AFP USA

Donald Trump’s move to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook has marked a dramatic escalation in his effort to control the US central bank — in a step that puts the institution’s independence at risk.For months, the US leader has been calling for the bank to slash interest rates, lashing out repeatedly at Fed Chair Jerome Powell for being “too late” and calling him a “moron.”But policymakers have been holding rates steady as they monitor the effects of Trump’s wide-ranging tariffs on inflation.By ousting Cook, the president could potentially add another voice to the Fed’s board to try and shift interest rates in his favored direction.After calling for her resignation last week, Trump posted a letter on his Truth Social platform Monday evening, saying she was fired “effective immediately.”He cited allegations of false statements on her mortgage agreements, saying: “I have determined that there is sufficient cause to remove you from your position.”Trump told reporters Tuesday that Cook “seems to have had an infraction,” saying “we need people that are 100 percent above board.”But Cook on Tuesday rejected Trump’s unprecedented bid to remove her, saying he had no legal authority to do so.”I will not resign,” said Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the central bank’s board.”President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so,” she added.Cook’s attorney Abbe Lowell added: “We will be filing a lawsuit challenging this illegal action.”A Fed spokesperson said the central bank “will abide by any court decision.” The official noted that Cook was seeking a judicial decision that would confirm her ability to keep honoring responsibilities as a Fed governor.The spokesperson stressed that long tenures and removal protections for governors are “a vital safeguard,” but did not provide further details on Cook’s status before the court outcome.Among the alleged false statements was that Cook had claimed two primary residences, one in Michigan and another in Georgia.Cook has not been charged with a crime and the alleged incidents occurred before she was in her current position.- Independence eroded? -The potential legal dispute would be the latest test of presidential powers under Trump’s new term, with the 79-year-old Republican — backed by loyalists throughout the government — forcefully moving to exert executive authority.But even as the Supreme Court’s conservative majority recently allowed Trump to fire members of other independent government boards, it created a carveout for the Fed in its ruling.Federal law says that Fed officials can only be removed for “cause,” which could be interpreted to mean malfeasance or dereliction of duty.Fed independence from the White House “is being eroded,” said David Wessel, a senior fellow in economic studies at Brookings.He told AFP that Trump appears to be trying to get a majority on the Fed’s board, in an effort to lower interest rates.But Wessel warned: “History tells us that when politicians control the central bank, the inevitable consequence is higher inflation and financial instability.”The Fed’s credibility as an inflation-fighter will be questioned, he said, cautioning that global investors will demand a premium on US Treasury debt as a result.- Consequences -For now, Oxford Economics senior US economist Matthew Martin expects that even if Cook’s removal could tip the scale in favor of lower interest rates, Fed decisions are still voted upon by 12 officials.But a Fed that “answers to the whims of an administration” draws more investor wariness, he added.”Despite lower short-term interest rates, long-term interest rates would rise for the US government, households, and businesses — increasing their borrowing costs,” Martin said.The Fed has held interest rates at a range between 4.25 percent and 4.50 percent this year.Besides Cook, Trump has recently suggested that what he called an overly costly renovation of the Fed’s headquarters could be reason to oust Powell, before backing off the threat.Meanwhile the president has picked Stephen Miran, the leader of his White House economic panel, to fill a recently vacated seat on the Fed’s board.Cook took office as a Fed governor in 2022 and was reappointed to the board in 2023.

Meta is launching a political action committee in California to support candidates who favor lighter regulation of artificial intelligence in the state that is home to Silicon Valley.The tech world powerhouse on Tuesday confirmed plans for a super-PAC called Mobilizing Economic Transformation Across California dedicated to backing pro-AI candidates regardless of party affiliation.”As home to many of the world’s leading AI companies, California’s innovation economy has an outsized impact on America’s economic growth, job creation, and global competitiveness,” a Meta spokesperson told AFP.”But Sacramento’s regulatory environment could stifle innovation, block AI progress, and put California’s technology leadership at risk.”According to Meta, state-level regulation of AI threatens to hamper development of the technology at a time when US tech firms are in a fierce innovation race with Chinese rivals.The tech industry is lobbying hard to avoid regulation of AI’s development, and in July it narrowly failed to win a federal ban by US Congress that would have prevented states from passing or enforcing AI laws for as long as a decade.Meta pointed to the more than 50 AI-related bills that have been introduced this year in California alone, many of which could hinder advancement of the technology, the company claimed.One such law, which will be effective on January 1, requires developers of generative AI with large user bases to disclose summaries of training data, provide free AI detection tools, and ensure clear labeling of AI-generated content. 

A federal judge on Tuesday tossed out a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration against other judges and rebuked the White House for attacks on the judiciary.District Judge Thomas Cullen, who was appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term, dismissed the unusual suit brought by the Justice Department against all of the 15 federal district judges in Maryland.The Trump Justice Department filed suit after the chief district judge in the eastern state issued a standing order requiring the government to give undocumented migrants facing expulsion 48 hours to contest their removal.Instead of appealing the order to a higher court, the Justice Department took the extraordinary step of suing the 15 district judges in Maryland, accusing them of “judicial overreach.”Cullen, who normally sits in a district in Virginia, was brought in to hear the case since the federal district judges in Maryland were defendants.In a scathing 37-page ruling against the Justice Department, he said suing federal judges was a “novel and potentially calamitous” approach.”If the Executive truly believes that Defendants’ standing orders violate the law, it should avail itself of the tried-and-true recourse available to all federal litigants: It should appeal,” he said.Cullen also had harsh words for White House attacks on the judiciary. For months, administration officials “have described federal district judges across the country as ‘left-wing,’ ‘liberal,’ ‘activists,’ ‘radical’ … ‘rogue,’ ‘unhinged’ … and worse,” the judge said.”Although some tension between the coordinate branches of government is a hallmark of our constitutional system, this concerted effort by the Executive to smear and impugn individual judges who rule against it is both unprecedented and unfortunate,” he added.Trump, the first convicted felon to serve in the White House, has a history of attacking the judges who presided over his civil and criminal cases.Since his return to office in January, Trump has launched fierce attacks on judges who have ruled against his executive orders or blocked his efforts to deport migrants and slash the federal workforce.In March, Supreme Court Justice John Roberts issued a rare public rebuke of the Republican president over his call for the impeachment of a federal judge.”For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts said. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”

Pop superstar Taylor Swift and American football player Travis Kelce announced their engagement on Tuesday, setting the stage for a high-profile wedding for one of the world’s biggest celebrity couples.A joint post on their Instagram pages showed pictures of Kelce down on one knee making his marriage proposal in a flower-laden garden, and then Swift displaying a large diamond ring.”Your English teacher and gym teacher are getting married,” the pair, both aged 35, joked in a caption.The couple first went public with their relationship in 2023, and their love story has been broadcast on some of the world’s biggest stages. The pair have appeared together at her hugely popular concerts and at his NFL games playing for the Kansas City Chiefs.US President Donald Trump was among the first to publicly congratulate the star couple, despite earlier bad blood with Swift over her endorsement of his opponent Kamala Harris in last year’s US election.”I wish them a lot of luck,” he told reporters at a cabinet meeting, when asked about the engagement.Celebrities flocked to congratulate the pair, including from the worlds of music and sport.”Awww huge congratulations,” wrote singer Avril Lavigne, on Instagram.”Two of the most genuine people meet and fall in love. Just so happy for these two,” wrote Brittany Mahomes, the wife of Kelce’s quarterback teammate Patrick Mahomes.Last year, Swift closed her acclaimed $2 billion Eras tour that shattered records and made her the world’s leading music star as she performed 149 three-hour shows around the globe.Tickets sold for exorbitant prices and drew in millions of fans, with many who didn’t get in willing to sing along outside venues.Swifties — as her fans are known — are anxiously waiting for her twelfth studio album “The Life of a Showgirl,” to be released on October 3.- ‘Terrific’ -News of the album came this month in an episode of Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast, which he hosts with his brother Jason, a former NFL player.The two hour-plus episode covered topics from how Swift felt after gaining control of her master recordings to her love of bread baking. It showcased playful dynamics between the two, and set a record 1.3 million concurrent views on YouTube, Guinness World Records said.The 14-time Grammy winner’s last major release, “The Tortured Poets Department” came out in April last year.Though Swift is famed for singing about heartbreaks with her exes, her relationship with Kelce, one of the NFL’s most bankable players, has deepened despite the pressures of fame.Kelce has been a major sports star for years, but his relationship with Swift has propelled him to a new level of international interest that a wedding is set to intensify.He kicks off his thirteenth season with the Chiefs next week, with speculation that it may be his last as he pursues other entertainment endeavors.Kelce has won three championship titles with the Chiefs, and is seeking an elusive fourth after coming up short in last season’s Super Bowl against the Philadelphia Eagles.Both Swift and President Trump were in attendance at the major sporting event, sparking much commentary after the Republican billionaire declared “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT” following her endorsement of Harris.”I think he’s a great guy. I think that she’s a terrific person, so I wish them a lot of luck,” Trump said Tuesday.

Lisa Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the powerful Federal Reserve Board of Governors, has become US President Donald Trump’s latest target as he ramped up pressure on the central bank.Cook was one of former president Joe Biden’s choices to fill open seats on the Fed board — a seven-member body guiding US monetary policy — and she took office as a Fed governor in May 2022.The daughter of a Baptist chaplain and a professor of nursing, Cook bears physical scars from racism after she was attacked as a young child while involved in an effort to integrate racially segregated schools in the state of Georgia.Prior to joining the Fed, she dedicated much of her research as an adult to previously unmeasured economic scars of discrimination on the productive capacity of the world’s largest economy.While the Fed is independent from the White House, Trump has repeatedly called on the central bank to slash interest rates this year and lower borrowing costs.This separation from politics could come under threat as Trump intensifies pressure on the bank. On Monday evening, he published a letter on his Truth Social platform, saying that he was removing Cook from her position immediately over claims of mortgage fraud.But Cook has rejected Trump’s attempt to oust her, saying that he had no authority to do so and that she would not resign. Her lawyer said Tuesday they would file a lawsuit to challenge Trump’s announcement.Before becoming a Fed governor, Cook was a professor of economics and international relations at Michigan State University. She earned an economics degree from Oxford University and a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley.In 2023, she was reappointed to the Fed’s board and sworn in for a term ending 2038.Since joining the central bank, Cook has voted with Fed Chair Jerome Powell in policy decisions, like most of her colleagues. These included instances when the bank started cutting interest rates and when it decided to put a pause on rate reductions.She has been described as a “dove” at times, a term referring to someone who tends to support lower rates.But in a June speech she warned of longer-term risks surrounding inflation and said that the Fed’s cautious approach to rate cuts was well positioned to respond to developments.Cook’s opponents have in the past questioned her qualifications and said she doesn’t have the background for the job, criticisms that her supporters say are fueled by her race.”I have been the target of anonymous and untrue attacks on my academic record,” Cook told lawmakers in 2022, citing as qualifications her doctorate degree and specialties in international and macroeconomics.Other board members, including Powell, are not trained economists, and Cook has researched inequality in the labor market.She speaks five languages, including Russian, and also specializes in international development economics, having worked on topics such as Rwanda’s recovery following the 1994 genocide.Cook grew up in an area of the United States where public swimming pools were destroyed rather than allowed to be integrated, and was one of the first Black children to attend her previously segregated school.She has studied lynchings and patents issued to Black entrepreneurs, arguing that discrimination has held back the entire society, not just the direct victims of the injustice.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would seek the death penalty for murders in Washington, as part of a crackdown on what he calls out-of-control crime in the US capital.”If somebody kills somebody in the capital, Washington DC, we’re going to be seeking the death penalty,” Trump said at a cabinet meeting in the White House.”It’s a very strong preventative and everybody that’s heard it agrees with it,” Trump said at a cabinet meeting.The death penalty move comes after Republican Trump deployed the National Guard to Democrat-run Washington and took federal control of the city’s police department earlier this month.Washington — formally known as the District of Columbia — abolished the death penalty in 1981.The US capital has a unique legal status as it is not a state and operates under a relationship with the federal government that limits its autonomy and grants Congress extraordinary control over local matters.Trump used this loophole to send the National Guard into Washington earlier this month to combat what he said was runaway crime and homelessness.On Monday he boasted of a days-long streak without murders in the city and said he was also taking steps to beautify the capital, which is home to the White House, the US Capitol and other key institutions. National Guard troops began carrying weapons in Washington on Sunday.Trump says he is considering similar moves for other Democrat-run cities including Chicago, New York and Baltimore.

Pop superstar Taylor Swift and American football player Travis Kelce announced their engagement on Tuesday, setting the stage for a high-profile wedding for one of the world’s biggest celebrity couples.A joint post on their Instagram pages showed pictures of Kelce on one knee making his marriage proposal in a flower-laden garden, and then Swift displaying a large diamond ring.”Your English teacher and gym teacher are getting married,” the pair wrote in a jokey caption.The couple — both aged 35 — first went public with their relationship in 2023 and have often been seen together at her hugely popular concerts and at his NFL games playing for the Kansas City Chiefs.Last year Swift closed her acclaimed $2 billion Eras tour that shattered records and made her the world’s biggest music star as she performed 149 three-hour shows around the globe.Tickets sold for exorbitant prices and drew in millions of fans, along with many more who didn’t get in and were willing to sing along outside venues.Swifties — as her fans are known — are currently waiting for her next album “The Life of a Showgirl,” to be released on October 3.News of that release came this month in an episode of Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast, which he hosts with his brother Jason, a former NFL player.The 14-time Grammy winner’s last major release, “The Tortured Poets Department” came out in April last year.Though Swift is famed for singing about heartbreaks with her famous exes, her relationship with Kelce, one of the NFL’s most bankable players, has deepened despite the pressures of fame.Swift earned the ire of President Donald Trump after she endorsed his election opponent Kamala Harris in last year’s election, with the real estate billionaire declaring on social media “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT.”

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged restaurant chain Cracker Barrel to go back to its old logo, after its rebrand sparked a furious, culture war-fueled backlash.The folksy, homestyle US chain has seen tens of millions of dollars wiped off its share price since it unveiled a new look last week that right-wingers have criticized as “woke.”It was perhaps only a matter of time before Republican Trump weighed in on the issue, which saw Cracker Barrel last week remove the image of an old man sitting on a chair and leaning on a barrel from the famous yellow and brown sign.”Cracker Barrel should go back to the old logo, admit a mistake based on customer response (the ultimate Poll), and manage the company better than ever before,” Trump said on Truth Social. “They got a Billion Dollars worth of free publicity if they play their cards right. Very tricky to do, but a great opportunity. Have a major News Conference today. Make Cracker Barrel a WINNER again.”The White House later posted a mocked-up version of the former logo, replacing the “Uncle Herschel” figure with Trump himself and the words “America First” instead of Cracker Barrel. It added the caption: “Go Woke, go broke.”The furor comes as Trump’s White House leads a crusade against diversity and anything it brands “woke” in both the US government and corporate America.Trump’s son Donald Jr. took to X after the rebrand to demand to know “WTF is wrong with Cracker Barrel.” He quoted a post by the “Woke War Room” account that claimed the chain had “scrapped a beloved American aesthetic and replaced it with sterile, soulless branding.”Cracker Barrel apologized to fans on Monday, saying in a statement it “could’ve done a better job sharing who we are and who we’ll always be.” But it said the new sign, featuring just the text of the brand name in a rounded-off yellow hexagon, was there to stay.The chain has around 660 US branches. Trump won in 74 percent of counties with a Cracker Barrel in 2024, according to elections analyst Dave Wasserman.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Tuesday that the United States had revoked the visa of Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski, a move he termed “irresponsible.”The US State Department had yet to confirm the latest in a series of punitive measures taken by Washington against Brazil for putting former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro on trial for alleged coup plotting.”I wanted to express my solidarity and the government’s solidarity with my colleague Lewandowski faced with the irresponsible gesture of the United States in revoking his visa,” Lula told a ministerial meeting in Brasilia.President Donald Trump has also imposed crippling 50-percent tariffs on dozens of Brazilian imports and sanctioned the judge overseeing Bolsonaro’s trial, which he has called a “witch hunt.”Judge Alexandre de Moraes had his US visa revoked, as did several other Supreme Court justices, according to Brazil, following intense lobbying by Bolsonaro’s US-based son, Eduardo Bolsonaro.Jair Bolsonaro, dubbed the “Trump of the Tropics” during his 2019-2022 presidency, risks up to 40 years in prison if convicted of plotting to cling to power after losing October 2022 elections to the leftist Lula.The 70-year-old denies the charges and claims his trial is an attempt by the Brazilian judiciary, in league with Lula’s government, to prevent him making a comeback in 2026 elections.He is under house arrest while awaiting the verdict, which the Supreme Court is expected to deliver early next month.On Monday, prosecutors called for increased police surveillance of his residence in the run-up to the verdict, arguing he is a flight risk.Last week, it emerged that he had planned to seek asylum from Argentina’s right-wing President Javier Milei last year, shortly after the coup plot probe was launched.In his draft asylum request, he claimed he was the victim of political persecution.

A massive wall of dust swept through Phoenix, plunging the southwest US city into near-total darkness, grounding flights, forcing motorists off the road and cutting power to thousands.The giant haboob, which occurred on Monday, is a common phenomenon during the arid region’s monsoon season. Haboobs form when a thunderstorm collapses, sending cold air crashing onto the desert floor, where it scoops up dust into a towering wall of sediment that can stretch for miles and rise thousands of feet.The dust storm was followed by heavy rain and lightning that triggered flash flood warnings.”This monsoon dust isn’t messing around…Please be safe!” the City of Phoenix warned on X, sharing a photo of the dust wall looming over planes, a sight reminiscent of a science-fiction film.Local media said the weather tore part of the roof off Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.The Trico Electric Co-op reported 7,200 customers without power, while police in the town of Gilbert said downed trees and traffic light outages created hazardous driving conditions.The dust reduced visibility to just dozens of feet on the I-10 highway, while another busy roadway, the I-17, was partly closed due to flooding, according to the Arizona Department of Transport.In all, more than two million people were affected, according to the National Weather Service (NWS), which advises motorists caught in haboobs to pull over and turn off their lights so other drivers don’t mistake them for moving vehicles and crash into them.The NWS forecasts isolated thunderstorms from Tuesday through Thursday, before a return to dry conditions on Friday.