Trump orders release of government records on aviator Amelia Earhart
US President Donald Trump ordered the declassification and release on Friday of any government records about Amelia Earhart, the famed American aviator who vanished over the Pacific in 1937.Earhart went missing while on a pioneering round-the-world flight with navigator Fred Noonan and her disappearance is one of the most tantalizing mysteries in aviation lore.”I have been asked by many people about the life and times of Amelia Earhart,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “Her disappearance, almost 90 years ago, has captivated millions.”I am ordering my Administration to declassify and release all Government Records related to Amelia Earhart, her final trip, and everything else about her,” he said.Earhart’s disappearance has fascinated historians for decades and spawned books, movies and theories galore.The prevailing belief is that Earhart, 39, and Noonan, 44, ran out of fuel and ditched their twin-engine Lockheed Electra in the Pacific near Howland Island while on one of the final legs of their epic journey.Earhart, who won fame in 1932 as the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, took off on May 20, 1937 from Oakland, California, hoping to become the first woman to fly around the world.She and Noonan vanished on July 2, 1937 after taking off from Lae, Papua New Guinea, on a challenging 2,500-mile (4,000-kilometer) flight to refuel on Howland Island, a speck of a US territory between Australia and Hawaii.They never made it.
Foot: Marseille renverse Strasbourg in extremis et prend la tête de la Ligue 1
Quatre jours après sa victoire contre Paris, Marseille est parvenu à enchaîner en l’emportant dans les derniers instants à Strasbourg (2-1), pour prendre provisoirement la tête de la Ligue 1, vendredi en ouverture de la sixième journée.La pluie tombait déjà depuis une vingtaine de minutes au Stade de la Meinau, mais ce ne fut rien comparé à la douche froide qu’ont vécue les supporters alsaciens après le but au bout du suspense d’Amir Murillo (90e+1).Virtuellement en tête quelques instants plus tôt, le Racing redescend finalement au cinquième rang, avec le même nombre de points que l’OM, qui profite de sa différence de buts pour occuper la première place devant Monaco, Paris et Lyon.Les joueurs de Roberto De Zerbi, suspendu après son exclusion lors du Classique, ont eu le mérite de ne pas abdiquer pour renverser leur adversaire. Ils poursuivent ainsi leur dynamique positive après leur premier succès à domicile (1-0) en quatorze ans en championnat contre Paris, lundi soir.De bout en bout, ce match se sera joué sur un fil, entre deux équipes qui ont d’abord réussi à empêcher l’adversaire de mettre en place son jeu, en maintenant une pression haute sur le porteur du ballon.Dans la fraîcheur de la Meinau, c’est par leurs contres, leurs courses dans le dos de la défense et leur talent que les Strasbourgeois ont mis en difficulté l’OM.- Emegha montre la voie, en vain -Notamment par leur capitaine Emanuel Emegha, bien plus rapide que l’arrière-garde marseillaise et buteur dès la 18e minute, avant d’être signalé en position de hors-jeu.Ce scénario s’est reproduit à l’entame de la deuxième période, avec cette fois Emegha en passeur et Abdoul Ouattara en buteur, avant que la VAR n’intervienne pour cette fois valider le but. Ouattara n’était alors sur la pelouse que depuis quatre minutes.Strasbourg a su piquer le premier, après plusieurs occasions d’Amine Gouiri (8e, 30e) et Igor Paixao (41e). Mais le club alsacien n’a pas su enfoncer le clou pour prendre un avantage définitif.Au contraire, il a connu un temps faible dans la foulée de son but, qui a failli profiter à Gouiri (54e) et Paixao (55e). Surtout, les Alsaciens ont inexplicablement arrêté de jouer, se contentant de garder le ballon dans leur moitié de terrain, voire proche de leur surface.Ce jeu-là leur a coûté cher: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang les a punis en égalisant après une récupération haute des Olympiens (78e).Puis les deux clubs ont eu des occasions pour l’emporter dans une fin de match à l’image du reste de la rencontre, indécise.Jusqu’à l’estocade finale, portée par Amir Murillo après un premier réflexe brillant de Mike Penders pour détourner une tête marseillaise.Entré en jeu pour remplacer Emegha, diminué physiquement (62e), Joaquin Panichelli a eu l’occasion d’égaliser (90e+3), mais n’y est pas parvenu.Un an quasiment jour pour jour après leur défaite à la Meinau (1-0), les Marseillais ont appris de cette leçon, renversant un scénario jusque-là défavorable. Tout semble leur sourire en ce moment. De bon augure avant la réception de l’Ajax Amsterdam mardi en Ligue des champions.
Allemagne: un Kane record pour le rouleau compresseur munichois
Le Bayern a signé contre le Werder Brême sa cinquième victoire (4-0) en autant de rencontres de championnat cette saison vendredi soir à domicile, avec un record pour Harry Kane qui a franchi la barre des 100 buts munichois.A quatre jours d’affronter Paphos (mardi, 21h00) à Chypre pour la 2e journée de la phase de ligue de la Ligue des champions, les Munichois ont poursuivi leur sans-faute en mode rouleau compresseur en Bundesliga, avec déjà 22 buts d’inscrits pour seulement 3 encaissés.Avec 15 points sur 15 possibles, les hommes de Vincent Kompany sont assurés de conserver leur fauteuil de leader au soir de la 5e journée du championnat d’Allemagne. Avant le déplacement de Dortmund à Mayence samedi (15h30), ils comptent cinq points d’avance sur le BVB, leur premier poursuivant.Avant la rencontre de vendredi, Harry Kane savait qu’il pouvait atteindre les 100 buts avec le Bayern en 104 matches en cas d’un doublé contre Brême, une barre qu’aucun joueur n’était parvenu à passer en si peu de temps avec un club du top 5 européen. Cristiano Ronaldo avec le Real et Erling Haaland avec Manchester City, y étaient parvenus après 105 matches sous leurs nouvelles couleurs.L’ouverture du score est toutefois venue de Jonathan Tah à la 22e minute. Sur un centre de Michael Olise, Tah a prolongé la balle d’une belle talonnade, elle-même déviée par Luis Diaz, ce qui a trompé un très bon Karl Hein.- Kane mieux que CR7 et Haaland -Le gardien de but du Werder Brême a remporté plusieurs duels avec Kane, dont un dès la 4e minute, et quand Hein a été dépassé, c’est le capitaine Marco Friedl qui a empêché Kane (39e) de marquer son premier but de la soirée.Juste avant la pause, le capitaine et meilleur buteur de la sélection anglaise a provoqué la faute de Friedl dans la surface et a converti son 18e penalty en Bundesliga (aucun échec dans l’exercice en championnat depuis qu’il est arrivé en Bavière à l’été 2023).En seconde période, sur une contre-attaque lancée par Dayot Upamecano, Kane a profité du travail de Luis Diaz pour inscrire son 10e but en Bundesliga cette saison, le 100e de sa carrière munichoise débutée un soir de la mi-août 2023.Kane a été remplacé à dix minutes de la fin par le Sénégalais Nicolas Jackson, l’entraîneur Vincent Kompany pouvant faire tourner en vue du match de C1.L’Autrichien Konrad Laimer a conclu le nouveau festival offensif munichois à la 87e minute.Après le déplacement à Paphos, le Bayern disposera de quatre jours pour préparer son match sur la pelouse de l’Eintracht à Francfort, l’une des premières affiches de la saison en Bundesliga.
Stocks rise as traders weigh US inflation, Trump tariffs
Stocks climbed Friday as investors digested a new tariffs blitz by US President Donald Trump and data showing a key US inflation metric rose in line with expectations.Wall Street pushed higher after slumping for three straight sessions, with relief about inflation data offsetting the tariff developments and rising concerns about a US government shutdown due to failed budget talks.Official data showed that the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation, the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, reached 2.7 percent in August, up from 2.6 percent in July.The figure is above the central bank’s two-percent inflation target.But it was in line with analyst forecasts, giving investors “some relief that the Fed will remain on track to cut rates two more times this year”, said Bret Kenwell, US investment analyst at eToro trading platform.The Fed must weigh between fighting inflation and propping up a weakening US jobs market, Kenwell said.Investors were also digesting Trump’s latest tariff moves.The US president announced Thursday steep new tariffs on pharmaceutical products, big-rig trucks, home renovation fixtures and furniture.He said a 100-percent tariff would be imposed on “any branded or patented” pharmaceutical product from October 1, unless a company is building a manufacturing plant in the United States.Investors have rethought their view of the tariffs compared with earlier in the year when the market was caught off guard by the breadth of Trump’s aggressive trade policy.While the levies are still on investors’ radar, “the market has started to look through tariffs,” said Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers. “The new market mentality is ‘let’s not worry about them until we actually see them creating a problem.'”But share prices of Asian pharma firms faced selling. Shanghai Fosun shed around six percent and South Korea’s Daewoong was off more than three percent. Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo and Astellas Pharma were also well in the red. In contrast, share prices of British pharma giants GSK and AstraZeneca climbed, with both companies having recently announced major investment plans in the United States.US rivals Pfizer and Merck and France’s Sanofi also closed higher.The European Union was quick to point out that its trade deal with Trump had capped tariffs on EU pharmaceutical goods at 15 percent.Among other sectors affected by the newest tariffs, US-based truck manufacturing company Paccar jumped more than five percent, while furniture retailer Restoration Hardware fell 4.2 percent.In non-tariff news, Boeing advanced 3.6 percent after federal air safety regulators restored the company’s authority to certify the airworthiness of some new planes, in a sign of officials’ increased confidence in the aviation giant’s operations.Electronic Arts surged 14.9 percent following a Wall Street Journal report that the videogame maker is nearing a deal to go private.Oil prices rose, with Brent climbing above $70 per barrel for the first time since August, as tensions mount between NATO countries and Russia, boosting the chances of further sanctions being adopted on Russian energy exports. – Key figures at around 2015 GMT -New York – Dow: UP 0.7 percent at 46,247.29 (close)New York – S&P 500: UP 0.6 percent at 6,643.70 (close) New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.4 percent at 22,484.07 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.8 percent at 9,284.83 (close) Paris – CAC 40: UP 1.0 percent at 7,870.68 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.9 percent at 23,739.47 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.9 percent at 45,354.99 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.4 percent at 26,128.20 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.7 percent at 3,828.11 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1701 from $1.1666 on ThursdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3405 from $1.3345Dollar/yen: UP at 149.51 yen from 149.80 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 87.30 pence from 87.42 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 1.0 percent at $70.13 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 1.1 percent at $65.72 per barrelburs-jmb/ksb
More questions than answers surround Trump’s TikTok deal
President Donald Trump insists he has found a solution to keep TikTok alive in the United States through a group of investors who will buy the short-video app from its Chinese owners in accordance with US law.But questions remain unresolved about how this will play out and what it means for American users.- Is there actually a deal? -Any sale of TikTok’s US operations would require Chinese owner ByteDance to divest. That would need approval from China’s government, which is reluctant to see a national champion forced out of its largest market as a trade war rages with an increasingly protectionist Trump.While the Trump administration has insisted that China has accepted a deal for the sale, there has been no confirmation from Beijing. Queries to TikTok and ByteDance have gone unanswered.”This deal is still very confusing in terms of what is exactly going on,” University of Florida media professor Andrew Selepak told AFP.- Is Trump taking over TikTok? -In an executive order signed on Thursday, the White House outlined a deal centered on key investors with close ties to the president.Trump has specifically named Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, a longtime ally and the world’s second-richest man, as a major player in the arrangement. For decades, Ellison has been one of Silicon Valley’s few high-profile Republicans in a tech sector dominated by liberal politics.Ellison is returning to the spotlight through his dealings with Trump, who has brought his old friend into major AI partnerships with OpenAI, for example. The 81-year-old has also backed his son David’s acquisition of Hollywood studio Paramount and is reportedly eyeing Warner Brothers.The investor group also includes 94-year-old media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan, who control Fox News.Whether this signals a conservative rebranding of TikTok — a platform Trump credits with helping him reach young voters — remains unclear. Trump denied this possibility on Thursday.The prospect of a right-wing shift, or increased government intervention in media, has raised concerns that key platforms are falling under conservative control, potentially limiting diverse viewpoints in a bitterly divided America.The fate of TikTok will be decided amid major shifts across social media platforms. Elon Musk has transformed X (formerly Twitter) into a vehicle for far-right politics, driving away many establishment media outlets and liberal users.Meanwhile, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg has aligned with Trump and overhauled content moderation on Facebook and Instagram to address Republican claims of anti-conservative bias.- Why so cheap? – At Thursday’s White House ceremony, Vice President JD Vance pegged the deal at $14 billion. That’s a surprisingly low figure given Twitter’s $44 billion valuation when it sold and TikTok’s unique reach among young consumers in the world’s largest economy.Bloomberg reporting helped shed light on the modest price tag: unnamed sources indicated that ByteDance would retain significant value through an expensive licensing arrangement, potentially receiving about half of the new company’s profits even if the company would hold just a 20 percent stake, according to Trump’s plan.Such terms could trigger alarm in Washington, where some lawmakers could scrutinize whether any sale meets the requirements of the divest-or-ban law that should have taken effect in January but has been repeatedly delayed since Trump took office.And confusingly, the executive order announced Thursday extended the deadline to ban TikTok until mid-January to finalize a deal that the Trump administration simultaneously claimed was already complete.John Moolenaar, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, reiterated this point on Friday and warned that he would be “conducting full oversight over this agreement.””ByteDance has shown time and again that it is a bad actor,” he said.The Trump plan “offers vague assurances about protecting US national security but provides virtually no specifics,” said Carl Tobias of the University of Richmond School of Law.Adding to skepticism: Ellison’s Oracle already manages TikTok’s data servers from an earlier attempt to address US security concerns. Critics question whether this deal changes anything substantive.