Page 4 - United States

US starting to witness heavy job losses in occupations exposed to AI

A group of 18 occupations flagged by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as exposed to AI, accounting for about 10 million jobs, saw a 0.2% drop in employment between May 2024 and May 2025

CIA Director John Ratcliffe meets Cuban officials, Raul Castro's grandson

CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Cuban officials including Raul Castro's grandson during a high-level visit to the island, Cuban and US officials said. Ratcliffe met with Raulito Rodriguez Castro, Ministry of Interior Lazaro Alvarez Casas and the head of Cuban intelligence services on Thursday and discussed intelligence cooperation, economic stability and security issues. A CIA official confirmed the meetings to the AP. Ratcliffe was there "to personally deliver President Donald Trump's message that the United States is prepared to seriously engage on economic and security issues, but only if Cuba makes fundamental changes. According to official reports, the meeting served as a platform for Cuba to present evidence asserting that the nation poses no threat to US national security,'' the CIA official said. An official statement from Cuba's government noted the meeting "took place Thursday, May 14, against a backdrop of complex bilateral relations." While the US stressed the Cuba

DOJ accuses Yale medical school of illegally using race in admissions

The Justice Department on Friday accused Yale University of illegally considering race in admissions to its medical school - the second institution to face discrimination allegations by the federal agency this month. In a letter to a lawyer for Yale, Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights, said a DOJ investigation found that Black and Hispanic students have a much higher chance of admission to the medical school than white or Asian students, despite having lower grade-point averages and lower test scores. "Yale has continued its race-based admissions program despite the Supreme Court and the public's clear mandate for reform," Dhillon said in a statement. "This Department will continue to shed light on these illegal practices, and demand that institutions of higher education comply with federal law." Yale officials and the attorney named in the DOJ letter, Peter Spivack, did not immediately return email messages seeking comment. Since President Donald Trump ..

US clears Nvidia H200 chip sales to Chinese firms, deliveries yet to begin

Trump picked him up in Alaska en route to a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, raising hopes the trip could finally unlock stalled efforts to sell the H200 chips in China

Tulsi Gabbard's office denies CIA raid report after whistleblower's claim

Olivia Coleman, the Press Secretary for the Director of National Intelligence said that the news report of a raid was 'inaccurate'

US-China relationship will be 'better than ever': Trump tells Xi Jinping

The two leaders met in the Great Hall of the People off Tiananmen Square on Thursday morning after a welcome ceremony featuring honor guards and carefully choreographed pageantry

US plans to escalate Iran war as ceasefire looks fragile: Hegseth

Hesgeth, speaking at a congressional hearing on the Pentagon's budget request, said the US military had several options in West Asia, but he declined to describe the administration's next step

US consumer inflation rises 3.8% in April, highest since May 2023

In the 12 months through April, the CPI advanced 3.8 per cent . That was the biggest year-on-year increase since May 2023 and followed a 3.3 per cent rise in March

S California mayor resigns, will plead guilty to acting as China agent

A Southern California mayor has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government, and has resigned from her city position, officials said Monday. Eileen Wang, the mayor of Arcadia, was charged in April with one count of acting in the United States as an illegal agent of a foreign government. She was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, such as sharing articles favourable to Beijing, without prior notification to the US government as required by law. The 58-year-old was elected in November 2022 to a five-person city council, from which the mayor is selected on a rotating basis. City manager Dominic Lazzaretto said in a news release that no city finances or staff were involved. "We want to be clear: this investigation concerns individual conduct, and the charges are for conduct that ceased after Ms. Wang was sworn into office in December 2022," he said. Federal officials said she has agreed to plead guilty to the felony, which comes with

As US visa policies tighten, international students find job market tougher

And Homeland Security has indefinitely paused the processing of visa applications for people from 39 countries

Donald Trump calls Iran proposal 'stupid' amid West Asia conflict

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump reiterated that Iran would not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon

Don't open door to Chinese cars: US industry to Trump ahead of Xi meet

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also has ruled out Chinese investments in the US autos sector

Netanyahu says Israel wants to phase out US military assistance: Report

The US currently provides Israel with $3.8 billion a year in military assistance under a 10-year agreement originally negotiated by the Obama administration that lasts through 2028

Trump admin moves to widen fertility benefit access under new rule

This measure comes at a time when the 'Make America Healthy Again' movement enthusiasts have raised concerns about the birth rate hitting record lows in US in recent years

US Judge orders release of Jeffrey Epstein's purported suicide note

A note Jeffrey Epstein's former cellmate claimed he found after the millionaire sex offender's first suspected jail suicide attempt was made public Wednesday, years after being sealed and locked in a courthouse vault as part of an unrelated legal dispute. US District Judge Kenneth Karas in White Plains, New York, ordered the release of the note after The New York Times asked him last week to unseal it and other documents in a case involving the former cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione. Federal prosecutors did not oppose the request. Few people had known about the note until Tartaglione, a former police officer serving a life sentence for killing four people, mentioned it last year on writer Jessica Reed Kraus' podcast. Tartaglione claimed he discovered the note in a book after Epstein was found on the floor of their cell at a Manhattan federal jail on July 23, 2019, with a strip of bedsheet around the financier's neck. That was about three weeks before Epstein was found dead in his cel

Major military operations against Iran over, Op Epic Fury concluded: Rubio

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that major US military operations against Iran are over - but he stopped short of saying the conflict cannot be restarted. Rubio told reporters at the White House that "Operation Epic Fury" - the attack the US and Israel mounted on Iran on Feb. 28 - "is concluded" because its objectives were met. Rubio said recent clashes with Iran related to US efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz were "defensive in nature." "We're not cheering for an additional situation to occur," he said. "We would prefer the path of peace." He said Iran must agree to President Donald Trump's demands on its nuclear program and reopen the strait, a waterway vital to global oil and gas supplies. US forces pressed ahead with an effort to guide commercial ships through the strait, but so far only two vessels are known to have passed through. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the US prefers a peaceful effort to guide vessels out of the Persian Gulf but is ready to ac

Hegseth, Caine say US-Iran ceasefire is not over despite fresh attacks

US forces launched an effort to guide commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, with the first two ships, both American-flagged merchant vessels, sailing through unscathed. Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine said the safety corridor in the key waterway for oil and gas transport involves guided-missile destroyers, more than 100 aircraft and 15,000 service members. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the forces prefer a peaceful effort to "guide" the more than 22,500 mariners stuck on more than 1,550 vessels out of the Persian Gulf, but are ready if needs change. "This is a temporary mission for us," Hegseth said. "We expect the world to step up." Iran has denounced the move as a ceasefire violation. It is unclear what will follow. The US Central Command said Iran earlier launched multiple cruise missiles, drones and small boats at civilian ships under the US military's protection, and that US helicopters sank six small boats involved in the attacks. It denied Iranian ...

White House says Trump's drug pricing deals could save $529 billion

White House economists estimate that President Donald Trump's deals with pharmaceutical companies to drop some of their US prescription drug prices to what they charge in other countries could save USD 529 billion over the next 10 years. The analysis obtained by The Associated Press includes the first economy-wide projections behind a policy at the core of Trump's pitch to voters going into November's midterm elections for control of the House and Senate. Democratic lawmakers have been doubtful about the savings claimed by Trump and these new numbers are likely to trigger additional questions about the data. Cost-of-living issues are at the forefront of voters' concerns and higher energy prices tied to the Iran war have deepened the public's anxiety. Trump has tried in part to address affordability concerns by focusing on his efforts to cut deals with companies so that the cost of prescription drugs in the US would no longer be dramatically higher than in other affluent nations. "