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US consumer inflation rose for a third straight month in December as energy prices jumped but a widely-watched measure eased slightly, raising hopes that underlying inflation may be moderating.The consumer price index (CPI) accelerated to 2.9 percent last month from a year ago, up from 2.7 percent in November, the Labor Department said in a statement on Wednesday.This was in line with the median forecast of economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.Stocks jumped on the news, with all three major indices on Wall Street up by more than 1.6 percent at around 10 am local time in Washington (1500 GMT).On a monthly basis, inflation rose by 0.4 percent, slightly faster than expected. One of the biggest drivers of inflation in December was the energy index, which jumped by 2.6 percent, accounting for “over” 40 percent of the monthly increase, according to the Labor Department. In some good news for the Federal Reserve, annual inflation excluding volatile food and energy costs came in at a lower-than-expected 3.2 percent, marking a slight decline from the month earlier. – Focus on the core -The so-called “core” measure of inflation increased by 0.2 percent, also slightly below expectations.”The focus is really on the core reading, and the core reading did come in better than the consensus expectations,” Nationwide chief economist Kathy Bostjancic told AFP. The US central bank has cut rates by a full percentage point since September as it looks to bolster the labor market.The recent uptick in inflation adds to expectations that it will remain firmly on pause at its next rate decision later this month. However, higher prices could complicate President-elect Donald Trump’s economic plans as he prepares to return to office on Monday.Trump has floated several policies, from tariffs to deportation, that many economists say could have an inflationary impact. The Republican and his supporters have disputed this characterization, claiming that many of his proposals aimed at deregulation and boosting energy production should help keep prices in check. – Bond yields drop -US bonds rallied as investors reacted to signs of slowing core inflation, pushing down yields, which move inversely to prices. “The softer core reading is really what the markets are focusing on right now, and that’s why you’re seeing a big rally in the bond market,” said Bostjancic from Nationwide. Lower yields on US Treasurys — especially the popular 10-year note — would be good news for consumers, since they are referenced by businesses when they price mortgages and car loans. Wednesday’s data release is nevertheless expected to fuel expectations that the Fed will pause rate cuts later this month, as headline inflation appears to be moving away from its long-term goal of two percent.The Fed uses a different inflation measure to set interest rates, known as the personal consumption expenditures price index. That index has also been rising in recent months. Futures traders see a roughly 97 percent chance that the Fed will vote to hold interest rates between 4.25 and 4.50 percent at the next rate meeting on January 28 and 29, according to data from CME Group.”The pace of inflation is still elevated,” said Bostjancic.”There’s strength in the labor market, and the prospects of changes in tariffs and immigration policies that could push inflation higher will keep the Fed cautious and patient with regard to cutting rates further,” she said. “In that light, we see the Fed moving to the sidelines in the first half of the year to assess the evolving economic inflation and policy landscape,” she added.The financial markets see a roughly 80 percent chance that the Fed will make no more than two rate cuts this year, according to data from CME Group.

Social media giant TikTok plans to completely shut down its operations in the United States this Sunday if a ban ordered by legislators goes through as planned, a report said.The platform, which counts over 170 million American users, will implement an immediate blackout rather than allowing existing users continued access as had been expected, according to sources who spoke to The Information.The apparent shutdown comes as TikTok faces a January 19 legislative deadline to sever ties with its Chinese parent company ByteDance or cease US operations. While the law only requires app stores to remove TikTok and cloud providers to stop hosting US user data, the company will opt for a full suspension of service, The Information said.Users attempting to open the app after the deadline will encounter a message redirecting them to a statement about the federally mandated ban, along with options to download their personal data, the report said.TikTok’s reported plan would follow skeptical questioning from Supreme Court justices during oral arguments last Friday, suggesting they would uphold the ban. The company has challenged the law on First Amendment grounds, which protect freedom of speech.The shutdown would coincide with the US presidential transition, as Donald Trump, who has expressed opposition to the ban, takes office Monday. ByteDance has so far refused to sell TikTok’s US operations, though analysts say this position could shift as the reality of a forced market exit looms.In an internal email obtained by The Verge on Tuesday, TikTok assured its US employees that their “employment, pay, and benefits are secure” and offices will remain open even if the situation remains unresolved by Sunday’s deadline. The company told staff it was “planning for various scenarios.”TikTok declined to comment when contacted by AFP.

US President Joe Biden warned Wednesday that the “soul of America” is still at stake, as he prepared to deliver his farewell address to the nation before the return of Donald Trump.The 82-year-old Democrat will make a primetime speech from the Oval Office of the White House in which Biden is expected to tout the legacy of his single term in power.Ahead of the address at 8:00 pm (0100 GMT Thursday) Biden also released a letter to the American people which delivered an implicit swipe at Republican Trump.”I ran for president because I believed that the soul of America was at stake. The very nature of who we are was at stake. And, that’s still the case,” Biden said in the letter.”History is in your hands. The power is in your hands. The idea of America lies in your hands. We just have to keep the faith and remember who we are,” he said.Biden said the United States was stronger than four years ago, when it “stood in a winter of peril” after Trump’s chaotic first term, the Covid pandemic and what he called “the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.”Biden was sworn in just days after the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters trying to overturn his election loss.He did not mention Trump by name, but his words clearly echoed previous speeches in which he said he decided to run in the 2020 election because America’s “soul” was at risk from Trump and his supporters.- ‘Privilege of my life’ -Biden added that he had asked the White House to also release a long list of what he said were his administration’s achievements on issues ranging from the economy to healthcare and climate.He said the United States had the “strongest economy in the world” and was bringing down inflation — even if public anger over the cost of living was a major factor in the Democrats’ election loss.The outgoing president has spent much of his final days in power trying to burnish a legacy damaged by his decision to run for a second term despite his age.Biden was forced to drop out of the race last June after a disastrous debate against Trump, 78, who went on to win a commanding victory over Biden’s Vice President Kamala Harris.But he said it had been the “privilege of my life to serve this nation for over 50 years.”Biden’s address to the nation comes just two days after a foreign policy speech on Monday in which Biden said he had left the United States stronger on the world stage.The farewell address has become a tradition for US presidents as they leave office.George Washington, the first president, issued perhaps the most famous in 1796 — in the form of a letter — as he declined a third term and called for national unity.The tradition was revived in the 20th century with the advent of radio and television, and Harry Truman was the first to do so from the Oval Office, in 1953.

One rocket, two missions: lunar landers built by US and Japanese companies launched their “rideshare” to the Moon on Wednesday, showcasing the private sector’s growing role in space exploration.On board the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida were Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost and ispace’s Resilience from Japan, which will also deploy a micro rover.Both uncrewed missions aim to build on the success of Texas-based Intuitive Machines, which last year became the first company to successfully touch down on Earth’s celestial neighbor.Until recently, soft landings on the Moon were achieved only by a handful of well-funded national space agencies, starting with the Soviet Union in 1966.Now, however, several emerging US companies are attempting to replicate this feat under NASA’s experimental Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, designed to cut costs and stimulate a lunar economy.The US plans to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon later this decade under the Artemis program, leveraging commercial partners to deliver critical hardware at a fraction of the cost of government-led missions.”Each milestone we complete will provide valuable data for future missions and ultimately keep the United States and our international partners at the forefront of space exploration,” Firefly Aerospace CEO Jason Kim said Tuesday.”Firefly is a go for launch. Let’s go ghost riders in the sky!”- Staying upright -On the Japanese side, Tokyo-based ispace’s first attempt to land on the Moon ended in an unsalvageable “hard landing” in April 2023.”It’s important to challenge ourselves again, after enduring failure and learning from it,” ispace founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada said last week.”Today, we’re going back to the Moon,” a post on the ispace X account said Wednesday, adding in a promotional video: “Today, we prove our resilience”.Blue Ghost is stacked atop Resilience inside the Falcon 9, SpaceX executive Julianna Scheiman said, and will be deployed first, followed by Resilience nearly 30 minutes later.The two spacecraft have different timelines for reaching the Moon.Blue Ghost aims to complete its journey in 45 days, gradually lifting its orbit around Earth before entering lunar orbit and touching down near Mons Latreille, a volcanic feature in Mare Crisium on the Moon’s northeast near side.”With 10 NASA instruments on this flight, we’re conducting scientific investigations… from characterizing Earth’s magnetosphere to understanding lunar dust and the Moon’s interior structure and thermal properties,” NASA scientist Maria Banks said.Blue Ghost also carries technology demonstrations focused on navigation and computing in the Moon’s harsh radiation environment.- ‘Moonhouse’ art -Meanwhile, Resilience will take four to five months to reach its destination in Mare Frigoris, on the Moon’s far north.Its payloads include scientific instruments, but the centerpiece is Tenacious, a micro rover developed by ispace-Europe, a Luxembourg-based subsidiary. The four-wheeled robot features a high-definition camera and will attempt to scoop up regolith — the Moon’s loose surface material.It also carries on its front a small red “Moonhouse” created by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg.These ambitious goals hinge on achieving a successful soft landing — a task fraught with challenges.Spacecraft must navigate treacherous boulders and craters and, in the absence of an atmosphere to support parachutes, rely entirely on thrusters for a controlled descent.A final hurdle, as recent missions have shown, is remaining upright.When Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus landed in April 2024, it tipped over, limiting the investigations it could perform.Similarly, Japan’s SLIM lander, which touched down in March 2024, landed at a wonky angle, leaving its solar panels poorly positioned, similarly curtailing its operational lifespan.

Donald Trump’s policies are not likely to cause inflation to reignite as many analysts fear, one of the president-elect’s longtime economic advisors told AFP Tuesday, less than a week before Trump returns to the White House.Many economists have warned that Trump’s campaign proposals, which included imposing sweeping import tariffs and overseeing the largest deportation in US history, could cause a spike in inflation, forcing the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates higher for longer. In an interview, Stephen Moore, a longtime economic advisor to Trump, said that the full suite of policies the president-elect wants to push through, including deregulation and the extension of expiring tax cuts, should help keep price increases in check.”You could point to some specific policies like tariffs that could be inflationary,” said Moore, who is a senior visiting fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation. “But you have to remember that we’re also going to be reducing other taxes.””Things that are made in the United States will have a lower tax, and things that are made in China will have a higher tax,” he added. “So when you balance those out, you have, you may have relative price shifts, but not overall price increases.” – Across-the-board tariffs  -Economists at some of the top US banks have noted that Trump’s tariff and immigration policies are likely to put upward pressure on inflation and downward pressure on growth, although many expect the impact to be relatively muted as long as Trump does not follow through on his more aggressive policy proposals.But if Trump goes ahead with across-the-board tariffs of as much as 20 percent — as he pledged to do on the campaign trail — that could complicate the Federal Reserve’s job as it looks to return inflation to its long-term target of two percent.The US central bank has cut interest rates by a full percentage point since September in a bid to bolster the labor market. But a recent uptick in inflation has raised concerns that its inflation fight has stalled, putting pressure on Fed chair Jerome Powell to convince his colleagues to keep interest rates on hold.”I think that Trump does understand that inflation is the enemy of the people, and inflation is also the enemy of a presidential term,” Moore said, alluding to the impact that inflation and the cost of living played in the most recent presidential race.”I do expect when Trump gets in and starts putting these policies in place, that you’ll start to see a stabilization of prices,” he added. “And if that doesn’t happen then he may fire Mr. Powell.”In November, Powell told reporters he would not resign as Fed boss if asked to by Trump, adding that firing any of the central bank’s seven governors — including himself — was “not permitted under the law.”- Early executive actions -Moore told AFP that Trump was preparing to sign multiple executive orders during his first days in office aimed at undoing many of the Biden administration’s policies. The executive orders will most likely target “green energy mandates,” diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, return-to-office policies for federal workers, and the withdrawal of the United States from the “counterproductive” Paris climate accords, he said.Another early priority for the next Trump administration will be immigration, he added, with the incoming president’s team likely to follow a “worst first” policy focused on closing the southern border and then deporting undocumented workers who have broken the law. “Get the worst people out of the country first, and then see where we go from there,” he said.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is gearing up for the seventh orbital flight test of Starship, the colossal prototype rocket the company hopes will help humans colonize Mars.A launch window from the company’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, opens at 4:00 pm (2200 GMT) Wednesday and will be carried in a live webcast on Musk’s X platform.Space enthusiasts will be eager to see if SpaceX can replicate the stunning feat of catching the first-stage Super Heavy booster in the launch tower’s “chopstick” arms during descent, approximately seven minutes after liftoff.The maneuver was successfully achieved in October but not during the following flight in November, when President-elect Donald Trump joined Musk to witness the test from mission control.Instead, Super Heavy made a more subdued splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. This time around, SpaceX announced it had implemented “hardware upgrades to the launch and catch tower to increase reliability for booster catch,” including enhancements to sensor protections on the chopsticks that were damaged during the launch, causing the booster’s offshore diversion.Starship has also undergone several design refinements. Its latest iteration now stands at 403 feet (123 meters) tall, slightly taller than previous versions and roughly 100 feet higher than the Statue of Liberty.Upgrades include a redesigned upper-stage propulsion system capable of carrying 25 percent more propellant, along with modifications to the forward flaps. The flaps have been reduced in size and repositioned to reduce their exposure to intense heat during atmospheric reentry.For the first time, Starship will deploy a payload: 10 Starlink simulators, comparable in size and weight to the company’s internet satellites. Both the simulators and Starship’s upper stage are set to splash down in the Indian Ocean about an hour after launch.- Betting on Starship -SpaceX already dominates the orbital launch market with its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, which serve commercial clients, NASA and the Pentagon.But the company has made it clear it sees Starship as its future, with Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell recently indicating it would succeed the Falcon rockets around the turn of the next decade. Designed to be fully reusable, Starship’s test flights currently cost around $90 million, according to analytical group Payload Research, though Musk has expressed confidence in eventually reducing that figure to as low as $10 million per launch.The first three test flights ended in dramatic explosions, resulting in the loss of vehicles. However, SpaceX has rapidly iterated on its design, reflecting its “fail fast, learn fast” philosophy.Musk is aiming to drastically ramp up the frequency of tests, requesting permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to carry out 25 in 2025.The FAA is currently holding public meetings over the issue. Critics have accused the company of causing environmental harms, including disruption to nearby ecologically sensitive areas and alleged violations of wastewater regulations at the launch site.But with Musk now part of Trump’s inner circle, the billionaire could find a more favorable regulatory landscape under the incoming administration.

The deadly Palisades fire is still raging in Los Angeles, but Chuck Hart and his construction crew are already several days into their self-appointed mission to clean up and rebuild their shattered community.”We never left,” said the local contractor, taking a brief pause from shouting directions to his army of workers, as they shovel  scorched debris from the roads and sidewalks into giant pickup trucks and trailers.”We’re going to do everything we can to get this place back up and running as quickly as possible.”At least eight people died in the Palisades fire alone, of 25 across Los Angeles. It razed entire blocks of this upscale neighborhood, and left much more shrouded in an unlivable carnage of ash, mud and collapsed structures.Hart and his team of employees are not being paid or contracted by officials to do this clean-up work.In fact, they are not technically even meant to be here. Due to roadblocks barring entry to Pacific Palisades, they cannot leave because they would not be able to re-enter, and they are “having to sneak in materials and supplies” in order to carry out their work.”We’re staying at my house. We’re sleeping on the floors, on my jiu jitsu mats, couches, beds… no hot water, cold shower, 31 dudes — it’s gnarly,” he said.When the fire broke out, Hart and his crew were working on a construction site within the neighborhood.Hearing that his mother’s house was close to encroaching flames, Hart told his team to “stop everything you’re doing,” and rallied them to protect her property with hoses.”We just rock-and-rolled,” he said.”We were fighting fires. And then we went round all the houses… cleaning debris up out of the streets. “We’ve just been doing that non-stop ever since.”- ‘Vouched for me’ -As far as Hart is aware, nobody else has begun clearing up Pacific Palisades.So far, his team are not touching any private property, focusing on roads and sidewalks.He appears to have the tacit approval of the police and fire officials who regularly circle the streets, checking for smoldering hotspots or looters. A local fire station even shared their meals with his workers. “People in this community that know me really well, that know the higher ups, have vouched for me 100 percent,” he said.For the first few days, he paid his crew out of his own pocket, but has now launched a GoFundMe, which has so far raised $170,000.Still, Hart said convincing his crew to stay was never an issue, many of whom “are like family” and have worked for him for as long as 25 years.”I stayed to protect the area where I work, and also save the company, because that’s where my employer’s house is,” said Raul Lopez Acosta.While the Palisades’ affluent residents might “have the money” to rebuild, “there are many things besides the construction — many memories, feelings, people, who have been living here for two or three generations,” he said. With no access to waste disposal sites to dump the mountains of debris, Hart and his team have “hi-jacked” a neighbor’s lot that had already been totally wiped out by the fire.He has not been able to make contact with the owner to ask permission, but intends to haul out the rubble as soon as the roads are opened.And in any case, he is confident that they will understand, given the extraordinary circumstances.”We’ll get it straightened out. It’s an emergency,” he said.- ‘Uniquely positioned’ -Hart is adamant that Pacific Palisades — where his great-grandparents first settled — will rebuild. He believes that many fellow residents are itching to return and help, but are currently being slowed down by bureaucracy.Officials have warned that the area could reignite, along with other dangers such as downed power lines, and has no safe water or electricity.Jackie Irwin, who represents the Palisades in California’s state assembly, said Tuesday that the official debris cleanup would be “done as quickly as possible.”But Hart does not want to wait — particularly with his construction company’s resources, from dump trucks and trailers to skid steers and grapple buckets, so readily at hand.”I am uniquely positioned to be of maximum service to my community, and I’m going to do it,” he said.”I got all the trucks. I got all the equipment. I got the guys.”Is there anything more he would like?”I really wish we could go home and take a hot shower.”

Billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg will attend Donald Trump’s inauguration next week, NBC news reported Tuesday, further highlighting the tech moguls’ efforts to develop closer ties with the incoming president.The network, citing an unnamed official involved in planning the January 20 ceremony, said the three men will be seated together on the platform with prominent guests, including Trump cabinet nominees. Musk — the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and the majority owner of X — has become one of Trump’s closest allies and his planned presence at the ceremony is not a surprise. Musk shares Trump’s hard-right politics and put millions of dollars into supporting his presidential campaign.Trump has tapped Musk to co-lead an advisory commission aiming to slash federal spending and bureaucracy, which while dubbed the Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE,” will not be an official US agency.   Bezos and Zuckerberg have less close ties with Trump, but both have made moves since the election viewed as seeking to curry favor with the president-elect, including meeting with him at his Mar-a-Lago resort.Meta CEO Zuckerberg signalled a rightward political swerve last week when he announced Facebook and Instagram would scrap fact-checking in the United States, a response to what he characterized as censorship by governments and so-called legacy media.The pivot to Trumpian talking points shocked some Meta watchers but was also in line past decisions by Zuckerberg aimed at preserving his dominance of social media.In the summer, Trump threatened to put Zuckerberg in prison over Facebook’s decision to ban him from the platform in 2021.Highlighting Zuckerberg’s continued step into politics, he will be co-hosting a post-inauguration reception for Trump with several well-known Republican donors, according to an invitation obtained by the Puck news site Tuesday.Bezos’s relationship with Trump has also seen moments of significant friction. The founder of Amazon also owns The Washington Post, one of the many newspapers Trump has railed against for years.In a decision that shocked many in US media, The Post declined to endorse a presidential candidate ahead of the November election.According to a report by the paper, Bezos intervened to block the board from publishing its editorial in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris.The paper’s leadership denied that report. Bezos’s aerospace company Blue Origin also competes for lucrative government contracts.

A huge federal probe was under way Tuesday into what caused the deadly Los Angeles wildfires, with millions in the city clamoring for answers.Social media has exploded with theories about what started blazes that tore through the city of Altadena and the upmarket neighborhood of Pacific Palisades, killing at least 24 people and leaving whole communities in ruins.Suggestions include downed power lines, deliberate arson, a stray firework and the reignition of an earlier fire.But Jose Medina of the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), which is leading the inquiry, said it was too early to say.”We know everyone wants answers, and the community deserves answers. ATF will give you those answers, but it will be once we complete a thorough investigation,” he told reporters.The ATF is working with local law enforcement, as well as the Forest Service and the US Attorney’s office, in an operation that will involve around 75 people.Fire investigators, chemists, electrical engineers and sniffer dogs trained to detect accelerant will be doing painstaking fieldwork to find the seats of the two fires, he said.A team will also be deployed to gather clues from the local community and online, conducting interviews with possible witnesses.”We are following all the leads and processing all the physical evidence,” Medina said.”ATF is determined to leverage every available resource to deliver a thorough and transparent investigation.”Internet users have leapt on a video posted by trail runners that shows them running away from smoke in hills above Pacific Palisades.But one of the men, Beni Oren, told the Los Angeles Times they had nothing to do with the fire, and had actually been fleeing for their lives in the video.”It’s definitely kind of infuriating that people are blaming us,” he told the paper.”Just knowing as a matter of fact… that we didn’t do it but then seeing the amount of people that have different theories is overwhelming.”Local media reported that a number of homeowners in the Altadena area have launched a lawsuit against power company Southern California Edison after a video appeared to show flames at the base of an electrical transmission tower.The utility has said it does not believe its equipment was at fault.

Fear drove them out of China — over oceans and continents, through rainforests and mountains, seeking safety and opportunity in the United States. Now, as Donald Trump’s second presidency looms, Chinese asylum seekers are once again afraid.Trump, who takes power again on January 20, has vowed mass deportations backed by the military, putting the promise at the heart of his rhetoric targeting illegal immigrants on the campaign trail that helped catapult him to victory. That has left the fate of Beijing critics and others who fear persecution in China unclear.”If I were repatriated, it would be a disaster for my family and I,” said Huang Haimin, 42, who entered the United States in early 2023.”I’m not worried; I’m fearful,” he told AFP. “I’ve been afraid for much of my life back home, but now I feel it here too.”Huang decided to leave China after sensing he might face trouble with authorities over gatherings with critics of Beijing’s zero-Covid policy, as many were at the time.Like others, he researched his journey on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok.His months-long journey to the United States passed through Turkey and Panama, before he reached Mexico and crossed the border.”We took mountainous roads for two days. That was tough,” Huang, now in Brooklyn, said of his trek through the Darien Gap, a stretch of untamed rainforest connecting Colombia and Panama.He then became part of the surge of Chinese migrants entering the United States illegally from Mexico in 2023 — more than 37,400 were encountered by authorities that year, up from some 3,800 in 2022. Numbers have fallen again in recent months, but that did not stop Trump from voicing fears on the campaign trail last year that “military age” men from China were trying to form an “army in our country.”- ‘Walking the line’ -Many Chinese immigrants end up in Queens, New York, where Ma Ju started a private shelter nearly two years ago.He recalls being contacted daily by two to three new undocumented arrivals from China in early 2023, an increase from the 20 to 30 requests for help he used to receive annually.Ma, who moved to the United States in 2019, has been outspoken on Beijing’s human rights record, including in northwestern Xinjiang where Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities were said to have been incarcerated.He said: “95 percent of people I receive here ‘walked the line’.”He was using a euphemism for migrating into the United States through South America, often by walking across the Mexico border.”I couldn’t arrange accommodation for them,” he added. “I thought, it was time to find a house.”He estimates taking in more than 350 migrants since opening the shelter. Some stayed for three days and others, over a year.While many were Han, the largest ethnic group in China, there were also Christians and significant numbers from Muslim minority groups.”Everyone worries, and I worry for them,” Ma said of potential deportations under Trump.He helps new immigrants consult lawyers as they navigate asylum-seeking. Many are still awaiting court decisions on their applications.”I tell them not to be too afraid,” he said, citing America’s separation of judicial and political powers.Currently, some asylum seekers are allowed in, as they wait for their cases to be heard in court.- At a loss -Kurbanjan Barat, 41, a shelter resident who left Xinjiang for Turkey before fleeing for the United States, is holding out hope.”I don’t believe that Trump would deport Uyghur refugees who came to the United States seeking asylum,” he told AFP.Washington has accused Beijing of genocide against Uyghurs and other minority groups in Xinjiang.He added that he believes Washington “will not hand over human lives that have survived and escaped danger” to an oppressive regime.But Yang Qinxue, 36, worries Trump will act fast on immigration.He recounted entering the country by traveling through Europe to Mexico, before crossing the border with his family.”Trump might prioritize policies of dealing with illegal immigrants,” he said, noting this affects public sentiment.Yang, who said he faced pressure in China for being critical of authorities online, added that he would be at a loss if forced to leave the United States.”I’ll try my best to learn from locals humbly,” he said.”New York’s open and inclusive stance does make me feel more secure.”