economy

Americans facing hunger as shutdown enters second month

BY FRANKIE TAGGART

  • With no end to the shutdown in sight, the deadlines are piling up fast.
  • The US government shutdown barreled towards its second month Friday and the pain is spreading fast -- with federal workers broke, food aid vanishing and millions of Americans caught in the crossfire.
  • With no end to the shutdown in sight, the deadlines are piling up fast.
The US government shutdown barreled towards its second month Friday and the pain is spreading fast -- with federal workers broke, food aid vanishing and millions of Americans caught in the crossfire.
What started on October 1 as a Washington sideshow has morphed into a slow-motion implosion of public services and a growing economic convulsion, with federal offices dark and President Donald Trump's government stuck in neutral.
Republicans have warned that millions will begin feeling the full force of the shutdown for the first time this weekend, as unresolved fights over funding for health care and food stamps make them hungrier and poorer.
"Most people haven't noticed up until this week. Thanks to Donald Trump finding a way to pay our troops last month, that pain was delayed," Republican House Whip Tom Emmer told Fox News. "But, starting this week... this is starting to become very real."
At the heart of the fight is money to help Americans cover health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. 
Those subsidies -- a lifeline for more than 20 million people -- are set to expire at year's end and, unless Congress acts, premiums will skyrocket when the new sign-up period opens Saturday.
But Washington's warring parties are locked in a familiar, bitter loop, as Democrats refuse to reopen the government without a deal to extend the subsidies and with Trump's Republicans saying they won't talk until the lights are back on.
As Washington bickers, the shutdown's fallout is rippling through everyday life and starting to pinch where it really hurts -- the dinner table. 
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which helps 42 million low-income Americans buy groceries, is set to run out of funds this weekend. 
Democrats have been pushing the White House to use $5 billion in emergency cash to cover food stamps but the administration says it cannot legally tap that fund.

'Breaking point'

"We are now reaching a breaking point thanks to Democrats voting no on government funding now 14 different times," House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters.
"You're going to have real people, real families -- you're going to have children -- who will go hungry beginning this weekend," he added.
With no end to the shutdown in sight, the deadlines are piling up fast.
WIC -- the food aid program for pregnant women, new mothers and infants -- is also on the brink, while "Head Start" programs that provide nutrition and family support to 65,000 infants could begin shuttering from Saturday. 
The administration says it has scraped together enough money to cover Friday's payday for active-duty troops, but acknowledges that they could go unpaid by mid-November. 
Some 670,000 federal workers have been sent home without pay, and another 730,000 -- from park rangers to air traffic controllers -- are working for nothing. Many missed their entire pay for the first time this week. 
The country's largest federal workers' union, AFGE, is begging Congress to pass a stopgap bill to get paychecks flowing again. But even that has become political quicksand, with Democrats holding the line.
Still, there are faint signs of life on Capitol Hill. 
After weeks of political trench warfare, a handful of centrist Democrats and pragmatic Republicans have quietly started sketching possible compromises, most hinging on a commitment to tackle health care once the government reopens. 
And looming somewhere in the wings is Trump, whose shadow hangs over every Republican move. Lawmakers on both sides hope he'll swoop in to broker a deal on the Obamacare subsidies. 
In a rare intervention in the crisis, Trump called Thursday for the Senate to scrap its 60-vote threshold for legislation to pass, which would strip Democrats of all their leverage. 
Americans blame the shutdown on Trump and the Republicans over Democrats by 45 percent to 33 percent, according to the latest ABC/Washington Post poll. Independents blame Republicans by a 2-to-1 margin. 
ft/md

defense

Chinese defence minister seeks 'trust' with US but cautions over Taiwan

  • "The US side should be cautious in its words and deeds on the Taiwan issue and take a clear-cut stance firmly opposing 'Taiwan independence'," Dong said.
  • China and the United States should build "trust" in order to co-exist, Beijing's defence minister said on Friday, but cautioned Washington about its "words and deeds" on Taiwan.
  • "The US side should be cautious in its words and deeds on the Taiwan issue and take a clear-cut stance firmly opposing 'Taiwan independence'," Dong said.
China and the United States should build "trust" in order to co-exist, Beijing's defence minister said on Friday, but cautioned Washington about its "words and deeds" on Taiwan.
Dong Jun met US counterpart Pete Hegseth on the sidelines of a Southeast Asian regional defence summit in Malaysia, a day after leaders Xi Jinping and Donald Trump held talks in South Korea.
Trump and Xi did not discuss Taiwan on Thursday, the US president said, but Dong told Hegseth the "unification of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait is an irresistible historical trend", according to a Chinese defence ministry readout.
"The US side should be cautious in its words and deeds on the Taiwan issue and take a clear-cut stance firmly opposing 'Taiwan independence'," Dong said.
China claims self-governing Taiwan as its territory. Under longstanding policy, the United States recognises only Beijing but provides weapons for the island's self-defence. 
The Chinese statement also said Dong told Hegseth that their respective defence departments "should take concrete actions to implement the consensus reached by the heads of state".
He said they should also "strengthen policy-level dialogue to enhance trust and dispel uncertainty", and build a bilateral military relationship "characterised by equality, respect, peaceful coexistence and stable positive momentum".
Hegseth described the meeting in the Malaysian capital as "good and constructive".
"I highlighted the importance of maintaining a balance of power in the Indo-Pacific and emphasized U.S. concerns about China's activities in the South China Sea, around Taiwan, and towards U.S. allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific," Hegseth said in a post on social media platform X, using a US term for the Asia-Pacific region.
But he later told journalists: "I said to Admiral Dong as well, our position on Taiwan remains unchanged, and President Trump has said that as well."

US 'does not seek conflict'

Hegseth warned earlier this year that China was "credibly preparing" to use military force to upend the balance of power in Asia, remarks that drew a sharp rebuke from Beijing.
"The threat China poses is real and it could be imminent," Hegseth said at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in late May which was attended by defence officials from around the world. 
China claims almost all of the South China Sea, despite overlapping claims with its neighbours.
The US Navy has regularly sent ships to conduct "freedom of navigation" transits in the region, angering Beijing.
Hegseth toned his comments down on Friday, saying that while the "United States does not seek conflict, it will continue to stoutly defend its interests and ensure it has the capabilities in the region to do so".

Shared concerns

But he later told Philippines Defence Minister Gilbert Teodoro that Washington shared Manila's "concerns about China's coercion in the South China Sea, particularly recently in the Scarborough Shoal."
Last month, the Philippine government said one person was wounded when a water cannon attack by a China Coast Guard vessel shattered a window on the bridge of a fisheries bureau ship near the shoal. 
China seized control of the fish-rich shoal from the Philippines after a lengthy standoff in 2012.
Teodoro called China's actions "illegal", adding areas Beijing claimed were "deep within our exclusive economic zone and historically known as part of the Philippines." 
Hegseth also met several other top officials at a gathering of defence ministers from the 11-member ASEAN regional bloc, which was also attended by India's Rajnath Singh.
He and Singh signed a 10-year deal that will see deeper cooperation between the two nations. India will also buy US military hardware.
"Our defence ties have never been stronger," said Hegseth.
burs-jhe/rsc

weaponry

Trump stirs global tensions with surprise nuclear test order

BY SEBASTIAN SMITH

  • The directive "directly contradicts the efforts by nations around the world striving for a peaceful world without nuclear weapons and is utterly unacceptable," the Nobel Peace Prize-winning group said in the letter obtained by AFP. - Global nuclear testing ban - Following Trump's meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, China's foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun urged the United States to "earnestly abide" by a global nuclear testing ban.
  • US President Donald Trump's surprise directive to begin nuclear weapons testing provoked global criticism on Friday, as it raised the specter of renewed superpower tensions.
  • The directive "directly contradicts the efforts by nations around the world striving for a peaceful world without nuclear weapons and is utterly unacceptable," the Nobel Peace Prize-winning group said in the letter obtained by AFP. - Global nuclear testing ban - Following Trump's meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, China's foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun urged the United States to "earnestly abide" by a global nuclear testing ban.
US President Donald Trump's surprise directive to begin nuclear weapons testing provoked global criticism on Friday, as it raised the specter of renewed superpower tensions.
The announcement on social media was issued just before Trump -- who boasts frequently about being a peace president -- went into a summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea.
Trump's announcement left much unanswered -- chiefly whether he meant testing weapons systems or actually conducting test explosions, something the United States has not done since 1992.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth defended Trump's directive as a "responsible" move.
"We need to have a credible nuclear deterrent. That is the baseline of our deterrence," Hegseth told reporters on the sidelines of a Southeast Asian regional defense summit in Malaysia. "Having understanding and resuming testing is a pretty responsible, very responsible way to do that."
US foe Iran called the directive "regressive and irresponsible", adding that it was a threat to international security.
"A nuclear-armed bully is resuming testing of atomic weapons. The same bully has been demonizing Iran's peaceful nuclear program," foreign minister Abbas Araghchi posted on social media.
Japanese atomic bomb survivors group Nihon Hidankyo sent a letter of protest to the US embassy in Japan. 
The directive "directly contradicts the efforts by nations around the world striving for a peaceful world without nuclear weapons and is utterly unacceptable," the Nobel Peace Prize-winning group said in the letter obtained by AFP.

Global nuclear testing ban

Following Trump's meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, China's foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun urged the United States to "earnestly abide" by a global nuclear testing ban.
China and the United States observe a de facto moratorium on testing nuclear warheads, though Russia and the United States regularly run military drills involving nuclear-capable systems.
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said through a spokesman that "nuclear testing can never be permitted under any circumstances."
The United States has been a signatory since 1996 to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which bans all atomic test explosions, whether for military or civilian purposes.
Vice President JD Vance said the US nuclear arsenal needed to be tested to ensure it actually "functions properly," but did not elaborate on what type of tests Trump had ordered.
The president's statement "speaks for itself," Vance told reporters at the White House on Thursday.
"It's an important part of American national security to make sure that this nuclear arsenal we have actually functions properly, and that's part of a testing regime," he added.
The announcement came days after Russia declared it had tested nuclear-capable, nuclear-powered cruise missiles and sea drones.
"Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis," Trump said on Truth Social earlier this week.
Trump also claimed that the United States has more nuclear weapons than any other country.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in its latest annual report that Russia possesses 5,459 nuclear warheads, compared to 5,177 for the United States and 600 for China.
The Kremlin questioned whether Trump was well-informed about Russia's military activities.
The recent weapons drills "cannot in any way be interpreted as a nuclear test," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
"We hope that the information was conveyed correctly to President Trump."
Peskov then implied that Russia would conduct its own live warhead tests if Trump did it first.
Further muddying the waters, Trump also repeated to reporters a previous claim that he wants negotiations with Russia and China on reducing nuclear weapons forces.
"Denuclearization would be a tremendous thing," he said.

Last US test in 1992

The United States conducted 1,054 nuclear tests between July 16, 1945, when the first was conducted in New Mexico, and 1992.
Its two nuclear attacks on Japan during World War II make it the only country to have used the weapons in combat.
The last US nuclear test explosion was in September 1992, a 20-kiloton underground detonation at the Nevada Nuclear Security Site.
Then-president George H.W. Bush imposed a moratorium on further tests in October 1992 that has been continued by successive administrations.
Nuclear testing was replaced by non-nuclear and subcritical experiments using advanced computer simulations.
burs-sms-dk/cwl/md/tw

vote

Trump's shadow looms over key US state elections

BY FRANKIE TAGGART

  • "It's the first major opportunity for Democrats to show they can win again," the former advisor to ex-vice president Kamala Harris told AFP. "It's a chance for voters to make themselves heard on what's happening in this country with Donald Trump." ft/aha
  • A year after Donald Trump swept to power, Republicans face their first major test at the polls, with voters in two of the most populous US states set to deliver their verdict on the president's return to the White House. 
  • "It's the first major opportunity for Democrats to show they can win again," the former advisor to ex-vice president Kamala Harris told AFP. "It's a chance for voters to make themselves heard on what's happening in this country with Donald Trump." ft/aha
A year after Donald Trump swept to power, Republicans face their first major test at the polls, with voters in two of the most populous US states set to deliver their verdict on the president's return to the White House. 
The high-profile mayoral contest in New York City may be grabbing the headlines, but the races for the governor's mansions in New Jersey and Virginia -- home to a combined 18 million people -- offer a sharper preview of next year's midterm elections.
Both pit centrist Democrats against Republicans aligned with Trump's Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, and could signal whether middle-of-the-road voters have made peace with the president's radical cost-slashing agenda -- or plan to give his party a bloody nose in 2026.
Trump has sent a steamroller through government since returning to office in January, shuttering entire agencies and cutting an estimated 200,000 jobs even before the government shutdown.
"If Democrats sweep -- or even win -- Virginia and edge New Jersey, it signals the suburbs haven't forgiven MAGA," California-based financial and political analyst Michael Ashley Schulman told AFP.
The election in Virginia, which is second only to California in the size of its federal workforce, will be a historic showdown between two women vying to become the state's first female governor. 
Democrat Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA officer and three-term congresswoman, faces Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, a Marine veteran and staunch Trump ally. 
Polls show Spanberger -- who has leaned on her national security credentials and cast herself as a bulwark against Trump's aggressive federal downsizing -- holding a steady lead of about seven points.
She has vowed in stump speeches to be "a governor who will stand up" for the thousands of federal workers laid off by Trump's Department of Government Efficiency.

'Tooth and nail'

Earle-Sears opened her campaign on red meat to fire up conservatives, mirroring the playbook of outgoing Governor Glenn Youngkin to focus on culture war issues such as transgender athletes and abortion.
Her lagging campaign was boosted by an endorsement from Trump and a down-ticket scandal involving Democratic attorney general nominee Jay Jones, who reportedly sent violent text messages about a political rival in 2022.
Over in New Jersey, Democrat Mikie Sherrill -- another 2018 "blue wave" alum and former Navy pilot -- is also ahead, but locked in a tighter battle with Republican businessman Jack Ciattarelli. 
"Given New Jersey's traditional Democratic lean, a loss for the party in the 2025 election would raise concerns about its national prospects heading into the 2026 midterms," said Janie Mackenzie, a communications specialist who worked on John Kerry's 2008 Senate campaign.
Polls show Sherrill narrowly ahead, bolstered by strong early Democratic turnout.
Trump's decision to freeze funding for the Hudson Tunnel project -- a vital link between New Jersey and New York -- may yet prove to be the biggest boost of the campaign for Sherrill, who has vowed to "fight this tooth and nail." 
Ciattarelli, who has embraced Trump more openly than in previous runs for office, focuses on affordability, promising to cap property taxes and cut corporate rates.
Keith Nahigian, a veteran of six presidential campaigns and former member of Trump's transition team, said a focus on the economy -- including "the high cost of electric" -- would benefit Ciattarelli.
For Democratic strategist Mike Nellis, Tuesday's vote will be "a referendum on where the country is right now."
"It's the first major opportunity for Democrats to show they can win again," the former advisor to ex-vice president Kamala Harris told AFP.
"It's a chance for voters to make themselves heard on what's happening in this country with Donald Trump."
ft/aha

climate

100 US local leaders will attend COP30 in 'show of force'

  • But Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who was also on the call, said it appeared unlikely the administration would send an official delegation to COP, given it had not put in embassy support for the Americans attending.
  • More than a hundred American state and local leaders will attend next month's COP30 climate talks in Brazil, including governors, state officials and mayors, even as the Trump administration is expected to stay away.
  • But Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who was also on the call, said it appeared unlikely the administration would send an official delegation to COP, given it had not put in embassy support for the Americans attending.
More than a hundred American state and local leaders will attend next month's COP30 climate talks in Brazil, including governors, state officials and mayors, even as the Trump administration is expected to stay away.
"We are showing up in force," Gina McCarthy, co-chair of the "America Is All In" coalition told reporters on a call Thursday.
The group represents around "two-thirds of the US population and three quarters of the US GDP, and more than 50 percent of US emissions," said McCarthy, who served as a climate advisor to former president Joe Biden, and as ex-president Barack Obama's environment chief.
President Donald Trump announced he was withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate accord for a second time on his return to office in January.
But McCarthy said that would not halt American participation in global climate efforts.
"We'll deliver on the promises we made to the American people and our international colleagues," she said. "Local leaders here have authority to act on their own behalf, to take climate action at home and abroad."
She pointed to the work of the 24-state "US Climate Alliance" that have slashed emissions by a quarter relative to 2005 while growing their economies. 
Because the Paris accord requires a one-year notice period for withdrawal, the United States remains a party for a few more months.
But Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who was also on the call, said it appeared unlikely the administration would send an official delegation to COP, given it had not put in embassy support for the Americans attending.
"But who knows?" added Whitehouse. "This is a very mercurial administration. They can decide at the last minute to send a plane to Belem, full of climate deniers and fossil fuel operatives."
While Trump also exited the Paris deal in his first term, his administration has gone further this time, exerting its clout to boost fossil fuels globally. 
This includes, for example, threatening countries with retaliatory measures if they agreed to a carbon pricing system by the UN's International Maritime Organization, effectively curtailing its implementation.
Climate advocates fear the administration could seek to withdraw from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change -- the treaty that underpins the Paris Agreement.
Doing so could prevent future administrations from re-entering the deal, but it is not clear if the executive branch has the legal authority to undo a Senate-ratified treaty.
ia/bgs

weaponry

Fire, fury and the 'n-word': Trump's nuclear obsession

BY DANNY KEMP

  • He has repeatedly suggested a deal with Russia and China for "de-nuking," and in February even suggested an extraordinary three-way summit with Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the subject.
  • In his first term as US president, Donald Trump reportedly suggested nuking hurricanes.
  • He has repeatedly suggested a deal with Russia and China for "de-nuking," and in February even suggested an extraordinary three-way summit with Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the subject.
In his first term as US president, Donald Trump reportedly suggested nuking hurricanes. In his second he has caused fresh concern by ordering the Pentagon to start nuclear weapons tests.
His latest remarks, made minutes before a landmark meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, follow a pattern of deeply contradictory signals about atomic bombs.
One day Trump talks about making a deal with Russia and China to give up their arsenals. The next he appears -- though no one is sure -- to be talking about overturning a three-decade halt on testing.
But the subject also appears to fascinate him.
Barely a speech goes by without him addressing the destructive power of nuclear weapons with a kind of awe that befits a 79-year-old who grew up during the Cold War.
"It's been on his mind since the 80s. He wants to solve this issue," Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, told AFP.
"My concern is that his current approach as president is incoherent, inconsistent, and his team is not constructed or managed in a way that can follow through on his best intentions."

'Rocket man'

The threat -- and promise -- of nuclear weapons has been a thread through both of Trump's presidencies.
During his first he spent much time and energy on summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un -- after initially dubbing Kim "Rocket Man" and threatening Pyongyang with "fire and fury like the world has never seen."
Trump's three encounters with Kim failed to produce any deal with the only country known to have carried out nuclear tests in the 21st century.
But the US president has continued to hold out hope of a breakthrough, saying he would have liked to meet Kim during his trip to Asia this week and hailing their "great relationship."
It wasn't just nuclear proliferation on Trump's mind in his first term.
A report emerged in 2019 that Trump had asked national security officials whether it would be possible to drop an atomic bomb in a hurricane to stop it approaching US shores. Trump said the report was "fake news." 
After his return to the White House in January, Trump swiftly rekindled his old obsession.
He has repeatedly suggested a deal with Russia and China for "de-nuking," and in February even suggested an extraordinary three-way summit with Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the subject.
"There's no reason for us to be building brand new nuclear weapons," Trump told reporters at the time. "We already have so many you could destroy the world 50 times over, 100 times over."

'Madman' theory

Yet at other times he has rattled the nuclear saber. 
Discussing his recent decision to deploy two US submarines after what he said were nuclear threats by former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, Trump even referenced a racial slur.
"I call it the n-word. There are two n-words and you can't use either of them," Trump said in a speech to top US military officers in September.
Trump's comments ordering the Pentagon to "start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis" with Russia and China have, however, caused unusual confusion and alarm.
Why would Trump talk about restarting full tests? 
It was possible that Trump was using the "madman" theory of bold threats to coerce adversaries into deals -- an approach he has often relied on in trade and other negotiations, said Kimball, the arms control expert.
But he added that "for the president to make such provocative, ambiguous statements is irresponsible and dangerous and frankly incompetent." 
Kimball compared the situation to the recently released movie "A House of Dynamite," a nuclear thriller in which a US president faces the dilemma of how to respond to a lone missile strike as he evacuates Washington in his helicopter.
Trump, he pointed out, "is the same guy who would be sitting on Marine One."
dk/mlm

immigration

US to limit refugees to record low 7,500, mostly white South Africans

  • Trump has said the Afrikaners being taken in as refugees by the United States are fleeing a "terrible situation" back home and has even gone so far as to describe it as "genocide," an allegation widely dismissed as absurd.
  • The Trump administration announced plans on Thursday to drastically cut back the number of refugees to be accepted annually by the United States to a record low and give priority to white South Africans.
  • Trump has said the Afrikaners being taken in as refugees by the United States are fleeing a "terrible situation" back home and has even gone so far as to describe it as "genocide," an allegation widely dismissed as absurd.
The Trump administration announced plans on Thursday to drastically cut back the number of refugees to be accepted annually by the United States to a record low and give priority to white South Africans.
Under the new policy, the United States would welcome 7,500 refugees in fiscal 2026, down from more than 100,000 a year under Democratic president Joe Biden.
The vast majority of those being accepted during the fiscal year which began on October 1 would be white South Africans and "other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands," according to a White House memo.
"The admissions numbers shall primarily be allocated among Afrikaners from South Africa," it said.
Republican President Donald Trump essentially halted refugee arrivals after taking office in January, but has been making an exception for white South Africans despite Pretoria's insistence that they do not face persecution in their homeland.
A first group of around 50 Afrikaners -- descendants of the first European settlers of South Africa -- arrived for resettlement in the United States in May.
Trump campaigned for the White House on a pledge to deport millions of undocumented migrants and signed an executive order in January suspending the US Refugee Admissions Program.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, said that since 1980 more than two million people fleeing persecution have been admitted into the United States under the program.
"Now it will be used as a pathway for White immigration," Reichlin-Melnick said on X. "What a downfall for a crown jewel of America's international humanitarian programs."

'Lifeline'

Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president of another immigration-focused group, Global Refuge, also criticized the move by the Trump administration.
"For more than four decades, the US refugee program has been a lifeline for families fleeing war, persecution, and repression," Vignarajah said in a statement.
"At a time of crisis in countries ranging from Afghanistan to Venezuela to Sudan and beyond, concentrating the vast majority of admissions on one group undermines the program's purpose as well as its credibility."
In addition to slashing refugee numbers, the Trump administration has moved to strip Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghans, Haitians, Venezuelans and nationals of several other countries.
The United States grants TPS to foreign citizens who cannot safely return home because of war, natural disasters or other "extraordinary" conditions.
Trump has said the Afrikaners being taken in as refugees by the United States are fleeing a "terrible situation" back home and has even gone so far as to describe it as "genocide," an allegation widely dismissed as absurd.
Whites, who make up 7.3 percent of South Africa's population, generally enjoy a higher standard of living than the Black majority. They still own two-thirds of farmland and on average earn three times as much as Black South Africans.
Mainly Afrikaner-led governments imposed the race-based apartheid system that denied Black people political and economic rights until it was voted out in 1994.
cl/bjt

diplomacy

Fentanyl, beans and Ukraine: takeaways from Trump-Xi's 'great meeting'

  • Trump told reporters the subject came up "very strongly" during his talks with Xi. "He's going to help us, and we're going to work together on Ukraine," Trump said.
  • From a crippling trade conflict to the Ukraine war, here's what Beijing and Washington say was achieved during Donald Trump and Xi Jinping's first face-to-face talks in six years: - Fentanyl, tariffs - The fentanyl trade has long been a sore point: Washington accuses Beijing of turning a blind eye to exports of chemicals used to make the drug, a charge China denies.
  • Trump told reporters the subject came up "very strongly" during his talks with Xi. "He's going to help us, and we're going to work together on Ukraine," Trump said.
From a crippling trade conflict to the Ukraine war, here's what Beijing and Washington say was achieved during Donald Trump and Xi Jinping's first face-to-face talks in six years:

Fentanyl, tariffs

The fentanyl trade has long been a sore point: Washington accuses Beijing of turning a blind eye to exports of chemicals used to make the drug, a charge China denies.
Trump hit China with a 20-percent levy early this year over fentanyl, but said it would be reduced to 10 percent after Xi agreed at their Busan summit to "work very hard to stop the flow" of the powerful opioid, which has killed thousands of Americans.
The reduction would bring average US tariffs on China to 47 percent.
Washington would also suspend for a year steeper "reciprocal" tariffs that targeted China, Beijing's commerce ministry said, ahead of a trade truce set to expire next month. China will make corresponding adjustments.

Hill of beans

Beijing has retaliated against the US tariffs with levies on American agricultural products, including soybeans, hurting a key source of Trump's political support: farmers.
More than half of US soybean exports went to China last year, but Beijing halted all orders as the trade dispute deepened.
Trump said China had now agreed to purchase "tremendous" amounts of soybeans and other farm products.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox Business that China agreed to buy 12 million metric tons of the crop "during this season".

Rare earths, ships

A strategic field dominated by China that is essential for manufacturing in defence, automobiles and consumer electronics, rare earths were expected to occupy a central role in the Busan talks.
Beijing imposed sweeping export controls on the materials and related technology this month. 
Trump swiftly announced retaliatory tariffs of 100 percent on all Chinese goods, which he threatened would start this weekend.
But the US leader insisted Thursday that "that whole situation, that roadblock is gone now".
China's commerce ministry confirmed the rare earths restrictions had been suspended "for one year".
Washington in turn agreed to suspend for one year a move imposing "Entity List" export restrictions on affiliates of blacklisted foreign companies in which they had at least a 50 percent stake, a Chinese spokesperson said.
The United States also agreed to halt for a year measures targeting China's shipbuilding industry that led to both sides applying port fees against each other's ships, they said.
China would suspend its "countermeasures" after the US action, they added, for one year too.
- Ukraine - 
Trump said the United States and China agreed to cooperate more on seeking an end to war in Ukraine.
China says it is a neutral party, but Kyiv and Western governments have long accused Beijing of providing political and economic support to Moscow.
Trump told reporters the subject came up "very strongly" during his talks with Xi.
"He's going to help us, and we're going to work together on Ukraine," Trump said.

Chips

Beijing has ramped up its chip industry to beat Washington's export restrictions on the critical component used to power artificial intelligence systems.
US chip giant Nvidia has been caught in the geopolitical tussle. Nvidia's chips are currently not sold in China due to a combination of Beijing government bans, US national security concerns and ongoing trade tensions.
Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang has urged the United States to allow the sale of US-made AI chips in China to ensure Silicon Valley companies remain a global powerhouse in AI development.
"We did discuss chips," Trump said, adding that Huang would speak to Beijing about the dispute. "We're sort of the arbitrator or the referee."

TikTok

The talks failed to result in a final deal for TikTok's US operations to be transferred to American ownership, despite Bessent saying beforehand that Xi and Trump may "consummate" an agreement in Busan.
Washington has sought to wrest the popular social media app's US operations from the hands of Chinese parent company ByteDance, citing national security concerns.
aue-oho-mya-bys/des

weaponry

Trump call for nuclear tests sows confusion

BY FABIEN ZAMORA

  • The US president baffled foreign government and nuclear weapons experts alike when he said he had ordered the Pentagon to start nuclear weapons testing "on an equal basis" to China and Russia.
  • President Donald Trump Thursday sowed confusion among experts with his call for the start of nuclear weapons testing, with some pundits interpreting the announcement as US preparations for a shock resumption of explosive testing after more than 30 years.
  • The US president baffled foreign government and nuclear weapons experts alike when he said he had ordered the Pentagon to start nuclear weapons testing "on an equal basis" to China and Russia.
President Donald Trump Thursday sowed confusion among experts with his call for the start of nuclear weapons testing, with some pundits interpreting the announcement as US preparations for a shock resumption of explosive testing after more than 30 years.
The US president baffled foreign government and nuclear weapons experts alike when he said he had ordered the Pentagon to start nuclear weapons testing "on an equal basis" to China and Russia.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, the US president also said that it had been "many years" since the United States had conducted nuclear tests and it was "appropriate" to start again because others are testing.
The last time Russia officially tested a nuclear weapon was in 1990, and the United States last tested a nuclear bomb in 1992.
North Korea is the only country to have conducted nuclear weapons tests this century.
Heloise Fayet, a researcher at the French Institute of International Relations, said it was not immediately clear what Trump meant --  or whether the United States might be preparing to tear up the global rulebook and resume nuclear weapons testing after a 33-year hiatus.
"Either he is talking about testing missiles, but the United States already does that," she said.
"Or he is talking about subcritical tests, but I don't think he has mastered that level of technology," she added, referring to low-yield tests authorised by the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
"Or he is talking about real tests, but no one does that except North Korea."
Trump's announcement came after President Vladimir Putin said that Russia had in recent days tested nuclear-powered, nuclear-capable weapons -- the Burevestnik cruise missile and the Poseidon underwater drone. 
On Thursday, the Kremlin sought to cool tensions, saying those tests did not constitute a test of an atomic weapon.
- 'Extremely complicated' - 
William Alberque, a former head of NATO's nuclear non-proliferation centre, pointed to Trump's lack of clarity.
"Initially, I thought Trump was reacting to Russia's announcements about new systems like the nuclear-powered cruise missile Burevestnik and the Poseidon torpedo. So my first interpretation was that Trump was referring to system testing, not warhead testing," he told AFP.
But like all nuclear powers, the United States already tests its weapons.
In September, the United States carried out tests of its nuclear-capable Trident missiles.
There is also a possibility that Trump might have meant the so-called subcritical nuclear tests, said Fayet.
"We are almost certain that Russia and China are conducting subcritical tests that release a certain amount of energy but remain within the limits," said Fayet.
But "in the United States, they are conducting more restrictive subcritical tests, with no energy release, no heat and no critical reaction".
Trump could demand to catch up, she said.
"But it's an extremely complicated subject, and I don't know if he is at that level of subtlety," she added.

'Chain reaction'

Alberque said that after closely examining Trump's statements, he was inclined to think that "he's talking about warhead testing."
Many Trump supporters have long lobbied for a resumption of nuclear testing, despite the existence of computer-based simulations as well as serious negative international consequences.
"America must prepare to test nuclear weapons," the influential conservative think tank Heritage Foundation said in a report in January, referring to a "deteriorating security environment".
Some experts said Trump's latest pronouncements were a gift to the governments of Russia and China.
In 2023, Putin ordered the Russian defence ministry and the nuclear agency Rosatom to "ensure readiness for testing Russian nuclear weapons".
"We know for certain that some figures in Washington are already considering the possibility of conducting live tests of their nuclear weapons," Putin said during his address to the Federal Assembly in February, 2023.
"But if the US conducts tests, then we will too."
Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association, said on X that Trump's policy was "incoherent: calling for denuclearisation talks one day; threatening nuclear tests the next".
The resumption of such tests "could trigger a chain reaction of nuclear testing by US adversaries, and blow apart the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty," Kimball said.
fz-as/ah/rlp

economy

No GDP data released as US shutdown bites

BY BEIYI SEOW

  • If the government shutdown lasts through mid-November, as predictions markets expect, most delayed data releases will still be unlikely to come out until December, Goldman Sachs said in a recent note.
  • A US federal data blackout deepened Thursday as a government shutdown halted the release of third quarter GDP figures, forcing policymakers, financial institutions and business owners to continue flying blind.
  • If the government shutdown lasts through mid-November, as predictions markets expect, most delayed data releases will still be unlikely to come out until December, Goldman Sachs said in a recent note.
A US federal data blackout deepened Thursday as a government shutdown halted the release of third quarter GDP figures, forcing policymakers, financial institutions and business owners to continue flying blind.
The world's biggest economy has already delayed reports on employment, trade, retail sales and others, only recalling some furloughed staff to produce key inflation figures needed for the government to calculate Social Security payments.
On Thursday, the shutdown entered its 30th day, with Republicans and Democrats still at an impasse.
Each assigns blame to the other side over the stoppage, with no quick solution in sight and food aid for millions now at stake.
While there were no official gross domestic product (GDP) numbers published on Thursday, economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal expected GDP growth of 2.8 percent in the July to September period.
This would be a cooling from second quarter economic growth of 3.8 percent.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's GDPNow indicator -- a running estimate of real GDP growth based on available data -- pegs the figure at 3.9 percent.
But the ongoing information blackout means that companies and officials will have to wait to find out.
Experts warn that businesses could lower hiring and investment.
"This is the time of year where most organizations are finalizing their budgets for 2026," said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union.
"So, almost any company is sitting there thinking: Do we think 2026 is going to be an uptick? Or a slowdown, or a recession?" she told AFP.
She added that industries are also trying to gauge if the Fed will keep cutting interest rates, a decision that depends on inflation and the jobs market, which has been weakening.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the shutdown could cost the economy up to $14 billion.
Matthew Martin of Oxford Economics added that business would likely "reduce their overall hiring to be on the safe side," until they see data pointing to rising demand or a stabilization in the economy.
If the government shutdown lasts through mid-November, as predictions markets expect, most delayed data releases will still be unlikely to come out until December, Goldman Sachs said in a recent note.
Such delays could distort October and November numbers.
Long warned that October's data could also be lost if the shutdown persists for too long -- as it might not be collected.
bys/bgs

diplomacy

Trump, Xi ease fight on tariffs, rare earths

BY AURELIA END WITH SIMON STURDEE IN GYEONGJU

  • Trump added that the Chinese leader had also agreed to "work very hard to stop the flow" of deadly opioid fentanyl, a trade in which Washington has accused Beijing of being complicit.
  • Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed on Thursday to calm the trade war between China and the United States that has roiled global markets, with Washington cutting some tariffs and Beijing committing to keep supplies of critical rare earths flowing.
  • Trump added that the Chinese leader had also agreed to "work very hard to stop the flow" of deadly opioid fentanyl, a trade in which Washington has accused Beijing of being complicit.
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed on Thursday to calm the trade war between China and the United States that has roiled global markets, with Washington cutting some tariffs and Beijing committing to keep supplies of critical rare earths flowing.
Trump called his first meeting with Xi in six years a "great success", while the Chinese leader said the two reached an "important consensus" towards solving the fight between the world's two top economies.
"I thought it was an amazing meeting," Trump said after the talks in Busan, South Korea, praising Xi as a "tremendous leader of a very powerful country" and saying he would visit China in April.
Trump added that the deal included China immediately buying "tremendous amounts of soybeans and other farm products", a key issue for Trump's support in farm country and a point of leverage for Beijing.
The US leader said the talks yielded an extendable one-year deal on China's supply of crucial rare earths, materials that are essential for sophisticated electronic components across a range of industries.
Beijing's commerce ministry also confirmed it would suspend for one year certain export restrictions, including on rare earth materials, a sector where China is hugely dominant.
"All the rare earths has been settled, and that's for the world," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Xi said a "consensus" had been reached and urged "follow-up work as soon as possible".
Trump added that the Chinese leader had also agreed to "work very hard to stop the flow" of deadly opioid fentanyl, a trade in which Washington has accused Beijing of being complicit.
"I put a 20-percent tariff on China because of the fentanyl coming in... and based on his statements today I am going to reduce that by 10 percent," Trump said.
And in social media post after leaving South Korea, Trump declared "Our Farmers will be very happy!" with the outcomes of the talks.
The former reality TV star went on to say in the post that Beijing would "begin the process of purchasing American Energy", potentially involving oil and gas from Alaska.
Officials from the United States and China would meet to hash out that "energy deal", he added.

'Partners and friends'

Neither leader made any public comments immediately after the talks, which lasted around an hour and 40 minutes.
Trump headed straight to Air Force One, waving and pumping his fist as he boarded the plane. The jet took off minutes later.
Xi was seen getting into his limousine outside the closed-door meeting.
Xi acknowledged before the meeting began in earnest that both sides did not always see eye to eye, but should strive to be "partners and friends".
"China and the US can jointly shoulder our responsibility as major countries and work together to accomplish more great and concrete things for the good of our two countries and the whole world," said Xi.
Sitting opposite each other, each leader was flanked by senior officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury chief Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Xi's team, which arrived from Beijing shortly before -- the US side was already in South Korea -- included Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and Vice Premier He Lifeng.

Crowning achievement

The meeting took place on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit of 21 countries in Gyeongju including the leaders of Japan, Australia and Canada.
It was the final stop on an Asia tour that saw Trump, 79, showered with praise and gifts, including a replica of an ancient Korean golden crown.
In Japan, new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said she would nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize and gave him a putter and a gold-plated golf ball.
However, Trump's hopes of a re-run of his 2019 meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Demilitarized Zone frontier were dashed.
Trump said though that they would meet in the "not too distant future" and that he would like to "straighten out" tensions between North and South Korea.
One surprise in the talks could have been if Xi had brought up Taiwan, with speculation that Beijing might press Trump to water down US backing for the self-ruled island.
But Trump said that Taiwan "never came up. That was not discussed actually."
burs-stu-oho/jm

election

'Fight fire with fire': California mulls skewing electoral map

BY ROMAIN FONSEGRIVES

  • The goal: to amend its constitution so California too can alter its electoral map and create five districts favorable to Democrats.
  • In the heart of Los Angeles, a team of canvassers tirelessly knocks on doors, asking voters to let California redraw its electoral map to favor Democrats and resist US President Donald Trump.
  • The goal: to amend its constitution so California too can alter its electoral map and create five districts favorable to Democrats.
In the heart of Los Angeles, a team of canvassers tirelessly knocks on doors, asking voters to let California redraw its electoral map to favor Democrats and resist US President Donald Trump.
The flyers warn Trump "is rigging and trying to steal the 2026 elections before we can vote."
"California can protect fair elections by fighting fire with fire," they say.
Trump set in motion a vicious cycle this summer by asking his allies in Texas to redraw electoral boundaries in a way that will provide five more Republican seats in Congress for next year's midterm elections.
The maneuver was intended to maintain a slender right-wing majority in the US House of Representatives.
It was also highly unusual -- redistricting normally occurs every decade in the United States, after each national census.
To counter Trump's ploy, California is now holding a dramatic referendum. 
The goal: to amend its constitution so California too can alter its electoral map and create five districts favorable to Democrats.
With just days to go before voting closes Tuesday, Californians appear likely to approve the measure.
"I'm not really for it, but I'm gonna vote for it, because I think it's what's necessary...to level the playing field," 61-year-old contractor Patrick Bustad told canvassers.
"If the Democrats don't get dirty and get in the mud with the Republicans to fight back, we're going to get run over."

'Stick it to Trump'

Trump "wants to be a dictator, not a president," said Bustad, recalling how the Republican refused to concede defeat despite losing the 2020 presidential election.
Spearheaded by state governor Gavin Newsom, the California referendum represents for many a difficult moral dilemma.
Unlike most other US states, California has abandoned gerrymandering -- a controversial practice by which legislators redraw electoral maps to benefit their party.
Back in 2008, under then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Golden State voted to hand the power to draw up district boundaries to an independent commission.
Newsom's new "Proposition 50" asks voters to temporarily abandon this equitable system, and return to partisan redistricting for the next five years.
Polls predict a landslide victory for in favor of the measure. 
Newsom's confident campaign even stopped fundraising more than a week before voting closes, telling supporters: "You can stop donating."
Mutual loathing between Trump and California has backdropped the entire campaign.
One prominent "Yes on Proposition 50" ad imagines a furious Trump raging at his television as news breaks of the referendum's passage, with a simple slogan: "Stick it to Trump."

Injustice

Faced with resentment, Trump and his supporters have not campaigned in California against the vote.
The most notable Republican voice against the measure has been Schwarzenegger, who has warned that "two wrongs don't make a right."
Sara Sadhwani, a member of California's redistricting commission who supports "Prop 50," said that she usually imparts the same message to her three children.
"However, I also tell my kids that when a bully comes after you, you can defend yourself," she added.
"And I think that's what Californians are being asked in this moment -- there is a very real attempt to rig this election nationally."
Still, the political scientist laments how the entire situation has become a "race to the bottom."
Several more Republican states -- Missouri, North Carolina, Indiana -- and Democratic states -- New York, Virginia, Illinois -- are also considering joining the redistricting battle.
"Trust in elections is at an all-time low, and I don't see this as really improving that situation," she sighed.
That deepening mistrust is already palpable in Taft, a Republican stronghold north of Los Angeles.
With the likely passage of the referendum, "the Democrats are going to take over, and we're not going to have any rights," said Paula Patterson, a 66-year-old retiree.
Newsom "wants it his way so he can rig it," she added.
rfo/amz/jgc

economy

US economy in the dark as government shutdown cuts off crucial data

BY BEIYI SEOW

  • While economists, policymakers and business leaders have been relying on private sector data, analysts stress that these cannot replace numbers produced by the US government, which are viewed as the gold standard.
  • US policymakers, financial institutions and business owners have been flying blind for almost a month as a government shutdown has stopped the release of crucial federal economic data ranging from the size of the labor force to the country's GDP. The void is set to deepen by Thursday as Washington holds off publishing gross domestic product (GDP) numbers measuring the growth of the world's biggest economy in the July to September period.
  • While economists, policymakers and business leaders have been relying on private sector data, analysts stress that these cannot replace numbers produced by the US government, which are viewed as the gold standard.
US policymakers, financial institutions and business owners have been flying blind for almost a month as a government shutdown has stopped the release of crucial federal economic data ranging from the size of the labor force to the country's GDP.
The void is set to deepen by Thursday as Washington holds off publishing gross domestic product (GDP) numbers measuring the growth of the world's biggest economy in the July to September period.
The United States has already delayed reports on employment, trade, retail sales and others, only recalling some furloughed staff to produce key inflation figures needed for the government to calculate Social Security payments.
Congressional Republicans and Democrats remain at an impasse, each assigning blame to the other side over the shutdown with no quick end in sight and food aid for millions now at stake.
Analysts warn the growing information blackout could, in turn, cause businesses to lower hiring and investment.
"There's a huge demand right now for government data," said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. "Every industry is trying to figure out if the Federal Reserve is going to keep cutting interest rates."
The central bank's decisions hinge upon the economy's health, particularly inflation and the weakening jobs market.
"This is the time of year where most organizations are finalizing their budgets for 2026," Long told AFP.
"So, almost any company is sitting there thinking: Do we think 2026 is going to be an uptick? Or a slowdown, or a recession?"
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the shutdown could cost the economy up to $14 billion.
Economist Matthew Martin of Oxford Economics expects firms to proceed cautiously, with President Donald Trump's tariffs already sending uncertainty surging this year.
"Businesses would therefore reduce their overall hiring to be on the safe side of things, until they see data that really points towards increased demand, or at least stabilization in the economy," he told AFP.
Similarly, those in the financial markets need data to make investments and decide their moves in equities, he said.

'Tainted data'

Should the shutdown last through mid-November, as prediction markets expect, most delayed data releases will likely not come out until December, Goldman Sachs said in a note this week.
"The risk would grow that delays could distort not just the October but the November data too," the report added.
Long said that October's data could even be lost if the shutdown drags on for too long, "because the data was not collected."
Government workers could ask people to recount economic conditions once the shutdown ends, but this proves tricky if the delay is too long, she said.
The risk is no data or "tainted data" if memories are seen as less reliable over time, she added.
While economists, policymakers and business leaders have been relying on private sector data, analysts stress that these cannot replace numbers produced by the US government, which are viewed as the gold standard.
"We have a remarkable amount of uncertainty about just literally what's happening with labor supply, like how many people are in the United States and want jobs," said Brookings Institution senior fellow Wendy Edelberg.
She added that there is significant disagreement about how many people have left the country since the start of 2025.
Wells Fargo senior economist Sarah House said despite strong GDP growth recently, there are many "signs of strain underneath the surface," alongside signals that "not every component or group in the economy is doing equally well."
She cautioned that the shutdown is unhelpful for the economy: "If you're not sure when your next paycheck is coming as a government worker, you're not going to be going out to eat for dinner." 
"You're maybe pushing off a trip, or just not buying little discretionary things."
myl-bys/jgc

vote

From La Guardia to De Blasio: New York's most memorable mayors

BY RAPHAëLLE PELTIER

  • - Diversity champion: David Dinkins (1990-1993) - New York's first African American mayor championed diversity, calling it a "gorgeous mosaic." 
  • New York's mayors are an eclectic bunch: from uniters to heroes-turned-villains and those accused of corruption.
  • - Diversity champion: David Dinkins (1990-1993) - New York's first African American mayor championed diversity, calling it a "gorgeous mosaic." 
New York's mayors are an eclectic bunch: from uniters to heroes-turned-villains and those accused of corruption.
Here is what to know about five of the most high-profile mayors of The Big Apple as the city prepares to pick its 111th leader on November 4:

Fiorello La Guardia (1934-1945)

La Guardia lends his name to New York's first major airport, inaugurated in 1939, a recognition of his role as the builder of modern New York.
He remains the preferred mayor of present-day candidates Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo.
Born in New York to Italian parents and raised between the United States and Italy, La Guardia was one of many city leaders of immigrant descent.
A progressive Republican, he was elected by opposing Tammany Hall, the Democratic hub that had controlled the city for a century. 
Nicknamed "the Little Flower," he led the city during the Great Depression, collaborating with president Franklin Roosevelt.
Under La Guardia's administration, New York developed public housing, a modernized subway system, new parks and two airports, and reformed its welfare system.

The Orator: Ed Koch (1978-1989)

Koch famously described himself as "the sort of person who will never get ulcers. Why? Because I say exactly what I think."
Born in New York in 1924 to Polish Jewish parents, he studied law before entering politics. 
The city faced high crime and a financial crisis when he took office.
The Democrat, who described himself as "liberal with sanity," imposed austerity while renovating thousands of abandoned homes. 
He famously pounded the sidewalks, asking passersby "How'm I doin'?" 
His tenure ended marred by corruption scandals involving close associates, the closure of a hospital serving Black residents, and criticism of his AIDS policy.

Diversity champion: David Dinkins (1990-1993)

New York's first African American mayor championed diversity, calling it a "gorgeous mosaic." 
Born in neighboring New Jersey, Dinkins served in the military before studying mathematics and law.
His marriage to the daughter of a New York State Assembly member propelled him into politics.
He was unable to secure re-election after battling rising crime and racial tensions.
This culminated in 1991's Brooklyn riots after a rabbi's motorcade hit two Black children, killing one. 
Dinkins strengthened police and supported community mediation and racial integration, laying the groundwork for a sustained drop in crime and more inclusive policies. 

'America's mayor': Rudy Giuliani (1994-2001)

The first Republican mayor in 20 years in true-blue New York, Giuliani cut spending and cracked down on crime. 
He pushed controversial "broken windows theory," insisting on zero tolerance for low-level lawbreaking. 
Critics accused him of ignoring police brutality, noting crime was declining nationwide anyway.
Giuliani's management of the September 11, 2001 attacks aftermath earned him the nickname "America's Mayor" -- and Time magazine's Person of the Year.
After an unsuccessful 2008 Republican presidential run, he joined Donald Trump's campaign to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 presidential victory. 
Ex-attorney Giuliani has since been repeatedly sued for defamation and disbarred in New York.

 The Progressive: Bill de Blasio (2014-2021)

This Democratic outsider courted voters emphasizing the city's economic divisions after 12 years under independent Michael Bloomberg's leadership.
His progressive wins included universal pre-kindergarten and a reduction in police stop-and-frisk actions.
But de Blasio's policies aimed at promoting affordable housing failed to curb rising rents, and homelessness.
His attempt to introduce a "millionaire's tax" to fund his social programs was blocked by state legislators. 
He struggled to engage police unions following the Black Lives Matter protests in 2014 and 2020, and is remembered for a stuttering response to the Covid-19 pandemic. He abandoned his presidential ambitions in 2020 amid a lack of support.
pel-gw/mlm

drugs

US says 4 killed in new strike on alleged Pacific drug boat

  • Wednesday's deadly attack comes two days after multiple strikes on four boats killed 14 people in the eastern Pacific and left one survivor.
  • The US military on Wednesday struck another boat in the eastern Pacific it claimed was trafficking drugs, killing four people, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said, bringing the death toll from Washington's controversial anti-narcotics campaign to at least 62.
  • Wednesday's deadly attack comes two days after multiple strikes on four boats killed 14 people in the eastern Pacific and left one survivor.
The US military on Wednesday struck another boat in the eastern Pacific it claimed was trafficking drugs, killing four people, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said, bringing the death toll from Washington's controversial anti-narcotics campaign to at least 62.
The strike occurred in international waters, Hegseth announced on X, and a video accompanying his post showed a boat floating stationary in the water before a large explosion and subsequent fire.
Like previous videos released by the US government, areas on the boat are obfuscated, rendering it impossible to verify how many people were on board.
"This vessel, like all the others, was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics," Hegseth said.
Experts say the attacks, which began in early September, amount to extrajudicial killings even if they target known traffickers, and Washington has yet to make public any evidence that its targets were smuggling narcotics or posed a threat to the United States.
Wednesday's deadly attack comes two days after multiple strikes on four boats killed 14 people in the eastern Pacific and left one survivor.
The United States asked Mexico to attempt to rescue the survivor, but Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday that search efforts had failed.
Earlier Wednesday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said his country had intercepted three planes allegedly used for drug trafficking, as tensions mount over the US boat strikes and its military deployment in the region.
"The day before yesterday...a drug-trafficking plane entered through the Caribbean. Our aviation detected it in a second," Maduro said at an official event. 
"Today, two drug-trafficking aircraft entered from the north. And in accordance with our law, we have an interception law...bam, boom, bang!"
It was not immediately clear if this meant the planes were shot down.
Maduro said the action was taken "to make them respect Venezuela...what is that called? Exercising sovereignty."
Caracas has sought to showcase anti-drug efforts in the face of a massive US military deployment within striking distance of the country.
The United States has deployed seven US Navy warships as well as F-35 stealth warplanes, and ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier strike group to the region, bringing a massive increase in firepower.
Washington calls its deployment an anti-drug operation, but Caracas fears it is a guise for military action to oust Maduro.
US President Donald Trump's administration says Maduro is a drug lord, an accusation he denies, and has issued a $50 million reward for information leading to his capture.
Maduro insists there is no drug cultivation in Venezuela, which he says is used as a trafficking route for Colombian cocaine against its will.
des-md/jgc

diplomacy

'Non-interventionist' Trump flexes muscles in Latin America

BY LéON BRUNEAU

  • But Trump's MAGA, or Make America Great Again, movement is also deeply skeptical of jeopardizing US lives and resources in foreign wars.
  • In a speech in Riyadh in May, President Donald Trump denounced generations of US interventionism, saying the Middle East was only made worse by Americans who fly in "giving you lectures on how to live and how to govern your own affairs."
  • But Trump's MAGA, or Make America Great Again, movement is also deeply skeptical of jeopardizing US lives and resources in foreign wars.
In a speech in Riyadh in May, President Donald Trump denounced generations of US interventionism, saying the Middle East was only made worse by Americans who fly in "giving you lectures on how to live and how to govern your own affairs."
Those views apparently do not extend to Latin America, where he instead has been blatantly meddling in ways harkening back to an earlier era in US history.
Trump has intervened directly to weaken the democratically elected leftist leaders of Colombia and Brazil and to bolster the right-wing president of Argentina.
He has also put the United States on a war footing in the Caribbean, raising speculation he will forcefully depose Venezuela's leftist firebrand Nicolas Maduro.
Trump, who has put a top priority at home on mass deportation of mostly Latin American undocumented migrants and alleged gang members, has argued that the United States is in an armed conflict with narcotraffickers, likening them to "terrorists." 
He has launched repeated deadly strikes on small boats, with murky public information available, and confirmed he authorized CIA operations in Venezuela.
Democratic Senator Mark Kelly said in a recent ABC News interview: "You don't move a battle group all the way from where it was to the Caribbean unless you're planning on either to intimidate the country -- which is rather intimidating -- or you're going to start conducting combat operations in Venezuela."

Dividing friends and foes

The United States has treated Latin America as its sphere of influence under the 1823 Monroe Doctrine, when then president James Monroe said the hemisphere was closed to European powers.
Washington has intervened aggressively over the past two centuries, sometimes with disastrous results -- as in the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion aimed at ousting Cuban communist revolutionary Fidel Castro.
Trump has zeroed in from the start of his second term on a revitalization of the Monroe Doctrine, threatening to seize back the Panama Canal due to Chinese influence in the critical waterway.
If not military force, Trump has turned to economic tools. 
At the start of his administration in January he imposed sweeping tariffs on Colombia to punish Gustavo Petro, the US ally's first left-wing president, for defying Trump on migration.
More recently the Treasury Department imposed sanctions personally on Petro, whom Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American and sworn critic of the region's leftists, branded a "lunatic."
Trump has also targeted a top judge in Brazil for prosecuting former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted over a coup attempt with echoes of Trump supporters' riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
By contrast, Trump promised a $20 billion bailout to Argentina to boost President Javier Milei and has moved to reward Ecuador's Daniel Noboa and El Salvador's Nayib Bukele, who offered to help Trump's deportation drive by taking in prisoners to his own maximum-security prison.

'MAGA' Latin America

"I think definitely the goal of the Trump administration is to shape Latin American politics in the form of a MAGA agenda," said Renata Segura, who heads the Latin America and Caribbean program at the International Crisis Group, which promotes conflict resolution.
But Trump's MAGA, or Make America Great Again, movement is also deeply skeptical of jeopardizing US lives and resources in foreign wars.
Rubio has been seen as the architect of the hawkish turn on Venezuela, hoping a downfall of Maduro could set off a domino effect that could even bring down Cuba's 66-year-old communist government.
With the military deployment, the United States is sending a clear message not only to Venezuela, Segura said.
"They're sending a message to the entire region that they will act unilaterally when they decide that that is appropriate," she said.
Trump, however, already tried during his 2017-2021 term to oust Maduro, including by building a coalition of major Latin American and European powers.
Maduro remained entrenched, enjoying his own support base as well as backing by Cuba, China and Russia.
"If there is this goal of using militarization pressure to produce some internal break that leads to Maduro's departure, my concern is that what was tried in Trump One," said Roxanna Vigil, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
"It didn't work," she said.
lb/sct/des/bjt

politics

Portland Guard deployment blocked, Supreme Court wants more time on Chicago

  • A Trump-appointed district court judge blocked the deployment of National Guard troops in Portland but was overruled by a three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
  • A US appeals court has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump from deploying National Guard troops in Portland, Oregon, as part of his sweeping crackdown on crime and immigration.
  • A Trump-appointed district court judge blocked the deployment of National Guard troops in Portland but was overruled by a three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
A US appeals court has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump from deploying National Guard troops in Portland, Oregon, as part of his sweeping crackdown on crime and immigration.
The Supreme Court asked for more time and additional briefing materials, meanwhile, before ruling on Trump's emergency request to deploy troops in Chicago, another Democratic-run city.
The Republican president has sent National Guard troops to three Democratic-led cities this year -- Los Angeles, Washington and Memphis -- but his efforts to deploy soldiers in Portland and Chicago have been tied up in the courts.
A Trump-appointed district court judge blocked the deployment of National Guard troops in Portland but was overruled by a three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The 9th Circuit voted late Tuesday, however, to have the case reheard by an 11-judge panel, a move which prevents National Guard troops from deploying in Portland for now.
Oregon's Democratic Attorney General Dan Rayfield, who has filed suit to block the use of the National Guard, welcomed the ruling.
"The Constitution limits the president's power, and Oregon's communities cannot be treated as a training ground for unchecked federal authority," Rayfield said. "The court is sending a clear message: the president cannot send the military into US cities unnecessarily."
The US president has repeatedly called Portland "war-ravaged" and riddled with violent crime, a description dismissed as "simply untethered to the facts" by the district court judge who initially blocked the National Guard deployment.
A district court and an appeals court have also blocked the use of National Guard troops in Chicago, the third-largest US city, and the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court in an emergency filing on October 17 to lift the lower court rulings.
In a brief order on Wednesday, the conservative-dominated Supreme Court asked the Trump administration and the Illinois authorities who oppose the Chicago deployment to submit additional written filings in the case by November 17.
Trump's extraordinary domestic use of the National Guard was also challenged by California earlier this year after the president sent troops to Los Angeles to quell protests sparked by the rounding up of undocumented migrants.
A district court judge ruled it unlawful but an appeals court panel allowed the Los Angeles deployment to proceed.
cl/sla

Fed

Divided US Fed backs second quarter-point rate cut of 2025

BY DANIEL AVIS

  • Fed officials have in recent months flagged concerns that the labor market is cooling, causing them to shift their attention to bolstering hiring, even though inflation remains above the Fed's target.
  • The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday announced its second quarter-point rate cut in a row to bolster the flagging labor market, in a move that highlighted the growing division in its ranks.
  • Fed officials have in recent months flagged concerns that the labor market is cooling, causing them to shift their attention to bolstering hiring, even though inflation remains above the Fed's target.
The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday announced its second quarter-point rate cut in a row to bolster the flagging labor market, in a move that highlighted the growing division in its ranks.
Policymakers voted 10-2 in favor of lowering the bank's key lending rate to between 3.75 percent and 4.00 percent, the Fed said in a statement. 
Opposed to the action were Fed governor Stephen Miran, who backed a bigger half-point cut, and Kansas City Fed president Jeff Schmid, who "preferred no change to the target range for the federal funds rate at this meeting," the Fed said. 
"We continue to face two-sided risks," Powell told reporters at a press conference in Washington. 
He added that during the Fed's discussions this week, "there were strongly differing views about how to proceed in December."
"A further reduction in the policy rate at the December meeting is not a foregone conclusion, far from it," he said. 
Wall Street stocks fell after Powell threw cold water on the prospects of a December rate cut, ending the day mixed. 

Shutdown weighing on economy

The decision to cut rates boosts the US economy at a time when businesses are still digesting the effects of President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs, and buys policymakers some more time as they wait for the end of the government shutdown.
Republicans and Democrats remain politically gridlocked almost a month after the start of the shutdown, which has resulted in a suspension of publication of almost all official data.
"The shutdown of the federal government will weigh on economic activity while it persists, but these effects should reverse after the shutdown ends," Powell said on Wednesday. 
"We're going to collect every scrap of data we can find, evaluate it, and think carefully about it," he added. "If you're driving in the fog, you slow down."
Fed officials have in recent months flagged concerns that the labor market is cooling, causing them to shift their attention to bolstering hiring, even though inflation remains above the Fed's target.
"We have 4.3 percent unemployment. We have an economy that's growing close to two percent, so overall it's a good picture," Powell said on Wednesday. 
"But in terms of our policy, we have upside risks to inflation, downside risks to employment," he said. "And this is a very difficult thing for a central bank."
"The Fed's rate cut is a tactical error," Moody's Analytics banking industry practice lead Chris Stanley wrote in a note shared with AFP. 
"The data does not support cutting rates," he continued, adding that the Fed could find itself walking the cut back in the near future due to high inflation. 
"We expect the Fed to slow the pace of cuts from here," Oxford Economics deputy chief US economist Michael Pearce wrote in a note to clients.

Fed to end QT

The Fed also announced Wednesday that it would soon end its policy of shrinking the size of its balance sheet, in a move that was widely expected. 
"The Committee decided to conclude the reduction of its aggregate securities holdings on December 1," the Fed said in a statement confirming its decision.
The Fed's balance sheet ballooned in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic to almost $9 trillion. 
The bank has been gradually reducing its size in recent years, although it remains well above its pre-pandemic levels at around $6.6 trillion. 
"I think they're very cautious about stresses in the financial markets," former Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester told AFP ahead of the rate announcement.
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