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May 30 (UPI) — President Donald on Friday announced a 50% tariff on steel made outside the United States as he touted a partnership between Japan’s Nippon Steel Corporation and the United States Steel Corporation during a rally near Pittsburgh.

Calling it the “heart of U.S. Steel,” Trump spoke at the company’s headquarters in Allegany County. The indoor rally began around 5:30 p.m. and ended one hour later.

On Feb. 11, Trump restored a 25% tariff on steel and increased the aluminum tariff from 10% to 25%.

Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, the European Union, Ukraine and Britain had received exemptions, “which prevented the tariffs from being effective,” according to the order.

He touted the efforts of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessett and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who were on hand.

One week ago, Trump announced a “planned partnership between the two steel giants, promising the U.S. Steel headquarters would remain on American soil rather than shift to Japan.

Trump said the deal includes “vital protections to ensure that all steelworkers will keep their jobs and all facilities in the United States will remain open and thriving.”

Writing on Truth Social, Trump said the new tariffs will take effect June 4.

Also, he said U.S. Steel would also keep all of its blast furnace facilities at full capacity for at least the next decade and vowed that there would be “no layoffs and no outsourcing whatsoever.”

Trump, who opposed the acquisition during the 2024 campaign, is now touting the $14 billion investment that the president said would create at least 70,000 jobs.

“You’re going to be very happy,” Trump said Friday. “There’s a lot of money coming your way.”

Every U.S. steelworker would be receiving a $5,000 bonus, he said.

At one time, U.S. Steel dominated production worldwide, but over the years it has “melted away just like butter melts away” as China mainly poured what he said was “garbage steel” into the country.

“If you don’t have steel, you don’t have a country,” Trump said in citing national security.

U.S. Steel, which was founded in 1901, has about 22,000 employees with revenue of $15.6 billion in 2024. Nippon, which traces its roots to Japan Iron & Steel Co. in 1934, has about 113,640 workers with revenue of $43 billion in 2019.

This week, CNBC reported Tokyo-based Nippon Steel will pay $55 per share to acquire U.S. Steel, citing sources familiar with the deal.

Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel shares rose $0.59 or 1.11% to $53.82 at the close of the U.S. Stock Exchange on Friday afternoon.

The two steel companies were working on a deal before Trump took office on Jan. 20.

Days before leaving office in January, former President Joe Biden blocked Nippon Steel’s proposed $14.1 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel.

Biden cited national security concerns when rejecting the deal involving the second-largest American steel producer and Japan’s largest.

Both firms later filed separate federal lawsuits in the District of Columbia and in Pennsylvania to move the deal ahead, citing “unlawful political influences.”

In April, Trump issued an executive order directing a review of the acquisition by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a branch of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. U.S. Steel stock surged at the time, climbing more than 10% in a single day.

The president has said the deal will have a major positive economic effect.

The deal “will create at least 70,000 jobs, and add $14 Billion Dollars to the U.S. Economy. The bulk of that Investment will occur in the next 14 months,” Trump said on Truth Social last week.

He also teased Friday’s rally at U.S. Steel’s Irvin Works factory.

“President Trump is a bold leader and businessman who knows how to get the best deal for America, American workers and American manufacturing,” Trump said in a statement to The Hill on Friday.

“U.S. Steel greatly appreciates President Trump’s leadership and personal attention to the futures of thousands of steelworkers and our iconic company.”

Trump touted other companies increasing production in the United States.

During his speech, sometimes ad-libbed, he ventured into other areas, noting undocumented immigrants coming into the nation in “open borders.” He also bragged about winning all the battleground states during the 2024 election, including Pennsylvania.

He blasted Biden and called Democrats “lunatics.”

He voiced his support for the U.S. budget bill, which is moving through Congress, including extension of the 2017 tax cuts, no taxes on tips or overtime, deductions on loan interest for U.S.-made cars and permanent extension of the $2,000 per child credit. He didn’t mention Medicaid cuts and other program reductions.

Former Steelers running back Rocky Bleier presented Trump with a Steelers 47 jersey as two current players also were called up to speak: quarterback Mason Rudolph and safety Miles Killbrew.

The rally was about 35 miles south of Butler, where he survived an assassination attempt on July 13, two days before the National Republican Convention in Milwaukee, Wis.

The Israeli military said it planned to ‘continue to operate to maintain freedom of action in the region’.

Israel has struck western Syria, the Israeli military and Syrian state media have reported, in the first such aerial attack on the country in almost a month, the day after the United States envoy to Damascus said conflict between the neighbouring countries is “solvable”.

Syrian state media reported late Friday that one person was killed and three others injured by an Israeli air strike on the coastal city of Latakia.

The SANA news agency said earlier that the Israeli military targeted three sites in the countryside of the Latakia and Tartous governorates.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported that jets likely to be Israeli struck military sites on the outskirts of Tartous and Latakia, on the Mediterranean coast.

The Israeli strike follows Syria acknowledging indirect talks with Israel earlier this month to calm tensions.

The Israeli military claimed responsibility for the strike, saying it had “struck weapon storage facilities containing coastal missiles that posed a threat to international and Israeli maritime freedom of navigation, in the Latakia area of Syria”.

“In addition, components of surface-to-air missiles were struck in the area of Latakia,” it said, adding that it would “continue to operate to maintain freedom of action in the region, in order to carry out its missions and will act to remove any threat to the State of Israel and its citizens”.

The Israeli strike came a day after US envoy to Syria Thomas Barrack’s visit to Damascus aimed at rebuilding ties under Syria’s new administration, during which he said the conflict between Israel and Syria is “solvable” and needed to start with “dialogue”.

“I’d say we need to start with just a non-aggression agreement, talk about boundaries and borders,” Barrack told journalists on Thursday.

The two countries have technically been at war since the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948. A state of heightened tension and deep enmity between Israel and Syria accelerated during the 1967 war, which also drew in Egypt and Jordan, and Israel’s subsequent occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights.

Israel has carried out frequent attacks in Syria both during the Bashar al-Assad rule and since his ouster.

Shortly before the fall of al-Assad’s regime, Israel seized more Syrian territory near the border, claiming it was concerned about President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s interim administration, which it has dismissed as “jihadist”.

During a meeting between US President Donald Trump and al-Sharaa in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, earlier in May, the US leader urged al-Sharaa to normalise relations with Israel.

While al-Sharaa has not commented on possible normalisation with Israel, he has stated his support for returning to the terms of a 1974 ceasefire agreement that created a United Nations buffer zone in the Golan Heights.

May 30 (UPI) — President Donald Trump bid multi-billionaire Elon Musk farewell from his role as a senior adviser tasked with shrinking the government through program cuts and worker departures.

Musk, dressed in all black in a T-shirt, jacket, DOGE baseball cap and pants, appeared with Trump in the White House’s Oval Office, 130 days after beginning as a special government employee, including running the Department of Government Efficiency.

“Today, it’s about a man named Elon, and he’s one of the greatest business leaders and innovators the world has ever produced,” Trump told reporters about Musk, who is worth $421.2 billion, according to Forbes. “He stepped forward to put his very great talents into the service of our nation, and we appreciate it.”

Then, a video by CNBC’s Joe Kernan and Rick Santelli was shown that praises the Trump administration.

Musk claims to have identified more than $160 billion in federal spending cuts since Trump entered office on Jan. 20. That includes 56,000 employees terminated and 34 taking buyouts. There are plans to dissolve the Department of Education and cut health programs despite Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy‘s goal to Make Amerca Healthy Again. The Department of Defense and Homeland Security aren’t facing as severe cuts.

Musk initially predicted he could cut $2 trillion from the nation’s roughly $6.8 trillion federal budget. Despite the much lower number, Musk said he believes the savings will reach $1 trillion.

“It’s just a lot of work going through the vast expenses of the federal government and just really asking questions,” Trump said.

Musk said the president wants him to still help out.

“Elon is really not leaving,” Trump said. “He’s going to be back and forth. It’s his baby.”

Musk, who personally spent $277 million to bring Trump back to the White House, announced his departure Wednesday on X, saying the DOGE “mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”

During the public appearance with Trump, Musk said: “This is not the end, but the beginning. My role as a government employee has to end. It comes with a time limit.”

Musk said he will remain as an informal adviser and make trips to the White House. Plans are for him to maintain an office in the White House.

“The DOGE team is doing an incredible job and will continue to do an incredible job,” he said, noting most of the 100 workers will remain in government. “I look forward to being back in this room. Isn’t it incredible? “

He said loved the “gold in the ceiling” of the Oval Office.

Musk was presented with a special symbolic gold key to the White House.

Musk plans to focus more on his businesses: Tesla, SpaceX and artificial intelligence startup xAI, which now includes X.

Musk told reporters last week that he had worked in Washington, D.C., on his DOGE initiative “seven days a week, or close to seven days a week” during Trump’s first 100 days in office. He frequently traveled on Air Force One with Trump to the president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., and recently to the Middle East.

This has meant less attention to his companies, including publicly held Tesla, the company that makes electric vehicles, solar panels/shingles and energy storage devices.

He said his efforts have been far more challenging than expected and DOGE had become “the whipping boy for everything.”

He also became at odds with Trump on Trump’s sweeping tax and spending cuts package going through Congress.

“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” Musk told CBS Sunday Morning. “I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful, but I don’t know if it can be both.”

Later Friday Trump was to head to Pittsburgh to praise a partnership between iconic U.S. Steel and its Japanese rival, Nippon Steel.

Google has been back in federal court to fend off the United States Department of Justice’s attempt to topple its internet empire at the same time it is navigating a pivotal shift to artificial intelligence (AI) that could undercut its power.

On Friday, the legal and technological threats facing Google were among the key issues being dissected during the closing arguments of a legal proceeding that will determine the changes imposed upon the company in the wake of its dominant search engine being declared an illegal monopoly by US District Judge Amit Mehta last year.

Brandishing evidence presented during a recent three-week stretch of hearings, Justice Department lawyers are attempting to persuade Mehta to order a radical shake-up that includes a ban on Google paying to lock its search engine in as the default on smart devices and an order requiring the company to sell its Chrome browser.

Google lawyers say only minor concessions are needed, especially as the upheaval triggered by advances in artificial intelligence already are reshaping the search landscape, as alternative, conversational search options are rolling out from AI startups that are hoping to use the Department of Justice’s four-and-half-year-old case to gain the upper hand in the next technological frontier.

Mehta used Friday’s hearing to ask probing and pointed questions to lawyers for both sides while hinting that he was seeking a middle ground between the two camps’ proposed remedies.

“We’re not looking to kneecap Google,” the judge said, adding that the goal was to “kickstart” competitors’ ability to challenge the search giant’s dominance.

After the daylong closing arguments, Mehta will spend much of the next several months mulling a decision that he plans to issue before Labor Day in the US (September 1). Google has already promised to appeal the ruling that branded its search engine as a monopoly, a step it cannot take until the judge orders a remedy.

AI an inflection point

While both sides of this showdown agree that AI is an inflection point for the industry’s future, they have disparate views on how the shift will affect Google.

The Justice Department contends that AI technology by itself will not rein in Google’s power, arguing additional legal restraints must be slapped on a search engine that’s the main reason its parent company, Alphabet Inc, is valued at $2 trillion.

Mehta indicated in court Friday that he was still undecided on how much AI’s potential to shake up the search market should be incorporated in his forthcoming ruling. “This is what I’ve been struggling with,” Mehta said early in the hearing.

Justice prosecutor David Dahlquist urged the judge to issue forward-thinking remedies that would “pry open” the search market to competition and not allow Google to use its search monopoly to unfairly benefit itself in the AI race.

Google has already been deploying AI to transform its search engine into an answer engine, an effort that has so far helped maintain its perch as the internet’s main gateway despite inroads being made by alternatives from the likes of OpenAI and Perplexity.

The Justice Department contends a divestiture of the Chrome browser that Google CEO Sundar Pichai helped build nearly 20 years ago would be among the most effective countermeasures against Google continuing to amass massive volumes of browser traffic and personal data that could be leveraged to retain its dominance in the AI era.

Executives from both OpenAI and Perplexity testified last month that they would be eager bidders for the Chrome browser if Mehta orders its sale.

Google’s lawyer John Schmidtlein said on Friday that AI companies should “get to work” on their own products rather than try to persuade the court to give them unfair access to Google’s innovations.

The debate over Google’s fate also has pulled in opinions from Apple, mobile app developers, legal scholars and startups.

Apple, which collects more than $20bn annually to make Google the default search engine on the iPhone and its other devices, filed briefs arguing against the Justice Department’s proposed 10-year ban on such lucrative lock-in agreements.

Apple told the judge that prohibiting the contracts would deprive the company of money that it funnels into its own research, and that the ban might make Google even more powerful because the company would be able to hold onto its money while consumers would end up choosing its search engine anyway. The Cupertino, California, company also told the judge a ban would not compel it to build its own search engine to compete against Google.

In other filings, a group of legal scholars said the Justice Department’s proposed divestiture of Chrome would be an improper penalty that would inject unwarranted government interference in a company’s business.

Meanwhile, former Federal Trade Commission officials James Cooper and Andrew Stivers warned that another proposal, which would require Google to share its data with rival search engines, “does not account for the expectations users have developed over time regarding the privacy, security, and stewardship” of their personal information.

The App Association, a group that represents mostly small software developers, also advised Mehta not to adopt the Justice Department’s proposed changes because of the ripple effects they would have across the tech industry.

Hobbling Google in the way the Justice Department envisions would make it more difficult for startups to realise their goal of being acquired, the App Association wrote. “Developers will be overcome by uncertainty” if Google is torn apart, the group argues.

May 30 (UPI) — The Sean “Diddy” Combs jury Friday heard from “Mia,” one of the alleged sexual abuse victims in his sex trafficking and racketeering case. She acknowledged later positive social media posts about Combs.

She testified Thursday that Combs repeatedly physically and sexually assaulted her, making her feel trapped in what she alleged was ongoing abuse.

“Mia” said she felt she didn’t have any safe way to report the abuse.

Combs denies all the charges and maintains sexual acts described by prosecutors were consensual.

Under prosecutor questioning “Mia” said she was traumatized by the abuse she alleges Combs inflicted on her and that it resulted in complex, severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

“Mia” testified that she posted the positive social media posts about Combs in part because it was about demonstrating how great your life was even if it wasn’t true.

She added she felt fear any time Combs was unhappy because it meant she was unsafe.

“Mia” said during cross examination that her dynamics with Combs would shift and “when things were good, we felt really safe” and almost forgot about the abuse.

She said she had to “beg” Combs to allow her to go to her grandmother’s funeral.

On Tuesday, former Combs assistant Capricorn Clark testified she saw Combs beat Cassie Ventura for having a relationship with another rapper. She added Combs told her he wanted to kill Scott Mescudi, also known as “Kid Cudi.”

Combs is charged with one count of racketeering conspiracy; two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.

Pakistan has become the fourth country to appoint an ambassador to Kabul, after China, UAE and Uzbekistan.

Pakistan has announced it will designate an ambassador to Afghanistan, the first since the Taliban re-entered and captured Kabul in 2021, in a move aimed at improving previously strained relations between the neighbouring countries.

In a statement on Friday, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have improved since his visit to Kabul in April. “To maintain this momentum, I am pleased to announce the decision of the Government of Pakistan to upgrade the level of its charge d’affaires in Kabul to the level of ambassador,” he said.

Dar’s announcement comes a week after he met his Afghan counterpart, Amir Khan Muttaqi, alongside their Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during a trilateral meeting in Beijing.

Dar expressed hope that the decision would strengthen economic cooperation, boost bilateral trade and enhance joint efforts to combat terrorism.

Pakistan-Afghanistan relations are on positive trajectory after my very productive visit to Kabul with Pakistan delegation on 19th April 2025. To maintain this momentum, I am pleased to announce the decision of the Government of Pakistan to upgrade the level of its Chargé…

— Ishaq Dar (@MIshaqDar50) May 30, 2025

Tensions between the two countries have long been strained over Pakistan’s accusations that Kabul provides a haven to the Pakistan Taliban, who are known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP and are allies of the Afghan Taliban.

TTP is a separate group and has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban returned to power four years ago.

There was no immediate comment from Kabul on the latest development. However, Pakistan had earlier signalled that the two sides were considering an upgrade in diplomatic relations.

Another critical dynamic is the presence of Afghan refugees and migrants in Pakistan. Islamabad has ramped up forced mass deportation, with some tens of thousands having crossed the border, in April, back to an uncertain future in Afghanistan, the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported.

Nearly three million Afghans in Pakistan, many who have been there for decades as wars plagued their nation, face deportation after Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced in October a three-phase plan to send them back to their home country.

Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban currently have embassies in each other’s capitals, but they are led by charges d’affaires, a lower level than an ambassador.

Pakistan has become the fourth country to designate an ambassador to Kabul, after China, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.

No country has formally recognised the Taliban administration, with foreign powers saying they will not do so until it changes course on women’s rights.

Diplomats and experts say, however, that having an ambassador officially present their credentials represents a step towards recognition of the Taliban’s government.

May 30 (UPI) — Nearly 100 million Mexicans are set to take part in an unprecedented election on June 1 that will reshape the country’s judiciary.

Voters will elect 881 judicial officials, including Supreme Court justices, electoral magistrates, district judges and circuit court magistrates, under a sweeping reform originally pushed by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and backed by current President Claudia Sheinbaum.

Initially presented in 2014 as a step toward democratizing justice and combating corruption, the reform has drawn mounting criticism from legal experts, academics and civil society organizations. Many warn it could erode judicial independence, increase political interference, and weaken the rule of law.

An analysis by Stanford Law School’s Rule of Law Impact Lab and the Mexican Bar Association warns that electing judges by popular vote compromises their independence and impartiality by aligning judicial decisions with public opinion rather than strictly with the law.

It also highlights the risk that judicial rulings will be influenced by judicial election campaign donors.

Academics, legal experts and civil society organizations have raised concerns about the complexity of the electoral process, highlighting several key issues.

First, the proposed reform has been criticized for a lack of clear criteria to assess candidates’ qualifications.

Candidates are only required to hold a law degree, have at least five years of professional experience, no criminal record, and a good reputation. Candidates are also asked to submit a legal essay and letters of recommendation.

Studies show that the selected candidates have, on average, 20 fewer years of experience than the judges they are replacing under the reform. Many of the candidates also come from outside the judiciary and lack the training and background needed to carry out judicial duties effectively.

Second, voters in Mexico have received limited information despite the complexity of the process, which includes six ballots and more than 7,000 candidates competing for 2,600 local and federal judicial seats.

The Judicial Electoral Observatory, or OEJ, has warned that voters are not receiving adequate information, compromising electoral fairness. One factor is that the National Electoral Institute, or INE, received 52% less funding than it requested, limiting its ability to provide outreach and education.

The OEJ also criticized the ballot design and inconsistent selection standards across the evaluation committees, saying these issues undermine the legitimacy of the process and make it difficult for voters to make informed choices.

Third, the judicial reform has raised serious concerns about the influence of political actors and power groups in the process. The complexity of the changes and the short, eight-month timeline to organize the election may have created openings for political parties to assert control in parts of the country.

Organizations including México Evalúa, the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics, or CIDE, and the National Autonomous University of Mexico, or UNAM, have warned that the system could allow political, economic or criminal interests to infiltrate the judiciary, especially in regions where organized crime is strong.

Many of the candidates have ties to the ruling party, said Luis F. Fernández, executive director of Practica: Laboratorio para la Democracia, in an interview with CNN en Español.

“We’ve identified others linked to the country’s 10 wealthiest businessmen, and more than 15 candidates connected to drug trafficking,” he said.

The popular election of judges is rare internationally and, where it exists, is usually limited to local or mid-level courts.

In most democratic countries, judges are appointed by technical committees, the judiciary or the executive branch with legislative approval. The goal is to preserve judicial independence and prevent politicization.

Mexico’s proposed model — a direct, large-scale, nationwide election of judges at all levels, including the Supreme Court — is unprecedented.

Alexandra Miller, interim executive director for Vecina, analyses Trump’s decision to revoke international student visas and explores his motives.

May 30 (UPI) — April personal consumption expenditure inflation was up just 0.1% for an annual rate of 2.1%, according to a Friday Bureau of Economic Analysis report.

“From the same month one year ago, the PCE price index for April increased 2.1%,” the BEA report said. “Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 2.5% from one year ago.”

For the month, PCE inflation met the Dow Jones consensus forecast, but the annual rate was 0.1% lower than expected.

“From the preceding month, the PCE price index for April increased 0.1%. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index also increased 0.1%.,” the BEA said.

Spending on housing and utilities services was up 24.7% in April, heath care services spendingincresed by 20.3%.

Gasoline spending was up 8.1%.

Spending on food and beverages, vehicles, recreational goods, financial services, insurance, clothing, footwear and motor vehicle parts all declined.

The BEA also reported personal income in the United States was up 0.8% in April.

“Disposable personal income (DPI)-personal income less personal current taxes-increased $189.4 billion (0.8%) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $47.8 billion (0.2%),” the BEA said in a statement.

The income increase reflected both compensation increases and higher government social benefits to individuals, according to the BEA.

In April there was a $47.8 billion increase in current-dollar PCE – comprised of a $55.8 billion rise in spending on services partially offset by an $8 billion decrease in spending for goods.

Personal savings amounted to $1.12 trillion in April while the personal saving rate was 4.9%. That rate is saving as a percentage of disposable personal income.

During Trump’s tour of Gulf states in May, the US president was eager to talk about the deals he’d made and the investments he’d secured, but do the numbers add up and how many of the agreements touted were actually a result of his visit?

May 30 (UPI) — The man charged with ramming a vehicle into a crowd at a cup victory parade for Liverpool Football Club and injuring 79 peopel appeared in court on Friday.

Prosecutor Philip Astbury said it was the prosecution’s case that 53-year-old Paul Doyle, a former Royal Marine and now a businessman, “deliberately drove” into the crowd in Liverpool city center as people were leaving at the end of the parade.

Astbury asked that Doyle, who is from the West Derby area of Liverpool, not be granted bail for his own safety.

Doyle faces seven counts related to Monday’s incident involving six victims, two of them children, including two wounding with intent charges, two grievous bodily harm with intent charges, two attempted grievous bodily harm with intent charges and a single dangerous driving charge.

Doyle spoke only to confirm his name, address and date of birth and did not enter a plea.

District Judge Paul Healey remanded the married father of three in custody, telling him that his case was being sent to Liverpool Crown Court, where he would have to reappear later Friday.

Counsel for Doyle, Richard Derby, did not apply for bail.

Doyle has been in police detention since being arrested after a car collided with Liverpool city center, where hundreds of thousands of fans had gathered to celebrate Liverpool FC’s Premier League victory, but was only charged on Thursday afternoon.

Seven of those injured remain in area hospitals.

Merseyside Police said the incident remained the subject of an ongoing, active investigation with officers sifting through a large volume of digital evidence, while the Crown Prosecution Service said it was keeping the charges “under review” as the investigation progressed.

However, Mersey-Cheshire Chief Crown Prosecutor Sarah Hammond appealed for the public and media to refrain from speculation or sharing information that could derail the prosecution’s case or fair justice for the accused.

“We know Monday’s shocking scenes reverberated around the city of Liverpool, and the entire country, on what should have been a day of celebration for hundreds of thousands of Liverpool FC supporters. Our thoughts remain with all those affected,” Hammond said.

“Criminal proceedings against the defendant are active and he has the right to a fair trial. It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information or media online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”

Doyle’s social media states that he served for four years as a commando in the Royal Marine Corps, an amphibious special operations unit of the Royal Navy, between 1990 and 1994.

Spanish giants Real Madrid have confirmed the signing of England international Trent Alexander-Arnold from Liverpool.

Real Madrid have signed defender Trent Alexander-Arnold from Liverpool on a deal until 2031.

The 26-year-old England international’s contract at Anfield was drawing to an end but Madrid paid a fee to bring him in earlier so he can play in the Club World Cup, the Spanish club said on Friday.

Right-back Alexander-Arnold, who has just won the Premier League title with Liverpool, came through the academy of his boyhood club and won the Champions League in 2019.

He also won the Premier League in 2020 and 352 appearances for the club.

The defender joins former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso at Real Madrid, with the Spaniard appointed as their new coach to replace Carlo Ancelotti.

Alexander-Arnold’s close connections to Liverpool meant that his announcement that he was leaving the club was viewed with disgust by some supporters and he was booed in the penultimate match of the season.

But after club figures including former manager Jurgen Klopp and Mohamed Salah urged fans to remember the contribution he has made to Liverpool’s success over the last six years, he was roundly cheered when he lifted the Premier League trophy at Anfield last Sunday.

The defender joins a Real Madrid side which failed to win a major trophy this season.

Alexander-Arnold has been criticised for his defensive concentration at times but brings supreme passing vision and attacking edge down the right flank.

Real Madrid have struggled at right-back this season with Dani Carvajal recovering from a long-term knee injury and winger Lucas Vazquez enduring a torrid time there out of position.

Alexander-Arnold could make his Real Madrid debut when they face Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal in their opening Club World Cup match on June 18 in Miami.

Real Madrid have also signed Spanish centre-back Dean Huijsen from Bournemouth as they look to bolster a back line which was ravaged by injury this season.

May 29 (UPI) — Police charged a 53-year-old man on Thursday in connection to this week’s car-ramming incident at a Liverpool parade that left scores injured.

At least 79 people were injured in the incident Monday when the man, identified as Paul Doyle from the West Derby area of Liverpool, allegedly drove a Ford Galaxy into the celebrants in the city center. Some tried to divert the car before it hit more parade-goers. The parade was in celebration of Liverpool FC’s title victory in the English Premier League soccer tournament.

Seven of the people who were injured remain hospitalized.

“I hope that all of those who were injured or witnessed this terrible incident are able — given time — to heal and recover,” Merseyside Police Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims said at a Thursday news conference.

Doyle was charged Thursday with two counts of unlawful and malicious grievous bodily harm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, two counts of attempted unlawful and malicious grievous bodily harm and one count of dangerous driving.

He remains in policy custody and is to make his first appearance at Liverpool Magistrates Court on Friday morning.

Doyle was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, dangerous driving offenses and driving while “unfit through drugs,” police reported. Police said the incident was not terrorism related and is believed to be an isolated event.

Local media reported that police believe that the driver of the vehicle followed an ambulance into the area that was supposed to have been restricted to traffic for the parade.

Doyle’s LinkedIn profile says that he is the head of cyber initiatives at a data center and served in the Royal Marines from 1990 to 1994. Local media reported that Doyle is a married father of three.

Neighbors described him as ” a normal Liverpool dad” and a “very sensible family man,” The Times of London reported.

Police said officers are continuing to investigate the incident.

Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS Mersey-Cheshire Sarah Hammond said the charges will be kept under review amid the investigation.

“Criminal proceedings against the defendant are active and he has the right to a fair trial,” she said Thursday, as she warned against sharing information online that could prejudice the legal proceedings.

“Please allow the legal process to take its course without undue speculation,” she said.

The White House said the citation errors were ‘formatting issues’ that did not detract from the report’s importance.

The United States government has said it will amend a flagship report on children’s health that was found to have cited non-existent studies.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday that any citation errors were due to “formatting issues” and would be updated. The problems with the report will do little to assuage concerns over President Donald Trump’s appointment of Robert F Kennedy Jr as Health and Human Services Secretary.

The issues with the report, compiled and published last week by the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission, were revealed by digital news outlet NOTUS. It found that seven studies referenced did not exist, while there were also broken links and “misstated conclusions”.

Leavitt insisted that the problems do “not negate the substance of the report, which, as you know, is one of the most transformative health reports that has ever been released by the federal government”.

The report found that processed food, chemicals, stress and the overprescription of medications and vaccines could be factors behind chronic illness in children, citing more than 500 studies.

However, authors credited with producing some of those studies said that they were not part of the research, or that the studies did not exist.

Noah Kreski, a Columbia University researcher listed as an author of a paper on adolescent anxiety and depression during COVID-19, told the AFP news agency that the paper was “not one of our studies” and “doesn’t appear to be a study that exists at all”.

The citation for the report included a link to an article in the peer-reviewed JAMA Paediatrics Medical Review that was broken. A spokesperson for the JAMA Network said that the article referenced “was not published in JAMA Paediatrics or in any JAMA Network journal”.

The Democratic National Committee on Thursday slammed the report as “rife with misinformation”, accusing Kennedy’s agency of “justifying its policy priorities with studies and sources that do not exist”.

Kennedy’s approval as health secretary in February stirred significant controversy. He previously spent decades sowing doubt about the safety of vaccines, raising concerns within the scientific and medical communities over the policies he would pursue.

Since taking the role, he has fired thousands of workers at federal health agencies and cut billions of dollars from biomedical research spending.

“The substance of the MAHA report remains the same – a historic and transformative assessment by the federal government to understand the chronic disease epidemic afflicting our nation’s children,” the Department of Health and Human Services said.

May 30 (UPI) — The Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, has told President Donald Trump that monetary policy will not be influenced by politics.

Powell and Trump had a meeting Thursday as the president has been pressuring the central bank to lower interest rates.

A statement published by the Reserve following the meeting said that Powell and Trump discussed economic issues, including growth, employment and inflation.

What Powell did not discuss was his expectation for monetary policy, according to the sternly worded statement, “except to stress that the path of policy will depend entirely on incoming economic information and what that means for the outlook.”

“Chairman Powell said that he and his colleagues on the [Federal Open Market Committee] will set monetary policy, as required by law, to support maximum employment and stable prices and will make those decisions based solely on careful, objective and non-political analysis,” the statement said.

The meeting was held at Trump’s invitation, it added.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed during a press conference Thursday that Trump saw the statement and that it was “correct.”

“However, the president did say that he believes the Fed chair is making a mistake by not lowering interest rates, which is putting us at an economic disadvantage to China and other countries,” she said.

The announcement comes as the Trump administration has been seeking to influence Powell and the Fed to lower interest rates.

The Fed has steadily cut the interest rate from a high of 5.5% since the summer of 2024 but has maintained a lending rate of between 4.25% and 4.5% throughout the Trump administration due to uncertainty over the president’s ever-changing tariff policies.

The Fed issued its most recent hold on the interest rate earlier this month over concerns about tariff-related inflation and slower economic growth.

“Uncertainty about the economic outlook has increased further,” the Fed said in its May 7 statement.

Trump has repeatedly lashed out at the Fed and Powell.

On May 2, he took to his Truth Social platform to broadcast “THE FED SHOULD LOWER ITS RATE!!!” As a reason, he pointed to a recent drop in gas prices.

After the Fed maintained its interest rate hold about a week later, Trump called Powell “a FOOL, who doesn’t have a clue.”

Former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner was sentenced on Thursday to two years in prison for role in 1MDB scandal.

Malaysia’s Commodities Minister Johari Abdul Ghani has called a two-year prison sentence for a former Goldman Sachs banker implicated in the multibillion-dollar 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) corruption scandal too lenient.

On Thursday, New York judge Margo Brodie sentenced German-born banker Tim Leissner, a former chairman for Goldman Sachs in Southeast Asia, to two years in prison for his role in the scandal.

Leissner, who previously pleaded guilty to US bribery and money laundering counts, faced a maximum sentence of 25 years.

During sentencing, Brodie described Leissner’s conduct as “brazen and audacious”. Visibly emotional as he read out a statement in court, Leissner offered a “sincere apology to the people of Malaysia” and said he “deeply regret[s]” his actions.

Ghani, chairman of the 1MDB asset recovery taskforce, said on Friday that Leissner should have been given the maximum jail sentence as he was “one of the masterminds” of the scheme, which saw billions of dollars in public money siphoned off Malaysia’s investment fund.

The 1MDB fund was created as a vehicle to attract foreign investment for energy and infrastructure projects in Malaysia, but was pilfered by officials and bankers.

Malaysian and US authorities estimate that around $4.5bn was stolen in total, in an elaborate scheme that spanned the globe and implicated high-level officials, including former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was jailed in 2022.

In 2018, Leissner pleaded guilty to bribery and money laundering counts in relation to his role in the scandal, including paying roughly $2bn in bribes to foreign officials and splitting another $1bn in kickbacks with others in the scheme.

A US Department of Justice spokesperson said he will begin serving a 24-month sentence in September.

US prosecutors had called for leniency due to the “extraordinary” assistance he had provided the probe. Leissner served as the star witness in the 2022 trial of his former colleague and Goldman Sachs Managing Director Roger Ng.

Judge Brodie sentenced Malaysian national Ng to 10 years’ imprisonment in March 2023 for, among other crimes, “conspiring to launder billions of dollars embezzled” from 1MDB and paying more than $1.6bn in bribes.

Leissner also provided details regarding the involvement of Low Taek Jho, the Malaysian financier known as “Jho Low”, who stands accused of stealing billions from the fund but remains at large.

May 30 (UPI) — Bernard Kerik, New York City’s police commissioner on Sept.11, 2001, died Thursday at the age of 69.

Kerik was hailed as a hero for his response to the terror attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, but fell from grace after pleading guilty to federal corruption charges and tax crimes in the years that followed.

F.B.I director Kash Patel said in a statement on social media Thursday night that Kerik had died “after a private battle with illness.”

“With over forty years of service in law enforcement and national security, he dedicated his life to protecting the American people,” Patel wrote.

Kerik rose to prominence as former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani‘s bodyguard during Giuliani’s 1993 mayoral campaign. He worked his way through the ranks of the police department as a street cop and narcotics officer in some of the city’s busiest and most heavily trafficked areas, including Times Square, before being promoted to corrections commissioner where he took on the abuse of sick time by fellow officers and worked to reduce violence among prison inmates.

Kerik’s rapid rise through the ranks prompted criticism among many, who were quick to point out that he did not have a college degree or the necessary experience to carry out the duties of a high-ranking bureaucrat in the nation’s largest and most closely scrutinized police department.

Officers at Kerik’s rank were typically required to have a college degree, which he did go on to earn in 2002.

Crime declined during his tenure as police commissioner, but his critics said that was a continuation of the success that had been achieved by two of his predecessors.

Despite heavy criticism and scrutiny, Kerik received several meritorious awards, including the title of Commander of the British Empire, bestowed on him by Queen Elizabeth II.

In 2009, however, Kerik pleaded guilty to eight charges ranging from tax evasion to theft of honest services, making him the first city police commissioner to become a felon. He was sentenced to 48 months in prison.

The New York City Police Department issued a statement Thursday night saying it was in “mourning” over Kerik’s passing.

“For nearly two decades, Kerik served and protected New Yorkers in the NYPD, including helping rebuild the city in the aftermath of 9/11,” the police force said on X.

“We offer our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones.”

Andrew Giuliani, son of Rudolph Giuliani and a member of the Trump administration’s White House, said in a statement Thursday that “New York lost one of our greatest crime fighters this evening.”

“Bernard Kerik set the standard, turning the most dangerous Correctional systems in the world into the gold standard,” he said on X, adding that as police commissioner on Sept. 11, “Bernie led from the front.”

“Personally, I will always remember Bernie through the eyes of my seven-year-old self, as one of the toughest cops a boy could imagine.

“Rest in peace my friend; you rock; you great warrior!”

May 30 (UPI) — An American academic facing up to 15 years in a Thai prison on allegations of insulting the monarchy has been permitted to leave the country, according to a nonprofit that advocates for Americans imprisoned abroad.

Global Reach told UPI in an emailed statement that Paul Chambers was permitted to leave Thailand on Thursday after resolving what it called “false” lese-majeste charges.

“I am relieved that this situation has been resolved,” Chambers said in a statement.

“I have always had great respect for the Thai royal family, and anyone who knows me understands that these charges were always based on false allegations by unnamed parties in the military.”

Chambers, a Thai studies scholar and lecturer at Thailand’s Naresuan University, was arrested and charged by Thai authorities in April following a complaint filed against him by the military over an October online post promoting a webinar that he was to participate in.

The English-language post was published on the website of Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. The academic webinar was on Thai studies, and Chambers, a leading expert on the Thai military and Southeast Asian politics, gave a talk about the Thai military.

Chambers was not involved in the post’s creation.

According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, Chambers was allowed to leave the country after the Attorney General’s Office announced Wednesday that prosecutors decided not to continue the case against the American.

Prosecutors made the decision in early May, but the attorney general needed to affirm the decision.

Chambers was originally detained April 9, but was later permitted to leave police custody and was required to wear an ankle monitor and surrender his U.S. passport and work visa, Global Reach said.

Following his arrest, the U.S. State Department issued a statement saying it was monitoring Chambers’ situation while condemning the controversial lese-majeste law.

Kieran Ramsey, who worked with Chambers on behalf of Global Reach, praised the United States for its response to the case, saying, “This was one of the best responses I have ever seen from the U.S. government.”

According to Global Reach, Chambers will return to Oklahoma to see his family and will work from the United States.

More than 270 people have been detained, prosecuted and punished under the lese-majeste laws since 2020, according to an expert panel from United Nations that said such laws “have no place in a democratic country.”

The billionaire’s Mars mission claim comes despite SpaceX experiencing several failed test launches over recent months.

Elon Musk has said that he believes there is a 50 percent chance that his Mars spacecraft will make its first uncrewed voyage to the red planet at the end of 2026, just two days after the latest test-flight setback for his SpaceX firm.

Musk presented a detailed Starship development timeline in a video posted online by his Los Angeles area-based rocket company on Thursday.

The South African-born billionaire and SpaceX owner said his latest timeline for reaching Mars depended on whether the craft can complete several challenging technical feats during testing, specifically a post-launch refuelling manoeuvre in Earth’s orbit.

In a video on social media platform X, which he also owns, Musk said his Starbase industrial complex and rocket launch facility in Texas was the “gateway to Mars”.

“It is where we are going to develop the technology necessary to take humanity and civilisation and life as we know it to another planet for the first time in the four and a half billion year history of Earth,” he said.

The end of 2026 is when a slim window opens offering the closest trip between Earth and Mars, as the planets align around the sun once every two years. This shorter distance would take seven to nine months to transit by spacecraft.

The first flight to Mars would carry a simulated crew consisting of Tesla-built humanoid Optimus robots. Human crews would then follow in the second or third landings.

In the video, Musk said he believed there was a 50-50 chance SpaceX would meet the 2026 deadline for the first mission. He added that if Starship was not ready by that time, SpaceX would wait another two years before trying again.

Musk’s announcement comes just a day after he confirmed his departure from the administration of United States President Donald Trump, following a tumultuous few months in which his various businesses – including SpaceX and electric car maker Tesla – have come under growing strain.

Musk’s unofficial role leading Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has placed him in the crosshairs, as he has faced intense criticism for overseeing what has been decried as haphazard cuts to government programmes.

Faced with plunging stock prices and shareholder concern – most notably at Tesla – Musk said this week he would scale back his government role to focus on his private ventures.

Missed deadlines

In 2016, Musk said he wanted to send an uncrewed SpaceX vehicle to Mars as early as 2018, while he was targeting 2024 to launch the first crewed mission there.

But the mercurial entrepreneur’s ambitions for interplanetary exploration have been beset by repeated setbacks over recent years.

Most recently, on Tuesday, Musk was due to deliver a live webcast from the company’s Starbase in Texas following a ninth test flight of Starship that evening.

But the speech was cancelled without notice after Starship spun out of control and disintegrated about 30 minutes after launch, roughly halfway through its flight path, failing to achieve some of its most important test goals.

The mega-rocket re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere earlier than planned on Wednesday after a fuel leak triggered uncontrollable spinning in space, according to the Reuters news agency.

Posting on X after the failed flight, Musk said the test produced a lot of “good data to review” as he promised a faster launch “cadence” for the next several attempts.

There was also a failed launch in January – when the craft blew up moments after liftoff, raining debris over parts of the Caribbean and forcing commercial jetliners to change course – as well as in March.

Musk, who has spent billions of dollars on Starship’s development, says the initiative is part of SpaceX’s plan to colonise Mars.

The firm is also working with US government agency NASA to return humans to the Moon in 2027 onboard Starship, more than half a century since astronauts last walked on the lunar surface in 1972.

These efforts are a stepping stone towards launching NASA astronauts to Mars sometime in the 2030s.