conflict

Hopes dim for Putin-Zelensky peace summit

BY DANNY KEMP

  • Trump told reporters on Friday he would make an "important" decision in two weeks on Ukraine peace efforts, specifying that Moscow could face massive sanctions -- or he might "do nothing."
  • The chances of a Russia-Ukraine summit faded Friday as US President Donald Trump appeared to tire of peace efforts and Moscow poured cold water on efforts to end the grinding war in Ukraine. 
  • Trump told reporters on Friday he would make an "important" decision in two weeks on Ukraine peace efforts, specifying that Moscow could face massive sanctions -- or he might "do nothing."
The chances of a Russia-Ukraine summit faded Friday as US President Donald Trump appeared to tire of peace efforts and Moscow poured cold water on efforts to end the grinding war in Ukraine. 
Trump had raised expectations on Monday by saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky had agreed to meet face-to-face -- but on Friday he compared the two men to "oil and vinegar."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said "no meeting" was planned as Trump's mediation efforts appeared to stall, while Zelensky said Russia was trying to prolong the war.
Trump told reporters on Friday he would make an "important" decision in two weeks on Ukraine peace efforts, specifying that Moscow could face massive sanctions -- or he might "do nothing."
"It takes two to tango," the US president, wearing a red baseball cap saying "Trump was right about everything," said in the Oval Office. 
"In two weeks, we will know which way I'm going. Because I will go one way or the other, and I'll learn which way I'm going," he added.
"That's whether or not it's massive sanctions or massive tariffs or both. Or do we do nothing and say it's your fight."

'No meeting planned'

Trump did however hold up a photo that he said Putin had sent him after their landmark summit in Alaska a week ago. He also said that he may invite the Russian leader to the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals being held in the United States if there is progress on Ukraine. 
Lavrov dampened hopes for direct Putin-Zelensky talks to resolve the conflict, now in its fourth year, by questioning the Ukrainian president's legitimacy and repeating the Kremlin's maximalist claims.
"There is no meeting planned," Lavrov said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press with Kristen Welker."
The veteran Russian diplomat said Putin was "ready to meet Zelensky" as soon as an agenda was prepared. He added that such an agenda was "not ready at all."
In Kyiv, speaking alongside visiting NATO chief Mark Rutte, Zelensky said Ukraine had "no agreements with the Russians."
On Thursday, Zelensky had accused Russia of "trying to wriggle out of holding a meeting," adding that Moscow wanted to continue the offensive.
The question of eventual security guarantees for Ukraine has been front and center during the latest US-led diplomatic push to broker a peace deal to end the conflict.
Trump -- who hosted Zelensky, Rutte and top European leaders at the White House on Monday before making a call to Putin -- said Russia had agreed to some Western security guarantees for Kyiv.

'Road to nowhere'

But Moscow later cast doubt on any such arrangement, Lavrov saying on Wednesday that discussing them without Russia was "a road to nowhere."
"When Russia raises the issue of security guarantees, I honestly do not yet know who is threatening them," said Zelensky, who wants foreign troops in Ukraine to deter Russian attacks in the future. 
The Kremlin has long said it would never accept that, citing Ukraine's NATO ambition as one of the pretexts for its invasion. 
On a visit to Kyiv, during which an air raid alert sounded across the city, Rutte said security guarantees were needed to ensure "Russia will uphold any deal and will never ever again attempt to take one square kilometer of Ukraine."
Moscow signed the Budapest Memorandum in 1994, which was aimed at ensuring security for Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan in exchange for them giving up numerous nuclear weapons left from the Soviet era.
Russia violated that first by taking Crimea in 2014, and then by starting a full-scale offensive in 2022, which has killed tens of thousands of people and forced millions to flee their homes.
burs-dk/dl

Global Edition

Trump says 2026 World Cup draw set for December in Washington

BY DANNY KEMP

  • The choice of location for the FIFA World Cup draw however has deeply political overtones. 
  • US President Donald Trump announced Friday that the draw for the 2026 World Cup will be held in Washington on December 5 -- and got a rare chance to hold the coveted football trophy.
  • The choice of location for the FIFA World Cup draw however has deeply political overtones. 
US President Donald Trump announced Friday that the draw for the 2026 World Cup will be held in Washington on December 5 -- and got a rare chance to hold the coveted football trophy.
The 48-team event is being hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico next year, and Trump has made a big deal about it happening during his presidency.
The draw was reportedly due to be held in Las Vegas but Trump, accompanied by FIFA chief Gianni Infantino, said it would now be held at the Kennedy Center in the US capital.
"It's the biggest, probably the biggest event in sports," added the 79-year-old US president, who was wearing a red hat saying "Trump Was Right About Everything."
Trump also suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin may attend the World Cup -- saying that he "wants to be there very badly," but that he "may be coming and he may not" depending on the outcome of Ukraine peace efforts.
Infantino allowed Trump to get his hands on the trophy, which is presented to winners of football's global tournament.
"Only the FIFA president, presidents of countries, and then those who win can touch it, because it's for winners only. And since you are a winner, of course you can as well touch it," Infantino said.
"Can I keep it?" joked Trump, who won a second term in the White House in the 2024 US presidential election.
The Republican, who has decked out the Oval Office with gilded decor since returning to power in January, then added: "That's a beautiful piece of gold. That's beautiful." 

'Trump-Kennedy Center'

But there was a brief moment of nerves as Trump appeared to fumble the World Cup before placing it on his desk -- as Infantino reached out a hand to steady it.
Infantino later presented the US leader with a giant ticket -- Row 1 Seat 1 -- for the World Cup final on July 19 at the MetLife stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, just outside New York.
The choice of location for the FIFA World Cup draw however has deeply political overtones. 
Trump and his administration led a takeover of the Kennedy Center earlier this year, saying that the venerable performing arts venue had become too "woke."
He added on Friday as he made the announcement that "some people refer to it as the Trump-Kennedy Center, but we're not prepared to do that quite yet, maybe in a week or so." 
Trump visited the Kennedy Center just before the Oval Office announcement. He has said he is going to make major improvements to "beautify" it, including adding marble cladding.
The US president also hailed a major federal crime crackdown in Washington that has seen US National Guard troops deployed on the streets of the capital.
Trump said the move would make Washington safe for football fans visiting the city during next year's tournament.
dk/sst/dl

raid

FBI raids home of outspoken Trump critic John Bolton

BY PEDRO UGARTE AND CHRIS LEFKOW

  • The now 76-year-old Bolton served as Trump's national security advisor in his first term and later angered the administration with the publication of a highly critical book, "The Room Where it Happened."
  • FBI agents raided the home and office on Friday of former national security advisor John Bolton, one of US President Donald Trump's fiercest critics, in an investigation officials said was linked to classified documents.
  • The now 76-year-old Bolton served as Trump's national security advisor in his first term and later angered the administration with the publication of a highly critical book, "The Room Where it Happened."
FBI agents raided the home and office on Friday of former national security advisor John Bolton, one of US President Donald Trump's fiercest critics, in an investigation officials said was linked to classified documents.
Trump, asked about the FBI searches, said he was "not a fan" of his former aide but did not know about the law enforcement operation ahead of time.
The FBI declined to comment on the coordinated raids of Bolton's home in the Washington suburb of Bethesda and his downtown office in the nation's capital, but FBI director Kash Patel posted "NO ONE is above the law" on X as they were taking place.
"We're in the very early stages of an ongoing investigation into John Bolton," Vice President JD Vance said in an interview with NBC News.
"Classified documents are certainly part of it," Vance said, and there was also "broad concern" about Bolton. He did not elaborate.
Vance denied Bolton was being targeted because of his criticism of the president.
"No, not at all," he said. "Our focus here is on, did he break the law? Did he commit crimes against the American people? If so, then he deserves to be prosecuted."
Democratic lawmaker Jamie Raskin, whose Maryland congressional district includes Bolton's neighborhood, called the raid "disturbing."
"This looks like it's very much in line with the other acts of political retribution and vengeance exacted against Bolton," Raskin told CNN.
- Trump calls Bolton 'sleazebag' - 
Trump, in comments to reporters in the Oval Office, noted that his own Mar-a-Lago home was raided by the FBI after he left the White House as part of a probe into the mishandling of classified documents.
"They went through everything they could, including my young son's room and my wife's area," the president said.
As for Bolton, he called him a "sleazebag" suffering from "Trump derangement syndrome."
The now 76-year-old Bolton served as Trump's national security advisor in his first term and later angered the administration with the publication of a highly critical book, "The Room Where it Happened."
Legal efforts to block its release for allegedly containing classified information were dropped when Joe Biden replaced Trump in the White House in 2021.  
Bolton has since become a highly visible and pugnacious critic of Trump, frequently appearing on television news shows and in print to condemn the man he has called "unfit to be president."
A longtime critic of the Iranian regime, Bolton was a national security hawk and has received death threats from Tehran.

'Retribution presidency'

The raid by the FBI came seven months after Trump stripped Bolton -- and multiple other foes -- of federal protective details.
Asked recently in an interview with ABC whether he was worried about Trump "coming after" him, Bolton said: "He's already come after me and several others in withdrawing the protection that we had."
"I think it is a retribution presidency," Bolton said.
Since taking office in January, Trump has taken a number of punitive measures against his perceived enemies and political opponents.
He has stripped former officials of their security clearances, targeted law firms involved in past cases against him and pulled federal funding from universities.
The FBI opened criminal investigations in July into two other prominent Trump critics, former FBI director James Comey and ex-CIA chief John Brennan. 
Trump was the target of several investigations after leaving the White House and the FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago home in 2022 as part of the probe into mishandling of classified documents.
Trump was also charged by Special Counsel Jack Smith with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Neither case came to trial, and Smith -- in line with a Justice Department policy of not prosecuting a sitting president -- dropped them both after Trump won the November 2024 presidential election.
cl/dl

Fed

US Fed chair opens door to rate cut as Trump steps up pressure

BY BEIYI SEOW

  • But the president is limited in his ability to remove officials from the central bank.
  • US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell left the door open to interest rate cuts in a keenly watched speech Friday, balancing risks to the economy as President Donald Trump intensifies pressure on the central bank.
  • But the president is limited in his ability to remove officials from the central bank.
US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell left the door open to interest rate cuts in a keenly watched speech Friday, balancing risks to the economy as President Donald Trump intensifies pressure on the central bank.
Last year, the Fed chair used his keynote speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium to indicate the time had come for interest rate cuts. This time, however, the picture is murkier.
Powell faces constant attacks from Trump -- who is aggressively pushing the independent bank to slash rates -- alongside mixed economic data leading him towards a cautious approach.
Powell warned Friday that the risks of higher inflation and a weakening jobs market add up to a "challenging situation."
"Downside risks to employment are rising," Powell said in his speech, warning that these challenges could materialize quickly in the form of layoffs.
"While the labor market appears to be in balance, it is a curious kind of balance that results from a marked slowing in both the supply of and demand for workers," he noted.
He added that "the effects of tariffs on consumer prices are now clearly visible" and expected to accumulate over the coming months.
He said there is high uncertainty about the timing and extent of the tariffs' impact.
But he vowed: "We will not allow a one-time increase in the price level to become an ongoing inflation problem."
Confronted with these dual challenges, Powell alluded to a possible rate cut: "With policy in restrictive territory, the baseline outlook and the shifting balance of risks may warrant adjusting our policy stance."
Asked about Powell's remarks Friday, Trump told reporters: "We call him 'Too Late' for a reason." The president said Powell should have cut rates a year ago.
This marked Powell's final Jackson Hole speech at the helm of the Fed, with his term as chair ending in May 2026.

Gradual cuts

"That's about as clear cut as Powell can get" in signaling that he leans towards a September rate cut, said Navy Federal Credit Union chief economist Heather Long.
"While he is committed to ensuring that the tariff shocks are a one-time impact on inflation, he is telegraphing that the jobs situation is deteriorating quickly and that is the biggest risk now," she added in a note.
Wall Street rallied Friday after Powell's remarks, with both the Dow and Nasdaq climbing around 2.0 percent. Treasury yields, which are sensitive to monetary policy developments, pulled back.
CME Group's FedWatch Tool showed that the market sees a roughly 85-percent chance of a September rate cut.
But Ryan Sweet, chief US economist at Oxford Economics, said the next rate reduction might not be "the beginning of a series."
"Powell stressed that policy isn't on a preset course and will continue to be based on the incoming data and the balance of risks," Sweet said.
The Fed chair appears to be setting the stage for a "gradual approach" to adjusting rates, he added.

Trump pressure

For now, the Fed sees growing pressure from the Trump administration on various fronts.
Trump also said Friday that he would fire Fed governor Lisa Cook if she did not resign, after lashing out at her over claims of mortgage fraud.
But the president is limited in his ability to remove officials from the central bank.
Cook previously stated that she had "no intention of being bullied to step down," while indicating that she would take questions about her financial history seriously.
Trump has made no secret of his disdain for Powell, repeatedly saying that the Fed chair has been "too late" in lowering rates and calling him a "numbskull" and "moron."
He has also taken aim at Powell over the Fed's headquarters renovation in Washington, at one point suggesting that cost overruns could be cause for ousting the central banker.
The Fed, which holds its next policy meeting in mid-September, has kept interest rates steady at a range of between 4.25 percent and 4.50 percent since its last reduction in December.
Policymakers cited resilience in the labor market as they monitored the effects of Trump's tariffs on inflation.
But cracks have emerged in the jobs market, which could lead the Fed to lower rates to boost the economy.
bys/ksb

Washington

National Guard troops will soon carry weapons in US capital

BY W.G. DUNLOP

  • "At the direction of the secretary of defense, JTF-DC members supporting the mission to lower the crime rate in our nation's capital will soon be on mission with their service-issued weapons," the defense official said on condition of anonymity, referring to the Joint Task Force-DC. The US Army previously said as troops began to arrive that "weapons are available if needed but will remain in the armory."
  • National Guard troops will soon carry weapons in Washington, DC, where President Donald Trump ordered their deployment as part of a crackdown on crime, a US defense official said Friday.
  • "At the direction of the secretary of defense, JTF-DC members supporting the mission to lower the crime rate in our nation's capital will soon be on mission with their service-issued weapons," the defense official said on condition of anonymity, referring to the Joint Task Force-DC. The US Army previously said as troops began to arrive that "weapons are available if needed but will remain in the armory."
National Guard troops will soon carry weapons in Washington, DC, where President Donald Trump ordered their deployment as part of a crackdown on crime, a US defense official said Friday.
Trump has said Washington was a "crime-infested rat hole" before he sent troops onto its streets last week and said Friday that Chicago and New York -- two more major Democrat-led cities -- are set to receive similar treatment.
"At the direction of the secretary of defense, JTF-DC members supporting the mission to lower the crime rate in our nation's capital will soon be on mission with their service-issued weapons," the defense official said on condition of anonymity, referring to the Joint Task Force-DC.
The US Army previously said as troops began to arrive that "weapons are available if needed but will remain in the armory."
There are now more than 1,900 National Guard troops in Washington, both from the city as well as the Republican-led states of West Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee, which have also sent forces.
On Friday, Trump said Chicago and New York are also on his list of targets.
"We're going to make our cities very, very safe," Trump told reporters at the White House. "I think Chicago will be our next and then we'll help with New York."

Lowest violent crime in years

The US president also discussed declaring a national emergency to keep troops in Washington for longer than 30 days.
Republican politicians -- led by Trump -- have claimed that the overwhelmingly Democratic US capital is overrun by crime, plagued by homelessness and financially mismanaged.
Data from Washington police, however, showed significant drops in violent crime between 2023 and 2024, though that was coming off a post-pandemic surge.
A Justice Department statement from January said that based on that data, "total violent crime for 2024 in the District of Columbia is down 35 percent from 2023 and is the lowest it has been in over 30 years."
But Trump has accused Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser of "giving false and highly inaccurate crime figures," threatening "bad things" including a total federal takeover of the city if she does not stop doing so.
In addition to the deployment of the National Guard, federal law enforcement personnel -- including Immigration and Customs Enforcement -- have also recently surged their presence on Washington's streets, drawing protests from residents.
The deployment of troops in Washington comes after Trump dispatched the National Guard and Marines to quell unrest in Los Angeles, California, that was sparked by immigration enforcement raids.
That was the first time since 1965 that a US president deployed the National Guard against the wishes of a state governor, who are usually responsible for those forces.
wd/dw

trade

Embattled Bordeaux winemakers see Trump's tariffs as latest blow

BY JEAN DECOTTE

  • "There will be a price adjustment but there is no expected market shutdown.
  • The sun is shining, the grapes are ripe and a good harvest is expected but a heavy cloud is looming over Laurent Dubois's vineyard in southwestern France.
  • "There will be a price adjustment but there is no expected market shutdown.
The sun is shining, the grapes are ripe and a good harvest is expected but a heavy cloud is looming over Laurent Dubois's vineyard in southwestern France.
"It's not up to me to pay the Trump tax!" he fumes, faced with the 15 percent in customs duties that is to hit his products in US President Donald Trump's trade war.
Trump's long-threatened tariffs are just the latest blow to be sustained by Bordeaux winemakers, who are operating in an increasingly tough market as consumer tastes change.
The duties imposed could have been worse and on their own will not destroy the industry, winemakers emphasise, but they say they are an extra burden they could so without.
Dubois, 57, a major figure in the Bordeaux region famous for its fruity reds, exports 70 percent of his production to 25 countries, including 10 percent to the United States.
The ninth generation to lead the Chateau Les Bertrands in Reignac, north of Bordeaux, Dubois is already seeing the effects of the 15 percent levy, which is being imposed after the EU failed to secure an exemption for wines and spirits.

'Narrow margins'

"For our last shipment, a client in Texas asked us to give him a price," Dubois told AFP. "But I'm French, I didn't vote for Trump. So it's not up to me to pay, knowing that our margins are very narrow."
The United States is by far the largest export market for Bordeaux wines, with sales of over 400 million euros ($469 million) or 20 percent of the total.
China comes next on 300 million euros and the UK on 200 million euros, according to the Bordeaux Negoce union.
Customs duties, combined with the weakness of the dollar against the euro, constitute "a double whammy" for the price of bottles on the American market, said Dubois.
He said he expects a "small drop" in his exports to the United States but remains phlegmatic: "It could have been worse because a few months ago, Trump announced taxes of 50 percent or even 200 percent."
His opinion is echoed by Laurent Rousseau, a winegrower in Abzac, near Saint-Emilion in the Bordeaux region, for whom the US market represents 43 percent of sales.
"There will be a price adjustment but there is no expected market shutdown. After that, I don't know what will happen in December" during the annual renegotiation of the contract with his importer, he said.

'It's scary'

Export difficulties have led to overproduction and a collapse in wholesale prices in recent years. 
A subsidised uprooting plan has reduced the cultivated area to 90,000 hectares (222,000 acres), compared to 103,000 two years ago.
US customs duties add to these difficulties, against a backdrop of a chronic decline in wine consumption as lifestyles change in France and elsewhere.
"It's bad news, yet again," said Dubois. "We had to reduce our area by about 10 percent (to 130 hectares), we did the uprooting. 
"And then we see a number of companies, winegrowers who are shutting down or are in receivership. It's scary. We say to ourselves: 'The next one will be me'."
Further north, the vineyards of Cognac are also being hit by the customs duties, as the United States is the largest market for the famous spirit.
China -- the second-largest destination for a sector that is 98 percent export-dependent -- has previously imposed taxes or price increases.
Bertrand de Witasse, a winemaker who supplies the Remy Martin distillery, saw his orders drop by 25 percent during a renegotiation in May. 
"We're all affected," he admitted. "But as they say in Cognac, 'You're a billionaire for one year and a poor man for 10'.
"So, the years you're a billionaire, you have to save and avoid wasting money."
French winemakers are far from being the only Europeans affected.
On Thursday, the Italian Wine and Spirits Federation (Federvini) expressed "its deep concern" at the lack of an exemption for "wines, spirits, and vinegars". 
"We are seeing a missed opportunity," said Federvini president Giacomo Ponti, emphasising that "the agreement could have fully recognised the strategic importance" of our sectors "in transatlantic relations."
jed-sjw/phz

conflict

NATO chief calls for 'robust security guarantees' on Ukraine visit

  • On a visit to Kyiv, during which an air raid alert sounded across the city, Rutte said security guarantees were needed to ensure "Russia will uphold any deal and will never ever again attempt to take one square kilometre of Ukraine".
  • The head of NATO on Friday called for "robust" security guarantees for Ukraine to ensure Russia upholds any potential peace deal and "never again" attempts to invade Ukraine.
  • On a visit to Kyiv, during which an air raid alert sounded across the city, Rutte said security guarantees were needed to ensure "Russia will uphold any deal and will never ever again attempt to take one square kilometre of Ukraine".
The head of NATO on Friday called for "robust" security guarantees for Ukraine to ensure Russia upholds any potential peace deal and "never again" attempts to invade Ukraine.
The question of eventual security guarantees for Ukraine has been front and centre during the latest US-led diplomatic push to broker a peace deal to end the conflict, now in its fourth year.
"Robust security guarantees will be essential and this is what we are now working to define," Mark Rutte said during a visit to Kyiv, speaking alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
US President Donald Trump, who hosted a meeting of European leaders with Rutte and Zelensky on Monday, said Russia had agreed to some Western security guarantees for Kyiv.
But Moscow later cast doubt on any such arrangement. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that discussing security guarantees without Russia was "a utopia, a road to nowhere".
On a visit to Kyiv, during which an air raid alert sounded across the city, Rutte said security guarantees were needed to ensure "Russia will uphold any deal and will never ever again attempt to take one square kilometre of Ukraine".
Zelensky said "the guarantees consist of what partners can give Ukraine, as well as what the army in Ukraine should be like" once the war ends.
"And it is too early to say who can provide military personnel, who can provide intelligence, who has a presence at sea or in the air, and who is ready to provide funding," he added.
Rutte also said it was "too early to exactly say what will be the outcome. But clearly, the US will be involved", adding: "We do not want a repeat of the Budapest Memorandum or the Minsk Agreement."
Moscow signed the Budapest Memorandum in 1994, which was aimed at ensuring security for Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan in exchange for them giving up numerous nuclear weapons left from the Soviet era.
Russia violated that first by taking Crimea in 2014, and then by starting a full-scale offensive in 2022, which has killed tens of thousands of people and forced millions to flee their homes.
bur/jj

raid

FBI raids home of outspoken Trump critic, former adviser

  • The raid by the FBI comes seven months after Trump stripped him -- and multiple other critics -- of government security protections.
  • FBI agents on Friday raided and searched the home of one of President Donald Trump's most outspoken critics, his former national security adviser John Bolton.
  • The raid by the FBI comes seven months after Trump stripped him -- and multiple other critics -- of government security protections.
FBI agents on Friday raided and searched the home of one of President Donald Trump's most outspoken critics, his former national security adviser John Bolton.
Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation entered Bolton's home in the Washington suburb of Bethesda early in the morning, an AFP reporter said. 
A police car with flashing lights was stationed outside the house, while journalists and onlookers gathered in the leafy street.
The director of the FBI, Kash Patel, posted on X: "NO ONE is above the law... @FBI agents on mission."
According to The New York Times and other US media outlets, the search was ordered to determine whether Bolton had illegally shared or possessed classified information.
Bolton served as Trump's adviser in his first term and angered the administration with the publication of a highly critical book, "The Room Where it Happened."
Legal efforts to block release of the book for allegedly containing classified information were eventually dropped when Joe Biden replaced Trump in the presidency in 2021.
Bolton has since become a highly visible and pugnacious critic of Trump, frequently appearing on television news shows and in print to condemn the man he has called "unfit to be president."
A longtime critic of Iran's ruling powers, Bolton was a national security hawk and has received death threats from Iranians.
The raid by the FBI comes seven months after Trump stripped him -- and multiple other critics -- of government security protections.
Since returning to power in January, Trump has embarked on a campaign to punish political opponents or simply anyone not fitting his right-wing agenda.
The onslaught has targeted private individuals like Bolton, senior civil servants, elite universities, law firms and opposition Democratic politicians.
sms/aha

trade

US wine sellers left in limbo despite EU tariff deal

BY BEIYI SEOW

  • "Everybody's redoing their price books at this point," said Michael Warner, co-owner of wine boutique DCanter in Washington's Capitol Hill neighborhood.
  • At a wine shop in Washington's Capitol Hill neighborhood, bottles sourced from Europe are becoming costlier to import -- and soon, pricier for customers to buy, the owner says -- thanks to a resident just down the road in the White House.
  • "Everybody's redoing their price books at this point," said Michael Warner, co-owner of wine boutique DCanter in Washington's Capitol Hill neighborhood.
At a wine shop in Washington's Capitol Hill neighborhood, bottles sourced from Europe are becoming costlier to import -- and soon, pricier for customers to buy, the owner says -- thanks to a resident just down the road in the White House.
President Donald Trump has slapped a 15-percent tariff on many goods coming from the European Union, as part of a deal the bloc negotiated to avoid even steeper levies.
The continent's important wine and spirits industry hoped to have a carveout, but details released Thursday showed no exemption to the double-digit duty.
The new EU rate took effect this month, replacing a 10-percent levy Trump imposed in April on most trading partners. But even the lower tariff has forced importers to hike prices -- and retailers are feeling the pinch.
"Everybody's redoing their price books at this point," said Michael Warner, co-owner of wine boutique DCanter in Washington's Capitol Hill neighborhood.
He told AFP that price increases from importers and distributors became apparent around June, ranging from 10-15 percent.
Over 80 percent of wine in Warner's store is imported, with about two-thirds from Europe.
Businesses may have stocked up to mitigate a price shock from Trump's duties, but inventory is depleting.
As the euro strengthened against the dollar this year too, Warner said many importers "are seeing a 20-percent swing in their costs." 
"As more and more importers are increasing their costs, we see that there will be more and more price increases, certainly in the next coming months and going into the holiday season," he said.

No 'special treatment'

EU negotiators have sought to exempt alcohol such as Irish whiskey and French champagne from Trump's tariffs, but their efforts have been fruitless so far.
The bloc's trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic maintained Thursday that "these doors are not closed forever."
The French wine exporters federation said it was "hugely disappointed" in the outcome.
The Italian Wines Union foresees potential losses of 317 million euros ($368 million) over the next 12 months.
"We now need determined action to reintegrate our sectors among those that enjoy a totally open US market," said Giacomo Ponti, president of Italy's wine and spirits federation.
A White House official told AFP this week that the Trump administration "did not agree to any special treatment of EU alcohol" as part of the tariff deal.
US Wine Trade Alliance president Ben Aneff argues, however, that his country has "a huge economic surplus on the sale of wines from the EU."
The American wine industry generally operates in a tiered system, where foreign producers sell to importers, who then sell to distributors. They in turn sell to retailers and restaurants.
"For every dollar we spend in the European Union on wine, we make $4.52," Aneff said of the economic impact of the wine changing hands through the supply chain.
He estimates the United States buys some $5.3 billion worth of wine annually from the EU: "But that makes us about $24 billion in the United States."
The industry supports hundreds of thousands of jobs in importing and distribution, alongside tens of thousands of independent wine retailers -- who in turn sell to consumers.
"There's no guarantee there will be an exclusion but we do know it's something that the administration is considering seriously," Aneff said.

'Extraordinarily trying time'

Harry Root, who operates a wine distribution and import company with his wife, said they have paid "more than $100,000 worth of tariffs already this year."
"We made less than $400,000 last year, so this is already like a 25-percent tax on our business," he said. His firm, Grassroots Wine, serves South Carolina and Alabama.
The funds to pay tariffs, according to Root, come from business capital that otherwise would have gone to wine makers, including dozens in the United States.
"It puts a big strain on our ability to support our American producers," he said.
US wine producers also rely on imported components ranging from bottles made in Asia to barrels from Europe -- and tariffs raise those costs too.
While Root has not laid off staff, he has delayed replacing workers who left -- departing from ambitious growth plans at the start of the year to expand the business.
"Once the tariffs really became a reality, we curtailed that," he said, adding that the company has had to cut costs.
"This is a really, extraordinarily trying time."
bys/lth/aha

justice

US judge orders dismantling of Trump's 'Alligator Alcatraz'

  • Now she has ordered the Trump administration and the state of Florida -- which is governed by Republican Ron DeSantis -- to remove all temporary fencing installed at the center within 60 days, as well as all lighting, generators and waste and sewage treatment systems.
  • A US federal judge on Thursday barred the Trump administration and Florida state government from bringing any new migrants to the detention center known as "Alligator Alcatraz" and ordered much of the site to be dismantled, effectively shuttering the facility.
  • Now she has ordered the Trump administration and the state of Florida -- which is governed by Republican Ron DeSantis -- to remove all temporary fencing installed at the center within 60 days, as well as all lighting, generators and waste and sewage treatment systems.
A US federal judge on Thursday barred the Trump administration and Florida state government from bringing any new migrants to the detention center known as "Alligator Alcatraz" and ordered much of the site to be dismantled, effectively shuttering the facility.
Florida's government swiftly announced it would appeal the decision. 
The detention center was hastily assembled in just eight days in June with bunk beds, wire cages and large white tents at an abandoned airfield in Florida's Everglades wetlands, home to a large population of alligators. 
President Donald Trump, who has vowed to deport millions of undocumented migrants, visited the center last month, boasting about the harsh conditions and joking that the reptilian predators will serve as guards. 
The White House has nicknamed the facility "Alligator Alcatraz," a reference to the former island prison in San Francisco Bay that Trump has said he wants to reopen.
The center was planned to hold 3,000 migrants, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
But it has come under fire from both environmentalists and critics of Trump's crackdown on migration, who consider the facility to be inhumane.
The new ruling on Thursday by District Judge Kathleen Williams comes after a lawsuit filed against the Trump administration by Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity.
The environmental groups argue that the detention center threatens the sensitive Everglades ecosystem and was hastily built without conducting the legally required environmental impact studies.

Sixty-day deadline

Earlier this month, Williams had ordered further construction at the center to be temporarily halted.
Now she has ordered the Trump administration and the state of Florida -- which is governed by Republican Ron DeSantis -- to remove all temporary fencing installed at the center within 60 days, as well as all lighting, generators and waste and sewage treatment systems.
The order also prohibits "bringing any additional persons onto the... site who were not already being detained at the site."
Several detainees have spoken with AFP about the conditions at the center, including a lack of medical care, mistreatment and the alleged violation of their legal rights.
"They don't even treat animals like this. This is like torture," said Luis Gonzalez, a 25-year-old Cuban who called AFP from inside the center.
He recently shared a cell with about 30 people, a space enclosed by chain-linked fencing that he compared to a chicken coop.
The Trump administration has said it wants to make this a model for other detention centers across the country. 
gma-rle/dl/abs/rsc

China

Nvidia chief says H20 chip shipments to China not a security concern

  • The California-based company produces some of the world's most advanced semiconductors but cannot ship its most cutting-edge chips to China due to concerns from Washington that Beijing could use them to enhance military capabilities.
  • Shipping Nvidia's H20 chips to China was "great" for Beijing and Washington and not a security threat, the tech giant's chief said Friday.  
  • The California-based company produces some of the world's most advanced semiconductors but cannot ship its most cutting-edge chips to China due to concerns from Washington that Beijing could use them to enhance military capabilities.
Shipping Nvidia's H20 chips to China was "great" for Beijing and Washington and not a security threat, the tech giant's chief said Friday.  
The California-based company produces some of the world's most advanced semiconductors but cannot ship its most cutting-edge chips to China due to concerns from Washington that Beijing could use them to enhance military capabilities.
Nvidia developed the H20 -- a less powerful version of its AI processing units -- specifically for export to China. 
That plan stalled when the Trump administration tightened export licensing requirements in April.
The H20 was "not a national security concern", Jensen Huang told reporters in Taipei, describing the chip as "great for America" and "great for the Chinese market".
Huang insisted there were "no security backdoors" in the H20 chip allowing remote access, after China summoned company representatives to discuss security issues. 
"We have made very clear and put to rest that H20 has no security backdoors, there are no such things, there never has, and so hopefully the response that we've given to the Chinese government will be sufficient," Huang said.
He sidestepped a question about reports that Nvidia would pay the United States 15 percent of its revenues from the sale of H20 chips to China, which US President Donald Trump confirmed last week.
Instead, Huang expressed gratitude to the Trump administration for allowing the chips to be shipped to the Chinese market. 
"The demand I believe is quite great and so the ability to ship products to, H20s to China, is very much appreciated," the CEO said.
Huang also said Nvidia is in talks with the US government about a new chip for China.
"Offering a new product to China for the data center, AI data centers, the follow on to H20, that's not our decision to make. It's up to of course the United States government, and we're in dialogue with them but it's too soon to know," he said.
Huang met with Trump at the White House this month and agreed to give the federal government the cut from its revenues, a highly unusual arrangement in the international tech trade, according to reports in the Financial Times, Bloomberg and The New York Times.
Investors are betting that AI will transform the global economy, and last month Nvidia -- the world's most valuable company and a leading designer of high-end AI chips -- became the first company ever to hit $4 trillion in market value.
The firm has, however, become entangled in trade tensions between China and the United States, which are waging a heated battle for dominance to produce the chips that power AI.
It comes as the Trump administration has been imposing stiff tariffs, with goals varying from addressing US trade imbalances, wanting to reshore manufacturing and pressuring foreign governments to change policies.
A 100 percent tariff on many semiconductor imports came into effect this month, with exceptions for tech companies that announce major investments in the United States.
aw/amj/sco

politics

Texas, California race to redraw electoral maps ahead of US midterms

BY HUW GRIFFITH WITH FRANKIE TAGGART IN WASHINGTON

  • California Governor Gavin Newsom -- an early frontrunner for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination -- struck back with a plan for a new map that would likely cancel out Texas by adding five Democratic seats.
  • Republican-controlled Texas and Democrat-run California forged ahead Thursday with creating new congressional maps, in a cutthroat struggle to tilt the outcome of next year's US midterm elections.
  • California Governor Gavin Newsom -- an early frontrunner for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination -- struck back with a plan for a new map that would likely cancel out Texas by adding five Democratic seats.
Republican-controlled Texas and Democrat-run California forged ahead Thursday with creating new congressional maps, in a cutthroat struggle to tilt the outcome of next year's US midterm elections.
The battle between the country's two largest states was set off by President Donald Trump's drive to protect the thin Republican majority in the US House of Representatives and avoid becoming mired in Democratic Party investigations from 2027.
Under pressure from Trump, Texas fired the starting gun in a tussle that pro-democracy activists warn could spread nationwide. Its state house on Wednesday approved new congressional boundaries that would likely eke out five extra Republican districts.
The state senate is expected to green-light the bill on Friday morning and send it to Governor Greg Abbott for a signature.
California Governor Gavin Newsom -- an early frontrunner for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination -- struck back with a plan for a new map that would likely cancel out Texas by adding five Democratic seats.
The state's legislature on Thursday overwhelmingly approved the plan, with thumping majorities in the house and the senate, both of which are Democrat controlled.
"We will not let our political system be hijacked by authoritarianism," Speaker Robert Rivas said, shortly before the vote.
"Today, we give every Californian the power to say no... to Donald Trump's power grab and yes to our people, to our state and to our democracy."
Voters will now be asked if they want to temporarily redraw constituency boundaries for elections, up to and including 2030.
The Texas House approved its new district boundaries after a two-week drama sparked by Democrats fleeing the state in an effort to block the vote and draw nationwide attention to the issue of partisan redistricting, known as "gerrymandering."
The Senate Special Committee on Congressional Redistricting passed the new map in a 5-3 vote Thursday lunchtime, teeing up a Friday vote of the full chamber.
Redistricting usually occurs once every decade, taking into account population changes registered in the latest census.

'Clinging to power'

The unusual mid-decade effort in Texas is expected to spark a tit-for-tat battle, potentially dragging in liberal-leaning Illinois and New York, and conservative Florida, Louisiana, Ohio, Indiana and Missouri. 
"The Great State of Missouri is now IN," Trump announced Thursday on social media, in a post understood to be referring to redistricting.
"I'm not surprised. It is a great State with fabulous people. I won it, all 3 times, in a landslide. We're going to win the Midterms in Missouri again, bigger and better than ever before!"
But New York's Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul called the push the "last gasp of a desperate party clinging to power," warning Trump that she would "meet him on the same field and beat him at his own game." 
Former president Barack Obama endorsed California's retaliation as a "smart and measured" response to anti-democratic moves by Trump.
"(Since) Texas is taking direction from a partisan White House and gerrymandering in the middle of a decade to try and maintain the House despite their unpopular policies, I have tremendous respect for how Governor Newsom has approached this," he said.
Newsom has a tougher task than Abbott in pushing through the redistricting plans, as California voters must first agree in a referendum in November to bypass the independent commission that normally controls the process. 
Californians have traditionally been wary of partisan redistricting, and while Democrats have called for independent commissions nationwide, a new Politico-UC Berkeley Citrin Center poll shows they would make an exception for the pushback against Texas.
Republicans are suing Democrats, alleging that November's vote would be unlawful, although the California Supreme Court rejected an initial challenge late Wednesday.
"Yes, we'll fight fire with fire. Yes, we will push back. It's not about whether we play hardball anymore -- it's about how we play hardball," Newsom said in a call with reporters. 
ft-hg/dl/sla

conflict

Zelensky says Russia trying to 'wriggle out' of peace talks

BY ANIA TSOUKANOVA

  • They don't want to end this war," the Ukrainian leader said during an evening address.
  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow on Thursday of shirking a meeting between him and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, despite US-led attempts to arrange a summit to end the war.
  • They don't want to end this war," the Ukrainian leader said during an evening address.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow on Thursday of shirking a meeting between him and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, despite US-led attempts to arrange a summit to end the war.
US President Donald Trump is trying to end Russia's three-and-a-half year invasion of Ukraine by bringing both Zelensky and Putin to the negotiating table.
But despite high-profile talks with Putin in Alaska last week and separate meetings with Zelensky and European leaders in Washington on Monday, there has been little tangible progress towards a peace deal.
Zelensky said Russia was "trying to wriggle out of holding a meeting".
"Frankly speaking, the signals coming from Russia are simply outrageous... They don't want to end this war," the Ukrainian leader said during an evening address.
"They continue their massive attacks on Ukraine and their ferocious assaults along the front line," he said.
Zelensky has signalled willingness to meet with Putin, but only after his allies agree on security guarantees for Ukraine to deter future Russian attacks once the fighting stops.
He has also said any meeting should take place in a "neutral" European country -- ruling out a summit in Moscow -- and rejected the idea of China helping to guarantee Ukrainian security. 
Russia, meanwhile, said that Ukraine did not appear to be interested in "long-term" peace, accusing Kyiv of seeking guarantees incompatible with Moscow's demands.
Trump has set a two-week time frame for assessing the chances of a peace agreement, telling the right-wing media outlet Newsmax that Washington would "have to maybe take a different tack" if the talks fell through.

Fresh Russian barrage

Zelensky also warned that both Moscow and Kyiv were preparing for further fighting.
Russia was building up troops on the southern front line, and Ukraine was test-launching a new long-range cruise missile, he said.
His comments came after Russia launched hundreds of drones and missiles against Ukraine overnight -- the biggest barrage since mid-July -- killing one person in the western city of Lviv and wounding many others.
Russian missiles also targeted an American-owned factory complex in the town of Mukachevo in western Ukraine, wounding 23 people, the head of the regional military administration said. 
The president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, Andy Hunder, said that Moscow aimed to "destroy and humiliate" US businesses in the country.
Zelensky called the attack "a deliberate strike specifically on American-owned property".
A later shelling of the city of Kherson killed one person and wounded more than a dozen, a local official said.
And in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine's Donetsk region, two people were killed and at least 21 wounded after Ukrainian shelling, the Russian-installed regional chief, Denis Pushilin, said.

Russia claims advances

On the front lines, Russia said it had captured the village of Oleksandro-Shultyne in the eastern Donetsk region, the latest in a long string of territorial gains.
The village lies less than eight kilometres (five miles) from Kostiantynivka, a fortified town in the Donetsk region that Russia has been pressing towards on both sides.
France condemned the overnight strikes as showing Moscow's "lack of will to seriously engage in peace talks".
A group of allies led by Britain and France are putting together a military coalition to support security guarantees for Ukraine.
Zelensky said Kyiv hoped to "have an understanding of the security guarantees architecture within seven to 10 days", in comments to reporters released for publication on Thursday. 
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine of making unrealistic security demands.
Any deployment of European troops to the country would be "absolutely unacceptable", he said, accusing Ukrainian officials of showing no interest in a "sustainable, fair, long-term settlement".
Zelensky also announced that Ukraine had successfully tested a long-range cruise missile, known as Flamingo, that can strike targets as far as 3,000 kilometres away and could be in mass production by February.
Russian forces have been slowly but steadily gaining ground in recent months. 
Zelensky said Russia was building up troops along the front in the Zaporizhzhia region, which Moscow claims as its own, along with four other Ukrainian regions.
bur-mmp/mjw/rsc

immigration

US slams door on foreign truck drivers after deadly crash

BY SHAUN TANDON

  • The case has gathered wide media attention and has been highlighted by officials in Florida, controlled by Trump's Republican Party, with the lieutenant governor flying to California to extradite Singh personally alongside immigration agents on Thursday.
  • President Donald Trump's administration on Thursday abruptly stopped issuing US visas for truck drivers after a fatal crash drew national attention, its latest sweeping step against foreign visitors.
  • The case has gathered wide media attention and has been highlighted by officials in Florida, controlled by Trump's Republican Party, with the lieutenant governor flying to California to extradite Singh personally alongside immigration agents on Thursday.
President Donald Trump's administration on Thursday abruptly stopped issuing US visas for truck drivers after a fatal crash drew national attention, its latest sweeping step against foreign visitors.
"Effective immediately we are pausing all issuance of worker visas for commercial truck drivers," Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X.
"The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on US roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers," he wrote.
Rubio's action came after a truck driver was charged with killing three people on a highway in Florida while making an illegal U-turn.
Harjinder Singh, who is from India, allegedly entered the United States illegally from Mexico and failed an English examination after the crash, according to federal officials.
The case has gathered wide media attention and has been highlighted by officials in Florida, controlled by Trump's Republican Party, with the lieutenant governor flying to California to extradite Singh personally alongside immigration agents on Thursday.
The crash has taken on a political dimension in part as Singh received his commercial license in California and also lived in the West Coast state, which is run by the rival Democratic Party and opposes Trump's crackdown on immigration.
"This crash was a preventable tragedy directly caused by reckless decisions and compounded by despicable failures," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom's office responded that the federal government under Trump had issued a work permit to Singh, who sought asylum, and that California had cooperated in extraditing him.
Even before the crash, Republican lawmakers have been taking aim at foreign truckers, pointing to a rising number of accidents without providing evidence of a direct link to immigrants.
In June, Duffy issued a directive that truck drivers must speak English.
Truck drivers have long been required to pass tests that include basic English proficiency but in 2016 under former president Barack Obama, authorities were told not to take truckers off the road solely on account of language deficiencies.

Changing face of truckers

The number of foreign-born truck drivers in the United States more than doubled between 2000 and 2021 to 720,000, according to federal statistics.
Foreign-born drivers now make up 18 percent of the industry -- in line with the US labor market as a whole, but a departure for a profession long identified with white, working-class men.
More than half of the foreign-born drivers come from Latin America with sizable numbers in recent years from India and Eastern European nations, especially Ukraine, according to industry groups.
The influx of foreign drivers has come in response to demand. 
A study earlier this year by the financial company altLine said the United States faced a shortage of 24,000 truck drivers, costing the freight industry $95.5 million per week as goods go undelivered.

Widening visa curbs

Trump has long made opposition to immigration a signature issue, rising to political prominence in 2016 with vows to build a wall on the Mexican border. 
Rubio has taken a starring role in Trump's efforts by cracking down on visas. 
The State Department said this week that it has rescinded more than 6,000 student visas since Trump took office -- four times more than during the same period last year -- and an official said all 55 million foreigners with US visas are liable to "continuous vetting."
Rubio has ordered scrutiny of applicants' social media accounts and proudly removed students who campaigned against Israel's offensive in Gaza, using a law that allows him to rescind visas for people deemed to counter US foreign policy interests. 
The State Department over the weekend also paused visitor visas meant for severely wounded children from Gaza to receive treatment.
The decision came after Laura Loomer -- a far-right activist close to Trump who has described the September 11, 2001 terror attack as an inside job -- said she spoke to Rubio and warned of "Islamic invaders" from Gaza.
sct/acb

Washington

Trump says will patrol streets of US capital with troops Thursday

  • In addition to sending troops onto the streets, Trump has also sought to take full control of the local Washington police department, attempting at one point to sideline its leadership.
  • US President Donald Trump will patrol the streets of Washington Thursday with police and National Guard troops he has deployed to the US capital, the Republican said in an interview.
  • In addition to sending troops onto the streets, Trump has also sought to take full control of the local Washington police department, attempting at one point to sideline its leadership.
US President Donald Trump will patrol the streets of Washington Thursday with police and National Guard troops he has deployed to the US capital, the Republican said in an interview.
Trump ordered hundreds of National Guard to deploy in Washington last week as part of what he has called a crackdown on crime in the Democrat-run city, despite statistics showing violence offenses are down.
"I'm going to be going out tonight I think with the police and with the military of course... We're going to be doing a job," Trump told Todd Starnes, a host for right-wing media outlet Newsmax.
He spoke one day after his vice president, JD Vance, was greeted by boos and shouts of "Free DC" -- referring to the District of Columbia, the federal district which includes Washington -- on his own meet-and-greet with troops deployed in the city. 
The DC National Guard has mobilized 800 troops for the mission, while Republican states Ohio, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia are sending a total of around 1,200 more.
The overwhelmingly Democratic US capital faces allegations from Republican politicians that it is overrun by crime, plagued by homelessness and financially mismanaged.
But data from Washington police showed significant drops in violent crime between 2023 and 2024, though that was coming off the back of a post-pandemic surge.
In addition to sending troops onto the streets, Trump has also sought to take full control of the local Washington police department, attempting at one point to sideline its leadership.
The deployment of troops in Washington comes after Trump dispatched the National Guard and Marines to quell unrest in Los Angeles, California, that was sparked by immigration enforcement raids.
aue-st/bjt

Trump

Trump hails 'total victory' as US court quashes $464 mn civil penalty

BY GREGORY WALTON, WITH AURELIA END AT THE WHITE HOUSE

  • "New York Appeals Court has just THROWN OUT President Trump's $500+ Million civil fraud penalty!
  • A US court threw out Thursday a $464 million civil penalty against President Donald Trump imposed by a judge who found he fraudulently inflated his personal worth, calling the sum "excessive" but upholding the judgment against him.
  • "New York Appeals Court has just THROWN OUT President Trump's $500+ Million civil fraud penalty!
A US court threw out Thursday a $464 million civil penalty against President Donald Trump imposed by a judge who found he fraudulently inflated his personal worth, calling the sum "excessive" but upholding the judgment against him.
Judge Arthur Engoron ruled against Trump in February 2024 at the height of his campaign to retake the White House, which coincided with several active criminal prosecutions that the Republican slammed as "lawfare."
"It was a Political Witch Hunt, in a business sense, the likes of which no one has ever seen before," Trump said on his Truth Social platform Thursday, adding that "everything I did was absolutely CORRECT and, even, PERFECT."
When Engoron originally ruled against Trump, he ordered the mogul-turned-politician to pay $464 million, including interest, while his sons Eric and Don Jr. were told to hand over more than $4 million each.
The judge found that Trump and his company had unlawfully inflated his wealth and manipulated the value of properties to obtain favorable bank loans or insurance terms.
Alongside the financial hit to Trump, the judge also banned him from running businesses for three years, which the president repeatedly referred to as a "corporate death penalty."
On Thursday, five judges of the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court upheld the verdict, but ruled that the size of the fine was "excessive" and that it "violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution."
The Eighth Amendment prohibits excessive or cruel punishments and penalties.

'Massive win!

State Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the initial case, vowed to take Thursday's ruling to the state's highest court, the New York Court of Appeals.
Thursday's appeals court ruling "affirmed the well-supported finding of the trial court: Donald Trump, his company, and two of his children are liable for fraud," James added. 
Following the initial verdict, Trump subsequently sought to challenge the civil ruling as well as the scale and terms of the penalty, which has continued to accrue interest while he appeals.
He repeatedly condemned the case and the penalty as politically motivated.
His son Don Jr. termed the appellate court ruling a "massive win!!!"
"New York Appeals Court has just THROWN OUT President Trump's $500+ Million civil fraud penalty! It was always a witch hunt, election interference, and a total miscarriage of justice... and even a left leaning NY appeals court agrees! NO MORE LAWFARE!" he wrote on X.
During hearings, conducted without a jury under state law, Trump accused then-president Joe Biden of driving the case, calling it "weaponization against a political opponent who's up a lot in the polls."
As the case was civil, not criminal, there was no threat of imprisonment.
Trump's economic advisor Peter Navarro said at the White House Thursday that "James is another one that belongs in jail," referring to the New York attorney general.
"The Democrats really overplayed their hand on this because they thought they could take Donald Trump out," he said.
gw/bjt

Trump

US court overturns $464 mn civil fraud penalty against Trump

  • The judge found that Trump and his company had unlawfully inflated his wealth and manipulated the value of properties to obtain favorable bank loans or insurance terms.
  • A US court threw out Thursday a $464 million civil penalty against President Donald Trump imposed by a judge who found he fraudulently inflated his personal worth, calling the sum "excessive" but upholding the judgment against him.
  • The judge found that Trump and his company had unlawfully inflated his wealth and manipulated the value of properties to obtain favorable bank loans or insurance terms.
A US court threw out Thursday a $464 million civil penalty against President Donald Trump imposed by a judge who found he fraudulently inflated his personal worth, calling the sum "excessive" but upholding the judgment against him.
Judge Arthur Engoron ruled against Trump in February 2024, going on to order the mogul-turned-politician to pay $464 million, including interest, while his sons Eric and Don Jr. were told to hand over more than $4 million each.
The judge found that Trump and his company had unlawfully inflated his wealth and manipulated the value of properties to obtain favorable bank loans or insurance terms.
On Thursday, the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court upheld the verdict, but ruled that the size of the fine was "excessive" and that it "violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution."
State Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the initial case, could now appeal to the state's highest court, the New York Court of Appeals.
Following the initial verdict, Trump subsequently sought to challenge the civil ruling as well as the scale and terms of the penalty, which has continued to accrue interest while he appeals.
He has repeatedly condemned the case and the penalty as being politically motivated.
gw/aha

Trump

Trump says jailed US election denier a 'patriot', demands release

  • Peters is jailed under state charges, making her ineligible for a presidential pardon from Trump.
  • Donald Trump called Thursday for the release of a Colorado official jailed on charges linked to efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, as he renews his attacks on the US voting system.
  • Peters is jailed under state charges, making her ineligible for a presidential pardon from Trump.
Donald Trump called Thursday for the release of a Colorado official jailed on charges linked to efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, as he renews his attacks on the US voting system.
"FREE TINA PETERS, a brave and innocent Patriot," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, threatening to take "harsh measures" if she is not freed from her nine-year prison sentence.
Peters, a former official in Colorado's Mesa County, was sentenced in October 2024 for allowing an unauthorized Trump supporter to access confidential voting information several months after the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden.
The man was seeking to prove election fraud as part of a conspiracy theory touted by Trump that the vote was "rigged" -- despite multiple courts having upheld that there were no major issues.
Trump's demand echoed a similar post he made on Truth Social in early May, in which he called her a "hostage" being held in prison by Democrats for "political reasons."
Peters is jailed under state charges, making her ineligible for a presidential pardon from Trump.
The 79-year-old Republican has continued to spread a string of misinformation about US elections.
On Monday, he announced a fresh assault on mail-in balloting -- a method used by nearly a third of Americans that Trump has wrongly claimed is linked to election fraud.
He also promised to bring "honesty" to next year's midterm elections, without giving further details, and has teased the idea of running for a third term in 2028 -- something barred by the US Constitution. 
aue/pno/bjt/des

election

Texas Republicans advance map that reignited US redistricting wars

  • Republican leaders of the Texas House sped up the normal legislative process, bringing the new map to a final vote Wednesday evening.
  • The Texas legislature's lower chamber passed a contentious new electoral map on Wednesday that aims to help Donald Trump's Republican Party retain its razor-thin US House majority in the 2026 midterm elections.
  • Republican leaders of the Texas House sped up the normal legislative process, bringing the new map to a final vote Wednesday evening.
The Texas legislature's lower chamber passed a contentious new electoral map on Wednesday that aims to help Donald Trump's Republican Party retain its razor-thin US House majority in the 2026 midterm elections.
The vote had been delayed by two weeks after Democratic legislators fled the southern state to halt the redistricting drive, which carves out five new Republican-friendly districts.
More than 50 Democrats walked out, stalling legislative business and generating national headlines as they sought to draw attention to the rare mid-decade redistricting push.
The Democratic lawmakers returned this week, but not before their protest had set off a national map-drawing war, with Trump pressuring his party's state-level officials to do everything they can to protect the majority in the US House of Representatives.
The stakes are sky-high for Trump, who will be bogged down in investigations into almost every aspect of his second term if Democrats manage to flip the handful of districts nationwide needed to win back the House in next year's midterm elections.
Trump hailed the "Big WIN for the Great State of Texas" on Wednesday night.
"Everything Passed, on our way to FIVE more Congressional seats and saving your Rights, your Freedoms, and your Country, itself," he wrote on his Truth Social platform. "Texas never lets us down."
The president also suggested Florida, Indiana and other states were looking into pursuing similar redistricting to benefit Republicans while once again calling to "STOP MAIL-IN VOTING." 
Trump -- who has long railed against postal ballots, even though they have benefited his party and he has voted by mail -- said in a separate post: "END MAIL-IN VOTING, AND GO TO PAPER BALLOTS. 100 additional seats will go to Republicans!!!"
As lawmakers in Texas debated the electoral map, Democratic representative Chris Turner called it a "clear violation of the Voting Rights Act and the constitution," according to Austin-based news site The Texas Tribune.
Republican leaders of the Texas House sped up the normal legislative process, bringing the new map to a final vote Wednesday evening. It passed along party lines 88-52.
After the state House's green light, it moves to the state Senate, where it has passed in a previous session, before heading to Republican Governor Greg Abbott's desk.

Playing hardball

Individual states redraw their own congressional districts, usually only once every 10 years, after the US Census.
But "redistricting can be done at any point in time," argued the Texas map's sponsor, Republican Todd Hunter, according to the Tribune. "The underlying goal of this plan is straightforward: improve Republican political performance."
There is little Democrats in Texas can do to thwart the map change, but it has prompted retaliation in California, and serious discussions in other Democratic-led states alarmed that the Texas maneuver could be replicated nationwide.
Republicans are mulling drawing at least 10 new seats and are targeting Ohio, Missouri, New Hampshire, Indiana, South Carolina and Florida.
Trump on Monday posted the proposed map of Texas on Truth Social, calling it "one of the most popular initiatives I have ever supported."
State lawmakers in Democratic stronghold California -- the most populated and richest US state -- introduced three bills on Monday to create a voter referendum this year for a new congressional map that would effectively counteract Texas.
If approved, the referendum would appear on California's November 4 ballot.
"Nothing about this is normal, and so we're not going to act as if anything is normal any longer," Governor Gavin Newsom told reporters Wednesday.
"Yes, we'll fight fire with fire. Yes, we will push back. It's not about whether we play hardball anymore, it's about how we play hardball."
New York Democrats may follow suit, with Governor Kathy Hochul calling the Texas redistricting plan nothing short of a "legal insurrection."
ft/des/abs/sco

intelligence

US intel chief slashes payroll to root out 'deep state actors'

  • "Over the last 20 years, ODNI has become bloated and inefficient, and the intelligence community is rife with abuse of power, unauthorized leaks of classified intelligence and politicized weaponization of intelligence," Gabbard said in a news release.
  • US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard said Wednesday she will make heavy cuts to her office, which she declared has "fallen short" of fulfilling its mandate and is "rife with abuse of power."
  • "Over the last 20 years, ODNI has become bloated and inefficient, and the intelligence community is rife with abuse of power, unauthorized leaks of classified intelligence and politicized weaponization of intelligence," Gabbard said in a news release.
US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard said Wednesday she will make heavy cuts to her office, which she declared has "fallen short" of fulfilling its mandate and is "rife with abuse of power."
Gabbard announced she will reduce the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) by over 40 percent by the end of fiscal year 2025, estimated to save $700 million.
"Over the last 20 years, ODNI has become bloated and inefficient, and the intelligence community is rife with abuse of power, unauthorized leaks of classified intelligence and politicized weaponization of intelligence," Gabbard said in a news release.
In a series of social media posts, Gabbard added that she is "cutting bloated bureaucracy, rooting out deep state actors, and restoring mission focus."
A four-page fact sheet posted to her department's website describes the plan for "ODNI 2.0," which involves reducing her office's efforts to monitor biosecurity, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, cyber intelligence threats and other areas.
In explaining cuts to the Strategic Futures Group, the office's intelligence forecasting unit, Gabbard's team said they were "found to violate professional analytic tradecraft standards in an effort to propogate a political agenda that ran counter to all of the current president's national security priorities."
The cuts were, at times, explained with accusations against previous Democrat-led administrations.
Cuts to the Foreign Malign Influence Center -- established to combat foreign threats to democracy and US interests -- were conducted because it was "used by the previous administration to justify the suppression of free speech and to censor political opposition," the fact sheet alleged, in reference to President Donald Trump's predecessor Joe Biden.
The fact sheet also touted previous cuts, saying since "Gabbard's first day, ODNI has already reduced its size by nearly 30%, with more than 500 staffers now off the books."
In July, Gabbard accused former president Barack Obama of heading a "treasonous conspiracy" to allege Russia interfered with American elections to help Trump.
But Gabbard's findings run up against four separate criminal, counterintelligence and watchdog probes between 2019 and 2023 -- each of them concluding that Russia did interfere and helped Trump in various ways.
Critics have accused Gabbard, 43, of being close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. 
The purge extends beyond slashing the agency's current payroll. 
The New York Times reported Tuesday that Gabbard revoked the security clearances of 37 current and former national security officials -- many of whom worked on Russia analysis or foreign threats to US elections -- at the president's direction. 
President Donald Trump took office on the promise of reducing the size of the federal government, and has since slashed US foreign aid contributions, the Department of Education -- which required the US Supreme Court's approval -- and other agencies.
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