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In Uganda, millions of schoolchildren have benefitted from a universal education program backed by the United States. In South Sudan, US assistance has helped thousands of flood victims at risk of cholera.With one swoop of the pen, President Donald Trump froze the bulk of US foreign assistance for three months on returning to office, demanding a review to ensure all money meets his “America First” principles.The Trump administration has since issued waivers for food and other humanitarian aid. But aid workers say uncertainty reigns — and that the impact is already being felt by some of the world’s most vulnerable.Even if US assistance returns after the 90-day review, aid workers fear long-term consequences from the cutoff, and some observers see a lasting blow to US credibility as China and other powers woo the developing world.”Even if the funding eventually turns back on, great damage will have been done,” said Peter Waiswa, an accountant in Kamuli, Uganda who coordinates aid as part of a network known as the Compassion Connectors.”Missing drugs for days for the HIV/AIDS patients can cause death,” he said.Waiswa said that some schools in the universal education program that relied on US assistance have already given notices for children not to report to school.In Aweil in the northern reaches of impoverished South Sudan, orphanage teacher James Akoon Akot said that 3,000 people who lost their homes in floods were promised relief by international groups backed by US assistance.”The problem is that aid is used for both immediate relief and reconstruction,” he said.”If this decision to cut off funds is not reconsidered soon, there is a very real possibility that people will begin to die of hunger and diseases in South Sudan,” he said.- Uncertainly reigns -The United States has long been the world’s largest provider of development aid, giving $64 billion in 2023.Among its most prominent programs is PEPFAR, the anti-HIV/AIDS initiative started under former president George W. Bush that is credited with saving some 26 million lives.Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a memo signed on January 24 froze all US assistance with waivers for “emergency food” and, outside of development, weapons for Israel and Egypt.In a follow-up memo, he exempted other humanitarian assistance including shelter and medicine, appearing to give the greenlight for anti-retroviral drugs funded by PEPFAR.But Suzy Dzimbiri, a nurse in Zumba, Malawi, said she heard of people stockpiling whatever medicine they can and that one local charity that administered HIV/AIDS treatment, named Lighthouse, quickly closed down.In Washington, a congressional aide who follows humanitarian assistance said that even a nine-day shutdown in theory affects one million daily doses of HIV/AIDS medication — and that guidance was still murky.”It sounds like people expect PEPFAR to go ahead, but we have nothing in terms of specifics,” the aide said.”We do know of cases where there has been medicine sitting on the shelf and ready to go and that it’s been ordered to stay on the shelf” pending guidance from Washington, the aide said on condition of anonymity.”PEPFAR was supposed to be our Marshall Plan. The idea that we would just flip a switch and it would all turn off shows us to be capricious — we don’t actually care — and that going forward they probably do need to look to countries like China,” the aide said.- ‘We don’t want to see people die’ -Explaining his decision to issue further waivers, Rubio said, “We don’t want to see people die and the like.”But he said that the waiver process was rightfully forcing groups to justify spending as “historically we’ve gotten very little cooperation.””We have this thing that I’ve called the foreign aid industrial complex — all of these entities around the world that are getting millions and millions of dollars from the United States,” Rubio said in an interview with SiriusXM.”We have to make sure that it’s aligned with our national interest.”A senior official from a US-based organization feared that the priority on “emergency” assistance was part of a broader plan to say eventually that the United States need not fund anything else.”Even the term ’emergency food’ is a contradiction in terms. You go without food for a few days, and I’ll tell you what emergency food looks like,” said the official, who requested anonymity so as not to upset US government contacts.The official said that the most affected by the cutoff were local groups that did not have financial reserves — exactly the types of organizations that US officials want to build up.”This is essentially like burning down the foundations with the professed aim of renovating your house.”

Camp queen, queer icon, a searing yet irreverent songwriter with cascading vocals: Chappell Roan has soared to pop’s upper echelons on a singular blend of vulnerability and high-production performance that has earned her legions of fans.Her supersonic ascent has made the musician from Missouri with a waterfall of red curls one of the leading contenders at the Grammy Awards on Sunday, with six nominations, including in all four major categories.Her over-the-top theater kid persona, complete with wildly lavish costumes and high-drama makeup that nods to drag culture, made her an unstoppable force on the festival circuit.And since then, the 26-year-old has since been truly inescapable — on TikTok, the radio, streaming, late-night shows and, eventually, a viral media cycle over her lukewarm support of presidential candidate Kamala Harris that proved, in case anyone doubted it, just how big she’d gotten.In an industry thirsty for “moments,” it seemed like Roan was a rare bird who appeared out of nowhere.But she’d actually been hustling for a decade — making music while working odd jobs, handling mental health struggles and coming into her own.- Midwest Princess -Born Kayleigh Rose Amstutz on February 19, 1998 in Willard, Missouri, Roan threw herself into the arts while never quite finding her social footing, and grappling with weighty emotions she would eventually learn were symptoms of bipolar disorder.Her YouTube performances earned attention, and she moved to Los Angeles — but then home again after Atlantic Records dropped her amid the early days of the pandemic that left the music industry reeling.But before she was cut loose, Roan dropped “Pink Pony Club,” a track that years later would blossom as one of her smash hits.Dan Nigro, the heavyweight producer who worked with Roan at Atlantic, reconnected with her in 2021, and the years-long build-up to her soaring takeoff began in earnest.For several scrappy years, she worked odd jobs, amassed followers on TikTok, underwent therapy to treat her unpredictable condition and finished her debut album.Roan — whose stage name pays homage to her late grandfather Dennis Chappell and his favorite song, “The Strawberry Roan” — released her bold, vulnerable album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” in 2023 to critical praise.On it, she delves into themes of sexuality and yearning with a pop-forward, dance-heavy beat and impressive vocals that one critic characterized as “singing in cursive.”Her standalone single “Good Luck, Babe!” and the cheerleader-inspired dance number “Hot to Go!” found enormous audiences.She thrived on TikTok but Roan wasn’t only magnetic online: it was her extravagant presence onstage — she did New York’s Governors Ball dressed as the Statue of Liberty after arriving in a huge apple bong — that cemented her superstar status.- Growing pains -Roan’s phenomenal rise has come with a price: she has spoken out about fame’s growing pains that have left her exhausted and at times afraid of aggressive fans.During a set over the summer, she broke down in tears, telling fans she felt “a little off today” over her career’s breakneck pace.She says many of her fellow artists have reached out with sympathy, including Elton John — who comically called her from an unidentified number 11 times before she answered and realized it was him, she told Rolling Stone.”I was telling him I was struggling a lot, and he said, ‘If you need to stop, say stop,'” she said.Roan, who grew up in a conservative, Christian household, isn’t shy about speaking out on topics from trans rights to supporting the Palestinian cause, but does not want to be pigeon-holed for her progressive politics.She also has sung of queer love, and eventually came out as a lesbian this past summer.But, in an industry that finds a marketing angle wherever possible, she insists on “being taken seriously outside of” her queerness.”Look, I love being gay. I just don’t want to talk about it every second of every day,” Roan told Rolling Stone.

Within his first two weeks in office, US President Donald Trump sent an emissary to arch-rival Venezuela, an apparent about-turn from the hard-line approach he adopted toward Caracas during his first term. Washington has not recognized Nicolas Maduro’s reelection in a vote he is widely accused of stealing, and has instead continued to consider opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as Venezuela’s president-elect.Yet Trump envoy Richard Grenell met Maduro himself in Caracas on Friday, securing the release of six US prisoners held in the Caribbean country in talks Caracas said were held in “mutual respect.”On Saturday, Trump announced Venezuela had agreed to accept illegal migrants deported from the United States, including gang members — and had even agreed to provide the transport.”It is clear that the government of Donald Trump had two main interests in the relationship with Maduro as a starting point: the first is the migration issue and the second the situation of US citizens arbitrarily detained in Venezuela,” international relations expert Mariano de Alba told AFP.The meeting apparently “opens the door to an improvement in relations,” he added, though perhaps not “in the short term.”- ‘New beginning’ in US-Venezuela relations? -Venezuela has the world’s biggest known oil reserves, but production is stunted, the country is heavily sanctioned and GDP has dropped 80 percent in a decade on Maduro’s watch — prompting nearly eight million of the country’s 30 million citizens to flee.Caracas broke off diplomatic relations with Washington in January 2019 after Trump recognized then-opposition leader Juan Guaido as “interim president” after elections also rejected as neither free nor fair.The strategy of recognizing Guaido collapsed and Maduro merely tightened his hold on power. The Joe Biden administration later relaxed sanctions on oil as part of a deal for American prisoners and a promise to hold free elections.Venezuela freed 10 Americans in a swap, but Biden reimposed sanctions after Maduro did not follow through on democratic reforms.Phil Gunson, a Venezuela expert at the International Crisis Group think tank, said he was not surprised Washington and Caracas made contact, but noted “the speed with which an apparent agreement has been reached.””It was illusory to think that Trump would come with the same maximum pressure policy” that had previously failed to influence Maduro, he said.It was not clear what, if anything, Venezuela had gained from the talks with Grenell, after which Maduro called for a “new beginning” in bilateral relations.But “it is safe to assume that… there was an express request from the Maduro government not to increase pressure with sanctions,” said de Alba.- ‘Important symbolism’ -A Venezuelan government statement said “the negative impact of economic sanctions” was among the issues discussed with Grenell.But for now, it seems the status quo remains, said Gunson.Trump has so far not introduced any changes to a Biden-era concession allowing oil companies such as Chevron to continue operating in Venezuela despite sanctions against the regime.Maduro “would like to have the sanctions lifted, that’s obvious, but if he has to live with what he’s got — the concessions that Biden made — he can live with it,” the analyst added.A Trump administration official meanwhile recently said that: “we don’t need Venezuelan oil.”De Alba said Grenell’s visit, which Maduro has celebrated as a triumph, carried “important symbolism” and could be interpreted as a blow for the opposition, which has its strongest ally in the United States.”We say to President Donald Trump: we have taken a first step. Hopefully it can be sustained, we want to sustain it,” Maduro said Friday.Mauricio Claver-Carone, US special envoy for Latin America, said the talks did not imply any softening of the position on Maduro.But according to Gunson, “despite the rhetoric, the US, in practice, recognizes Maduro as president.”Trump has made the deportation of undocumented people in the United States a top priority.His administration has put an end to protections from deportation for more than 600,000 Venezuelans living in the United States under a special status introduced under Biden due to fears for their safety if they return to Venezuela.

President Donald Trump is imposing steep tariffs on major US trading partners Canada, Mexico and China, with a lower rate on Canadian energy imports, the White House said Saturday.Canadian and Mexico exports to the United States will face a 25 percent tariff rate, although energy resources from Canada will have a lower 10 percent levy.Goods from China, which already face various rates of duties, will see an additional 10 percent tariff, said the White House.Washington earlier told Ottawa to expect the broad duties on its exports starting Tuesday, a Canadian government source told AFP.Trump is invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in imposing the tariffs, with the White House saying “the extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs, including deadly fentanyl, constitutes a national emergency.”The announcement threatens upheaval across supply chains from energy to automobiles and food.Trump has repeatedly expressed his love for tariffs, and has signaled that Saturday’s action could be the first volley in further trade conflicts to come.This week, the US president pledged to impose duties on the European Union.He has also promised tariffs on semiconductors, steel, aluminum, as well as oil and gas — without specifying which countries would be targeted.Trump returned to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida for the weekend with no public events on his official schedule Saturday. He headed to the golf course Saturday morning.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to hold a press conference around 6:00 pm (2300 GMT), two Canadian government sources told AFP.- Growth concerns -Imposing sweeping tariffs on three key US trading partners carries risks for Trump, who swept to victory in November’s election partly due to public dissatisfaction over the economy.Higher import costs would likely “dampen consumer spending and business investment,” said EY chief economist Gregory Daco.He expects inflation would rise by 0.7 percentage points in the first quarter this year with the tariffs, before gradually easing.”Rising trade policy uncertainty will heighten financial market volatility and strain the private sector, despite the administration’s pro-business rhetoric,” he said.Trump’s supporters have downplayed fears that tariffs would fuel inflation, with some suggesting his planned tax cuts and deregulation measures could boost growth instead.Democratic lawmakers criticized Trump’s plans, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying Friday: “I am concerned these new tariffs will further drive up costs for American consumers.”Canada and Mexico are major suppliers of US agricultural products, with imports totaling tens of billions of dollars from each country per year.Tariffs would also hit the auto industry hard, with about 70 percent of light vehicles built in Canada and Mexico destined for the United States, according to S&P Global Mobility.The research group added that automakers and suppliers also produce components throughout the region, meaning tariffs will likely increase costs for US-made vehicles.- Ready to respond -Trudeau said Friday that Ottawa is ready with “a purposeful, forceful” response.Doug Ford, premier of Canada’s economic engine Ontario, warned Saturday that “the impact of these tariffs will be felt almost immediately,” predicting potential job losses and a slowdown in business.Canada should “hit back hard and hit back strong,” he said at a local election campaign stop.Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum previously said her government would await any announcement “with a cool head” and had plans for whatever Washington decides.Sheinbaum has met Mexican business representatives, with her economy minister Marcelo Ebrard saying on social media Saturday that the private sector was closing ranks around her in the face of potential commercial “arbitrariness.”White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, however, on Friday dismissed concerns of a trade war.Hiking import taxes on crude oil from countries like Canada and Mexico could bring “huge implications for US energy prices, especially in the US Midwest,” noted David Goldwyn and Joseph Webster of the Atlantic Council.Nearly 60 percent of US crude oil imports are from Canada, according to a Congressional Research Service report.

US Democrats picked a 51-year-old progressive activist on Saturday as their new leader, who must rebuild a party still reeling from last year’s crushing presidential defeat — and figure out how best to oppose Republican Donald Trump. “The Democratic Party is the party of working people, and it’s time to roll up our sleeves and outcompete everywhere, in every election, and at every level of government,” Ken Martin, the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), said in a statement.The DNC, the party’s governing body, raises millions of dollars each year to support and build infrastructure for candidates across the country, culminating every four years in the presidential election.Martin, a relative unknown outside of the party, stressed the need for Democrats to reconnect with blue collar voters, and to take the electoral fight to all 50 states — even bastions of conservative politics.”Donald Trump and his billionaire allies are put on notice — we will hold them accountable for ripping off working families, and we will beat them at the ballot box,” Martin said.Party grandees were meeting near Washington as the DNC carries out a postmortem of their November loss.They elevated Martin, formerly the chair of the party’s Minnesota branch, to devise their national battle plan. “This is not a game of chess where everyone is moving their pieces back and forth in a respectful, timed manner. This is guerilla warfare in political form,” said Katherine Jeanes, deputy digital director of the North Carolina Democratic Party, ahead of the vote.Maryland Governor Wes Moore, a rising Democratic star, warned that the party must “not to go into hiding until the next general election.”The moment calls for boldness, added Shasti Conrad, chair of the party’s Washington state branch, saying that many Americans have lost the faith. “They don’t trust us to be able to make things better. They don’t trust that when we are given power, that we know how to use it,” Conrad said.And the fight starts now, she added — there can be no waiting until the next presidential election, set for 2028.- Sports and video games -Facing a Republican majority in Congress and a second term for Trump, who has roared back into the White House with all the provocative rhetoric of his first administration, Democrats say they must pick their battles.”We have to be able to decipher crazy rhetoric versus policy violence,” said Conrad, and not be like a “dog chasing the car.”While many are “exhausted” after the last election campaign, Jeanes said the party must learn to respond to the frantic pace of shock moves from the Trump administration.Much of Democratic success going forward will be in how the party presents itself to an American public weary of politics.That includes engaging with voters “in places that have sometimes been uncomfortable” for Democrats, according to Conrad.After his victory in November, Trump credited a series of interviews on largely right-wing podcasts, including the popular “Joe Rogan Experience,” for aiding his return to the White House. “We need to be getting on sports podcasts and video games and trying to make sure that we’re reaching into apolitical spaces,” Jeanes said.

President Donald Trump is due to unleash fresh tariffs Saturday on major US trading partners Canada, Mexico and China, threatening upheaval across supply chains from energy to automobiles.Trump promises 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico, pointing to what he said was their failure to halt illegal immigration and the flow of fentanyl across US borders.He also vows a 10 percent tariff on imports from China, the world’s second biggest economy, charging that it had a role in the synthetic opioid’s production.Trump has repeatedly expressed his love for tariffs, and has signaled that Saturday’s action could be the first volley in further trade conflicts to come.This week, the US president pledged to impose duties on the European Union.He has also promised tariffs on semiconductors, steel, aluminum, copper, pharmaceuticals as well as oil and gas.Trump returned to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida for the weekend with no public events on his official schedule. He headed to the golf course Saturday morning.Canadian public broadcaster CBC reported Saturday that Ottawa has been told to expect 25 percent across-the-board US tariffs, although energy imports would see a lower rate of 10 percent.These would take effect Tuesday, CBC added.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to hold a press conference around 6:00 pm (0000 GMT), two Canadian government sources told AFP.- Growth concerns -Imposing sweeping tariffs on three key US trading partners carries risks for Trump, who swept to victory in November’s election partly on the back of public dissatisfaction over costs of living.Higher import costs would likely “dampen consumer spending and business investment,” said EY chief economist Gregory Daco.He expects inflation would rise by 0.7 percentage points in the first quarter this year with the tariffs, before gradually easing.”Rising trade policy uncertainty will heighten financial market volatility and strain the private sector, despite the administration’s pro-business rhetoric,” he said.Trump’s supporters have downplayed fears that tariff hikes would fuel inflation, with some suggesting his planned tax cuts and deregulation measures could boost growth instead.Democratic lawmakers criticized Trump’s plans, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying Friday: “I am concerned these new tariffs will further drive up costs for American consumers.”Canada and Mexico are major suppliers of US agricultural products, with imports totaling tens of billions of dollars from each country per year.Tariffs would also hit the auto industry hard, with US light vehicle imports from Canada and Mexico in 2024 accounting for 22 percent of all vehicles sold in the country, according to S&P Global Mobility.The research group added that automakers and suppliers also produce components throughout the region, meaning tariffs will likely increase costs for vehicles.- Ready to respond -Canada and Mexico have said they are prepared if Trump goes through with his plan.Trudeau said Friday that Ottawa is ready with “a purposeful, forceful” response.Doug Ford, premier of Canada’s economic engine Ontario, warned Saturday that “the impact of these tariffs will be felt almost immediately,” predicting job losses and a slowdown in business.Canada should “hit back hard and hit back strong,” he said at a local election campaign stop.Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum previously said her government would await any announcement “with a cool head” and had plans for whatever Washington decides.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, however, on Friday dismissed concerns of a trade war.Hiking import taxes on crude oil from countries like Canada and Mexico could bring “huge implications for US energy prices, especially in the US Midwest,” noted David Goldwyn and Joseph Webster of the Atlantic Council.Trump said Friday he was mulling a lower tariff rate on oil.”We think we’re going to bring it down to 10 percent,” he told reporters.Nearly 60 percent of US crude oil imports are from Canada, according to a Congressional Research Service report.Canadian heavy oil is refined in the United States and regions dependent on it may lack a ready substitute.Canadian producers would bear some impact of tariffs, but US refiners would also be hit with higher costs, said Tom Kloza of the Oil Price Information Service.

Music world A-listers took the stage Friday to honor the Grateful Dead at an annual pre-Grammys benefit gala, which this year raised millions for musicians impacted by the recent wildfires that devastated Los Angeles.The 34th annual MusiCares Person of the Year gala — which benefits the charitable wing of the Recording Academy, behind the Grammys — honored the psychedelic jam band as it raised more than $5 million in one evening.The sum brings its total funds raised since the fires broke out in early January to more than $9 million, organizers said.The broader mission of MusiCares involves offering a parachute for artists and other workers in the precarious US music industry, providing assistance for physical and mental health, addiction recovery and human services including basic living expenses like rent.”So many people who work in music have no safety net. They are living paycheck to paycheck, and they are incredibly vulnerable,” Theresa Wolters, MusiCare’s vice president of health and human services, told AFP in an interview prior to the gala.As of January 28, she said the organization had received nearly 3,000 claims related to the Los Angeles fires — a number that’s on top of the assistance requests MusiCares normally receives.She noted that the disastrous fires came on the heels of deadly hurricanes that hit southern and eastern regions of the United States last year, and also led to a surge in need.Wolters explained that typically the organization’s immediate emergency aid includes $1,500 in financial assistance and a $500 grocery card, and longer-term support can include help with insurance deductibles, medical bills, rent or musical instrument replacement.Private forecaster AccuWeather has estimated the total damage and economic loss from the fires at between $250 billion and $275 billion. – ‘Give some back’ -Donors Friday night included Dead member Bob Weir, who raised his paddle during an auction-style donation round before settling in to hear a wide range of tributes to the vast influence of his band.The Grateful Dead members, including icon Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, were key figures in the counterculture that began in the 1960s.The band that was beloved for never performing the same show twice revolutionized fan engagement, as followers recorded and swapped bootleg tapes of the concerts in a communal, drug-addled camp environment.Friday evening featured a number of cuts from the band’s extensive catalogue, including Norah Jones with a twangy, slowed-down rendition of the classic “Ripple,” and Vampire Weekend with “Scarlet Begonias.” Sammy Hagar of Montrose and Van Halen meanwhile brought the crowd to its feet for “Loose Lucy.”John Mayer — who for years has been playing with the band Dead & Company, which includes former Dead members Weir, Hart and Kreutzmann — had the audience rapt with an impressive version of “Terrapin Station.”And he took the stage again as the honorees joined him to perform a trio of all-timers to close the night: “Althea,” “Sugar Magnolia” and “Touch of Grey.””Longevity was never a major concern of ours; lighting folks up and spreading joy through the music was all we really had in mind, and we got plenty of that done,” said Weir in accepting the honor.He also emphasized the night’s mission in quoting his bandmate Garcia: “All along, my old pal Jerry used to say, ‘You get some, you give some back.'”

The death toll from the crash of a medical jet carrying a Mexican child home from a hospital in Philadelphia has risen to seven, officials said Saturday, with 19 others wounded.The crash — the second major aviation disaster in the United States this week — occurred Friday when the twin-engine Learjet 55 plummeted towards a busy Philadelphia neighborhood, exploding on impact and showering wreckage over homes and vehicles.Officials had earlier said that all six on board — a young girl who had been in the United States for medical care, her mother, and members of the flight and medical crews with her — were killed. They were all Mexican nationals.On Saturday, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said that at least one other person, who was in a car, had also been killed, and that 19 people had been wounded.Speaking at a press conference, Parker warned that the toll was “not etched in stone” and could yet rise. “We have a lot of unknowns about who was where on the streets of this neighborhood last night at the time of impact,” said the city’s managing director Adam Thiel, warning that it could be days before the full toll emerged. He said the impact area covered four to six blocks, and there was also debris in a “remote area where something happened with the aircraft.”Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum posted her condolences on social media platform X. The US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) said it was launching an investigation with the National Transportation Safety Board.Both agencies are already probing the deadliest US air disaster in almost a quarter century, after a passenger jet operated by an American Airlines subsidiary collided with a Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday.The airliner with 64 people onboard was landing at Reagan National Airport in the Washington area — just miles from the White House — when it collided with a US Army helicopter on a training mission.

A colossal explosion in the sky, unleashing energy hundreds of times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. A blinding flash nearly as bright as the Sun. Shockwaves powerful enough to flatten everything for miles.It may sound apocalyptic, but a newly detected asteroid nearly the size of a football field now has a greater than one percent chance of colliding with Earth in about eight years.Such an impact has the potential for city-level devastation, depending on where it strikes. Scientists aren’t panicking yet, but they are watching closely.”At this point, it’s ‘Let’s pay a lot of attention, let’s get as many assets as we can observing it,'” Bruce Betts, chief scientist of The Planetary Society, told AFP.- Rare finding – Dubbed 2024 YR4, the asteroid was first spotted on December 27, 2024, by the El Sauce Observatory in Chile. Based on its brightness, astronomers estimate it is between 130 and 300 feet (40–90 meters) wide.By New Year’s Eve, it had landed on the desk of Kelly Fast, acting planetary defense officer at US space agency NASA, as an object of concern.”You get observations, they drop off again. This one looked like it had the potential to stick around,” she told AFP.The risk assessment kept climbing, and on January 29, the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN), a global planetary defense collaboration,issued a memo.According to the latest calculations from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, there is a 1.6 percent chance the asteroid will strike Earth on December 22, 2032.If it does hit, possible impact sites include over the eastern Pacific Ocean, northern South America, the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, the Arabian Sea, and South Asia, the IAWN memo states.2024 YR4 follows a highly elliptical, four-year orbit, swinging through the inner planets before shooting past Mars and out toward Jupiter.For now, it’s zooming away from Earth — its next close pass won’t come until 2028.”The odds are very good that not only will this not hit Earth, but at some point in the next months to few years, that probability will go to zero,” said Betts.A similar scenario unfolded in 2004 with Apophis, an asteroid initially projected to have a 2.7 percent chance of striking Earth in 2029. Further observations ruled out an impact.- Destructive potential -The most infamous asteroid impact occurred 66 million years ago, when a six-mile-wide space rock triggered a global winter, wiping out the dinosaurs and 75 percent of all species.By contrast, 2024 YR4 falls into the “city killer” category.”If you put it over Paris or London or New York, you basically wipe out the whole city and some of the environs,” said Betts.The best modern comparison is the 1908 Tunguska Event, when an asteroid or comet fragment measuring 30-50 meters exploded over Siberia, flattening 80 million trees across 770 square miles (2,000 square kilometers).Like that impactor, 2024 YR4 would be expected to blow up in the sky, rather than leaving a crater on the ground.”We can calculate the energy… using the mass and the speed,” said Andrew Rivkin, a planetary astronomer at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.For 2024 YR4, the explosion from an airburst would equal around eight megatons of TNT — more than 500 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb.If it explodes over the ocean, the impact would be less concerning, unless it happens near a coastline triggering a tsunami.- We can stop it -The good news, experts stress, is that we have plenty of time to prepare.Rivkin led the investigation for NASA’s 2022 DART mission, which successfully nudged an asteroid off its course using a spacecraft — a strategy known as a “kinetic impactor.”The target asteroid posed no threat to Earth, making it an ideal test subject.”I don’t see why it wouldn’t work” again, he said. The bigger question is whether major nations would fund such a mission if their own territory wasn’t under threat.Other, more experimental ideas exist.Lasers could vaporize part of the asteroid to create a thrust effect, pushing it off course. A “gravity tractor,” a large spacecraft that slowly tugs the asteroid away using its own gravitational pull, has also been theorized.If all else fails, the long warning time means authorities could evacuate the impact zone.”Nobody should be scared about this,” said Fast. “We can find these things, make these predictions and have the ability to plan.”

US President Donald Trump is set to unveil fresh tariffs Saturday on major trading partners Canada, Mexico and China, threatening upheaval across supply chains from energy to autos and raising inflation concerns.Trump has promised to impose 25 percent tariffs on immediate neighbors Canada and Mexico, pointing to their failure to stop illegal immigration and the flow of fentanyl across US borders.He also vowed a 10 percent rate on imports from China, the world’s second biggest economy, charging that it had a role in producing the drug.The United States runs “big deficits” with all three countries too — and this is another issue the president has honed in on.But imposing sweeping tariffs on the three biggest US trading partners carries risks for Trump, who swept to victory in November’s election on the back of public dissatisfaction over costs of living.Higher import costs would likely “dampen consumer spending and business investment,” said EY chief economist Gregory Daco.He expects inflation would rise by 0.7 percentage points in the first quarter this year with the tariffs, before gradually easing.”Rising trade policy uncertainty will heighten financial market volatility and strain the private sector, despite the administration’s pro-business rhetoric,” he said.Trump’s supporters have downplayed fears that tariff hikes would fuel inflation, with some suggesting his policy plans involving tax cuts and deregulation could help fuel growth instead.- Ready to respond -Democrat lawmakers criticized Trump’s plans with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying Friday: “I am concerned these new tariffs will further drive up costs for American consumers.”Canada and Mexico are major suppliers of US agricultural products, with imports totaling tens of billions of dollars from each country in a year.Tariffs would also hit the auto industry hard, with US light vehicle imports from Canada and Mexico in 2024 representing 22 percent of all vehicles sold in the country, said S&P Global Mobility.It added that automakers and suppliers also produce components throughout the region, meaning tariffs will likely increase costs for vehicles.”We should be focused on going hard against competitors who rig the game, like China, rather than attacking our allies,” Schumer said in a statement.Both Canada and Mexico have said they are prepared to respond if Trump acts on tariffs, raising the specter of an escalating conflict.But White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday dismissed concerns of a trade war.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday that Ottawa is ready with “a purposeful, forceful, but reasonable, immediate response.””It’s not what we want. But if he moves forward we will also act,” he said, referring to Trump.Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her government would await any tariff announcement “with a cool head.””We have a plan A, plan B, plan C for whatever the US government decides,” she said, without giving details.- Lower oil tariff? -Hiking import taxes on crude oil from countries like Canada and Mexico could also bring “huge implications for US energy prices, especially in the US Midwest,” according to David Goldwyn and Joseph Webster of the Atlantic Council.Trump previously said he was considering an exemption for Canadian and Mexican oil imports, and on Friday added he was mulling a lower rate on oil.He told reporters: “I’m probably going to reduce the tariff a little bit on that.””We think we’re going to bring it down to 10 percent,” he added.Nearly 60 percent of US crude oil imports are from Canada, noted the Congressional Research Service.Canadian heavy oil is refined in the United States and regions dependent on it may lack a ready substitute.Canadian producers would bear some impact of tariffs but US refiners would also be hit with higher costs, said Tom Kloza of the Oil Price Information Service. This could bring gasoline price increases.