New York’s Met museum sheds new light on African art collectionFri, 30 May 2025 04:25:46 GMT

From a delicate 13th-century clay figure to self-portraits by photographer Samuel Fosso, New York’s Metropolitan Museum reopens its African art collection on Saturday, exploring the “complexity” of the past and looking to the present. After a four-year renovation with a $70 million price tag, the reopening of the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing comes amid heated debate …

New York’s Met museum sheds new light on African art collectionFri, 30 May 2025 04:25:46 GMT Read More »

A bad wrap: An angry Trump blasts the ‘TACO Theory’

President Donald Trump made no pretense at hiding his irritation this week when he was asked by a reporter about “TACO” — an acronym that has been gaining traction among Wall Street traders who believe that “Trump Always Chickens Out.” The so-called “TACO Theory” was coined by Robert Armstrong, a Financial Times writer seeking to underline the US president’s tendency to backtrack on policies when they start to roil the markets. Investors have come to realize that the US administration “does not have a very high tolerance for market and economic pressure and will be quick to back off when tariffs cause pain,” the journalist concluded.”This is the TACO Theory: Trump Always Chickens Out.”Armstrong was writing earlier this month, after stocks had just rebounded sharply on Trump’s announcement of a pause in massive tariffs imposed on the rest of the world by the Republican leader. Worsening the whiplash, Trump announced last week that tariffs of 50 percent on imports from the European Union would come into force on June 1 — but two days later declared a pause until July 9. – ‘It’s called negotiation’ -At the heart of Trump’s flip-flops is an acute sensitivity for the ups and downs of market trading that he honed as a brash New York property developer and business magnate in the 1980s. During his first term in office, a sharp reaction on Wall Street could sometimes be the only way to change the billionaire’s mind. Beyond the columns of the Financial Times, the “TACO Theory” is having a viral moment, and has entered the lexicon of investors who see it as more than just a snarky in-joke, according to analysts. “TACO trading strategy gets attention again,” blared the headline on a podcast released Monday by John Hardy, head of macroeconomic strategy at Danish investment bank Saxo.  The phrase eventually found its way back to the 78-year-old president, who furiously denied on Wednesday that he was backing down in the face of stock market turmoil. “I chicken out? I’ve never heard that… don’t ever say what you said, that’s a nasty question,” the mercurial tycoon thundered, rounding in the journalist who had asked for his take on the expression. Far from caving, Trump said he was merely engaging in the high-stakes cut and thrust of international dealmaking, he snarled — adding, with a sardonic edge: “It’s called negotiation.”For Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers, the TACO Theory is a “nonpolitical way of the markets calling the administration’s bluff.”- Reaction -Sam Burns, an analyst at Mill Street Research, told AFP he has noticed a new equanimity in Wall Street’s reaction to each new tariff announcement, with traders’ responses initially “much larger and more direct.”Where they once convulsed markets, Trump’s tariff talk now tends to be viewed as “easily reversible or not reliable,” said Burns, and investors are accordingly more willing to ignore the instinct to act rashly.This new calm was evident among traders at the New York Stock Exchange who held steady in the face of Trump’s EU tariff threats, and again when they did not overreact to successive court rulings blocking and then temporarily reinstating most of the tariffs. But Hardy, the Saxo analyst, warns that the vagaries of Trump’s day-to-day announcements should not distract from the protectionist bent of his broader political outlook. “Trump might ‘chicken out’ at times,” Hardy wrote in a recent commentary on Saxo’s website.”But the underlying policy moves are for real, and a deadly serious shift in US economic statecraft and industrial policy that is a response to massive instabilities that have been growing for years.”

Elon Musk’s rocket-fueled ride with Trump flames out

Elon Musk stormed into US politics as President Donald Trump’s chainsaw-brandishing sidekick. Four turbulent months later it’s the tech tycoon himself on the chopping block.Trump hailed Musk as “terrific” as he announced that they would hold a joint press conference on Friday as the South African-born magnate leaves the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).”This will be his last day, but not really, because he will, always, be with us, helping all the way,” Trump said on his Truth Social network on Thursday.But the warm words could not hide the open frustrations that Musk, the world’s richest man, had expressed in recent weeks about his controversial cost-cutting role for the world’s most powerful man.Once a fixture at the Republican president’s side, dressed in t-shirts and MAGA baseball caps, Musk had shown growing disillusionment with the obstacles faced by DOGE even as it cut a brutal swath through the US bureaucracy.He leaves far short of his original goal of saving $2 trillion dollars, with The Atlantic magazine calculating he saved just one thousandth of that, despite tens of thousands of people losing their jobs.Instead he will focus on his Space X and Tesla businesses, as well as his goal of colonizing Mars.- Rocket-like rise -It was all very different at first, as the 53-year-old Musk rose through Trump’s orbit as rapidly as one of his rockets — though they have been known to blow up now and again. Musk was the biggest donor to Trump’s 2024 election campaign and the pair bonded over right-wing politics and a desire to root out what they believed was a wasteful “deep state.”DOGE was jokingly named after a “memecoin,” but it was no joke. Young tech wizards who slept in the White House complex shuttered whole government departments. Foreign countries found their aid cut off.A shades-wearing Musk brandished a chainsaw at a conservative event, boasting of how easy it was to save money, and separately made what appeared to be a Nazi salute. Soon the man critics dubbed the “co-president” was constantly at Trump’s side.The tycoon appeared with his young son X on his shoulders during his first press conference in the Oval Office. He attended cabinet meetings. He and Trump rode on Air Force One and Marine One together. They watched cage fights together.Many wondered how long two such big egos could coexist.But Trump himself remained publicly loyal to the man he called a “genius.”One day, the president even turned the White House into a pop-up Tesla dealership after protesters targeted Musk’s electric car business.- ‘Got into fights’ -Yet the socially awkward tech magnate also struggled to get a grip on the realities of US politics.The beginning of the end “started (in) mid-March when there were several meetings in the Oval Office and in the cabinet room where basically Elon Musk got into fights,” Elaine Kamarck of the Brookings Institution told AFP.One shouting match with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent could reportedly be heard throughout the West Wing. Musk publicly called Trump’s trade advisor Peter Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks.” Nor did Musk’s autocratic style and Silicon Valley creed of “move fast and break things” work well in Washington.The impact on Musk’s businesses also began to hit home. A series of Space X launches ended in fiery failures, while Tesla shareholders fumed.Musk started musing about stepping back, saying that “DOGE is a way of life, like Buddhism” that would carry on without him.Finally, Musk showed the first signs of distance from Trump himself, saying he was “disappointed” in Trump’s recent mega spending bill. Musk also said he would pull back from spending time on politics.The end came, appropriately, in a post by Musk on Wednesday on the X network, which he bought and then turned into a megaphone for his right-wing politics.But Musk’s departure might not be the end of the story, said Kamarck.”I think they genuinely like each other and I think Musk has a lot of money that he can contribute to campaigns if he is so moved. I think there will be a continued relation,” she said. 

US regulator drops lawsuit against Binance

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday dropped its civil lawsuit against the cryptocurrency exchange Binance and its majority shareholder, Changpeng Zhao.”In the exercise of its discretion and as a matter of policy, the Commission deems it appropriate to dismiss this litigation,” the agency said in a court filing.The SEC added that dropping the lawsuit “does not necessarily reflect its position in any other litigation or proceeding.”Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is accused in several countries of allowing criminal organizations to launder funds through its platform.Zhao, the company’s co-founder and former CEO, pleaded guilty in late 2023 to violating anti-money-laundering requirements in the United States, serving a four-month prison sentence for it in 2024.As part of the company’s $4.3 billion settlement with US authorities, Zhao agreed to resign from his position at Binance while remaining a majority shareholder.US President Donald Trump’s pro-crypto SEC chair Paul Atkins has dropped other cases against major cryptocurrency platforms like Coinbase and Kraken initiated under the administration of former president Joe Biden.

New metro cuts through Saudi social divisions

For decades, civil servant Zayed al-Ghamdi’s social circles in Saudi Arabia were more than predictable, bound by routine and kinship in a country where societal divisions have rarely been challenged. Then came the metro.A decade after breaking ground, Riyadh’s gleaming new metro opened in December, offering the capital’s eight million residents an alternative to roads chronically clogged by its two million cars.A quicker commute is not the only difference: for the first time, the wealthy are sharing journeys with the less well off, and Saudi nationals are mixing with the large expat population, from white-collar workers to labourers.”For 40 years, I was confined to my car or restaurants with my father and brothers, then with my wife and children,” Ghamdi, a 42-year-old civil servant working in downtown Riyadh, told AFP. “I didn’t mix or talk to anyone except those I knew or who resembled me.”Now, things have changed. You feel that society, with all its classes, is in one place,” he added while speeding along the blue line, which connects working-class areas in the south with the downtown business district and affluent northern neighbourhoods.With its eye-watering oil riches, intricate tribal networks and large numbers of foreign workers, Saudi society has long been divided by rigid class structures. But on the metro, those divisions are more porous.Metro carriages are frequently crowded with labourers, university students, government employees and business executives wearing expensive suits. “I can now discuss general topics with strangers and even get to know new things and cultures up close,” said 56-year-old engineer Nasser Al-Qahtani, pointing to a young Saudi holding a skateboard.- ‘Family and friends only’ -While the metro has done little to clear Riyadh’s perennially gridlocked streets, its opening has been “a major social and psychological event”, said sociologist Mohammed Al-Hamza.”The metro has shifted the mindset of Saudi society. It has made people come closer together,” he said. “The culture in Saudi Arabia is one of family and friends only, and there is reluctance to get to know new people.”Along with chipping away at class divisions, the system is saving commuters time and money, to the delight of many. “I used to get to work in over an hour and a half, exhausted and stressed due to traffic,” said Ghamdi, adding that he had hardly used his prized SUV for months.”Now, I arrive relaxed and without stress,” he added. Prices range from just four riyals ($1) for a limited one-day pass to 140 riyals for a month.As in other countries in the Middle East and beyond, the metro offers family carriages reserved for women, children and couples.They afford women a safe and socially acceptable way to use the network to travel to work or study.For those willing to pay an extra 10 riyals per day, first-class compartments also offer a reprieve from the busy single-male carriages.For law student Hadeel Waleed, 20, the metro has been a game-changer, cutting her trip from the southern suburbs to Princess Nourah University from three to four hours to one hour or less.”Now I arrive home with energy for my family and studying,” she told AFP.- ‘No one expected this usage’ -The project is one of many major infrastructure initiatives under “Vision 2030” — the reform programme overseen by the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.With six lines spanning about 176 kilometres (109 miles) of track, the network serves 85 stations, including stops at all terminals of Riyadh international airport.There had been fears among city officials that the huge project could prove a white elephant, with few Saudis deigning to use it. A bus network developed by the city struggled to gain traction as Saudis remained committed to their cars, especially during the hot summer months when temperatures hit 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit).  “Honestly, for 10 years, the question was: ‘Who will use the metro?'” a senior official who helps operate the system told AFP on condition of anonymity.”No one ever expected the current level of usage or even the financial returns,” he added. The Royal Commission for Riyadh did not respond to AFP’s enquiries about daily ridership but the official suggested the figure was likely in the tens of thousands if not more. Authorities are already hoping to expand the network, with a seventh line under development linking Riyadh to several new projects on the capital’s outskirts.For Muneer, a 28-year-old government employee, the metro is a welcome addition to a city undergoing rapid change. “It makes life easier,” he said. 

Bernard Kerik, New York police chief through 9/11, dead at 69

Bernard “Bernie” Kerik, who rose to national prominence after leading the New York police department through the September 11 terror attacks, died Thursday. He was 69.FBI Director Kash Patel announced Kerik’s death on X, saying he passed away “after a private battle with illness.”Lauding Kerik, Patel called him “a warrior, a patriot and one of the most courageous public servants this country has ever known.”Kerik was the tough-talking head of the New York police when Osama bin Laden’s hijackers struck the World Trade Center towers with commercial passenger jets in September 2001. In the traumatic days and weeks after the attack, Kerik, with his squat, muscular build, balding head and black moustache, became a familiar face to Americans across the country, as he helped then-mayor Rudy Giuliani guide New York through the crisis.He’d served as Police Commissioner for less than a year when his life and career were altered forever by the terror attacks that killed nearly 2,750 people, including 23 NYPD officers.When Giuliani’s second term ended shortly after the attacks, Kerik left office with him and continued their decades-long friendship and professional allegiance.Kerik’s rough upbringing was detailed in a memoir, “The Lost Son: A Life in Pursuit.” Born in New Jersey to an alcoholic prostitute, he was abandoned by his mother and brought up by his father, and had a troubled childhood.Early on his career took him around the world, with a spell on a military police posting in South Korea and working as a security consultant for the Saudi royal family in Saudi Arabia. He later joined the New York Police Department, where he worked undercover in the narcotics division and helped bust 60 members of the notorious Colombian Cali drug cartel.After leaving the Police Commissioner role post-9/11, Kerik stayed active in Republican politics, taking on a tour of duty to Iraq to help train their law enforcement in 2003 for former president George W. Bush.He suffered another fall from grace after pleading guilty in 2009 to felonies, including tax fraud.He admitted to accepting $255,000 worth of renovations to his apartment from a construction firm — suspected of having mob ties — angling for government contracts.His plea helped him avoid a maximum potential sentence of up to 61 years behind bars. Instead, he was sentenced to four years in prison. He was released in 2013. Kerik received a presidential pardon in 2020, during President Donald Trump’s first term.He later teamed up with Giuliani to investigate debunked allegations of election fraud following Trump’s 2020 loss, and was among those subpoenaed by lawmakers over accusations of plotting to overturn the election in the January 6, 2021 attacks on the US Capitol.