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Trump says Fed’s rate cut was ‘political move’

Trump says Fed’s rate cut was ‘political move’
Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell. (Reuters)
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Updated 20 September 2024

Trump says Fed’s rate cut was ‘political move’

Trump says Fed’s rate cut was ‘political move’

WASHINGTON: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Thursday the US Federal Reserve’s decision to cut interest rates by half of a percentage point was “a political move.”
“It really is a political move. Most people thought it was going to be half of that number, which probably would have been the right thing to do,” Trump said in an interview with Newsmax.
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday kicked off what is expected to be a series of interest rate cuts with an unusually large half-percentage-point reduction.
Trump said last month that US presidents should have a say over decisions made by the Federal Reserve.
The Fed chair and the other six members of its board of governors are nominated by the president, subject to confirmation by the Senate. The Fed enjoys substantial operational independence to make policy decisions that wield tremendous influence over the direction of the world’s largest economy and global asset markets.


Young Bosnian arrested in Germany over ‘terror’ plot

Updated 5 sec ago

Young Bosnian arrested in Germany over ‘terror’ plot

Young Bosnian arrested in Germany over ‘terror’ plot
BERLIN: German police early Wednesday arrested a young Bosnian man and conducted several searches in the west of the country to investigate the financing of an “Islamist terrorist attack.”
The 27-year-old suspect was arrested in an early morning operation by a specialized police unit in the Essen and Dortmund region, local police and the public prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
They did not give details about the planned attack, including where or how it was to be carried out, but said the investigation was ongoing.
According to the German daily Bild, the suspect had received military training.
Several searches have been carried out in the region at the homes of other people, who are currently considered witnesses.
The police investigation began due to suspicions of organized fraud, and authorities later determined that the funds collected “were to be used to finance an Islamist terrorist attack,” the statement said.

Trump’s tariffs may cast a pall over Rubio’s first official trip to Asia

Trump’s tariffs may cast a pall over Rubio’s first official trip to Asia
Updated 10 min 10 sec ago

Trump’s tariffs may cast a pall over Rubio’s first official trip to Asia

Trump’s tariffs may cast a pall over Rubio’s first official trip to Asia
  • State Department officials say tariffs and trade will not be Rubio’s focus during the meetings
  • However, Rubio may be hard pressed to avoid the tariff issue that has vexed some of America’s closest allies and partners in Asia

WASHINGTON: Sweeping tariffs set to be imposed by President Donald Trump next month may cast a pall over his top diplomat’s first official trip to Asia this week — just as the US seeks to boost relations with Indo-Pacific nations to counter China’s growing influence in the region.
Trump on Monday sent notice to several countries about higher tariffs if they don’t make trade deals with the US, including to a number of Asian countries. The move came just a day before Secretary of State Marco Rubio planned to depart for a Southeast Asian regional security conference in Malaysia.
Top diplomats and senior officials from at least eight countries that Trump has targeted for the new tariffs, which would go into effect on Aug. 1, will be represented at the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum in Kuala Lumpur that Rubio will attend on Thursday and Friday.
State Department officials say tariffs and trade will not be Rubio’s focus during the meetings, which the Trump administration hopes will prioritize maritime safety and security in the South China Sea, where China has become increasingly aggressive toward its small neighbors, as well as combating transnational crime.
However, Rubio may be hard-pressed to avoid the tariff issue that has vexed some of America’s closest allies and partners in Asia, including Japan and South Korea, which Trump says would face 25 percent tariffs absent a deal. Neither of those countries is a member of ASEAN but both will be represented at the meetings in Kuala Lumpur.
Rubio’s “talking points on the China threat will not resonate with officials whose industries are being battered by 30-40 percent tariffs,” said Danny Russel, vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute and a former assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific during the Obama administration.
“In fact, when Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim last week said ASEAN will approach challenges ‘as a united bloc’ — he wasn’t talking about Chinese coercion, but about US tariffs,” Russel said.
Among ASEAN states, Trump has so far announced up to 40 percent tariffs on at least six of the 10 members of the bloc, including the meeting host Malaysia, which would face a 25 percent tariff mainly on electronics and electrical product imports to the United States.
Southeast Asian countries not yet targeted by the US include Brunei, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam, which recently agreed to a trade deal with Trump. The Trump administration has courted most Southeast Asian nations in a bid to blunt or at least temper China’s push to dominate the region.
In Kuala Lumpur, Rubio also will likely come face-to-face with the foreign ministers of two of America’s biggest adversaries: China and Russia. US officials could not say if meetings with either are planned for the short time — about 36 hours — that Rubio will be in Malaysia.
Russel noted that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is a veteran of such gatherings and “fluent in ASEAN principles and conventions,” while Rubio “is a rookie trying to sell an ‘America First’ message to a deeply skeptical audience.”
Issues with both countries remain substantial, particularly over Ukraine.
Trump on Tuesday expressed his exasperation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying, “I’m not happy with him, I can tell you that much right now” as Moscow ramps up attacks in Ukraine amid the American leader’s push for a peace deal.
Trump also announced that the US would resume providing Ukraine with defensive weapons after the Pentagon announced a surprise pause in some deliveries last week.
US officials continue to accuse China of resupplying and revamping Russia’s military industrial sector, allowing it to produce additional weapons with which it can attack Ukraine.


Japan starts deploying Osprey fleet at a new base to beef up southwestern defense

Japan starts deploying Osprey fleet at a new base to beef up southwestern defense
Updated 27 min 47 sec ago

Japan starts deploying Osprey fleet at a new base to beef up southwestern defense

Japan starts deploying Osprey fleet at a new base to beef up southwestern defense
  • Japan’s accelerating military buildup, especially in the southwest in recent years, serves as a deterrence to China’s increasingly assertive maritime actions in the area

HIROSHIMA: The Japanese army on Wednesday began deploying its fleet of V-22 Ospreys on a newly-opened, permanent base in southwestern Japan, the country’s latest move to beef up its defense amid growing tension in the region.
The first of the fleet of 17 Ospreys safely arrived at its new home base of Camp Saga, Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force said Wednesday.
The move is part of Japan’s accelerating military buildup, especially in the southwest in recent years, as a deterrence to China’s increasingly assertive maritime actions in the area.
The tilt-rotor aircraft have been temporarily based at Camp Kisarazu, near Tokyo, since 2020 during construction of the base and other necessary facilities. The rest of the fleet is scheduled to complete its relocation in mid-August, the JGSDF officials said.
With the full, permanent deployment at Camp Saga, Japan plans to operate the Ospreys more closely with the country’s amphibious rapid deployment brigade at Ainoura, in the nearby naval town of Sasebo, as part of the ongoing plan to reinforce the defense of southwestern remote islands, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani told reporters Tuesday.
“The security environment surrounding Japan has been increasingly severe, and it is our pressing task to strengthen our island defense capabilities,” he said.
Camp Saga ground forces also work with 50 helicopters based at another nearby camp, Metabaru, as well as with air force and navy personnel based in the area.
The use of the V-22 remains controversial in Japan, especially in southern Japan, due to a series of accidents involving the aircraft.
In November 2023, a US Air Force Osprey crashed off Japan’s southern coast, killing eight people. In October 2024, a Japanese army V-22 Osprey tilted and hit the ground while attempting to take off during a joint exercise with the US military, and an investigation has found human error was the cause.


European intelligence officials warn that a Russian sabotage campaign is escalating

European intelligence officials warn that a Russian sabotage campaign is escalating
Updated 09 July 2025

European intelligence officials warn that a Russian sabotage campaign is escalating

European intelligence officials warn that a Russian sabotage campaign is escalating
  • Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov previously said the Kremlin has never been shown “any proofs” supporting accusations Russia is running a sabotage campaign and said “certainly we definitely reject any allegations”

LONDON: It was almost midnight when a truck driver resting in his cab heard the crackling of flames at a warehouse in east London storing equipment for Ukraine. He grabbed a fire extinguisher and leapt out — but realized the blaze was too big and retreated.
When police arrived, they banged on the doors of a nearby apartment building, shouting at residents to evacuate. Parents grabbed children and ran into the street.
About 30 minutes after the fire started, Dylan Earl, a British man who admitted to organizing the arson, received a message from a man UK authorities say was his Russian handler.
“Excellent,” it read in Russian.
On Tuesday, a British court found three men guilty of arson in the March 2024 plot that prosecutors said was masterminded by Russia’s intelligence services — part of a campaign of disruption across Europe that Western officials blame on Moscow and its proxies. Two other men, including Earl, previously pleaded guilty to organizing the arson.
The fire is one of more than 70 incidents linked to Russia that The Associated Press has documented since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Four European intelligence officials told AP they’re worried the risk of serious injury or even death is rising as untrained saboteurs set fires near homes and businesses, plant explosives or build bombs. AP’s tracking shows 12 incidents of arson or serious sabotage last year compared with two in 2023 and none in 2022.
“When you start a campaign, it creates its own dynamic and gets more and more violent over time,” said one of the officials, who holds a senior position at a European intelligence agency. The official, like two others, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss security matters.
The Kremlin did not reply to a request for comment on the British case. Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov previously said the Kremlin has never been shown “any proofs” supporting accusations Russia is running a sabotage campaign and said “certainly we definitely reject any allegations.”
Recruiting young amateurs
Most of the saboteurs accused of working on behalf of Russia are foreign, including Ukrainians. They include young people with no criminal records who are frequently hired for a few thousand dollars, the intelligence officials said.
The senior official said Russia has been forced to rely increasingly on such amateurs since hundreds of Moscow’s spies were expelled from Western countries following an operation to poison former Russian intelligence officer Sergey Skripal in the UK in 2018. That led to the death of a British woman — and a major response from the West.
Russia “had to change the modus operandi, from using cadre officers to using proxies, making a more flexible, deniable system,” the official said.
Documents shared during the London warehouse trial offered a rare glimpse into how young men are recruited.
Among those were transcripts of messages between a man prosecutors said was a Russian intelligence operative and his recruit, Earl, who was active on Telegram channels associated with the Wagner group — a mercenary organization whose operations were taken over by Russia’s Defense Ministry in 2023.
Russian military intelligence — acting through Wagner — was likely behind the plot, said Kevin Riehle, a lecturer in Intelligence and National Security at Brunel University in London.
The recruiter — who used the handle Privet Bot — posted multiple times in a Telegram channel asking for people to join the battle against the West, Riehle told the court.
Once connected, the recruiter and Earl communicated predominantly in Russian with Earl using Google to translate, according to screenshots on his phone. Their messages ranged from the deadly serious to the almost comic.
The recruiter told Earl, 21, that he was “wise and clever despite being young,” and suggested he watch the television show “The Americans” — about Soviet KGB intelligence officers undercover in the US
“It will be your manual,” the recruiter wrote.
In one message, Earl boasted of — unproven — ties to the Irish Republican Army, to “murderers, kidnappers, soldiers, drug dealers, fraudsters, car thieves,” promising to be “the best spy you have ever seen.”
Potential for injuries
Earl and another man eventually recruited others who went to the warehouse the night of the fire. Earl never met the men, according to messages shared in court, and it’s unclear whether he ever visited the site himself.
Once at the warehouse, one of the men poured out a jerrycan of gasoline before igniting a rag and throwing it on the fuel. Another recorded the arson on his phone. It was also captured on CCTV.
The warehouse was the site of a mail order company that sent supplies to Ukraine, including StarLink devices that provide Internet by satellite and are used by the country’s military.
Around half the warehouse’s contents were destroyed in the fire, which burned just meters (yards) from Yevhen Harasym, the truck driver, and a short distance from an outbuilding in the yard of a home and the apartment block.
More than 60 firefighters responded.
“I started knocking on everyone’s doors screaming and shouting at the top of my lungs, ‘There’s a fire, there’s a fire, get out!’” Tessa Ribera Fernandez, who lives in the block with her 2-year-old son, told the court.
A campaign grows more dangerous
When Russia’s disruption campaign started following the Ukraine invasion, vandalism – including defacing monuments or graffiti — was more common, said the senior European intelligence official.
“Over the last year, it has developed to arson and assassination,” the official said.
Other incidents linked to Russia with the potential to cause serious injury or death include a plot to put explosive devices on cargo planes – the packages ignited on the ground – and plots to set fire to shopping centers in Poland, Latvia and Lithuania.
Lithuanian prosecutors said a Ukrainian teenager was part of a plan to plant a bomb in an IKEA store just outside the capital of Vilnius last year.
It sparked a massive fire in the early hours of the morning. No one was injured.
More fires and a kidnapping plot
Shortly after the fire in London, Earl and his co-conspirators discussed what they would do next, according to messages shared with the court.
They talked about burning down London businesses owned by Evgeny Chichvarkin — a Russian tycoon who delivered supplies to Ukraine.
Hedonism Wines and the restaurant Hide should be turned to “ashes,” Earl said.
In the messages, Earl vacillated between saying they didn’t “need” any casualties and that if they “wanted to hurt someone,” they could put nails in a homemade explosive device. He noted there were homes above the wine shop.
That reflects a phenomenon the senior intelligence official noted: Middlemen sometimes suggest ideas — each one a “little better” and more dangerous.
While Russia’s intelligence services try to keep “strict operational control” — giving targets, deciding on devices and demanding recruits record the sabotage — sometimes “control does not hold,” said Lotta Hakala, a senior analyst at the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service.
That appears to be what happened in London.
After the fire, the Russian recruiter told Earl he “rushed into burning these warehouses without my approval.”
Because of that, he said, “it will be impossible to pay for this arson.”
Still, the recruiter told Earl he wanted to target more businesses with links to Ukraine.
“You are our dagger in Europe and we will be sharpening you carefully,” the recruiter wrote. “Then we will start using you in serious battles.”


FBI launches probes into former FBI director, ex-CIA director, Fox News reports

The scope of the criminal investigations into Brennan and Comey was unclear, the report added. (AFP file photo)
The scope of the criminal investigations into Brennan and Comey was unclear, the report added. (AFP file photo)
Updated 09 July 2025

FBI launches probes into former FBI director, ex-CIA director, Fox News reports

The scope of the criminal investigations into Brennan and Comey was unclear, the report added. (AFP file photo)
  • A CIA review released last week found flaws in the production of a US intelligence assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to sway the 2016 US presidential vote to Trump, but it did not contest that conclusion

WASHINGTON: The FBI launched criminal probes into former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI director James Comey, Fox News Digital reported on Tuesday, citing sources.
These probes are over alleged wrongdoing related to past government investigations about claims of Russian interference in the 2016 US elections in which President Donald Trump defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the news report said.
The FBI, the CIA and the Justice Department had no immediate comment. Reuters has not independently verified the probes.
The scope of the criminal investigations into Brennan and Comey was unclear, the report added.
A criminal investigation does not necessarily result in charges.
Fox said its sources were from the Justice Department but did not specify the number of sources.
A CIA review released last week found flaws in the production of a US intelligence assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to sway the 2016 US presidential vote to Trump, but it did not contest that conclusion.