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Tech world executives showered Donald Trump with praise Thursday during a rare dinner that saw the US president host some of the most important players in AI at the White House.”This is quite a group to get together,” said Meta chief and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, who was seated at Trump’s right side.At the table were heads of major tech companies including Google-parent Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft and artificial intelligence star OpenAI.Some of those at the dinner had attended Trump’s inauguration, signalling they were ready to fall in line with the 79-year-old president’s world view — or at least seek to avoid his ire.Notably absent from the dinner was multi-billionaire tech tycoon Elon Musk, a former Trump ally who had a spectacular falling out with the president.The chief of Tesla and SpaceX put out word in a post on his X social network that he had been invited to the dinner but couldn’t attend, sending someone to represent him.Companies at the dinner were making huge investments in US data centers and infrastructure to “power the next wave of innovation”, Zuckerberg said.Apple chief executive Tim Cook voiced thanks for Trump “setting the tone” for the companies to make major investments in US manufacturing.Trump recently threatened trade sanctions against countries that apply regulations to US tech companies, aiming particularly at the European Union.”Thank you for being such a pro-business, pro-innovation president,” said OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman.”It’s a refreshing change.”  Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, seated next to First Lady Melania Trump, was less effusive, calling for artificial intelligence to be used to promote international development.”It’s great we all get together and talk about how the United States could lead in this key area and apply it even to the poorest outside the US, as well as to our great citizens,” said the Microsoft legend turned philanthropist.Gates cited Operation Warp Speed, Trump’s first term initiative which saw the rapid development of Covid-19 vaccines, as an example of America’s capacity for innovation.Since taking office in January, Trump has cut international aid and ended investments in the kinds of vaccines deployed during the Covid-19 pandemic.Silicon Valley leaders who did not support Trump during his first term in office changed course with his return to office.Many have visited the White House to promise heavy investment in the United States, and some have been quick to follow the US president’s lead in ending diversity promotion programs and initiatives to combat online misinformation.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday threw his support behind his controversial health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., after he was grilled in Congress over decisions to fire scientists and overhaul the nation’s vaccine policies.”He’s a very good person, and he means very well, and he’s got some little different ideas,” Trump said at a White House dinner with tech industry executives.The three-hour grilling, which often erupted into shouting matches, came a week after the Trump administration’s ousting of Sue Monarez, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which plunged the nation’s premier public health agency into turmoil.In his opening remarks, Kennedy tore into the CDC’s actions during the Covid pandemic, accusing it of failing “miserably” with “disastrous and nonsensical” policies including masking guidance, social distancing and school closures. “We need bold, competent and creative new leadership at CDC, people able and willing to chart a new course,” he said, touting the health department’s new focus on chronic disease.Monarez, the CDC director whom Kennedy previously endorsed, accused the secretary of a “deliberate effort to weaken America’s public-health system and vaccine protections” in a Wall Street Journal op-ed Thursday.Kennedy’s explanation for her firing — as he told senators during the hearing — was simply: “I asked her, ‘Are you a trustworthy person?’ And she said, ‘No.'””Secretary Kennedy’s claims are false, and at times, patently ridiculous,” Monarez’s lawyers said in a statement sent to AFP, adding she would be willing to testify under oath.- Bitter exchanges -Once a respected environmental lawyer, Kennedy emerged in the mid-2000s as a leading anti-vaccine activist, spending two decades spreading voluminous misinformation before being tapped by President Donald Trump as health secretary.Since taking office, Kennedy has restricted who can receive Covid-19 shots, cut off federal research grants for the mRNA technology credited with saving millions of lives, and announced new research on debunked claims about autism.Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee leading the hearing, set the tone by demanding Kennedy be sworn in under oath — accusing him of lying in prior testimony when he pledged not to limit vaccine access. The demand was later shot down.”It is in the country’s best interest that Robert Kennedy step down, and if he doesn’t, Donald Trump should fire him before more people are hurt,” Wyden thundered. Trump, however, stood by Kennedy, saying at a White House event Thursday evening that he “did very well today, but it’s not your standard talk… I like the fact that he’s different.”During the heated hearing, Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell branded Kennedy a “charlatan” over his attacks on mRNA research, while Kennedy accused Senator Maggie Hassan of “crazy talk” and “making things up to scare people” when she said parents were already struggling to get Covid vaccines for their children.Vaccines have become a flashpoint in an ever-deepening partisan battle.Conservative-leaning Florida on Wednesday announced it would end all immunization requirements, including at schools, while a West Coast alliance of California, Washington and Oregon announced they would make their own vaccine recommendation body to counter Kennedy’s influence at the national level.- Republican dissent -Republicans mostly closed ranks around Kennedy, though there was some notable dissent. Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician whose support was key to Kennedy’s confirmation, criticized his cancellation of mRNA grants. He was joined by fellow Republican doctor Senator John Barrasso and Senator Thom Tillis.Cassidy pressed Kennedy on whether President Trump deserved a Nobel Prize for Operation Warp Speed, the program that sped Covid vaccines to market.Kennedy agreed Trump should have received the prize — but in nearly the same breath, praised hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, drugs championed by conspiracy theorists that have been proven ineffective against Covid-19.

US President Donald Trump said Thursday the United States will soon put a “fairly substantial tariff” on semiconductors coming into the country, after previously threatening a 100-percent levy on the chips.”We will be putting a tariff very shortly,” Trump said at a White House dinner with tech industry executives.”Not that high, but fairly substantial tariff.”He did not give a timetable or details for the new levy, which he has repeatedly threatened in the past, to be enacted.Trump in early August sparked volatility in Asian chipmaker shares with talk of a 100-percent tariff on semiconductors from firms that do not invest in the United States.”We’ll be putting a tariff of approximately 100 percent on chips and semiconductors, but if you’re building in the United States…there’s no charge,” Trump said at the time.The United States and China are locked in a high-stakes race to develop the high-end semiconductors used to power artificial intelligence systems.Arisa Liu, senior semiconductor researcher at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research, said in August that a heavy US chip tariff would impact the “strategic direction of global semiconductor companies.”Trump’s latest tariff talk comes on the heels of the president saying he will seek a swift ruling from the Supreme Court as his administration pushes to overturn a court decision that found many of his tariffs illegal.The appellate court however only considered the legality of his most sweeping tariffs and not sector-specific levies — such as those on steel and, potentially, semiconductors — which are viewed as on firmer legal footing.

More than two dozen countries have pledged to join a force to deploy in Ukraine after any eventual peace deal with Russia, aiming to deter Moscow from again attacking its neighbour, leaders announced Thursday.A “reassurance force” for Ukraine is a key pillar of the security guarantees a coalition of mainly European countries want to offer to Ukraine if the war ends via a peace deal or a ceasefire.However there is also growing concern that Russian President Vladimir Putin is now showing no interest in a peace accord, with alarm intensifying after his high-profile visit to Beijing this week.And the extent of any US involvement in any eventual security backstop remains uncertain, even after European leaders spoke to President Donald Trump via video conference following the summit in Paris of the so-called “coalition of the willing”.It was hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and attended by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, while others, like UK premier Keir Starmer, participated remotely.The meeting represented a new push led by Macron to show that Europe can act independently of Washington after Trump upended US foreign policy and launched direct talks with Putin after returning to the White House.The United States was represented by Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, who also met with Zelensky separately.- ‘First concrete step’ -Europe has been under pressure to step up its response over three and a half years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.”We have today 26 countries who have formally committed — some others have not yet taken a position — to deploy as a ‘reassurance force’ troops in Ukraine, or be present on the ground, in the sea, or in the air,” Macron told reporters, standing alongside Zelensky.Zelensky hailed the move. “I think that today, for the first time in a long time, this is the first such serious concrete step,” he said.The troops would not be deployed “on the front line” but aim to “prevent any new major aggression”, the French president said.Macron added that another major pillar was a “regeneration” of the Ukrainian army so that it can “not just resist a new attack but dissuade Russia from a new aggression”.Macron said the United States was being “very clear” about its willingness to participate in security guarantees for Ukraine.However, the American contribution remains unclear.There are also divisions within the coalition, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urging more pressure but remaining cautious about the scope of involvement.”Germany will decide on military involvement at the appropriate time once the framework conditions have been clarified,” a German government spokesman said after the summit.Taking a similar line, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reiterated that Italy will not send troops to Ukraine, but it could help monitor any potential peace deal, her office said.Before the Paris talks, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow would not agree to the deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine “in any format”.- ‘Play for time’ -Frustration has been building in the West over what leaders say is Putin’s unwillingness to strike a deal to end the conflict.Zelensky said the call with Trump discussed sanctions on Russia and protecting Ukraine’s airspace. “We discussed different options, and the most important is using strong measures, particularly economic ones, to force an end to the war,” Zelensky said on social media.The White House said it urged European countries to stop purchasing Russian oil “that is funding the war”.A Russian rocket attack Thursday on northern Ukraine killed two people from the Danish Refugee Council who were clearing mines in an area previously occupied by Moscow’s forces, the local Ukrainian governor said.Macron warned that if Russia continued refusing a peace deal, then “additional sanctions” would be agreed in coordination with the United States.He accused Russia of “doing nothing other than try to play for time” and intensifying attacks against civilians.The gathering followed Putin’s high-profile trips to China and the United States, where he met with Trump in Alaska last month.Speaking Wednesday in Beijing, where he attended a massive military parade alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping, Putin hailed his forces’ progress in Ukraine, adding that Russian troops were advancing on “all fronts”.fff-vl-cad-as-sjw/rlp/gv/dc

A US appeals court ruled on Thursday that a Florida migrant detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz” can remain open for now.A lower court judge had barred the Trump administration and Florida officials last month from bringing any new migrants to the facility and for much of the site to be dismantled, effectively shutting it down.But a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday that the detention center can remain open while a Trump administration appeal of the shutdown order is being heard.Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit arguing that the facility threatens the sensitive Everglades wetlands ecosystem and was hastily built without the legally required environmental impact studies.The center was assembled in just eight days in June with bunk beds, wire cages and large white tents at an abandoned airfield in the Everglades, home to a large population of alligators. Republican President Donald Trump, who has vowed to deport millions of undocumented migrants, visited the detention site after its opening, boasting about the harsh conditions and joking that the reptilian predators will serve as guards.The White House has nicknamed the facility “Alligator Alcatraz,” a reference to the former island prison in San Francisco Bay that Trump has said he wants to reopen.The center was planned to hold 3,000 undocumented migrants, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.A district judge last month ordered a halt to further construction at the detention center and for it to be dismantled in 60 days.Several detainees have spoken with AFP about the conditions at the center, including a lack of medical care, mistreatment and the alleged violation of their legal rights.

Donald Trump’s pick to join the Federal Reserve’s board of governors said Thursday that he plans to take a leave of absence from his White House job while at the US central bank — but vowed to uphold its independence.Stephen Miran, who chairs the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), said the reason for this unusual arrangement is because he is filling a short-term vacancy.”I have received advice from counsel that what is required is an unpaid leave of absence” from the CEA, Miran told the Senate Banking Committee at his confirmation hearing.”Considering the term for which I’m being nominated is a little bit more than four months, that is what I will be taking.”When pressed, he added: “If I am nominated and confirmed for a longer term than just a handful of months, I would absolutely resign.”Trump had nominated Miran to the Fed’s board to finish out the term of Adriana Kugler, an appointee of former president Joe Biden who recently stepped down.But Miran’s hearing comes as the bank faces growing pressure from Trump to slash interest rates, and Miran fielded pointed questions on his independence.The speed at which Miran is appointed will be important, given that he could take up the Fed role by the time the bank’s rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) holds its next meeting from September 16-17.Critics accuse Trump of seeking to tip the Fed’s board in favor of lowering interest rates.”How can Miran be independent while he is still employed directly as the president’s chief economist?” warned Aaron Klein, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. – Fed independence ‘critical’ -Miran sought to reassure lawmakers Thursday, saying that the FOMC “is an independent group with a monumental task, and I intend to preserve that independence.”He added that the most important job of the central bank is to prevent depressions and hyperinflation.”Independence of monetary policy is a critical element for its success,” he said.Trump has blamed current interest rates for the sluggish housing market, citing benign inflation data too in calling for cuts — which tend to boost the economy.But Fed policymakers are wary that slashing rates too quickly could risk higher inflation, and are monitoring the effects of tariffs on prices.Senator Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the banking committee, charged Thursday that Trump has launched an “all-out assault” on the Fed’s independence. She challenged Miran to prove his independence from Trump.Minnesota Senator Tina Smith argued that the president “wants loyalists on the Fed board.”Oxford Economics chief US economist Ryan Sweet told AFP this could be a “long tryout” for Trump to decide if he will nominate Miran again once the temporary term ends in January.”One person isn’t necessarily going to move the needle too much” when it comes to policy or independence, Sweet said.- ‘Pandora’s box’ -The seven members of the Fed’s powerful board of governors sit on the central bank’s 12-member FOMC, voting on interest rate decisions.The personnel shift came, however, as the Fed faced intensifying calls from the president to cut rates significantly. Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Fed Chair Jerome Powell for not doing so.The president also moved to fire another Fed governor, Lisa Cook, citing allegations of mortgage fraud.Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the Fed’s board, is fighting to stay in her role. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into her.”If Trump is able to fire her, and courts uphold it, that opens Pandora’s box,” Sweet said. “That’s when I think markets will start to react, (to the idea that) the Fed is potentially going to get politicized.”

US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended his decisions to fire scientists and overhaul the nation’s vaccine policies Thursday as he came under blistering fire from Democrats urging him to resign during a Senate hearing. The three-hour grilling, which often erupted into shouting matches, came a week after the Trump administration’s ousting of Sue Monarez, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which plunged the nation’s premier public health agency into turmoil.In his opening remarks, Kennedy tore into the CDC’s actions during the Covid pandemic, accusing it of failing “miserably” with “disastrous and nonsensical” policies including masking guidance, social distancing and school closures. “We need bold, competent and creative new leadership at CDC, people able and willing to chart a new course,” he said, touting the health department’s new focus on chronic disease.Monarez, the CDC director whom Kennedy previously endorsed, accused the secretary of a “deliberate effort to weaken America’s public-health system and vaccine protections” in a Wall Street Journal op-ed Thursday.Kennedy’s explanation for her firing — as he told senators during the hearing — was simply: “I asked her, ‘Are you a trustworthy person?’ And she said, ‘No.'””Secretary Kennedy’s claims are false, and at times, patently ridiculous,” Monarez’s lawyers said in a statement sent to AFP, adding she would be willing to testify under oath.- Bitter exchanges -Once a respected environmental lawyer, Kennedy emerged in the mid-2000s as a leading anti-vaccine activist, spending two decades spreading voluminous misinformation before being tapped by President Donald Trump as health secretary.Since taking office, Kennedy has restricted who can receive Covid-19 shots, cut off federal research grants for the mRNA technology credited with saving millions of lives, and announced new research on debunked claims linking to autism.Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee leading the hearing, set the tone by demanding Kennedy be sworn in under oath — accusing him of lying in prior testimony when he pledged not to limit vaccine access.”It is in the country’s best interest that Robert Kennedy step down, and if he doesn’t, Donald Trump should fire him before more people are hurt,” Wyden thundered. But Republican committee chairman Mike Crapo shot down the request.The exchanges only grew more ill-tempered. Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell branded Kennedy a “charlatan” over his attacks on mRNA research, while Kennedy accused Senator Maggie Hassan of “crazy talk” and “making things up to scare people” when she said parents were already struggling to get Covid vaccines for their children.Vaccines have become a flashpoint in an ever-deepening partisan battle.Conservative-leaning Florida on Wednesday announced it would end all immunization requirements, including at schools, while a West Coast alliance of California, Washington and Oregon announced they would make their own vaccine recommendation body to counter Kennedy’s influence at the national level.- Republican dissent -Republicans mostly closed ranks around Kennedy, though there was some notable dissent. Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician whose support was key to Kennedy’s confirmation, criticized his cancellation of mRNA grants. He was joined by fellow Republican doctor Senator John Barrasso and Senator Thom Tillis.Cassidy pressed Kennedy on whether President Trump deserved a Nobel Prize for Operation Warp Speed, the program that sped Covid vaccines to market.Kennedy agreed Trump should have received the prize — but in nearly the same breath, praised hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, drugs championed by conspiracy theorists that have been proven ineffective against Covid-19.

With an ill-disciplined military and an outdated arsenal, Venezuela would be at a serious disadvantage in the event of an American invasion, experts say.President Nicolas Maduro has declared his country prepared for “a period of armed struggle in defense of the national territory” in the eventuality — widely deemed unlikely — of a US attack.But defeating the world’s mightiest military would be an “impossible” endeavor, said a retired Venezuelan general who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity amid rising tension caused by a US deployment of warships in the south Caribbean.The economicaly troubled South American country has a ragtag collection of Russian fighter jets, Iranian drones, old French tanks and a German submarine, as well as an estimated 340,000-odd men and women in arms.Venezuela possesses 15 F16 fighter jets purchased from the United States in the 1980s, 173 French AMX-13 tanks, 78 British tanks, and a Sabalo submarine acquired from Germany in 1973. It has one operational Italian frigate; nine coastal patrol vessels, 25 armed speedboats and three landing vessels for 12 tanks and 200 personnel.In the 2000s, the country used the windfall from an oil boom to spend billions on its military under Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez.From Russia, it acquired 23 fighter jets, eight helicopters, 12 anti-aircraft missiles and 44 surface-to-air missile systems between 2006 and 2011 for a $11 billion price tag, according to Evan Ellis of the US Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute.More recently, under Western sanctions since 2017, Caracas also bought eight Iranian Mohajer drones.”The problem is that if they are not coordinated, those military systems are useless,” said the general, who held several high-ranking positions during his career.”The Armed Forces do not train collectively to use all these land, air, and sea elements. Coordinating that without prior exercises, complicates the command of a complex operation.”The general also highlighted high levels of desertion and low recruitment rates.”Morale is far below what is expected for a conflict” situation, he said.- ‘Without due process’ -Maduro claims Venezuela has more than eight million militia members and reservists — equivalent to about a third of the population.Analysts say the figure is unrealistic.The International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) estimates the force at 123,000 soldiers, 220,000 militia — a civilian arm of the military — and 8,000 reservists. The economic collapse that saw an 80 percent drop in Venezuela’s GDP under Maduro, who took over from Chavez in 2013, also hit the military even though it is one of Maduro’s main sources of support. Military spending dropped to $3.9 billion dollars in 2023, according to the International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), from a record $6.2 billion in 2013. Venezuela has petitioned the United Nations to intervene in what it has called a US threat to the country.On Wednesday, Caracas said the United States had “murdered 11 people without due process” after President Donald Trump announced US forces had killed “narcoterrorists” in a strike on a boat transporting drugs.Analysts have told AFP the US Caribbean deployment, which it labeled an anti-drug operation, was likely a show of force to put pressure on Maduro, whom it accuses of leading a drug cartel and whose last two reelections it does not recognize.Maduro fears he is the target of a regime change maneuver, but the International Crisis Group said in a report this week that “the task force dispatched to the vicinity of Venezuela is a fraction of what would be required for a full-scale intervention.”

The US government on Thursday filed multi-million dollar lawsuits against a major power company over wildfires in Southern California, including one of the huge blazes that tore through the Los Angeles area in January.The Department of Justice said it had no doubt that Southern California Edison was to blame for the Eaton Fire, which laid waste to Altadena, killing 19 people and destroying thousands of homes.”The lawsuits filed today allege a troubling pattern of negligence resulting in death, destruction, and tens of millions of federal taxpayer dollars spent to clean up one utility company’s mistakes,” said Acting United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “We hope that today’s filings are the first step in causing the beginnings of a culture change at Southern California Edison, one that will make it a responsible, conscientious company that helps -– not harms –- our community. “Hardworking Californians should not pick up the tab for Edison’s negligence.”The Eaton Fire was one of two blazes that ripped through greater Los Angeles in January, fanned by powerful winds.Firefighters battled for weeks from the ground and the air to tame the fires, which also hit the well-to-do area of Pacific Palisades.The fires, which together killed at least 31 people, left thousands of people homeless and created long-term health impacts for many more.Together, they are counted as one of the costliest natural disasters ever, anywhere in the world.In July Southern California Edison (SCE) said it would begin paying compensation to victims of the Eaton Fire, even before an official investigation concludes.For several months, the finger of blame has been pointing at an SCE powerline as the cause of the fire. Videos and witness accounts suggest that the equipment produced sparks that could have triggered the fast-moving conflagration.The company has previously admitted that it detected a fault on one of its transmission lines around that time.In a July filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, SCE reported it was “not aware of evidence pointing to another possible source of ignition.”The Justice Department said it would be seeking $40 million from SCE for the Eaton Fire, relating solely to costs to the federal government.A second lawsuit filed Thursday alleges sagging SCE power lines ignited the September 2022 Fairview Fire in San Bernardino County, east of Los Angeles.That blaze killed two people as it charred 14,000 acres (5,600 hectares) and destroyed dozens of buildings.”A majority of the fires in California are started by these utility companies that do not maintain the areas and the infrastructure around their transmission lines,” Essayli told reporters.”We want Edison to change the way it does business.”A spokesperson for SCE said the company would review the lawsuits and “respond through the appropriate legal channels.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday promised security aid to Ecuador and announced terrorist designations as he vowed to ramp up a regional fight against criminals following a US strike on a boat allegedly linked to Venezuela.Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, an emerging ally of US President Donald Trump, has deployed troops to combat violence that has transformed the country from one of Latin America’s safest to one of its most dangerous.Rubio, meeting with Noboa in the centuries-old palace in Quito’s old city, said the United States would provide nearly $20 million in security aid including six million in drones.He also said that the United States was designating two gangs, Los Lobos and Los Choneros, as foreign terrorist organizations — putting them directly into US crosshairs.Rubio told reporters that he was helping Ecuador to “wage war against these vicious animals, these terrorists.”Speaking of Trump’s push against criminal groups, Rubio said, “This administration is confronting it like it’s never been confronted before.” At a joint press conference, Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld said that Ecuador wants to see the Americas region free of “threats from transnational organized crime groups and terrorist groups that want to subjugate our citizens.”The visit comes two days after US forces said they blew up an alleged drug-running boat from a gang tied to Venezuela’s leftist leader Nicolas Maduro, in an operation Trump said killed 11 people.AFP has not been able to verify independently the details of the attack presented by the United States.Venezuela’s Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello accused the United States of committing extrajudicial killings, saying “they murdered 11 people without due process.”Rubio on Thursday denounced Maduro, who was indicted in the United States, and again threatened more strikes.Maduro is a “fugitive of American justice,” Rubio said.”We are not just going to hunt for drug dealers with the little fast boats.”- The next Bukele? -Sommerfeld promised to keep up assistance in one of Trump’s top priorities — curbing migration.”Ecuador is going to support the United States. It’s symbolic, and it’s important for our partner, and we’re going to do it in a coordinated way,” she said.The Trump administration has sounded out Ecuador, which has stepped up cooperation to curb migration, as a new destination to ship people from other countries — part of a mass deportation drive.Rubio said that the United States would also aim within “a couple of weeks” to seal an economic agreement with Ecuador.In Noboa, a businessman who has consolidated power since his surprise 2023 victory, Rubio could find a new ally in his campaign to strengthen security-minded right-wing leaders across Latin America.The 37-year-old president was also born in Miami — the hometown of Rubio, a Cuban-American and vociferous critic of Latin America’s leftists.Noboa could follow in the steps of El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, another young US-educated president, whose iron-fisted clampdown on crime has drawn complaints from rights groups but made him popular at home and a darling of the Trump administration.- Invitation to US forces -Located between Colombia and Peru, the world’s largest producers of cocaine, Ecuador is the departure point for 70 percent of the world’s supply of the drug, nearly half of which goes to the United States, according to official data.  For years, the United States operated a military base at the Pacific port of Manta, and the Drug Enforcement Administration had a sizeable footprint in the country. The base was closed in 2009, after leftist then-president Rafael Correa refused to renew the lease. Noboa has taken steps to amend Ecuador’s constitution to allow a return of US forces.”If they invite us to return, we will consider it very seriously,” Rubio said.Ecuador also has to balance its warmth with Trump with its relationship with China, to which it owes billions of dollars after an infrastructure agreement.