Last year, the Fed chair used his keynote speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium to indicate the time had come for interest rate cuts. This time, however, the picture is murkier.

Washington, United States -- President Donald Trump ramped up pressure on the US central bank Wednesday, calling for Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook to step down -- after his recent criticism of Fed Chair Jerome Powell for not lowering interest rates sooner. "Cook must resign, now!!!" Trump wrote on his...

Rubio, to the delight of President Donald Trump's right-wing base, has proudly moved against students using an obscure law that allows him to rescind visas for people deemed to counter US foreign policy interests.

Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday but the talks failed to yield any breakthrough on a ceasefire -- though White House envoy Steve Witkoff said both leaders had agreed to provide "robust security guarantees" to Ukraine.

European leaders will join Zelensky in Washington on Monday, seeking above all else to prevent another Oval Office meltdown -- but also to coordinate on the path toward peace negotiations.

Prior to the high-stakes meeting in Alaska, securing an immediate cessation of hostilities had been a core demand of Trump and European leaders including Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky,

Anchorage, United States - Stepping foot on Western soil for the first time since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin basked in choreographed pageantry courtesy of Donald Trump -- but was also confronted by signs of US power. In made-for-television images, Putin and Trump each flew in their...

"There's no deal until there's a deal," Trump said after emerging from a meeting with Putin. offering warm words but taking no questions from reporters - a highly unusual approach for the media-savvy US president.

"I'll be setting tariffs next week and the week after, on steel and, I would say, chips. Chips and semiconductors, we'll be setting sometime next week, the week after," Trump said.

New York, United States - Wall Street stocks finished little changed Thursday as markets absorbed a disappointing inflation report, while oil prices shot higher on the eve of a US-Russia summit on Ukraine. After a negative start, major US indices worked their way back up to even following July wholesale...

In a draft peace plan published in June, Russia called on Ukraine to withdraw its forces from the Kherson, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions that Moscow claimed to annex in 2022.

Bitcoin hit a new peak at $124,514.59 in Asian trading, before cooling to around $121,500. The world's biggest cryptocurrency is benefitting from expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut US interest rates before 2026.

Tokyo, Japan - Bitcoin hit a record high on Thursday during early Asian trading, surpassing $124,000, driven by favourable US legislation and a rise in US equities. The cryptocurrency rose above its previous July record, briefly exceeding $124,500 before retreating.US stocks ended higher Wednesday, with the S&P 500 index and...

Putin and Trump will meet Friday at an air base in the far-northern US state, the first time the Russian leader has been permitted on Western soil since his February 2022 invasion of Ukraine which has killed tens of thousands of people.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin had scored a "personal victory" by getting invited to talks with Donald Trump on US soil, and that the meeting further delayed sanctions on Moscow.

President Donald Trump said Sunday that homeless people must be moved "far" from Washington, after days of musing about taking federal control of the US capital where he has falsely suggested crime is rising.

Iran opposes the Lebanese government's decision to disarm the Tehran-backed militant group Hezbollah, a senior adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei said Saturday according to the Tasnim news agency.

The two former Soviet republics "are committing to stop all fighting forever, open up commerce, travel and diplomatic relations and respect each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Trump said at the event.

The figure, calculated by the two organizations, stands in contrast with the 2.4 percent rate in force at the time of President Donald Trump's inauguration on January 20.

The US president unveiled the levy at the White House on Wednesday ahead of the imposition of sweeping tariffs on goods from dozens of countries, with chips so far exempt. It comes with the United States and China locked in a high-stakes race to develop the high-end semiconductors used to...

Washington, United States -- Apple will invest an additional $100 billion in the United States, taking its total pledge to $600 billion over the next four years, a senior White House official said Wednesday. The announcement, which was first reported by US media, will be officially made later Wednesday at...

President Donald Trump threatened Monday to "substantially" hike US tariffs on goods from India over its purchases of Russian oil -- a key source of revenue for Moscow's war on Ukraine.

The United States and Russia control the vast majority of the world's nuclear weaponry, and Washington keeps nuclear-armed submarines on patrol as part of its so-called nuclear triad of land, sea and air-launched weapons.

The tariffs are a demonstration of raw economic power that Trump sees putting US exporters in a stronger position while encouraging domestic manufacturing by keeping out foreign imports.

The last-gasp scramble to strike bilateral accords came as an appeals court in Washington considered the legality behind Trump's strategy of invoking emergency economic powers to declare sweeping duties on imports.

Shares of Microsoft vaulted 5.3 percent after it reported $27.2 billion in quarterly profits as it touted massive investments in AI. Microsoft became the second company to surpass $4 trillion following another AI star, Nvidia.

Washington, United States - Unconditional support for Israel has long been an entry requirement in US Republican politics, but that orthodoxy is being challenged by Donald Trump's populist base -- where invocations of the "special relationship" are falling on deaf ears. Images of starvation and suffering in Gaza have given...

US President Donald Trump said his deadline for Russia to end the fighting in Ukraine or face new sanctions will be in 10 days from Tuesday.

Looking ahead, the IMF expects the world economy to expand 3.1 percent next year, an improvement from the 3.0 percent it earlier predicted.

Speaking in Scotland after meeting Britain's leader, Trump contradicted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had earlier dismissed fears of famine in Gaza as Hamas propaganda.

It remains unclear how much damage was caused by the US strikes on Tehran's nuclear facilities, which came after Israel launched a surprise bombing campaign that it said was aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining an atomic weapon.

Washington, United States -- The US deadline of August 1 for imposing tariffs on its trading partners is firm and there will be no extensions, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday. "So no extensions, no more grace periods. August 1, the tariffs are set. They'll go into place. Customs will...

Policymakers at the independent Federal Reserve have kept the benchmark lending rate steady since the start of the year as they monitor how Trump's sweeping tariffs are impacting the world's biggest economy.

The 25-page "America's AI Action Plan" outlines three aims: accelerating innovation, building infrastructure, and leading internationally on AI. Overall, the administration frames AI advancement as critical to maintaining economic and military supremacy.

Washington, United States - President Donald Trump sought Tuesday to distract from the growing furor over his administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal by pushing extraordinary claims that Barack Obama tried to mount a coup. The accusations, delivered in the Oval Office, followed a surprise announcement that Trump's...

US President Donald Trump announced Tuesday a "massive" trade deal with Japan, cutting a threatened 25-percent tariff to 15 percent ahead of an August 1 deadline.

US President Donald Trump was "caught off guard" by Israeli strikes in Syria last week, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Monday, adding that he discussed the issue with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Washington, United States - Donald Trump's past ties with Jeffrey Epstein are under scrutiny after the US president slammed a Wall Street Journal report that he sent a lewd letter to the infamous sex offender as "fake news." AFP looks at the pair's relationship as the Trump administration also faces...

Washington, United States - US President Donald Trump sued media magnate Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal for at least $10 billion Friday over publication of a bombshell article on his friendship with the infamous alleged sex trafficker of underage girls, Jeffrey Epstein. The defamation lawsuit, filed in federal...

Washington, United States - US President Donald Trump threatened to sue The Wall Street Journal Thursday over a story about an alleged off-color letter he wrote to Jeffrey Epstein, amid lingering political fallout over his administration's handling of the late financier's sex trafficking case. The Journal story says the letter featuring...

Washington, United States - Beverage giant Coca-Cola has agreed to use real cane sugar in its US production, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday on social media. The company currently uses high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in its domestic beverages -- a sweetener that has long drawn criticism from Health Secretary Robert...

President Donald Trump said Tuesday the US Justice Department should release all "credible" information from its probe into notorious sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein as he sought to douse a firestorm of criticism from his supporters over his handling of the case.

Washington, United States - US President Donald Trump heads to Pennsylvania on Tuesday to announce energy and infrastructure deals intended to meet big tech's soaring demand for electricity needed to fuel the AI boom. Trump will make the announcement at the inaugural Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit at Carnegie Mellon...

US President Donald Trump told Russia on Monday to end its Ukraine war within 50 days or face massive new economic sanctions as he laid out plans for new infusions of weaponry for Kyiv via NATO.

US President Donald Trump's second state visit to the United Kingdom will be between September 17 to 19, Buckingham Palace announced Monday.

President Donald Trump on Sunday said Washington would send Patriot air defense systems to Kyiv and hinted at new sanctions on Russia, once again voicing displeasure with Russian leader Vladimir Putin

Mahmoud Khalil, one of the most prominent leaders of US pro-Palestinian campus protests, sued the Trump administration Thursday for $20 million over his arrest and detention by immigration agents.

After Congress gave Trump a big win last week with his fiscal package, the Republican's aggressive trade posture has returned with a vengeance this week. On Tuesday, he added threatened levies on copper and pharmaceuticals to a laundry list of countries warned of higher tariffs.

Iran's nuclear programme has been "very, very delayed" by US and Israeli strikes, France's foreign intelligence chief said on Tuesday, wading into a contentious debate over just how hard it was hit.

Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu met for the second time in 24 hours Tuesday as the US president intensified the pressure on the Israeli prime minister to reach a deal to end the "tragedy" of the war in Gaza.