AFP USA

One of the best-known leaders in the decades-long struggle for US farm laborer rights, Dolores Huerta may be 95 years old but she is busier than ever.With the administration of US President Donald Trump ramping up immigration raids targeting farmworkers, the veteran activist — who co-founded the country’s largest agricultural union more than 60 years ago — is a galvanizing figure for those seeking to fight back.”People are reaching out because they want to do something,” she told AFP during an interview at the headquarters of her Dolores Huerta Foundation in Bakersfield, an agricultural nexus in California’s Central Valley.Born in New Mexico and raised in California, Huerta took the reins of the US farmworker movement in the 1960s along with the late activist Cesar Chavez.They created what is now United Farm Workers, launching an unprecedented fight for the rights of marginalized laborers who toil in the fields that feed America every day.At the time, Huerta was raising seven children — she later had four more — while going through a divorce.Finding the time to organize and mobilize workers remains as crucial as ever today, she said.”We’ve got to be a lot more active, because what’s happening right now is so huge. I liken it to what was happening in Germany before Hitler took power,” Huerta said. She argues that it is essential to prepare the electorate to vote in the 2026 midterms, which could reshape the US Congress. Both its chambers currently have Republican majorities.”This is the only way that this can be solved,” she said.- ‘Si se puede’ slogan -Much has changed since her time as a young union leader, but one thing that has never gone away is racism, Huerta said.”I believe that that illness of racism is what has really contaminated our political system,” said Huerta.”Trump is actually playing out that racism when he is again putting immigrants, and mostly people of color, into the detention centers” with “inhumane conditions,” she said.Many have been sent to countries with which they have no connection, Huerta noted, such as the 252 Venezuelans who were sent to a notorious El Salvador prison, before eventually being repatriated to their homeland as part of a political deal.For Huerta, the Republican-led crackdown is “absolutely atrocious… our people have been caught off guard.”Huerta believes that the swell of Latino support for Trump that aided his victory in November was driven by religious interests.Church leaders and lobbyists who are influential with Hispanic communities used issues like abortion and LGBTQ+ rights to “intimidate” Hispanic communities, who traditionally favor Democrats, into voting Republican, she said.But Huerta — whose famous “Si se puede” slogan was mirrored by Barack Obama’s “Yes, we can” rallying cry in 2008 — believes Trump’s promise to carry out the largest deportation operation in US history could yet backfire.In various sectors ranging from agriculture to hospitality and services, employers are realizing how much they need hard-working immigrants, she said.- ‘Fear’ -The risks have sharply risen for many in her community since Trump came to power, but for Huerta personally, activism has long had perilous consequences.When she was 58, Huerta was arrested and brutally beaten by police at a San Francisco protest.Her commitment to the union movement also meant she was an absent mother — and even today, she spends more time on her work than with her many children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.Huerta has often been the only woman in male-dominated spaces, and is renowned by many for her ability to face down corporate power.In February, her foundation helped drive an ongoing boycott against the retail giant Target over its decision to end pro-diversity programs following Trump’s election.”Trump instilled fear in all these corporations,” she said.Using tactics like boycotts to influence billionaire business owners who can “pull Trump’s strings,” she said, “we finally are able to move them in the right direction.””They need to start speaking up and stop these dangerous policies of Trump.”

President Donald Trump, who is remodeling the White House to his tastes, will build a massive ballroom for hosting official receptions, one of the largest projects at the US executive mansion in over a century.Trump himself and unspecified donors will foot the bill for the $200 million project, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a press briefing on Thursday.”For 150 years, presidents, administrations and White House staff have longed for a large event space on the White House complex,” the spokeswoman said.”There’s never been a president that was good at ballrooms,” the 79-year-old president and former real estate developer told reporters of the latest bid to leave his mark on the White House.”I’m good at building things, and we’ll get it built quickly and on time. It’ll be beautiful,” said Trump, assuring that the character of the original building would be preserved.The new structure will span over 8,000 square meters (90,000 square feet) and have space to seat 650 people, according to Leavitt.Work on the ballroom — one of Trump’s long-time ambitions — will begin in September and is expected to be completed “well before” the end of his second term in January 2029, Leavitt said.The hope is it will host grand state dinners, given in honor of foreign heads of state visiting Washington. Until now, these were generally done by erecting a huge tent on the White House grounds.- Facade -A model of the ballroom presented by the government shows it will be a white building with tall windows. Its columns and front look reminiscent of the main White House building, a facade is known worldwide.The ballroom building will replace the East Wing, which usually houses the offices of the US first lady.Trump, who does not shy away from the gaudy, has also redone the Oval Office to splash the room in gold — from the stars surrounding the presidential seal on the ceiling, to the gold statues on the fireplace, to the mantel itself. The project is shaping up to be one of the most significant to break ground at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue since renovation and expansion works undertaken by President Theodore Roosevelt at the start of the 20th century.President Harry Truman also oversaw notable construction work between 1948 and 1952, but did so without changing the external structure.Trump has said for some time that he wants to build a White House ballroom inspired by his own properties.On Thursday, he praised the newly built, lavish ballroom — named after himself — at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland, one of dozens of properties owned by the Trump family.It will also be inspired by the ballroom of the Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida, which has served as the model for Trump’s remodeling of the White House to suit himself.The Republican billionaire, inspired by the patios of Mar-a-Lago, recently ripped up the lawn at the White House’s historic Rose Garden and is paving that area, where official events are often held.He is flying two huge American flags outside the White House, which has been the residence and workplace of American presidents since 1800. 

Steven Knight, the creator of gritty TV crime series “Peaky Blinders,” will write the highly anticipated next James Bond movie, studio Amazon MGM announced Thursday.Knight will work alongside previously announced director Denis Villeneuve (“Dune”) to bring the world’s most famous fictional spy back to the big screen after a prolonged absence. Amazon MGM Studios acquired creative control of the 007 movies in February, and has moved quickly to get one of Hollywood’s most valuable franchises back into production.There has been no new Bond film since 2021’s “No Time To Die.” Knight is best known as the mind behind violent British gangster series “Peaky Blinders,” which was set in industrial England at the turn of the 20th century and became a global hit.Running for six seasons, and with a Netflix film version currently in the works, “Peaky Blinders” turbo-charged the careers of leading man Cillian Murphy, alongside a stellar supporting cast including Tom Hardy, Anya Taylor-Joy and Kingsley Ben-Adir.In addition to “Peaky Blinders,” Knight also co-created the wildly popular television quiz show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” and has penned four novels.The Birmingham, England-based screenwriter, producer and director’s other TV credits include “Taboo,” “See,” “This Town,” and “All the Light We Cannot See.”The Bond films, based on Ian Fleming’s novels, have earned more than $7 billion collectively at the global box office since debuting in 1962.No release date or title has yet been set for the film franchise’s 26th installment.And despite frenzied speculation among fans, there has been no announcement on which actor will replace Daniel Craig as the suave British super-spy.Among the actors most discussed to be the next Bond are Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Tom Holland, Harris Dickinson, Jacob Elordi, and Ben-Adir — but Amazon MGM has so far refused to disclose the franchise’s most closely guarded secret.

Former US vice president Kamala Harris on Thursday announced she will provide an inside look at her unsuccessful 2024 presidential run against Donald Trump in a book titled “107 Days.”The memoir, published by Simon & Schuster, will be released on September 23 in the United States.”Just over a year ago, I launched my campaign for president of the United States, 107 days — traveling the country, fighting for our future — the shortest presidential campaign in modern history,” Harris said in a video posted on social media.The first woman to serve as vice president of the United States, Harris became the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee after Joe Biden withdrew from the race in July amid concerns about his cognitive health.Harris said she wrote the book with “candor and reflection” and promised a “behind-the-scenes account” of the campaign.The former US senator representing California had announced Wednesday that she would not run for governor of the state in 2026, but according to US media, a 2028 White House run is not out of the question.In her video, Harris says that one truth kept coming back to her: “Sometimes, the fight takes a while” — a statement that is likely to fuel rumors about her political future.- Colbert show -After having virtually disappeared from public following her defeat by Trump, Harris is now mounting a return. The Democrat will make an appearance Thursday’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” a flagship late-night talk show on US television that CBS recently canceled.CBS cited financial reasons for its decision to axe the show hosted by the well-known critic of the president. The network has been roiled in controversy since its parent company Paramount settled a Trump lawsuit over an election-time segment with Harris on CBS News’s “60 Minutes” show. The $16 million settlement — slammed by Colbert and others — came soon before the entertainment giant closed an $8 billion merger with Skydance Media.Asked on Thursday about Harris’s political future, Trump said he “wouldn’t call her a skilled politician.””She can’t talk. She can’t do an interview. I thought it was a very strange campaign we had,” Trump told reporters.”Yeah, I think I’m going to buy it. I’d love to see it,” Trump also joked about “107 Days.”Another former Biden administration figure — former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre — announced the upcoming release of her book titled “Independent” last month. She has left the Democratic Party, which she accuses of betraying her former boss.

Brazil vowed Thursday to combat US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on its exports, saying it intends to lodge appeals if last-ditch negotiations fail.Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said the tariffs announced Wednesday were “more favorable” than expected, with several key export products exempted.Still, there “is a lot of injustice in the measures announced yesterday. Corrections need to be made,” he told reporters.Citing a “witch hunt” against his far-right ally Jair Bolsonaro — Brazil’s former president on trial for allegedly plotting a coup — Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order adding a 40 percent tariff on Brazilian products, bringing total trade duties to 50 percent.The levies affect coffee and meat, two products of which Brazil is the world’s top exporter.The order, which takes effect on August 6, listed exemptions for nearly 700 other products including key exports such as planes, orange juice and pulp, Brazil nuts, and some iron, steel and aluminum products. Leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva — the man Bolsonaro is accused of having sought to topple — has denounced the tariffs as an attack on the “sovereignty” of South America’s largest economy.”The negotiation is not over; it starts today,” Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, tapped to oversee talks with Washington, told TV Globo.Alckmin said the new tariff will apply to nearly 36 percent of Brazil’s exports to the United States, equal to some $14.5 billion last year.Haddad said he would speak with his American counterpart, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and “there will be a cycle of negotiations.”He did not give a date.”We are starting from a point that is more favorable than one could have imagined, but still far from the finish line,” the minister said.If negotiations fail, Haddad said Brasilia would “file appeals with the appropriate authorities, both in the United States and with international bodies.”- ‘Judge and jury’ -Trump’s Brazil tariff is among the highest imposed on US trading partners.Unlike with other countries, the measures against Brazil have been framed in openly political terms, sweeping aside centuries-old trade ties and a surplus that Brasilia put at $284 million last year. “These are harsh measures that will have a real impact on important sectors of the Brazilian economy,” Reginaldo Nogueira, an economist with Brazil’s IBMEC business school, told AFP.”The exemptions help mitigate some of the pressure on Brazil but primarily protect strategic goods for the American economy,” he added.Haddad said the Brazilian government would put in place protection measures for the most affected companies, and noted that “nothing that was decided yesterday cannot be reviewed.”Trump’s order was based on the Brazilian government’s “politically motivated persecution, intimidation, harassment, censorship, and prosecution of (Bolsonaro) and thousands of his supporters,” according to the White House.It also cited Brazil’s “unusual and extraordinary policies and actions harming US companies, the free speech rights of US persons, US foreign policy, and the US economy,” singling out Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.Moraes is the judge presiding over Bolsonaro’s coup trial and has clashed repeatedly with the far-right in Brazil, as well as with tech titan Elon Musk, over the spread of online misinformation.The US Treasury announced financial sanctions on Moraes Wednesday, saying he had “taken it upon himself to be judge and jury in an unlawful witch hunt against US and Brazilian citizens and companies.”A Supreme Court source told AFP that Moraes “does not have assets in the United States” where the sanctions would have frozen them.

Apple on Thursday reported quarterly profit of $23.4 billion, topping forecasts despite concerns about the effect of US tariffs on its supply chain.Revenue was $94 billion for the usually slow quarter ending in June, the iPhone maker said.”Apple is proud to report a June quarter revenue record with double-digit growth in iPhone, Mac and Services and growth around the world, in every geographic segment,” said Apple chief executive Tim Cook.Apple shares were up more than two percent in after-market trading.Revenue from iPhone sales during the quarter was $44.6 billion, compared with $39.3 billion in the same period a year earlier, according to Apple.Global shipments of smartphones fell marginally to 288.9 million units in the recently-ended quarter, according to market-tracker Canalys.Samsung was the largest vendor, shipping 57.5 million smartphones, while Apple finished second with iPhone shipments down two percent at 44.8 million units, Canalys reported.”Apple’s performance showed strong resilience amid fierce competition in China and an inventory correction in the US as it adjusted to the rapidly changing tariffs,” the market tracker said in its findings.Cook said that the Trump tariffs cost Apple $800 million in the quarter that just ended and are expected to cost the iPhone maker $1.1 billion in the current quarter.”Assuming the current global tariff rates, policies, and applications do not change for the balance of the quarter, and no new tariffs are added, we estimate the impact to add about $1.1 billion to our costs,” Cook said.Tariffs are essentially a tax paid by those importing goods to the United States. This means Apple is on the hook for tariffs on iPhones and other products or components it brings into the country from abroad.- More in US -Cook said that most iPhones sold in the United States now come from India as Apple works to navigate US President Donald Trump’s trade war with China.Trump has taken aim at India with a 25 percent duty to begin Friday — slightly lower than previously threatened — after talks between Washington and New Delhi failed to bring about a trade pact.Apple’s tariff cost is up because sales are up, according to Cook.”In terms of what we do to mitigate, we obviously try to optimize our our supply chain,” Cook said of managing the tariff hit.”Ultimately, we will do more in the United States; we’ve committed $500 billion investment in the US over the next four years.”Tit-for-tat exchanges have seen hefty US levies imposed on China, with Beijing setting retaliatory barriers on US imports.Sales of iPhones in mainland China were $15.4 billion in the quarter, compared with $14.7 billion in the same period a year ago, according to Apple.Revenue in Apple’s services business selling digital content and subscriptions to fans of its devices grew to $27.4 billion in the quarter, Apple reported.”The results show that Apple’s iPhone strategy is working to offset the impact of looming challenges with AI development timelines, tariff pressures, and Google’s antitrust issues,” said Emarketer analyst Jacob Bourne.”The company’s successful pivot to iPhone manufacturing in India, demonstrates supply chain flexibility, while its return to iPhone growth in China and continued services segment expansion, including deeper financial services offerings, show diversification beyond hardware.”

President Donald Trump’s dream of a new world trade order faced a crucial test Thursday, with dozens of economies –- including key commercial partners like Canada — yet to secure US tariff deals ahead of a midnight deadline.The last-gasp scramble to strike bilateral accords came as an appeals court in Washington considered the legality behind Trump’s strategy of invoking emergency economic powers to declare sweeping duties on imports.The 79-year-old Republican doubled down on his wide-ranging levies, posting on Truth Social: “Tariffs are making America GREAT & RICH Again.”He insisted in a separate post that the world’s biggest economy would have “no chance of survival or success” without protectionist measures.But question marks linger over the effectiveness of Trump’s plans — and whether he will really follow through on his most dramatic threats.Hours before his declared deadline, Trump announced that he was delaying a tariff hike on Mexican products, originally due Friday, for 90 days after talks with counterpart Claudia Sheinbaum.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump will sign an executive order Thursday to implement his various threatened tariffs.Other road bumps remain.While Trump has touted a surge in customs revenues this year, economists warn the duties could fuel inflation.And the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit was hearing arguments Thursday in cases brought against Trump’s blanket tariffs targeting various economies.A government lawyer told the court that Trump’s tariff orders were covered by “broad discretion” he enjoys when handling national emergencies — including pressing economic issues.A lower court’s ruling had blocked most of the duties from taking effect, prompting the Trump administration’s challenge. The duties have been allowed to remain for now.- Deal or no deal -So far, Washington has announced pacts with Britain, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea and the European Union. New rates negotiated were expected to take effect Friday.South Korea squeezed in an agreement on a 15 percent tariff, down from 25 percent that Trump initially threatened.But Trump announced 50 percent tariffs on Brazilian products — although delaying their imposition and allowing key exemptions — as an effort to pressure the country to drop its prosecution of right-wing former president Jair Bolsonaro on coup charges.He also unveiled a 25 percent levy on Indian imports, and warned Canada of trade repercussions for planning to recognize a Palestinian state.And the details of agreements that have been made remain vague.The EU, while having reached a pact, continues seeking a carve-out for its wine industry.Looming over the global economy is also the unresolved trade tussle between the United States and rival China, with the superpowers in talks to maintain a truce after initially imposing triple-digit tariffs on each other.- Canada threat -Washington has yet to strike a deal with neighboring Canada, while Trump said he would maintain 25 percent duties on Mexican imports for now.”We haven’t spoken to Canada today,” Trump said Thursday, adding that Washington has “made a few deals today,” without providing specifics.US-Canada ties came under renewed threat after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September.”That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them,” Trump warned on social media.Carney said Wednesday that both countries “may not conclude talks by August 1st.”Goods covered by a North American trade pact have been excluded from Trump’s recent tariffs.Although Mexico and Canada were not originally targeted under Trump’s “reciprocal tariff” plan, he had separately threatened them with the same Friday deadline.The tariff hikes due Friday were announced in April when Trump slapped a 10 percent levy on goods from almost all partners — citing unfair trade practices.This rate was set to rise to varying levels for dozens of economies, but Washington twice postponed their implementation.

A US federal court ruled Thursday that Google must open its Android operating system to rival app stores, after the internet giant lost an appeal in an antitrust case filed by Fortnite maker Epic Games.The ruling clears the way for the Epic Games shop to operate within the Google Play Store despite the latter’s requirement that apps use Google’s payment system, which collects commissions on transactions.US Ninth Circuit Court Judge Margaret McKeown said in an opinion that a panel of justices decided to uphold the original verdict because the initial ruling’s parameters were “supported by the record and the nature of the market.”Epic chief executive Tim Sweeney fired off a post on X declaring: “Total victory in the Epic v Google appeal!”Google will continue its appeal of the December 2023 verdict, with the next venue being the US Supreme Court, according to the company’s global head of regulatory affairs Lee-Anne Mulholland.”This decision will significantly harm user safety, limit choice, and undermine the innovation that has always been central to the Android ecosystem,” Mulholland said in response to an AFP inquiry.”Our top priority remains protecting our users, developers and partners, and maintaining a secure platform as we continue our appeal.”- ‘Feudal security’ -Internet rights advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) argued in a brief filed in the case that “competition rather than monopoly will make users more safe.””Google and other tech giants offer ‘feudal security’ in which users must depend on the whims of a monopolist to guarantee their safety,” the EFF said in an online post.The EFF argued that the initial judge’s order promises to level the playing field in the Android operating system for rival app stores, including some with better vetting and curation policies.The judge’s order resulted from Google’s defeat in an antitrust case brought by Epic, where a California jury decided that Google wields illegal monopoly power through its Android Play Store.A similar legal battle has played out between Epic and Apple regarding its App Store.Shortly after Fortnite’s launch on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, Epic embedded secret code into the game’s software so that players could bypass the tech giants’ payment-processing systems, thereby avoiding commissions of up to 30 percent, the court noted.Epic dubbed the circumvention scheme “Project Liberty” as part of a protest against tight control of the main shops for smartphone digital content.Fortnite returned to Apple’s App Store in the United States in May after being sidelined for years due to a legal battle with the iPhone maker.North Carolina-based Epic has faced off against Apple in US courts since 2021, when Fortnite was banned from the App Store over what Apple said was an attempt to get around the iPhone maker’s payment system.Apple is appealing aspects of the outcome of that case despite a judge ruling the App Store is not a monopoly.

Celebrated US director Robert Wilson, who revolutionized stage and opera, died Thursday at the age of 83, his management said.”Robert Wilson died peacefully today in Water Mill, New York, at the age of 83, after a brief but acute illness,” said a statement issued on his website. It said he worked right up until the end.Wilson’s productions of original works as well as traditional repertoire pieces were hugely popular wherever they were shown. But it was in France where he was best known. It was the French who gave him a “home,” Wilson told AFP in 2021. It was in 1976 that Wilson was propelled onto the international stage with “Einstein on The Beach,” a nearly five-hour opera staged several times since its creation, with music by Philip Glass. “Einstein on the Beach” broke all the conventions of classical opera — there is no linear narrative but rather it draws on themes related to Einstein’s life. It does not aim to explain the theory of relativity but to convey the upheaval introduced by the notion of space-time, notably through dance.Wilson’s trademarks included minimalist aesthetics, body language influenced by Asian theatrical forms, and lighting effects evoking dreamlike worlds.- Avant-garde admiration -His love affair with France began with “Deafman Glance” (“Le Regard du Sourd”) — his first success — a “silent” seven-hour show presented at the Nancy Festival in 1971, and later in Paris.The show was born out of a real-world incident when in 1967, Wilson saw a 13-year-old Black teenager, Raymond Andrews, being beaten in the street by a police officer. He realized the child was deaf and mute and eventually adopted him.Wilson, also a visual artist, had a string of collaborations including with choreographer Andy de Groat, Tom Waits, Isabelle Huppert for “Orlando” by Virginia Woolf, Lady Gaga for video portraits of her at the Louvre, and ballet legend Mikhail Baryshnikov.”While facing his diagnosis with clear eyes and determination, he still felt compelled to keep working and creating right up until the very end,” the website piece announcing his death said. “His works for the stage, on paper, sculptures and video portraits, as well as The Watermill Center, will endure as Robert Wilson’s artistic legacy.”Memorials will be held for Wilson at time and locations yet to be announced.Born to a lawyer in October 4, 1941, in Waco, Texas, Wilson was performing his own plays in the family garage by the age of 12, but recalls being bottom of the class at school. He was cured of a severe stutter thanks to a psychotherapist who worked with dance. In his twenties, he landed in New York but hated what he saw in theaters and instinctively gravitated toward the American avant-garde: Andy Warhol, John Cage, choreographers George Balanchine, and especially Martha Graham.He relished nurturing emerging talent, and in 1992, created the Watermill Center near New York.

Pop star Justin Timberlake told fans Thursday he has Lyme disease, a condition he described as “relentlessly debilitating.”The 44-year-old former NSYNC frontman, whose world tour has just wrapped up, took to Instagram in reflective mood.”This has been the most fun, emotional, gratifying, physically demanding, and, at times, grueling experience,” he said of a tour that was criticized by some fans as lackluster.”Among other things, I’ve been battling some health issues, and was diagnosed with Lyme disease -— which I don’t say so you feel bad for me –– but to shed some light on what I’ve been up against behind the scenes.”Living with this can be relentlessly debilitating, both mentally and physically. When I first got the diagnosis I was shocked for sure. But, at least I could understand why I would be onstage and in a massive amount of nerve pain or just feeling crazy fatigue or sickness.”Lyme disease is caused by a bacteria often carried by ticks that live in woodlands throughout North America and Europe.Symptoms can include widespread pain, fatigue, and muscle weakness. In serious cases, patients could experience damage to the tissues, joints and immune system.The “Can’t Stop The Feeling” singer was in legal hot water last year after being arrested for drunk driving in a small town near New York.Timberlake, whose tumultuous relationship with Britney Spears was the inspiration for his 2002 smash “Cry Me A River” later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was ordered to do community service.