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Global stock markets mostly rose on Monday, shrugging off concerns about a looming US government shutdown as markets eyed key budget talks set for Monday afternoon.Following a mostly positive round of trading in Europe and Asia, Wall Street’s main indices finished modestly higher. US President Donald Trump was expected to meet with congressional leaders Monday afternoon.Unless US lawmakers agree to a temporary spending plan on Tuesday, many government operations will shut down on Wednesday, when the new fiscal year begins.”It is very much touch-and-go in terms of whether there will be a deal that averts a government shutdown,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.”But for now the impact of a possible shutdown is concentrated more in the headlines than in the economy and the stock market,” he said.Trade Nation market analyst David Morrison noted that Wall Street’s so-called fear gauge, the VIX index, was little changed and down from last week.”Even with risks such as the potential US government shutdown and key labor market data later in the week, the decline in volatility reflects a market that is comfortable holding steady near record highs,” he said.A shutdown could, however, delay the release of statistics used by the Federal Reserve in helping decide interest rates.The Fed cut rates earlier this month — the first since December — and investors still see it as likely it will reduce them twice more this year.Data released last week showed the Fed’s preferred inflation measure rose in line with expectations in August, giving the bank room to cut rates again.Investors were looking to the monthly non-farm payroll report scheduled to come out on Friday to adjust their expectations on whether the Fed will cut at its next meeting at the end of October.The dollar dropped against main rivals, while oil prices fell more than three percent on expectations that OPEC+ will increase output, fanning concerns of a glut. Gold’s price on Monday hit an all-time peak above $3,830 an ounce over concerns about the possible government shutdown and on expectations for more rate cuts, which make the precious metal more attractive as an investment.”Geopolitical risks — from Europe and the Middle East to US-China frictions — are reinforcing gold’s role as a strategic hedge,” said City Index and FOREX.com analyst Fawad Razaqzada.On the corporate front, shares in video game giant Electronic Arts jumped 4.5 percent after it announced it would be acquired by a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund for $55 billion.Shares in GSK climbed 2.2 percent in London afternoon trading after the British pharmaceutical giant unexpectedly announced that longtime chief executive Emma Walmsley will be replaced by its chief commercial officer in January.Lufthansa shares edged higher after it said it will cut 4,000 jobs, nearly four percent of the German airline giant’s workforce, after profits slumped in the face of mounting headwinds.- Key figures at around 2020 GMT -New York – Dow: UP 0.2 percent at 46,316.07 (close)New York – S&P 500: UP 0.3 percent at 6,661.21 (close)New York – Nasdaq: UP 0.5 percent at 22,591.15 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 9,299.84 (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.1 percent at 7,880.87 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: FLAT at 23,745.06 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.7 percent at 45,043.75 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.9 percent at 26,622.88 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.9 percent at 3,862.53 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1725 from $1.1703 on FridayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3434 from $1.3402Dollar/yen: DOWN at 148.68 yen from 149.49 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 87.28 pence from 87.32 penceBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 3.1 percent at $67.97 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 3.5 percent at $63.45 per barrelburs-jmb/sla

European and Asian stock markets largely gained Monday and gold hit a record high after US inflation figures met expectations, soothing concerns about President Donald Trump’s latest tariff salvo.Investors were keeping a wary eye on Washington, where lawmakers have failed to reach a funding compromise to keep the government running, which observers say could affect the release of key data.The dollar dropped against main rivals, while oil prices retreated on speculation that OPEC+ will increase output, fanning concerns of a glut. The drop followed last week’s rally on mounting tensions between NATO countries and oil producer Russia, increasing the possibility of fresh sanctions on Moscow. “US (stocks) futures are pointing to a higher open, on track to extend gains after markets closed on a positive note on Friday,” noted Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor. “Investors will be paying close attention to the latest nonfarm payrolls report on Friday for clues into the Fed’s next move.”All three main indices in New York ended in the green Friday, snapping three straight losses, following news that the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge of inflation rose in line with expectations, giving the bank room to cut interest rates again.While the 2.7 percent reading on the August personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index was up from 2.6 percent in July and well above the Fed’s two percent target, policymakers are focusing on supporting the labour market after a string of weak jobs readings.The Fed’s rate cut earlier this month — the first since December — came as a closely watched guide indicated two more were in the pipeline before January.The news helped investors look past Trump’s announcement last week of 100 percent tariffs on pharmaceuticals set to kick in Wednesday, as well as for big-rig trucks, home renovation fixtures and furniture.Gold’s price on Monday hit an all-time peak just short of $3,820 an ounce over concerns about the possible government shutdown and on expectations for more rate cuts, which make the precious metal more attractive as an investment.On the corporate front, shares in GSK climbed 2.5 percent in London midday trading after the British pharmaceutical giant unexpectedly announced that longtime chief executive Emma Walmsley will be replaced by its chief commercial officer in January.Lufthansa meanwhile said it will cut 4,000 jobs, nearly four percent of the German airline giant’s workforce, after profits slumped in the face of mounting headwinds.Hong Kong led the gainers in Asia thanks to a surging share prices for Chinese tech giants including Alibaba.While Tokyo slipped overall, the finance arm of Sony soared more than 30 percent on its debut after being spun off by the tech titan to focus on its entertainment and image sensor business.- Key figures at around 1100 GMT -London – FTSE 100: UP 0.6 percent at 9,340.42 pointsParis – CAC 40: UP 0.1 percent at 7,878.46Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.2 percent at 23,782.85Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.7 percent at 45,043.75 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.9 percent at 26,622.88 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.9 percent at 3,862.53 (close)New York – Dow: UP 0.7 percent at 46,247.29 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1721 from $1.1701 on FridayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3433 from $1.3405Dollar/yen: DOWN at 148.65 yen from 149.51 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 87.25 pence from 87.30 penceBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.7 percent at $68.00 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.9 percent at $64.47 per barrel

Most markets rose Monday and gold hit a record high following US inflation figures that met expectations and soothed concerns about Donald Trump’s latest tariff salvo.However, investors were keeping a wary eye on Washington, where lawmakers have failed to reach a funding compromise to keep the government running, which observers say could affect the release of key data.All three main indexes in New York ended in the green Friday, snapping three straight losses following news that the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge of inflation rose in line with expectations, giving the bank room to cut interest rates again.While the 2.7 percent reading on the August personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index was up from 2.6 percent in July and well above the Fed’s two percent target, policymakers are focusing on supporting the labour market after a string of weak jobs readings.Their cut earlier this month — the first since December — came as a closely watched guide indicated two more were in the pipeline before January.The news helped investors look past the US president’s announcement last week of 100 percent tariffs on pharmaceuticals, big-rig trucks, home renovation fixtures and furniture.Attention now turns to the key non-farm payrolls (NFP) report due Friday.However, there are concerns that could be postponed by a possible government shutdown this week as US politicians struggle to reach a funding deal, with some analysts suggesting the labour department could be hit.With a deadline for a deal coming on Tuesday, congressional leaders on both sides are due to meet President Trump to try to resolve the issue, which could see some key services closed down.Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House leader, said on ABC News that he was “hopeful” that a deal could be struck before the Tuesday cutoff.His colleague Chuck Schumer, the Democrats’ Senate leader, echoed that guarded optimism and said any potential breakthroughs would depend on Trump’s Republicans.Trump has struck a defiant tone in pushing for his own agenda and last week cancelled a meeting to discuss the stalemate with senior opposition leaders, which will instead take place Monday.”If we hear early this week that the NFP report will be delayed (potentially until the govt re-opens), traders may recalibrate their approach to risk and increase their sensitivity to” other jobs figures, said Pepperstone’s Chris Weston.And economists at Bank of America warned that the longer the row went on the more painful it would be for the world’s top economy.”The economic effects of a shutdown are typically modest and short-lived. Though the drag grows with the length of the shutdown, and potential federal layoffs could have more lasting effects,” they wrote.Still, investors in most markets were in a positive mood, building on Wall Street’s gains.Hong Kong led the gainers thanks to a surge in Chinese tech giants including Alibaba, while Seoul rose more than one percent. Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Bangkok, Mumbai, Wellington and Jakarta also advanced.London, Paris and Frankfurt rallied in the morning.Tokyo slipped, though the finance arm of Sony soared more than 30 percent on its debut after being spun off by the tech titan to focus on its entertainment and image sensor business.Sony Financial Group rocketed to as much as 210 yen in the morning, from the 150 yen reference point set last week. It later pared the gains to end at 173.80 yen.Manila also dropped.Gold spiked to a fresh peak just short of $3,820 an ounce on concerns about the possible shutdown and on expectations for more rate cuts, which make the precious metal more attractive as an investment.Oil prices sank on speculation OPEC+ will increase output, fanning concerns of a glut. The drop followed last week’s rally on the back of mounting tensions between NATO countries and Russia, increasing the possibility of fresh sanctions on Moscow. – Key figures at around 0810 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.7 percent at 45,043.75 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.9 percent at 26,622.88 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.9 percent at 3,862.53 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.6 percent at 9,342.46 Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1724 from $1.1701 on FridayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3444 from $1.3405Dollar/yen: DOWN at 148.61 yen from 149.51 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 87.21 pence from 87.30 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.2 percent at $64.94 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.0 percent at $69.40 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 0.7 percent at 46,247.29 (close)

Australian telecommunications giant Optus said Monday it had suffered a network outage that prevented calls to emergency services, just over a week after a similar interruption that has been linked to four deaths.Optus — one of Australia’s top telecoms providers — said the outage on Sunday impacted thousands of people in New South Wales and lasted more than nine hours.The firm said it had “confirmed with police that all callers who attempted to contact emergency services are OK.””Optus continues to investigate the cause,” it added.This month Optus said it suffered an outage that impacted 600 people across South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory for at least 10 hours.The outage prevented calls to emergency services and has been linked to four deaths.Australia’s finance minister Katy Gallagher told national broadcaster ABC that Sunday’s incident was “more disappointing news off the back of the major disruption that happened the week before”.”I think there’s questions that Optus are going to have to answer about what happened in the last fortnight and their response to it,” she said.On Friday, Australia’s National Broadband Network experienced an outage in Western Australia that impacted customers’ ability to make emergency calls, police said.Opposition communications spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh told ABC the interruptions were “extraordinary”.”People across Australia need to have confidence in our triple-0 network,” she said, referring to the country’s main emergency services hotline.”These are lives that are at risk.”Last week, Optus announced details of an independent review that will probe the series of events that took place and determine why emergency calls did not connect.The firm was also fined $66 million last week for selling products to vulnerable customers between 2019 and 2023 that they did not need or want, leaving many in debt.Federal Court Justice Patrick O’Sullivan labelled the company’s conduct as “extremely serious” and “appalling”.Optus was also fined $7.9 million after an outage halted its mobile and internet systems for nearly 12 hours in 2023.

Most Asian markets rose Monday, tracking gains on Wall Street, following US inflation figures that met expectations and soothed concerns about Donald Trump’s latest tariff salvo.However, investors were keeping a wary eye on Washington, where lawmakers have failed to reach a funding compromise to keep the government running, which observers say could affect the release of key data.All three main indexes in New York ended in the green Friday, snapping three straight losses following news that the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge of inflation rose in line with expectations, giving the bank room to cut interest rates again.While the 2.7 percent reading on the August personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index was up from 2.6 percent in July and well above the Fed’s two percent target, policymakers are focusing on supporting the labour market after a string of weak jobs readings.Their cut earlier this month — the first since December — came as a closely watched guide indicated two more were in the pipeline before January.Attention now turns to the key non-farm payrolls (NFP) report due Friday.However, there are concerns that could be postponed by a possible government shutdown this week as US politicians struggle to reach a funding deal, with some analysts suggesting the labour department could be hit.With a deadline for a deal coming on Tuesday, congressional leaders on both sides are due to meet President Trump to try to resolve the issue, which could see some key services closed down.Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House leader, said on ABC that he was “hopeful” that a deal could be struck before the Tuesday cutoff.His colleague Chuck Schumer, the Democrats’ Senate leader, echoed that guarded optimism and said any potential breakthroughs would depend on Trump’s Republicans.Trump has struck a defiant tone in pushing for his own agenda and last week cancelled a meeting to discuss the stalemate with senior opposition leaders, which will instead take place Monday.”If we hear early this week that the NFP report will be delayed (potentially until the govt re-opens), traders may recalibrate their approach to risk and increase their sensitivity to” other jobs figures, said Pepperstone’s Chris Weston.And economists at Bank of America warned that the longer the row went on the more painful it would be for the world’s top economy.”The economic effects of a shutdown are typically modest and short-lived. Though the drag grows with the length of the shutdown, and potential federal layoffs could have more lasting effects,” they wrote.Still, investors in most markets were in a positive mood, building on Wall Street’s gains.Hong Kong and Seoul led the way, rising more than one percent each, while Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Wellington, Manila and Jakarta also advanced.Tokyo slipped, though the finance arm of Sony soared more than 30 percent on its debut after being spun off by the tech titan to focus on its entertainment and image sensor business.Sony Financial Group rocketed to as much as 210 yen in the morning, from the 150 yen it was set at last week.Oil prices sank on speculation OPEC+ will increase output, fanning concerns of a glut. The drop followed last week’s rally on the back of mounting tensions between NATO countries and Russia, increasing the possibility of fresh sanctions on Moscow. – Key figures at around 0230 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.0 percent at 44,892.52 (break)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.5 percent at 26,506.83Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 3,833.33Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1725 from $1.1701 on FridayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3431 from $1.3405Dollar/yen: DOWN at 148.96 yen from 149.51 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 87.28 pence from 87.30 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.8 percent at $65.19 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.7 percent at $69.65 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 0.7 percent at 46,247.29 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.8 percent at 9,284.83 (close) 

Vacationing in India, engineer Amrutha Tamanam rushed to return to the United States after Donald Trump abruptly announced a $100,000 fee for the visa she holds.As she scrambled to get back to the country she’s called home for a decade, racially motivated far-right trolls launched coordinated efforts to disrupt flight bookings from India, calling their campaign “clog the toilet.”The White House would later clarify that the new H-1B fee was a one-time payment not applicable to current holders. But leading US companies had already advised their employees abroad to swiftly return to avoid the fee or risk being stranded overseas.Tamanam, an Austin-based software engineer, began searching for a flight from the city of Vijayawada, as users on the far-right message board 4chan moved to overwhelm  reservation systems, in a bid to block Indian visa holders from booking tickets.One 4chan thread encouraged users to find India-US flights, “initiate the checkout process” but “don’t checkout,” thereby clogging the system and preventing the visa holders from reaching the United States before the announcement took effect.The campaign may have had a direct impact on Tamanam, who encountered repeated crashes on airline websites. The checkout page, which typically allows users a window of a few minutes, timed out much faster.After multiple attempts, she eventually managed to rebook a one-way ticket to Dallas on Qatar Airways, spending around $2,000 — more than double the cost of her original round-trip fare.”It was hard for me to book a ticket and I paid a huge fare for the panic travel,” Tamanam told AFP.- ‘Keep them in India’ -The 4chan thread –- which also circulated among far-right Trump supporters on Telegram and other fringe forums — read: “Indians are just waking up after the H1B news. Want to keep them in India? Clog the flight reservation system!”Responding posts, many riddled with racist slurs, advised users to hold seats for popular India-US routes on airline websites and booking platforms — without completing the purchase.The stated goal was to block availability on high-demand flights, making it harder to find available seats and inflating prices.Illustrating the scale of the operation, one 4chan user posted a screenshot of their browser and claimed: “I got 100 seats locked.””Currently clogging the last available seat on this Delhi to Newark flight,” another wrote.Several 4chan users also posted about holding up seats on Air India and slowing the airline’s website. However, an Air India spokesperson told AFP the site experienced no disruptions, with systems operating normally.- ‘Shared antipathy’ –Though difficult to measure the campaign’s overall effectiveness, the trolling was an attempt to “cause panic among H-1B visa holders,” Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, told AFP.”The real scary thing about 4chan is its ability to radicalize people into extremist beliefs,” Beirich said, adding that several US mass shooters had published manifestos to the site.H-1B visas allow companies to sponsor foreign workers with specialized skills — such as scientists and computer programmers — to work in the United States, initially for three years but extendable to six.The United States awards 85,000 H-1B visas per year on a lottery system, with India accounting for around three-quarters of the recipients.In an age of information warfare, the troll operation illustrates how bad actors can launch disruptive attacks “with the stroke of a keyboard,” said Brian Levin, founder of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.”As nationalistic politics takes hold across the world, an informal international association of opponents will use an array of aggressive tools, including the internet,” Levin told AFP.”What I think is so relevant is how rapidly it spread, how diverse the nations represented were, and how shared antipathy across international borders can be mobilized online.”

A mining mogul engaged in a years-long dispute with the Australian government over a blocked project had his case thrown out by an international tribunal on Saturday, the attorney general said.Flamboyant billionaire and right-wing politician Clive Palmer had sought to challenge legislation in Western Australia, which prevented him from suing the government over losses related to a blocked mining project in the state.Having lost that bid in Canberra’s high court in 2021, his Singapore-based company took the case to the supranational Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), where it claimed violations of a free trade agreement between Australia, New Zealand and ASEAN.The PCA threw out his case on Saturday on the grounds that it has no jurisdiction in the dispute. It also ordered Palmer’s company, Zeph Investments, to pay the Australian government AU$13.6 million ($8.9 million) in legal costs.”Mr Palmer is not a ‘foreign investor’ and is not entitled to any benefits under Australia’s free trade and investment agreements,” Australia’s Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said.”Australia should never have had to spend two years and over AU$13 million defending an investor-State claim brought by an Australian national,” Rowland added.A former member of parliament and Australia’s fifth-richest man, Palmer is known for engaging in complex and lengthy litigation that often wracks up massive costs for opponents.In 2023, the Australian government blocked him from a bid to create an open-cut coal mine 10 kilometres (six miles) from the Great Barrier Reef, threatening a marine wonder and UNESCO world heritage site.

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

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.

Moored off a Manhattan pier for New York’s annual Climate Week is one of the world’s first ammonia-powered vessels — a green flagship for an Australian tycoon’s drive to decarbonize his mining empire.Even as President Donald Trump’s second term has triggered environmental backtracking among many corporations, iron ore giant Fortescue — founded by Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest — is investing billions to clean up its dirty operations.”We’re a huge polluter right now,” he told AFP in an interview aboard the Green Pioneer, a 75-meter former oil-rig supply ship given a swish makeover. “But we’re changing so fast, and within five years, we’ll stop burning fossil fuels.”The Green Pioneer is meant to be the first in a fleet of ammonia-powered ships. Ammonia contains what Forrest calls the “miracle molecule” — hydrogen. Ammonia burns to produce harmless nitrogen and water, though incomplete combustion of can still generate greenhouse gases.- ‘Real Zero,’ not offsets -The 63-year-old Forrest has become a fixture at global summits, rubbing shoulders with leaders such as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as he evangelizes his climate vision.Where other companies tout green credentials by buying carbon credits — generated through nature protection or carbon-removal projects for example — to claim “net zero,” Forrest dismisses the practice as a scam.”Carbon credits have already been proved by science to be next to worthless,” said Forrest, whose net worth Forbes pegs at more than $16 billion. “That’s why we go ‘Real Zero.'”Achieving genuine decarbonization by 2030 is no small feat, particularly in one of the world’s dirtiest industries. Fortescue’s plan involves replacing diesel-powered mining equipment with electric excavators and drills; building vast wind, solar and battery farms to power operations; and running battery-powered haul trucks.Further along the value chain, the company wants to process its own iron ore — the stage responsible for the lion’s share of emissions — using “green hydrogen” produced by splitting water molecules with renewable electricity, instead of coke or thermal coal.”Fortescue’s climate commitments are certainly different to most other corporations, including its peers in the iron ore mining sector” such as Rio Tinto and BHP, Simon Nicholas, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis’ lead analyst for global steel told AFP. “It has a ‘green iron’ pilot plant under construction in Australia which will use green hydrogen. The company is aiming to eventually process all of its iron ore into iron for export — about 100 million tonnes a year” — and even getting close to those targets would be transformative, said Nicholas.- Technical challenges -But he cautioned that the technological hurdles remain immense: green hydrogen is still expensive, and the pilot plant must prove it can handle lower-grade ore.Then there’s the inherent ecological cost of mining. “If you destroy parts of a forest, including its soils, for your mining operation, even if you don’t use fossil fuels for your operations, you will not be ‘true zero,'” Oscar Soria, co-director of The Common Initiative think tank told AFP.Forrest’s outlook is grounded in his personal journey.Raised in the Australian Outback, where he earned the nickname “Twiggy” for his skinny childhood frame, he got his start in finance before taking over a company and renaming it Fortescue Metals Group in 2003.Forrest said his environmental commitment deepened after a hiking accident in 2014 left him temporarily wheelchair-bound. Encouraged by his children, he returned to university and completed a PhD in marine ecology.”That convinced me I’ve got to put every fiber of my being into arresting this threat so much bigger than any geostrategic issues, so much bigger than politics, so much bigger than anything,” he said.Climate now sits at the heart of his philanthropic Minderoo Foundation.And while the Trump administration derides the “green scam” as economically catastrophic, Forrest insists the opposite is true, pointing to Fortescue’s financial record.”Don’t accuse us of being unbusiness-like. We’re the most business-like in the world.”