Author: ALJAZEERA

United States President Donald Trump’s newly announced tariffs of 50 percent on Brazilian imports could drive up beef prices for US consumers. Unless the White House delays or reverses course, the tariffs are set to take effect on August 1. After China, the US is the second-largest importer of Brazilian beef. Brazil is currently the fifth-largest source of foreign beef for the US, and its share has grown in the past year, accounting for 21 percent of all US beef imports. That surge has been driven by domestic supply challenges, including widespread droughts and rising grain costs. In fact, imports…

The US has closed its ports of entry to Mexican cattle for fear of the parasitic, flesh-eating worm spreading north.Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has denounced a decision by the United States to once again suspend imports of her country’s cattle over a flesh-eating parasite called the screwworm. On Thursday, Sheinbaum used her morning news conference to call fears of the worm overblown. She pointed out that a single case in the eastern state of Veracruz had prompted the import pause. “From our point of view, it is a totally exaggerated decision to close the border again,” Sheinbaum said. At the…

In the aftermath of the devastating floods that swept through the Texas Hill Country in Texas in the United States, a tight-knit community is mourning the loss of at least 110 lives to flash flooding – including 27 at Camp Mystic, an all-girls summer camp situated along the Guadalupe River. Camp Mystic bore the brunt of the floodwaters, but the region is home to several popular sleepaway camps and youth facilities serving families from across Texas, including Hill Country Youth Ranch. Tony Gallucci, who has lived in the area for more than 40 years, works there. “We’re gonna have some…

Malaysian leader says trade being used to ‘pressure, isolate and contain’ as top US diplomat Rubio set to visit region.Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has warned of global trade being weaponised against weaker countries, as Southeast Asian ministers gather for a summit against the backdrop of United States President Donald Trump’s tariff threats. Speaking at the opening of the annual meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers on Wednesday, Anwar said that while power had always shaped trade, it was today increasingly defining it. “Across the world, tools once used to generate growth are now wielded to pressure, isolate and contain. Tariffs,…

Markets tumbled on the latest tariff announcements, with the S&P 500 seeing its biggest drop in three weeks.

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has weighed in publicly for the first time since the passage of President Donald Trump’s signature piece of budget legislation, commonly known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill“. On Friday, Musk took to his social media platform X to once again float the possibility of a third party to rival the two major ones — the Democrats and the Republicans — in United States politics. “Independence Day is the perfect time to ask if you want independence from the two-party (some would say uniparty) system! Should we create the America Party?” Musk asked his followers, attaching…

Trade Minister Piyush Goyal’s remarks come before the deadline set by the White House for July 9 for nations to make their individual deals with the US.India is ready to make trade deals in the national interest, but not just to meet deadlines, Piyush Goyal, minister of trade and industry, has said. When asked if a deal could be reached by the July 9 deadline set by United States President Donald Trump for all countries to negotiate trade agreements, Goyal said on Friday that “National interest will always be supreme. Keeping that in mind, if a good deal can be…

United States President Donald Trump’s signature piece of budget legislation, the “One Big Beautiful Bill”, will likely raise healthcare costs, experts have said. While the Medicaid cuts will directly impact those who depend on the programme, the consequences will extend to others as well. The 869-page bill, which includes roughly $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid over the next decade, passed in the House along party lines, with only two Republicans – Representatives Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania – breaking ranks. It will be signed into law by Trump on Friday. In addition to patients, Medicaid…

Washington imposes financial penalties on an Iraqi businessman who it says helped smuggle Iranian oil.Washington, DC – The United States has issued a new wave of sanctions against Iranian oil exports, the first penalties against Tehran’s energy sector since a Washington-backed ceasefire between Israel and Iran came into effect last month. Among those targeted by the sanctions announced on Thursday are Iraqi businessman Salim Ahmed Said and his United Arab Emirates-based company, which the US accused of smuggling Iranian oil by blending it with Iraqi oil. “Iran’s behavior has left it decimated. While it has had every opportunity to choose…

The US president has repeatedly called on the top central banker to step down amid disagreement over interest rates.United States President Donald Trump has repeated his call for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to step down, the latest in a series of attacks that have raised concern about the independence of the US central bank. Trump made the call for Powell to “resign immediately” on Wednesday after his administration’s top housing regulator urged the US Congress to launch an investigation into the central banker. Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said in a post on X…