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Lyle and Erik Menendez, who have spent more than three decades behind bars for the grisly shotgun murders of their parents in the family’s luxury Beverly Hills home, could soon walk free after a judge on Tuesday reduced their life sentences.The ruling came after an emotional court hearing in Los Angeles during which the men took full responsibility for the 1989 double killing.”I do believe they’ve done enough over the last 35 years that one day they should get that chance” to be freed, Judge Michael Jesic said.Jesic reduced the men’s original sentences of life without the possibility of parole to a term of 50 years to life. The time they have already spent behind bars means they are already eligible to apply for parole, with a hearing scheduled for next month.The pair have spent two years trying to get their sentences reduced, with a public campaign bolstered by celebrity support from the likes of Kim Kardashian and supercharged by the hit Netflix miniseries “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.”Blockbuster trials in the 1990s heard how the men killed Jose and Kitty Menendez in their Beverly Hills mansion, in what prosecutors said was a cynical attempt to get their hands on a large family fortune.After setting up alibis and trying to cover their tracks, the men shot Jose Menendez five times with shotguns, including in the kneecaps.Kitty Menendez died from a shotgun blast as she tried desperately to crawl away from her killers.The brothers initially blamed the deaths on a mafia hit, but changed their story several times in the ensuing months.Erik, then 18, confessed to the murders in a session with his therapist.The pair ultimately claimed they had acted in self-defense after years of emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of a tyrannical father.During their decades in prison, changing social mores and greater awareness of sexual abuse helped elevate the men to something approaching cultural icons, a status that was nourished by a parade of docudramas and TV miniseries. Legal hearings have been so popular that court managers used a lottery system for the public gallery.- ‘Full responsibility’ -On Tuesday, Lyle Menendez, now aged 57, addressed the court via videolink, admitting he had murdered his parents.”I take full responsibility for all my choices… the choice to point a gun at my mom and dad… the choice to reload… the choice to run and to hide and to do anything I could to get away,” he said, according to reporters who were in court.His brother, Erik, 54, told the court he had been wrong to take the law into his own hands and said his actions were cruel and cowardly.”I have no excuse, no justification. I take full responsibility,” he said. “I reached out to my brother for help and convinced him that we couldn’t escape. “I fired five rounds at my parents and went to get more ammunition. I lied to police, lied to my family. I am truly sorry.”The men’s family had earlier pleaded with the judge to show mercy, showcasing the work they have done in prison, including working with terminally ill inmates.Their cousin Anamaria Baralt told the hearing they were reformed and had earned their freedom.”We believe that 35 years is enough,” she said. “They are universally forgiven by our family. They deserve a second chance at life.”Diane Hernandez, niece of Kitty Menendez, said the brothers were “remarkable human beings.””There is absolutely no chance that they would break the law” if released, she said. “Their only desire is to do good.”Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman had opposed the resentencing, insisting that without a full accounting of the lies they had told — he said they gave five explanations for the murders — they should not be allowed out of prison.Under California law, if a parole board recommends the grant of parole for someone convicted of murder, Governor Gavin Newsom has the right to affirm, reverse or modify their decision.

From doctored photos of sex-fueled parties to a racy AI-generated song, a flood of misinformation surrounding music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs threatens to distort public perception of his closely watched New York trial.The larger-than-life rapper faces a slew of charges, including racketeering and sex trafficking, with his former partner Casandra “Cassie” Ventura telling jurors on Tuesday that Combs subjected her to “disgusting” group sex sessions.As allegations surfaced in court, a web of conspiracy theories swirled online — amplified by social media algorithms — threatening to shroud the facts surrounding the high-profile celebrity trial.”Nobody believes the earth is flat when they first hear it, but repeated exposure to conspiracy theories can make them start to ‘feel’ true,” Dan Evon, lead writer for RumorGuard, a site that helps debunk viral disinformation, told AFP.”In that sense, it is possible that a flood of falsehoods about the Combs trial could sway or reinforce public opinion,” he added.A song titled “I Lost Myself at a Diddy Party” and falsely attributed to Justin Bieber recently garnered millions of views across tech platforms, sparking a wave of conspiracy theories about the relationship between the two celebrities.An audio clip of the song, which features lyrics about Bieber losing his innocence after attending one of Combs’s parties, was likely created using an AI tool, according to the disinformation watchdog NewsGuard.Also gaining traction online was a manipulated image of Combs and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein sitting next to US President Donald Trump on a couch with young women.In another unfounded claim that went viral, the FBI seized a tape showing Hillary Clinton killing a child at one of Combs’s drug-fueled “freak-off” sex parties.NewsGuard reported that the voice of a supposed whistleblower who made the claim in a widely shared video was AI-generated.- ‘Perfect storm’ -The conspiracy theories lay bare the fragility of a misinformation-filled internet landscape, where views and virality are often mistaken as markers of accurate information.Rampant falsehoods have eroded online trust and turned many social media users into amateur sleuths. In recent months, content creators have pored over videos, photos, and interviews involving Combs and his celebrity associates in search of answers.”Conspiracy theories are as American as baseball and apple pie,” A.D. Carson, associate professor of hip-hop at the University of Virginia, told AFP.But, he said, they tend to merge into a “perfect storm” when a celebrity like Combs becomes the focus of round-the-clock media attention — especially in a criminal case involving sex, power, and politics.Widespread mistrust in the media and public institutions has fueled armies of internet sleuths, who operate on the principle that “there is no truth” and “there are powers that hide information or the real truth from us,” Carson said.”Often the misinformation is in response to what people perceive as misinformation,” he added.Many of these sleuths have drawn parallels between Combs’s case and that of other celebrities convicted of sexual misconduct, including Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and the late financier Epstein.- ‘Global cabal’ -“While there are credible allegations against Combs, conspiracy theories often push beyond the boundaries of what is factually known to allege an even wider and more sinister plot,” said Evon of RumorGuard.”The viral rumors surrounding Combs provide a sliver of proof for other high profile conspiracy theories: That there’s a global cabal involved in sex trafficking.”Diddy’s high profile and the nature of his alleged crimes provide another entry point into this conspiracy,” he added.Combs has pleaded not guilty on all counts, including the racketeering charge that the hip-hop pioneer led a sex crime ring that held drug-fueled sex parties by use of force, threats and violence.The whirlwind of misinformation could distract public attention from the real allegations facing Combs, and in the worst scenario, influence his trial, experts warned.”It’s impossible for people not to be influenced by all the conspiracy theories that are out there,” said Alphonse Provinziano, a family law attorney based in Beverly Hills who often works with celebrities.”This happens with every single high-profile trial,” he told AFP. “The question is: will the jurors follow the rules and not be influenced by that.”

President Donald Trump’s rollercoaster tariff row with Beijing has wreaked havoc on US companies that rely on Chinese manufacturing, with a temporary de-escalation only expected to partially calm the storm, analysts and business owners say.”The only option is to try to keep your head above water and be tossed by the waves, or to go out of business,” said Anna Barker, whose Mississippi-based firm Glo sells luminous toys designed in the United States and made in China.She told AFP that the 90-day reprieve beginning Wednesday is just a mere “blip on the radar.” Placing orders, manufacturing products and shipping them to the United States takes much longer.Trump’s escalating trade war since his return to office saw US duties on Chinese goods — including toys — reach a whopping 145 percent, while Beijing’s countermeasures hit 125 percent.The world’s two biggest economies however agreed at talks last weekend in Switzerland to temporarily lower the levies, bringing US tariffs down to 30 percent and China’s corresponding duties to 10 percent.While cautiously optimistic about the ongoing negotiations, Barker warned the 30 percent rate remains “massive for a small company.”Trump has argued that companies will enjoy zero tariffs if they manufacture in the United States, overlooking costs for any machinery or raw materials that would still need to be imported.”We’re an American company,” Barker said. “Our biggest priority, if it was just up to us, will always be the US market. But it simply can’t be right now.”To stay afloat, she is looking abroad for growth.- ‘Clogged pipeline’ -The pause “may temporarily help unstick” an effective trade embargo since April 9, when steep levies forced many firms to halt imports, said Steve Lamar, president of the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA).He warned, however, that the residual 30 percent tariff, stacking on duties from past administrations, will “make for an expensive back to school and holiday season.””The tariffs are still so large that you can’t help but pass them along,” said KPMG chief economist Diane Swonk.This means producers, retailers and consumers could all bear some burden, with small businesses hit particularly hard due to their narrower margins.Freight rates could also surge due to shipping disruptions from the tariffs.”There’s a lot of inventory piling up in factories in China that now need to hit the water,” said Josh Staph, chief executive of Ohio-based Duncan Toys Company.Barker said her company was hurrying to join an “already very clogged pipeline of people racing to shipping ports.”Policy shifts have “triggered both panic and paralysis” among companies, said Swonk.”Every time they see a window like what we have for 90 days now, they’ve got to rush,” she said. “In that rush, you have a self-fulfilling prophecy that shipping costs are going to go up.”- ‘Depressed investment’ -The AAFA’s Lamar has called for Trump to strike lasting deals with China and other countries to give businesses more long term certainty.Without a permanent tariff rollback, the United States will likely continue seeing “depressed investment,” said Philip Luck, economics program director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.”Firms remain in limbo as they try to plan long-term sourcing and investment decisions,” he added.For Barker’s start-up Glo, born of a school project in Mississippi where she and her business partner were college students, the answer for now may be expanding outside the United States.This means shipping Chinese-made products to countries in Europe or elsewhere, even as it remains based in the southern state with around 30 staff.”As contrary as it might seem,” Barker said, “by shifting our focus international, that is to maintain American jobs.”

Casandra Ventura says she was coerced into sex with male escorts while Sean Combs watched and masturbated. If she ignored his calls, his associates found her. If she didn’t comply with his demands, he beat her viciously.And on Tuesday, when she saw the pop singer known as “Diddy” in court, lawyers say it was for the first time in years.Heavily pregnant with her third child, Ventura, an artist widely known as “Cassie,” took the stand for marathon testimony against her ex as the star witness in the trial in which prosecutors have accused Combs of heading a criminal sex trafficking ring.Wearing a long, turtleneck brown dress, camel coat and heeled boots, Ventura told jurors she first met Combs when she was 19 years old, and signed a contract with his Bad Boy record label for a 10-album deal — only one of which ever got made.Despite a 17-year age difference, Combs kissed her on her 21st birthday, she says, after which she cried and “ran off.”But they would continue to meet to talk about her music career and the relationship eventually turned sexual, she told jurors as Combs, now 55, imprisoned and noticeably aged, watched on.”I wanted to be around Sean for the same reasons as everyone else at the time,” the 38-year-old testified. “He was just this exciting, entertaining, fun guy — that also happened to have, you know, my career in his hands.”In excruciating testimony Ventura detailed how she eventually fell in love with Combs but felt forced to engage in so-called “freak-offs”: sometimes days-long sex performances directed by the one-time billionaire in which Cassie was the star, and according to her, the object.”I was humiliated,” she told the court, her voice breaking with tears as her husband observed from the gallery. “I couldn’t talk to anybody about it.””I just felt like it was all I was good for to him.”Combs would direct her to take drugs before the sex that routinely involved male escorts, and she complied: “I was high so there wasn’t too much feeling,” she told jurors.Asked by prosecutors if she ever asked that the freak-offs stop, Ventura said she tried, but to no avail.”Sean is a really polarizing person, also really charming,” Ventura said. “It’s hard to be able to decide in that moment what you need when he’s telling you what he wants.”- ‘Humiliating’ – Defense attorneys indicated they intend to show that Ventura was acting as a free adult engaging in what they’ve cast as unconventional, but consensual, sexual activity.But Ventura described highly orchestrated performances at the behest of Combs, who she said demanded rooms be stocked with baby oil and lubricant and mood lighting.He insisted Ventura dress in sheer outfits and platform heels purchased at sex shops, she said.At one point, he instructed she get in an inflatable pool filled with lube and oil while wearing lingerie, she said.Ventura said the choreographed sex parties took place in New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Atlanta as well in Ibiza and Turks & Caicos.”Honestly you name it, we probably did it there,” Ventura said.The drugs were a “buffer” to withstand the “humiliating” and often-filmed sexual encounters, she said.Near the end of testimony on Tuesday — just the first of several in which Ventura is expected to take the stand — her voice quavered as she recounted a violent encounter at a Los Angeles hotel in which Combs attempted to drag her back to a freak-off she tried to leave.The disturbing footage — jurors have now seen it some half-dozen times in just the second day of testimony in the government’s case — is but one example of the physical abuse Ventura says she withstood over more than a decade of their relationship.When he was upset, she says, his eyes would “go black — the version of him I was in love with was no longer there.””Make the wrong face,” Ventura told jurors, “and the next thing I knew, I was getting hit in the face.”

Sean “Diddy” Combs’s former partner Casandra Ventura told jurors at the music mogul’s sex trafficking trial Tuesday how he subjected her to “disgusting” and “humiliating” drug-fueled, marathon group sex sessions.Ventura also detailed beatings and abuse at the hands of Combs in bombshell testimony that underpins much of the prosecution’s case against the music industry figure, who is alleged to have used violence and blackmail to manipulate women over many years.Ventura, who is visibly pregnant, said of the so-called “freak-off” sex parties that she was “just in love and wanted to make (Combs) happy — to a point I didn’t feel like I had much of a choice.”Ventura, who is 17 years younger than Combs and first met him at 19 years old, described how the mogul would sometimes urinate on her, or he would instruct one of the numerous sex workers he engaged to do so. The escorts, almost always men, were paid upwards of thousands of dollars in cash after encounters.”It was disgusting. It was too much. It was overwhelming,” she said, adding that the hotel rooms used for the marathon sex sessions were often trashed, with establishments charging sizable cleaning and repair bills including for blood and urine-stained sheets.Asked if she enjoyed anything about the curated encounters that Combs allegedly instructed her to coordinate, Ventura wept openly.”I was just in love and wanted to make him happy,” she said of their on-and-off relationship that lasted more than a decade.Combs’s defense team indicated that during cross-examination, which is expected as early as Wednesday afternoon, they would seek to emphasize that Ventura took drugs of her own free will, and behaved erratically.Ventura said that during the encounters she took drugs including ecstasy, ketamine or cocaine, and that the “drugs honestly helped” her meet Combs’s demands to stay awake for days on end.The drugs also had a “dissociative and numbing” effect, she said, “a way to not feel it for what it really was.”- ‘He would mash me’ – Ventura said “Sean controlled a lot of my life — whether it was (my) career, the way I dressed.”And much of that control turned violent, she said, her voice quavering at points: “He would mash me in my head, knock me over, drag me, kick me, stomp me on the head if I was down.”In a hotel surveillance clip from March 2016 shown to jurors Monday and again Tuesday, Combs is seen brutally beating and dragging Ventura — widely known as “Cassie” — down a hallway.The prosecution played parts of the clip while Ventura was on the stand.When asked why she didn’t fight back or get up, Ventura answered simply that curled up on the ground “felt like the safest place to be.” Former security officer at a Los Angeles InterContinental hotel, Israel Florez, told the court Monday that he was first on the scene after that incident and that Combs sought to pay him off.Florez’s testimony provided the foundation for the prosecution to introduce the security footage that was published by CNN last year.The panel of 12 jurors and six alternates responsible for determining Combs’s fate have started hearing of the famed artist’s explosive outbursts, exploitation of his partners and an attempt to preserve his own reputation and celebrity through bribery.But the 55-year-old’s defense team insist while some of his behavior was questionable — at times constituting domestic abuse — it did not meet the evidence needed to prove racketeering and sex trafficking charges.Combs has pleaded not guilty on all counts.Combs’s defense lawyer Teny Geragos called Combs’s accusers “capable, strong adult women,” and said his situation with Ventura was a “toxic relationship” but “between two people who loved each other.”Florez’s testimony was followed by a male dancer who engaged in a sexual relationship, often in exchange for money, with Combs and Ventura from 2012 to approximately the end of 2013. He concluded his testimony Tuesday.If convicted, the one-time rap producer and global superstar, who is often credited for his role in bringing hip-hop into the mainstream, could spend the rest of his life in prison. The proceedings are expected to last eight to 10 weeks, and Combs was joined in the courthouse by family members as well as former lovers including Misa Hylton.

Family of Lyle and Erik Menendez urged a judge Tuesday to let them out of prison, more than three decades after the brothers shot their parents to death.The pair, who are serving life terms for the notorious double murder, have spent two years trying to get their sentences reduced so they can be released on parole.Their cousin Anamaria Baralt told the hearing Tuesday that the men had been reformed and had earned their freedom.”We believe that 35 years is enough,” she told a courtroom, as the Menendez brothers watched via videolink from a San Diego prison.”They are universally forgiven by our family. They deserve a second chance at life.”Months of legal back-and-forth have culminated in what is expected to be a two-day hearing in Los Angeles.Every step has been eagerly watched after a public campaign bolstered by celebrity support from the likes of Kim Kardashian and supercharged by the hit Netflix miniseries “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.”Blockbuster trials in the 1990s heard how the men killed Jose and Kitty Menendez in their luxury Beverly Hills home, in what prosecutors said was a cynical attempt to get their hands on a large family fortune.The men shot Jose Menendez five times with shotguns, including in the kneecaps.Kitty Menendez died from a shotgun blast in her last desperate bid to crawl away from her killers.The brothers initially blamed the deaths on a mafia hit, but changed their story several times in the ensuing months.Erik, then 18, confessed to the murders in a session with his therapist, and the brothers ultimately claimed they had acted in self-defense after years of emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of a tyrannical father.Another cousin, Tamara Goodell, told the Los Angeles hearing on Tuesday the men “have made every possible effort to rehabilitate themselves.””They now see the world through 35 years of healing. They have created careers for themselves in prison.”Diane Hernandez, niece of Kitty Menendez, said the brothers were “remarkable human beings.””There is absolutely no chance that they would break the law” if released, she said. “Their only desire is to do good.”Defense lawyers are asking the judge to reduce their clients’ sentence either so that they can be released straight away, or so they can become eligible for parole.Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman opposes the resentencing idea.He maintains that the men have never admitted to the lies they told during the investigation of the crimes, having given several discordant explanations for the killings before settling on self-defense.Without such a reckoning with the truth, he claims, the men should not be allowed out of prison.A separate appeal for clemency is being considered by California Governor Gavin Newsom.There is no definitive timeline on that appeal.

The White House questioned Tuesday the humanitarian commitment of the influential Episcopal Church after it refused to comply with a federal directive to help resettle white Afrikaners granted refugee status by the Trump administration.Trump ran on an anti-immigrant platform and essentially halted refugee arrivals in the United States after taking office, but made an exception for white Afrikaners despite South Africa’s insistence that they do not face persecution in their homeland.On Monday, around 50 white South Africans arrived for resettlement in the United States, after Trump granted them refugee status as victims of what he called a “genocide.”That claim — oft-repeated by Trump’s Pretoria-born ally, billionaire Elon Musk — has been widely dismissed as absurd, including by the South African government. On Monday, the Episcopal Church said it would end its refugee resettlement program with the US government rather than comply with orders to help resettle the white South Africans.In a statement, White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly criticized the decision as raising “serious questions about its (the Church’s) supposed commitment to humanitarian aid.”She claimed white Afrikaners — who are primarily descendants of European colonizers and whose ethnic group dominated South African politics until apartheid was abolished in 1994 — had “faced unspeakable horrors.”On Monday, the church had said it would wind up its refugee resettlement grant agreements — amounting to more than $50 million annually — with the US federal government rather than comply with Trump’s orders.In a statement, the church’s presiding bishop was scathing in his criticism of the administration’s decision to grant the white South Africans refugee status.”It has been painful to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years,” said Sean W. Rowe.Under eligibility guidelines published by the US embassy, applicants for US resettlement must either be of Afrikaner ethnicity or belong to a racial minority in South Africa.The Episcopal Church said that it could not comply with Trump’s order “in light of our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation.” It said its programs with the US federal government would be wound up by the end of the fiscal year, but that its work on refugee resettlement would continue, including supporting recently arrived refugees from around the world.

Republicans geared up Tuesday for a series of crucial votes on Donald Trump’s domestic policy mega-bill, with rows over spending threatening to unravel the US president’s plans for sweeping tax cuts.Three key House committees are slated to finalize and vote on their portions of Trump’s much-touted “big, beautiful” bill, led by a roughly $5 trillion extension of his 2017 tax relief.Republicans are weighing partially covering the cost with deep cuts to the Medicaid health insurance program that benefits more than 70 million low-income people.Before it can get to Trump’s desk, the package must survive votes of the full House and Senate, where Republicans have razor-thin controlling margins.”The bill delivers what Americans voted for — tax policies that put working families first — and kick-starts a new golden era of American prosperity and strength,” said Jason Smith, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, which is charged with drafting the tax proposals. The marathon committee debates are expected to continue into the night and even spill into daytime Wednesday ahead of a make-or-break full House vote planned for next week.If any of the committees fall short, the timetable for ushering in Trump’s priorities could be upended.As the Republican billionaire seeks to cement his legacy with lasting legislation, every week is considered crucial ahead of 2026 midterm elections that could see his grip on the levers of power weakened. But the package is threatened by bitter infighting, with conservatives angling for much deeper cuts and moderates worried about threats to health coverage.Republicans plan to slash more than $700 billion from health care alone, which would leave several million people without coverage, according to a nonpartisan estimate by the Congressional Budget Office.-‘Handouts for billionaires’ -Democrats have angrily defended at-risk entitlements and hit out at tax cuts they say are a debt-inflating gift to the rich, funded by the middle class. On the tax front, House Republicans released a nearly 390-page bill Monday detailing where they want to raise revenues to cover Trump’s promised extension of the expiring 2017 tax cuts. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that this portion of the package will mean $3.7 trillion in lost revenue between 2025-2034, when savings in the text are taken into account. The president appears on course to get most of what he wants — including a four-year pause on tax on tips, overtime and interest on loans for American-made cars.There are big tax hikes on the endowments of wealthy colleges such as Harvard, Yale and Princeton, and an aggressive roll-back of Joe Biden’s clean energy tax credits.But Republicans representing districts in high-tax states have rejected as too low a proposed increase in the relief they get in state and local taxes (SALT) from $10,000 to $30,000. Democrats hosted a press event at the US Capitol to decry the proposed cuts ahead of the committee meetings, deploying a mobile billboard criticizing Republicans over the Medicaid proposals.”Let’s be clear: There’s nothing moderate, efficient, or reasonable about Donald Trump and Republicans’ dangerous plans to gut health care and force kids to go hungry so they can fund tax handouts for billionaires,” said Democratic National Committee spokesperson Aida Ross.  Twenty-five activists were arrested outside one of the committee rooms for “illegally demonstrating,” the US Capitol Police told AFP.”It is against the law to protest inside the congressional buildings,” the force said in a statement. 

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday hailed cooler-than-expected April inflation data and reiterated his call for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, as analysts warned that his tariffs may still fuel price hikes in the months ahead.The April data covers the early days of Trump’s new levies against most countries — including steep duties on China — which spooked financial markets and raised fears of a spike in US prices.Trump has since scaled back some of the duties and paused others, helping to soothe nervous investors, though tariffs remain well above their recent historical average.The consumer price index (CPI) eased to 2.3 percent in April from a year ago, a tick below the 2.4 percent figure recorded in March, the Labor Department said in a statement.The April CPI release was the smallest 12-month increase since February 2021, and was slightly lower than the median estimate from surveys of economists conducted by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.”No Inflation, and Prices of Gasoline, Energy, Groceries, and practically everything else, are DOWN!!!” Trump wrote on social media.He also took aim again at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over the central bank’s recent decision to continue holding interest rates steady.”What is wrong with Too Late Powell?” Trump said. “Not fair to America, which is ready to blossom? Just let it all happen, it will be a beautiful thing!”The inflation data did not make waves in the US financial markets, which ended the day mixed. – ‘Little relief’ -Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren took a very different view on the data to Trump. “Consumers and businesses will feel little relief from President Trump folding to Xi Jinping and are bracing for supply chain disruptions and even empty shelves,” she said in a statement, referring to the deal struck over the weekend between the United States and China to lower tariffs while continuing negotiations.Several analysts struck a cautious note about inflation on Tuesday, suggesting that now was not the time for the Fed to cut rates. “This may be the low point in 2025,” Nationwide senior economist Ben Ayers wrote in a note shared with AFP. “As tariff costs increasingly flow into consumer prices, we expect a jump in the CPI this summer, pushing the annual reading back above three percent,” he added.”Looking ahead, higher tariffs will lead to a renewed inflation impulse,” EY chief economist Gregory Daco said in a statement. But, he added, the recent tariff detente with China means that impulse will be slightly weaker than previously expected. Prices rose 0.2 percent from a month earlier, with “more than half” of the increase due to a 0.3 percent rise in shelter costs, according to the Labor Department.Excluding volatile food and energy costs, the inflation rate was 0.2 percent from a month earlier, and 2.8 percent over the past 12 months.The monthly figure was slightly below expectations, while the annual figure was in line with forecasts. – ‘Too early’ to tell -Despite the good news overall, there were nevertheless some signs of Trump’s tariffs in the data. The index for household furnishings and operations increased 1.0 percent in April after standing still in March, the Labor Department said. In a recent investor note, economists at Deutsche Bank had flagged that this data point would provide a good indication of how some “import-heavy categories” could be affected by tariffs.The energy index — which fell sharply in March — increased 0.7 percent in April, according to the Labor Department, spurred by a sharp rise in natural gas and electricity prices. The gasoline index decreased 0.1 percent over the month on a seasonally-adjusted basis, and by 11.8 percent over the past 12 months.The overall inflation data will likely be well-received by the Fed, which has indicated it is in no hurry to cut interest rates.

US President Donald Trump’s administration cut cancer research funding by 31 percent in the first three months of 2025 compared to the same period last year, according to a Senate report released Tuesday that accuses the White House of waging a “war on science.”The analysis, commissioned by the leftwing Senator Bernie Sanders, found that at least $13.5 billion in health funding had been terminated as of April, including 1,660 grants, while thousands of scientific staff were fired.Among the hardest hit was the National Cancer Institute, which lost more than $300 million from January to March compared to 2024, driving inflation-adjusted grant funding to its lowest level in over a decade. Its parent agency, the National Institutes of Health, lost $2.7 billion.”Since January, Trump has launched an unprecedented, illegal and outrageous attack on science and scientists,” said Sanders, the ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee.”Trump is not only denying scientific truth but actively seeking to undermine it.”The Health and Human Services department, led by vaccine-skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr, hit back. “Senator Sanders’ claim of a ‘war on science’ is unequivocally false. The report released by his office today is a politically motivated distortion that undermines the thousands of dedicated public health professionals across HHS, who remain steadfast in their commitment to delivering results for the American people,” the department said on X. Under Kennedy’s leadership, “HHS is streamlining programs, eliminating redundancies, and — above all else — prioritizing gold standard science,” it added.- ‘Complete chaos’ -The report, based on interviews with dozens of federal scientists and health workers, paints a picture of disarray across HHS.At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at least 175 public health datasets were deleted, leaving doctors “without vetted guidance on how to treat patients,” one physician said.A 43-year-old colorectal cancer patient, already treated with surgery, radiation, and 48 rounds of chemotherapy, said her participation in a T-cell therapy trial at the NIH was delayed due to staff shortages.”The reality is that by reducing money and staff, the NIH will not be able to produce my treatment — and it might cost me my life,” she told Senate staff.At the NIH Clinical Center, researchers described “complete chaos” after entire labs were dismissed. “This administration has a lot of blood on their hands,” said one. “We just want to take care of people.”The report also highlighted the dangers of misinformation amid a growing measles outbreak, which has infected more than 1,000 people and killed three. Over 40 grants studying vaccine hesitancy have been canceled.Meanwhile, Kennedy has hired vaccine conspiracy theorist David Geier, previously disciplined for practicing medicine without a license and testing unproven drugs on autistic children, to investigate an alleged connection between vaccines and autism, debunked by dozens of prior studies.Even as Trump proposes a 26 percent cut to the HHS budget next year, he has earmarked $500 million for Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” initiative, which targets nutrition, physical activity, and “over-reliance on medication.”