Trump's Big Move Shakes TikTok: WH Press Sec Leavitt Confirms 90-Day Extension
President Trump has issued yet another executive order granting TikTok a 90-day extension in the U.S., buying more time to shift its ownership from China's ByteDance to an American entity. The announcement, made on Truth Social, reignited debate over TikTok's future and national data security. This marks Trump's third extension since TikTok was briefly banned following a court-approved national law. His administration insists the move is meant to keep users 'scrolling without risking their data.' A previous deal nearly succeeded in April, but collapsed after China pulled out in response to Trump's tariff measures. Now, with negotiations once again in limbo, TikTok's future hangs in the balance.
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India.com
22 minutes ago
- India.com
Iran-Israel war: Can US' GBU-57 bunker buster destroy Iran's underground Fordow nuclear site? Experts make stunning claim, say Trump is unsure of...
Trump is unsure whether the GBU-57 bunker buster can take out Iran's Fordow nuclear site. (File) Iran-Israel war: US President Donald Trump has threatened to join its ally Israel in its war against Iran, demanding an 'unconditional surrender' from Tehran, and even threatening to assassinate Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. However, beyond the war rhetoric, Trump remains undecided on whether to commit the United States to a war in the Middle East which it may not be able to pull out of for at least 5-10 years, especially since the US President remains skeptical about whether its lethal bunker buster bombs have the capability to destroy Iran's underground Fordow nuclear facility. Trump unsure about bunker buster's ability to destroy Fordow site According to defense experts, Donald Trump is unsure whether even the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bunker buster, aka the 'mother of all bombs', would be able to destroy the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, which is basically buried beneath a gigantic mountain, and is protected by multiple units of Russian-made S-300 air defense systems. As per media reports, Trump has told defense officials that the US would be justified in attacking Iran only if the bunker buster bomb is guaranteed to destroy the uranium enrichment facility at Fordow. The US President was told that the gargantuan 30,000lbs (13.6 tonne) GBU-57 bunker buster would destroy the Fordow facility, but Trump remains unconvinced, and as such has not yet given the green light for America to join the Israel-Iran war. Additionally, experts believe that Trump is also looking at the possibility of Iran coming to the table for a 'deal' due to fear of US involvement in the Iran-Israel war. US would need tactical nukes to take out Fordow? The GBU-57, aka the bunker buster bomb, is a 30,000 pound bomb which is dropped using the US' B2 stealth bombers, and while its capable of taking out any other hardened underground facility, the Fordow site is unique as it has been specially built to withstand US' capabilities, particularly its ultra-heavy bunker buster bombs. The Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant is a hardened, ultra-secure nuclear facility built deep beneath a mountain, and surrounded by tall peaks on all sides. The mountainous terrain renders even the most advanced cruise missiles ineffective, and the site is protected by a large number of air defense systems concentrated in a small region, making it almost impossible for any missile or drone to go through. US defense officials believe that only a tactical nuclear weapon would be able to completely destroy the Fordow nuclear facility, but Trump is not in favor of using nukes to attack the site. Quoting people familiar with the matter, The Guardian reported that Israeli intelligence estimates that the Fordow nuclear plant, which is built under a mountain near the Qom city, could be up to 90 meters deep. To reach such a depth, the US would have to have to weaken the ground with conventional bombs and then drop a tactical nuclear bomb from a B2 bomber to wipe out the entire facility. However, Donald Trump, at least for now, is not in favor of using the nuclear option, the report said.
Time of India
23 minutes ago
- Time of India
Audi weighs $4.6 billion US plant to ease tariff tensions
Volkswagen 's premium brand Audi could build a plant at a new location in the United States under scenarios being considered to placate President Donald Trump in the tariff conflict, the Spiegel news magazine reported on Friday. Audi is considering building a plant in the southern US, which would be the more expensive option out of a number of scenarios being considered, with company sources estimating costs of up to 4 billion euros ($4.6 billion), the report said. An Audi spokesperson said that the company aims to build up more of a presence in the United States. "We are currently examining various scenarios for this. We are confident that we will make a decision this year in consultation with the (Volkswagen) group on how this will look in concrete terms," she said in an emailed statement, reaffirming earlier comments made by the company. Audi has no production of its own in the US, but Volkswagen has a plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee and one under construction near Columbia, South Carolina. Trump's announcement of sweeping tariffs has already racked up hundreds of millions of euros in costs for German carmakers heavily reliant on their export business, according to an industry representative. BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen are in talks with Washington over a possible import tariff deal, seeking to use their US investments and exports as leverage to soften any blow, sources have told Reuters.
Time of India
23 minutes ago
- Time of India
Trump's economic 'golden age' meets Fed's brass tacks
President Donald Trump 's inauguration promise in January that "the golden age of America begins right now" remains unfulfilled in the outlook of Federal Reserve officials who so far see his policies slowing the economy, raising unemployment and inflation, and clouding the horizon with a still-unresolved tariff debate that could deliver a fresh shock in coming weeks. The U.S. central bank's response has been to put planned interest rate cuts on hold until perhaps the fall while the debates over tariffs and other administration priorities unfold, and to project a slower eventual pace of rate cuts to a higher stopping point. Effectively it embeds steeper borrowing costs into Fed policymakers' outlook to insure against inflation they now see as higher in coming months than they did before Trump took office for a second time. That isn't welcome news for Trump, who has called Fed Chair Jerome Powell "stupid" for not slashing rates immediately. It is no more welcome for U.S. consumers and homebuyers hoping for lower financing costs. And it puts the Fed somewhat out of step with other central banks that continue to lower rates. But it does highlight how much Trump's early policy moves, particularly on tariffs, have reshaped the short-term outlook for the world's largest economy, which at the end of last year was seen on track for continued above-trend growth, full employment and inflation steadily falling to the Fed's 2% target. The steady series of rate cuts policymakers anticipated just six months ago has been replaced with a more tentative path as they wait for Trump's final decisions on tariffs and watch how the job market, consumer spending and inflation evolve. "We feel like we're going to learn a great deal more over the summer on tariffs," Powell told reporters on Wednesday after the Fed held its benchmark overnight rate in the 4.25%-4.50% range for the fourth straight meeting, and issued new projections showing inflation rising substantially by the end of this year and coming down slowly after that point. Trump has latched on to recent weak inflation readings to argue for rate cuts, reiterating on Thursday that the Fed should slash its benchmark rate nearly in half and noting earlier in the week that the European Central Bank and others had kept easing monetary policy. But, referring to the impact of the tariffs imposed so far, Powell said "we hadn't expected them to show up much by now, and they haven't ... We will see the extent to which they do over coming months ... That's going to inform our thinking." Little confidence At this point, investors expect the Fed to cut rates at its September 16-17 meeting, though much will depend on what happens during Powell's summer of watching and waiting. The most aggressive of Trump's tariff plans, levies on most trading partners announced on " Liberation Day " in early April, were postponed after bond yields spiked, stocks dropped, and economists began penciling in a U.S. recession. The pause ends on July 9, with countries, including those in the European Union 's combined trading bloc, supposed to negotiate deals by then or face steep import levies - 50% in the case of the EU. The only completed deal so far is a limited agreement with Britain. Live Events Though the Fed's new policy statement this week said "uncertainty about the economic outlook has diminished" since its May 6-7 meeting, when volatility around the trade issue was still intense, the situation could change quickly based on the July 9 deadline. "We don't yet know with any confidence where they will settle out," Powell said. At the meeting last month, a Fed staff projection regarded a recession this year to be "almost as likely as the baseline forecast" of slowing but ongoing growth. The situation has since improved somewhat. Powell on Wednesday said the economy remains "solid," adding that as the risk of the most severe tariffs has abated, companies have begun to puzzle through how they might adapt to more modest levies. "Businesses were in a bit of a shock after April too ... There's a very different feeling now that people are working their way through this ... It feels much more positive and constructive than it did three months ago," he said. Prices of equities have marched higher as well, and the spike in Treasury yields that drove talk of the diminished status of the dollar has also eased. Dimmer Outlook But skirting a recession is a large step from where the Fed was at the end of last year, when it was in sight of a "soft landing" from the high inflation of the COVID-19 pandemic era. The economy was at full employment and steadily growing above trend, inflation was on track to fall to the Fed's 2% target, and the central bank expected to steadily ease borrowing costs. "The U.S. economy is just performing very, very well," Powell said after the Fed's December 17-18 meeting, a session at which staff and officials had just begun thinking through the implications of a trade war that became much bigger in scope than they expected. "The outlook is pretty bright." It has dimmed since then. In projections issued this week, Fed policymakers' median outlook for gross domestic product growth had fallen to 1.4%, well below trend, from the 2.1% projected in December, with the unemployment rate projected to rise from the current 4.2% to 4.5% by the end of the year. That would be the highest level, outside of the pandemic unemployment spike, since early 2017, when Trump's first term was starting. Inflation that Powell said had been "grinding down" is now anticipated to rise to 3% this year and remain nearly half a percentage point above the Fed's target through 2026. The job market remains solid, Powell said, but he cautioned that assessment could change, and policymakers have said that their policy expectations could shift quickly if employment falters. "Labor demand is softening," Powell said. "There's not a lot of layoffs, but there's not a lot of job creation. If you're out of work, it is hard to find a job ... That is an equilibrium we watch very, very carefully because if there were to be significant layoffs and the job-finding rate were to remain this low, you would have an increase in unemployment fairly quickly."
