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A socialist, an accused molester and a vigilante all hoping to be New York’s next mayor go head-to-head for a TV debate Thursday as the unpredictable campaign enters the homestretch.Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani, independent former New York governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa will make their pitch to voters in the first of two televised debates from 7 pm local time (2300 GMT) ahead of the November 4 vote. Early voting begins on October 25.New York’s astronomical cost of living, public safety and policing, and the candidates’ different approaches to relations with President Donald Trump if elected will be front and center.Mamdani pulled off a stunning upset in the Democratic party primary, defeating political scion Cuomo who had been the favorite for weeks, becoming the party’s official nominee.Mamdani has promised free bus services, rent freezes and city-run supermarkets, which Cuomo has panned as fanciful and unaffordable government overreach.The race to govern the city’s 8.5 million people was again upended when sitting mayor Eric Adams, who has been engulfed in corruption allegations, quit the race without endorsing another candidate.Cuomo, 67, was the governor of New York state from 2011 until 2021 when he resigned over sexual assault allegations, previously serving as a cabinet secretary under former president Bill Clinton.Mamdani, 33, is a state lawmaker for the Queens borough of New York and has faced criticism for his relative youth in the face of a typically older political establishment.- ‘Making a change’ -“I know some of you have expressed concerns about my age…That’s why this weekend I’ll be making a change. I’m turning 34,” he said in an Instagram video that was liked 134,000 in the first six hours.”The best gift is to beat Andrew Cuomo a second time.”Trump has threatened to withhold federal funds from Mamdani’s administration if he’s elected, calling him a “communist.”But in an interview on Fox News, Mamdani addressed Trump directly and after criticizing his rivals said “I will, however, be a mayor who is ready to speak at any time to lower the cost of living.”Quinnipiac University polling suggests most voters will not have their minds changed by the TV debate with just 18 percent of Mamdani and Cuomo’s voters “not likely” to change their minds, compared to 24 percent of Sliwa’s backers.In the latest polling Sliwa, a 71-year-old who founded the Guardian Angels vigilante group in 1979, is trailing a distant third with 15 percent in the most recent poll, behind Cuomo’s 33 percent and Mamdani’s 46 percent.Sliwa, 71, insisted he would not bow to inducements he alleged were arranged by Cuomo — who denies the claim — to quit the race, like lucrative jobs with fat salaries and a driver.”I said, ‘Hey, this is not only unethical, it’s bribery, and it could be criminal,” Sliwa told AFP.Viewing parties were planned in bars across the city with several offering debate bingo drinking games.”I have very little optimism that they’re going to do anything with the cost of living to match what we have to pay,” said voter Steven Looez, a 41-year-old bartender, ahead of the debate.”Besides, it feels like they’re all bought anyway.”The second televised debate will be held on October 22.

Donald Trump on Thursday announced a plan aimed at making in vitro fertilization more affordable, an initial step in a long-touted campaign promise.Earlier this year Trump dubbed himself the “fertilization president” and has vowed to address IVF accessibility, an effort that has sowed division within his base between pro-natalist members and conservative Christians.Substantive coverage of fertility-related procedures and medications in the United States remains rare and highly variable depending on specific patients, providers, employers and state rules.It was unclear what concrete changes the initiative could lead to. But Trump said in Oval Office remarks that “prices are going way down. Way, way down.”Trump said the White House is proposing a so-called employer benefit option they say would encourage employers to offer workers coverage for IVF through a supplemental plan.That would be similar to how dental and vision care are frequently managed in the United States — carved out of the core medical insurance and covered as a standalone type of care.”I’m asking all employers to make these new fertility benefit options available to their employees immediately,” Trump said.Senior administration officials told journalists there was no discussion of creating subsidies that would incentivize employers to provide IVF benefits, nor was it mandating they do so.A typical round of IVF treatment — patients must frequently endure multiple rounds to achieve a viable pregnancy — can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Necessary prescription drug costs alone can set back hopeful parents by the thousands.The Trump administration’s announcement included a proposal to make some of those drugs available for patients to purchase directly from manufacturers at discounted rates, via the president’s new website TrumpRx, starting in early 2026.Trump’s IVF efforts have emerged as a dividing line among competing groups within his own base.Many Christian conservatives voice staunch opposition to IVF, primarily because it can involve discarding human embryos.Trump side-stepped the issue when queried about it Thursday.”I think this is very pro-life,” he said. “You can’t get more pro-life than this.”About a quarter of US employers with 200 workers or more currently offer health plans that include at least some IVF coverage, according to the KFF health policy research organization. Some states require private insurers to include services in their plans. And some states require Medicaid, the government program for low-income individuals, to include some benefits related to fertility.TJ Farnsworth — the head of Inception Fertility, a providers alliance — welcomed the White House efforts, but said it is on employers to consider what they offer.”I just think it’s really important that people realize that this is an amazing start to the conversation, but it’s not likely to have an immediate impact to patients,” Farnsworth told AFP.

Two people suspected of involvement in an attack on an immigration detention center in Texas are facing terrorism-related charges, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday that alleges they are members of the left-wing Antifa movement.The charges against Cameron Arnold and Zachary Evetts come three weeks after US President Donald Trump signed an order designating Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization.”First time ever: the FBI arrested Antifa-aligned anarchist violent extremists and terrorism charges have been brought for the July 4 Prairieland ICE attack in Texas,” FBI Director Kash Patel said on X.”As (President Trump) has made clear, Antifa is a left-wing terrorist organization,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said, also on X. “They will be prosecuted as such.”Arnold and Evetts were among 10 people charged for the attack on the facility run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency which has played a leading role in Trump’s campaign to deport millions of undocumented migrants from the United States.A criminal complaint filed at the time did not describe the suspects as Antifa members but the indictment unsealed on Thursday said the pair and the other defendants were members of an “Antifa cell.”Arnold and Evetts were charged with providing material support to terrorists, along with attempted murder of federal officers and firearms offenses.According to the criminal complaint, the assailants, dressed in black military-style clothing, began shooting fireworks at the ICE facility and spray-painting “Traitor” and “ICE Pig” on cars and a guard structure.When a police officer arrived on the scene, he was shot in the neck by someone positioned in the nearby woods.Another assailant allegedly fired 20 to 30 rounds at unarmed correctional officersAntifa, a shorthand term for “anti-fascist,” is a nebulous movement of left-wing activists that experts say is more a political ideology than an organized group.Antifa — whose name has roots in socialist groups in 1930s Germany that opposed Hitler — has a track record of confronting right-wing groups and engaging in civil disobedience.Antifa-aligned activists, often dressed entirely in black, protest against racism, far-right values and what they consider fascism, and say violent tactics are sometimes justified as self-defense. 

“Thank you, Adele, it’s such a beautiful song,” reads a glowing comment beneath an emotional YouTube tribute to slain US activist Charlie Kirk. But the music is AI-generated — and bears little resemblance to the British icon’s voice.Rapidly evolving artificial intelligence tools can now create songs from simple text prompts, mimicking the voices of celebrity artists to produce tributes or entire performances on demand, often without their knowledge or consent.The trend raises thorny copyrights issues and highlights the erosion of shared reality as unwitting users increasingly consume content infused with disinformation enabled by artificial intelligence.”Rest in peace, Charlie Kirk!” sings a voice over a video showing the right-wing activist, who was assassinated last month.”The angels sing your name. Your story’s written in the stars, a fire that won’t wane,” the voice intones as visuals appear onscreen of Kirk, an ally of President Donald Trump.Similar AI tributes on YouTube attributed to stars such as Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber — complete with fabricated thumbnails of them in tears — collectively racked up millions of views and thousands of comments from unsuspecting viewers thanking them for songs they never made.In many cases, the voices sound little like the original artists, yet many scrollers still believe fake AI content that is flooding the internet and engage with it.”I’m concerned that what made the internet so cool to begin with — really weird, creative people doing things they’re passionate about for fun, is gone. It’s been replaced by AI slop created by grifters aiming to make money,” Alex Mahadevan, from the nonprofit media institute Poynter, told AFP.”We’re becoming passive consumers of ‘content’ and not active, conscious digital citizens.”- ‘Not quite human’ -After AFP pointed out at least three fake tribute clips — including the one attributed to Adele — to YouTube, the video giant promptly took them down.”We terminated these channels for violating our policies prohibiting spam and deceptive practices,” company spokesman Jack Malon told AFP.YouTube’s policy requires creators to “disclose when they’ve created altered or synthetic content that is realistic, including using AI tools,” which are now widely accessible.In many of the tribute videos, the disclosure was present but not prominently displayed, often buried in the video description where it can be easily overlooked unless users click to expand the text.The videos highlight a new digital reality in which AI music generators can turn ordinary users into virtual musicians, mimicking famous artists and creating entire songs from simple text prompts.”Make any song you can imagine,” Suno, one such generator, said on its website.It offers users suggestions such as “make a jazz song about watering my plants” or “make a house song about quitting your job.”When AFP entered a prompt requesting a song mourning the death of a celebrity activist in the voice of a famous singer, the tool generated two options within seconds: “star gone too soon” and “echoes of a flame.”A new AI “band” called The Velvet Sundown has released albums and garnered over 200,000 listeners on a verified Spotify account. On social media, the “band” calls itself: “Not quite human. Not quite machine.”- ‘Assault’ on creativity -The trend has raised questions about whether vocal and visual likenesses should be protected by copyright.”I absolutely think that someone’s likeness should be protected from replication in AI tools. That goes for dead people, too,” said Mahadevan.Lucas Hansen, co-founder of the nonprofit CivAI, said it was unlikely that likeness generation would be banned entirely but expects legal restrictions on its commercialization.”There might also be restrictions on distribution, but existing laws are much less strict towards non-monetized content,” Hansen told AFP.In June, the Recording Industry Association of America said leading record companies sued two music generators, including Suno, over alleged copyright infringement.Last year, more than 200 artists including Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj wrote in an open letter to AI developers and tech platforms that training tools on existing songs will “degrade the value of our work and prevent us from being fairly compensated.””This assault on human creativity must be stopped,” the letter said.”We must protect against the predatory use of AI to steal professional artists’ voices and likenesses, violate creators’ rights, and destroy the music ecosystem.”

The Tomahawk cruise missile, set to be at the centre of talks between Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, has been a mainstay of the US armed forces for over four decades and repeatedly used with success in the theatre of war.Ukraine is eager to obtain the American missiles which would allow Kyiv to strike deep into Russian territory and give its armed forces a significant boost three-and-a-half years into the conflict sparked by the February 2022 full-scale invasion.Some analysts and observers question if for all the avowed prowess of the Tomahawk it would in any way tip the balance in the war. But their delivery would be a symbol of American support for Kyiv in the wake of the disastrous Oval Office meeting between Zelensky and Trump in February and a strong signal to Russian President Vladimir Putin that Trump is losing patience with Moscow. Trump announced Thursday one day ahead of the talks with Zelensky that, following a call with Putin, he would meet the Russian leader at an unspecified date in Budapest.Here are five things to know about the Tomahawk:- Mainstay of US armed forces – The Tomahawk is a cruise missile that has been in service for 42 years and since then used in almost all US military interventions.Fired from submarines or surface ships, the BGM-109 Tomahawk flies up to 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) in range, at 880 km/h (550 mph) and a few dozen meters above the ground.According to US Navy budget documents 8,959 missiles have been produced since the programme began and more than 2,350 have been fired.A version of the Tomahawk carrying a nuclear warhead was retired from service in 2013.- Repeatedly used in conflict – The Tomahawks were first fired in a conflict during the US-led Operation Desert Storm against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in 1991 and repeatedly in US military interventions since then.Most recently, some 80 missiles were still fired in January 2024 against the Tehran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen, and another 30 against the Isfahan nuclear site in Iran in June when the US joined Israel’s war against the Islamic republic.The Tomahawk is also in service with the British Navy. Japan decided last year to acquire 400, and Australia and the Netherlands are also considering acquiring them.- Wanted by Ukraine – With its 450-kilogramme explosive charge, the Tomahawk can be used against air defense sites, command centers, airfields, or any heavily defended target.Ukraine could with a Tomahawk target at least 1,655 targets of interest, including 67 air bases in Russia, well beyond Moscow, according to the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).Stacie Pettyjohn, a researcher at the CNAS think tank, estimated the US could supply 20-50 units.The US Navy has only ordered 57 for 2026, an insufficient number for its manufacturer Raytheon to quickly ramp up production, according to German missile researcher Fabian Hoffmann. They would therefore have to be taken from US stocks.Ukraine would also rather launch the missiles from land rather than sea but the land-based launchers are in very limited supply: the US Army currently has only two batteries of four launchers, and the Marine Corps only four.- No game changer – Like the battle tanks or the F-16s and Mirages already sold to Ukraine, the Tomahawk is not “a wonder weapon that is going to win the war,” Pettyjohn wrote on X while adding that they have “have a notable strategic and operational effect”.”I don’t believe that a weapons system can radically change the situation in Ukraine,” agreed the head of the French Army, General Pierre Schill.Especially since, with the homegrown Flamingo cruise missile, “the Ukrainians have developed deep strike capabilities, which they built themselves and are now using on the ground,” said Schill.- Warning to Russia – Schill said the possible delivery of Tomahawks is “above all a political and strategic signal from Mr Trump to Mr Putin to say ‘I told you I wanted us to move towards peace, I am ready to support the Ukrainians'” if there is no progress.Putin has warned that the supply of Tomahawks to Kyiv would constitute a “whole new level of escalation, including in relations between Russia and the United States”.Trump on Wednesday described the Tomahawk as an “incredible weapon, very offensive weapon”.”Do they want to have Tomahawks going in their direction? I don’t think so,” he said.

US food delivery app DoorDash announced Thursday that Waymo driverless cars will soon shuttle orders to some customers in a budding partnership with the Google-owned robotaxi star.The alliance will start in coming months with Waymo cars delivering take-away meals, groceries and convenience shop items to DoorDash users in the southwestern US city of Phoenix, according to the companies.”Through our partnership with DoorDash, we leverage our proven delivery experience to provide customers with a seamless, contact-free way to get items they need, whether it’s groceries or a quick bite,” Waymo head of business development and strategic partnerships Nicole Gavel said in a statement.Phoenix is already among US cities where Waymo operates its robotaxi.DoorDash users will be able to opt into Waymo autonomous car delivery while checking out on the app, according to the San Francisco-based company, the largest food delivery app in the United States.When orders arrive in Waymo cars, customers will be able to retrieve their items by opening the trunk with their DoorDash app.Using Waymo for deliveries is part of DoorDash’s “vision for a multi-modal autonomous future,” said the delivery company’s vice president of business and corporate development David Richter.

Curtis Sliwa, the Republican running to be New York mayor, has no chance of winning in the avowedly Democrat megacity. But he is refusing to step aside despite fierce pressure to do so and make it a two-man race that could hurt the chances of the frontrunner, a Democratic socialist.Sliwa, whose star rose from the end of the 1970s when he formed the Guardian Angels subway patrol group which still sees him sport a red beret, says he has received seven different job offers, including a $10 million post, to step aside.In a recent interview with AFP, Sliwa accused his second-placed rival, the former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, of being behind that effort.”There were about seven different offers on behalf of Andrew Cuomo, not by him personally, but people representing him… With a driver — a no-show job,” Sliwa said.”It probably would have kept going up and up and up and up until I said, ‘Hey, this is not only unethical, it’s bribery, and it could be criminal,” he added. “The next person who meets me or calls me and makes an offer like this, I’m going to go to the authorities.’ And it stopped at that.”Cuomo’s office denied the accusation, calling Sliwa “a liar and a fraudster, who has admitted to faking crimes for publicity.”Sliwa, a 71-year-old Brooklyn native, is trailing a distant third with 15 percent in the most recent poll behind Cuomo on 33 percent and Mamdani on 46 percent.Mamdani’s critics argue that Sliwa’s exit from the race would benefit everyone fearful of a self-proclaimed socialist winning the mayor’s chair as it would galvanize opposition behind Cuomo.Sitting mayor Eric Adams’s withdrawal from the race has helped Cuomo’s numbers even though the scandal-tainted Mamdani critic has not formally endorsed a candidate.Sliwa has defiantly insisted he will not withdraw because of inducements or threats which have caused him to ramp up his security.- ‘Prime time’? -Mockery of his run by Donald Trump has also failed to dislodge him, with the president saying “he’s not exactly prime time” and ridiculing his fondness for cats that he rescues alongside his wife.”I’ve had a love-hate relationship with Donald Trump going back 30 years… I am not running because of Donald Trump. I’m running to save the city,” Sliwa told AFP.He added that Trump did “help me by criticizing the work that my wife does with me to rescue animals, especially cats who would be euthanized. Animal lovers came out in droves to support me.”Sliwa, who describes himself as a populist Republican defender of “workers, not billionaires” founded the Guardian Angels in 1979 — a volunteer group slammed as a “militia” by his critics that patrolled the notoriously dangerous New York subway of the 1980s. The former manager of a Bronx McDonald’s is no stranger to controversy, previously admitting to lying to burnish his group’s credentials. In 1992, he nearly died in an apparent mob hit that has never been fully solved. He has worked as a radio host since the 1990s, interrupted when he ran for mayor for the first time in 2021, drawing nearly 28 percent against Adams.Sliwa is hoping for “a shake-up in the race… that catapults his candidacy to the forefront — or at least positions him as a power broker or kingmaker,” said Costas Panagopoulos, political science professor at Northeastern University.That would allow Sliwa “to extract concessions from his opponents” — and possibly a City Hall job, he added.Sliwa, known for speaking his mind, has starkly different views on his opponents.”Nobody really knew who Zohran Mamdani was, but he went out there with his followers, and they aggressively got their votes,” he said.”Andrew Cuomo was out in the Hamptons with his billionaire friends… It’s hard to like the guy.”

China said Thursday that its purchases of Russian oil were “legitimate” and decried recent “unilateral bullying” measures by the United States as the trade row between the two countries continues to intensify.The rebuke came after President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to stop buying Russian oil, and that he would get China to follow suit.Trump has accused both China and India of funding the three-year Ukraine war through the purchases, and has also demanded that European allies immediately stop buying oil from Russia.India neither confirmed or denied it was shifting its policy.Asked on Thursday about Trump’s intention to pressure China further, Beijing’s foreign ministry defended its “normal, legitimate economic, trade, and energy cooperation with countries around the world, including Russia”.”The actions of the United States are a typical example of unilateral bullying and economic coercion,” ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a press briefing.If China’s interests are harmed, it will “take firm countermeasures and resolutely safeguard its sovereignty”, he warned.Beijing and Moscow are key trading partners, and China has never denounced Russia’s war, nor called for it to withdraw its troops.Kyiv and Western governments have long accused Beijing of providing political and economic support for Moscow.- ‘Profoundly detrimental’ -Beijing on Thursday also criticised recent US moves to expand export controls and impose new port fees on Chinese ships, saying the measures had a “profoundly detrimental” impact on trade talks between the two superpowers.While tensions between Washington and Beijing have de-escalated from their peak, the truce remains shaky.After Beijing imposed fresh controls on the export of rare earth technologies and items, Trump said he would roll out an additional 100-percent tariff on the country’s goods from November 1.The United States announced in April it would begin applying fees to all arriving Chinese-built and operated ships after a “Section 301” investigation found Beijing’s dominance in the industry was unreasonable.Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974 enables Washington to impose trade penalties on countries whose practices are deemed unfair or harmful to American commerce.Beijing responded last week by announcing “special port fees” on American ships arriving at Chinese ports. Both sets of fees took effect Tuesday.Commerce ministry spokeswoman He Yongqian said Thursday the US moved ahead with the measures while “disregarding China’s sincerity in consultations”, causing “severe damage to China’s interests… (and) a profoundly detrimental impact”.”The Chinese side expresses strong dissatisfaction with and resolutely opposes the series of actions taken by the US side,” He Yongqian said.She urged Washington to “immediately rectify its erroneous practices” and respect the outcomes of recent trade talks.China’s commerce minister Wang Wentao accused the US of sparking the latest trade row during a meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook in Beijing.”Maintaining the overall stability of China-US trade ties requires both sides to meet halfway,” Wang told the visiting American CEO according to a ministry readout.”Maintaining the overall stability of China-US trade ties requires both sides to meet halfway,” Wang said, adding that China welcomed deeper investment from Apple and remained open to foreign firms.

Donald Trump held a crucial phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin Thursday, a day before Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky meets the US president to push for Tomahawk missiles.”I am speaking to President Putin now,” Trump said on his Truth Social network. “The conversation is ongoing, a lengthy one, and I will report the contents, as will President Putin, at its conclusion.”The call comes as Trump shows mounting frustration over the Kremlin leader’s refusal to end the 2022 invasion of Ukraine despite their recent summit in Alaska.Trump is now considering a request from Ukraine for American-made Tomahawk cruise missiles, which have range of around 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) and could strike deep into Russia.During Zelensky’s meeting with Trump at the White House on Friday “the main topic of discussion is Tomahawks,” a senior Ukrainian official told AFP on Thursday.Trump had warned at the weekend that he would likely raise the issue first with Putin, who has warned that the supply of Tomahawks would be a “whole new level of escalation.””I might talk to him, I might say, ‘Look, if this war is not going to get settled, I’m going to send them Tomahawks.’ I may say that,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to the Middle East. “The Tomahawk is a incredible weapon, very offensive weapon, and honestly, Russia does not need that.”- ‘Go offensive’ -Trump added on Wednesday that the Ukrainians “want to go offensive” and that they would discuss Kyiv’s request for the cruise missiles.The US leader has said he wants to up the pressure on Moscow for a peace deal following the ceasefire agreement he brokered in Gaza between Israel and Hamas last week.Relations between Trump and Zelensky have meanwhile warmed since February, when they sparred during a now infamous televised meeting at the White House in which the US leader told his Ukrainian counterpart: “You don’t have the cards.”The senior Ukrainian source said the tone of rhetoric between the White House and Kyiv was now “very businesslike” and that Washington understood pressure on Russia “will work to end it all.”Tomahawks would be a major addition to Ukraine’s arsenal, consolidating Kyiv’s long-range strike abilities with a missile that can fly just above the ground at near supersonic speed to avoid radar. The United States has used Tomahawks for more than 40 years and in some of the country’s most high-profile conflicts, from the 1991 Gulf War to this year’s US strikes on Iran’s nuclear program.Previously Tomahawks have primarily been fired from sea-based launchers, like warships or submarines, but the Ukrainian source told AFP that: “There is a technical solution in place for the launch platform.” – ‘Bullying’ -Senior Ukrainian officials visiting  Washington this week met with representatives of US weapon manufacturers, including Raytheon, which produces Tomahawk missiles.Zelensky will also meet with arms makers to discuss when deliveries could begin “but they need a political signal,” the Ukrainian source added.With the war now in its fourth year, Russia launched fresh attacks on energy facilities in eastern Ukraine, repeating the pattern of focusing on Kyiv’s power network that it has followed every winter.Energy has been a core factor throughout the war, with Trump saying on Wednesday that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised him New Delhi would stop buying Russian oil.But Putin said Thursday that his country was still among the world’s top oil producers, despite what he called “unfair” anti-competitive practices used against it.China, a major purchaser of Russian oil, meanwhile rejected “unilateral bullying” by Washington.

A top contender to run the US Federal Reserve threw his support Thursday behind a quarter-point rate cut later this month, claiming he believed inflation would soon cool.Speaking in New York, US Fed Governor Christopher Waller said economic conditions were such that policymakers should focus their attention on the softening labor market instead.President Donald Trump, who is mulling who to nominate to replace outgoing Fed chair Jerome Powell, has criticized the bank for moving too slowly to cut rates and boost growth.The Fed has a dual mandate from Congress to act independently to tackle both inflation and employment, and seeks to balance the two by either hiking or cutting its benchmark lending rate.”Tariffs have modest effects on inflation, but with underlying inflation close to our goal and expectations of future inflation well anchored, I believe we are on track toward the FOMC’s 2 percent goal,” Waller said, referring to the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). “As a result, my focus is on the labor market, where payroll gains have weakened this year and employment may well be shrinking already,” he added. “Based on all of the data we have on the labor market, I believe that the FOMC should reduce the policy rate another 25 basis points at our meeting that concludes October 29.”At the last rate decision in September, Fed policymakers voted overwhelmingly to cut the bank’s rate by a quarter percentage-point to between 4.00 and 4.25 percent, and penciled in an average of two additional rate cuts of the same size in the last two meetings this year, in both October and December. Waller’s comments Thursday indicate his support for at least one additional cut this year. But he also insisted that he would look to see if strong economic growth cools to match the softer labor market, or whether the labor market picks up to match strong growth instead, before deciding on another rate cut.Cooling growth would support another cut, while doing so if the labor market strengthens could would risk reigniting inflation. “What I would want to avoid is rekindling inflationary pressure by moving too quickly and squandering the significant progress we have made taming inflation,” he said.Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has been tasked with finding a replacement for Powell, with Waller emerging as a top contender, alongside several other current and former Fed officials, a top White House economic advisor, and a BlackRock C-suite executive, according to US media reports.Also Thursday, Fed Governor Stephen Miran who — like Waller — was nominated by Trump, said he still backed a larger half-point cut later this month.Speaking in Washington on the sidelines of International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings, Miran said moving by just 25 basis points at a time, as markets expect, would be moving “more slowly than it needs to be.”Futures traders see a roughly 92 percent chance of another 50 basis points of cuts before the end of the year, according to CME Group data.