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A woman told US jurors Wednesday that hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs dangled her over a 17th-story balcony before throwing her onto furniture in an attack that left her traumatized and bruised.Bryana Bongolan testified in the music icon’s ongoing federal criminal trial in New York that she was staying over with her friend Casanda “Cassie” Ventura — Combs’s ex and a key trial witness who recently delivered searing testimony of abuse and coercion.While she was at Ventura’s place, Combs burst into the apartment and seized Bongolan on the balcony.Bongolan, a designer, said Combs repeatedly shouted with expletives that “you know what you did” — and she said she repeatedly told him she did not.The witness also recounted an incident when she saw Combs hurl a knife at Ventura, which Bongolan said Ventura then threw back at him.Bongolan told prosecutors she did not go to the police out of fear: “I was just scared of Puff,” she told the court, using another nickname for Combs.But a defense lawyer for the musician, who faces racketeering and sex trafficking charges, cast Bongolan as a drug abuser and unreliable witness whose story was shifting.Bongolan is among dozens of people who have filed civil suits against Combs in recent years, legal action she told jurors she took “because I wanted to seek justice for what happened to me on the balcony.”Bongolan, who remains friends with Ventura, says the incident left her with post-traumatic stress, including recurring night terrors and paranoia: “Sometimes I scream in my sleep,” she told jurors. Defense attorney Nicole Westmoreland bluntly indicated that Bongolan was lying, and implied that the witness had compared notes with Ventura to get their stories straight as the two filed separate civil suits against Combs.Ventura alleged that she suffered harrowing abuse under Combs, her former on-and-off partner of more than a decade, opening the floodgates against the one-time music powerhouse when she first filed suit against him in November 2023.That suit was settled out of court in less than 24 hours.Westmoreland on Wednesday pushed the narrative that Bongolan’s heavy drug use, including with Ventura, clouded her memories of the alleged events.Bongolan was testifying under an immunity order that protects her from incrimination if she speaks truthfully.She frequently responded to Westmoreland by saying she could not remember every detail — and the occasionally brusque defense questioning of her will continue Thursday morning.Afterwards, the prosecution is expected to call Jane — long-anticipated testimony from a woman who will speak under a pseudonym in relation to one of the sex trafficking charges against Combs.- $100,000 in a paper bag -Combs, 55, faces upwards of life in prison if convicted of crimes of sex trafficking and racketeering. Prosecutors say he ran a criminal enterprise of high-ranking employees and bodyguards who enforced his power with illicit acts including kidnapping, bribery and arson. On Tuesday, a hotel security guard said he received $100,000 in a brown paper bag from Combs in exchange for now-infamous surveillance footage that showed the artist-entrepreneur violently kicking and dragging Ventura in a hotel.Jurors have repeatedly been shown the disturbing clip in open court.The security officer, Eddy Garcia, said he initially rebuffed an attempt from a Combs employee — Kristina Khorram, who has been described as the music heavyweight’s “right hand” — to obtain the video.After repeated calls, including from Combs himself, Garcia eventually agreed to sell the tape, with permission from his supervisor, who got a cut.”‘Eddy, my angel, I knew you could help. I knew you could do it,'” Garcia recounted Combs telling him.Garcia — who was also speaking under an immunity order — testified that he signed a non-disclosure agreement.Last week a former assistant speaking under the pseudonym Mia described violent acts Combs committed against her and also recalled many times that she saw him beat Ventura. Now in its fourth week of testimony, witnesses have included alleged victims, former high-ranking employees as well as assistants and law enforcement officials. The trial in Manhattan is expected to last well into the summer.

Social media outlet Reddit filed a lawsuit Wednesday against artificial intelligence company Anthropic, accusing the startup of illegally scraping millions of user comments to train its Claude chatbot without permission or compensation.The lawsuit in a California state court represents the latest front in the growing battle between content providers and AI companies over the use of data to train increasingly sophisticated language models that power the generative AI revolution.Anthropic, valued at $61.5 billion and heavily backed by Amazon, was founded in 2021 by former executives from OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. The company, known for its Claude chatbot and AI models, positions itself as focused on AI safety and responsible development.”This case is about the two faces of Anthropic: the public face that attempts to ingratiate itself into the consumer’s consciousness with claims of righteousness and respect for boundaries and the law, and the private face that ignores any rules that interfere with its attempts to further line its pockets,” the suit said.According to the complaint, Anthropic has been training its models on Reddit content since at least December 2021, with CEO Dario Amodei co-authoring research papers that specifically identified high-quality content for data training.The lawsuit alleges that despite Anthropic’s public claims that it had blocked its bots from accessing Reddit, the company’s automated systems continued to harvest Reddit’s servers more than 100,000 times in subsequent months.Reddit is seeking monetary damages and a court injunction to force Anthropic to comply with its user agreement terms. The company has requested a jury trial.In an email to AFP, Anthropic said “We disagree with Reddit’s claims and will defend ourselves vigorously.”Reddit has entered into licensing agreements with other AI giants including Google and OpenAI, which allow those companies to use Reddit content under terms that protect user privacy and provide compensation to the platform.Those deals have helped lift Reddit’s share price since it went public in 2024. Reddit shares closed up more than six percent on Wednesday following news of the lawsuit.Musicians, book authors, visual artists and news publications  have sued the various AI companies that used their data without permission or payment.AI companies generally defend their practices by claiming fair use, arguing that training AI on large datasets fundamentally changes the original content and is necessary for innovation.Though most of these lawsuits are still in early stages, their outcomes could have a profound effect on the shape of the AI industry.

A US judge on Wednesday ordered a temporary stay on any efforts to deport the family of a man suspected of carrying out a Molotov cocktail attack on Jewish protesters at the weekend.The move is the latest in a growing list of confrontations between President Donald Trump’s administration and the independent court system.The wife and five children of Mohamed Sabry Soliman were detained by immigration officials as law enforcement probed the fiery assault on a peaceful march in Boulder, Colorado on Sunday.Twelve people were hurt when an assailant lobbed homemade incendiary devices and shouted “Free Palestine,” calling those present “killers.”Soliman — who authorities said had entered the United States on a tourist visa and had subsequently applied for asylum — was arrested at the scene.Trump’s administration was quick to pledge to deport his family, who are reportedly from Egypt.On Tuesday the White House appeared to taunt the suspect’s family, writing on social media: “Six One-Way Tickets for Mohamed’s Wife and Five Kids.” “Final Boarding Call Coming Soon.” That came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday pledged to rid the US of “terrorists” who were in the United States temporarily on visas.Judge Gordon Gallagher on Wednesday granted a temporary restraining order against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons and the local ICE chief.”Defendants SHALL NOT REMOVE Hayem El Gamal and her five children from the District of Colorado or the United States unless or until this court or the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit vacates this order,” the edict says.The legal ruling is the latest in a long line of stays and restraining orders the courts have issued in response to increasingly aggressive moves by the administration to remove non-citizens, including to foreign prisons.The Trump administration systematically accuses judges who oppose his immigration decisions of usurping his presidential national security powers.Soliman is due to appear in court in Colorado on Thursday. He is expected to formally face federal hate crime charges, as well as state charges of attempted murder.

Steelworkers in the Canadian city of Hamilton see President Donald Trump’s latest trade war escalation as a wake-up call, insisting US efforts to protect struggling metal producers demand an equivalent national response. Hamilton is known locally as “Steeltown,” with expansive industrial plants dominating the view from the main bridge that leads into the city. Hamilton has endured countless setbacks as the steel industry that drove its growth through much of 20th Century declined. Trump’s decision to double steel and aluminum tariffs to a crippling 50 percent did not come as a shock to those who have spent decades in the industry. “Steel is like a roller-coaster,” said Jake Lombardo, who retired after 38 years at Stelco, one of Hamilton’s main plants.  Lombardo’s career spanned the era that saw automation and cheaper foreign product hollow out Hamilton’s steel sector.He voiced a degree of understanding for Trump’s efforts to shield US producers from external competition. “I’m not a Trump supporter, but one thing I like (about) what he said, he wants to do things in-house. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that,” Lombardo, 69, told AFP. “We should have been doing this a long time ago.” Hamilton’s steel industry was born in the early part of the last century, hitting its peak in the decades following World War II, when the main local union, United Steelworkers Local 1005, counted more than 12,000 members. That number has since fallen to about 650, said union president Ron Wells. Wells said he wasn’t opposed to a future where Canadian producers serve Canadian demand and cross-border trade is reduced. But, like Lombardo, he believes Ottawa needs to create the environment that ensures that Canadian steelmakers thrive. “We’ve been saying that for, like years, if not decades,” Wells told AFP. – ‘Better late than never’? -The union chief said he was encouraged by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s pledge to counter Trump’s trade war by boosting internal trade and ushering in an era of massive construction across Canada. Asked about the prospect that Hamilton could benefit from Carney’s recent promise that his government would “build baby build,” Wells said: “we applaud it.””It’s better late than never.”Carney on Wednesday called Trump’s decision to double steel and aluminum tariffs “unjustified” and “illegal” and promised that Canada — the largest supplier of foreign steel and aluminum to the United States — will respond. But in the short term, Wells said there is cause for concern. Stelco, which was bought by the US steel producer Cleveland-Cliffs last year, had been sending about 30 percent of its output to the United States, Wells said. Those orders largely dried up when Trump imposed a blanket 25 percent tariff on all metal imports in March. But Stelco was still selling to Canadian clients who were making products subsequently sold to the United States, with the American importers absorbing the 25 percent tariff hit. – ‘The wrong foe’ -At 50 percent, Wells voiced fear that business could vanish.”People are just pissed off that (Trump) keeps changing his mind and he’s playing chicken with the economy,” Wells told AFP. “Our members want to see the tariffs situation get resolved. So go back to full production and we can share the wealth.”The Canadian Steel Producers Association, an industry group, said Wednesday that “at a 25 per cent tariff rate, we saw significant layoffs, curtailed investments and a significant drop of shipments to the United States.” “At a 50 per cent tariff rate, the US market is effectively closed to Canadian steel, leaving billions of dollars of Canadian steel without a market,” it warned.Throughout Trump’s trade war, Canadian workers in targeted sectors — notably auto and metal — have voiced frustration over the president’s decision to harm a bilateral trade relationship widely seen as mutually beneficial. “We think they’re picking on the wrong foe,” Wells said.  Tony Mclaughlin, who has worked for Stelco for 47 years, told AFP he “always thought we’d be exempt,” from tariffs.” “Is he trying to get a new trade agreement?” He asked.”Maybe that’s the big plan.”

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday it is “extremely hard” to reach a deal with China over a trade impasse that has roiled global markets, while his doubling of metal tariffs fueled tensions with key partners.Trump’s latest salvos came as ministers from Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries gathered in Paris to discuss the world economy’s outlook in light of the trade war.The US leader’s sweeping duties on allies and adversaries have strained ties with trading partners and sparked a flurry of negotiations.The White House has suggested Trump will speak to Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, raising hopes they can soothe tensions and speed up a trade deal between the world’s two biggest economies.But early Wednesday, Trump appeared to dampen hopes for a quick resolution.”I like President XI of China, always have, and always will, but he is VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH!!!” he posted on his Truth Social platform.Asked about the remarks, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said Beijing’s “principles and stance on developing Sino-US relations are consistent.”China was the biggest target of Trump’s April tariff blitz, hit with additional levies of 145 percent on its goods as both sides engaged in tit-for-tat escalation. China’s countermeasures on US goods reached 125 percent.Both sides agreed to temporarily lower rates in May, while Trump delayed most sweeping measures on other countries until July 9.- US neighbors incensed -Trump’s remarks came hours after he increased tariffs on aluminum and steel imports from 25 percent to 50 percent on Wednesday, raising pressure on key trading partners, while exempting Britain from the higher levy for now.The move drew sharp rebukes from immediate neighbors Canada and Mexico, with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum vowing countermeasures if Trump did not grant tariff relief.Mexico will request an exemption from the higher metals tariff, Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard said.Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney blasted the levies as unjustified and illegal, adding that his country would respond.Trump’s tariffs have fanned worries among Canada’s workers. Ron Wells, president of United Steelworkers Local 1005 expressed concern that Canadian steel company Stelco could see significant parts of its orders dry up, impacting staff.The union’s members who work at the company want to see the tariffs situation resolved, he told AFP.”People are just pissed off that (Trump) keeps changing his mind and he’s playing chicken with the economy,” Wells said.Tensions could surge further in the coming weeks, with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick opening the door Wednesday to potential tariffs on imported commercial aircraft and parts.Lutnick said Washington is expecting an investigation update on such imports and will soon “set the standard for aircraft part tariffs.”While some of Trump’s most sweeping levies face legal challenges, they have been allowed to remain in place as an appeals process takes place.- US-EU talks ‘advancing’ -The United States and European Union struck a more conciliatory note after talks on the sidelines of the OECD gathering.US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said after talks with EU counterpart Maros Sefcovic that negotiations were “advancing quickly.”Greer added that the meeting was “very constructive and indicates a willingness by the EU to work with us to find a concrete way forward to achieve reciprocal trade.”EU goods will be hit with 50-percent tariffs on July 9 unless the 27-nation bloc reaches a deal with Washington. The EU has vowed to retaliate.Sefcovic said the doubling of metal tariffs “doesn’t help the negotiations” but both sides were nonetheless “making progress.”The US-EU meeting took place a day after the OECD cut its forecast for global economic growth, blaming Trump’s tariffs for the downgrade.A report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office in Washington found Wednesday that Trump’s tariffs would reduce the size of the US economy and fuel inflation, while lowering federal deficits.After talks Tuesday between UK Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds and Greer, London said US tariffs on metal imports from Britain remain at 25 percent for now. Both sides need to work out duties and quotas in line with the terms of a recently signed trade pact.burs-bs-bys/aha

An American man who believes human life should not exist has been arrested in connection with the bombing of a fertility clinic in California that killed the attacker, the FBI said Wednesday.Daniel Park, 32, was taken into custody at a New York area airport, where he arrived from Poland, on charges that he shipped explosives to the man who blew himself up in Palm Springs last month.The explosion ripped a hole in the clinic and blew out the windows and doors of nearby buildings.Bomber Guy Edward Bartkus, 25, of the town of Twentynine Palms in California, died in the blast, which also wounded four people.None of the embryos stored at the clinic were affected.US Attorney Bill Essayli said investigators probing the bombing had discovered Bartkus had “pro-mortalist, anti-natalist and anti-pro-life extremist ideology.”Bartkus believed “that individuals should not be born without their consent and that non-existence is best,” the US Justice Department said in a statement. Essayli said Park shared those beliefs, and is accused of “shipping approximately 180 pounds of ammonium nitrate, an explosive precursor commonly used to construct homemade bombs, to Bartkus.” He said Park, who lives in Seattle, Washington, and Bartkus were together in Twentynine Palms in January and February, where they ran experiments.Days after the attack, Park — a US citizen — fled to Poland, where he was ultimately detained by Polish law enforcement at the request of the FBI.Park was expected to appear in court in New York on Wednesday for a hearing to determine if he can be extradited to California.Akil Davis of the FBI said law enforcement was aware of a small nihilist movement in the United States, and had been tracking it for several years, although these two men were not on their radar.”They don’t believe that people should exist,” he told reporters. “There’s tons of terminology out there, anti-natalism, pro-mortalism, nihilism. These all are intertwined to create their belief system.”US Attorney General Pam Bondi said the bomb attack had been a “cruel, disgusting crime that strikes at the very heart of our shared humanity.””We are grateful to our partners in Poland who helped get this man back to America and we will prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law,” she wrote on social media.

Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has quit the Democratic party after its “betrayal” of Joe Biden to become an independent, her publisher said in a statement Wednesday announcing a new book.Jean-Pierre, 50, who served under Biden for two years, will explain the decision in her book, titled “Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines,” publishing house Hachette said.Jean-Pierre blazed a trail as the first Black and gay presidential spokesperson. “Jean-Pierre didn’t come to her decision to be an Independent lightly,” the Hachette statement said as it announced the book, which will be published on October 21.”She takes us through the three weeks that led to Biden’s abandoning his bid for a second term and the betrayal by the Democratic Party that led to his decision,” the statement added.Biden, who was 81 at the time, dropped his bid for a second term after a disastrous debate performance against Republican Donald Trump renewed concerns about his health and mental acuity.Jean-Pierre strongly defended Biden after the debate, when a series of senior Democrats including former House speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed him to step aside.But she and other former White House aides have since faced questions about whether they covered up the impact of Biden’s age, fanned by the publication of another book by two journalists, “Original Sin.”The revelations have also prompted a bout of Democratic infighting as party members seek to distance themselves from Biden’s legacy and fight back against Trump ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.Jean-Pierre’s book will however also push back at what her publisher called a “torrent of disinformation and misinformation.”She would also urge people to look beyond “blind loyalty” to the current two-party system and share “why Americans must step beyond party lines to embrace life as Independents.”

Beijing hit back Wednesday at US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for saying the world will “never forget” the deadly Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989, describing his remarks as an “attack” on China.Troops and tanks forcibly cleared peaceful protesters from Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, after weeks-long demonstrations demanding greater political freedoms.The exact toll is unknown but hundreds died, with some estimates exceeding 1,000.China’s communist rulers have since sought to erase any public mention of the crackdown, with censors scrubbing all online references.Police were seen by AFP on Wednesday at the entrance to Wan’an Cemetery, a site in west Beijing where victims of the crackdown are known to be buried.Officers were also posted at several intersections leading into Tiananmen Square.On Wednesday evening, a line of buses and a cherry picker partially blocked screens at the German and Canadian embassies showing images of candles, a symbol commonly used to pay tribute to Tiananmen victims.- ‘Never forget’ -Rubio said in a statement the “world will never forget” what happened in Tiananmen Square, even as Beijing “actively tries to censor the facts”.”Today we commemorate the bravery of the Chinese people who were killed as they tried to exercise their fundamental freedoms, as well as those who continue to suffer persecution as they seek accountability and justice for the events of June 4, 1989,” Rubio said.Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian hit back during a briefing in the capital, saying Beijing had “lodged a solemn protest” over the top diplomat’s comments which “maliciously distort historical facts… and seriously interfere in China’s internal affairs”.Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te echoed Rubio’s remarks, vowing to preserve the memory of victims of the bloody crackdown.”Authoritarian governments often choose to be silent and forget history; democratic societies choose to preserve the truth and refuse to forget those who have contributed to the ideal of human rights and their dreams,” Lai said on Facebook.China claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to seize the democratically-run island by force.- ‘Reaffirm our commitment’ -In Hong Kong, jailed activist Chow Hang-tung began a 36-hour hunger strike Wednesday, a dogged attempt to individually commemorate the anniversary in a city that once hosted huge public remembrances.The former lawyer used to help organise an annual vigil that drew tens of thousands to Victoria Park.Hong Kong had been the only place under Chinese rule where commemoration of the crackdown was tolerated. Slogans at the candlelight vigil sometimes called for democracy in China and an end to one-party rule.But after huge and sometimes violent protests roiled the city in 2019, Beijing brought in a wide-ranging national security law that has quashed political dissent.The public memorial has effectively been banned and Chow imprisoned, facing a potential life sentence on subversion charges.On Wednesday, AFP journalists saw at least seven people taken away by police around Victoria Park, including two schoolgirls holding white flowers — which often signify mourning in Chinese culture — and a man standing in silent tribute.Some people were stopped and searched.Hong Kong police said 10 people were detained and suspected of “breach of the peace.” Seven of them were released soon thereafter.It was not clear if the seven seen by AFP being taken away were among those reported arrested.”It’s a shame that there’s no more (vigils)… In fact, no one will ever forget,” a man named Yuen, 49, who did not give his first name, told AFP.Over the last few years, activists have been detained for “offences in connection with seditious intention” around the anniversary.In a social media post, Chow said her hunger strike would “commemorate this day and reaffirm our commitment” and urged authorities to apologise over her “wrongful” imprisonment.”History tells us that (the apology) will likely take a very long time –- the Tiananmen Mothers have been waiting for 36 years and still have not received an apology,” she said, referring to an activist group made up of families of victims of the crackdown.A video featuring 87-year-old Zhang Xianling, whose 19-year-old son was killed in 1989, circulated online last week.”The lights in Victoria Park may have been blown out by the gales, but the sparks of justice will glow in the hearts of every conscientious person,” she added.At a vigil Wednesday on Taipei’s Liberty Square, 20-year-old American student Lara Waldron told AFP: “I feel like this June 4 is very close to me right now.”As a college student, I’m of the age of many organisers and participants — people (who) lost their lives in Tiananmen.”burs-tjx/mtp/aha/dw/mlm

US President Donald Trump said he spoke to Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin Wednesday about Ukraine and Iran, warning that the Kremlin leader had “very strongly” pledged to respond to Kyiv’s stunning drone attack on Russian bombers.Trump said that there was no “immediate peace” on the horizon in Ukraine — which Russia invaded in 2022 — following what he described as a one hour and 15 minute call with the Russian president.On Iran, Trump said that Putin had offered to “participate” in talks on Tehran’s nuclear program, as Trump accused the Islamic republic of “slowwalking” its response to Washington’s offer of a deal.The call came three days after Ukraine conducted a massive, daring drone attack against Russian military airbases, saying it had destroyed several Russian nuclear-capable bombers worth billions of dollars.Trump said that he and Putin had “discussed the attack on Russia’s docked airplanes, by Ukraine and also various other attacks that have been taking place by both sides.” “It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace. President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields,” Trump said in his post.Trump did not say whether he had warned Putin off any such retaliation against Ukraine, which Washington has supported to the tune of billions of dollars in its fight against Russia.- ‘Definitive answer’ -The Republican has repeatedly alarmed Kyiv and Western allies by appearing to side with Putin over the war, and had a blazing Oval Office row with visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.But Trump has also showed growing frustration with Putin as Russia has so far derailed the US president’s efforts to honor a campaign pledge to end the war within 24 hours — even if he never explained how this could be achieved.The call between Trump and Putin did however show that Washington and Moscow may be eying cooperation on another key global issue — Iran.Trump said he believed they were both “in agreement” that Iran could not have a nuclear weapon, and that time was running out for Tehran to respond to US offers of a deal.”President Putin suggested that he will participate in the discussions with Iran and that he could, perhaps, be helpful in getting this brought to a rapid conclusion,” Trump said.The US president added: “It is my opinion that Iran has been slowwalking their decision on this very important matter, and we will need a definitive answer in a very short period of time!”Putin told his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian that Moscow was ready to help advance talks on a nuclear deal, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.But Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said earlier Wednesday that Washington’s proposal was against Tehran’s national interest, amid sharp differences over whether Tehran can continue to enrich uranium.

US private sector hiring hit its slowest pace since 2023 in May, according to data Wednesday from payroll firm ADP, significantly missing expectations in a month where all eyes are on the effects of President Donald Trump’s trade war.Private sector employment rose by 37,000 jobs last month, slowing from the 60,000 figure in April, and missing a Briefing.com expectation of 115,000.Trump immediately reacted by pressuring independent Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to cut interest rates.”‘Too Late’ Powell must now LOWER THE RATE,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.While the US central bank has started bringing down rates from the high levels of recent years, officials have proceeded cautiously as they monitor progress in cooling stubborn inflation.When inflation is low, central banks may opt to reduce rates, which typically encourages economic activity by reducing borrowing costs.But Trump’s frustration comes at a time when “hiring is losing momentum” after a strong start to this year, according to ADP chief economist Nela Richardson.She added in a statement that pay growth was also “little changed in May.”Service-providing sectors like leisure and hospitality, as well as financial activities, still logged gains, according to the ADP report.Goods-producing industries saw a net loss in jobs last month, with employment declining in mining and manufacturing.Some service sectors also saw job losses, including trade and transportation, as well as business services and education or health services.Pay growth for those who remained in their jobs was little changed at 4.5 percent.For those who switched jobs, pay growth was 7.0 percent.- ‘A dark result’ -Analysts are keeping a close eye on US economic data this week, with official employment figures due Friday.While ADP figures may diverge from the government numbers, experts are monitoring the effects of Trump’s global tariffs as they sweep through the world’s biggest economy.”This may be the tip of an iceberg, but it also could be a false start,” said Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics.”Whether this report is accurate or not, traders and investors will read today’s number as a dark result for trading,” he added.Weinberg also cautioned that as companies get more clarity about tariffs, they could respond to the increased chance of tariff-induced cost hikes by becoming more aggressive about trimming their workforces.For now, US services sector activity shrank in May for the first time since mid-2024 too, according to the Institute for Supply Management, as Trump’s tariffs fueled prices and uncertainty.Since returning to the presidency, Trump has slapped a 10 percent tariff on most trading partners, alongside higher rates on dozens of economies, including the European Union, that have since been put on pause until early July.He has also taken special aim at China with tit-for-tat levies between Washington and Beijing reaching three-figures before both sides reached a temporary deal to lower levels last month.But the seesawing of Trump’s trade policies has snarled supply chains, roiled financial markets and weighed on consumer sentiment.”Manufacturing employment is suffering from higher input costs and disruptions to supply chains. At least one vehicle producer was forced to idle production during the first half of May; that is reminiscent of the pandemic,” warned KPMG chief economist Diane Swonk in a recent note.