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US President Donald Trump heads to Pennsylvania on Tuesday in a bid to quell growing anger among Americans about the cost of living.Trump will return to the campaign-style rallies that brought him a second term in the White House as he pushes his message that he is cutting inflation.The 79-year-old has angrily rejected what he calls the Democrats’ “hoax” on the issue of affordability, but polls show that his approval ratings have slumped on the economy.The Republican billionaire also faces dissent from within his “Make America Great Again” movement, with calls for him to focus on the economy instead of foreign peace deals.Trump will “discuss how he and the administration continue to focus on delivering on his day one priority of ending Joe Biden’s inflation crisis,” a White House official told AFP.He will speak at the Mount Airy Casino resort in Pocono, Pennsylvania, US media said. Before becoming president Trump ran a number of casinos — several of which went bankrupt.The Republican insists prices are falling for key goods like beef, eggs and coffee, and he is fixing what he describes as a mess left by Biden, his Democratic predecessor.But this week he showed signs of softening his message a little on Monday, acknowledging an affordability “problem” after dismissing it as recently as last week as a “con job.””The Democrats caused the affordability problem and we’re fixing it,” he said.Trump’s approval ratings have slumped to their lowest point since his return to office in January, particularly over the cost of living, which Americans have blamed at least partly on his tariffs.US inflation accelerated in September to 2.8 percent on an annual basis.- ‘America First’ -The issue has caused a rift within the MAGA movement. Former close ally Marjorie Taylor Greene, who broke with Trump in November, said Trump had failed to focus on affordability.”For an ‘America First’ president, the number one focus should have been domestic policy, and it wasn’t,” Greene told the CBS News show “60 Minutes” in an interview that aired Sunday.Democrats meanwhile campaigned on affordability in elections that they swept last month for New York City mayor, and for the governors of New Jersey and Virginia.Blue-collar Pennsylvania is a key stop on the road to the White House. Trump narrowly won the northeastern state in 2016 and 2024, and lost it by a sliver to Biden in 2020.Trump is ineligible to run again in 2028 despite hints that he might try — but he is deeply focused on the 2026 midterm elections, in which affordability could hit Republicans.Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles told the Daily Caller she would “put him on the campaign trail” next year to get out loyal voters who might otherwise stay away from the polls.That would mark a major break from the past years when when US parties have often tried to keep their distance from often unpopular incumbent presidents in the midterms.Trump has also focused on other groups affected by his economic policies.A day ahead of his speech, Trump announced $12 billion in aid to US farmers who have also been hit by the impacts of his tariff and trade policy.”We love our farmers, and as you know the farmers like me,” Trump said at the White House, describing them as the “backbone” of the country.

At a Christmas market outside the US capital, festive cheer alone hasn’t been enough to drive affordability worries out of shoppers’ minds — as American households contend with creeping inflation this holiday season.”Prices are terrible. It makes it difficult to shop for a lot of your friends and family,” said James Doffermyre, a high school teacher.The 37-year-old was among visitors at the market in Gaithersburg — a Maryland suburb of Washington — browsing stalls selling everything from greeting cards to decorations.”We always have a big Christmas, and we get one or two gifts for everybody,” he told AFP.But this year, he added, “we said all the adults were okay, (let’s) just buy things for the kids.”His plans underscore the affordability pressures that American households are facing, with dissatisfaction mounting over costs of living.- ‘Problem’ -In particular, Democrats notched victories in off-year elections last month, fueled by voters being disgruntled about rising prices.Republican President Donald Trump too has acknowledged an affordability “problem” recently, after repeatedly dismissing it as a “hoax” and a “con job” by rival Democrats.While Trump’s wide-ranging tariffs this year have not sparked a broad surge in consumer inflation, companies have noted steeper business costs, with some opting to pass them on by raising prices.Inflation has edged higher, with the consumer price index rising 3.0 percent on an annual basis in September, up from 2.9 percent in August.Doffermyre, who has a six-month-old child, said he had been limiting his spending with fewer trips to restaurants.Another shopper, 73-year-old special education teacher Karen Jenkins, called grocery prices “outrageous.””We give food to a lot of students,” she said. “They’re always hungry because they don’t get any food at home.”For her part, she is buying less and cutting down on going out for shows.- ‘Make things work’ -Consumers were also frustrated by high prices in 2022, towards the tail end of the Covid-19 pandemic, economist Joanne Hsu recalled.But back then, “consumers were willing to spend through it because labor markets were very strong and they felt very confident about their income,” said Hsu, the director of a monthly survey of consumers at the University of Michigan.”This time is a very different situation,” she said.Pastry chef Olivia McPherson, 30, noted that prices have been rising during the past three years: “It’s been getting worse and worse.”She said that she rents from a friend because she cannot afford her own apartment, and buys less meat to cut costs.”I’m lucky enough to work at a place where I get meals provided for me,” McPherson added.But this year, she might not be able to buy gifts for all of her friends.”I would never ask them to get me a gift as well, just because I know everybody’s feeling it,” she added.Some, like 23-year-old machine operator Oscar, work two jobs to make ends meet.”If you work hard enough, you can get by,” he said, declining to share his last name.”But I feel like the prices aren’t going down any soon,” he added. “You just gotta make things work.”

The expansion of data centers to power the AI boom has more people wondering: what exactly is in a data center?AFP got a chance to take a look at what is inside.- Concrete warehouse -Data centers are the physical infrastructure that make our digital lives possible, yet most people have never seen one up close or understand how they operate.Roughly 12,000 data centers are in operation in the world, with about half in the US, according to Cloudscene, a data center directory.At its most basic, a data center is a concrete warehouse filled with thousands of computer servers working in tandem. Traditional facilities span one or two floors divided into vast rooms, though newer ones rise higher.A facility may serve a single company or be shared by several clients.The servers sit in standardized 19-inch (48 cm) racks — essentially metal closets lined up in rows.A large data center can house tens of thousands of servers running simultaneously, generating enormous heat and consuming significant energy for both power and cooling.High-speed networking equipment — switches, routers, and fiber optic cables — connects everything, moving terabytes of data per second.- Stay close -Having a data center close to end users improves speed, which is critical for things like trading and gaming where immediacy is paramount.Ashburn, Virginia, which has the highest concentration of data centers in the world, offers ideal conditions as it is located only about 30 miles from the US capital, Washington.However, building in densely populated areas costs more and faces local resistance. Companies increasingly turn to rural locations where land is cheaper and zoning less restrictive.But distance adds to loading times — that brief delay when a page loads or a feed refreshes.To balance cost and performance, operators typically house core infrastructure — or the training of AI models — in affordable rural regions while keeping equipment that handles time-sensitive requests closer to urban centers.- Stay Cool -Inside these bunker-like buildings, a single server rack generates as much heat as several household ovens running nonstop. Cooling consumes roughly 40 percent of a data center’s total energy.The most advanced chips — GPUs (graphics processing units) used for AI — can reach temperatures exceeding 90°C, threatening performance and causing permanent damage during extended operation. They are also much heavier than lower performing chips.Traditional facilities use computer room air conditioners with heat blasting out of mounted vents on on rooftops – but this is not fit for GPUs that mainly turn to water for cooling.Modern facilities are beginning to deploy “free cooling” that uses outside air when temperatures allow, and different water-based approaches: liquid cooling systems that pump coolant directly to components or evaporative cooling that works like perspiration on skin.Today massive amounts of water are still required for direct and indirect cooling in data centers. In 2014, US data centers used 21.2 billion liters of water, and that number rose to 66 billion liters in 2023, according to federal estimates.- Where’s the power? -Power supply — and the high voltage transmission lines needed to source it — is key for a data center and is only growing with facilities that run the powerful GPUs. “One of the biggest challenges for a lot of our customers is they buy the chips and then they don’t know where to go,” Chris Sharp, Chief Technology Officer at Digital Realty, which operates data centers around the world, told AFP.The big tech giants, caught up in the AI arms race, have spent tens of billions of dollars in just months towards building suitable structures for GPUs.Operators rely on the existing power grid but are increasingly seeking to secure their own resources — called “behind-the-meter” — for greater security and to limit rate increases for all users. Solar panels or gas turbines are sometimes installed, and many are also awaiting the arrival of the first small modular reactors (SMRs), a nuclear energy technology currently under development. Most data centers have to run 24/7 and every critical system has backups in case of power outages. This can come through massive battery banks or diesel generators. The best facilities guarantee power 99.995 percent of the time.

President Donald Trump said Monday he had reached an agreement with President Xi Jinping to allow US chip giant Nvidia to export advanced artificial intelligence chips to China.The announcement marked a significant shift in US export policy for advanced AI chips, which Joe Biden’s administration had heavily restricted over national security concerns about Chinese military applications.Democrats in Congress quickly dismissed the shift as a huge mistake that will help the Chinese military and economy. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he had informed Xi that Washington would permit Nvidia to ship its H200 products to “approved customers in China, and other countries, under conditions that allow for continued strong National Security.””President Xi responded positively! $25% will be paid to the United States of America,” Trump wrote, without providing details on how the payment mechanism would work.Trump criticized his predecessor’s approach, saying it “forced our Great Companies to spend BILLIONS OF DOLLARS building ‘degraded’ products that nobody wanted, a terrible idea that slowed Innovation, and hurt the American Worker.”This referred to the Biden administration’s requirement for chip companies to create modified, less powerful versions specifically for the Chinese market.These chips had reduced capabilities — lower processing speeds, for example — to comply with export control regulations.Under Biden-era restrictions, the H200 and similar advanced chips were blocked from export to China.”We applaud President Trump’s decision to allow America’s chip industry to compete to support high paying jobs and manufacturing in America,” an Nvidia spokesperson told AFP.”Offering H200 to approved commercial customers, vetted by the Department of Commerce, strikes a thoughtful balance that is great for America.”- Not Blackwell -The president said his decision aims to “support American Jobs, strengthen U.S. Manufacturing, and benefit American Taxpayers.”Trump emphasized that Nvidia’s most advanced chips — the Blackwell series and forthcoming Rubin processors — are not included in the agreement and remain available only to US customers.The H200s are roughly 18 months behind the company’s state-of-the-art offerings.The chips — graphic processing units or GPUs — are used to train the AI models that are the bedrock of the generative AI revolution launched with the release of ChatGPT in 2022.The Commerce Department is finalizing implementation details, with Trump saying “the same approach will apply to AMD, Intel, and other GREAT American Companies.”The announcement comes amid trade tensions between Washington and Beijing, as the two compete for dominance in artificial intelligence technology.Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang lobbied the White House intensely to reverse the Biden-era policy despite considerable opposition in Washington to giving Chinese companies access to powerful chips.Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, attributed the deal to a “backroom meeting” with Trump and Huang’s company’s donation to build the East Wing ballroom at the White House.She said this would “turbocharge China’s military and undercut American technological leadership.”She and other senior Democrats in the Senate issued a separate statement calling Trump’s decision is “a colossal economic and national security failure.””Access to these chips would give China’s military transformational technology to make its weapons more lethal, carry out more effective cyberattacks against American businesses and critical infrastructure and strengthen their economic and manufacturing sector,” these lawmakers said.Alex Stapp, of the Washington-based Institute for Progress, called the policy a “massive own goal,” with the H200 “6x more powerful than the H20, which was previously the most powerful chip approved for export.”

Jimmy Kimmel has extended his contract with Disney-owned ABC for a year, sources said Monday, months after his late-night show was yanked off the air in a confrontation with President Donald Trump’s administration.The late-night host will continue to front “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” into the middle of 2027, a person familiar with the matter told AFP.His contract had been due to expire in May of next year.The move comes after a spat pitting the White House against Kimmel in the wake of the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.Kimmel, who frequently skewers Trump and his inner circle, annoyed conservatives when he said “the MAGA gang” was trying to exploit the college campus murder.Trump’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr appeared to threaten the licenses of ABC affiliates broadcasting the show unless they demanded Kimmel’s removal.Two companies that own dozens of those affiliates — Nexstar and Sinclair — then announced they would be removing the show from their schedules, prompting Disney to suspend the show nationwide.But after a huge public and Hollywood backlash, Kimmel was back on the air after a week-long hiatus, delivering a blockbuster monologue in which he slammed government attempts to censor him as “anti-American.”He has continued to take aim at Trump, mocking him for apparently falling asleep in meetings, and for mispronouncing the names of international leaders with whom he boasts he has brokered peace deals.Trump, meanwhile, shows no sign of giving up his crusade to get Kimmel cancelled.At a revamped awards ceremony at the Kennedy Center on Sunday night, he called the funnyman “horrible,” as he predicted bumper ratings for the show.”If I can’t beat out Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent, then I don’t think I should be president,” he said.

Ukraine’s European allies put on a show of support for President Volodymyr Zelensky Monday as they expressed scepticism about parts of the US proposal to end Russia’s nearly four-year invasion.Zelensky first held a meeting in London with the leaders of Britain, France and Germany before heading to Brussels later Monday for talks with the heads of the EU and of NATO. Afterwards, he was to fly to Rome for a meeting Tuesday with the Italian prime minister.The discussions came after US President Donald Trump accused Zelensky of not reading his administration’s proposal on a deal to end nearly four years of war sparked by Russia’s invasion of its neighbour.That followed days of talks between Ukrainian and US officials in Miami that ended on Saturday with no apparent breakthrough, but with Zelensky committing to further negotiations.In London, Zelensky spoke with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.At a subsequent press conference, he said that Ukrainian territory was one of the main sticking points in negotiations.”Russia is insisting that we give up territories, but we don’t want to cede anything,” Zelensky said. “There are difficult problems concerning the territories and so far there has been no compromise,” he said, adding that Kyiv had no legal or moral right to give up its land.He also said: “The key is to know what our partners will be ready to do in the event of new aggression by Russia. At the moment, we have not received any answer to this question.”Hours later, in Brussels, Zelensky said on X he had “a good and productive meeting” with NATO chief Mark Rutte, European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.”Our positions have been aligned on all issues. We are acting in a coordinated and constructive manner,” Zelensky said.Rutte also called it a “good” discussion and reiterated the support for a “just and lasting peace for Ukraine”, while von der Leyen, also on X, said the EU was “ironclad” in its backing for Kyiv.”Ukraine’s sovereignty must be respected. Ukraine’s security must be guaranteed, in the long term, as a first line of defence for our Union. These priorities were are the centre of our discussions with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte,” von der Leyen said.France’s Macron wrote on X after the London meeting that “we are preparing robust security guarantees and measures for Ukraine’s reconstruction”.Macron said the “main issue” was finding “convergence” between the European and Ukrainian position and that of the United States.Ahead of the London talks, German leader Merz said he was “sceptical about some of the details which we are seeing in the documents coming from the US side, but we have to talk about it”.And Britain’s Starmer said he would not be pushing Zelensky to accept the deal spearheaded by Trump’s administration — the initial version of which was criticised by Ukraine’s allies as overly favourable to Russia.- ‘Disappointed’ -On Saturday, Zelensky said he had a “very substantive and constructive” telephone conversation with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner who were negotiating with Ukrainian officials in Miami.But Trump criticised his Ukrainian counterpart on Sunday, telling reporters: “I have to say that I’m a little bit disappointed that President Zelensky hasn’t yet read the proposal, that was as of a few hours ago.”Witkoff and Kushner had met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin last week, with Moscow rejecting parts of the US proposal.Before Monday’s talks, Macron slammed what he called Russia’s “escalatory path”.”We must continue to exert pressure on Russia to compel it to choose peace,” he wrote on X.- Hot and cold -Washington’s initial plan to bring an end to the conflict involved Ukraine surrendering land that Russia has not captured in return for security promises that fall short of Kyiv’s aspirations to join NATO.The nature of the security guarantees that Ukraine could get to fend off any future Russian invasion has so far been shrouded in uncertainty, beyond an initial suggestion that jets to defend Kyiv could be based in Poland.Trump has blown hot and cold on Ukraine since returning to office in January, initially chastising Zelensky for not being grateful for US support.But he was also frustrated that his efforts to persuade Putin to end the war had failed to produce results and he recently slapped sanctions on Russian oil firms.

A group of former FBI agents filed a lawsuit on Monday claiming they were unlawfully fired for kneeling during a 2020 racial justice protest in the US capital.The 12 agents were fired earlier this year by FBI Director Kash Patel, who has been accused by Democrats of purging the bureau’s ranks of agents perceived as being disloyal to President Donald Trump.The lawsuit filed by the agents — nine women and three men — in a federal court in Washington seeks their reinstatement and names Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi as defendants.In their complaint, the agents, who filed the suit anonymously, recounted the circumstances in the capital on the day they took a knee.It was June 4, 2020, less than two weeks after the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd, a Black man whose murder by a white police officer sparked nationwide racial justice protests.The FBI agents, who had a background in counterintelligence and counterterrorism, were deployed by the bureau in a “powder keg” downtown Washington without the “training, protective gear, or less-than-lethal munitions that would enable them to engage in crowd control,” they said.”They were confronted by a mob that included hostile individuals alongside families with young children,” they said, and they “made a considered tactical decision” to take a knee.”Responding to the dangerous situation before them, Plaintiffs avoided triggering violence by assuming a kneeling posture associated with de-escalations between law enforcement officers and their communities during this period of national unrest,” they said.”Plaintiffs’ de-escalation response was immediately successful,” they said, and “as a result of their tactical decision to kneel, the mass of people moved on without escalating to violence.”They said their actions were reviewed and cleared by the FBI and Justice Department at the time.But more than five years later they received dismissal letters from Patel accusing them of “unprofessional conduct and a lack of impartiality in carrying out duties, leading to the political weaponization of government.”The suit is the latest against the FBI by a former agent alleging unjust dismissal.David Maltinsky, a gay 16-year FBI veteran, filed a lawsuit last month claiming he was unlawfully fired from the bureau for displaying a gay pride flag at his desk.

A former personal lawyer to US President Donald Trump resigned as a top federal prosecutor on Monday, a week after an appeals court ruled she had been serving unlawfully.Alina Habba, 41, announced her resignation as acting US attorney for the District of New Jersey in a statement on X.”I have decided to step down,” Habba said. “But do not mistake compliance for surrender. This decision will not weaken the Justice Department and it will not weaken me.”Federal prosecutors are subject to Senate confirmation and New Jersey’s two Democratic senators had opposed her nomination.Trump sought to keep Habba in her position on an interim basis, but the appeals court ruled last week that her appointment violated the law regarding the filling of federal vacancies.It was the second time in a week that a federal court ruled that a US attorney picked by Trump was unlawfully appointed.In the other case, a judge disqualified Lindsey Halligan from serving as the acting US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and threw out the indictments Halligan obtained against Trump foes James Comey, a former FBI director, and New York Attorney General Letitia James.The judge said Halligan had been unlawfully appointed because her predecessor was also serving in an acting capacity and US law does not allow two successive interim prosecutors.The Trump administration’s appointments of interim US attorneys without Senate confirmation in at least two other states — California and Nevada — have also been met with legal challenges.Attorney General Pam Bondi said the court ruling in Habba’s case had made it “untenable for her to effectively run her office, with politicized judges pausing trials designed to bring violent criminals to justice.””These judges should not be able to countermand the President’s choice of attorneys entrusted with carrying out the executive branch’s core responsibility of prosecuting crime,” Bondi said in a statement.Bondi said Habba would join the Justice Department as her senior advisor overseeing US attorneys around the country.

US President Donald Trump warned Monday that Europe was heading in “very bad directions,” in a fresh broadside just days after his new security strategy slammed the continent over mass migration.Trump hit out at a “nasty” $140 million fine by the European Union against tech tycoon Elon Musk’s X social network — while admitting he didn’t know much about it — before widening his attack.”Look, Europe has to be very careful. (They’re) doing a lot of things. We want to keep Europe Europe,” Trump told reporters at the White House.”Europe is going in some bad directions. It’s very bad, very bad for the people. We don’t want Europe to change so much. They’re going in some very bad directions.”The Republican’s comments follow criticism in the new US national security strategy released last week of Europe as being over-regulated and facing “civilizational erasure” from migration. In extraordinary language aimed at close allies, the strategy said Trump’s administration would be “cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations.”Trump and the Europeans are also increasingly at odds over US plans to end the war in Ukraine, with fears in Europe that Washington aims to force Kyiv into surrendering land to Russia.The Kremlin welcomed the changes to Trump’s strategy, saying on Saturday it was “largely consistent” with Russia’s vision.Trump’s position towards Europe echoes that of Musk, the president’s former ally, who has repeatedly aired inflammatory claims about migration in the EU.Musk said after X was fined for breaking the EU’s digital rules that the bloc should be “abolished.” Brussels dismissed his statements as “completely crazy.” When asked about the fine, Trump said that “I don’t think it’s right” before clarifying that “Elon has not called me to ask for help on that one” and saying he would get more details later.

US President Donald Trump announced a $12 billion aid package for American farmers on Monday, targeting a key support base that has been hit by the fallout from his trade and tariff policies.The Republican said he was taking “very vital action to protect and defend American farmers,” during a roundtable with agricultural producers at the White House.Trump has faced mounting pressure to help farmers, whose support helped win him a second term in office but who have been battered by the impact of his sweeping tariffs.Since Trump’s return in January, many US farmers have been hit by factors including retaliatory measures from trading partners and tariffs on imported goods used in farming.”We love our farmers, and as you know the farmers like me,” Trump said during the roundtable.Trump said the $12 billion in aid for farmers would be funded by a “relatively small portion” of the revenue from tariffs.Most of the bailout involves one-off payments to crop farmers.Washington’s trade row this year with superpower rival Beijing saw soybean exports plunge and Chinese buyers holding off new orders from the US autumn harvest.Amid the lower demand, soybean prices fell as well, hitting the sector hard, although a recent trade truce sought to ensure renewed Chinese purchases of agriculture goods ranging from soybeans to sorghum.Trump said he believed Chinese President Xi Jinping would do “even more than he promised to do” on soybeans, following their recent meeting at a summit in South Korea.- ‘Affordability problem’ -The US president repeatedly blamed former president Joe Biden for the problems faced by American farmers.But the situation has echoes of Trump’s first presidency, when retaliatory tariffs caused over $27 billion in US agriculture export losses from 2018 to 2019.The government, in turn, provided $23 billion to assist farmers hit by trade disputes at the time.Trump’s Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the government was releasing an initial $11 billion for crops and would hold back another $1 billion for where it was needed most.Trump has also recently vowed to support US cattle farmers as beef prices surged in part due to a tighter supply of herds.Costs had risen for various reasons including drought and lower imports from Mexico due to a pest in herds there, adding to cost-of-living pressures that American households are facing.Trump’s farm aid announcement came amid mounting dissatisfaction with his economic policies, particularly over tariffs and the cost of living.The 79-year-old will hit the road in coming months to push his economic agenda, starting with a speech in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.Trump appeared to soften his message a little on Monday, acknowledging an affordability “problem” after repeatedly dismissing it in recent weeks as a “hoax” and a “con job” by rival Democrats.”The Democrats caused the affordability problem and we’re fixing it,” he said.