US envoy reassures Panamanians about contentious military deal

WASHINGTON: The US Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure logged a mild uptick Friday while spending weakened, triggering another tirade by President Donald Trump against the central bank chair for not cutting interest rates sooner.
“We have a guy that’s just a stubborn mule and a stupid person,” Trump told an event at the White House, referring to Fed Chair Jerome Powell. “He’s making a mistake.”
With Powell’s term as Fed chief coming to an end next year, Trump hinted at his choice of successor: “I’m going to put somebody that wants to cut rates.”
The president’s remarks came after government data showed the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index climbing 2.3 percent last month from a year ago in May.
This was in line with analyst expectations and a slight acceleration from April’s 2.2 percent increase, but still a relatively mild uptick.
Excluding the volatile food and energy sectors, the PCE price index was up 2.7 percent, rising from April’s 2.6 percent uptick, the Commerce Department’s report showed.
But consumer spending declined, after Trump’s fresh tariffs in April dragged on consumer sentiment. PCE dropped by 0.1 percent from the preceding month, reversing an earlier rise.
While Trump has imposed sweeping tariffs on most US trading partners since returning to the White House in January — alongside higher rates on imports of steel, aluminum and autos — these have had a muted effect so far on inflation.
This is in part because he held off or postponed some of his harshest salvos, while businesses are still running through inventory they stockpiled in anticipation of the levies.
But central bank officials have not rushed to slash interest rates, saying they can afford to wait and learn more about the impact of Trump’s recent duties. They expect to learn more about the tariffs’ effects over the summer.

“The experience of the limited range of tariffs introduced in 2018 suggests that pass-through to consumer prices is intense three-to-six months after their implementation,” warned economists Samuel Tombs and Oliver Allen of Pantheon Macroeconomics in a note.
They flagged weakness in consumer spending, in part due to a pullback in autos after buyers rushed to get ahead of levies.
And spending on services was tepid even after excluding volatile components, they said.
“There has also been a clear weakening in discretionary services spending, notably in travel and hospitality,” said Michael Pearce, deputy chief US economist at Oxford Economics, in a note.
This reflects “the chilling effect of the plunge in consumer sentiment,” he added.
Between April and May, the PCE price index was up 0.1 percent, the Commerce Department report showed.
As a July deadline approaches for higher tariff rates to kick in on dozens of economies, all eyes are also on whether countries can reach lasting trade deals with Washington to ease the effects of tariffs.
For now, despite the slowing in economic growth, Pearce said risks that inflation could increase will keep the Fed on hold with interest rates “until much later in the year.”
 

BRASILIA: Brazil’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office announced Friday a deal with Elon Musk’s Starlink to curb the use of its services in illegal mining and other criminal activities in the Amazon.
Starlink’s lightweight, high-speed Internet system has rapidly spread across the Amazon, a region that for decades struggled with slow and unreliable connectivity. But the service has also been adopted by criminal organizations, which have used it to coordinate logistics, make payments and receive alerts about police raids.
It’s the first agreement of its kind aimed at curbing such use following years of pressure from Brazilian authorities.
Starlink, a division of Musk’s SpaceX, will begin requiring identification and proof of residence from all new users in Brazil’s Amazon region starting in January. The company will also provide Brazilian authorities with user registration and geolocation data for Internet units located in areas under investigation.
If a terminal is confirmed to be used for illegal activity, Starlink has committed to blocking the service. The deal is for two years and can be renewed.
Illegal gold mining has contaminated hundreds of miles of Amazon rivers with mercury and disrupted the traditional lives of several Indigenous tribes, including the Yanomami. Starlink, which first arrived in the region in 2022, has enabled criminal groups to manage mining operations in remote areas, where logistics are complex and equipment and fuel must be transported by small plane or boat.
“The use of satellite Internet has transformed the logistics of illegal mining. This new reality demands a proportional legal response. With the agreement, connectivity in remote areas also becomes a tool for environmental responsibility and respect for sovereignty,” federal prosecutor André Porreca said in a statement.
Illegal gold miners and loggers have always had some form of communication, mainly via radio, to evade law enforcement. Starlink, with its fast and mobile Internet, has significantly enhanced that capability, Hugo Loss, operations coordinator for Brazil’s environmental agency, told The Associated Press in a phone interview.
“They’ve been able to transmit in real time the locations of enforcement teams, allowing them to anticipate our arrival, which seriously compromises the safety of our personnel and undermines the effectiveness of operations,” Loss said. “Cutting the signal in mining areas, especially on Indigenous lands and in protected areas, is essential because Internet access in these locations serves only criminal purposes.”
Jair Schmitt, head of environmental protection for the agency, said what’s also needed is tighter regulation on the sale and use of such equipment.
The AP emailed James Gleeson, SpaceX’s vice president of communications, with questions about the deal, but didn’t immediately receive a response.