Washington: Donald Trump said in an interview Monday night that he thinks President Joe Biden will stay in the race for the White House despite calls for him to drop out over concerns about his mental fitness.
“I think he, you know, might very well stay in,” Trump told Sean Hannity on Fox News, in his first interview since Biden’s dismal performance in their presidential debate late last month.
“He’s got an ego and he doesn’t want to quit,” Trump said.
The Republican ex-president also gave his first detailed account of the CNN-hosted debate in Atlanta, during which Biden often lost his train of thought and at times spoke incoherently, looking dazed.
“I will tell you. It was a strange debate, because within a couple of minutes, the answers given by him were, they didn’t, they didn’t make a lot of sense,” Trump said.
Trump said he intentionally did not look much at Biden as he spoke.
“I did take a couple of peeks when he was in the midst of giving some really bad answers,” Trump said.
“They weren’t even answers. They were just words put together that had no meaning or sense.”
Trump says he thinks Biden will stay in White House race
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Trump says he thinks Biden will stay in White House race
- Trump said he intentionally did not look much at Biden as he spoke
Putin explains Trump’s frustrations away by saying disappointments in peace talks come from ‘excessive expectations’
- Putin says Russia expects further peace talks
- On front line, Russia is on the offensive, he says
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Moscow hoped for more peace talks with Ukraine but that the momentum of the war was in its favor, signalling no shift in his stance despite a looming sanctions deadline from Washington.
US President Donald Trump has said he will impose new sanctions on Moscow and countries that buy its energy exports — of which the biggest are China and India — unless Russia moves by August 8 to end the 3-1/2 year war.
He has expressed mounting frustration with Putin, accusing him of “bullshit” and describing Russia’s latest attacks on Ukraine as “disgusting.”
Putin, without referring to the Trump deadline, said three sessions of peace talks with Ukraine had yielded some positive results, and Russia was expecting negotiations to continue.
“As for any disappointments on the part of anyone, all disappointments arise from inflated expectations. This is a well-known general rule,” he said.
“But in order to approach the issue peacefully, it is necessary to conduct detailed conversations. And not in public, but this must be done calmly, in the quiet of the negotiation process.”
He said Russian troops were attacking Ukraine along the entire front line and that the momentum was in their favor, citing the announcement by his Defense Ministry on Thursday that Moscow’s forces had captured the Ukrainian town of Chasiv Yar after a 16-month battle.
Ukraine denied that Chasiv Yar is under full Russian control.
Ukraine for months has been urging an immediate ceasefire but Russia says it wants a final and durable settlement, not a pause. Since the peace talks began in Istanbul in May, it has conducted some of its heaviest air strikes of the war, especially on the capital Kyiv.
The Ukrainian government has said the Russian negotiators do not have the mandate to take significant decisions and President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on Putin to meet him for talks.
“We understand who makes the decisions in Russia and who must end this war. The whole world understands this too,” Zelensky said on Friday on X, reiterating his call for direct talks between him and Putin.
“The United States has proposed this. Ukraine has supported it. What is needed is Russia’s readiness.”
Russia says a leaders’ meeting could only take place to set the seal on agreements reached by negotiators.
Ukraine and its European allies have frequently said they do not believe Putin is really interested in peace and have accused him of stalling, which the Kremlin denies.
“I will repeat once again, we need a long and lasting peace on good foundations that would satisfy both Russia and Ukraine, and ensure the security of both countries,” Putin said, adding that this was also a question of European security.
Putin was speaking alongside his ally Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, at talks on an island in Lake Ladoga that is the site of a famous Russian monastery.
Russian TV earlier showed the two men greeting monks at the Valaam Monastery, where they have met several times before, and holding candles during the chanting of prayers.
Jury orders Tesla to pay more than $240 million in Florida Autopilot crash case
- Jury held that Tesla bore significant responsibility because its technology failed and that not all the blame can be put on a reckless driver
- Decision comes as Musk seeks to convince buyers that his cars are safe enough to drive on their own as he plans to roll out a driverless taxi service
MIAMI: A Miami jury decided that Elon Musk’s car company Tesla was partly responsible for a deadly crash in Florida involving its Autopilot driver assist technology and must pay the victims more than $240 million in damages.
The federal jury held that Tesla bore significant responsibility because its technology failed and that not all the blame can be put on a reckless driver, even one who admitted he was distracted by his cellphone before hitting a young couple out gazing at the stars. The decision comes as Musk seeks to convince Americans his cars are safe enough to drive on their own as he plans to roll out a driverless taxi service in several cities in the coming months.
The decision ends a four-year long case remarkable not just in its outcome but that it even made it to trial. Many similar cases against Tesla have been dismissed and, when that didn’t happen, settled by the company to avoid the spotlight of a trial.
“This will open the floodgates,” said Miguel Custodio, a car crash lawyer not involved in the Tesla case. “It will embolden a lot of people to come to court.”
The case also included startling charges by lawyers for the family of the deceased, 22-year-old, Naibel Benavides Leon, and for her injured boyfriend, Dillon Angulo. They claimed Tesla either hid or lost key evidence, including data and video recorded seconds before the accident. Tesla said it made a mistake after being shown the evidence and honestly hadn’t thought it was there.
“We finally learned what happened that night, that the car was actually defective,” said Benavides’ sister, Neima Benavides. “Justice was achieved.”
Tesla has previously faced criticism that it is slow to cough up crucial data by relatives of other victims in Tesla crashes, accusations that the car company has denied. In this case, the plaintiffs showed Tesla had the evidence all along, despite its repeated denials, by hiring a forensic data expert who dug it up.
“Today’s verdict is wrong,” Tesla said in a statement, “and only works to set back automotive safety and jeopardize Tesla’s and the entire industry’s efforts to develop and implement lifesaving technology,” They said the plaintiffs concocted a story ”blaming the car when the driver – from day one – admitted and accepted responsibility.”
In addition to a punitive award of $200 million, the jury said Tesla must also pay $43 million of a total $129 million in compensatory damages for the crash, bringing the total borne by the company to $243 million.
“It’s a big number that will send shock waves to others in the industry,” said financial analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities. “It’s not a good day for Tesla.”
Tesla said it will appeal.
Even if that fails, the company says it will end up paying far less than what the jury decided because of a pre-trial agreement that limits punitive damages to three times Tesla’s compensatory damages. Translation: $172 million, not $243 million. But the plaintiff says their deal was based on a multiple of all compensatory damages, not just Tesla’s, and the figure the jury awarded is the one the company will have to pay.
It’s not clear how much of a hit to Tesla’s reputation for safety the verdict in the Miami case will make. Tesla has vastly improved its technology since the crash on a dark, rural road in Key Largo, Florida, in 2019.
But the issue of trust generally in the company came up several times in the case, including in closing arguments Thursday. The plaintiffs’ lead lawyer, Brett Schreiber, said Tesla’s decision to even use the term Autopilot showed it was willing to mislead people and take big risks with their lives because the system only helps drivers with lane changes, slowing a car and other tasks, falling far short of driving the car itself.
Schreiber said other automakers use terms like “driver assist” and “copilot” to make sure drivers don’t rely too much on the technology.
“Words matter,” Schreiber said. “And if someone is playing fast and lose with words, they’re playing fast and lose with information and facts.”
Schreiber acknowledged that the driver, George McGee, was negligent when he blew through flashing lights, a stop sign and a T-intersection at 62 miles an hour before slamming into a Chevrolet Tahoe that the couple had parked to get a look at the stars.
The Tahoe spun around so hard it was able to launch Benavides 75 feet through the air into nearby woods where her body was later found. It also left Angulo, who walked into the courtroom Friday with a limp and cushion to sit on, with broken bones and a traumatic brain injury.
But Schreiber said Tesla was at fault nonetheless. He said Tesla allowed drivers to act recklessly by not disengaging the Autopilot as soon as they begin to show signs of distraction and by allowing them to use the system on smaller roads that it was not designed for, like the one McGee was driving on.
“I trusted the technology too much,” said McGee at one point in his testimony. “I believed that if the car saw something in front of it, it would provide a warning and apply the brakes.”
The lead defense lawyer in the Miami case, Joel Smith, countered that Tesla warns drivers that they must keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel yet McGee chose not to do that while he looked for a dropped cellphone, adding to the danger by speeding. Noting that McGee had gone through the same intersection 30 or 40 times previously and hadn’t crashed during any of those trips, Smith said that isolated the cause to one thing alone: “The cause is that he dropped his cellphone.”
The auto industry has been watching the case closely because a finding of Tesla liability despite a driver’s admission of reckless behavior would pose significant legal risks for every company as they develop cars that increasingly drive themselves.
Markets dive after Trump hits more countries with steep tariffs
- Global shares stumbled, with Europe’s STOXX 600 tumbling 1.89 percent on the day
ZURICH/WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s latest wave of tariffs on exports from dozens of trading partners sent global stock markets tumbling on Friday and countries and companies scrambling to seek ways to strike better deals.
As Trump presses ahead with plans to reorder the global economy with the highest tariff rates since the early 1930s, Switzerland, “stunned” by 39 percent tariffs, sought more talks, as did India, hit with a 25 percent rate.
New tariffs also include a 35 percent duty on many goods from Canada, 50 percent for Brazil, 20 percent for Taiwan, which said its rate was “temporary” and it expected to reach a lower figure.
The presidential order listed higher import duty rates of 10 percent to 41 percent starting in a week’s time for 69 trading partners, taking the US effective tariff rate to about 18 percent, from 2.3 percent last year, according to analysts at Capital Economics.
US stocks reeled. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 1.23 percent at 43,588.58, the S&P 500 1.6 percent to 6,238.01 and the Nasdaq Composite 2.24 percent at 20,650.13.
Global shares stumbled, with Europe’s STOXX 600 tumbling 1.89 percent on the day.
Markets also reacted to a disappointing jobs report. Data showed US job growth slowed more than expected in July while the prior month’s data was revised sharply lower, pointing to a slowdown in the labor market.
Trump responded by ordering the firing of the commissioner of the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, Erika McEntarfer, and claiming, without evidence, that the job figures were “rigged.”
Meanwhile, Canadian negotiators said a deal with the US could still be weeks away.
Trump’s new tariffs have created yet more uncertainty, with many details unclear. They are set to take effect on Aug 7 at 0401 GMT, a White House official said.
Trump administration officials defended the president’s approach. “The uncertainty with respect to tariffs ... was critical to getting the leverage that we needed to create the circumstance in which the president could create the trade deals we’ve seen over the last few weeks, which have been nothing short of monumental,” Council of Economic Advisers Chair Stephen Miran said on CNBC.
The European Union, which struck a framework deal with Trump on Sunday, is still awaiting more Trump orders to deliver on agreed carve-outs, including on cars and aircraft, EU officials said, saying the latest executive orders did not cover that.
Also, it is unclear how the administration intends to define and police the transshipment restrictions, which threaten 40 percent levies on any exporter deemed to have tried to mask goods from a higher-tariffed originator, such as China, as their own product.
Trump’s tariff rollout also comes amid evidence they have begun driving up prices.
US Commerce Department data released Thursday showed prices for home furnishings and durable household equipment jumped 1.3 percent in June, the biggest gain since March 2022.
NO WINNERS?
Some countries hit with hefty tariffs said they will seek to negotiate with the US in hopes of getting a lower rate.
Switzerland said it would push for a “negotiated solution” with the US
“It’s a massive shock for the export industry and for the whole country. We are really stunned,” said Jean-Philippe Kohl, deputy director of Swissmem, representing Switzerland’s mechanical and electrical engineering industries.
South Africa’s Trade Minister Parks Tau said he was seeking “real, practical interventions” to defend jobs and the economy against the 30 percent US tariff it faces.
Southeast Asian countries, however, breathed a sigh of relief after the US tariffs on their exports that were lower than threatened and leveled the playing field with a rate of about 19 percent across the region’s biggest economies.
Thailand’s finance minister said a reduction from 36 percent to 19 percent would help his country’s economy.
“It helps maintain Thailand’s competitiveness on the global stage, boosts investor confidence and opens the door to economic growth, increased income and new opportunities,” Pichai Chunhavajira said.
Australian products could become more competitive in the US market, helping businesses boost exports, Trade Minister Don Farrell said, after Trump kept the minimum tariff rate of 10 percent for Australia.
But businesses and analysts said the impact of Trump’s new trade regime would not be positive for economic growth.
“No real winners in trade conflicts,” said Thomas Rupf, co-head Singapore and CIO Asia at VP Bank. “Despite some countries securing better terms, the overall impact is negative.”
“The tariffs hurt the Americans and they hurt us,” winemaker Johannes Selbach said in Germany’s Moselle Valley, adding jobs and profits on both sides of the Atlantic would be hit.
L’Oreal and a growing number of European fashion and cosmetics companies are exploring use of an obscure, decades-old US customs clause known as the “First Sale” rule as a potential way to soften the impact of the tariffs.
The “First Sale” rule allows companies to pay lower duties by applying tariffs to the value of a product as it leaves the factory — much lower than the eventual retail price.
CANADA, INDIA
Trump has tapped emergency powers, pressured foreign leaders, and pressed ahead with trade policies that sparked a market sell-off when they were first announced in April.
His order said some trading partners, “despite having engaged in negotiations, have offered terms that, in my judgment, do not sufficiently address imbalances in our trading relationship or have failed to align sufficiently with the United States on economic and national-security matters.”
Trump issued a separate order for Canada that raises the rate on Canadian goods subject to fentanyl-related tariffs to 35 percent, from 25 percent previously, saying Canada had “failed to cooperate” in curbing illicit narcotics flows into the US
The higher tariffs on Canadian goods contrasted sharply with Trump’s decision to grant Mexico a 90-day reprieve from higher tariffs of 30 percent on many goods to allow time to negotiate a broader trade pact.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was disappointed by Trump’s decision, and vowed to take action to protect Canadian jobs and diversify exports.
India is in trade talks with the US after Washington imposed a 25 percent tariff on New Delhi, a move that could impact about $40 billion worth of its exports, an Indian government source with knowledge of the talks told Reuters on Friday.
Trump says he has heard India will stop buying Russian oil
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Friday he had heard that India would no longer be buying oil from Russia.
(Developing story)
Trump admits that firing the central bank chief would destabilize the market
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will “most likely” stay in his position even as Trump sharply criticized the Federal Reserve’s policies.
In an interview with Newsmax that aired on Friday, Trump said he would remove Powell “in a heartbeat” and said the Fed’s interest rate was too high but added that others have said Powell’s removal would “disturb the market.”
“He gets out in seven or eight months and I’ll put somebody else in,” Trump said.
In a post on his Truth Socia platform earlier, Trump said “Powell should resign, just like Adriana Kugler, a Biden Appointee, resigned.”
