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US President Donald Trump ordered federal employees of diversity offices to be put on paid leave by Wednesday night, and called a Washington bishop “nasty” after she asked him to “have mercy” for migrants and LGBTQ children.White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that US government workers in diversity offices must be put on paid leave by 5:00 pm Wednesday as the new administration moved from day one to shutter programs intended to bolster minority groups.While campaigning, Trump had vilified diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies in the federal government and corporate world, saying they discriminated against white people — men in particular.He also has demonized any recognition of gender diversity, attacking transgender people — notably transgender women in sports — and gender-affirming care for children.”President Trump campaigned on ending the scourge of DEI from our federal government and returning America to a merit based society where people are hired based on their skills, not for the color of their skin,” Leavitt said in a statement published by NBC News.”This is another win for Americans of all races, religions, and creeds. Promises made, promises kept.”Republican Trump — at 78 the oldest person ever to be sworn in as president — has vowed a “new golden age” for America, signing a slew of executive orders in his first 24 hours on immigration, gender and climate that overturn many of Democrat Joe Biden’s policies.He also pardoned more than a thousand supporters, including US Capitol rioters, and targeted opponents in a shock-and-awe start to his second presidency.- ‘Have mercy’ -The new president has also faced defiance, including a rare public dressing-down Tuesday from a bishop during the customary inaugural service.The Washington National Cathedral’s Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde told Trump from the pulpit that he was sowing fear among America’s immigrants and LGBTQ people.”I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away,” Budde told Trump, who was seated in the church’s front pew.”I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.”Early Wednesday, Trump blasted the Episcopal bishop on his Truth Social platform, calling her “nasty” and demanding an apology.”The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater,” Trump wrote, without naming Budde. “She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart.”Railing against “illegal migrants,” the president also slammed Budde’s “very boring and uninspiring” service.”She is not very good at her job! She and her church owe the public an apology!”Trump issued measures on Monday to suspend the arrival of asylum seekers and expel migrants in the country illegally.He also decreed that only two sexes — male and female, but not transgender — will be recognized.And he ordered the closure of government diversity programs, with federal DEI office employees set to be put on paid leave by close of business Wednesday.- ‘Shameful discrimination’ -A US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) memo posted on social media platform X by a CBS correspondent said: “Send a notification to all employees of DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility) offices that they are being placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately as the agency takes steps to close/end all DEIA initiatives, offices and program.”The memo from acting OPM director Charles Ezell directed all department and agency heads to send workers notice by 5:00 pm Wednesday, and submit a written plan for a “reduction-in-force action” regarding employees by 5:00 pm Friday.”To every reporter asking about this: I can gladly confirm!” wrote White House spokeswoman Leavitt on X, resharing the CBS journalist’s post.Dated Tuesday, the memo said DEI programs “divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination.”It ordered all agency heads to cancel DEI trainings, terminate related contractors, and take down websites and social media accounts promoting it by Wednesday evening. Trump is pushing a turbocharged agenda after his inauguration Monday, in which he gave a speech that mixed dark imagery about a failing America with promises of renewal.He is also sowing fresh disruption on the international stage.Trump threatened tariffs against the European Union on Tuesday, and also warned he could impose a 10 percent tariff on China, saying it was “based on the fact that they’re sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada.”When asked how soon China’s tariffs could be put in place, he said: “Probably February 1st is the date we’re looking at.”Beijing on Wednesday vowed to defend its “national interests”, and said “there are no winners in a trade war”. burs-sco/dhc

Panama has complained to the United Nations over US President Donald Trump’s “worrying” threat to seize the Panama Canal, even as it launched an audit of the Hong Kong-linked operator of two ports on the interoceanic waterway.In a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the government in Panama City referred to an article of the UN Charter precluding any member from “the threat or use of force” against the territorial integrity or political independence of another.The missive, distributed to reporters Tuesday, urges Guterres to refer the matter to the UN Security Council, without asking for a meeting to be convened.Trump, in his inaugural address Monday, repeated his complaint that China was effectively “operating” the Panama Canal through its growing presence around the waterway, which the United States handed over at the end of 1999.”We didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama. And we’re taking it back,” Trump said.Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino hit back that the canal was not a gift from the United States during a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.”We reject in its entirety everything that Mr Trump has said. First because it is false and second because the Panama Canal belongs to Panama and will continue to belong to Panama,” Mulino said Wednesday.The president has previously denied that any other nation was interfering in the canal, which he said was operated on a principle of neutrality.Asked Wednesday about the spat, Beijing denied it had ever “interfered” in the canal.”China has always respected Panama’s sovereignty over the canal and recognized the canal as a permanent neutral international waterway,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.- US pressure -The Panamanian comptroller’s office that oversees public entities announced “an exhaustive audit” would be launched “aimed at ensuring the efficient and transparent use of public resources” at the Panama Ports Company.The company, part of Hutchison Ports, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings, operates the ports of Balboa and Cristobal on either end of the canal.The comptroller’s office said the aim was to determine whether the company was complying with its concession agreements, including adequate reporting of income, payments and contributions to the state.Hutchison Ports PPC said in a statement that it has “maintained and will continue to maintain a transparent and collaborative relationship” with Panamanian authorities.”We remain steadfast in our commitment to comply with all laws and regulations, fully exercising our contractual responsibilities,” the firm said.”Our financial results, audited by an independent external auditor, have been shared annually with our partner, the Panamanian State, ensuring trust and clarity in our management.”Trump has been raising pressure for weeks over the canal, through which 40 percent of US container traffic travels. He has refused to rule out using military force to reclaim it.The Panama Ports Company’s concession agreement was extended by 25 years in 2021.The United States is the canal’s main user, followed by China.Since 2000, the waterway has contributed more than $30 billion to Panama’s state coffers, including nearly $2.5 billion in the last fiscal year.burs-raz/mtp

Masayoshi Son, the Japanese tycoon helming US President Donald Trump’s big new AI push, is the son of an immigrant pig farmer with a spectacular but also sketchy investment record.Trump’s “friend Masa” was born in Japan in 1957 to ethnic Korean parents who scratched a living rearing chickens and hogs while battling discrimination.”We collected leftover food from neighbours and fed it to cattle. It was slimy. We worked hard,” he said later. “And I’ve worked hard.”He went to the United States aged 16 and, while studying at Berkeley, developed a translation machine that he sold for around $1 million.In his 20s, Son founded investment group SoftBank and made colossally successful early bets on Yahoo! and Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba in the 1990s.The former reportedly made him — for a few days — the world’s richest person and the latter seemed to cement his Midas Touch reputation.”I could smell him. We are the same animal,” Son said of Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma.Ma replied: “He probably has the biggest guts in the world on doing investments.”- Failures -At his eagerly awaited news conferences, Son would show slides showing geese laying golden eggs and set out glorious visions for the future.He launched his tech-focussed $100-billion Vision Fund investment vehicle in 2017, securing huge funding from Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and others.But Yahoo! and Alibaba proved to be the exceptions, not the rules, and many other Silicon Valley investments have failed, some spectacularly.This included office-sharing firm WeWork, which went bankrupt, and the hospitality chain Oyo Rooms, and Son shied away from the limelight.In the 2022-23 financial year, SoftBank’s two Vision Funds posted a whopping 4.3 trillion yen ($32 billion at the time) in losses.- AI pivot -But the irrepressible Son, 67, decided to pivot to artificial intelligence (AI).Key to the coming revolution, Son hopes, will be majority Softbank-owned Arm, the British chip designer whose technology is in 99 percent of smartphones.Son wants Arm to compete with the likes Nvidia — the two are currently partners — and make chips for AI processes.Son promised SoftBank would invest $50 billion in the United States and create 50,000 jobs within Trump’s first term.Appearing alongside the US president-elect in December, Son said he would now “double down” with $100 billion and generate employment for 100,000 Americans.On Tuesday Son appeared at the White House along with Trump with OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman and Oracle founder Larry Ellison to announce Stargate.The aim is to build infrastructure to develop AI with an initial $100 billion and reaching $500 billion during Trump’s second term, Son said.Son will be chairman, SoftBank will be responsible for financing and OpenAI for operations. Arm, Microsoft, Nvidia, Oracle and OpenAI will provide the technology.”This is the beginning of a golden age for America,” Son said, predicting artificial general intelligence (AGI), a benchmark of human-level intelligence, “very very soon.””After that artificial super intelligence will come to solve the issues that mankind never ever would have thought could be solved,” he said.- ‘Mojo back’-SoftBank shares soared on the announcement, adding 10.6 percent on Wednesday in Tokyo.”Masa has his mojo back,” said Kirk Boodry, a SoftBank analyst at Astris Advisory. “Inevitably, there are going to be questions about how Softbank funds this but we expect they will be able to pull in limited partners (likely Middle Eastern money as they did with Vision Fund) whilst asset sales are very likely on the agenda,” Boodry said in a note.Amir Anvarzadeh from Asymmetric Advisors was less sure, saying that Son and Trump “both like numbers”.”Unless Softbank sells its stake in Arm, which is massively overvalued anyway, where is all the money going to come from?”

Donald Trump targeted opponents and touted a huge AI project Tuesday in a shock-and-awe start to his second presidency — but faced defiance including a rare public dressing down from a bishop.The Republican also defended his sweeping pardons of US Capitol rioters, including key figures from the far-right Proud Boys and Oath Keepers groups who were released from jail on Tuesday.Trump has vowed a “new golden age” for America, signing a slew of executive orders in his first 24 hours on immigration, gender and climate that overturn many of Democrat Joe Biden’s policies.Flanked at the White House by the chiefs of Japanese giant Softbank, Oracle and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, Trump announced a venture called “Stargate” which will “invest $500 billion, at least,” in AI infrastructure in the United States.”This monumental undertaking is a resounding declaration of confidence in America’s potential,” said Trump.Tech barons have swung behind Trump, with the world’s richest man Elon Musk even joining his administration. Trump said he was open to Musk buying the Chinese-owned app TikTok to keep it open in the United States.But Trump — at 78 the oldest person ever to be sworn in as president — has also promised retribution as part of what he says is a bid to overhaul Biden’s “deep state.”His administration fired Coast Guard chief Linda Fagan — the first woman to lead a US military service — with an official blaming her “leadership deficiencies” and an “excessive focus” on diversity programs.- ‘Have mercy’ -Trump also withdrew Secret Service protection for former US national security advisor John Bolton, the target of an alleged Iranian assassination plot, with whom he fell out.”He was a very dumb person,” said Trump.Trump earlier announced plans to fire some 1,000 opponents in federal roles. Four people had already been “FIRED!” he wrote, including retired general Mark Milley, his former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, who became a prominent critic.Trump also faced fresh criticism from an unexpected and powerful voice Tuesday when a Washington bishop told him from the pulpit that he was sowing fear among America’s immigrants and LGBTQ people.”I ask you to have mercy, Mr President,” the Washington National Cathedral’s Mariann Edgar Budde told an unsmiling Trump, seated in the front pew for the customary inaugural service next to his wife Melania.Early Wednesday, Trump blasted Budde on his Truth Social platform, calling the Episcopal bishop “nasty” and demanding an apology.”The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater,” Trump wrote, without naming Budde.”She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart.”Railing against “illegal migrants,” the president also slammed Budde’s “very boring and uninspiring” service.”She is not very good at her job! She and her church owe the public an apology!” he said.Trump issued measures Monday to suspend the arrival of asylum seekers and expel migrants in the country illegally.He also decreed that only two sexes — male and female, but not transgender — will be recognized.- ‘Ridiculous’ -He also granted pardons to more than 1,500 people who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, including those convicted of assaulting police officers.Two prominent rioters had their sentences commuted: Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the far-right Proud Boys, and Stewart Rhodes, the head of another such group, the Oath Keepers.”I thought their sentences were ridiculous and excessive,” Trump told reporters.Trump had infamously told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” when asked during a debate with Biden in 2020 whether he condemned white supremacist and militia groups.Democrats condemned the “shameful” pardons.The Republican president meanwhile faced pushback on his order revoking birthright citizenship — guaranteed by the US Constitution — with 22 Democratic-leaning states launching legal action against the plan.It would prevent the federal government from issuing passports or citizenship certificates to children whose parents are in the country illegally or temporarily.Trump is pushing a turbocharged agenda after his inauguration on Monday, in which he gave a speech that mixed dark imagery about a failing America with promises of renewal.He is also sowing fresh disruption on the international stage.Trump threatened tariffs against the European Union on Tuesday, adding the bloc to Canada and Mexico as potential targets.He added that Russia was likely to face fresh sanctions if it did not agree to a peace deal in Ukraine.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on his first full day in office Tuesday warned jointly with Japan, India and Australia against coercive actions in Asia, in a veiled but clear warning to China over its actions at sea.Rubio met in Washington with his counterparts from the so-called Quad a day after the inauguration of President Donald Trump, who has vowed to push back against a rising China.But the gathering also marks a contrast with Trump’s frequent dismissal of US allies and partners, with the returning US president on Tuesday threatening tariffs against the European Union. Rubio and his counterparts in a joint statement promised to work toward a “free and open Indo-Pacific,” deploying a codeword against Chinese assertiveness that has been utilized by US administrations from both major political parties.The four said they support a region “where the rule of law, democratic values, sovereignty and territorial integrity are upheld and defended.””We also strongly oppose any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion,” the statement said.The ministers confirmed they would work to hold a Quad summit previously scheduled for this year in India, which would mean an early trip by Trump to the growing US partner often viewed in Washington as a bulwark against China.Rubio also met separately with each minister. With Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, Rubio discussed North Korea and “joint efforts against China’s destabilizing actions,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.China has had rising friction with the Philippines, a US ally, as it stakes claims in territorial disputes.Rubio in his confirmation hearing also vowed to deter China against an invasion of Taiwan, the self-governing democracy it claims as its own.Trump during the campaign rattled Taiwan by saying it needed to pay the United States protection money, and Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, made headlines at his confirmation hearing by not being able to name a member of ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.The Quad was envisioned by late Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and expanded into a leaders’ summit by former president Joe Biden. China has repeatedly lashed out at the Quad, saying it is a US plot to encircle the rising Asian power. – When interests align -Rubio, a three-term senator who a day earlier was unanimously confirmed by his peers, arrived at the State Department with a promise to defend US diplomats — often maligned by his Republican Party — while also pursuing Trump’s belief in “America First.””I expect every nation on earth to advance their national interests. And in those instances — and I hope there will be many —  in which our national interests and theirs align, we look forward to working with them,” Rubio said.”We recognize that there will be those times unfortunately as humans interact with one another because of our nature that there will be conflict,” Rubio said.”We will seek to prevent them and avoid them, but never at the expense of our national security,” he said.With Trump’s return, a slew of senior career diplomats quit their posts at the State Department as the new administration pushes to bring in political appointees it sees as loyal.Addressing employees with his wife and four children by his side, Rubio said: “There will be changes.” “But the changes are not meant to be destructive, they’re not meant to be punitive,” he said.”But we need to move faster than we ever have because the world is changing faster than we ever have.”

When Kevin Loftus became one of the Capitol rioters granted a sweeping pardon by new US President Donald Trump, he walked out of the Philadelphia prison where he was being held and drove overnight to Washington without even stopping to change his clothes.Loftus was making a beeline for the Washington prison that has become a focal point for the Trump supporters convicted of storming the Capitol building in Washington on January 6, 2021, and that still holds 15 of the rioters.The 56-year-old came, he told AFP early Tuesday, to “get everybody out.”Hours after being sworn in on Monday, Trump granted pardons to more than 1,500 people who stormed the Capitol — including those convicted of assaulting police officers.He described them as “hostages” and ordered that all pending criminal cases against Capitol riot defendants be dropped.Loftus, standing in the freezing cold of an unusually frigid morning in the US capital, told AFP about waiting Monday night for Trump to follow through on his promise to pardon the rioters. He described watching footage of Trump signing a raft of executive orders — except there was no volume on the TV in his cell. “I’m thinking to myself, ‘Man, I hope our pardons are in there,'” he said. Trump signed the pardons in the evening, and Loftus was given the news several hours later. They said “‘You’re getting out of here. Pack your stuff,'” he related. “I’m like, woohoo!”He was freed by 2:00 am along with another inmate jailed over the Capitol attack, William Sarsfield III. Sarsfield’s wife had driven for more than 20 hours from Texas to pick them up — and when she did, they went straight to Washington.- ‘Camaraderie’ -Loftus had been sentenced to three years probation for his presence at the riot. Then, last year, he tried to fly to Russia to fight against Ukraine and was arrested, court documents showed. “I violated my probation… I was outside of my area,” he told AFP. Which sent him behind bars, until Trump’s intervention. Sarsfield, standing with Loftus outside the Washington prison where many of the Capitol rioters had been held on the chilly Tuesday morning, had been convicted of disturbing the peace on January 6. He described the “camaraderie” in prison between those who had been convicted of Capitol riot offenses, and said he was “very blessed” to be freed. Sarsfield, too, wanted to support those still behind bars in Washington, where supporters have been holding a nightly vigil for years.He was carrying jackets, gloves and hats for inmates that are getting out. Other supporters were also at the prison early Tuesday, along with journalists, waiting for any convicted rioters still inside to be freed. The Capitol assault followed a fiery speech by then-president Trump to tens of thousands of his supporters near the White House in which he repeated his false claims that he won the 2020 race. He then encouraged the crowd to march on Congress.His pardons have divided public opinion, with supporters expressing jubilation, but many others — including Democrats and police officers who were at the Capitol that day — vehemently condemning them.A handful of Republican lawmakers expressed opposition, but most were silent, including Vice President JD Vance, who just a week ago said violent offenders should not be pardoned.Two prominent rioters were among those freed: Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the far-right Proud Boys, and Stewart Rhodes, the head of another such group, the Oath Keepers.Both Tarrio and Rhodes had been convicted of seditious conspiracy.Rhodes, too, showed up outside the Washington prison later Tuesday, after his release from a facility in Maryland.”I want my brothers out,” he told reporters. “This is a travesty.”At one point on Tuesday, two men did emerge from the Washington prison and the crowd surged towards them, shouting: “Freedom!” and “We love you!”But the pair rushed silently to a car and disappeared, with a policeman stationed at the prison entrance confirming they had nothing to do with the Capitol assault. That evening, however, with skies dark and temperatures dropping, the moment many had been waiting for finally came, when three Capitol riot detainees exited the prison.They were immediately embraced by their loved ones.

As part of his flurry of first-day actions, US President Donald Trump took aim at electric vehicles, a cornerstone of the Biden administration’s climate change agenda.Trump’s executive order on “Unleashing American Energy” on Monday included steps to ensure a “level” playing field for gasoline-powered motors and halt federal funding to build new EV charging stations.The executive order also appeared to presage other reversals, referencing the possible elimination of a federal tax credit for EV purchases and the renouncement of a US waiver that allows California to set stricter requirements on cars.During his inaugural address, Trump said the moves would “end” the “Green New Deal,” ridiculing Biden-backed incentives for EV sales.While Trump harshly criticized EVs during the presidential campaign, policy experts have been skeptical Trump will junk all the Biden-era EV programs, in part because significant federal funding has gone toward projects in Republican congressional districts, where thousands of jobs are expected to be created.Shares of EV makers like Rivian and EV charging companies such as EVgo fell sharply Tuesday. Tesla, which is led by close Trump ally Elon Musk, also fell.Kathy Harris, director for clean vehicles of the Natural Resources Defense Council, called Trump’s policy a sop for “fat-cat oil executives,” noting that EVs are better for the environment and can save consumers money on gasoline.Many of Trump’s executive orders are expected to face legal challenges, a possible outcome for the EV measures.”This is not the end of this story,” Harris said. “If the administration tries to cut corners or ignore the law, they will end up in court.”The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which has previously endorsed the need for stable auto rules, reiterated its criticism of California’s car regulations in a statement that did not address other elements in Trump’s executive order.”The country should have a single, national standard to reduce carbon in transportation,” said the group’s president, John Bozzella. “We can’t have regulations that push the industry too far ahead of the customer.”- 90-day review -The new policy comes as automakers pause some EV investments due to slowing growth, even as sales of emission-free vehicles climb to new levels in the United States.In 2024, EV sales in the country reached 1.3 million, up 7.3 percent from the prior year, according to Cox Automotive’s Kelley Blue Book, which pointed to a meaningful rise in EVs at different price levels.But GM, Ford and other automakers have scaled back some EV investments in recent months, pointing to slowing demand growth. A Ford executive warned in November that a glut of EVs across showrooms will lead to “incredible pressure” on prices in 2025.The broadside against EVs followed Trump’s targeting of the vehicles during the presidential campaign, when he claimed Democrat Kamala Harris wanted to force EVs on consumers.Harris said that she favored consumer choice. The Biden administration’s fuel economy rules required automakers to market fleets with sharply lower carbon dioxide emissions in a bid to address climate change, while laws such as the $400 billion Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 included a slew of lending and tax credit programs to boost EVs. Programs under the IRA and the 2021 infrastructure law are in various stages of implementation. Monday’s executive order directs officials implementing the IRA to undertake a 90-day review to ensure that spending does not unfairly favor EVs “by rendering other types of vehicles unaffordable.”Policy experts see no meaningful chance that the new administration will try to claw back US funds that have already been spent. But whether Trump will seek to block other projects that are still moving through the pipeline is less clear. Nearly half of the $5 billion set aside for new EV chargers has been allocated to states under the infrastructure law, according to a memo from NRDC. The 2021 infrastructure law’s “embedded safeguards… should ensure continuity for infrastructure investments,” the NRDC said. “Of course, the incoming administration could try drastic measures, but those will face real-world and legal hurdles.”In November, the Energy Department advanced projects to provide Rivian a $6.6 billion federal loan to build an EV manufacturing facility in Stanton Springs North, Georgia, and a $7.5 billion loan to StarPlus Energy to finance lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing plants in Kokomo, Indiana, under a Stellantis-Samsung joint venture.Construction on the Georgia plant is expected to begin in 2026, according to Rivian.Neither Rivian nor Stellantis responded to AFP queries on the implications of the new Trump policy for their projects.

As he looks at the ruins of his home razed when deadly fires tore through the Los Angeles area, Sebastian Harrison knows it will never be the same again, because he was not insured.”I knew it was risky, but I had no choice,” he told AFP.Harrison is one of tens of thousands of Californians forced in recent years to live without a safety net, either because their insurance company dropped them, or because the premiums just got too high.Some of them are now counting the crippling cost, after enormous blazes ripped through America’s second largest city, killing more than two dozen people and levelling 12,000 structures, Harrison’s home among them.His own slice of what he called “paradise” stood on a mountainside overlooking the Pacific Ocean, where Malibu runs into the badly hit Pacific Palisades neighborhood.The three-acre plot, which contained his home and a few other buildings, was always costly to insure, and in 2010 was already $8,000 a year.When the bill hit $40,000 in the aftermath of the pandemic, he decided he simply couldn’t afford it.”It’s not like I bought myself a fancy car instead of getting insurance,” the 59-year-old said.”It’s just that food for myself and my family was more important.”For Harrison, a former actor, the emotional strain of losing the home he had lived in for 14 years is magnified by the knowledge that without a handout from the state or the national government, he has lost everything — he even still has mortgage payments to make.”I’m very worried, because this property is everything I had,” he said.- Climate costs -Insuring property in California has become increasingly difficult.Well-intentioned legislation that prevents insurance companies from hiking prices unfairly has collided with growing risks from a changing climate in a part of the world that now regularly sees devastating wildfires near populated areas.Faced with burgeoning claims — more damage, and higher repair costs because of the soaring price of labor and materials — insurance companies turned tail and left the state en masse, dropping existing clients and refusing to write new policies.Even enormous names in the market, like State Farm and Allstate, have pulled back.Officials in state capital Sacramento have been worried for a while.Last year Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara introduced reforms aimed at encouraging companies to return, including allowing them more leeway to increase their premiums to better match their costs.But huge and inevitably very expensive fires erupting in what is supposed to be California’s rainy season — it hasn’t rained for eight months around Los Angeles — have reinforced the idea that the state is becoming uninsurable.”I don’t know now, because… my greatest fear was that we were going to have a catastrophe of this nature,” Lara told the San Francisco Chronicle at the weekend.Even the state-mandated insurer of last resort, a scheme designed to provide bare-bones coverage for those locked out of the private sector, could be struggling.The California FAIR Plan was created in 1968 and is underpinned by every insurance company that operates in the state, as a requirement of their license to operate.But the number of people now resorting to the scheme means its $200 million reserves are dwarfed by its liabilities. (A reinsurance sector helps to keep it liquid.)- ‘They’re going to drop me’ -With the enormous losses expected from the Palisades and Eaton fires set to test the insurance sector even further, California has issued an edict preventing companies from dropping customers or refusing to renew them in certain affected areas, for one year.That’s scant consolation for Gabrielle Gottlieb, whose house in Pacific Palisades survived the flames. “My insurer dropped a lot of friends of mine… and I’m concerned that they’re going to drop me as well eventually,” he told AFP.”They’re basically already putting it out there that ‘lots of luck after a year!'”Even in a best case scenario, home insurance looks set to be a lot more expensive in California, as state reforms filter through allowing increased prices in places more susceptible to wildfire.”Real estate and taxes are already very high in California,” said Robert Spoeri, a Pacific Palisades homeowner who was dropped by his insurer last year.”If the insurance gets even higher, who is going to want to live in this state?”

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he withdrew Secret Service protection to John Bolton, his former national security advisor and one of his most outspoken critics, because “you can’t have that for life.”Bolton, 76, who served in the White House during Trump’s first term and has been the target of an alleged Iranian assassination plot, said he was “disappointed but not surprised” by the president’s move.In remarks to reporters at the White House, Trump defended his decision and lashed out at his estranged former aide, calling him a “very dumb person” and a “stupid guy.””We’re not going to have security on people for the rest of their lives. Why should we?” the president said. “You can’t have that for life.””I thought he was a very dumb person but I used him well because every time people saw me come into a meeting with John Bolton standing behind me they thought that he’d attack them because he was a warmonger,” Trump added.The president also revoked Bolton’s security clearance, accusing him in an executive order of revealing “sensitive information drawn from his time in government” in a critical memoir he published in 2020.Bolton noted in a post on X that the Justice Department filed criminal charges against an Iranian Revolutionary Guard official in 2022 for “attempting to hire a hit man to target me.””That threat remains today, as also demonstrated by the recent arrest of someone trying to arrange for President Trump’s own assassination,” he said.Bolton said that although he was a critic of former Democratic president Joe Biden’s national security policies, “he nonetheless made the decision to extend (Secret Service) protection to me in 2021.””The American people can judge for themselves which President made the right call,” he added.The State Department has announced a $20 million reward for information leading to the arrest of the alleged Iranian mastermind behind the plot to assassinate Bolton, who is also a former US ambassador to the United Nations.US officials have also accused Iran of seeking to assassinate Trump to avenge the death of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in 2020 in a US drone strike.

Bitter Arctic air plunged more than half the United States into a deep freeze Tuesday, including New Orleans, where the heaviest snow in decades brought dangerous conditions to the famously festive Gulf Coast city.Temperatures dropped more than 30 degrees Fahrenheit (17 degrees Celsius) below average across large swaths of the country, causing airports, schools and health clinics to shutter and major roadways to close due to ice and freezing rain.Over 170 million Americans were enduring an especially frigid Arctic front that has already impacted scores of communities, including the US capital Washington, where President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday was moved indoors due to the weather.”Dangerous cold weather for most of the country,” blared the latest National Weather Service (NWS) report on Tuesday. The agency has issued storm warnings across parts of eight states in the US Southeast and said the region could see record cold temperatures.Extreme cold was also threatening states in the Plains and the Upper Midwest, where life-threatening wind chills down to 50 degrees below zero were possible, according to the NWS.Across the US South — especially the Gulf Coast, which is far more accustomed to temperate or tropical weather than dangerously low temperatures — officials warned of frostbite and hypothermia.New Orleans, a city more often targeted by tropical hurricanes, was slammed with at least seven inches of snow Tuesday, the NWS said, soaring past the city’s record single-day snowfall that had held since 1948.West of New Orleans, the first-ever blizzard warning across several Louisiana counties was issued, including near Lafayette, where more than 10 inches of snow has fallen, according to The Weather Channel.Commercial flight operations for Tuesday were cancelled, the New Orleans airport announced, as local media quickly dubbed the rare winter storm a “snow-pocalypse.”Flights were also cancelled for the day in Houston, Texas, the two main airports there said, while to the east the airport in Florida’s state capital Tallahassee closed at 3:00 pm (2000 GMT).Eerie images emerged along the banks of the Mississippi River, where docked riverboats were cloaked in snow.Along Bourbon Street, the center of New Orleans’ iconic French Quarter nightlife hub, workers and tourists threw snowballs and frolicked in a rare winter wonderland.”Stay off the roads, stay safe, stay warm,” New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell posted on X.The extreme weather was fueled by an Arctic air mass that dipped deeply southward from Canada, combining with a moisture-laden low-pressure system.