President Donald Trump reiterated Friday that he wants testing of US nuclear weapons, but again failed to clarify whether he meant live explosions in an order that has provoked global tension and confusion..Asked by an AFP journalist whether he meant conducting underground blasts for the first time in the United States since 1992, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One: “I am not going to say.””You’ll find out very soon, but we’re going to do some testing, yeah. Other countries do it. If they’re going to do it, we’re going do it,” he said on his way to spend Halloween at his golf resort in Florida.No country other than North Korea has conducted an explosive nuclear weapon test for decades. Russia and China have not carried out such tests since 1990 and 1996 respectively.The 79-year-old Republican first made his surprise testing announcement by social media post on Thursday, minutes before entering a summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea.The announcement came in the wake of Russia saying it had tested a new nuclear-powered cruise missile, the Burevestnik, and a nuclear-powered and nuclear-capable underwater drone.Iran, whose own controversial nuclear program was bombed by US forces on Trump’s orders earlier this year, called Trump’s directive “regressive and irresponsible.””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.- ‘Pretty responsible’ -Japanese atomic bomb survivors group Nihon Hidankyo sent a letter of protest to the US embassy in Japan.The order “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.Amid concern abroad and some in the US Congress, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon was moving “quickly” to follow Trump’s orders and said testing was “responsible.””The president was clear. We need to have a credible nuclear deterrent,” he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur. “Resuming testing is a pretty responsible, very responsible way to do that. I think it makes nuclear conflict less likely.”But China’s foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun urged the United States to “earnestly abide” by a global nuclear testing ban.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.- Russia pushes back -Russia pushed back against any idea that its recent weapon systems tests could justify a return to live test explosions.The Kremlin questioned whether Trump was well-informed — and implied Russia would conduct its own live detonations if Trump does so first.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.”According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the Russian stockpile of deployed and stored warheads is 4,309, compared to 3,700 for the United States and 600 for China — figures that don’t take into account hundreds of other warheads scheduled for dismantling.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.burs-sms-dk/bjt

A senior member of the US Federal Reserve on Friday said he voted against cutting interest rates this week because inflation was “too high” for comfort. Kansas City Fed president Jeff Schmid was one of two people who dissented on Wednesday’s vote, at which the US central bank backed a quarter percentage-point rate cut. The other dissent was Fed governor Stephen Miran, who wanted a larger rate cut. “The labor market is largely in balance, the economy shows continued momentum, and inflation remains too high,” Schmid said in a statement. “I view the stance of policy as only modestly restrictive,” added Schmid, who has a vote on the Fed’s rate-setting committee this year. “In this context, I judged it appropriate to maintain the policy rate at this week’s meeting.”US consumer inflation data came in hot at 3.0 percent in the 12 months to September, though the Fed uses a different measure that is also stuck above the two-percent target.The Fed’s rate decision brought interest rates down to between 3.75 percent and 4.00 percent, easing the burden slightly on businesses and consumers looking to borrow money.Speaking to reporters on Wednesday after the decision was published, Fed chair Jerome Powell said that while there had been broad agreement on a cut this time, there was less clarity on what would happen next.”There were strongly differing views about how to proceed in December,” he said. “A further reduction in the policy rate at the December meeting is not a foregone conclusion, far from it.”Speaking in Washington on Friday, President Donald Trump’s top economic advisor sounded a different note on the health of the world’s largest economy, flagging the recent consumer inflation data which came in slightly below expectations. “We’re glad that they reduced the interest rate,” Kevin Hassett, the director of Trump’s National Economic Council, told reporters. “The Fed is flying blind a little bit, but we have a government shutdown, which is a negative for the economy,” he said. “And against that backdrop, the idea that the Fed would be backing away from their promised rate reductions in the future is puzzling to us.”Among the 10-2 majority voting for a quarter-point cut this week was Fed governor Christopher Waller, a Trump nominee who is on the five-person shortlist to take over from Powell when he steps down as Fed chair next May. “All of our forecasts have inflation coming back down the target,” he told Larry Kudlow on Fox Business on Friday.”Yes, it’s high, it’s been high, but it’s fully coming back. And the biggest concern we have right now is the labor market,” he said. “So this is why I’m still advocating we cut policy rates in December, because that’s what all the data is telling me to do.”Futures traders slashed their expectations of a December rate cut, and now see only a 65 percent probability of a quarter-point move in December, according to CME Group data. 

The Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater is a smaller venue that typically features everything from A-list classical music recitals to dance performances to film screenings.The venue in the US capital’s venerable arts complex is also available for rent, and on Thursday, it hosted a different kind of event: a conference on “ending Christian persecution” organized by the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).The series of lectures bookended by prayers is emblematic of the overhaul at the center engineered by Donald Trump since his return to the White House in January.”The calculation has changed now — it has become more of a government arts organization,” Andrew Taylor, director of the arts management program at American University, told AFP.During his first term, the Republican billionaire never attended the annual fundraising gala for recipients of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors, as many of those artists vocally opposed his policies.This time, Trump moved quickly to make the center his own, purging the board of trustees of its Democratic appointees and ousting its president as part of a wider assault on federally funded cultural institutions he deems too “woke.”He installed himself as the chair of the board for the towering white monument to slain president John F. Kennedy facing the Potomac River, which opened in 1971.In less than a year, some observers say, the status of the center — a public-private partnership — as a nonpartisan celebration of artistic excellence has largely evaporated.Taylor said the center was now “fully aligned with the current administration, and not an independent arbiter of artistic excellence anymore.”The center’s new president, former diplomat Richard Grenell, has repeatedly spoken about what he calls “common sense and traditional programming.”Some artists have canceled their appearances, and the producers of smash Broadway hit “Hamilton” have scrapped a run scheduled to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.Meanwhile, in September, a prayer vigil was organized at the center for conservative activist Charlie Kirk, after his murder in Utah.- ‘Back to life’ -At the CPAC event, near a large American flag, the keynote speaker was Jennifer Korn, the faith director of the White House Faith Office. She praised Trump for creating the office, which he did in February to “protect religious liberty,” according to an executive order — a concept already established in the Constitution’s First Amendment.But she quickly shifted to echo some of the administration’s talking points about “anti-Christian bias” and the dangers of “transgender books” for children.In the Concert Hall, Grenell has ordered the National Symphony Orchestra to play the national anthem ahead of each performance, rather than just to open the season.The shift in tone at the Kennedy Center — down to the portrait of a brooding Trump in the entryway — may be bad for business.A Washington Post analysis published Friday reveals that ticket sales for orchestra, dance and theater performances are down sharply in 2025 as compared to last year.Since early September, 43 percent of tickets remained unsold for typical concerts or musical performances, the paper said — as opposed to just seven percent of seats available last year.The decline in sales has not stopped Trump from undertaking major renovations at the center — from the carpets to the chandeliers to the heating — and musing about putting his name on the complex.”I just inspected the construction on The Kennedy Center. It is really looking good!” Trump wrote Friday on his Truth Social platform.”My people are doing a really great job! We are bringing this building back to life. It was dead as a doornail, but it will soon be beautiful again!”

The US government shutdown barreled towards its second month Friday and the pain is spreading fast — with federal workers broke, food aid under threat 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 the expiry of insurance subsidies that make health care affordable for more than 20 million people. Premiums are expected to skyrocket when the new sign-up period opens Saturday.Democrats refuse to reopen the government without a deal to extend the subsidies but Trump’s Republicans say they won’t talk until the lights are back on.As Washington bickers, the shutdown is 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. A federal judge in Rhode Island gave the program a temporary reprieve, ordering the White House on Friday to use emergency funds to pay for food stamps during the shutdown, in a case brought by charities and other groups. But the administration has been arguing that it cannot legally tap that fund, and it was not immediately clear, despite the ruling, that Americans would get their weekend SNAP payments.CNN reported that it asked Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins if she would comply with a judge’s order to release the money and she responded: “We’re looking at all the options.”- Air travel hit -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. With uncertainty over food stamps giving Americans heartburn, communities have begun banding together to help vulnerable neighbors.Kerry Chausmer, 55, from Bethesda in Maryland, said she was buying groceries for two local families in need — at a personal cost likely to total at least $200.”I think that you can judge a culture by how they help the people that need it most… We’re failing, and I am honestly despondent and embarrassed to be an American,” she told AFP.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. And US air travel was beginning to suffer badly, with New York area airports John F Kennedy, Newark Liberty and LaGuardia all under restrictions due in part to reduced staffing at control towers. A ground stop was in effect at JFK until mid-afternoon, with delays clocking in at 60 to 100 minutes. Delays above three hours were expected at Newark while some passengers were bracing to be held up by as much as five hours at LaGuardia. Trump, whose shadow hangs over every Republican move, has largely stayed out of the shutdown fight, although lawmakers on both sides hope he’ll swoop in to broker a deal on the health care subsidies. He repeated his pledge to sit down with Democrats over their demands — but only after the shutdown is over.”We’ll meet very quickly, but they have to open up the country,” he told reporters. “It’s their fault. Everything is their fault. It’s so easily solved.”