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Recent exemptions to sweeping US import tariffs may be short-lived, top officials warned Sunday, as China urged the Trump administration to simply abandon its aggressive trade tax policy altogether.The world’s two largest economies have been locked in a fast-moving, high-stakes game of brinkmanship since US President Donald Trump launched a global tariff assault that particularly targeted Chinese imports.Tit-for-tat exchanges have seen US levies imposed on China rise to 145 percent, and Beijing setting a retaliatory 125 percent band on American imports.The US side appeared to dial down the pressure slightly on Friday, listing tariff exemptions for smartphones, laptops, semiconductors and other electronic products for which China is a major source.But Beijing’s Commerce Ministry said the move only “represents a small step” and insisted that the Trump administration should “completely cancel” the whole tariff strategy.The new exemptions will benefit US tech companies like Nvidia and Dell as well as Apple, which makes iPhones and other premium products in China.- Short-lived relief? -The relief could, however, be short-lived with some of the exempted consumer electronics targeted for upcoming sector-specific tariffs on goods deemed key to US national defense networks.Trump has said he will give “very specific” details on Monday, and his commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, said semiconductor tariffs would likely be in place “in a month or two.”The US president sent financial markets into a tailspin earlier this month by announcing sweeping import taxes on dozens of trade partners, only to abruptly announce a 90-day pause for most of them.China was excluded from the reprieve.The White House says Trump remains optimistic about securing a deal with China, although administration officials have made it clear they expect Beijing to reach out first.Trump’s trade representative Jamieson Greer told CBS “Face the Nation” on Sunday that “we don’t have any plans” for a talk between the president and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.- China looks elsewhere -China has sought to present itself as a stable alternative to an erratic Washington, courting countries spooked by the global economic storm.Xi on Monday kicks off a five-day Southeast Asia tour for talks with the leaders of Vietnam, a manufacturing powerhouse, as well as Malaysia and Cambodia.The fallout from Trump’s tariffs — and subsequent whiplash policy reversals — has sent particular shockwaves through the US economy, with investors dumping government bonds, the dollar tumbling and consumer confidence plunging.Adding to the pressure on Trump, Wall Street billionaires — including a number of his own supporters — have openly criticized the whole tariff strategy as damaging and counterproductive.The White House insists the aggressive policy is bearing fruit, saying dozens of countries have already opened trade negotiations to secure a deal before the 90-day pause ends.”We’re working around the clock, day and night, sharing paper, receiving offers and giving feedback to these countries,” Greer told CBS.

US police said Sunday they were investigating an alleged arson attack at the official residence of Democratic heavyweight and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. Shapiro, who was tipped as a vice presidential candidate last year, was inside with his family when the fire broke out in a different part of the Georgian-style mansion in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, state police said.”While the fire was successfully extinguished, it caused a significant amount of damage to a portion of the residence,” the force said in a statement. It offered a reward of up to $10,000 for the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for the blaze, which fire officials responded to at around 2:00 am local time (0600 GMT) Sunday morning.Shapiro wrote on X that he and his family awoke to “bangs on the door” from state police and were evacuated from the building. “Thank God no one was injured and the fire was extinguished,” he said. The 51-year-old was a favorite to be Democrat Kamala Harris’s running mate in her ultimately unsuccessful US presidential bid — a position that instead went to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.Shapiro, an assertive political centrist, was elected governor of Pennsylvania in 2022 when he faced off against a far-right candidate backed by President Donald Trump. 

Donald Trump is in “excellent health,” a White House doctor’s assessment said Sunday, after he underwent his first annual medical checkup since returning to the US presidency.Republican Trump, 78, has repeatedly boasted about his own vigor since starting a second term, while mocking his 82-year-old Democratic predecessor Joe Biden as decrepit and mentally unfit for office.”President Trump exhibits excellent cognitive and physical health and is fully fit to execute the duties of the Commander-in-Chief and Head of State,” read a physician’s letter shared by the White House.It noted a few abnormalities that included minor sun damage to Trump’s skin, as well as scarring on his right ear from a gunshot wound suffered in an assassination attempt last July.A colonoscopy revealed last year that Trump had diverticulosis — small pouches in the colon — and a benign polyp, the report said, adding that a follow-up exam was recommended in three years.It said Trump is taking four medications: two for cholesterol control, aspirin for cardiac prevention, and a steroid skin cream.The report overall was complimentary of Trump’s health, praising his “active lifestyle” and citing his “frequent victories in golf events” — a common boast of the billionaire who also abstains from alcohol and cigarettes.He is known, however, to indulge in fast food and famously enjoys well-done steaks — although he appears noticeably thinner than during his first term.The latest report put his current weight at 224 pounds (101.6 kilograms), down from 243 in 2019.Trump had said Friday he felt “in very good shape” after his exam earlier that day at the Walter Reed military hospital in the Washington suburbs.”I took a cognitive test. I don’t know what to tell you other than I got every answer right,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One.- Outlandish health claims -Trump has been accused of a lack of openness about his health despite huge interest in the well-being of America’s commander-in-chief.The White House said previously that presidential physician Sean Barbabella would give a readout of the physical and that “of course” it would provide the full report.But Trump’s personal and White House doctors have at times made outlandish claims about his health.In 2015, during Trump’s first presidential run, his doctor Harold Bornstein released a letter saying the tycoon “unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”Bornstein later told CNN that Trump himself “dictated that whole letter. I didn’t write that letter.”The White House doctor in his first term, Ronny Jackson, said in 2018 that with a healthier diet Trump could “live to be 200 years old.”Jackson’s report then suggested Trump should aim to lose 10 to 15 pounds but said he was generally in “excellent health,” adding that there were no signs of “any cognitive issues.”A year later, an exam found the 6-foot-3 (1.9 meter) Trump weighed 243 pounds, up seven pounds since shortly before taking office, making him technically obese.Age became a major issue in the 2024 election, when Trump and Biden faced off as the oldest major party candidates in US history.Biden was forced to drop out of the race after a stumbling performance in a TV debate against Trump in June that put concerns over his cognitive health to the top of the agenda.

A Russian missile strike on Sunday in the city centre of Ukraine’s city of Sumy killed at least 32 people, Kyiv said, with European and US officials condemning the attack — one of the deadliest in months. Kyiv said Moscow hit the northeastern city, close to the Russian border, with two ballistic missiles on Sunday morning and that the attack also wounded nearly 100 people. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, responding to what he described as a ballistic missile attack on Palm Sunday, said: “Only bastards do this.”US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, retired lieutenant general Keith Kellogg, said the attack by Russian forces on civilian targets  “crosses any line of decency”.”As a former military leader, I understand targeting and this is wrong,” Kellogg posted on X, formerly Twitter.The strike came two days after US envoy Steve Witkoff travelled to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin and push Trump’s efforts to end the war. The local emergency service said 32 people died, “including two children”. It updated the wounded toll to 99 people, including 11 children.  An AFP reporter saw bodies covered in silver sheets strewn in the centre of the city, with a destroyed trolleybus. Rescuers were seen working on the rubble of a building. One woman told AFP she heard two explosions. – ‘A lot of corpses’ -“This second blow… A lot of people were very badly injured. A lot of corpses,” she said, struggling to speak.  It was the second Russian attack with a large civilian death toll this month. Trump has previously voiced anger at Moscow for “bombing like crazy” in Ukraine. Zelensky called on the United States and Europe to give a “strong response” to Russia, adding: “Talking has never stopped ballistic missiles and bombs.”French leader Emmanuel Macron said the strike showed Russia’s “blatant disregard for human lives, international law and the diplomatic efforts of President Trump”.British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “appalled” by the attack. He urged Putin to “now agree to a full and immediate ceasefire without conditions”.Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, also on X, called the strike “The Russian version of a ceasefire. Bloody Palm Sunday.” His Swedish counterpart Ulf Kristersson called it a “horrific attack” that was “not the act of a country that seeks peace”.Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni slammed the  “horrible and cowardly Russian attack”.The EU responded strongly, too, with Hadja Lahbib, the European commissioner for crisis management, calling the strike “vile”, while European Council President Antonio Costa condemned it as a “criminal attack”.- Relentless Russian offensive -Russia did not immediately comment on the strike. Moscow has refused a US-proposed unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine. Local authorities in Sumy published footage of bodies strewn on the street and people running for safety, with cars on fire and wounded civilians on the ground. Russia has relentlessly attacked Ukraine in recent weeks, extending the violence wrought by its all-out invasion that has gone on for more than three years.In early April, a Russian attack on the central city of Kryvyi Rig killed 18 people, including nine children. Sumy has been under increasing pressure since Moscow pushed back many of Ukraine’s troops from its Kursk region inside Russia, across the border.  The eastern Ukrainian city so far has been spared the kind of fighting seen farther south, in the Donetsk region. But Kyiv for weeks has warned that Moscow could mount an offensive on Sumy.   Russia launched its invasion partially through the Sumy region and briefly occupied parts of it before being pushed back by Ukrainian forces. On Sunday, Russia said it captured another village in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region. 

China on Sunday called on the United States to “completely cancel” its reciprocal tariffs after Washington announced exemptions for consumer electronics and key chipmaking equipment.”We urge the US to… take a big step to correct its mistakes, completely cancel the wrong practice of ‘reciprocal tariffs’ and return to the right path of mutual respect,” a commerce ministry spokesperson said in a statement.The world’s two largest economies have been engaged in a tit-for-tat tariff war since US President Donald Trump announced this month sweeping global tariffs — since escalating the blanket duty on Chinese goods to 145 percent.Retaliatory Chinese import tariffs of 125 percent on US goods took effect Saturday, with Beijing standing defiant against its biggest trade partner.But after his tariffs sent global markets into a tailspin, Trump announced a 90-day delay for most countries.China was excluded from the reprieve.Washington again dialled down the pressure Friday when the US Customs and Border Protection office said smartphones, laptops, memory chips and other products would be excluded from the global levies.Beijing’s commerce ministry on Sunday called the exemptions a “small step” by Washington and said that China was “evaluating the impact” of the decision.The new exemptions will benefit US tech companies like Nvidia and Dell, as well as Apple, which makes iPhones and other premium products in China.US Customs data suggests the exempted items account for more than 20 percent of those Chinese imports, according to senior RAND researcher Gerard DiPippo.However, semiconductors could still become a target of industry-specific tariffs Trump has suggested placing on imports from all countries.Trump said Saturday that he would give a “very specific” answer to the question of any future semiconductor levies on Monday.-‘Jointly resist’-Facing steep tariffs, China has sought to present itself as a stable alternative to an erratic Washington, courting countries spooked by the global economic storm.Trump’s reciprocal tariffs have “not only failed to solve any of the United States’ own problems but have seriously undermined the global economic and trade order”, Beijing’s commerce ministry said in the statement Sunday.Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on Friday warned that tariffs would “inflict serious harm” on developing nations in a call with the head of the World Trade Organization.Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday kicks off a five-day Southeast Asia tour for talks with the leaders of Vietnam, a manufacturing powerhouse, as well as Malaysia and Cambodia.It comes after Xi said China and Europe should “jointly resist unilateral bullying practices,” state media quoted the leader as saying in a meeting with the Spanish prime minister.China has repeatedly said it remains open to talks with the United States.The White House says Trump remains “optimistic” about securing a deal with China, although administration officials have made it clear they expect Beijing to reach out first.

US senator Bernie Sanders became one of Coachella’s top cameos so far, drawing a massive crowd on Saturday as he made a pit stop at the premier music festival.Screaming fans sprinted over, camera phones in hand, to capture the politician’s unannounced speech that followed a blockbuster set from superstar Charli XCX at a neighboring stage.”I’m not gonna be long but this country faces some very difficult challenges and the future of what happens to America depends on your generation,” Sanders said to raucous cheers at the major California desert double weekend that marks the unofficial start of music festival season.”You can turn away and ignore what goes on but you do it at your own peril. We need you to stand up and fight for justice, to fight for economic justice, racial justice and social justice.”Earlier in the day Sanders and Democrat representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez held a rally that organizers said drew 36,000 people, a stop on their own “Fighting Oligarchy” tour that featured musicians including Neil Young, Maggie Rogers and Joan Baez.Speaking under a full moon at Coachella, Sanders urged crowds to stand up against billionaires, health insurance companies, and US President Donald Trump’s administration.”Now we’ve got a president of the United States,” Sanders began, before the crowd’s boos quickly drowned out Trump’s name.”I agree,” Sanders continued. “He thinks that climate change is a hoax. He is dangerously wrong, and you and I are going to have to stand up to the fossil fuel industry and tell them to stop destroying this planet.”- ‘Exactly the move’ -Sanders introduced pop singer Clairo to the stage, whom he thanked for using her platform to support social justice causes.”I’m here because Clairo has used her prominence to fight for women’s rights, to try to end the terrible, brutal war in Gaza, where thousands of women and children are being killed,” he said. “So I want to thank Clairo not only for being in a great band, but for the great work she is doing.”The message hit: “I love Bernie Sanders!” screamed one festival-goer as the self-described socialist senator who caucuses with Democrats concluded his speech.Samara Guillory, 21, was among the music fans who sprinted to the stage where Sanders spoke.”It meant so much that Senator Sanders came to our level,” Guillory told AFP. “We’re the new generation, we’re the future of America.””Coming here, talking to us, spreading awareness — I think this was exactly the move, honestly.”

Bernie Sanders is emerging as one of the most vocal opponents to US President Donald Trump, with the 83-year-old senator drawing tens of thousands of people to his “fighting oligarchy” rallies around the country.Supporters packed the Gloria Molina Grand Park in Los Angeles on Saturday as guests including politicians, union representatives and musical acts took to the stage before speeches by Sanders and Democrat representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.”There are some 36,000 of you, the largest rally that we have ever had,” Sanders told the cheering crowd.”Your presence here today is making Donald Trump and Elon Musk very nervous.”The self-described socialist, an independent who has never been a member of the Democratic Party, has been attracting crowds over the past two months on his nationwide “fighting oligarchy” tour.His progressive, leftist rhetoric has resonated with people opposed to Trump’s policies and with those disappointed in established Democrats’ lack of political resistance to Trump.Folk rock legend Neil Young led the LA crowd on Saturday in chanting “Take America Back!” while he played the electric guitar.Feminist singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers dubbed the event “Berniechella,” a nod to the massive Coachella music festival taking place in the Californian desert.Alex Powell, a 28-year-old art teacher in the audience, said Americans “need hope.””I’m really disappointed by the Democrats’ response, I want more action on their part, more outrage,” she told AFP.- ‘Traumatized’ -“Donald Trump’s new term is distressing, it’s really scary,” Powell said, describing how some of her middle school pupils were “traumatized” after one of their parents was deported from the United States under Trump’s anti-immigrant campaign.Sanders addressed a litany of grievances, including Trump’s massive cuts to government funding and threats to healthcare and research.Mentions of Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla and X, drew boos from the crowd.The South African billionaire has been tasked by Trump with dramatically reducing government spending, and is for many Sanders supporters a symbol of the corrupting influence of wealth in politics.Sanders was “right the whole time,” 27-year-old Vera Loh told AFP.”The collusion of money and politics has had terrible effects.”Loh, a housekeeper, said she was stunned by the apathy of many Democrat leaders since Trump’s defeat of presidential candidate Kamala Harris in November.”The party put too much focus on minorities,” Loh said.”If people don’t see it as a class war, then we just get lost with the identity politics.”She told AFP she wanted politicians to remember “we want higher pay, we want housing, we want to be able to afford things.”- ‘Authoritarian society’ -“We are living in a moment where a handful of billionaires control the economic and political life of our country,” Sanders said on Saturday.Trump is moving the United States “rapidly toward an authoritarian form of society,” he said.The senator from Vermont hopes to encourage new independents to run for office without the Democrat label, at a time when the party is at an all-time low in the polls.Sanders has no ambitions to run for president in 2028, but has taken rising progressive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez under his wing.”No matter your race, religion, gender, identity or status, no matter if you disagree with me on some things… I hope you see that this movement is not about partisan labels or purity tests, but it’s about class solidarity,” the 35-year-old congresswoman told the crowd on Saturday.”She would make a good presidential candidate,” Lesley Henderson, a former Republican supporter, told AFP.Depressed by the news since January, the 52-year-old nursing assistant was attending the first political rally of her life with her husband.”I just hope it’s not too late,” she said, alarmed by Trump’s talk about ruling an unconstitutional third term.”If no one’s standing up and saying anything now, what makes us think that there might even be midterms, or a next presidential election?”

The United States wants a nuclear agreement “as soon as possible”, Iran said after rare talks on Saturday, as US President Donald Trump threatens military action if they fail to reach a deal.The long-term adversaries, who have not had diplomatic relations for more than 40 years, are seeking a new nuclear deal after Trump pulled out of an earlier agreement during his first term in 2018.Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, a seasoned diplomat and key architect of the 2015 deal, and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff led the delegations in the highest-level Iran-US nuclear talks since the previous accord’s collapse.Araghchi, who briefly spoke face-to-face with Witkoff, a real estate magnate, during the otherwise indirect meeting in Oman, said the talks would resume next Saturday.”The American side also said that a positive agreement was one that can be reached as soon as possible but that will not be easy and will require a willingness on both sides,” Araghchi told Iranian state television.”I think we came very close to a basis for negotiation… Neither we nor the other party want fruitless negotiations, discussions for discussions’ sake, time wasting or talks that drag on forever,” he added.The White House called the discussions “very positive and constructive”.”Special Envoy Witkoff’s direct communication today was a step forward in achieving a mutually beneficial outcome,” it said in a statement.Asked about the talks, Trump told journalists aboard Air Force One: “I think they’re going OK. Nothing matters until you get it done.”Oman’s foreign minister acted as an intermediary in the talks in Muscat, Iran said. The Americans had called for the meetings to be face-to-face.However, the negotiators also spoke directly for “a few minutes”, Iran’s foreign ministry said. It said the talks were held “in a constructive and mutually respectful atmosphere”.The two parties were in “separate halls” and “conveying their views and positions to each other through the Omani foreign minister”, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei posted on X.The process took place in a “friendly atmosphere”, Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said.- Witkoff open to ‘compromise’ -Iran, weakened by Israel’s pummelling of its allies Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, is seeking relief from wide-ranging sanctions hobbling its economy.Tehran has agreed to the meetings despite baulking at Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign of ramping up sanctions and repeated military threats.Meanwhile the United States, hand-in-glove with Iran’s arch-enemy Israel, wants to stop Tehran from ever getting close to developing a nuclear bomb.There were no visible signs of the high-level meeting at a luxury hotel in Muscat, the same venue where the 2015 agreement was struck when Barack Obama was US president.Witkoff told The Wall Street Journal earlier that the US position starts with demanding that Iran completely dismantle its nuclear programme — a view held by hardliners around Trump that few expect Iran to accept.”That doesn’t mean, by the way, that at the margin we’re not going to find other ways to find compromise between the two countries,” Witkoff told the newspaper.”Where our red line will be, there can’t be weaponisation of your nuclear capability,” he added.The talks were revealed in a surprise announcement by Trump during a White House appearance with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.Hours before the talks began, Trump told reporters: “I want Iran to be a wonderful, great, happy country. But they can’t have a nuclear weapon.”Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s adviser Ali Shamkhani said Iran sought “a real and fair agreement”.Saturday’s meetings followed repeated threats of military action by both the United States and Israel.”If it requires military, we’re going to have military,” Trump said Wednesday when asked what would happen if the talks fail.- ‘Survival of the regime’ -The 2015 deal that Trump abandoned aimed to make it practically impossible for Iran to build an atomic weapon, while at the same time allowing it to pursue a civil nuclear programme.Iran, which insists its nuclear programme is only for civilian purposes, stepped up its activities after Trump withdrew from the agreement.The latest International Atomic Energy Agency report said Iran had an estimated 274.8 kilogrammes of uranium enriched to 60 percent, nearing the weapons grade of 90 percent.Karim Bitar, a Middle East Studies lecturer at Sciences Po university in Paris, said the Iranian government’s very survival could be at stake.”The one and only priority is the survival of the regime, and ideally, to get some oxygen, some sanctions relief, to get their economy going again, because the regime has become quite unpopular,” he told AFP.

The retrial of Harvey Weinstein, whose prosecution and conviction for rape and sex assault ignited the “MeToo” movement, kicks off in New York on Tuesday.The disgraced movie mogul’s 2017 conviction by a jury was overturned seven years later by an appeals court that ruled the way witnesses were handled in the original trial was unlawful.The voiding of the jury’s verdict by the New York Court of Appeals was a setback to the movement against sexual violence and the promotion of justice for survivors.Former Miramax studio boss Weinstein will be in the dock for the sexual assault of former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006, the rape of aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013, and a new count for an alleged sexual assault in 2006 at a hotel in Manhattan.The trial, expected to last up to six weeks in a Manhattan criminal court, begins Tuesday with jury selection, which could take five days, according to Judge Curtis Farber.Weinstein, 73, hopes the case will be judged with “fresh eyes,” more than seven years after investigations by the New York Times and the New Yorker led to his spectacular downfall and a global backlash against predatory abusers.Weinstein is serving a 16-year prison sentence after being convicted on separate rape charges in California in 2023 for raping and assaulting a European actor a decade prior.- ‘Seeking justice’ -The producer of a string of box office hits like “Sex, Lies and Videotape,” “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love,” Weinstein has appeared frail and gaunt at recent courtroom hearings ahead of the trial.”It’ll be very, very different because of the attitude of New York City, New York State and, I think, the overall country,” said his lawyer Arthur Aidala.”Five years ago, when you guys were here, there were protests. There were people chanting: ‘Fry Harvey, he’s a rapist’… I think that, overall, has died down,” he said, adding that he hoped jurors would try the case on its merits.Weinstein has never acknowledged any wrongdoing and has always maintained that the encounters were consensual.Accusers describe the movie mogul as a predator who used his perch atop the cinema industry to pressure actresses and assistants for sexual favors, often in hotel rooms.Since his downfall, Weinstein has been accused of harassment, sexual assault or rape by more than 80 women, including actors Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ashley Judd.In 2020, a jury of New Yorkers found Weinstein guilty of two out of five charges — the sexual assault of Mimi Haleyi and the rape of Jessica Mann.But the conviction and the 23-year prison sentence were overturned in April 2024.In a hotly debated four-to-three decision, New York’s appeals court ruled that jurors should not have heard testimonies of victims about sexual assaults for which Harvey Weinstein was not indicted.”It really reflects the challenges that survivors face in seeking justice for sexual assault,” said Laura Palumbo of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. The three survivors of Weinstein’s alleged crimes are expected to testify once again.

Kneecap, the hip hop trio whose irreverent Irish-language raps are a beating anti-colonialist cry with a growing worldwide fanbase, had heard Coachella crowds were full of dilettantes who didn’t dance.But the group debuted at the top music festival over the weekend to a packed, exuberant audience, some of whom sported Irish tricolor balaclavas as they headbanged, screamed and moshed along — whether they understood the Irish lyrics or not.Kneecap has enjoyed a blockbuster year following the release of their album “Fine Art” and their acclaimed semi-fictional eponymous biopic.Playing Coachella was yet another “milestone,” said DJ Provai, whose signature look includes the aforementioned balaclavas — even if it was ill-suited for California’s searing desert sun.”Our poor little pasty Irish skin, we’re not built for this,” Mo Chara said.While sipping aperol spritzes backstage the members of Kneecap joked to AFP they’re mere “small city boys.”But their electrifying set a couple hours later was living proof of the global chord they have struck.”We didn’t think that the movie would resonate with anybody outside of Ireland,” said Moglai Bap. “But actually, in reality, it was about an international story.””It’s an international story of languages being oppressed, because obviously the first protocol for colonialism is to eradicate the language and the culture,” echoed Chara.- ‘Voice to voiceless people’ -For Kneecap, rapping in Irish is an act of resistance: the language was long suppressed, and only became officially recognized in Northern Ireland in 2022.”The best thing you can do for your child in Ireland is to send them to an Irish school,” said Chara. “When you lose our language, you lose understanding of where you’re from.””We had 32 words for fields. It depends on where the sun rises, or if it was a deep field… you lose all that whenever we have these new monolingual societies.”The bandmates have said fans tell them their music — hip hop in the vein of Rage Against The Machine, infused with rock and electronic influences — has inspired newfound interest in learning or improving their Irish.That’s “a process of decolonization,” Bap said, replacing “shame” in language and identity with “confidence.””Everybody longs I think, deep down, for that sense of being grounded — of having an identity and being connected to something,” he added.For Kneecap, hip hop — the Black American art form that grew out of experiences of injustice and inequality — is a natural vehicle.”Storytelling is such a massive part of Irish culture,” Chara said. “It’s always passed down orally, same as any Indigenous language.”History, he continued, “is always written by the winner. That’s where hip hop stems from — it’s the story of the people who never got to tell their story.””It gives a voice to voiceless people,” added DJ Provai.- ‘Investing in a community’ -Kneecap has made a point of drawing parallels between their own experiences under a colonizing force to those elsewhere in the world, notably the plight of Palestinians.They have become one of music’s most strident voices on the war in Gaza.”We are from Belfast and Derry, Ireland which are still under British rule,” they told their Coachella audience, “but there’s a worse occupation happening now.””Free Palestine!” they said to roaring cheers.Speaking to AFP, the artists said they’ve watched the recent suppression of pro-Palestinian activism under Donald Trump’s White House with concern: “It’s obviously a pretty scary time for people here,” Chara said.And “it’s quite ironic for America, a place that preaches free speech,” Bap added.The members of Kneecap have been at the center of controversies including over their provocative, satirical lyrics as well as an arts grant that evolved into court proceedings revolving around allegations of anti-British sentiment.Kneecap won the case late last year — and of course, such high-profile wrangling has the ultimate effect of drawing attention to their cause. Part of their mission includes showing how language can have intrinsic worth beyond economic value, Bap said, adding that no one was learning Irish to widen their job prospects.Rapping in Irish “is not a good business, not on paper,” Chara laughed — although the raucous, raging crowds at Coachella might indicate otherwise.