Fed

'This is the test': All eyes on US Fed to tackle high inflation

BY MYRIAM LEMETAYER AND ASAD HASHIM

  • In recent weeks, however, several Fed policymakers -- including Warsh himself -- have hinted that if inflation does not show clear signs of slowing, the central bank will have to act by raising interest rates.
  • The US Federal Reserve goes into a key rate-setting meeting this week with markets expecting policymakers to pull the trigger on a rate hike to tackle persistently high inflation -- and analysts say central bank chief Kevin Warsh's credibility is on the line.
  • In recent weeks, however, several Fed policymakers -- including Warsh himself -- have hinted that if inflation does not show clear signs of slowing, the central bank will have to act by raising interest rates.
The US Federal Reserve goes into a key rate-setting meeting this week with markets expecting policymakers to pull the trigger on a rate hike to tackle persistently high inflation -- and analysts say central bank chief Kevin Warsh's credibility is on the line.
The world's largest economy has been dealing with years of higher-than-target inflation, and prices have surged in the wake of US President Donald Trump's war on Iran, his signature tariff policies and the ongoing AI boom.
The Fed has held rates steady since January, choosing to wait to gauge the effects of energy price shocks and to let the tariffs' effects on prices ripple through the economy.
In recent weeks, however, several Fed policymakers -- including Warsh himself -- have hinted that if inflation does not show clear signs of slowing, the central bank will have to act by raising interest rates.
On Friday, new data on consumer inflation for August showed it remaining steady at 3.4 percent -- no change from the month before, but still well above the Fed's long-term two percent target.
Market expectations of a 25-basis-point rate hike on Wednesday surged in the wake of the data, with the probability at more than 85 percent according to CME's FedWatch tool.
The Fed last raised rates three years ago, when it was fighting surging inflation in the wake of the pandemic. They currently stand at between 3.50 and 3.75 percent.
Trump has railed against the Fed over interest rates since taking office for his second term, launching unprecedented attacks on the central bank's independence as he demands lower rates to spur economic activity.
The US president launched a criminal probe against previous Fed chair Jerome Powell, is attempting to fire another Fed governor and has even threatened to cut trade ties with certain countries if the Fed raised rates.
Warsh was appointed by Trump and analysts say this is his first real test since taking office: Will the Fed raise rates to combat inflation, or hold steady in line with what the White House prefers?
"This is the test. This is what comes with that job, and now he has to decide how to handle it," said David Wessel, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
"He's either going to completely disappoint the markets, or he runs the risk that he's going to start to anger Donald Trump."
The Fed's Federal Open Market Committee, with its 12 voting members, will announce its decision after a two-day meeting on Wednesday at 2:00 pm (1800 GMT).

'Costly medicine'

"It's quite likely that the Fed will raise interest rates next week," said Claudia Sahm, chief economist at investment firm New Century Advisors who previously worked at the Fed. 
But "it's not a done deal," she cautioned in comments to AFP. "This is a difficult decision for them to make."
Raising interest rates would increase borrowing costs across the board for the US economy, acting as a brake on further investment and consumption activity.
Sahm warned such a move was "not a magic wand and it is a costly medicine."
She said the Fed could still hold rates steady rather than administer that medicine, but it would have to explain its decision clearly to markets.
"If they surprise markets and they can't explain why they're surprising markets, then Wednesday afternoon will be pretty messy," she said.
Since taking office, Warsh has changed the way the Fed communicates about its decisions, advocating for less transparency into the process as he thinks it locks policymakers into courses of action that may need to be adjusted.
Investors have had mixed reactions to the cut in what is known as "forward guidance," with analysts saying it has introduced more uncertainty into how financial markets price in inflation and interest rate expectations.
Warsh has advocated in the past for lower interest rates due to expected productivity gains from AI technology, but in recent weeks he has doubled down on the Fed's mandate to bring inflation down.
"There's always been this doubt about whether Kevin Warsh is going to be like his predecessors and do what's right for the economy, even if it's politically inconvenient," said Wessel of Brookings. 
"If he raises rates now and Trump goes ballistic, he will have established his credibility as an independent Fed chair for the rest of his term."
myl-aha/mjf/acb

diplomacy

Trump turns to golf, family business on Irish visit's second day

BY PETER HUTCHISON, WITH AURELIA END IN DUBLIN

  • The American leader will attend the tournament Sunday -- the main reason for the trip -- before departing for Washington later that day.
  • Donald Trump turns his focus Sunday to golf and promoting his business interests, as he wraps up a two-day Ireland visit so far marked by his off-the-cuff diplomacy causing another stir.
  • The American leader will attend the tournament Sunday -- the main reason for the trip -- before departing for Washington later that day.
Donald Trump turns his focus Sunday to golf and promoting his business interests, as he wraps up a two-day Ireland visit so far marked by his off-the-cuff diplomacy causing another stir.
The US president caught his Irish hosts and neighbouring ally Britain off-guard Saturday when he waded into highly sensitive political territory by announcing he would "love to see" a united Ireland.
Breaking with Washington's traditional neutrality on the historically-charged topic, Trump argued reunification of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland -- after over a century apart -- was "going to happen eventually".
"It may as well happen now," he ventured as he met Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin in Dublin, prompting pushback from pro-UK loyalists in Northern Ireland and some leading politicians in mainland Britain.
Within hours of his surprise intervention on the issue, Trump had touched down in Doonbeg, on the country's west coast, where his Trump Organization-owned golf course is hosting the Irish Open.
The American leader will attend the tournament Sunday -- the main reason for the trip -- before departing for Washington later that day.
Martin assured him at Saturday's meeting that Doonbeg's 784 residents were "very grateful" for the Trump Organization's investment there after it bought the site in 2014, noting his family were "welcome" there.
The US president is joined in the remote corner of Ireland by his two sons, Eric and Don Jr, who have managed the family business since their 80-year-old father returned to the White House last year.

'Commander in Cheat'

Trump, a former real estate magnate who promotes family enterprises at every opportunity, told Martin that Doonbeg was "one of the greatest courses in the world".
He also lauded Irish golfer Shane Lowry, who has shone at the Open so far, and Rory McIlroy, the Northern Irish defending champion who has previously played golf with the American leader.
Some 40,000 fans are expected at the tournament over the weekend, with six-time major winner and current world number two McIlroy the main draw.
Trump's attendance adds an extra layer of complexity to a security effort that is reportedly costing Ireland 20 million euros ($23 million). He could present the winner the trophy on Sunday.
The course -- set among dunes on the rugged County Clare coastline -- has twice been targeted by pro-Palestinian activists in the past 18 months, and security around the president has been stepped up.
Around 4,000 Irish and US security personnel were expected to be involved in the weekend-long security operation, with armed officers including snipers and anti-drone technology among the measures reportedly deployed.
The golf-mad president -- whose relaxed relationship with the game's rules was documented by sports journalist Rick Reilly in the 2019 book "Commander in Cheat" -- has repeatedly boasted about his golfing talent.
In his book, Reilly detailed how Trump became known as a notorious golf cheat, noting some caddies nicknamed him "Pele" -- after the Brazilian football legend -- for kicking balls from the rough into the fairway.

'Conflict of interest'

He plays the game most weekends at one of his family's properties, either near Washington, New York, or in Florida and is even scheduled to host December's G20 summit at his Miami golf resort.
Opposition Democrats in the US have long complained that blurring the lines between his presidency and personal business interests is corrupt, while some have called for an investigation into insider trading and market manipulation claims.
According to legally required financial disclosures, Trump raked in more than $2 billion in income in 2025 -- the year he returned to power -- with a large portion coming from cryptocurrency activities.
That compared with just over $600 million in 2024.
The White House has aggressively pushed back against claims of conflicts of interest and that Trump has been using his presidency to enrich himself.
The US leader has similarly dismissed criticism for accepting a new Air Force One plane gifted by Qatar -- aboard which he arrived in Ireland.
"Since the Civil War, we haven't had a president with a significant financial conflict of interest from a business enterprise," University of Minnesota Law School professor Richard Painter told AFP.
The former White House ethics lawyer warned Trump's conduct could send the message "that the way to curry a favour with the president is to patronise his properties, do business with his companies and so forth".
aur/jj/yad/ane

diplomacy

Trump says Irish unification would be 'fantastic'

BY BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI, WITH PETER HUTCHISON AND AURELIA END IN DUBLIN

  • In Dublin, at least 2,000 protesters waving Palestinian flags and holding placards rallied Saturday lunchtime against the president's visit, chanting "Donald Trump's not welcome here", AFP reporters saw.
  • Donald Trump said Saturday he would "love to see" a united Ireland, wading into a politically sensitive subject as he embarked on a two-day Irish visit that blurs the lines between his presidency and personal business interests.
  • In Dublin, at least 2,000 protesters waving Palestinian flags and holding placards rallied Saturday lunchtime against the president's visit, chanting "Donald Trump's not welcome here", AFP reporters saw.
Donald Trump said Saturday he would "love to see" a united Ireland, wading into a politically sensitive subject as he embarked on a two-day Irish visit that blurs the lines between his presidency and personal business interests.
After meeting Ireland's Prime Minister Micheal Martin in Dublin, Trump said reunification of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland -- split for over a century -- would be "a fantastic thing".
"It's going to happen eventually. It may as well happen now," he told reporters, adding "the UK will have something to say about it, obviously".
The island of Ireland has been split between the Irish republic in the south and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, since 1921.
Under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which ended three decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland that killed about 3,000 people, a referendum can be held if the UK government determines a majority there is likely to favour joining the Republic of Ireland.
Republic of Ireland voters would also have to endorse reunification in a poll for it to happen.
The United States has previously adopted a neutral position on the issue.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham insisted last month that a unity referendum was "off the table", drawing a sharp response from the pro-unity party Sinn Fein.
Asked about Trump's comments, a spokesperson for his Downing Street office referred reporters to comments Burnham made in parliament Wednesday when he vowed to "stick to the Good Friday Agreement 100 percent".
However Gavin Robinson, leader of the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party, said on X that "as unionists we are not interested in the destruction of our country by joining with the Irish Republic". 
 

Divergences

 
Trump had touched down at Dublin airport shortly before 8:25 am (0725 GMT) under a security operation dubbed one of the largest ever mounted in Ireland and reportedly costing 20 million euros ($23 million).
At least 4,000 police and other personnel, including snipers, have been mobilised.
In Dublin, at least 2,000 protesters waving Palestinian flags and holding placards rallied Saturday lunchtime against the president's visit, chanting "Donald Trump's not welcome here", AFP reporters saw.
One sign read "no imperialists in Ireland" while some held explicit inflatable balloons showing Trump in sex acts with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 
"Trump is a warmonger," student Cillian Whelan, 19, told AFP. "He has no right to be in my country. He should be on trial."
One small group of demonstrators -- dressed in black and wearing masks and dark glasses -- set a US flag on fire, according to The Irish Times.
Smaller protests also occurred at Shannon Airport, where the US leader transited, and in Doonbeg on Ireland's west coast, where the Trump Organization's 2014-purchased course is hosting golf's Irish Open tournament.
Police said three women -- aged in their 20s, 30s and 40s -- had appeared in a western Irish court late Saturday after being arrested for separate trespass and public order offences there.
After completing engagements in Dublin, Trump made a dramatic landing in Doonbeg aboard Marine One, and was soon photographed watching over the 18th green during the third round of the Open flanked by his sons Don Jr. and Eric.
He was reportedly given a rapturous reception during a brief appearance in the resort's members' bar, with drinkers chanting "USA".
 

'Strong view'

 
Earlier in Dublin, Trump appeared to receive a frostier reception from left-wing President Catherine Connolly, an outspoken critic of the US leader. 
"I conveyed the strong view of the Irish people that the normalisation of war and genocide can never be accepted," Connolly said in a post-meeting statement.
He then met Martin, when the Iran war and US tariffs on EU pharmaceuticals and immigration were on the agenda.
Ireland and the United States have long been close allies, partly because of their common ancestral ties.
But the Irish government's politics diverge sharply from those of the Trump administration on many issues, with Ireland being one of Europe's most pro-Palestinian countries. 
It is among several countries, including Spain, the UK and France, that have announced a trade ban targeting Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
In Doonbeg, some 40,000 fans are expected at the Open over the weekend. Trump may even award the trophy Sunday.
The 80-year-old golf-mad president has promoted his family's courses and other businesses unabashedly since returning to the White House for his second presidential stint in January 2025.
Trinity College Dublin US history professor Daniel Gear told AFP that Trump "sees little difference between his private interests and his role as president".
pdh/jj/yad

Smithsonian

Trump asks Smithsonian to install George Washington statues, exhibition

  • Trump called for the installation of a 30-foot (nine-meter) "Colossus statue" of George Washington, a founding father and the first US president, and an exhibition honoring his legacy at The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington.
  • US President Donald Trump asked the Smithsonian Institution on Friday to install statues of George Washington, in his latest bid to reshape the treasured museum and research complex.
  • Trump called for the installation of a 30-foot (nine-meter) "Colossus statue" of George Washington, a founding father and the first US president, and an exhibition honoring his legacy at The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington.
US President Donald Trump asked the Smithsonian Institution on Friday to install statues of George Washington, in his latest bid to reshape the treasured museum and research complex.
Trump, who has sought to root out what he called "woke" culture, has accused the Smithsonian -- which operates 21 museums and galleries --- of trying to rewrite American history on issues of race and gender.
A 162-page White House report said that Smithsonian leadership has "consistently denigrated and displaced whites, males, Christians, and Americans in educational materials and programming". 
Trump called for the installation of a 30-foot (nine-meter) "Colossus statue" of George Washington, a founding father and the first US president, and an exhibition honoring his legacy at The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington.
Trump also said he wanted the 11-foot (three-meter) statue of Washington that featured in August's Freedom 250 IndyCar motor race to go on display in the museum's Flag Hall.
The president asked for a five-year exhibition continuing through February 22, 2032 -- the 300th anniversary of Washington's birth -- to honor his "Life and Legacy."
"He is easily America's Greatest Hero. Without him, our Country and our Freedoms wouldn't exist," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
"And yet, during our Nation's 250th Anniversary Year, the Museum has failed to give George Washington and our other Founding Fathers the celebration they deserve."
The Smithsonian was created by the federal government in 1846 but operates in a unique position outside any branch of government.
bur-lkd/cms

Global Edition

US marks 25th anniversary of 9/11 attacks

BY GREGORY WALTON

  • The September 11, 2001 attacks were carried out by mostly Saudi hijackers and orchestrated by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi.
  • The United States on Friday commemorated the 25th anniversary of the devastating September 11, 2001 attacks with a poignant ceremony in New York marked by President Donald Trump's absence and searing criticism from victims' relatives.
  • The September 11, 2001 attacks were carried out by mostly Saudi hijackers and orchestrated by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi.
The United States on Friday commemorated the 25th anniversary of the devastating September 11, 2001 attacks with a poignant ceremony in New York marked by President Donald Trump's absence and searing criticism from victims' relatives.
In an unusual move, Trump paid his respects at the Pentagon, not the event in New York, where hijacked planes destroyed the World Trade Center and most of the 2,977 victims were killed, upending the global status quo.
The Republican billionaire sought to link the "war on terror" that followed 9/11, which sparked years of US involvement in Middle East wars, with his current conflict in Iran.
"Today we renew the sacred oath that we first swore in their names a quarter of a century ago. We will never, ever forget. That's why we fight today," Trump said. 
"We don't have a choice. There can only be victory. We fight hard. We fight to win."
Vice President JD Vance and Trump's four living predecessors -- Republican George W. Bush, who was in office during the attacks, and Democrats Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton -- attended the event at Ground Zero in lower Manhattan. 
There, a huge crowd gathered for the somber annual ceremony, which retraced the events of 9/11 minute by minute, concluding shortly before 1:00 pm (1700 GMT).
As usual, the names of the victims were read out, and a bell was rung to mark major moments in the attack.
The event is generally apolitical with no speeches.
But several bereaved family members who read out the names of those killed criticized Saudi Arabia and US leaders' closeness to the kingdom.

'We have no justice'

Terry Strada, whose husband Tom Strada died in the Twin Towers, unleashed a stinging attack on Riyadh, accusing it of complicity in the attacks, and denouncing former presidents who were in attendance.
"You are missed more with each year that passes, but how can it be 25 years and still we have no justice for the role that Saudi Arabia played in your murder?" she said.
The September 11, 2001 attacks were carried out by mostly Saudi hijackers and orchestrated by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi.
"For 25 years, administration after administration -- including leaders in front of us here today -- chose to protect the Saudis instead of standing with a 9/11 family," Strada said, calling for action from the absent Trump.
In New York, Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the Big Apple's first Muslim leader, attended the Ground Zero event despite a campaign urging him to stay away.
That effort was spearheaded by the right-wing New York Post newspaper and former mayor and Trump ally Rudy Giuliani, who led the city through the crisis and was also present on Friday.
The petition gathered more than 100,000 signatures.
A small anti-Islam protest gathered at City Hall and marched towards Ground Zero, flanked by a heavy police presence and counter-protesters.
Mamdani won plaudits for revealing thousands of documents showing what city officials knew about toxicity levels of the air in Lower Manhattan following the attacks.
After the initial dust cloud that followed the collapse of the World Trade Center, months of pollution and lingering dust ensued, causing cancers from which thousands of New Yorkers still suffer today.
The CIA also declassified and published dozens of 9/11-related presidential intelligence briefs to coincide with the 25th anniversary.

'New York did recover'

Nineteen Al-Qaeda operatives hijacked four airliners on the nearly cloudless autumn day in 2001. 
Two of the jets slammed into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, causing the iconic skyscrapers to collapse.
A third plane struck the Pentagon, while a fourth -- believed to have been aiming for Congress or the White House -- crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers fought back.
Some 100 million Americans have been born since or are too young to remember the traumatic day.
Sophia Rotunno, 58, recalls watching the first tower fall with colleagues back in 2001, and also remembers helping those affected in the aftermath.
"All we could do is support them, and be there for when they went to memorials, or be there for when they came home, and hug them, and pray for them," she said.
"It was a hard time for everybody afterward -- and New York did recover."
Al-Qaeda meanwhile marked the anniversary by releasing a video showing images of the late Bin Laden and his son Hamza, who Trump said in 2019 had also been killed.
bur-gw/sst

inflation

US inflation steady in August, fueling Fed rate hike expectations

BY BEIYI SEOW AND ASAD HASHIM

  • - Inflating hitting hard - High prices have been hitting the US economy hard, with wholesale inflation picking up more than expected in August, according to government data on Thursday.
  • US consumer inflation was unchanged at 3.4 percent in August, government data showed Friday, with persistent high prices raising expectations that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates in the world's largest economy next week.
  • - Inflating hitting hard - High prices have been hitting the US economy hard, with wholesale inflation picking up more than expected in August, according to government data on Thursday.
US consumer inflation was unchanged at 3.4 percent in August, government data showed Friday, with persistent high prices raising expectations that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates in the world's largest economy next week.
Consumer price index (CPI) inflation remains significantly elevated from earlier in the year and well above the Fed's long-term two-percent target.
US households have been battered by years of high prices since the pandemic -- when consumer inflation hit 9.1 percent -- and Americans' ability to afford basics like food and fuel will be a key issue in November's midterm elections.
Several Fed policymakers have indicated they would be prepared to raise interest rates if August inflation data did not show a slowdown in price increases. The central bank's rate-setting committee meets next week.
Any move to raise rates will be sure to anger US President Donald Trump, who has launched an unprecedented campaign against the Fed's independence, demanding policymakers lower interest rates to spur economic activity.
The US president launched a criminal probe against previous Fed chair Jerome Powell, is attempting to fire another Fed governor and last week even threatened to cut trade ties with certain countries if the Fed raised rates.
Trump is under pressure over the high cost of living, with Democrats seeking to wrest control of both houses of Congress in November and block the Republican's agenda in the final two years of his term.

Fuel prices surge

Fuel price increases accounted for one-third of the monthly rise in consumer prices, Friday's data showed.
The price of gasoline in the US is up 44 percent since the start of the Iran war in February, according to AAA motor club data.
Record diesel prices -- which hit an unprecedented $6 per gallon in the United States on Friday -- have also driven up transportation, farming and construction costs.
The index for inflation excluding volatile fuel and food prices -- so-called "core" inflation -- rose 2.4 percent in August year-on-year. 
"The renewed march higher in oil, gasoline and diesel prices add to concerns that higher energy prices could spill over to other goods and services and inflation expectations," said Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide, in a note.
Market expectations of a rate hike surged in the wake of the inflation reading, with the probability of a 25-basis-point hike at 87 percent, according to CME's FedWatch tool. 

Inflating hitting hard

High prices have been hitting the US economy hard, with wholesale inflation picking up more than expected in August, according to government data on Thursday.
The Fed last raised rates three years ago, capping a hiking cycle it began in the pandemic to combat surging prices.
Inflation has declined steadily from its 2022 peak, but never hit the Fed's two-percent target. In February it fell to 2.4 percent but subsequently surged to three-year highs on the back of Trump's war on Iran.
The United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran and killed its leadership at the start of the war, plunging the Middle East into chaos as Tehran targeted US regional allies and choked off a key energy trade route.
The Fed has gradually lowered rates since 2024 but has held them steady between 3.50 percent and 3.75 percent this year as inflation climbed following the Middle East war and as the effects of Trump's tariff war filtered through the economy.
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren slammed Trump over the latest inflation figures.
"Today's data confirms that Americans continued to pay more for housing, airline fare, and childcare in the month of August, while their wages have failed to keep up with inflation for five consecutive months," she said.
Many US households have been struggling in recent years, and on Friday a gauge of consumer sentiment by the University of Michigan was near an all-time low.
"With a resurgence in fuel prices and trade tensions, consumers anticipate greater pressures on their pocketbooks to come," said survey director Joanne Hsu.
bys-aha/acb

Global Edition

'That's why we fight': Trump links 9/11 to Iran conflict

BY DANNY KEMP

  • "Today we salute every member of the United States military who served in the 'War on Terror.'
  • President Donald Trump vowed Friday that the United States would never forget the September 11, 2001 attacks and suggested the country was continuing the "war on terror" 25 years later by fighting Iran.
  • "Today we salute every member of the United States military who served in the 'War on Terror.'
President Donald Trump vowed Friday that the United States would never forget the September 11, 2001 attacks and suggested the country was continuing the "war on terror" 25 years later by fighting Iran.
Speaking at the Pentagon after skipping the main 9/11 commemorations in New York, Republican Trump also hit out at domestic "fanatics" in an apparent swipe at Democrats.
"Today we renew the sacred oath that we first swore in their names a quarter of a century ago. We will never, ever forget. That's why we fight today," Trump said in a speech.
"We don't have a choice. There can only be victory. We fight hard. We fight to win," added the president, who was accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump.
One of the jets hijacked on 9/11 hit the Pentagon in Washington, killing 184 people who were remembered by a single bell tolling as their names were read out.
But presidents have previously marked major anniversaries by attending several sites including New York, where the majority of the 2,977 victims were killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center.
Trump went on to link the fight against Al-Qaeda launched by his Republican predecessor George W. Bush to the US-Israeli war on Iran which is now in its seventh month.
"Today we salute every member of the United States military who served in the 'War on Terror.' It is a war on sick, horrible terror," Trump said.
"And we salute the service members working right now to ensure the world's number one sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran, will never ever have a nuclear weapon."

'Islamic theocracy'

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also lashed out at Iran in his remarks to the Pentagon ceremony.
"Over the past six months, we have laid waste to the world's most prolific state sponsor of terrorism. Our warriors have fought an Islamic theocracy that has wished us death for nearly half a century," Hegseth said.
The Iran war has slid into a stalemate with Iran largely maintaining its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, and keeping oil prices high, despite sporadic exchanges of fire with the United States.
Trump also turned to the domestic front, a day after a Republican convention for the US midterm elections in which Trump and Vice President JD Vance accused Democrats of sympathizing with the 9/11 attackers.
"A generation after 9/11, we also know that the final response to those atrocities and the ultimate victory over the perpetrators will not be found on a foreign battlefield," Trump said.
Telling the story of a firefighter killed in the attacks whose son went on to become a US Navy veteran, Trump said it showed that "we can be a nation whose heroes are not fanatics for an abstract cause."
In his speech to the Republican convention on Wednesday, Trump had used the same term: "With your vote in this election, you can tell these far-left lunatics and fanatics that America is not for sale to them or to anybody else."
Republicans at the convention repeatedly trained their fire on left-wing Democratic senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed over his previous social media posts about 9/11.
dk-wd/bgs

Global Edition

Relatives of 9/11 victims hit out at Saudi Arabia -- and US leaders

  • Trump attended a ceremony at the Pentagon, another site of the 9/11 attacks.
  • Relatives of those killed in the 9/11 attacks on Friday called out Saudi Arabia for alleged complicity in the carnage -- and chided past US presidents in attendance at a remembrance ceremony for failing to call Riyadh to account.
  • Trump attended a ceremony at the Pentagon, another site of the 9/11 attacks.
Relatives of those killed in the 9/11 attacks on Friday called out Saudi Arabia for alleged complicity in the carnage -- and chided past US presidents in attendance at a remembrance ceremony for failing to call Riyadh to account.
The September 11, 2001 attacks were carried out by mostly Saudi hijackers and orchestrated by mastermind Osama bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi who founded Al-Qaeda. Washington maintains strong military and diplomatic ties with the kingdom.
The annual reading of the names of the victims at the National 9/11 Memorial in New York is a somber ceremony and is usually entirely apolitical, making the comments especially jarring. 
"You are missed more with each year that passes, but how can it be 25 years and still we have no justice for the role that Saudi Arabia played in your murder?" Tom Strada's widow Terry, the national chair of 9/11 Families United, said in her remarks.
"Yes, we finally made it into a court and have proved that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia fomented a rancid culture of anti-American terrorism around the globe, and then sent its agents to support the radical Islamist hijackers so they could attack you and all of our loved ones," she said, to cheers and applause from the audience.
Strada was referring to a lawsuit brought against Saudi Arabia's authorities by 9/11 Families United that alleges the kingdom supported the attackers.
She then took aim at US leadership, as former presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden looked on, along with current Vice President JD Vance.
"For 25 years, administration after administration -- including leaders in front of us here today -- chose to protect the Saudis instead of standing with a 9/11 family," Strada said, calling for action from President Donald Trump, who skipped the event.
"President Trump can still change that. Tell the Saudis to stop lying. Tell them that if they want to be friends with the USA, they cannot continue to deny all of this, all of the pain, all of the destruction that we have all been suffering through," she added. 
"Vice President Vance, thank you for being here today. Please carry that message back."
Trump attended a ceremony at the Pentagon, another site of the 9/11 attacks.
Bill Clinton was beside other past presidents at Ground Zero in New York, but his two White House terms predate the attacks.
After Strada's remarks, another of those reading names of the fallen, the nephew of victim Lisa Marie Terry, accused "the deep state" of having "hidden the truth about what happened that day 25 years ago." 
"President Trump, you're our last hope. Release the unredacted files that implicate Saudi Arabia, while what's left of the victims' families are still alive to see it," he said.
gw/sst

Global Edition

New York marks 25th anniversary of 9/11 attacks

BY RAPHAëL HERMANO

  • Alongside the former presidents was Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the Big Apple's first Muslim mayor.
  • New York commemorated the 25th anniversary of the devastating September 11, 2001 attacks Friday with a ceremony marked by controversy over President Donald Trump's absence and right-wing outrage over the attendance of the city's first Muslim mayor.
  • Alongside the former presidents was Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the Big Apple's first Muslim mayor.
New York commemorated the 25th anniversary of the devastating September 11, 2001 attacks Friday with a ceremony marked by controversy over President Donald Trump's absence and right-wing outrage over the attendance of the city's first Muslim mayor.
In an unusual move, Trump was paying his respects at the Pentagon, rather than joining the event in New York, where hijacked planes destroyed the World Trade Center and killed most of the 2,977 total victims on that world-altering day.
Vice President JD Vance and Trump's four living predecessors -- Republican George W. Bush, who was in office during the attacks, and Democrats Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton -- were gathering at the Ground Zero site in lower Manhattan.
The ceremony, which began just after 8:40 a.m (1240 GMT), was designed to be apolitical, with no speeches.
Bereaved family members read out the names of all those killed, with a bell tolling to mark major moments in the attack, which sparked years of US involvement in Middle East wars and bitter controversy over Washington's human rights record.
Terry Strada, widow of victim Tom Strada, unleashed a stinging attack on Saudi Arabia, accusing it of complicity in the attacks, and denouncing former presidents who were in attendance.
"You are missed more with each year that passes, but how can it be 25 years and still we have no justice for the role that Saudi Arabia played in your murder?" she said in unscripted remarks broadcast live worldwide.
The September 11, 2001 attacks were carried out by mostly Saudi hijackers orchestrated by mastermind Osama bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi.
Alongside the former presidents was Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the Big Apple's first Muslim mayor.
He faced a well organized campaign urging him to stay away spearheaded by the right-wing New York Post newspaper and former mayor and Trump-ally Rudy Giuliani.
A petition, which has gathered more than 100,000 signatures, accuses Mamdani of associating with unspecified individuals who are "dismissive of American institutions or insufficiently critical of extremist ideologies."
"It's concerning to me that the mayor is being treated differently simply because he is Muslim," city council member Shahana Hanif told CNN.
Mamdani won plaudits for recently revealing thousands of documents showing what city officials knew about toxicity levels of the air in Lower Manhattan following the attacks.
After the initial dust cloud that followed the collapse of the World Trade Center, months of pollution and lingering dust ensued, causing cancers from which thousands of New Yorkers still suffer today.

Traumatic, but fading memories

Nineteen Al-Qaeda operatives hijacked four airliners on the nearly cloudless autumn day in 2001. Two of the jets slammed into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, causing the iconic 110-storey buildings to collapse.
A third plane struck the Pentagon, while a fourth -- believed to have been aiming for Congress or the White House -- crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers fought back.
Beyond those killed on September 11, more than 9,400 other people have died from 9/11-related illnesses, according to the federal program established to provide medical care to those affected.
Some 100 million Americans have been born since or are too young to remember the traumatic day.
John Fila, a retired firefighter of Engine 54, Ladder 4, Battalion 9, said his firehouse lost 15 members on 9/11.
"Every year around this time it's a difficult time for us. It's extraordinary the fact that so many people have come back for it," he said.
"In our firehouse there's the picture of the 15 that we lost. (New firefighters) see that but it's up to us... to explain those firefighters' lives and what they were doing that day." 
Fila was the firehouse's last firefighter to serve before September 11.
Huge crowds were expected to gather in Lower Manhattan for the memorial service.
The Secret Service, which protects presidents, erected a security ring around the site of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.
City police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said an anti-drone team would be deployed as a precaution, but stressed there was no intelligence of a specific threat.
Al-Qaeda meanwhile has marked the anniversary by releasing a video showing images of late leader Osama bin Laden and his son Hamza, who Trump said in 2019 had also been killed.
Ahead of the memorial, a drone show with 2,977 lights rose above New York Harbor, one for each person killed in the attacks.
bur-gw/sms

vote

Vance assails Democratic 'hatred' in fiery US midterm pitch

BY FRANKIE TAGGART AND DANNY KEMP

  • "The Democrats are the party of hatred.
  • US Vice President JD Vance called Democrats the "party of hatred" Thursday and urged voters to send them packing in November's midterms, in a prime-time convention speech that showcased him as a possible heir to Donald Trump in 2028.
  • "The Democrats are the party of hatred.
US Vice President JD Vance called Democrats the "party of hatred" Thursday and urged voters to send them packing in November's midterms, in a prime-time convention speech that showcased him as a possible heir to Donald Trump in 2028.
The 42-year-old vice president was greeted by a huge roar and chants of "JD! JD!" as he took the stage at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
"This fall, the Democrats are running candidates who will tell your children what they're allowed to say, how they're allowed to live, and, importantly, who they ought to hate," Vance said.
"The Democrats are the party of hatred. They're the party that despises America and the people who built it. They're the party that can find sympathy for the terrorists who perpetrated 9/11," he added 
Trump returned to the stage after Vance and immediately praised his vice president.
"I want to thank our great vice president. What a job he did tonight!" Trump said. "You know, the Democrats are getting nervous."
The president promised to be brief before introducing a convention-closing music set, saying: "I'm getting a little tired of politics now."
But he reprised familiar rally lines, attacking "radical left" Democrats and again making himself the centerpiece of the Republican midterm campaign.
"I'm not on the ticket. You've got to pretend I'm on the ticket," Trump told supporters.
Republicans head into November under heavy electoral pressure.
US election tracking site Decision Desk HQ projects Democrats will win the House 229-206 and has the Senate on a knife-edge at 50-50. Trump's approval rating has languished in the low-to-mid 30s amid stubborn inflation and an unpopular war with Iran.
Trump also repeated his extraordinary promise from Wednesday to pay every American adult a $5,000 "Trump dividend" if Republicans retain both chambers of Congress.

Family and future

Vance, meanwhile, sought to sharpen a convention-long portrayal of Democrats as extremists, arguing that disagreements within the Republican coalition were minor compared with what he called the rhetoric of the "far left."
"I'm not asking you to agree with every policy of our administration," Vance told the crowd.
"I'm asking you to recognize the contrast with the radicals, and the achievements of the last 18 months."
Family and fatherhood were recurring themes as Vance sought to contrast what he described as traditional values with the political left, adding "we got to send their asses packing in November."
He also paid tribute to conservative youth activist Charlie Kirk on the first anniversary of his killing, addressing Kirk's young children directly.
"History will record that your father was a great man," Vance said.
Vance turned to his political opponents, accusing them of attacking the traditional family.
"To the radicals who wish to abolish my family and the thousands and millions of other families all across our country, we have a simple message for them: stay the hell away from our kids," he said.
His speech was briefly interrupted by a protester waving a Mexican flag and shouting from the crowd.
"Well, my friend, if you love Mexico so much, get your ass over there," Vance responded. "I'll buy you the plane ticket."

High-stakes gamble

Vance is widely regarded as an early front-runner for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination, although he has said he will not make a decision until after the midterms.
His appearance immediately before Trump's closing remarks gave him one of the convention's most prominent speaking slots as Republicans begin to consider their post-Trump future.
Speaking to reporters on the tarmac before departing Texas, Trump praised Vance.
"I think he did very well tonight, and he's a very talented guy. He's a great -- been a great vice president. I think he did a very good job,” Trump said.
The central Republican gamble remains whether Trump can mobilize voters personally loyal to him even when he is not actually running, without further alienating independents who have soured on his presidency.
Vance's appearance added the longer-term question of whether one of Trump's potential successors can eventually inherit the political coalition he built.
Ed Williams, a 59-year-old engineer from Dallas, told AFP Vance had come across as "very charismatic," and hit the issues important to "the America that I want."
"I'm considering Vance very strongly for my presidential pick in 2028," he said, as jubilant Republicans streamed out of the convention hall and into a steamy Dallas night.
ft/sla/hol

vote

Beyond midterms, Republicans ponder who comes after Trump

BY FRANKIE TAGGART

  • But the US Constitution bars him from seeking a third elected term, and the looming midterms are already being viewed as an important test of which potential heirs can best defend his record -- and which parts of his political movement survive him.
  • Republicans gathered in Dallas this week to rally behind President Donald Trump ahead of November's US midterms -- even as an unavoidable conundrum loomed beyond the election: who inherits the movement when he is gone?
  • But the US Constitution bars him from seeking a third elected term, and the looming midterms are already being viewed as an important test of which potential heirs can best defend his record -- and which parts of his political movement survive him.
Republicans gathered in Dallas this week to rally behind President Donald Trump ahead of November's US midterms -- even as an unavoidable conundrum loomed beyond the election: who inherits the movement when he is gone?
In the halls and corridors of the downtown convention center, that question repeatedly produced the same two names: Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the leading contenders to carry the party into its post-Trump era.
Trump, 80, remains the Republican Party's dominant figure and has not endorsed a successor.
But the US Constitution bars him from seeking a third elected term, and the looming midterms are already being viewed as an important test of which potential heirs can best defend his record -- and which parts of his political movement survive him.
"I think it's going to be between Rubio and Vance," said Susan Kokinda, 77, a conservative podcaster from Michigan.
"Or maybe the two of them will just team up and flip a coin and decide who's first."
Vance appears to hold the early advantage.
A Focal Data/Financial Times poll in August put him on 42 percent among Republicans, well ahead of Rubio's 18 percent, while other surveys have shown the two much closer.
Trump himself has publicly encouraged speculation, calling a Vance-Rubio ticket a potential "dream team" while stopping short of backing either man.
Vance's supporters see him as the more natural ideological heir: younger -- he is just 42 -- closely tied to the MAGA grassroots and steeped in the economic nationalism that has reshaped Republican thinking on trade, immigration and working-class politics.
"He's the closest to the president," Tom Hoffman Jr, 62, a New York businessman attending the convention, told AFP.
"I think he's been a great running mate and he's been a great vice president so far, and I think he's earned it."

Rubio appeal

Rubio offers a different proposition.
The former US senator from Florida has built a profile as one of Trump's most prominent foreign-policy lieutenants and is viewed by supporters as a more experienced and polished political performer.
Kyle Hermann, a 29-year-old teacher from California, praised Rubio's "charm and his wit" and said he hoped both men could emerge from any primary battle without damaging each other.
"I think the eyes of the world are pretty much on Vance and Rubio," Hermann told AFP. "I don't even necessarily want one of them to lose."
But Rubio, 55, has repeatedly played down speculation about another presidential run, and the field is not necessarily limited to two.
Senator Ted Cruz, who ran against Trump in 2016, has been making increasingly conspicuous moves toward another presidential bid, including repeated trips to Iowa and outreach to potential supporters.
Cruz recently insisted that Republicans had not coalesced around Vance and said he would be "part of the discussion" over the party's future.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has also been floated as a possible contender, although he has described reports that he is considering a run as "100 percent false."
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump Jr and others remain in the wider conversation.

Trump legacy

What makes the succession question unusually complicated is that Republican voters are not simply choosing a candidate; they will eventually have to decide which version of Trumpism they want to preserve.
For some delegates, however, neither leading contender could fully replace Trump.
"They can't fulfill what Trump started," said Angie Fisher, 54, an appliance-store buyer from South Carolina.
Vance is closely associated with the party's nationalist-populist wing, while Rubio is generally regarded as more conventional on foreign policy and international alliances.
He delivered what was billed as the keynote address on Thursday, although Trump closed out proceeding with his own final remarks.
Ed Williams, a 59-year-old engineer from Dallas, told AFP Vance had come across as "very charismatic," and hit the issues important to "the America that I want."
"I don't think Vance gets as much time in front of the camera as as he deserves, because I think he is someone who we can use as the Republican Party to reach out to young people," he said.
For all the successsion talk, some activists in Dallas were not ready to give up on Trump -- and said they'd back him again in 2028 if he were allowed a third elected term.
"Unfortunately, I wish that he could, but I don't think that can happen," said Rosie Swanson, 72, a retired Dallas resident.
"If he did, I'd vote for him."
ft-es/sla

Trump

Appreciation, anger await as Trump heads to Irish golf resort

BY PETER MURPHY

  • "I would say to Trump that you are welcome to Doonbeg as an investor who has increased our economy here and provided jobs."
  • In the windswept village of Doonbeg on Ireland's Atlantic coast, Donald Trump is less polarising US president and more golf resort owner credited with bringing jobs and money to a remote corner of the country.
  • "I would say to Trump that you are welcome to Doonbeg as an investor who has increased our economy here and provided jobs."
In the windswept village of Doonbeg on Ireland's Atlantic coast, Donald Trump is less polarising US president and more golf resort owner credited with bringing jobs and money to a remote corner of the country.
Trump arrives in Ireland on Saturday for a two-day visit, stopping for a few hours in Dublin before heading west to his Trump International Golf Links, where the Irish Open began Thursday.
The tournament is set to draw up to 75,000 spectators to the links course, set among towering dunes on a rugged stretch of County Clare coastline.
The 80-year-old American president is expected to attend the tournament over the weekend and present the trophy after Sunday's final round.
Despite some villagers' appreciation for the resort's economic benefits, his arrival is drawing opposition further afield in Ireland, where Trump remains deeply unpopular.
More than two-thirds of Irish people do not welcome the visit, according to a Sunday Independent / Ireland Thinks poll reported last week.
A "No Welcome for Trump" demonstration is planned in Dublin on Saturday, with protesters angry about his policies on Gaza, immigration and climate change.
Demonstrations are also expected around Doonbeg and its nearest airport, Shannon, over the weekend.
The golf course itself has twice been targeted by pro-Palestinian activists in the past 18 months.
Police patrolled Doonbeg's main street this week as preparations intensified for what security sources have described as one of the most complex security operations ever mounted in Ireland.
Around 4,000 Irish and US security personnel are expected to be involved, with armed officers including snipers and anti-drone technology among the measures planned.
In Doonbeg -- population 784 -- the Trump resort employs around 300 people at the height of the tourist season.
Local councillor and cafe owner Rita McInerney estimates it contributes around six million euros ($7 million) annually to the local economy through wages, plus a similar amount through purchases of goods and services.

'Welcome'

Young people in particular find summer work at the sprawling complex, which attracts large numbers of American visitors.
"It's bandied about that the resort has put half of (County) Clare through college," she laughed, while handing a customer an americano through the hatch of her coffee truck.
The golf course and its economic relationship with the region predates Trump.
Community activist Tommy Comerford was part of a local group that began pursuing the idea of building a golf resort in the 1990s, hoping to create jobs and stem economic decline.
US developers eventually built the course, which opened in 2002. Trump bought the struggling resort in 2014 for a reported 15 million euros.
"International politics is very difficult," Comerford told AFP outside his pub on Doonbeg's main street.
"A lot of things have happened over the last few years which are outside our control," he said.
For Comerford, Trump's politics and his role as a local investor are separate issues.
"People have their right to agree or disagree with the developer. But that's not our problem," he said.
"I would say to Trump that you are welcome to Doonbeg as an investor who has increased our economy here and provided jobs."
Trump's son Eric, who oversees the family's golf interests, is a more regular visitor and is familiar to villagers.
Nearby, a shop window displayed a poster of the US president wearing a red cap emblazoned with the golf-themed slogan "Make Birdies Great Again".
Local pensioner Kevin Bridgeman said he would have no hesitation greeting Trump if their paths crossed.
"If Donald Trump walked down the road, I'd go over and shake his hand and say, 'Welcome to Doonbeg'," the 63-year-old said.
Then he grinned. "I'd tell him, 'it's your round. Now let's go to the bar and buy me a drink!'"
pmu/jj/ach

vote

In Nebraska, independent Senate candidate gives Democrats hope

BY ROBIN LEGRAND

  • The strategy Democrats are using in Nebraska -- to bank on a popular independent to boost a more moderate candidate's chances -- is one they are also adopting in Idaho and South Dakota, two other traditionally red states easily won by Trump in 2024. - '40 trillion reasons' - Not fielding a party candidate was the right move by Democrats to "strengthen" Osborn's run, according to longtime party supporter Mary Haller, a 66-year-old retired physician assistant who came to hear the independent speak at the cafe in Arapahoe.
  • At a cafe in the small Nebraska town of Arapahoe, a handful of residents listen to Dan Osborn, a 51-year-old Navy veteran running as an independent for the US Senate.
  • The strategy Democrats are using in Nebraska -- to bank on a popular independent to boost a more moderate candidate's chances -- is one they are also adopting in Idaho and South Dakota, two other traditionally red states easily won by Trump in 2024. - '40 trillion reasons' - Not fielding a party candidate was the right move by Democrats to "strengthen" Osborn's run, according to longtime party supporter Mary Haller, a 66-year-old retired physician assistant who came to hear the independent speak at the cafe in Arapahoe.
At a cafe in the small Nebraska town of Arapahoe, a handful of residents listen to Dan Osborn, a 51-year-old Navy veteran running as an independent for the US Senate.
The industrial mechanic and former union leader is a relative political novice, and says he's always refused to define himself along party lines.
"We're in this forever power struggle between the left versus the right, but I say it all the time: we have to shed those red and blue jerseys," Osborn told AFP.
Nevertheless, he is one of the Democratic Party's biggest hopes for the midterm elections on November 3.
"We're uniting behind Dan Osborn: a true working-class Nebraskan who knows how to work a wrench and served our country in uniform," Jane Kleeb, the chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party, said in a statement this month.
The Great Plains state, home to two million people, is not exactly an easy get for Democrats. The party opted not to even field a candidate in the race against the Republican incumbent, Senator Pete Ricketts, to improve Osborn's odds of winning.
Osborn ran unsuccessfully two years ago for the state's other Senate seat, winning nearly 47 percent of the vote against Republican Deb Fischer -- impressive given that Donald Trump won almost 60 percent of the votes in the presidential contest.
The strategy Democrats are using in Nebraska -- to bank on a popular independent to boost a more moderate candidate's chances -- is one they are also adopting in Idaho and South Dakota, two other traditionally red states easily won by Trump in 2024.

'40 trillion reasons'

Not fielding a party candidate was the right move by Democrats to "strengthen" Osborn's run, according to longtime party supporter Mary Haller, a 66-year-old retired physician assistant who came to hear the independent speak at the cafe in Arapahoe.
Osborn refuses to be shoehorned into any political silos and is no fan of the two-party system.
He is bemused by Ricketts's attempts to paint him as a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat.
"There's 40 trillion reasons why I would agree with a fiscal conservative," Osborn said, referring to the staggering US national debt, which recently passed the $40 trillion mark.
"We've got to do better with spending," he said. "We solve it with making people pay their fair share. I have multinational corporations that are based here that funnel their profits overseas."
In 2021, when Osborn was still working as a mechanic at a Kellogg's plant and leading the local food workers' union, he helped lead a 77-day strike against the US cereal giant.
"That was definitely a defining moment in my life," he recalled. "To understand one day that you think you're important to somebody, and then all of a sudden you're not. They discard you like a piece of garbage."
Running for Senate, Osborn said, "is a way for me to give the power back to the people."

'Balanced system'

Matt Biehl, a 45-year-old cattle rancher, came from the village of Johnson Lake to hear Osborn, just weeks before the election. 
Biehl described himself as a "classic Republican -- more of your George Bush era type."
He told AFP he hopes that Americans can somehow rediscover a "balanced system of people that are willing to reach across the party aisle" so that compromise is no longer a "bad word."
This is the sweet spot Osborn is targeting: he hopes to ultimately bridge the gap between Republicans and Democrats in the US Senate.
Not far from the cafe where Osborn met with voters, Calvin Pemberton owns a Trump souvenir shop next to his car detailing business, where he sells flags, t-shirts and hats with the Republican president's likeness.
Osborn chatted with Pemberton, who said he remains undecided how he will vote in November.
"If there's ever a candidate that I feel is worth voting for, I'll vote the direction I feel my morals are pulling me," said Pemberton.
That is just the kind of voter that Osborn will need to win over in order to claim a seat in Washington.
rle/sst/mlm

vote

What to know about Trump's $5,000 'dividend' pledge

  • "After making you sicker and poorer with his war, Donald Trump now wants to buy your vote with $5,000 in taxpayer-funded blood money," Newsom said on X. Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, said Trump's pledge was just the latest move in a "fantastically reckless and dysfunctional presidency."
  • President Donald Trump has promised $5,000 to every American adult if Republicans retain control of the House of Representatives and the Senate in November's midterm elections.
  • "After making you sicker and poorer with his war, Donald Trump now wants to buy your vote with $5,000 in taxpayer-funded blood money," Newsom said on X. Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, said Trump's pledge was just the latest move in a "fantastically reckless and dysfunctional presidency."
President Donald Trump has promised $5,000 to every American adult if Republicans retain control of the House of Representatives and the Senate in November's midterm elections.
The pledge has raised questions about its legality, its cost and where the money would come from.

Is it legal?

Federal law prohibits offering payments in exchange for votes and separately restricts promises of federally funded benefits in return for political support.
Trump's offer would appear to skirt these prohibitions because it is more in the nature of a campaign promise and would apply to all adult Americans regardless of how they voted.
Any such payment would in any case require congressional authorization, as the US Constitution bars the president from spending Treasury funds without an appropriation made by law.
But Trump told CBS News Texas he did not think Congress would need to approve the payments, without going into details.
Trump has made similar pledges in the past which never came about, including promising Americans $2,000 checks from tariff revenues and $5,000 checks from savings made from drastic federal job cuts. 

How much would it cost?

There are about 276.8 million adults aged 18 and over in the United States, according to Congressional Budget Office data, and doling out $5,000 to each would come to $1.384 trillion.
Trump said he was targeting "every American." Restricting the payments to US citizens would reduce that figure to about $1.27 trillion.
During the Covid pandemic, Congress approved payouts to income-eligible tax filers and their dependents only, a narrower approach that would lower the cost further.
The three rounds of pandemic stimulus checks approved in 2020 and 2021 came to about $814 billion in total, according to federal oversight data.

Would the checks make inflation worse?

Almost certainly. This is a serious problem for Trump as he faces voter anger over costs of living.
Direct cash handouts of this kind are sometimes described by economists as "helicopter money" -- a term for no-strings-attached payouts from a central bank, meant to jolt an economy out of deflation, the opposite of the price pressures the United States faces now.
US consumer inflation is running at 3.4 percent, well above the central bank's two percent long-term target. Injecting roughly $1.27 trillion into consumer hands would stir demand in an economy where prices are already rising, partly because of the energy shock from the Iran war.
Research published by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis estimated that pandemic-era fiscal stimulus, which also included support for businesses, added about 2.6 percentage points to US inflation.

Could tariff money pay for Trump's new promise?

Not anytime soon. The government collected a record $195 billion in customs duties in fiscal 2025, meaning a $1.4 trillion payout would consume roughly seven years of revenues from Trump's trade policies.
Moreover, the Supreme Court struck down many of Trump's tariffs in February, forcing the US Treasury to refund importers with interest, and net customs revenue turned negative in May through July.
The Tax Foundation, a right-leaning think tank, estimates that spending over $1 trillion on a new one-time payment program "would balloon the deficit to nearly $3 trillion," even with revenue from Trump's remaining tariffs.

'Corrupt' and 'Reckless'

Democratic reaction to Trump's proposal was withering.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, condemned the pledge as coming from "the most corrupt man ever to occupy the Oval Office."
"After making you sicker and poorer with his war, Donald Trump now wants to buy your vote with $5,000 in taxpayer-funded blood money," Newsom said on X.
Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, said Trump's pledge was just the latest move in a "fantastically reckless and dysfunctional presidency."
"So after adding trillions of dollars to the national debt, driving it over an unprecedented $40 trillion, Trump now offers everyone a $5,000 political bribe ("the Trump Dividend") if we elect Republicans to run Congress," Raskin said.
arp-cl-bys/mlm

trade

Carney says in touch with Trump, Canada ready for 'fair' trade deal

  • But Carney said the pair remain in touch and that "Canada is always ready to strike a fair deal."
  • Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday that he had spoken to US President Donald Trump "in recent days" and Ottawa remains ready to reach a "fair" trade deal with Washington, despite escalating economic tensions.
  • But Carney said the pair remain in touch and that "Canada is always ready to strike a fair deal."
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday that he had spoken to US President Donald Trump "in recent days" and Ottawa remains ready to reach a "fair" trade deal with Washington, despite escalating economic tensions.
The once ironclad trading partnership between the North American neighbors has sustained unprecedented blows since Trump returned to office last year.
Carney cut off trade talks last month, saying the US offer was unacceptable, triggering angry responses from Trump, including punishing new tariffs and prompting Canadian retaliation.
But Carney said the pair remain in touch and that "Canada is always ready to strike a fair deal."
"We believe there is a mutually beneficial deal for Canada and the United States," the prime minister told reporters in the western city of Calgary, where he was hosting Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.
"I speak regularly to the president, President Trump. I've spoken to him in recent days," Carney said.
Since the talks broke down last month, Trump has resumed taunting Canada and mocking its leadership, posting a generated image on social media of him towering over Carney and calling him "governor," with both dressed in hockey gear.
Carney has said he has no interest in escalating the conflict, but insists he will not agree to anything that doesn't serve Canada's economic interests.
bs/pnb

vote

What to know about Trump's $5,000 'dividend' pledge

  • "After making you sicker and poorer with his war, Donald Trump now wants to buy your vote with $5,000 in taxpayer-funded blood money," Newsom said on X. Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, said Trump's pledge was just the latest move in a "fantastically reckless and dysfunctional presidency."  
  • President Donald Trump has promised $5,000 to every American adult if Republicans retain control of the House of Representatives and the Senate in the November midterm elections.
  • "After making you sicker and poorer with his war, Donald Trump now wants to buy your vote with $5,000 in taxpayer-funded blood money," Newsom said on X. Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, said Trump's pledge was just the latest move in a "fantastically reckless and dysfunctional presidency."  
President Donald Trump has promised $5,000 to every American adult if Republicans retain control of the House of Representatives and the Senate in the November midterm elections.
The pledge has raised questions about its legality, its cost and where the money would come from.

Is it legal?

Federal law prohibits offering payments in exchange for votes and separately restricts promises of federally funded benefits in return for political support.
Trump's offer would appear to skirt these prohibitions because it is more in the nature of a campaign promise and would apply to all adult Americans regardless of how they voted.
Any such payment would in any case require congressional authorization, as the US Constitution bars the president from spending Treasury funds without an appropriation made by law.
Trump has made similar pledges in the past which never came about, including promising Americans $2,000 checks from tariff revenues and $5,000 checks from savings made from drastic federal job cuts. 

How much would it cost?

There are about 276.8 million adults aged 18 and over in the United States in 2026, and doling out $5,000 to each would come to $1.384 trillion.
Trump said he was targeting "every American." Restricting the payments to US citizens would reduce that figure to about $1.27 trillion.
During the Covid pandemic, Congress approved payouts to income-eligible tax filers and their dependents only, a narrower approach that would lower the cost further.
The three rounds of pandemic stimulus checks approved in 2020 and 2021 came to about $814 billion in total, according to federal oversight data.

Would the checks make inflation worse?

Almost certainly. This is a serious problem for Trump as he faces voter anger over the cost of living.
Direct cash handouts of this kind are sometimes described by economists as "helicopter money" -- a term for no-strings-attached payouts from a central bank, meant to jolt an economy out of deflation, the opposite of the price pressures the United States faces now.
US consumer inflation is running at 3.4 percent, well above the central bank's two percent long-term target. So injecting roughly $1.27 trillion into consumer hands would stir demand in an economy where prices are already rising, partly because of the energy shock from the Iran war.
Research published by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis estimated that pandemic-era fiscal stimulus, which also included support for businesses, added about 2.6 percentage points to US inflation.

Could tariff money pay for Trump's new promise?

Not anytime soon. The government collected a record $195 billion in customs duties in fiscal 2025, meaning a $1.4 trillion payout would consume roughly seven years of revenues from Trump's trade policies.
Moreover, the Supreme Court struck down Trump's signature tariffs in February, forcing the US Treasury to refund importers with interest, and net customs revenue turned negative in May through July.

'Corrupt' and 'Reckless'

Democratic reaction to Trump's proposal was withering.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, condemned the pledge as coming from "the most corrupt man ever to occupy the Oval Office."
"After making you sicker and poorer with his war, Donald Trump now wants to buy your vote with $5,000 in taxpayer-funded blood money," Newsom said on X.
Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, said Trump's pledge was just the latest move in a "fantastically reckless and dysfunctional presidency."  
"So after adding trillions of dollars to the national debt, driving it over an unprecedented $40 trillion, Trump now offers everyone a $5,000 political bribe ("the Trump Dividend") if we elect Republicans to run Congress," Raskin said.
arp-cl/dw/mlm

politics

Ex-president Bush remembers 9/11 through exhibit of his art

BY ELODIE SOINARD

  • That the creator of the art was actually president during the events gives them "a different kind of weight," she said.
  • Twenty-five years after the September 11, 2001 attacks that would define his presidency, George W. Bush, now an avid painter, is displaying 16 pieces of art inspired by the tragic events.
  • That the creator of the art was actually president during the events gives them "a different kind of weight," she said.
Twenty-five years after the September 11, 2001 attacks that would define his presidency, George W. Bush, now an avid painter, is displaying 16 pieces of art inspired by the tragic events.
The exhibit opens with a painting of lower Manhattan shrouded in thick gray smoke under a blue sky, the Twin Towers having both collapsed after being rammed by hijacked passenger jets.
Bush, who had taken office less than eight months earlier, has "returned to this defining moment in American history with brush and canvas, painting the symbols, the people, and the embraces that have stayed with him since," the exhibit's introduction says.
It is the latest special collection produced by the 80-year-old former president, who took up painting a few years after leaving office in 2009, with previous exhibits dedicated to portraits of veterans of his post-9/11 wars and American immigrants.
Bush himself is featured in half of the paintings, which include iconic moments, such as when he was informed by staff that a second plane has struck the World Trade Center, and more subtle scenes like him taking the hand of his father, former president George H.W. Bush.
The American flag is a recurring theme in the surprisingly colorful series, displayed at the Bush Presidential Library in Dallas, Texas.
Barely visible in the first painting depicting the attack on Manhattan, the Stars and Stripes are shown filling the entire frame in another illustrating the Pentagon -- which was struck by a third plane -- and waved by first responders in another.
"These are the moments President Bush chose to paint, because they are the moments he remembers most -- not fear, but resolve, not despair, but the instinct of ordinary Americans to come together and help one another," the exhibit says.
An immense wave of patriotism followed the 9/11 attacks, with American flags displayed throughout the nation, while Bush saw record-high approval ratings.
The commander-in-chief's poll numbers would later decline dramatically amid widespread opposition to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the economic turmoil of the global financial crisis.
"Looking at the paintings I felt like not just remembering all that happened, but remembering that unity that came," educator Farran Burnette, 40, told AFP after visiting the exhibit.
That the creator of the art was actually president during the events gives them "a different kind of weight," she said.
"To see it through his eyes in that way is really, really powerful."
For Anna Catherine Duplantis, a 17-year-old student, Bush's painting style "really connects you back" to the people and events of the time before she was even born.
"His painting is so raw, there's not all the structuredness, and it's not realism. It captures the emotions I think he feels and it can channel those emotions sometimes better than what may look like almost a movie to us," she said.
In addition to the attacks on New York and the Pentagon in Washington, a fourth hijacked plane crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers stormed the cockpit. 
Officially 2,977 people were killed in the attacks, with thousands more deaths since linked to 9/11-related illnesses.
es/ph/des/mlm

economy

US producer inflation tops expectations as diesel costs jump

BY BEIYI SEOW

  • On Thursday, government data showed that costs for gasoline, jet fuel, home heating oil, alongside candy and nuts, also rose.
  • US wholesale inflation picked up more than expected in August, government data showed Thursday, driven by higher energy costs in the month -- particularly for diesel -- as the US war with Iran continued.
  • On Thursday, government data showed that costs for gasoline, jet fuel, home heating oil, alongside candy and nuts, also rose.
US wholesale inflation picked up more than expected in August, government data showed Thursday, driven by higher energy costs in the month -- particularly for diesel -- as the US war with Iran continued.
Rising prices at the pump are squeezing US households and businesses weeks ahead of key midterm elections, pressuring President Donald Trump's administration, as average diesel costs hit new highs.
The Producer Price Index (PPI) was up 5.4 percent year-on-year last month, the Department of Labor said. This was a significant acceleration from the 4.8 percent rise in July and above the 5.3 percent that economists expected in a consensus forecast published by MarketWatch.
On a month-on-month basis, PPI rose by 0.4 percent, in line with analysts' expectations published by MarketWatch.
Energy costs jumped by 4.2 percent over the month, notably boosted by the cost of diesel fuel, which surged 24.1 percent, the Labor Department report said.
The costs of regular gasoline and diesel in the United States have risen since US-Israeli strikes targeting Iran in late February prompted Tehran to choke off the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation.
The waterway is a crucial route for global energy transit.
The price of diesel, the fuel needed for road hauling and agriculture, has rocketed to a new record in the United States this week.
It now stands at a national average of $5.98 per gallon, significantly up from the year-ago average of $3.71 per gallon, according to the AAA motorists' association.
While Trump has vowed that oil prices would cool as soon as the United States wins the war, the conflict has hit an impasse more than six months after it started.
The US leader is under pressure to end fighting as the November midterm elections approach, with his supporters -- including farmers -- growing increasingly frustrated.
Steeper costs for the diesel used to fuel farm equipment has added to expenses over the fall harvest season.
On Thursday, government data showed that costs for gasoline, jet fuel, home heating oil, alongside candy and nuts, also rose.

'Close call'

Also Thursday, the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond climbed to 5.35 percent, hitting its highest level since 2007.
All eyes are now turning to the Consumer Price Index, a key gauge of consumer inflation due to be released Friday, for the overall bearing these figures may have on US interest rates.
The Federal Reserve's rate-setting committee is due to meet next week and high inflation could push policymakers towards raising rates.
Already, the CMEGroup's FedWatch tool puts the likelihood of a 25 basis points rate hike at nearly 70 percent for next week's meeting.
"It is likely to be a close call on whether the FOMC decides to raise rates next week," said Nationwide senior economist Ben Ayers, referring to the Federal Open Market Committee.
"Headline producer prices were pushed higher predominantly by the jump in diesel fuel costs over August," Ayers said. 
"But the Iran war and resulting supply chain disruptions also continue to add pressure to goods costs beyond energy and food," he added in a note.
bys/acb

vote

Trump promises Americans $5,000 if Republicans win Congress

BY DANNY KEMP AND FRANKIE TAGGART

  • Doubling down on his bet that he can help Republicans defy opinion polls and retain both houses of Congress on November 3, Trump said: "I'm asking you to pretend that I'm on the ballot."
  • President Donald Trump on Wednesday promised $5,000 to every American adult if Republicans retain control of Congress in November, coupling the extraordinary claim with a plea for his supporters to "pretend" he was on the ballot.
  • Doubling down on his bet that he can help Republicans defy opinion polls and retain both houses of Congress on November 3, Trump said: "I'm asking you to pretend that I'm on the ballot."
President Donald Trump on Wednesday promised $5,000 to every American adult if Republicans retain control of Congress in November, coupling the extraordinary claim with a plea for his supporters to "pretend" he was on the ballot.
"If the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000. It will be called the Trump dividend," he told the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, as the party struggles in polls against the Democrats.
The president did not disclose where the money would come from -- with the theoretical bill likely topping $1 trillion -- saying only that "our country is making so much money."
Doubling down on his bet that he can help Republicans defy opinion polls and retain both houses of Congress on November 3, Trump said: "I'm asking you to pretend that I'm on the ballot."
"I'm on the ballot, I'm on the ballot -- just one more time," he told the crowd.
Opinion polls overwhelmingly show that Trump's approval ratings are in the low 30s, as voters become increasingly angry about high prices and the war he launched against Iran.
Decision Desk HQ projects Democrats to win the House 230-205 and the Senate to finish 51-49 in their favor in November.
Vice President JD Vance said US tariffs "generated a lot of revenues" and that the Trump dividend was a way to benefit Americans.
"What the president is just saying is... If you keep us in power and allow us to continue to do these things, then you are going to share in some of the benefit of this incredible wealth," Vance said in a Fox News interview.
"I don't think it's a controversial idea," he added.

Trump defends Iran war

Trump strongly defended the unpopular Iran war, predicting victory and linking it directly to lower oil prices -- before suggesting the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz should be renamed after him.
"Food prices and almost every other item are rapidly going down. And by the way oil will be going down as soon as we win the war with Iran, which is taking place right now," Trump said.
Trump also echoed other Republicans at the convention stirring up what he said was a wave of communism threatening the United States.
"It's going to be a communist country if they win," he said.
"Your vote will decide whether our country stumbles at the starting gate of the next 250 years or surges forward and never ever looks back," he said.
Trump is due to return for the convention finale Thursday, after a keynote address from Vance.
Cabinet members, congressional leaders and candidates in closely watched House and Senate races are also on the program.
The central Republican gamble is whether Trump can mobilize voters personally loyal to him even when he is not actually running, without further alienating independents who have soured on his presidency.

Political headwinds

Inside the American Airlines Center, there was little sign of Republican anxiety about November.
The convention even featured a video address from Democratic Senator John Fetterman, who has become increasingly at odds with his party's left wing over issues including Israel.
Republicans highlighted tax cuts and immigration enforcement, touting boosted manufacturing and lower prescription drug prices.
The cavernous arena was festooned with Trump posters as supporters milled around in sequined jackets patterned with his name, image and the American flag, some topped with ten-gallon hats.
Food stalls hawked snacks while merchandise stands did brisk business in T-shirts, mugs, posters and copies of the latest literary offering from the Trump clan, "Under Siege" by the president's second son, Eric.
Despite the political headwinds facing Republicans, the mood was festive. Chants of "USA! USA!" -- familiar from Trump's campaign rallies -- echoed around the hall as the national anthem opened the program.
Trump's speech was received warmly in the room, with spontaneous bursts of chanting after each applause line, and the enthusiasm spilled into the vast atrium outside.
Dallas local Tracey Wroblski, 59, said Trump was "on fire" with his inspiring midterm messaging.
"It's awesome, it's meaty, it's we're fixing our country," she told AFP.
"He's funny, and he's, he's on point. We're not going to communism. We're staying Republican, thank you very much."
The gathering is the first Republican national convention held specifically for a midterm election, although no candidates are being nominated and no formal party business is planned.
Instead, organizers have constructed what amounts to a two-night television rally touting Trump's record and Republican candidates.
More than 100 House members and candidates were expected to attend, with over 50 speakers or presentations scheduled each night.
ft/hol/mjw

immigration

'Hopeless, stuck, afraid': US deportees in limbo in Cameroon

BY GUILLAUME GERARD

  • Ayana had an Eritrean mother and an Ethiopian father who fled the war between their two countries and were admitted to the United States.
  • Ayana was deported to Cameroon from the United States where she had legally lived nearly all her life and now faces uncertainty, far from her family in an unfamiliar country.
  • Ayana had an Eritrean mother and an Ethiopian father who fled the war between their two countries and were admitted to the United States.
Ayana was deported to Cameroon from the United States where she had legally lived nearly all her life and now faces uncertainty, far from her family in an unfamiliar country.
Born in a refugee camp in Sudan, she arrived in the US aged two and is among hundreds of people, including with legal protection, deported to African countries over the last 18 months.   
"When I was given a map and they told me, 'You're in Cameroon', I said, 'What the heck is Cameroon?' I didn't even know," she told AFP.
Ayana -- whose name AFP has changed for security reasons like all those interviewed for this story -- has been caught up in US President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, which involves shipping people that the US cannot legally send home to "third countries".
Cameroon is part of a growing list of African countries willing to accept US deportees that includes Eswatini, Equatorial Guinea and Liberia.
For the first time since arriving in late May, Ayana summoned the courage to go out and sat in a bar in the capital, Yaounde, sipping white wine and chain-smoking.
"I was a bit afraid to go out," she said.
The 40-year-old has no memory of Africa and home is San Diego, California, where she studied business and became a nursing assistant and mother, she said.
Several of her family serve in the US military.
About 50 people -- from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Angola, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Senegal, Zimbabwe and Morocco -- have arrived in Cameroon since January.
They include LGBTQ people, even though homosexuality is considered a crime in Cameroon, where authorities have made no official comment about the deportees.
 

Shackled

 
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents picked up Ayana as she went to renew her residence permit.
On the flight to Cameroon, her hands and feet were shackled.
"I feel like I've been treated like a slave," she said. "I feel like my rights have been violated throughout the entire process."
Ayana had an Eritrean mother and an Ethiopian father who fled the war between their two countries and were admitted to the United States.
"I'm stateless," she said. "Since I'm not Sudanese, I have no birth certificate, so... I can't go there," she explained.
"I can't go to Ethiopia since I wasn't born there or Eritrea either."
Even if she had agreed to be sent to one of these countries, deadly conflicts are raging in them and she would likely have fallen foul of not having documents.
"We're really not welcome here," she said. "They are just trying to make you tired so that you wanna go back to your country.
"But we cannot because our life is in danger there."
Cameroonian authorities are pressuring deportees to accept a return programme offered by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
"Everybody here was granted relief by a judge from the US. Their fear was credible," she said.
However, the Trump administration argues that although it cannot send people back to their home countries, nothing prevents it from sending them to third countries.
 
 

Unknown destination

 
Peter, a 51-year-old Kenyan country music fan whose son is in the US Navy, spent 25 years in Dallas, Texas, and only found out where he was going "halfway through the flight".
Anthony, a Zimbabwean in his forties, was picked up by the ICE last year after crossing the Mexican border at the end of a long, dangerous trek through central America.
To find peace, he spends most of his free time reading the Bible.
All those interviewed by AFP recounted a similar story of violent deportation to an unknown destination, poor living conditions and abandonment.
Ayana said everyone arrived with just the clothes on their backs. Phones and passports were confiscated.
The IOM has provided hygiene products but they are insufficient, the people say, while medical care is extremely limited.
There is no psychological support and almost all of the deportees have contracted malaria. Peter was even in hospital for three days on respiratory support.
 

Forced return?

 
Some deportees have already been sent to their home countries or other states, despite the risk of mistreatment.
Two lesbians from Morocco have been living in hiding since their return.
Fru Joseph Awah, the deportees' lawyer, took the issue of forced returns to a Cameroon court, arguing that it broke international law and should be suspended immediately.
"Cameroon is not going to give us the opportunity to stay here and make a life here. They did it for money," Ayana said.
An AFP investigation revealed that Washington offered deals worth millions of dollars and threatened visa restrictions to push third countries to accept.
Anthony and Peter have had interviews with the UN refugee agency, which could grant them refugee status, although Cameroon may still choose not to accept.
Others have received a summons for an interview in April next year.
"I am feeling stuck here, hopeless," whispered Ayana, clinging to the idea that a new US administration in 2028 may permit her return home.
gge/lnf/cc/est/phz/kjm