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Up to a million young Catholic believers are expected Saturday for a night-time vigil led by Pope Leo XIV, the culmination of a week-long pilgrimage, a key event in the Jubilee holy year.The “Jubilee of Youth” — when the Vatican invites Catholics aged 18 to 35 to the seat of the global Church’s power — has seen thousands of young pilgrims from around the world flood Rome this week.It is taking place just under three months since 69-year-old Leo — the first American pope — took over the papacy.Large groups of pilgrims have packed the streets of Rome all week, waving the flags of their countries or cities and chanting religious songs.Excitement has mounted over the course of the week for the new pope’s final appearance to the youths on Saturday.”I feel mainly curiosity, as we don’t know him very well yet,” Parisian student Alice Berry, 21, told AFP. “What does he have to say to us? What is his message for young people?”- Uncertainty, anxiety -Various events have been planned for them by the Church throughout the city, including at Circus Maximus, where on Friday approximately 1,000 priests were on hand to take confession.Some 200 white gazebos lined the hippodrome where chariot races were once held in Ancient Rome, where youth lined up to speak to priests in 10 different languages.Spanish was one of the main languages heard on the streets of the Italian capital.The pilgrimage is taking place as economic uncertainty hits young people across the world and as climate change anxiety rises among the under-30s. Many young pilgrims said they wanted to hear the Vatican’s position on climate change, wars and economic inequalities. Samarei Semos, 29, said she had travelled three days from her native Belize to get to Rome. “We are still trying to understand his leadership,” she said of the new pope, adding she hoped he would have a strong say about “third world countries”. The pilgrimage also comes amid global alarm over starvation in Israel-blockaded Gaza, and more than three years into Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. – Night vigil -The Vatican has praised Catholic youths who travelled to Rome from war-scarred countries like Ukraine or Syria, with Pope Leo repeatedly calling for the youths to “pray for peace”. The voices of the amassed young people “will be heard to the end of the earth,” Pope Leo told them earlier this week. The Vatican has said that more than 146 countries are represented.  The mass that is the climax of the event will take place in Rome’s Tor Vergata area in a vast open-air space with a newly built stage for the pope.It is the same area used 25 years ago for the last youth jubilee under Pope John Paul II. More than 4,300 volunteers will be working the event to welcome the young pilgrims, along with over 1,000 police, according to organisers. In an unprecedented move, Leo hosted a mass Tuesday for Catholic social media influencers, signalling the Vatican’s openness to supporting the Internet-savvy youth. Rome authorities have tightened security in the city — which has seen an unprecedented number of people, with both tourists and pilgrims inundated the city. 

US President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of two nuclear submarines Friday in an extraordinary escalation of what had been an online war of words with a Russian official over Ukraine and tariffs.Trump and Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, have been sparring on social media for days.Trump’s post on his Truth Social platform abruptly took that spat into the very real — and rarely publicized — sphere of nuclear forces.”Based on the highly provocative statements,” Trump said he had “ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that.””Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances,” the 79-year-old Republican posted.Trump did not say in his post whether he meant nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed submarines. He also did not elaborate on the exact deployment locations, which are kept secret by the US military.But in an interview with Newsmax that aired Friday night, Trump said the submarines were “closer to Russia.””We always want to be ready. And so I have sent to the region two nuclear submarines,” he said.”I just want to make sure that his words are only words and nothing more than that.”Trump’s remarks came hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had started mass producing its hypersonic nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile, and could deploy them to Belarus, a close Russian ally neighbouring Ukraine, by year-end.The nuclear sabre-rattling came against the backdrop of a deadline set by Trump for the end of next week for Russia to take steps to ending the Ukraine war or face unspecified new sanctions.Despite the pressure from Washington, Russia’s onslaught against its pro-Western neighbor continues to unfold at full bore.An AFP analysis Friday showed that Russian forces had launched a record number of drones at Ukraine in July.Russian attacks have killed hundreds of Ukrainian civilians since June. A combined missile and drone attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early Thursday killed 31 people, rescuers said.Putin, who has consistently rejected calls for a ceasefire, said Friday that he wants peace but that his demands for ending his nearly three-and-a-half year invasion were “unchanged”.Those demands include that Ukraine abandon territory and end ambitions to join NATO.Putin, speaking alongside Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, said Belarusian and Russian specialists “have chosen a place for future positions” of the Oreshnik missiles.”Work is now underway to prepare these positions. So, most likely, we will close this issue by the end of the year,” he added.- Insults, nuclear rhetoric -The United States and Russia control the vast majority of the world’s nuclear weaponry, and Washington keeps nuclear-armed submarines on permanent patrol as part of its so-called nuclear triad of land, sea and air-launched weapons.Trump told Newsmax that Medvedev’s “nuclear” reference prompted him to reposition US nuclear submarines.”When you mention the word ‘nuclear’… my eyes light up. And I say, we better be careful, because it’s the ultimate threat,” Trump said in the interview.Medvedev had criticised Trump on his Telegram account Thursday and alluded to the “fabled ‘Dead Hand'” — a reference to a highly secret automated system put in place during the Cold War to control the country’s nuclear weapons.This came after Trump had lashed out at what he called the “dead economies” of Russia and India.Medvedev had also harshly criticized Trump’s threat of new sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine.Accusing Trump of “playing the ultimatum game,” he posted Monday on X that Trump “should remember” that Russia is a formidable force.Trump responded by calling Medvedev “the failed former President of Russia, who thinks he’s still President.”Medvedev should “watch his words,” Trump posted at midnight in Washington on Wednesday. “He’s entering very dangerous territory!”Medvedev is a vocal proponent of Russia’s war — and generally antagonistic to relations with the West.He served as president between 2008-2012, effectively acting as a placeholder for Putin, who was able to circumvent constitutional term limits and remain in de facto power.The one-time reformer has rebranded over the years as an avid online troller, touting often extreme versions of official Kremlin nationalist messaging.But his influence within the Russian political system remains limited.In Kyiv on Friday, residents held a day of mourning for the 31 people, including five children, killed the day before, most of whom were in a nine-storey apartment block torn open by a missile.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said only Putin could end the war and renewed his call for a meeting between the two leaders.”The United States has proposed this. Ukraine has supported it. What is needed is Russia’s readiness,” he wrote on X.burs-sms/sco/tym

Columbia University’s $200 million agreement with President Donald Trump’s administration marks the end of a months-long showdown, but academics warn it is just the first round of a government “assault” on higher education.Academics from Columbia and beyond have expressed concerns that the deal — which makes broad-ranging concessions and increases government oversight — will become the blueprint for how Trump brings other universities to heel.The New York institution was the first to be targeted in Trump’s war against elite universities, for what the US president claimed was its failure to tackle anti-Semitism on campus in the wake of pro-Palestinian protests.It was stripped of hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funding and lost its ability to apply for new research grants. Labs saw vital funding frozen, and dozens of researchers were laid off.But Columbia last week agreed to pay the government $200 million, and an additional $21 million to settle an investigation into anti-Semitism.According to Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, the lack of due process — with the government slashing funding before carrying out a formal investigation — left Columbia in an “untenable position.”Columbia law professor David Pozen agreed, saying the “manner in which the deal was constructed has been unlawful and coercive from the start” and slamming the agreement as giving “legal form to an extortion scheme.”- Federal oversight -The deal goes beyond addressing anti-Semitism and makes concessions on international student admissions, race and ethnicity considerations in admissions and single-sex spaces on campus, among other issues.Columbia also agreed to appoint an independent monitor to implement the deal, share ethnicity admissions data with the government and crack down on campus protests.Many of the provisions “represent significant incursions onto Columbia’s autonomy,” said Pozen.”What’s happened at Columbia is part of a broader authoritarian attack on civil society,” he said, pointing to similar pressures on law firms and media organizations to fall in line.According to the law professor, the deal “signals the emergence of a new regulatory regime in which the Trump administration will periodically and unpredictably shake down other schools and demand concessions from them.”In the coming weeks, Pozen said he expected the “administration will put a lot of pressure on Harvard and other schools to follow suit.”Harvard University has pushed back against the government, filing a lawsuit in a bid to reverse sweeping funding cuts.But Steven Levitsky, a professor of government at Harvard, said that “in terms of academic freedom and in terms of democracy, the (Columbia) precedent is devastating.”- ‘First round’ – Education Secretary Linda McMahon said she hoped the Columbia deal would be a “template for other universities around the country.”On Wednesday, McMahon announced a deal with Brown University to restore some federal funding and end ongoing investigations after the Ivy League school agreed to end race considerations in admissions and adopt a biological definition of gender.Brown President Christina Paxson admitted “there are other aspects of the agreement that were not part of previous federal reviews of Brown policies” but were “priorities of the federal administration.”Harvard is reportedly considering forking out $500 million to settle, according to the New York Times.Others have made smaller concessions to appease the government, with Trump’s alma mater the University of Pennsylvania banning transgender women from competing in women’s sports, and the University of Virginia’s head resigning after scrutiny over its diversity programs.Brendan Cantwell, a professor at Michigan State University who researches the history and governance of higher education, said government interference in universities “has not happened at scale like this, probably ever in American history.”While some university staff see striking an agreement as the quickest way to reopen the federal funding spigot, Cantwell warned that concessions such as sharing ethnicity data from admissions could be “weaponized” and provide fodder for future probes.Levitsky agreed, saying: “Extortionists don’t stop at the first concession. Extortionists come back for more.””There’s a very high likelihood that this is just the first round,” he said.Pozen noted that it will be harder for “major research universities to hold the line” compared to smaller colleges which are less reliant on federal funding.But Levitsky still urged Harvard to stand its ground and “fight back,” including in the courts. “Fighting an authoritarian regime is costly, but that’s what we have to do,” he said. “This is an unprecedented assault, and universities need to work together.”

An investigative hearing into a deadly mid-air collision of a US Army helicopter and a passenger plane that killed 67 people in Washington has revealed a discrepancy in the chopper’s altitude displays.The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the US agency tasked with examining major accidents, held hearings from Wednesday to Friday, with rigorous questioning of experts and various other parties including regulators and air traffic controllers.There were no survivors in the January 29 mid-air collision involving the Sikorsky Black Hawk military helicopter and a Bombardier CRJ700 operated by a subsidiary of American Airlines.The passenger plane from Wichita, Kansas was coming in to land at Reagan National Airport — just a few miles from the White House — when the Army helicopter on a training flight collided with it.After examining flight recorder data, the NTSB first reported a discrepancy in the helicopter’s altitude readings on February 14.As part of the investigation, tests were conducted with three of the same helicopter models — Sikorsky Black Hawk Lima — belonging to the same battalion. The findings revealed this week showed differences between the altitude indicated by the radar altimeter and the barometric altimeter on the aircraft.Investigator Marie Moler noted that the altimeters “showed an 80- to 130-foot (24- to 40-meter) difference in flight” although the differences were within 20 to 55 feet in a controlled test environment. “Once the helicopter rotors were turning and producing lift and thrust, the altimeter readings lowered significantly and stayed lower throughout the flights,” Moler said.NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy called the discrepancy significant, calling for more investigation. “I am concerned. There is a possibility that what the crew saw was very different than what the true altitude was,” Homendy said. “A 100-foot difference is significant” in this case, she added.In the Potomac River area where the collision occurred, helicopters are required to stay below 200 feet, officials said during the hearings.President Donald Trump was quick to blame diversity hiring policies for the accident although no evidence has emerged that they were responsible.Federal Aviation Agency air traffic control specialist Clark Allen told the hearing there was sufficient supervisory staff present in the control tower that night.The collision was the first major plane crash in the United States since 2009 when 49 people were killed near Buffalo, New York.

A combination of tact and tenacity is credited for Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s successful dealings with US counterpart Donald Trump, most recently convincing him to delay a sky-high import tariff meant to come into effect Friday.The pair are known to get along despite sitting on opposite sides of the political aisle, earning Mexico’s first woman president the epithet of “Trump whisperer.”At least three times now, the US president has granted Mexico tariff relief and Trump has described Sheinbaum as a “wonderful woman” to the envy of a host of other world leaders who have found exchanges with Trump can be tetchy.On Thursday, Trump agreed to delay by 90 days a 30 percent general tariff on imported Mexican goods, just hours before it was to take effect.It was the outcome of the ninth phone conversation between the two leaders since Trump returned to power in January with a strong rhetoric against undocumented migrants and fentanyl flowing from America’s southern neighbor.How did she do it? “With a cool head,” the president herself told reporters Friday.The 63-year-old physicist and dedicated leftist added that she avoids “confronting” the magnate, all the while insisting on Mexico’s sovereign rights in dealing with a man known to respect strong leaders.Sheinbaum has said that Mexicans should “never bow our heads” and Trump has acknowledged her mettle, remarking: “You’re tough” in one phone call, according to The New York Times. “Mexico represents a lot to the United States… they are aware of that,” Sheinbaum explained.- ‘Ability to convince’ -Thanks to the USMCA free trade agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada, nearly 85 percent of Mexican exports have been tariff-free.And while a 30 percent general tariff has been delayed, for now, Mexico’s vital automotive sector is the target of a 25 percent levy, albeit with discounts for parts manufactured in the United States.Its steel and aluminum sectors, like those of other countries, are subject to a 50 percent tariff.Mexico’s government nevertheless claims the latest delay as a victory. “Without being sycophantic, I can tell you that the way our president handles her conversations, her approach, the firmness with which she defends Mexico’s interests, her ability to convince President Trump, is very significant,” Secretary of Economy Marcelo Ebrard, who leads trade negotiations, told reporters Thursday.- Give and take -Sheinbaum seems also to have adopted a give and take approach, deploying thousands of border troops to assuage Trump’s concerns about migration and drug flows.The president insists she has “not yielded anything” in negotiations with Trump, and talks are ongoing between the neighbors for a security agreement to tackle the problem of fentanyl and drug trafficking.Sheinbaum has also raised the possibility of importing more US products to reset the trade balance.Some fear the Mexican leader is merely buying time.The latest tariff delay “does not solve the issue of uncertainty; we return to the starting point,” Diego Marroquin, a trade expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told AFP. 

Global markets reeled Friday after President Donald Trump’s tariffs barrage against nearly all US trading partners as governments looked down the barrel of a seven-day deadline before higher duties take effect.Trump announced late Thursday that dozens of economies, including the European Union, will face new tariff rates of between 10 and 41 percent.However, implementation will be on August 7 rather than Friday as previously announced, the White House said. This gives governments a window to rush to strike deals with Washington setting more favorable conditions.Neighboring Canada, one of the biggest US trade partners, was hit with 35 percent levies, up from 25 percent, effective Friday — but with wide-ranging, current exemptions remaining in place.The tariffs are a demonstration of raw economic power that Trump sees putting US exporters in a stronger position, while encouraging domestic manufacturing by keeping out foreign imports.But the muscular approach has raised fears of inflation and other economic fallout in the world’s biggest economy.Stock markets in Hong Kong, London and New York slumped as they digested the turmoil, while weak US employment data added to worries.Trump’s actions come as debate rages over how best to steer the US economy, with the Federal Reserve this week deciding to keep interest rates unchanged, despite massive political pressure from the White House to cut.Data Friday showed US job growth missing expectations for July, while unemployment ticked up to 4.2 percent from 4.1 percent.On Wall Street, the S&P 500 dropped 1.6 percent, while the Nasdaq tumbled 2.2 percent.- Political goals -Trump raised duties on around 70 economies, from a current 10 percent level imposed in April when he unleashed “reciprocal” tariffs citing unfair trade practices.The new, steeper levels listed in an executive order vary by trading partner. Any goods “transshipped” through other jurisdictions to avoid US duties would be hit with an additional 40 percent tariff, the order said.But Trump’s duties also have a distinctly political flavor, with the president using separate tariffs to pressure Brazil to drop the trial of his far-right ally, former president Jair Bolsonaro.He also warned of trade consequences for Canada, which faces a different set of duties, after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September.In targeting Canada, the White House cited its failure to “cooperate in curbing the ongoing flood of fentanyl and other illicit drugs” — although Canada is not a major source of illegal narcotics.By contrast, Trump gave more time to Mexico, delaying for 90 days a threat to increase its tariffs from 25 percent to 30 percent.But exemptions remain for a wide range of Canadian and Mexican goods entering the United States under an existing North American trade pact.Carney said his government was “disappointed” with the latest rates hike but noted that with exclusions the US average tariff on Canadian goods remains one of the lowest among US trading partners.- ‘Tears up’ rule book -With questions hanging over the effectiveness of bilateral trade deals struck — including with the EU and Japan — the outcome of Trump’s overall plan remains uncertain.”No doubt about it — the executive order and related agreements concluded over the past few months tears up the trade rule book that has governed international trade since World War II,” said Wendy Cutler, senior vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute.On Friday, Trump said he would consider distributing a tariff “dividend” to Americans.Notably excluded from Friday’s drama was China, which is in the midst of negotiations with the United States.Washington and Beijing at one point brought tit-for-tat tariffs to triple-digit levels, but have agreed to temporarily lower these duties and are working to extend their truce.Those who managed to strike deals with Washington to avert steeper threatened levies included Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea and the European Union.Among other tariff levels adjusted in Trump’s latest order, Switzerland now faces a higher 39 percent duty.

Faced with closed restrooms, vandalized facilities and lavatory deserts, New Yorkers and visitors to the city alike confront a host of hurdles to relieve themselves when out and about.In its latest efforts to combat this problem, the Big Apple has turned to a Portland-based company that designs modular public conveniences it claims are city-proof.The products, dubbed “Portland Loos,” are the brainchild of Madden Fabrication and have garnered something of a cult following around the versatile, kiosk-like facilities which the company says are far cheaper than traditional toilet buildings.Such public toilet pods have already been installed in 250 locations throughout the United States.New York has pledged to build 49 new public bathrooms by 2029 to combat the lack of toilets across the five boroughs.Currently, there are approximately 1,100 public conveniences for the megacity’s 8.4 million people, according to official estimates.   – ‘Simple but durable’ -The city will spend $150 million on building new restrooms and renovating 36 existing sites. At the $200,000 unit installed in the Bronx’s Joyce Kilmer park, two blocks from Yankee Stadium baseball park, bystanders eyed the new fixture with interest.One man accidentally activated the hand dryer, part of a sink fitting located on the outside of the booth.A spokesman for the company described the design as “simple but durable,” with the basin placed outside in order to keep people moving and avoid a “hotel effect.””Hell yeah, we haven’t had a bathroom in this area in forever,” said lifelong Bronx resident Carlos Lopez, describing discrepancies in public restroom access between lower-income and wealthier neighborhoods.For the five trial units ordered, New York insisted on a higher grade of stainless steel and other modifications to meet strict planning rules.Street photographer Elijah Dominique, who lives near the park, said public bathrooms were especially important for unhoused people.”We’ve got a lot of homeless people in this area,” Dominique said. “Those are the people who really need these bathrooms. It’s good for them — and for us too so that we’re not stepping in (waste) on the sidewalks. Nobody wants that.”

US Federal Reserve governor Adriana Kugler is resigning from her position, the central bank said Friday, opening a vacancy that President Donald Trump can fill as he presses his campaign to drop interest rates.Kugler, who was nominated by former president Joe Biden in 2023, did not give a reason for stepping down from the Fed’s board.Her term was due to end in January 2026, but her departure — effective August 8 — gives Trump the chance to appoint someone new to the Fed sooner than anticipated, shaping its leadership.Trump said he was “very happy” about the upcoming vacancy, after Kugler submitted her letter of resignation to him.The personnel shift comes as the Fed faces intensifying pressure under Trump, who has repeatedly criticized the central bank’s chief Jerome Powell for not lowering interest rates sooner.Trump said Friday on social media that “Powell should resign” just as Kugler did.The US president previously suggested that what he says is an overly costly renovation of the Fed’s headquarters could be a reason to oust Powell, before backing off the threat.Powell’s term as Fed chair ends in May 2026.Kugler did not attend the Fed’s two-day policy meeting this week due to a personal matter, and did not vote on its decision.In a mid-July speech, she made the case for holding rates at the current level for some time, citing inflationary pressures and relatively low unemployment levels.”It has been an honor of a lifetime to serve on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System,” Kugler wrote in her resignation letter.Fed policymakers have approached further rate cuts with caution — since their last reduction in December — as they assess the impact of Trump’s wide-ranging and fluctuating tariffs on inflation.They expect to have a better gauge of the duties’ effects after data from the summer months, given that tariffs take time to filter through the economy.But Trump has pushed for interest rate reductions, and for the benchmark lending rate to be lowered by as much as three percentage points.Earlier on Friday, Trump touted the fact that two Fed governors voted against the central bank’s Wednesday decision to keep rates unchanged again.He said on social media: “STRONG DISSENTS ON FED BOARD. IT WILL ONLY GET STRONGER!”He also called Powell a “stubborn moron” and said the Fed’s board should “assume control” if Powell continued to support holding rates steady.Kugler is expected to return to Georgetown University as a professor this year, the Fed said.

President Donald Trump said Friday he has ordered the firing of a key economic official, accusing her of manipulating employment data for political reasons — without giving evidence — after a new report showed cracks in the US jobs market.US job growth missed expectations in July, Labor Department data showed, and revisions to hiring figures in recent months brought them to the weakest levels since the Covid-19 pandemic.Trump lashed out at the department’s Commissioner of Labor Statistics — Erika McEntarfer — after the report, writing on social media that the jobs numbers “were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad.”In a separate post on his Truth Social platform, he charged that McEntarfer had “faked” jobs data to boost Democrats’ chances of victory in the recent presidential election.”McEntarfer said there were only 73,000 Jobs added (a shock!) but, more importantly, that a major mistake was made by them, 258,000 Jobs downward, in the prior two months,” Trump said, referring to latest data for July.”Similar things happened in the first part of the year, always to the negative,” he added.But he insisted that the world’s biggest economy was “booming” under his leadership.The United States added 73,000 jobs last month, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.2 percent from 4.1 percent, said the Department of Labor earlier Friday.Hiring numbers for May were revised down from 144,000 to 19,000. The figure for June was shifted from 147,000 to 14,000.This was notably lower than job creation levels in recent years. During the pandemic, the economy lost jobs.The employment data points to challenges in the key labor market as companies took a cautious approach in hiring and investment while grappling with Trump’s sweeping — and rapidly changing — tariffs this year.The numbers also pile pressure on the central bank as it mulls the best time to cut interest rates.With tariff levels climbing since the start of the year, both on imports from various countries and on sector-specific products such as steel, aluminum and autos, many firms have faced higher business costs.Some are now passing them along to consumers.- ‘Gamechanger’ -“This is a gamechanger jobs report. The labor market is deteriorating quickly,” said Heather Long, chief economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union.She added in a note that of the growth in July, “75 percent of those jobs were in one sector: health care.””The economy needs certainty soon on tariffs,” Long said. “The longer this tariff whiplash lasts, the more likely this weak hiring environment turns into layoffs.”But it remains unclear when the dust will settle, with Trump ordering the reimposition of steeper tariffs on scores of economies late Thursday, which are set to take effect in a week.The president also raised tariffs on Canadian imports, although broad exemptions remain.Mortgage Bankers Association economist Joel Kan said that for now, “goods-producing industries saw contraction for the third straight month.””Service industries involved in trade also saw declines in job growth, potentially a result of the uncertain tariff environment, as businesses either put their activity on pause or pulled back altogether,” Kan added in a note.- ‘Overly cautious’ -A sharp weakening in the labor market could push the Federal Reserve toward slashing interest rates sooner to shore up the economy.On Friday, the two Fed officials who voted this week against the central bank’s decision to keep rates unchanged warned that standing pat risks further damaging the economy.Both Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman and Governor Christopher Waller argued that the inflationary effects of tariffs were temporary.They added in separate statements that the bank should focus on fortifying the economy to avert further weakening in the labor market.Putting off an interest rate cut “could result in a deterioration in the labor market and a further slowing in economic growth,” Bowman added.Waller said: “I believe that the wait and see approach is overly cautious.”

Ghislaine Maxwell, the accomplice of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has been moved from a prison in Florida to a minimum security facility in Texas, the Bureau of Prisons said Friday, triggering an angry reaction from some of their victims.No reason was given for Maxwell’s transfer but it comes a week after a top Justice Department official met with her to ask questions about Epstein, who died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial for allegedly sex trafficking underage girls.”We can confirm Ghislaine Maxwell is in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Bryan in Bryan, Texas,” a Bureau of Prisons spokesman said.Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, interviewed Maxwell for two days at a Florida courthouse last week in a highly unusual meeting between a convicted felon and high-ranking Justice official.Blanche has declined so far to say what was discussed but Maxwell’s lawyer, David Markus, said she answered every question she was asked.Maxwell has offered to testify before Congress about Epstein if given immunity and has also reportedly been seeking a pardon from Trump, a one-time close friend of Epstein.She had been subpoenaed to give a deposition to the House Oversight Committee on August 11, but Politico reported Friday it had been postponed indefinitely.The former British socialite is serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted in 2021 of recruiting underage girls for Epstein.Two women who said they were sexually abused by Epstein and Maxwell and the family of another accuser who recently committed suicide condemned the prison transfer.”It is with horror and outrage that we object to the preferential treatment convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has received,” Annie and Maria Farmer and the family of Virginia Giuffre said in a statement Friday.”Ghislaine Maxwell is a sexual predator who physically assaulted minor children on multiple occasions, and she should never be shown any leniency,” they said.”Yet, without any notification to the Maxwell victims, the government overnight has moved Maxwell to a minimum security luxury prison in Texas,” they said. “This move smacks of a cover-up. The victims deserve better.”- ‘Cover-up in real time’ -Tim Hogan, a senior Democratic National Committee advisor, also denounced what he alleged was a “government cover-up in real time.””Donald Trump’s FBI, run by loyalist Kash Patel, redacted Trump’s name from the Epstein files — which have still not been released,” Hogan said.”While Trump and his administration try to cover up the heinous crimes included in those files, they’re simultaneously doing favors for convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.”Trump is facing mounting demands from Democrats and many of his conspiracy-minded Make America Great Again supporters to be more transparent about the case of the wealthy and well-connected Epstein.Trump’s supporters have been obsessed with the Epstein case for years and have been up in arms since the FBI and Justice Department said last month that Epstein had committed suicide while in jail, did not blackmail any prominent figures, and did not keep a “client list.”The president raised further questions this week as he told reporters he fell out with Epstein after the financier “stole” female employees from the spa at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.One of those girls was Giuffre, who accused Epstein of using her as a sex slave and committed suicide at her home in Australia in April.Giuffre’s family issued a statement this week appealing to Trump not to consider pardoning Maxwell, who they called a “monster who deserves to rot in prison for the rest of her life.”