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US President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged restaurant chain Cracker Barrel to go back to its old logo, after its rebrand sparked a furious, culture war-fueled backlash.The folksy, homestyle US chain has seen tens of millions of dollars wiped off its share price since it unveiled a new look last week that right-wingers have criticized as “woke.”It was perhaps only a matter of time before Republican Trump weighed in on the issue, which saw Cracker Barrel last week remove the image of an old man sitting on a chair and leaning on a barrel from the famous yellow and brown sign.”Cracker Barrel should go back to the old logo, admit a mistake based on customer response (the ultimate Poll), and manage the company better than ever before,” Trump said on Truth Social. “They got a Billion Dollars worth of free publicity if they play their cards right. Very tricky to do, but a great opportunity. Have a major News Conference today. Make Cracker Barrel a WINNER again.”The White House later posted a mocked-up version of the former logo, replacing the “Uncle Herschel” figure with Trump himself and the words “America First” instead of Cracker Barrel. It added the caption: “Go Woke, go broke.”The furor comes as Trump’s White House leads a crusade against diversity and anything it brands “woke” in both the US government and corporate America.Trump’s son Donald Jr. took to X after the rebrand to demand to know “WTF is wrong with Cracker Barrel.” He quoted a post by the “Woke War Room” account that claimed the chain had “scrapped a beloved American aesthetic and replaced it with sterile, soulless branding.”Cracker Barrel apologized to fans on Monday, saying in a statement it “could’ve done a better job sharing who we are and who we’ll always be.” But it said the new sign, featuring just the text of the brand name in a rounded-off yellow hexagon, was there to stay.The chain has around 660 US branches. Trump won in 74 percent of counties with a Cracker Barrel in 2024, according to elections analyst Dave Wasserman.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Tuesday that the United States had revoked the visa of Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski, a move he termed “irresponsible.”The US State Department had yet to confirm the latest in a series of punitive measures taken by Washington against Brazil for putting former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro on trial for alleged coup plotting.”I wanted to express my solidarity and the government’s solidarity with my colleague Lewandowski faced with the irresponsible gesture of the United States in revoking his visa,” Lula told a ministerial meeting in Brasilia.President Donald Trump has also imposed crippling 50-percent tariffs on dozens of Brazilian imports and sanctioned the judge overseeing Bolsonaro’s trial, which he has called a “witch hunt.”Judge Alexandre de Moraes had his US visa revoked, as did several other Supreme Court justices, according to Brazil, following intense lobbying by Bolsonaro’s US-based son, Eduardo Bolsonaro.Jair Bolsonaro, dubbed the “Trump of the Tropics” during his 2019-2022 presidency, risks up to 40 years in prison if convicted of plotting to cling to power after losing October 2022 elections to the leftist Lula.The 70-year-old denies the charges and claims his trial is an attempt by the Brazilian judiciary, in league with Lula’s government, to prevent him making a comeback in 2026 elections.He is under house arrest while awaiting the verdict, which the Supreme Court is expected to deliver early next month.On Monday, prosecutors called for increased police surveillance of his residence in the run-up to the verdict, arguing he is a flight risk.Last week, it emerged that he had planned to seek asylum from Argentina’s right-wing President Javier Milei last year, shortly after the coup plot probe was launched.In his draft asylum request, he claimed he was the victim of political persecution.

A massive wall of dust swept through Phoenix, plunging the southwest US city into near-total darkness, grounding flights, forcing motorists off the road and cutting power to thousands.The giant haboob, which occurred on Monday, is a common phenomenon during the arid region’s monsoon season. Haboobs form when a thunderstorm collapses, sending cold air crashing onto the desert floor, where it scoops up dust into a towering wall of sediment that can stretch for miles and rise thousands of feet.The dust storm was followed by heavy rain and lightning that triggered flash flood warnings.”This monsoon dust isn’t messing around…Please be safe!” the City of Phoenix warned on X, sharing a photo of the dust wall looming over planes, a sight reminiscent of a science-fiction film.Local media said the weather tore part of the roof off Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.The Trico Electric Co-op reported 7,200 customers without power, while police in the town of Gilbert said downed trees and traffic light outages created hazardous driving conditions.The dust reduced visibility to just dozens of feet on the I-10 highway, while another busy roadway, the I-17, was partly closed due to flooding, according to the Arizona Department of Transport.In all, more than two million people were affected, according to the National Weather Service (NWS), which advises motorists caught in haboobs to pull over and turn off their lights so other drivers don’t mistake them for moving vehicles and crash into them.The NWS forecasts isolated thunderstorms from Tuesday through Thursday, before a return to dry conditions on Friday.

Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook rejected US President Donald Trump’s unprecedented bid to oust her on Tuesday, saying he had no legal authority for such an intervention against a member of the independent US central bank.After calling for her resignation last week, Trump posted a letter on Monday evening to his Truth Social platform purporting to have fired Cook “effective immediately.”The decision cited allegations of false statements on her mortgage agreements, claiming “there is sufficient cause to remove you from your position.””I will not resign,” said Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the central bank’s board, in a statement shared with AFP by her attorney Abbe Lowell.”President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so,” she added.Lowell pledged to “take whatever actions are needed to prevent his (Trump’s) attempted illegal action.”The potential legal dispute would be the latest test of presidential powers under Trump’s new term, with the 79-year-old Republican — backed by loyalists throughout the government — forcefully moving to exert executive authority.The Supreme Court’s conservative majority recently allowed Trump to fire members of other independent government boards, but notably created a carveout for the Federal Reserve in its ruling.Federal law says that Fed officials can only be removed for “cause,” which could be interpreted to mean malfeasance or dereliction of duty.In his announcement that Cook would be removed, Trump pointed to a criminal referral dated August 15 from the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s director — a staunch ally of Trump — to the US attorney general.The referral, Trump said, provided “sufficient reason” to believe that Cook might have made “false statements” on one or more mortgage agreements.One of the alleged false statements was that Cook had claimed two primary residences, one in Michigan and another in Georgia.Cook has not been charged with a crime and the alleged false statements occurred before she was in her current position.Earlier this month, Cook said in a statement that she had “no intention of being bullied to step down,” but would take questions about her financial history seriously.The Fed did not immediately respond to media queries.In his letter Monday, Trump said: “At a minimum, the conduct at issue exhibits the sort of gross negligence in financial transactions that calls into question your competence and trustworthiness as a financial regulator.”- Court challenge? -Senator Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, called Trump’s move “an authoritarian power grab that blatantly violates the Federal Reserve Act.”She added in a statement that this “must be overturned in court.”Trump has been ramping up pressure on the Fed this year, repeatedly criticizing its chief Jerome Powell for not lowering interest rates sooner despite benign inflation data.Fed policymakers have been cautious in cutting rates as they monitor the effects of Trump’s tariffs on prices.Trump has made no secret of his disdain for Powell, whom he has called a “numbskull” and “moron.”Since its last reduction in December, the Fed has held rates at a range between 4.25 percent and 4.50 percent this year. Powell on Friday opened the door to lowering levels at the bank’s upcoming policy meeting in September.Trump also previously suggested that what he called an overly costly renovation of the Fed’s headquarters could be a reason to oust Powell, before backing off the threat.The president has picked Stephen Miran, the leader of his White House economic panel, to fill a recently vacated seat on the Federal Reserve board.Cook took office as a Fed governor in May 2022 and was reappointed to the board in September 2023. She was sworn in later that same month for a term ending in 2038.She has previously served on the Council of Economic Advisers under former president Barack Obama.The Trump administration has pursued allegations of mortgage fraud against high-profile Democrats who are seen as political adversaries of the president.

Fresh off a trade truce with Donald Trump, the EU is back in the US leader’s crosshairs after he vowed to punish countries that seek to curb big tech’s powers.Brussels has adopted a powerful legal arsenal aimed at reining in tech giants — namely through its Digital Markets Act (DMA) covering competition and the Digital Services Act (DSA) on content moderation.The EU has already slapped heavy fines on US behemoths including Meta and Apple under the new rules, which have faced strong pushback from Trump’s administration.The bloc’s trade chief Maros Sefcovic insisted last week that Brussels successfully “kept these issues out of the trade negotiations” with Washington — and that the bloc’s “regulatory autonomy” was not up for debate.But while he did not explicitly name the EU, the US leader cast new doubt on the status quo Monday by threatening fresh tariffs on countries with regulations that sought to “harm” American technology.Here is a look at the EU rules drawing Trump’s ire:- Digital Services Act -Rolled out in stages since 2023, the mammoth Digital Services Act forces online firms to aggressively police content in the 27 countries of the European Union — or face major fines.Aimed at protecting consumers from disinformation and hate speech as well as counterfeit or dangerous goods, it obliges platforms to swiftly remove illegal content or make it inaccessible.Companies must inform authorities when they suspect a criminal offence that threatens people’s lives or safety.And the law instructs platforms to suspend users who frequently share illegal content such as hate speech — a provision framed as “censorship” by detractors across the Atlantic.Tougher rules apply to a designated list of “very large” platforms that include US giants Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Instagram, Microsoft and Snapchat.These giants must assess dangers linked to their services regarding illegal content and privacy, set up internal risk mitigation systems, and give regulators access to their data to verify compliance.Violators can face fines or up to six percent of global turnover, and for repeated non-compliance, the EU has the power to ban offending platforms from Europe.- Digital Markets Act -Since March 2024, the world’s biggest digital companies have faced strict EU rules intended to limit abuses linked to market dominance, favour the emergence of start-ups in Europe and improve options for consumers.Brussels has so far named seven so-called gatekeepers covered by the Digital Markets Act: Google’s Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, TikTok parent ByteDance, Facebook and Instagram parent Meta, Microsoft and travel giant Booking.In a bid to limit the ability of online giants to snuff out potential rivals, the rules require all buyouts to be notified to the European Commission, the EU’s competition regulator.Gatekeepers can be fined for locking in customers to use pre-installed services, such as a web browser, mapping or weather information.The DMA has forced Google to overhaul its search display to avoid favouring its own services — such as Google flights or shopping.It requires that users be able to choose what app stores to use — without going via the dominant two players, Apple’s App Store and Google Play.And it has forced Apple to allow developers to offer alternative payment options directly to consumers — outside of the App Store.The DMA has also imposed interoperability between messaging apps WhatsApp and Messenger and competitors who request it.And it imposes new obligations on the world’s biggest online advertisers — namely Google’s search engine and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram — by forcing them to reveal much more to advertisers and publishers on how their ads work.Failure to comply with the DMA can carry fines in the billions of dollars, reaching 20 percent of global turnover for repeat offenders.

US President Donald Trump expanded pressure on the Federal Reserve on Monday by moving to fire Governor Lisa Cook “effective immediately”, a step the independent central bank official said he had “no authority” to take.Trump’s decision against the first Black woman to serve on the central bank’s board cited allegations of false statements on her mortgage agreements.Referring to the Federal Reserve Act as justification, Trump wrote in a letter addressed to Cook: “I have determined that there is sufficient cause to remove you from your position.”Cook rejected the president’s authority to do so, saying no cause exists.”I will not resign,” she said in a statement shared by her attorney Abbe Lowell with US media. “I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy.”A US president is generally limited in their ability to remove officials from the central bank, with a Supreme Court order recently suggesting that Fed officials can only be removed for “cause,” which could be interpreted to mean malfeasance or dereliction of duty.But the US leader pointed to a criminal referral dated August 15 from the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s director — a staunch ally of Trump — to the US attorney general in his announcement that Cook would be removed from her role.The referral, Trump said, provided “sufficient reason” to believe that Cook might have made “false statements” on one or more mortgage agreements.One of the alleged false statements was that Cook had claimed two primary residences, one in Michigan and another in Georgia.Earlier this month, Cook said in a statement that she had “no intention of being bullied to step down,” but would take questions about her financial history seriously.The Fed did not immediately respond to media queries on Trump’s latest announcement.In his letter Monday, Trump said: “At a minimum, the conduct at issue exhibits the sort of gross negligence in financial transactions that calls into question your competence and trustworthiness as a financial regulator.”- Court challenge? -Trump’s effort to remove Cook is likely to set off a legal battle, and she could be allowed to remain in her position during this period.Senator Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, called Trump’s move “an authoritarian power grab that blatantly violates the Federal Reserve Act.”She added in a statement that this “must be overturned in court.”Trump has been ramping up pressure on the Fed this year, repeatedly criticizing its chief Jerome Powell for not lowering interest rates sooner despite benign inflation data.Fed policymakers have been cautious in cutting rates as they monitor the effects of Trump’s tariffs on prices.Trump has made no secret of his disdain for Powell, whom he has called a “numbskull” and “moron.”He also previously suggested that what he called an overly costly renovation of the Fed’s headquarters could be a reason to oust Powell, before backing off the threat.Trump said this month he had tipped Stephen Miran, the leader of his White House economic panel, to fill a recently vacated seat on the Federal Reserve board.The president’s targeting of Cook, who sits on the Fed’s rate-setting committee too, comes after his repeated broadsides against Powell while the central bank kept the benchmark lending rate unchanged.Since its last reduction in December, the Fed has held rates at a range between 4.25 percent and 4.50 percent this year. Powell on Friday opened the door to lowering levels at the bank’s upcoming policy meeting in September.Cook took office as a Fed governor in May 2022 and was reappointed to the board in September 2023. She was sworn in later that same month for a term ending in 2038.She has previously served on the Council of Economic Advisers under former president Barack Obama.The Trump administration has pursued allegations of mortgage fraud against high-profile Democrats who are seen as political adversaries of the president.

The United States wants to secure its supply of strategic minerals in conflict-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, hoping to challenge China’s near-monopoly on the lucrative sector.While the strategy has been in the works for years, Washington has doubled down on it since Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January.- Risky El Dorado -Although it is among the world’s 15 least developed countries, the DRC has some of the richest mineral veins on the planet.Besides gold and uranium, its mines contain significant deposits of copper, cobalt, coltan and lithium, with uses ranging from weaponry to mobile phones and electric cars.More than three-quarters of the world’s cobalt came from the DRC in 2024, according to the US Geological Survey.Threatened by the resurgence of the Rwanda-backed M23 militia in the DRC’s east, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi has sought to strike a deal with the United States, trading direct access to those minerals for beefed-up security cooperation.But the Congolese mining sector is rife with chronic trafficking, organised crime and corruption, discouraging businesses from investing.- Skirting the eastern conflict -Since taking up arms again in 2021, the M23 has taken control of a raft of mining sites in the eastern DRC, notably in North and South Kivu provinces, with Rwanda’s help.However, Washington’s gaze has turned further to the southeast, to the cobalt and copper-rich Katanga region, which has been spared by conflict in recent times, according to experts.To rival China’s Belt and Road global infrastructure initiative, the United States has worked for years to establish the “Lobito Corridor”, an ambitious infrastructure project which would allow minerals mined in the southeastern DRC to be transported thousands of kilometres (miles) overland to the Atlantic Ocean.- China’s dropped anchor -Chinese businesses are involved in mining the vast majority of the DRC’s deposits, often taking over from Western companies put off by conflicts or the business environment.”If the Americans want to enter into the sector today and begin to make a profit immediately, that will involve snatching mining permits away from certain companies,” said Christian-Geraud Neema, an expert for the China-Global South Project, a non-profit group.”If they want to start from zero, they will have to request research permits and get involved in exploration, which could take a minimum of eight to nine years before achieving any results,” he added.- AI mapping -To that end, KoBold Metals, an American start-up specialised in using artificial intelligence to discover new mineral deposits, especially of lithium, signed a declaration of principles with the DRC’s government in July for the exploration of 1,700 new potential mining sites.With financiers including Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, the group likewise obtained the authorities’ assent to comb through its precious mining information database.”All the mines which we know of come from searches done 80, even 100 years ago,” under Belgian colonial rule, said Jean-Jacques Kayembe, coordinator for the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in the DRC.”Less than 20 percent of the territory has been subject to sustained study,” he added.- Plots up for grabs -In July, the DRC’s mining registry made more than 600 mining titles up for grabs following a major clean-up of its records.Several sources and security officials said the government was piling on the pressure to make those plots available to respond to US demands.Crispin Mbindule, chairman of the board of directors of the Congolese mining registry, denies those claims, insisting that the DRC “is not selling off its assets”.He said that the Americans “followed all the procedures and paid all the fees”.Besides discovering new deposits, the DRC is attempting to respond to the United States’s interests by offering up joint ventures in mining companies owned by the state, according to Kayembe.- Israeli billionaire’s shadow -Looming over proceedings is Israeli investor Dan Gertler, who continues to wield significant influence in the DRC’s mining sector despite being sanctioned by the United States over his dealings and business practices.”He still collects royalties from three of the biggest mining projects in the country,” said Jean Claude Mputu of the non-profit group The Congo is Not for Sale.In March 2021, the United States re-imposed sanctions on Gertler, first set in 2017 for allegedly cheating the DRC of about $1.4 billion in revenues through opaque mining deals.Trump had reversed some of the sanctions just before the end of his first term.”It’s impossible that someone who has his know-how will not be involved” in the ongoing negotiations, a European diplomat said.Congolese civil society representatives launched a campaign in July demanding an end to the sanctions against Gertler.The Israeli businessman, who has denied any suggestion of being involved in any massive resource corruption in Africa, could not be reached for comment.

The Irish rap group Kneecap has cancelled a planned tour in the United States, citing a UK court hearing in a case one of its members is facing for allegedly supporting Hezbollah.Band member Liam O’Hanna, 27, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was charged in May after being accused of displaying a Hezbollah flag during a London concert last year.He attended a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London last week, with the court adjourning the case until September 26 for a decision.Kneecap said in a statement late Monday that they would “have to cancel all 15 US tour dates in October” due to “the proximity of our next court hearing in London to the first date of the tour”.”But once we win our court case, which we will, we promise to embark on an even bigger tour”, the band said, adding that refunds would be available.The statement also accused the British government of perpetrating a “witch-hunt” against them.According to their website, the band had been scheduled to perform in New York on October 1, travelling across the country before a final show in Oakland, California on October 28.Since Hezbollah was banned in the UK in 2019, it has been an offence to show support for the Iran-backed Lebanese force.Kneecap has grabbed headlines for statements denouncing the war in Gaza and against Israel.They played a closely scrutinised concert at the Glastonbury Festival in June, where Chara declared: “Israel are war criminals.”The group later missed playing at the Sziget Festival in Budapest after being barred from entering the country by the Hungarian authorities, a close ally of Israel.Kneecap, who also support Irish republicanism and criticise British imperialism, have sparked widespread debate in the UK and Ireland, more than two-and-a-half decades after the peace agreement that aimed to end the conflict over the status of Northern Ireland.The group takes its name from the deliberate shooting of the limbs, known as “kneecapping”, carried out by Irish republicans as punishment attacks during the decades of unrest.- Sea of supporters -There has been huge support for Kneecap and O’Hanna, whose name is Liam Og O hAnnaidh in Irish, from the band’s fans since his first court appearance in June.He arrived at court in London last week to cheers from a sea of supporters brandishing banners and chanting “Free Palestine”.At the hearing the defence sought to have the charges thrown out on a legal technicality.It took place against the backdrop of a growing controversy over moves by the British government to prosecute those deemed to show support for banned organisations.More than 700 people have been arrested, mostly at demonstrations, since a group called Palestine Action was outlawed in early July under the Terrorism Act 2000.Supporting a proscribed group is a criminal offence in the UK, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Australia joined on Tuesday a string of countries suspending some postal deliveries to the United States, citing a “complex and rapidly evolving situation” with US President Donald Trump’s looming tariffs.Australia Post said most goods being sent to the United States and Puerto Rico would no longer be accepted “until further notice”.Gifts with a value of less than US$100, letters and documents were exempt from the suspension. The move follows similar steps taken by other postal services and mail carriers including in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, India and New Zealand.Japan also announced that US-bound individual gifts worth more than $100 and goods for sale would no longer be accepted from Wednesday.Taiwan said it will stop sending merchandise-type mail to the United States from Tuesday.The Trump administration has said that as of August 29 it will abolish a tax exemption on small packages entering the United States.Australia Post executive general manager Gary Starr said the company was focused on providing “a reliable and competitive postal service for customers”. “We are disappointed we have had to take this action, however, due to the complex and rapidly evolving situation, a temporary partial suspension has been necessary to allow us to develop and implement a workable solution for our customers.”

Bad weather on Monday forced SpaceX to postpone the latest launch of its massive prototype Starship rocket, key to founder Elon Musk’s dreams of colonizing Mars and NASA’s plans to return astronauts to the Moon.The tenth test flight, which could now happen as soon as Tuesday, comes at a time of heightened scrutiny for the world’s most powerful launch vehicle following a string of explosive failures that have begun raising doubts about its viability.Standing 403 feet (123 meters) tall, the stainless steel behemoth was set to lift off from the company’s Starbase in southern Texas in a window that opened at 6:30 pm local time (2330 GMT).It was the second delay in two days after a ground-system leak, a relatively routine issue in spaceflight, scuppered an attempt on Sunday.The mission aims to put the upper stage — also known as “Starship” or simply “ship” and eventually intended to carry crew and cargo — through structural stress testing as it flies halfway around the world before splashing down in the Indian Ocean.SpaceX will also try out new heat-shield materials and attempt to deploy mock Starlink satellites as cargo. Unlike recent attempts, the “Super Heavy” booster will not be caught by the launch tower’s giant “chopstick” arms but instead aim for a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.The company’s aggressive “fail fast, learn fast” approach has been credited with giving it a commanding lead in space launches through its Falcon rocket family.Its Dragon capsules are the only American spacecraft ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station, while Starlink has become a geopolitical asset.But concern is mounting over whether these successes will translate to Starship, a rocket unlike any before it. The upper stage has exploded in all three 2025 test flights.Two scattered debris over Caribbean islands, while the third broke apart after reaching space. In June, another upper stage blew up during a ground “static fire” test.- ‘Spacefaring civilization’ -Appearing on the webcast on Monday, Musk was characteristically bullish, reiterating his vision of Mars as a lifeboat for humanity should disaster strike on Earth.But he added that beyond safeguarding survival, there are also more uplifting motives: “A future where we are a spacefaring civilization is infinitely more exciting than one where we are not,” he said.Even if the tenth flight succeeds, formidable hurdles lie ahead.”There are thousands of engineering challenges left for both the ship and the booster, but perhaps the single biggest is developing a fully reusable orbital heat shield,” said Musk, sporting a “Nuke Mars” T-shirt.The slogan is a nod to the idea of detonating nuclear bombs over the Red Planet’s ice caps to release greenhouse gases and make it more Earth-like.Another key obstacle is proving that Starships can be refueled in orbit with super-cooled propellant — an unprecedented feat, but one that is essential for the rocket to carry out deep-space missions.Delays to Starship could ripple through NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return US astronauts to the Moon by mid-2027 using a modified version of Starship as the landing vehicle.