AFP USA

US President Donald Trump on Thursday secured a major political victory when Congress narrowly passed his signature tax and spending bill, cementing his radical second-term agenda and boosting funds for his anti-immigration drive.A jubilant Trump said the bill’s passage would supercharge the US economy “into a rocket ship” — glossing over deep concerns within his own Republican Party that it will balloon the national debt and gut health and welfare support.Speaking to reporters as he headed for a rally in Iowa to kick off America’s 250th birthday celebrations, the president called the spending package “the biggest bill of its kind ever signed.”A small group of Republican opponents finally fell into line after Speaker Mike Johnson worked through the night to corral dissenters in the House of Representatives behind the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”The bill squeezed past a final vote, 218-214. The White House declared “VICTORY” on social media and said Trump would sign the bill into law on Friday, the July 4th Independence Day holiday.The timing of the vote had slipped back to Thursday as Democratic House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke against the bill for nearly nine hours to delay proceedings.- Mass deportations, tax breaks -The legislation is the latest in a series of big wins for Trump, including a Supreme Court ruling last week that curbed lone federal judges from blocking his policies, and US air strikes that led to a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.His sprawling mega-bill narrowly passed the Senate on Tuesday and had to return to the lower chamber for a rubber stamp of the senators’ revisions.The package honors many of Trump’s campaign promises: boosting military spending, funding a mass migrant deportation drive and committing $4.5 trillion to extend his first-term tax relief.”Everything was an absolute disaster under the Biden-Harris radical regime, and we took the best effort that we could, in one big, beautiful bill, to fix as much of it as we could,” Johnson said.”And I am so grateful that we got that done.”But it is expected to pile an extra $3.4 trillion over a decade onto the country’s fast-growing deficits, while shrinking the federal food assistance program and forcing through the largest cuts to the Medicaid health insurance scheme for low-income Americans since its 1960s launch.Some estimates put the total number of recipients set to lose their insurance coverage under the bill at 17 million. Scores of rural hospitals are expected to close.While Republican moderates in the House fear the cuts will damage their prospects of reelection next year, fiscal hawks chafed over savings that they say fall far short of what was promised.Johnson had to negotiate tight margins, and could only lose a handful of lawmakers in the final vote, among more than two dozen who had earlier declared themselves open to rejecting Trump’s 869-page text.Trump spent weeks hitting the phones and hosting White House meetings to cajole lawmakers torn between angering welfare recipients at home and incurring the president’s wrath.Democrats hope public opposition to the bill will help them flip the House in the 2026 midterm election, pointing to data showing that it represents a huge redistribution of wealth from the poorest Americans to the richest.Jeffries held the floor for his Democrats ahead of the final vote, as he told stories of everyday Americans who he argued would be harmed by Trump’s legislation. “This bill, this one big, ugly bill — this reckless Republican budget, this disgusting abomination — is not about improving the quality of life of the American people,” he said.  After the bill was passed, Trump predecessor’s Joe Biden said it was “not only reckless — it’s cruel.”Extra spending on the military and border security will be paid in part through ending clean energy and electric vehicle subsidies — a factor triggering a bitter public feud between Trump and former key advisor Elon Musk.

US actor Michael Madsen — best known for his frequent collaborations with director Quentin Tarantino including “Reservoir Dogs” and “Kill Bill” — died Thursday at age 67 after suffering cardiac arrest, his management team said.The actor was found unresponsive early Thursday at his home in Malibu, they said.”Michael Madsen was one of Hollywood’s most iconic actors, who will be missed by many,” his managers Susan Ferris and Ron Smith said in a joint statement with his publicist, Liz Rodriguez.Madsen’s most iconic performances include Mr. Blonde, a psychopathic criminal in the 1992 crime thriller “Reservoir Dogs,” and Budd, the younger brother of the antagonist in the “Kill Bill” movies, both directed by Tarantino.In addition to his appearances in other Tarantino films like “The Hateful Eight” and “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood,” Madsen’s prolific career saw him play more than 300 roles over the course of 40 years.Among his other notable films are “Thelma & Louise,” “Free Willy,” “Donnie Brasco” and the 2002 James Bond flick “Die Another Day.”Madsen also did voiceovers for several video games, including “Grand Theft Auto III,” and published several volumes of poetry.Madsen was born on September 25, 1957 in Chicago to a firefighter father and a filmmaker mother. His sister, Virginia Madsen, is also an actress.He married three times over the course of his life and had six children, one of whom died by suicide in 2022.

Even for a man who once boasted that his supporters would get “tired of winning,” US President Donald Trump is on a roll.The 79-year-old’s victory on his “One Big, Beautiful” bill is the latest in a series of consequential successes at home and abroad in the past two weeks.From US airstrikes that led to an Iran-Israel ceasefire, to a NATO spending deal and a massive Supreme Court win, they have underscored Trump’s growing power.The Republican will now take a victory lap wrapped up in the US flag after Congress passed the tax and spending bill that embodies the political goals of his second term. He will sign it at an Independence Day event at the White House on Friday featuring a flyover by a B-2 stealth bomber, the type of aircraft used in the US raids on Iranian nuclear sites.”It’s going to be a HOT TRUMP SUMMER,” the White House said on social media.After the bill passed, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Dan Scavino, posted a video of Trump telling a campaign rally during his first presidential run in 2016 that “we’re going to win so much, you may even get tired of winning. And you’ll say, ‘Please, please. It’s too much winning.”- ‘Work just beginning’ -The author of the book “Trump: The Art of the Deal” has bragged of several in recent weeks, but the bill is arguably the biggest. It honors many of the pledges he made in the 2024 election with its tax cuts and funding for his mass migrant deportation program. It also showed his ability to get his Republican party to fall in line despite bruising infighting — and a major row with his billionaire former ally Elon Musk.But more importantly for a man who openly wants to join the pantheon of US presidents whose faces are carved into Mount Rushmore, it promises to consolidate his legacy.The bill seals Trump’s hard-line US domestic policy into law — in contrast to the rash of presidential executive orders he has signed that can be overturned by his successors.Yet Trump still faces a series of challenges.They start with selling a bill that polls show is deeply unpopular among Americans due to its huge cuts to welfare and tax breaks for the rich.”The president needs to lead the effort to go out and explain it, he has the biggest megaphone in America,” Karl Rove, the White House deputy chief of staff under president George W. Bush, told Fox News.Rove added that it would have a “huge impact” on the US midterm elections in 2026, as Democrats pounce on it and people realize that they are losing healthcare coverage.”The work is just beginning.”Trump was talking about the bill at a campaign-style rally in Iowa on Thursday that was also kicking off celebrations for America’s 250th anniversary year.- ‘Win after win’ -Trump’s winning streak has meanwhile fueled the self-belief of a man who said he had been “saved by God to make America great again” after he survived an assassination attempt last year.But the next prizes could be far harder to obtain. After the Iran-Israel ceasefire, Trump has stepped up his search for a deal to end to the brutal war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.He will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday in push him — but peace has proven cruelly elusive in the 22-month conflict.Trump’s election campaign promise to end Russia’s war in Ukraine within 24 hours has also stalled, despite him having his sixth call with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier on Thursday.The US president is meanwhile due to reimpose steep tariffs on dozens of economies next week. He has insisted that countries will either bow to him and reach a deal or face sweeping levies, but global markets remain gripped by uncertainty. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt however insisted that Trump would do what he had promised.”Despite the doubters and the Panicans, President Trump has delivered win after win for the American people,” Leavitt told reporters.

The US Supreme Court agreed on Thursday to wade into the hot-button issue of transgender athletes in girls and women’s sports.The court said it would hear cases next term challenging state laws in Idaho and West Virginia banning transgender athletes from female competition.More than two dozen US states have passed laws in recent years barring athletes who were assigned male at birth from taking part in girls or women’s sports.The conservative-dominated Supreme Court’s decision to hear the cases comes two weeks after it upheld a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming medical treatment for transgender minors.The Supreme Court also recently backed a move by President Donald Trump, who campaigned on the issue of transgender athletes, to have transgender troops dismissed from the military.Trump issued an executive order in February aimed at banning transgender athletes from girls and women’s sports.”From now on women’s sports will be only for women,” Trump said. “With this executive order the war on women’s sports is over.”The executive order allows federal agencies to deny funding to schools that allow transgender athletes to compete on girls or women’s teams.In a high-profile case, the University of Pennsylvania agreed this week to ban transgender athletes from its women’s sports teams, settling a federal civil rights complaint stemming from the furor around swimmer Lia Thomas.The Department of Education said that UPenn had entered into a resolution agreement vowing to comply with Title IX, the federal law which prohibits sex-based discrimination in any educational program.It follows an investigation by the department’s Office for Civil Rights which found the university had violated Title IX by allowing transgender swimmer Thomas to compete in women’s competitions.Thomas became a lightning rod around the debate over transgender athletes in women’s sport after competing in female collegiate competitions in 2022. She had earlier swum on UPenn’s men’s team while undergoing hormone replacement therapy.Critics and some fellow swimmers said she should not have been allowed to compete against women due to an unfair physiological advantage.- ‘Discriminatory laws’ -The Idaho case accepted by the Supreme Court stems from the Republican-led state’s 2020 “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.”It was challenged by a transgender athlete at an Idaho university and lower courts ruled that it violates the equal protection clause of the Constitution.West Virginia’s 2021 ban on transgender athletes was challenged by a middle school student who was not allowed to compete for the girls’ track team. An appeals court ruled that the ban was a violation of Title IX.”We believe the lower courts were right to block these discriminatory laws, and we will continue to defend the freedom of all kids to play,” Joshua Block, a senior counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement.”Like any other educational program, school athletic programs should be accessible for everyone regardless of their sex or transgender status,” Block said.The Supreme Court will hear the cases during the term beginning in October and issue a ruling next year.

Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. has been arrested by US immigration officers and is being processed for deportation from the United States, the Department of Homeland Security said Thursday.Chavez, a former world champion and the son of legendary Mexican fighter Julio Cesar Chavez, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Los Angeles on Wednesday after authorities determined that he was in the country illegally, Homeland Security said in a statement.He has an active arrest warrant in Mexico for involvement in organized crime and made fraudulent statements on his application for US permanent residency, it added.Homeland Security said Chavez is believed to be an affiliate of the Sinaloa cartel, one of six Mexican drug trafficking groups designated as terrorist organizations by the United States.Chavez, 39, is a former World Boxing Council middleweight world champion, but in his most recent fight was convincingly beaten by YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in a one-sided cruiserweight bout in Anaheim, California, on Saturday.Homeland Security said Chavez had entered the United States legally in 2023 on a tourist visa that was valid until February 2024.In April last year, he applied for permanent residence status based on his marriage to a US citizen “who is connected to the Sinaloa cartel through a prior relationship with the now-deceased son of the infamous cartel leader Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman.”According to the statement, US Citizenship and Immigration Services made a referral to ICE that Chavez was “an egregious public safety threat.”Authorities accused the administration of President Donald Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden of not making Chavez an ” immigration enforcement priority.”Chavez was allowed to re-enter the United States on January 4, 2025 at the San Ysidro port of entry, Homeland Security said.Trump campaigned for president promising to expel millions of undocumented migrants from the United States, and he has taken a number of actions since returning to the White House in January aimed at speeding up deportations and reducing border crossings.

US President Donald Trump visits the midwestern state of Iowa on Thursday to kick off a year-long celebration of America’s 250th birthday — and tout his own second-term presidency.The Republican will deliver a campaign-style speech followed by fireworks, hot on the heels of what he hopes will be Congress passing his “big, beautiful” tax and spending bill.It also comes the day before Independence Day on July 4, and has been sold by Trump as the start of celebrations to mark two and a half centuries since the foundation of the United States.But as with a huge military parade in Washington for the US army’s 250th birthday last month, it reflects Trump’s growing tendency to use the semiquincentennial festivities to boost his own image.”I am thrilled to announce that I will be traveling to one of my favorite places in the World, beautiful Iowa… to kick off the very beginning of our exciting Celebration of America’s 250th Anniversary!” Trump said on Truth Social earlier this week.”Iowa voted for me THREE TIMES, because they love my Policies for our Wonderful Farmers and Small Businesses, and they LOVE AMERICA!”Trump, 79, also said he would also be talking about how his trade policies affect farmers, a key demographic in Iowa and one of the voter groups that helped propel him to a second term in the White House.He is set to say that his hardline tariff negotiations with countries around the world, which have caused jitters on the markets, will benefit working class Americans. The America 250 committee, which is organizing the events over the next year, said the “Salute to America” event at the Iowa State Fairgrounds would also feature “patriotic entertainment and fireworks.”Iowa is well known as one of the first stops for primary campaigns in US presidential elections.Trump won the state by 13 points in 2024. He also easily took it in 2016 when he won the presidency for the first time — and in 2020 when he lost the White House to Democrat Joe Biden.Trump earlier this week dropped a federal lawsuit over an Iowa poll that wrongly forecast he would lose the state in November’s election against Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.The president had sued renowned pollster Ann Selzer, her former employer the Des Moines Register, and the newspaper’s parent company, Gannett, over a poll that showed him trailing Harris by three points.The rally in a place famed for its role in US presidential elections will also throw the focus on who might succeed Trump as Republican candidate in 2028.His second son Eric said last week that he and other relatives may run for public office, fueling speculation of a Trump dynasty. Trump meanwhile has repeatedly teased trying for a third term, despite it being barred by the US constitution.

US lawmakers teed up a final vote on Donald Trump’s marquee tax and spending bill Thursday after bruising Republican infighting nearly derailed the centerpiece of the president’s domestic agenda.Trump appeared close to victory as Congress edged towards passing his “One Big Beautiful Bill,” despite misgivings in his party over a text that would balloon the national debt and launch a historic assault on the social safety net.The bill will be a major landmark in Trump’s political life, and comes after he scored recent major wins, including in the Supreme Court and with US strikes that led to a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.Speaker Mike Johnson had struggled through the night to corral his rank-and-file Republican members after the package scraped past a series of “test” votes in the House of Representatives that laid bare deep divisions in the party.But after its last procedural hurdle in the early hours of Thursday, the bill was on course for a final vote that would put it on Trump’s desk to be signed into law.”No, I don’t think they caved,” an upbeat Johnson said of Republican holdouts.”They deserved that amount of time to go through it and figure out the meaning and how it would be applied, and ask questions of the administration.”The timing of the vote slipped back as Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries continued a speech — lasting more than seven hours — opposing the bill in a tactic to delay proceedings.- Funds for mass deportation -Trump’s sprawling legislation squeezed through the Senate on Tuesday but had to return to the lower chamber for a rubber stamp of revisions.The package honors many of Trump’s campaign promises, boosting military spending, funding a mass migrant deportation drive and committing $4.5 trillion to extend his first-term tax relief.But it is expected to pile an extra $3.4 trillion over a decade onto the country’s fast-growing deficits, while shrinking the food stamps program and forcing through the largest cuts to the Medicaid health insurance scheme for low-income Americans since its 1960s launch.While Republican moderates in the House are anxious that the cuts will damage their prospects of reelection, fiscal hawks chafed over savings that they say fall far short of what was promised.Johnson had to negotiate tight margins, and can likely only lose three lawmakers in the final vote, among more than two dozen who had previously declared themselves open to rejecting Trump’s bill.- ‘Abomination’ -The 869-page text only passed in the Senate after a flurry of tweaks that pulled the House-passed version further to the right.Some estimates put the total number of recipients set to lose their insurance coverage under the bill at 17 million. Scores of rural hospitals are expected to close.Johnson had been clear that he banked on Trump leaning on waverers, as the president has in the past to turn around contentious votes that were headed for failure.The Republican leader has spent weeks hitting the phones and hosting White House meetings to cajole lawmakers torn between angering welfare recipients at home and incurring his wrath.”What a great night it was. One of the most consequential Bills ever. The USA is the ‘HOTTEST’ Country in the World, by far!!!” Trump said on social media Thursday as he scented victory.The bill underlines Trump’s total dominance of the Republican Party in his second term, and comes as he celebrates a Supreme Court ruling last week that curbed lone judges from blocking his radical policies.But House Democrats have signaled that they plan to campaign on the bill to flip the House in the 2026 midterm elections, pointing to data showing that it represents a historic redistribution of wealth from the poorest Americans to the richest.Jeffries held the floor for his Democrats ahead of the final vote, as he told the stories of everyday Americans whom he argued would be harmed by Trump’s legislation. “This bill, this one big, ugly bill — this reckless Republican budget, this disgusting abomination — is not about improving the quality of life of the American people,” he said.  

The US trade deficit widened more than expected in May, with both imports and exports declining as US President Donald Trump’s tariffs sent shock waves through the economy and snagged supply chains.Trade data published Thursday showed the world’s biggest economy logged an overall trade gap of $71.5 billion, in the month after Trump imposed a 10 percent duty on most trading partners before pausing steeper rates for dozens of these economies.This was an expansion from the $60.3 billion deficit in April, according to the Commerce Department.The figures, however, came as both imports and exports shrank in May.US imports were down 0.1 percent to $350.5 billion, as incoming shipments of goods ticked down.Imports of consumer goods dropped by $4.0 billion, with those of certain apparel and toys both sliding, although imports of autos and parts climbed.US exports, meanwhile, dropped by 4.0 percent to $279.0 billion, with declines largely seen in industrial supplies and materials, the report showed.US trade has been rocked by Trump’s sweeping tariff announcements since the start of this year, as companies stocked up to get ahead of expected levies and halted shipments to wait for high duties to come down.This was the case when Trump doubled down on tariffs impacting goods from China in April. Tit-for-tat tariffs on both sides surged to prohibitive levels before Washington and Beijing de-escalated tensions in mid-May.Trade is “at risk of introducing more volatility in the data,” said Bernard Yaros, lead US economist at Oxford Economics.This is especially as the world heads towards a July 9 deadline when Trump’s pause on higher duties for dozens of economies including the European Union, Japan and South Korea is due to expire.”A worst-case tariff outcome this month would apply further downward pressure on imports,” Yaros warned.The path forward is unclear and he expects levels to land somewhere between their current position and the steep levels initially unveiled in April.He cited a US deal with Vietnam announced Wednesday where the country averted the harsh tariff rate Trump first announced.But Yaros maintains that “the true health of the economy will be better distilled by the consumer and business spending figures, which are showing signs of weakness.”Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, expects Federal Reserve policymakers to look past the fluctuations in inventories as they decide on further interest rate adjustments.”There is not much in this report to alter the Fed’s view that the economy remains strong,” he said.

The US economy added more jobs than expected in June while the unemployment rate edged down, government data showed Thursday, offering signs of labor market strength despite worries over President Donald Trump’s tariffs.The data raises expectations that the US central bank will continue to hold interest rates steady at its July meeting, though economists warned of potential cracks beneath the surface.Job growth came in at 147,000 last month, rising from a 144,000 figure in May — which was also revised upwards — said the Department of Labor.The unemployment rate ticked down from 4.2 percent to 4.1 percent, and wage gains decelerated, the report added.Despite concern that the jobs market — a key source of support for the world’s biggest economy — may weaken as tariffs fuel uncertainty and add to business pressures, the latest headline numbers provide some reassurance.Analysts believe a solid showing diminishes the prospect of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in July — a move sure to further enrage Trump.The US president has repeatedly criticized Fed Chair Jerome Powell for not slashing the benchmark lending rate more quickly, calling him a “stubborn mule and a stupid person.”With consumer inflation still above the Fed’s two-percent target and unemployment remaining low, officials are adopting a wait-and-see approach to monitor potential effects from Trump’s tariffs.If the labor market weakened quickly, the Fed could be inclined to lower rates sooner to boost the economy, even if inflation were not progressing downwards as swiftly as hoped.- ‘Less rosy’ -Economists, however, warned Thursday that the employment picture is “less rosy” upon closer inspection.”Almost all of the job gains came from just two sectors: government and healthcare. Hiring was anemic in other parts of the economy,” said Navy Federal Credit Union chief economist Heather Long.She added that another concerning sign was the labor force participation rate dropping to its lowest level since late-2022.In June, the state government and health care sectors added jobs while the federal government continued shedding roles under the Trump administration’s cost-cutting drive.The federal government lost 7,000 jobs and employment is down by 69,000 since reaching a recent peak in January, the Labor Department report added.Salary growth also cooled from a 0.4 percent month-on-month increase in May to 0.2 percent in June. From a year ago, wage gains were up 3.7 percent, easing from the prior month as well.A consensus forecast by Briefing.com had expected overall job growth of 120,000.Nationwide chief economist Kathy Bostjancic said in a note that “private sector employment significantly moderated last month.”She added that many companies are hesitant to hire new staff and remain worried about the impact of Trump’s tariffs, even as they are not engaging in major layoffs yet.The US economy has fared relatively well since the Covid-19 pandemic, with a resilient jobs market allowing consumers to keep spending.But Trump’s tariffs on US trading partners, alongside steep levies on imports of steel, aluminum and autos, have dragged on consumer sentiment and fueled business uncertainty.That uncertainty has been accentuated by Trump’s approach of unveiling, then adjusting or halting measures — causing firms to hold off certain investments.With a further wave of tariff hikes potentially incoming next week, analysts are monitoring for fragility in the job market and signs that companies might pull back in hiring and expansion.For now, the figures bring relief to worried observers after data from payroll firm ADP sparked alarm Wednesday, as it reported that the private sector unexpectedly shed jobs.It is not uncommon for the ADP report to diverge from official figures, but analysts believe it can help understand the longer-term trajectory of the labor market.

The nuclear-powered US carrier George Washington arrived off the Philippine capital Thursday for a port visit, as the two allies increase defence cooperation aimed at contesting China’s sweeping claims in the South China Sea.The Nimitz-class vessel’s port call came the same day that China’s first domestically produced aircraft carrier, the Shandong, sailed into Hong Kong.Beijing claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea, through which more than 60 percent of global maritime trade passes, despite an international ruling its assertion has no merit.”The US Navy along with our allies and partners are committed to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the ship’s spokesman, Lieutenant-Commander Mark Langford, told AFP by email, without offering further details about the visit.”These operations demonstrate the commitment to stability in the region, a commitment we uphold throughout the year and regardless of current events,” Langford said, calling the Philippines a “long-standing and critical ally”.Manila and Washington have deepened their cooperation since President Ferdinand Marcos took office in 2022 and began pushing back on Beijing’s South China Sea claims.Bound by a 1951 mutual defence treaty, the two allies conduct frequent maritime exercises in the South China Sea. The Philippine and US coast guards in May conducted their first-ever joint military drills in the archipelago nation’s coastal waters.The Shandong, which sailed off the northern Philippines in April, arrived in Hong Kong on Thursday after concluding combat drills in the western Pacific alongside fellow Chinese aircraft carrier the Liaoning.The US Department of Defense said in a December report that China numerically has the largest navy in the world, with a battle force of more than 370 ships and submarines.