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The effect of new tariffs under consideration by US President-elect Donald Trump is unlikely to be “significant or persistent,” a senior Federal Reserve official said Wednesday.Trump has floated several proposals, including a plan for sweeping tariffs on all goods entering the United States — drawing criticism from many economists concerned about possible negative ripple effects. But in a lecture at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, Fed Governor Christopher Waller — who did not refer directly to Trump — suggested he thought some of the concerns about tariffs may be overblown.”If, as I expect, tariffs do not have a significant or persistent effect on inflation, they are unlikely to affect my view of appropriate monetary policy,” said Waller, who is a permanent voting member of the Fed’s interest rate-setting committee.”I don’t think these draconian tariffs that everybody’s talking about are necessarily going to be implemented,” he added in a nod to Trump’s threats to impose across-the-board tariffs.Waller also addressed the Fed’s likely rate cut path, following a flurry of votes that lowered the US central bank’s benchmark lending rate by 100 basis points in a matter of months.At their most recent meeting in December, Fed policymakers penciled in just two rate cuts for 2025, suggesting they expect a slower pace of cuts ahead.US inflation has fallen sharply since it hit a four-decade high in 2022, but recently ticked higher, creeping away from the Fed’s long-term target of two percent.At the same time, economic growth has remained resilient, and the labor market has stayed relatively robust, raising concerns the Fed may have to keep rates higher for longer to tame it.Higher interest rates indirectly affect borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, affecting the cost of everything from mortgages to car loans. Speaking to the OECD on Wednesday, Waller said he believed that “inflation will continue to make progress toward our two percent goal over the medium term and that further reductions will be appropriate.”If the outlook for the economy evolves as expected, Waller said he would support continuing to cut rates this year.”As always, the extent of further easing will depend on what the data tell us about progress toward two percent inflation, but my bottom-line message is that I believe more cuts will be appropriate,” he said.Futures traders currently see a probability of close to 95 percent that the Fed will remain on pause at the next interest rate meeting later this month, according to data from CME Group. They also assign a probability of around 80 percent that the US central bank will make no more than two quarter percentage-point cuts this year.

Firefighters on Wednesday battled a ferocious wildfire in Los Angeles suburbs, home to many Hollywood celebrities, which devoured buildings and sparked panicked evacuations as hurricane-force winds fuelled rapid blaze growth.Frightened residents abandoned their cars on one of the only roads in and out of the upscale Pacific Palisades area, fleeing on foot from the 3,000-acre (1,200-hectare) blaze engulfing an area packed with multimillion-dollar homes in the Santa Monica Mountains.Firefighters used bulldozers to push dozens of vehicles — including expensive models such as BMWs, Teslas and Mercedes — to one side, leaving many crumpled and with their alarms blaring. Some celebrities posted comments and pictures on social media platforms. More than 1,400 firefighters were on the ground, with hundreds more on the way, California Governor Gavin Newsom said.US media reported one firefighter among several injured in the Palisades.Hundreds of firefighters swarmed the area, attacking the blaze from the ground and the air, while crews worked through steep terrain to cut back vegetation and create firebreaks.”Extreme fire behavior… continues to challenge firefighting efforts for the Palisades Fire,” with winds gusts up to 60 miles (95 kilometres) per hour expected to continue through Thursday, said the LA fire department in its latest update.Around 30,000 people were ordered to evacuate the fast-spreading flames, which leveled multiple homes as powerful winds spread embers far and wide.Velma Wright, 102, was evacuated from a care facility as embers and flames approached in Pasadena, an AFP photographer saw, from where dozens other residents were moved.Trees and vegetation around the prestigious Getty Villa Museum were burned, but the structure and collections were spared, the museum said in a post on X.The Getty, set up by US oil billionaire and collector J. Paul Getty and one of the world’s richest art museums, houses Greek and Roman antiquities in a replica Roman country home.Actor James Woods posted a video on X showing flames engulfing trees and bushes near his home as he got ready to evacuate, and shortly afterward said all the fire alarms were going off.”I couldn’t believe our lovely little home in the hills held on this long. It feels like losing a loved one,” Woods said.Across town, on the northern edge of Los Angeles, another fire broke out in Eaton Canyon, near Pasadena, quickly consuming 200 acres (81 hectares) Tuesday night, according to Angeles National Forest officials.The city of Malibu west of Los Angeles told its residents via social media post to “prepare to evacuate quickly if fire conditions worsen. Evacuate now, especially if you need extra time or have pets/livestock.”US President Joe Biden — who was in Los Angeles for a planned announcement on new national monuments — said he was “being frequently briefed on the wildfires” and has offered “any federal assistance that is needed.”Vice President Kamala Harris, who has a house in California, said she was praying for “fellow Californians who have evacuated.”- ‘Everyone panicked’ -The fire erupted midmorning and swelled quickly, taking many residents by surprise.One man, who gave his name as Gary, told broadcaster KTLA that hot ashes were raining down on his community of Sea Ridge.”There was smoke in the distance, and I was assured that it would not come over the hill… Five minutes later, it’s coming down the hill,” he said.”Everyone panicked, that’s when everybody made a run and went to go and pack their houses up.”Evacuee Kelsey Trainor said she saw the fire explode in size as she was fleeing.”By the time we got to the bottom of the hill, which is about two or three miles, there were flames on both sides of the road, and it became gridlocked,” she said.”No one knew what to do. Everyone was honking their horns. There’s flames all around you.”I could see people walking with suitcases, with their dogs, children. An elderly woman was really visibly upset and in tears.”Pacific Palisades resident Andrew Hires told AFP he got a text alerting him to the fire as his child was at the dentist about to have a tooth extracted.”We pulled off the mask and ran to the car,” he said.- ‘Worse’ weather conditions -The fire came as the area was being hit by seasonal Santa Ana winds that forecasters said could develop into the worst windstorm in a decade, with gusts of up to 100 miles (160 kilometers) an hour expected.”This looks pretty, pretty concerning,” said meteorologist Daniel Swain.”And what’s going on now is only just the beginning, because weather conditions are going to get a lot worse.”With a huge pall of smoke visible over the whole of Los Angeles, events throughout the area were cancelled, including a red-carpet premiere of Jennifer Lopez’s new film “Unstoppable.” Wildfires are an expected part of life in the US West and play a vital role in nature.But scientists say human-caused climate change is altering weather patterns.Southern California had two decades of drought that were followed by two exceptionally wet years, which sparked furious vegetative growth — leaving the region packed with fuel and primed to burn.

Open AI CEO Sam Altman denied on Tuesday allegations from his sister Annie Altman, who has filed a complaint accusing him of childhood sexual abuse.”…Annie has made deeply hurtful and entirely untrue claims about our family, especially Sam,” the boss of the California startup said in a letter co-signed by his mother and two brothers, and published on social platform X.”Our family loves Annie and is very concerned about her well-being. Caring for a family member who faces mental health challenges is incredibly difficult,” they wrote.One of Silicon Valley’s more charismatic figures, Altman shot to global fame with the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, which ignited a race to advance AI research and development.A prolific entrepreneur and already a billionaire, Altman, 39, has set himself the mission of developing a so-called “general” AI, with cognitive abilities similar to those of humans and which “benefits all of humanity”.The Altman family said that they have tried to help their daughter and sister, covering her expenses and guaranteeing her “monthly financial support, which we expect to continue for the rest of her life”. “Despite this, Annie continues to demand more money from us,” they said, pointing out that they have decided to respond publicly following Anne’s legal complaint filed on Monday, and after years of tension.”The worst allegation she has made is that she was sexually abused by Sam as a child,” said the family.”Her claims have evolved drastically over time. Newly for this lawsuit, they now include allegations of incidents where Sam was over 18.”All these claims are utterly untrue.”According to the complaint, Annie — who is nine years younger than Sam Altman — alleges the assaults took place from 1997, when she was three, until 2006. In a report for New York Magazine in 2023, a journalist who met Annie in Hawaii described her as an artist suffering from depression and the growing rift with her family, and supporting herself mainly through online sex work. 

In a quiet village tucked in the shadow of India’s capital, the late US president Jimmy Carter’s name is etched for posterity.Carterpuri, or the “village of Carter” was abruptly renamed from Daulatpur Nasirabad after an hour-long visit by the Nobel laureate in 1978.The renaming was suggested by India’s then-prime minister Morarji Desai who accompanied Carter on the visit to the small hamlet, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) from New Delhi. “When the proposal was mooted, all the village elders immediately said yes,” recalled 71-year-old resident Attar Singh, who vividly remembers the January afternoon from nearly half a century ago.One of the last surviving members from the generation old enough to remember the occasion, Singh said he was “distressed” by Carter’s death last month, and played a key role in staging a small tribute ceremony. A picture of the former president was quickly downloaded from the internet, framed, garlanded and placed at a local war memorial where a group of village elders made offerings of salty porridge and a newly stitched traditional turban. Singh said the porridge and the turban, along with a condolence message, were then shipped to the US Embassy.”The entire village grieved because we considered him as one of our own,” said Rajiv Kumar, a younger resident who was a toddler when Carter visited. The body of Carter, who died at the age of 100 last month, is currently lying in state in Washington and will be buried Thursday in his home state of Georgia.- ‘Such a big man’ -Carter’s visit to the village, then home to less than 500 people, was not by chance. He was driven by a deeply personal mission: his mother Lillian had worked in the village as a Peace Corps volunteer in the late 1960s. The dilapidated mansion where Lillian stayed during her time there no longer exists. It was torn down around 15 years ago to make way for a concrete two-storey structure with a line of tiny shops on its ground floor. Little else from that era survives in Carterpuri, which now has a population of roughly 5,000. The village council office where Carter and his wife Eleanor Rosalynn Carter were feted while bedecked in traditional headgear, is now a community health centre.Nonetheless, Carter’s visit remains firmly imprinted in the memory of Carterpuri’s old-timers. “I was a little boy then but I remember everything,” said 62-year-old Motiram, who goes by one name.His recollections include Carter smoking tobacco from a hookah and waving at the eager children who looked from the rooftops as he took a tour of the village. But Motiram’s nostalgia is tinted with disillusionment.”Despite such a lofty name, our village has seen no progress in all these years,” he said.”If they named our village after such a big man, there should have been some work done to justify it.”

The body of late US president Jimmy Carter was transferred Tuesday in a grand and solemn military ceremony to the US Capitol, where it will lie in state until a national funeral later this week.Carter, who died on December 29 at the age of 100, served a single term from 1977-1981 and was widely praised for his post-presidential humanitarian efforts, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.His body arrived at the snow-covered US Capitol, where it will remain until Thursday, after a full day of ceremonious travel that began in his native Georgia.A live feed by broadcaster PBS showed members of the public move through the building’s rotunda to pay their respects to the late president, with many stopping to take a moment of silence with their hands clasped.”I paid my respects to President Jimmy Carter as he lies in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda today,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on X. “On behalf of the entire Department of Defense, we join the Carter family and all Americans in celebrating this extraordinary life, legacy, and service to our nation.”Having been flown to Washington aboard a presidential US Air Force jet, Carter’s flag-draped casket was carried atop a gun carriage in a funeral procession from the US Navy Memorial — an ode to his military service on submarines — to Capitol Hill, tracing the opposite route he took during his inauguration parade.Hundreds of US service members accompanied the procession down Pennsylvania Avenue, which was cleared of snow from a recent winter storm that has prompted federal office and school closures in the area.Military pallbearers then carried his casket up to the Capitol Rotunda where a short service was held, with Carter’s family, members of Congress and other dignitaries including Chief Justice John Roberts and Vice President Kamala Harris in attendance.Carter is the 13th former US president to lie in state in the Capitol. Abraham Lincoln, assassinated in 1865, was the first.The ceremony has taken on added significance, coming a day after the anniversary of the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, in which Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the building in an attempt to block certification of Joe Biden’s election victory.On Monday, Congress certified Trump’s win over Harris without any disruptions and with the complex under very heavy security.A state funeral service is to be held Thursday at the National Cathedral, an Episcopal church in Washington that also hosted funerals for former presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush.Current President Biden is to deliver the eulogy for his fellow Democrat.All four living former presidents — Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Trump — are expected to attend.Biden has declared Thursday a national day of mourning, with federal government offices to be closed for the day.He has also ordered flags to half-staff for 30 days as is customary, which means that will be the case during Trump’s January 20 inauguration, something the Republican has criticized.The first president to reach triple digits, Carter had been in hospice care since February 2023 in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, where he died and will be buried next to his late wife, former first lady Rosalynn Carter.

Tech leaders continue to fall in line around Donald Trump, with Facebook’s announcement that it would end its US fact-checking program the latest victory for the president-elect and his billionaire advisor Elon Musk.Facebook parent Meta’s move into fact-checking came in the wake of Trump’s shock election in 2016, which critics said was enabled by rampant disinformation on Facebook and interference by foreign actors, including Russia, on the platform.It was long-criticized by conservatives who found themselves ensnared in its anti-disinformation work. Its paring down comes days before Trump’s inauguration, and after several US tech barons have pushed for a comfortable relationship with the incoming president.Since the November election, a stream of senior moguls have traveled to meet with Trump at his Florida estate, including Zuckerberg as well as Apple CEO Tim Cook and Amazon founder and space tech executive Jeff Bezos.Amazon and Meta have both announced $1 million donations to Trump’s inauguration fund, as reportedly has Apple’s Cook, in a personal capacity.Musk, meanwhile, owner of influential social media platform X and the world’s richest person, is one of the president-elect’s closest advisors.It’s all a far cry from when the Republican saw himself kicked off of Facebook and Twitter for the risk of inciting violence, following the storming of the US Capitol by supporters hoping to reverse the 2020 election results.Four years later, tech companies are coming off a Joe Biden administration that shook up much of the sector with antitrust investigations — with the free speech, deregulatory outlook pushed by those in Trump’s orbit holding fresh appeal.The fact-checking shake-up is “a decision that advances Zuckerberg’s business goals: fact-checking is difficult, expensive and controversial,” Ethan Zuckerman, a public policy professor who recently sued Meta over its algorithm policies, told AFP.But for those in the right-wing tech sphere, the decision is a course correction.”For those of us who have been fighting the free speech wars for years, this feels like a major victory and turning point,” investor David Sacks, set to take an artificial intelligence portfolio in Trump’s government, said.He went on to thank the incoming president “for creating this political and cultural realignment.”- ‘Probably’ a result of threats -Trump has been a harsh critic of Meta and Zuckerberg for years, accusing the company of bias against him and threatening to retaliate once back in office.When asked by reporters if he believed the fact-check move was a response to his threats against Zuckerberg, Trump responded: “Probably, yeah.”A rapprochement between Zuckerberg and Trump has been a long time coming: Meta also recently put Trump ally Dana White on its board.That decision, and the move to slash the fact-checking operations, came after Trump’s Federal Communications Commission pick, Brendan Carr, accused Facebook, Google and Apple of “playing central roles” in a “censorship cartel.”Sam Altman, CEO at OpenAI, has meanwhile sent his own signals to the incoming administration, telling conservative broadcaster Fox News in December he was confident Trump would keep the United States a leading player in the artificial intelligence sector.His response to Musk’s influence in the incoming administration — which has sparked warnings of conflicts of interest — was also warm.”It would be profoundly un-American to use political power to hurt your competitors and advantage your own businesses,” Altman said, adding “I believe pretty strongly that Elon will do the right thing.”- Musk signals approval -Brown University political science professor Wendy Schiller is not surprised that social media companies like Meta are walking away from fact-checking because political parties and social media companies thrive when there is division.He adds, however, that “the saving grace may be that there are still a number of competitive social media outlets so that no single person or company controls all the flow of information, and that includes government.”Facebook will be replacing its fact-checking program with a “community notes” style feature, similar to the one used on Musk’s X platform.Musk quickly signaled his approval, calling the change “cool.”AFP currently works in 26 languages with Facebook’s fact-checking program, in which Facebook pays to use fact-checks from around 80 organizations globally on its platform, WhatsApp and Instagram.

Tech giant Meta’s shock announcement that it is ending its US fact-checking program triggered scathing criticism Tuesday from disinformation researchers who warned it risked opening the floodgates for false narratives.Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg announced the company was going to “get rid” of its third-party fact-checkers in the United States, in a sweeping policy shift that analysts saw as an attempt to appease US President-elect Donald Trump.”This is a major step back for content moderation at a time when disinformation and harmful content are evolving faster than ever,” said Ross Burley, co-founder of the nonprofit Centre for Information Resilience.Fact-checking and disinformation research have long been a hot-button issue in a hyperpolarized political climate in the United States, with conservative US advocates saying they were a tool to curtail free speech and censor right-wing content.Trump’s Republican Party and his billionaire ally Elon Musk — the owner of social media giant X, formerly Twitter — have long echoed similar complaints.”While efforts to protect free expression are vital, removing fact-checking without a credible alternative risks opening the floodgates to more harmful narratives,” Burley said.As an alternative, Zuckerberg said Meta’s platforms, Facebook and Instagram, would use “Community Notes similar to X” in the United States.Community Notes is a crowd-sourced moderation tool that X has promoted as the way for users to add context to posts, but researchers have repeatedly questioned its effectiveness in combating falsehoods.- ‘Abdication’ of responsibility -“You wouldn’t rely on just anyone to stop your toilet from leaking, but Meta now seeks to rely on just anyone to stop misinformation from spreading on their platforms,” Michael Wagner, from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told AFP.”Asking people, pro bono, to police the false claims that get posted on Meta’s multi-billion dollar social media platforms is an abdication of social responsibility.”Meta’s announcement represents a financial setback for its US-based third-party fact-checkers.Meta’s program and external grants have been “predominant revenue streams” for global fact-checkers, according to a 2023 survey by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) of 137 organizations across dozens of countries. The decision will also “hurt social media users who are looking for accurate, reliable information to make decisions about their everyday lives and interactions,” said IFCN director Angie Holan.”It’s unfortunate that this decision comes in the wake of external political pressure from a new administration and its supporters,” Holan added.Meta’s announcement was cheered by conservative supporters of Trump, who said the move had “probably” been in response to his threats against the company and Zuckerberg.Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn posted on X that Meta’s move was “a ploy to avoid being regulated.”- ‘Politics, not policy’ –  Aaron Sharockman, executive director of US fact-checking organization PolitiFact, rejected the contention that fact-checking was a tool to suppress free speech.The role of US fact-checkers, he said, was to provide “additional speech and context to posts that journalists found to contain misinformation” and it was up to Meta to decide what penalties users faced.”The great thing about free speech is that people are able to disagree about any piece of journalism we post,” Sharockman said.”If Meta is upset it created a tool to censor, it should look in the mirror.”PolitiFact is one of the early partners who worked with Facebook to launch the fact-checking program in the United States in 2016.AFP also currently works in 26 languages with Facebook’s fact-checking program, in which Facebook pays to use fact-checks from around 80 organizations globally on its platform, WhatsApp and on Instagram.In that program, content rated “false” is downgraded in news feeds so fewer people will see it and if someone tries to share that post, they are presented with an article explaining why it is misleading. “The program was by no means perfect, and fact-checkers have no doubt erred in some percentage of their labels,” said Alexios Mantzarlis, director of the Security, Trust, and Safety Initiative at Cornell Tech. “But we should be clear that Zuckerberg’s promise of getting rid of fact-checkers was a choice of politics, not policy.”

NASA announced Tuesday it may turn to Elon Musk’s SpaceX or Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin to help reduce the soaring costs of returning Martian rocks collected by the Perseverance rover to Earth.Originally planned to deliver 30 sample tubes to Earth by the 2030s, the Mars Sample Return mission has faced rising expenses and delays, prompting the US space agency to explore more streamlined solutions.The pivot comes as China progresses towards a simpler “grab-and-go” sample return mission to the Red Planet “around 2028,” according to state media, potentially making it the first nation to achieve the feat.Outgoing NASA Administrator Bill Nelson revealed Tuesday that the agency is evaluating two potential architectures for landing a robotic platform on Mars, with a final decision expected in mid-2026.The first option uses NASA’s tried-and-true Sky Crane system, a robotic jetpack that famously lowered the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers onto the Martian surface in 2012 and 2021, respectively.The second involves a “heavy lift lander” developed by a commercial partner to place the necessary hardware on the surface.”You all know that SpaceX and Blue Origin have already been ones that have expressed an interest, but it could be others as well,” said Nelson. Under both scenarios, the lander would carry a scaled-down Mars Ascent Vehicle — a lightweight rocket designed to launch samples into Mars orbit.There, the Earth Return Orbiter, being developed by the European Space Agency (ESA), would intercept the payload for the journey back to Earth.NASA is also revising its power strategy for the lander. Instead of solar panels, which are vulnerable to Mars’s dust storms, the agency plans to use a nuclear battery for heat and energy.With the Sky Crane option, NASA estimates expenses could range from $6.6 billion to $7.7 billion — far less than the $11 billion projected under the original plan, as reported in an independent audit.Partnering with commercial providers could reduce costs further, to between $5.8 billion and $7.1 billion, with the return expected between 2035-2039, compared to 2040 under the original plan.The mission’s timeline depends on variables like annual congressional funding and whether NASA and ESA opt for a direct Mars-to-Earth flight or a detour to a “cislunar orbit” around the Moon, where samples would need retrieval.Meanwhile, China’s simpler mission could deliver samples years ahead of NASA, marking a significant symbolic victory.Nelson downplayed comparisons between the programs, emphasizing the complexity and scope of NASA’s effort. “You cannot compare the two — ours… is an extremely well thought-out mission created by the scientific community of the world,” he said.Perseverance landed on Mars in 2021 to search for evidence of ancient microbial life from billions of years ago, when the planet was warmer and wetter.

With no one in the driver seat, the SUV pulling up resembles an autonomous robotaxi like those becoming increasingly present in some cities — but the car from German startup Vay is something else.One of a number of emerging players aiming to disrupt road transportation, the seven-year-old company is built around remote driving, where a human is very much present, though sitting in an office using TV monitors to guide the car.Over the last year, riders in Las Vegas have been able to test drive Vay, and the company was demonstrating its technology ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world’s most important tech show.Thomas von der Ohe, chief executive and co-founder of Vay, said his was a lower-cost approach “that has nothing to do with autonomous driving.”Von der Ohe, who previously worked at Zoox, the Amazon-owned autonomous driving company, said that unlike autonomous driving companies, Vay doesn’t have to “run massive amounts of simulations” to be safe.”Our core safety principle is that the (human driver) can make the decision,” he said.And unlike a Tesla or Waymo, there is no dream at Vay of one day shedding the steering wheel, which twists and turns during rides as if maneuvered by the Invisible Man.The remote driving approach also employs fairly inexpensive camera technology, which costs a fraction of the envelope-pushing Lidar sensing systems favored by leading autonomous companies.A demonstration of the remote driving technology showed someone watching three screens — which included live imagery from front, side and rear-view cameras — as they operated a system similar to at-home racing simulators, with a steering wheel and pedals.Vay is offering rides for half the price of Uber or Lyft. Von der Ohe hopes to reach profitability in the next year or two, depending on how quickly the company can scale.Since launching 12 months ago, Vay’s Las Vegas fleet has grown from two to 30 vehicles, completing 6,000 rides, von der Ohe said.But Von der Ohe believes the company’s cash cow will not be ride-hailing, but the delivery of autos to consumers who then drive the vehicles. In this way, Vay resembles a car rental company.Since the launch in Las Vegas, some customers have ordered up Vay vehicles for home delivery and then driven them themselves.That flexibility is one reason “we believe this can be a real alternative to private cars,” von der Ohe said.