I think, a miss for Democrats."
Age is a touchy subject among Democrats, with 82-year-old Biden's inner circle denying accusations in a new book by journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson of covering up his glaring infirmity. 
In the Senate the party is led by 74-year-old Chuck Schumer and in the House former speaker Nancy Pelosi, 85, still holds enormous sway two years after giving up the gavel.  
Democrats do not have a monopoly on aging issues.
Mitch McConnell, 83, was clearly ailing when he stepped down after 18 years as Republican leader in the Senate in January and Trump, 78, is set to become the oldest US president in history.
But the so-called "gerontocracy" has been more harmful to Washington's minority party, frustrating the agenda of Democratic White Houses and allowing Republicans in Congress to absorb more defections.
At the heart of the problem is the Democrats' long-honored seniority system, which prioritizes lawmakers based on experience when allocating plum committee assignments, leadership posts and office space. 

'Contemptible little twerp'

As a result, top Democrats on more than half of the House committees are aged 70 or over. The mean age of these 20 party grandees is 69, compared with a more youthful 62 for Republicans.
And the problem is not confined to Congress.
Mourning gave way to frustration over liberal Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who clung on until her death in 2020 at age 87 instead of retiring with Barack Obama in office, allowing Trump to fill the vacancy. 
There have been baby steps to address the gerontocracy but progress has been halting.
Gun safety campaigner David Hogg, 25, was elected as vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee in February and promptly called for primary challenges to "out-of-touch, ineffective Democrats."
This did not go down well among the party's old guard, with 80-year-old strategist James Carville calling Hogg a "contemptible little twerp."
But the revelations about Biden's deteriorating health, including a newly announced prostate cancer diagnosis, are an illustration for activists and analysts that the party needs to change course.
"If you are saying that democracy is on the ballot, if you are saying this the most important election of our lifetime, which they did say to the base, then the base expects you to act like it," Jong-Fast added.
"They expect you to elevate the people who can speak better than the people who are your friends... And I think this is a sea change for the Democratic Party."
ft/sla

missile

North Korea says US missile shield plans risk 'nuclear war' in space

  • "The US plan for building a new missile defense system is the root cause of sparking off global nuclear and space arms race by stimulating the security concerns of nuclear weapons states and turning... outer space into a potential nuclear war field," it added.
  • North Korea slammed on Tuesday US President Donald Trump's "Golden Dome" missile shield plan as a "very dangerous" threat that could spark nuclear war in space, state media said.
  • "The US plan for building a new missile defense system is the root cause of sparking off global nuclear and space arms race by stimulating the security concerns of nuclear weapons states and turning... outer space into a potential nuclear war field," it added.
North Korea slammed on Tuesday US President Donald Trump's "Golden Dome" missile shield plan as a "very dangerous" threat that could spark nuclear war in space, state media said.
Trump announced new details and initial funding for the missile shield system last week, calling it "very important for the success and even survival of our country".
The initiative faces significant technical and political challenges, according to analysts, and could come at a hefty price tag.
In a statement shared by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Pyongyang's foreign ministry slammed the "very dangerous 'threatening initiative' aimed at threatening the strategic security of the nuclear weapons states".
The United States is "hell-bent on the moves to militarize outer space," the foreign ministry said.
"The US plan for building a new missile defense system is the root cause of sparking off global nuclear and space arms race by stimulating the security concerns of nuclear weapons states and turning... outer space into a potential nuclear war field," it added.
Washington -- Seoul's key security ally -- has in recent years ramped up joint military exercises and increased the presence of strategic US assets, such as an aircraft carrier and a nuclear-powered submarine, in the region to deter the North.
Pyongyang has repeatedly declared itself an "irreversible" nuclear weapons state and routinely denounces joint US-South Korea drills as rehearsals for invasion.
Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told AFP that Pyongyang saw Trump's "Golden Dome" as a threat.
"The North's strong reaction suggests it views the Golden Dome as capable of significantly weakening the effectiveness of its nuclear arsenal, including its ICBMs," he said.
"If the US completes its new missile defence programme, the North will be forced to develop alternative means to counter or penetrate it," he added.

China, Russia modernising weapons

China has also expressed strong concerns about Washington's Golden Dome plan, accusing the United States of undermining global stability.
Beijing is closing the gap with Washington when it comes to ballistic and hypersonic missile technology, while Moscow is modernising its intercontinental-range missile systems and developing advanced precision strike missiles, according to a 2022 Pentagon review.
The Kremlin has said Trump's initiative would require consultations with Russia but was otherwise a "sovereign matter" for the United States, softening its tone after also previously slamming the idea as destabilising.
The plan's Golden Dome name stems from Israel's Iron Dome air defence system which has intercepted thousands of short-range rockets and other projectiles since it went into operation in 2011.
The United States faces various missile threats from adversaries, but they differ significantly from the short-range weapons that Israel's Iron Dome is designed to counter.
burs-oho/fox

rights

US lawmaker says denied access to man deported to El Salvador

  • US authorities admit that he was deported to a notorious El Salvadoran prison for violent criminals due to an error, but have refused to comply with court orders to return him to the United States.
  • US lawmaker Glenn Ivey said Monday that authorities in El Salvador had prevented him from visiting Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man deported from the United States by the Trump administration due to an administrative error.
  • US authorities admit that he was deported to a notorious El Salvadoran prison for violent criminals due to an error, but have refused to comply with court orders to return him to the United States.
US lawmaker Glenn Ivey said Monday that authorities in El Salvador had prevented him from visiting Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man deported from the United States by the Trump administration due to an administrative error.
US President Donald Trump has delivered on campaign promises by launching a sweeping crackdown on migrants to the United States since coming to power in January. 
Rights groups have alleged that Trump's government is committing rights abuses and denying undocumented migrants due process, claims that courts have, in part, upheld in cases that are ongoing.
Abrego Garcia's case is one of the most prominent to have come to light. US authorities admit that he was deported to a notorious El Salvadoran prison for violent criminals due to an error, but have refused to comply with court orders to return him to the United States.
Ivey is the sixth US Democratic lawmaker to visit El Salvador in an effort to secure the return of Abrego Garcia, 29, who is being held in a penal facility in Santa Ana, 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the Salvadoran capital, after being deported in March. 
"We were not able to meet with Kilmar, for sure," Ivey told a press conference in San Salvador. "We went out to the Santa Ana prison today and got there, and we spoke to the people at the gate. They wouldn't open the gate and let us in."
Ivey said he was told to obtain a permit for a visit, but he had already spoken to senior officials in order to arrange the meeting. 
He said he had spoken to Salvadoran Ambassador to the United States Milena Mayorga and that he intended to speak to Abrego Garcia "to make sure that he's okay, to discuss his legal rights and the like."
The US lawmaker said he had met leaders of human rights groups, but was unable to meet officials from the government of President Nayib Bukele, a key Trump ally who has also refused to facilitate returning Abrego Garcia to the United States.
Chris Newman, an attorney for Abrego Garcia's family, said this was his third visit to El Salvador to try and secure the release of his client. 
"We want access to Mr. Abrego Garcia so he can receive legal services," he said.
El Salvador has received 288 migrants deported from the United States, including 252 Venezuelans, who are being held in a maximum security prison. 
The Trump administration says -- without proof -- that Abrego Garcia is a violent criminal who is a member of the MS-13 gang, which has been declared a "terrorist" organization by Washington.
Trump's government has used an obscure wartime law to summarily deport alleged gang members, a process some US courts have halted and that one, in Texas, has deemed "unlawful."
ob/fj/nn/aha/jgc

Rangel

Charles Rangel, pioneer of US Congressional Black Caucus, dies aged 94

  • The Congressional Black Caucus called him "a trailblazer and statesman."
  • Charles Rangel, a founding member and pioneering leader of the US Congressional Black Caucus, died on Monday, the Caucus said.
  • The Congressional Black Caucus called him "a trailblazer and statesman."
Charles Rangel, a founding member and pioneering leader of the US Congressional Black Caucus, died on Monday, the Caucus said. He was 94.
A native and longtime resident of the storied New York neighborhood of Harlem, Rangel entered the US Congress in 1971, serving for 46 years before retiring in 2017.
In the wake of the US civil rights movement, he emerged as a leading political voice representing Black Americans at the turn of the 1970s.
Rangel was the first African American to be appointed chairman of the powerful House Ways And Means Committee, which shapes fiscal legislation. 
He was forced out of that position and was censured for an ethics violation in 2010, but that did not appear to dent his electability, as he continued to hold public office until his retirement seven years later.
The censure was related to alleged violations of congressional gift rules related to his acceptance of corporate-sponsored trips to the Caribbean, the New York Times reported. 
Over the course of an almost-five-decade career, he established himself as an influential figure in the Democratic Party, forging close ties with former president Bill Clinton and former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
Rangel was instrumental in convincing Hillary Clinton to run for a US Senate seat in New York in 2000, kickstarting her political career. 
"I'll miss Charlie Rangel, a beloved icon and public servant of New York," she posted on the X social media platform. 
"He was a proud veteran who loved serving his Harlem constituents. He urged me to run for the Senate and later was an invaluable colleague."
The Congressional Black Caucus called him "a trailblazer and statesman."
"Known affectionately as the 'Lion of Lenox Avenue,' his legacy is one of tireless advocacy, historic firsts, and unwavering dedication to justice and equality. May he rest in power and everlasting peace," the caucus said in a statement.
New York City Council President Adrienne Adams described him as "a giant" of US politics. 
"He served with unmatched wit, courage, and an unshakable belief in the power of government to change lives," she said in a statement.
"His legacy lives on in the countless Black and Latino New Yorkers he lifted up and inspired."
The death of Rangel, a veteran of the Korean War, came as the United States commemorated Memorial Day on Monday, a day honoring fallen US soldiers. 
gl-aha/st

conflict

Ukraine says hit by record drone salvo after Trump rebukes Putin

BY STANISLAV DOSHCHITSYN

  • Ukrainian air force spokesman Yuriy Ignat warned it was becoming difficult to counter the sheer number of drones Moscow was firing.
  • Russia fired its biggest ever drone barrage on Ukraine, authorities said Monday, just hours after Donald Trump called Vladimir Putin "CRAZY" and warned Moscow risked new sanctions if it kept up its deadly bombardment.
  • Ukrainian air force spokesman Yuriy Ignat warned it was becoming difficult to counter the sheer number of drones Moscow was firing.
Russia fired its biggest ever drone barrage on Ukraine, authorities said Monday, just hours after Donald Trump called Vladimir Putin "CRAZY" and warned Moscow risked new sanctions if it kept up its deadly bombardment.
The US president's efforts to halt the three-year war have failed to extract major concessions from the Kremlin, despite repeated negotiations between officials and several phone calls between him and Russia's president.
For three consecutive nights Russia has pummelled Ukraine with large-scale drone attacks, saturating its air defences and killing at least 13 people on Sunday, officials said.
Russia fired "355 Shahed-type drones" including decoys, in the largest drone attack of the invasion between Sunday night and early Monday, as well as nine cruise missiles, Ukraine's air force said.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday that there were "no longer any range restrictions" on arms supplied by Western allies to Ukraine, allowing Kyiv to attack "military positions in Russia".
It was not immediately clear which countries had changed their policy however.
The Kremlin said any Western decision to lift range limits on arms delivered to Ukraine would be "dangerous" and "at odds" with peace efforts. 
In a rare rebuke of the Russian leader, Trump said on social media late Sunday: "I've always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY!"
"I've always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that's proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia!"
Earlier, Trump told reporters he was "absolutely" considering increasing sanctions on Moscow.

'Critical moment'

The Kremlin played down Trump's criticism, saying Putin was taking measures "necessary to ensure Russia's security".
"This is a very critical moment, which is fraught with emotional stress for everyone, as well as emotional reactions," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for more sanctions on Moscow.
"Russian strikes are becoming increasingly brazen and large-scale every night," Zelensky said in his daily address, adding that some 900 drones and missiles were launched on Ukraine in the last three days. 
"This makes no military sense, but it is an obvious political choice –- Putin's choice, Russia's choice –- to continue fighting and destroying lives," he said.
Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has killed tens of thousands of people, destroyed cities and spurred the biggest crisis in relations with the West since the Cold War.
Kyiv did not report any deaths from the latest drone attack, but said Russian shelling in the last 24 hours had killed a civilian man in the northern Sumy region.
Ukrainian air force spokesman Yuriy Ignat warned it was becoming difficult to counter the sheer number of drones Moscow was firing.
"We need rational and cheaper ways to shoot them down," he told Ukrainian TV. 
A Ukrainian military source told AFP that Kyiv was "somehow fighting" with available air defence capabilities and that there was "no need to panic". 
"To maintain our defence, we need deliveries of Western weapons," the source said, adding that deliveries of Patriot missiles as well as NASAMS medium range air defence and IRIS-T short range systems were especially important for Ukraine. 
After today's attack, Zelensky ordered "a significant increase in the production of interceptor drones" and "will seek additional funding from our partners for this purpose," he said in the address, adding that Ukraine will increase funding for missile production as well.

Diplomatic efforts

Diplomatic efforts to end the war have heightened in recent weeks, with Russian and Ukrainian officials holding direct talks in Istanbul earlier this month for the first time in three years.
They each sent back 1,000 people over the weekend in their biggest ever prisoner exchange, while Russia said it was preparing a document outlining its peace terms.
Any more potential POW exchanges would depend on talks with Ukraine, Peskov told journalists ahead of Putin's meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, adding that Moscow was still working on a ceasefire memorandum. 
Putin and Fidan discussed peace efforts after the Istanbul talks, as well as economic and energy cooperation, a Turkish foreign ministry source said.  
Fidan earlier met with Vladimir Medinsky, Moscow's chief negotiator with Kyiv.
Moscow has repeatedly rejected proposals for a 30-day ceasefire from Kyiv and its Western allies, while grinding forward on the front line. 
Instead, Putin offered to work on a memorandum stating conditions for a ceasefire, sparking critisism from Ukraine of stalling the talks.
bur-asy/tw

military

Trump attacks opponents, judges on day honoring US war dead

  • Trump is locked in a series of court battles with federal judges who have repeatedly imposed temporary restraining orders to freeze potentially unconstitutional actions, pending further rulings.
  • President Donald Trump marked the annual day for honoring the US war dead Monday by tearing into his "scum" opponents and judges who don't rule in his favor.
  • Trump is locked in a series of court battles with federal judges who have repeatedly imposed temporary restraining orders to freeze potentially unconstitutional actions, pending further rulings.
President Donald Trump marked the annual day for honoring the US war dead Monday by tearing into his "scum" opponents and judges who don't rule in his favor.
Trump performed the traditional presidential duties on Memorial Day of visiting Arlington National Cemetery -- the resting place for some 400,000 fallen soldiers and others.
And after laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Trump delivered a speech that likewise stuck mostly to the typical presidential script of praising US war heroes.
However, the 78-year-old Republican began his day with a lengthy, all-caps tirade on his Truth Social platform in which he declared: "HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL, INCLUDING THE SCUM THAT SPENT THE LAST FOUR YEARS TRYING TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY."
The post claimed that "warped radical left minds" had allowed in millions of illegal immigrants, "many of them being criminals and the mentally insane."
As well as blaming his political predecessors, Trump accused "USA hating" judges of being "on a mission to keep murderers, drug dealers, rapists, gang members, and released prisoners from all over the world, in our country so they can rob, murder and rape again."
Trump is locked in a series of court battles with federal judges who have repeatedly imposed temporary restraining orders to freeze potentially unconstitutional actions, pending further rulings.
With the Republican Party controlling Congress and rarely pushing back against the White House, the only significant remaining roadblocks to Trump's unprecedented drive to test constitutional norms are the courts.
One of the key cases being contested revolves around court injunctions stopping the use by Trump of an obscure wartime law to deport alleged illegal migrants or alleged foreign criminals without any due process.
In his Arlington speech, Trump hailed notable US battles over history and paid homage to several individual members of the armed forces killed in combat.
However, Trump did not entirely avoid his penchant to veer off script and begin talking about his own successes.
Overlooking the storied cemetery of white marble crosses, he mused about his luck in being president now, because he will preside over the 2026 soccer World Cup, the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and the 250th anniversary of the United States also in 2026.
Had he not lost his first reelection bid in 2020 -- a result he tried to overthrow and still frequently claims he was cheated on -- he would have not been president for the three events, he noted.
"In some ways, I'm glad I missed that second term," he told the audience of military officers, top government officials and surviving relatives of slain soldiers.
"Now look what I have: I have everything," Trump said. "Amazing the way things work out. God did that."
sms/dw