African Union 'concerned' by 'negative impact' of US travel ban
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05/06/2025
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LeMonde
2 hours ago
- LeMonde
Trump says he's focusing on Russia, China, Iran and 'not thinking about Elon Musk': 'I just wish him well'
US President Donald Trump said Friday, June 6, that Elon Musk had "lost his mind" but insisted he wanted to move on from the fiery split with his billionaire former ally. The blistering public break-up between the world's richest person and the world's most powerful is fraught with political and economic risks all around. Trump had scrapped the idea of a call with Musk and was even thinking of ditching the red Tesla he bought at the height of their bromance, White House officials told AFP. "Honestly I've been so busy working on China, working on Russia, working on Iran... I'm not thinking about Elon Musk, I just wish him well," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to his New Jersey golf club late Friday. Earlier, Trump told US broadcasters that he now wanted to focus instead on passing his "big, beautiful" mega-bill before Congress – Musk's harsh criticism of which had sparked their break-up. But the 78-year-old Republican could not stop himself from taking aim at his South African-born friend-turned-enemy. "You mean the man who has lost his mind?" Trump said in a call with ABC when asked about Musk, adding that he was "not particularly" interested in talking to the tycoon. Trump later told Fox News that Musk had "lost it." Just a week ago Trump gave Musk a glowing send-off as he left his cost-cutting role at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after four months working there. 'Very disappointed' While there had been reports of tensions, the sheer speed at which their relationship imploded stunned Washington. After Musk called Trump's spending bill an "abomination" on Tuesday, Trump hit back in an Oval Office diatribe on Thursday in which he said he was "very disappointed" by the entrepreneur. Trump's spending bill faces a difficult path through Congress as it will raise the US deficit, while critics say it will cut health care for millions of the poorest Americans. The row then went nuclear, with Musk slinging insults at Trump and accusing him without evidence of being in government files on disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump hit back with the power of the US government behind him, saying he could cancel the SpaceX boss's multi-billion-dollar rocket and satellite contracts. Trump struck a milder tone late Friday when asked how seriously he is considering cutting Musk's contracts. "It's a lot of money, it's a lot of subsidy, so we'll take a look – only if it's fair. Only if it's to be fair for him and the country," he said. Musk apparently also tried to de-escalate social media hostilities. The right-wing tech baron rowed back on a threat to scrap his company's Dragon spacecraft – vital for ferrying NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station. And on Friday, the usually garrulous poster kept a low social media profile on his X social network. But the White House denied reports that they would talk. "The president does not intend to speak to Musk today," a senior White House official told AFP. A second official said Musk had requested a call. Tesla giveaway? Tesla stocks tanked more than 14% on Thursday amid the row, losing some $100 billion of the company's market value, but recovered partly on Friday. Trump is now considering either selling or giving away the cherry red Tesla S that he announced he had bought from Musk's firm in March. The electric vehicle was still parked on the White House grounds on Friday. "He's thinking about it, yes," a senior White House official told AFP when asked if Trump would sell or give it away. Trump and Musk had posed inside the car at a bizarre event in March, when the president turned the White House into a pop-up Tesla showroom after viral protests against Musk's DOGE role. But while Trump appeared to hold many of the cards, Musk also has some to play. His wealth allowed him to be the biggest donor to Trump's 2024 campaign, to the tune of nearly $300 million. Any further support for the 2026 midterm election now appears in doubt –while Musk could also use his money to undermine Trump's support on the right.
LeMonde
4 hours ago
- LeMonde
Supreme Court allows DOGE team to access Social Security systems with data on millions of Americans
The Supreme Court handed the Trump administration two victories Friday, June 6, in cases involving the Department of Government Efficiency, including giving it access to Social Security systems containing personal data on millions of Americans. The justices also separately reined in orders seeking transparency at DOGE, the team once led by billionaire Elon Musk. The court's conservative majority sided with the Trump administration in the first Supreme Court appeals involving DOGE. The three liberal justices dissented in both cases. The DOGE victories come amid a messy breakup between the president and the world's richest man that started shortly after Musk's departure from the White House and has included threats to cut government contracts and a call for the president to be impeached. The future of DOGE's work isn't clear without Musk at the helm, but both men have previously said that it will continue its efforts. In one case, the high court halted an order from a judge in Maryland that has restricted the team's access to the Social Security Administration under federal privacy laws. "We conclude that, under the present circumstances, SSA may proceed to afford members of the SSA DOGE Team access to the agency records in question in order for those members to do their work," the court said in an unsigned order. Conservative lower-court judges have said there's no evidence at this point of DOGE mishandling personal information. The agency holds sensitive data on nearly everyone in the country, including school records, salary details and medical information. 'Grave privacy risks' Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said the court's action creates "grave privacy risks" for millions of Americans by giving "unfettered data access to DOGE regardless – despite its failure to show any need or any interest in complying with existing privacy safeguards, and all before we know for sure whether federal law countenances such access." Justice Sonia Sotomayor joined Jackson's opinion and Justice Elena Kagan said she also would have ruled against the administration. The Trump administration says DOGE needs the access to carry out its mission of targeting waste in the federal government. Musk had been focused on Social Security as an alleged hotbed of fraud. The entrepreneur has described it as a "Ponzi scheme" and insisted that reducing waste in the program is an important way to cut government spending. But US District Judge Ellen Hollander in Maryland found that DOGE's efforts at Social Security amounted to a "fishing expedition" based on "little more than suspicion" of fraud, and allowing unfettered access puts Americans' private information at risk. Her ruling did allow access to anonymous data for staffers who have undergone training and background checks, or wider access for those who have detailed a specific need. The Trump administration has said DOGE can't work effectively with those restrictions. Solicitor General D. John Sauer also argued that the ruling is an example of federal judges overstepping their authority and trying to micromanage executive branch agencies. The plaintiffs say it's a narrow order that's urgently needed to protect personal information. An appeals court previously refused to immediately to lift the block on DOGE access, though it split along ideological lines. 'Targeted snooping' Conservative judges in the minority said there's no evidence that the team has done any "targeted snooping" or exposed personal information. The lawsuit was originally filed by a group of labor unions and retirees represented by the group Democracy Forward. It's one of more than two dozen lawsuits filed over DOGE's work, which has included deep cuts at federal agencies and large-scale layoffs. The plaintiffs called the high court's order "a sad day for our democracy and a scary day for millions of people. Elon Musk may have left Washington, D.C., but his impact continues to harm millions of people." Liz Huston, a spokesperson for the White House, applauded the order. "The Supreme Court allowing the Trump Administration to carry out commonsense efforts to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse and modernize government information systems is a huge victory for the rule of law." Help us improve Le Monde in English Dear reader, We'd love to hear your thoughts on Le Monde in English! Take this quick survey to help us improve it for you. Take the survey The nation's court system has been ground zero for pushback to President Donald Trump's sweeping conservative agenda, with hundreds of lawsuits filed challenging policies on everything from immigration to education to mass layoffs of federal workers. In the other DOGE order handed down Friday, the justices extended a pause on orders that would require the team to publicly disclose information about its operations, as part of a lawsuit filed by a government watchdog group. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington argues that DOGE, which has been central to Trump's push to remake the government, is a federal agency and must be subject to the Freedom of Information Act. But the Trump administration says DOGE is just a presidential advisory body aimed at government cost-cutting, which would make it exempt from requests for documents under FOIA. The justices did not decide that issue Friday, but the conservative majority held that US District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled too broadly in ordering documents be turned over to CREW.
Euronews
7 hours ago
- Euronews
US charges man mistakenly deported to El Salvador upon return
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation to El Salvador became a political flashpoint in the Trump administration's stepped-up immigration enforcement, was returned to the United States late Friday. Upon return by federal authorities, Garcia was charged with orchestrating a massive human smuggling operation that brought immigrants into the US illegally. Officials said that he will be prosecuted in the US and, if convicted, will be returned to his home country in El Salvador after the case. 'This is what American justice looks like,' Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday, announcing Abrego Garcia's return and the criminal charges. According to the US media, the charges stem from a 2022 vehicle stop in which the Tennessee Highway Patrol suspected him of human trafficking. A report released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in April states that none of the people in the vehicle had luggage, while they listed the same address as Abrego Garcia. Abrego Garcia was never charged with a crime, while the officers allowed him to drive on with only a warning about an expired driver's license, the DHS report said. The report added that he was travelling from Texas to Maryland, via Missouri, to bring in people to perform construction work. Abrego Garcia's wife claimed in a statement following the report's release in April that he occasionally drove groups of workers between construction sites, "so it's entirely plausible he would have been pulled over while driving with others in the vehicle." "He was not charged with any crime or cited for any wrongdoing', she stressed. The Trump administration has been publicising Abrego Garcia's interactions with police over the years, despite a lack of corresponding criminal charges, while it faces a federal court order and calls from some in Congress to return him to the US. Authorities in Tennessee released video of a 2022 traffic stop last month. The body-camera footage shows a calm and friendly exchange between officers with the Tennessee Highway Patrol. Officers then discussed among themselves their suspicions of human trafficking because nine people were travelling without luggage. One of the officers said, 'He's hauling these people for money.' Another said he had $1,400 (€1,227) in an envelope. An attorney for Abrego Garcia, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said in a statement after the footage's release in May that he saw no evidence of a crime in the released footage. 'But the point is not the traffic stop — it's that Mr. Abrego Garcia deserves his day in court,' Sandoval-Moshenberg said. Though he is back in the US to face charges, Garcia's return comes days after the Trump administration complied with a court order to return a Guatemalan man deported to Mexico despite his fears of being harmed there. The man, identified in court papers as O.C.G., was the first person known to have been returned to US custody after deportation since the start of President Donald Trump's second term. Global policymakers, international experts and business representatives came together at the Astana International Forum to discuss the way forward in a world full of uncertainties and conflicts. Titled 'Connecting Minds, Shaping the Future,' the Astana International Forum (AIF) gathered over 160 international speakers and around 7,000 participants. The event kicked off with a plenary session, where heads of state and high-ranking officials expressed worry over the state the world is in today. President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, highlighted growing polarisation and increased confrontation between states. According to him, conflicts are brewing in 52 states, while their economic toll amounts to $19 trillion (€16 trillion), or 13.5% of global GDP. Rwandan President, Paul Kagame, underlined that global challenges are interconnected and require integrated solutions. Vulnerabilities only get worse when external alignment occurs without internal stability. Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, President of North Macedonia, spoke about the need for reforms in the United Nations. The organisation's bylaws were written 80 years ago and did not envisage the technology and complexity of the world in 2025. Ban Ki-moon, serving as the President and Chair of the Global Green Growth Institute, noted that climate change and deterioration of the environment can only be solved collectively, while Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Qu Dongyu highlighted that food is a basic human right and peace is a prerequisite for food security. The plenary session was followed by around 40 panels, side events and one-on-one sessions covering trade, transportation, green energy, carbon neutrality, climate action, economy, finance, development of AI and more. First and foremost, the Astana International Forum is a platform for connections and networking, including for business. As part of the forum, companies from France and Italy met with Kazakh businessmen and signed several agreements. France signed 15 agreements with Kazakhstan, key among them being a €90 million (€78 million) project for the construction of a hydrogen production plant, which will help decrease carbon emissions. Italy and Kazakhstan signed 10 memorandums for a total of €180 million (€157 million). The projects cover logistics, mechanical engineering, agricultural processing, industrial digitalisation and green energy. Negative effects of trade were also discussed at one the of the panels, where speakers considered how trade is weaponised today to serve egotistic goals. If in the 2010s global powers were promoting free trade, the wind has changed in the last decade. Experts share that trade is an effective weapon, especially in short term, but what matters is the goal behind it. Central Asia's role as a transit hub between China and Europe is undeniable today. The role of the Middle Corridor in this regard and its future development were also discussed during AIF. 'The turnover grew by 62 percent in 2024 and reached 4.5 million tonnes of cargo. The aim is to reach 10 million tonnes in 2027. About $15 billion (€13 billion) have already been invested in the development of infrastructure and transportation time sharply reduced to almost 14-18 days,' noted Director of Kazakhstan's Institute for Strategic Studies, Yerkin Tukumov. 'The Middle Corridor will not solve all the problems because it is and will remain very expensive for certain goods to go over land. But it can be a medium-term solution, one of the alternatives,' countered Jurgen Rigterink, First Vice President of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Kazakhstan also announced a new transport initiative called Kazakhstan at the Crossroads of the Continents. Considering that almost 80% of goods from Asia to Europe travel through Kazakhstan, the country is trying to ease the process by consolidating all transportation related services and companies in one platform. While the temperatures in the rest of the world are projected to grow by 3.7°C by the 2090s, temperatures in Central Asia will rise by 5.8°C, almost twice as much. This will jeopardise a variety of sectors, including water security, food security, economic stability, employment rates and migration. 'Climate change is not a standalone problem. It rather multiplies the threats and the problems in many different sectors,' highlighted Zulfiya Suleimenova, Advisor to the President of Kazakhstan. 'Climate change is a huge problem in Central Asia and we cannot really be speaking about sustainable economic development in our region without addressing climate related challenges.' For the region to effectively combat the problem it requires robust funding, but so far has only attracted less than 1% of global climate financing. One of the sessions at the forum directed attention to general accessibility and affordability of climate financing. The session was also able to bring together Central Asian ministries of economy and ecology to discuss acceleration of climate action. In the context of growing climate concerns, the importance of transition to green energy and diminishing of carbon emissions is underscored. Kazakhstan has set itself an ambitious goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2060. So far, emissions reduced by only 6%. To help the matter, the UAE-based company Masdar has pledged $1 billion (€880 million) for the development of renewable energy in Kazakhstan. At one of the panels, speakers highlighted Kazakhstan's potential in renewable energy, especially wind energy. The vast steppes can potentially generate 1 billion kW hours per year, which is eight times the need of the country, leaving the rest for export. Experts also noted that development of renewable energy infrastructure has driven the demand for rare earth elements, which have become the 'new gold.' In that sense, Central Asia has an advantage of rare earths reserves. Kazakhstan alone has 19 out of 34 rare earth metals. No discussion on Friday happened without mentioning the benefits and threats of artificial intelligence. The forum participants deliberated on AI regulation in terms of ethical and safe use. 'Soon AI will know more about you than you know yourself. Are you ready for such information to be shared without your permission? Even with government agencies, let alone publicly. I think we need to prepare for a new era of AI, look at it positively, but prepare legislatively, organisationally, and personnel-wise,' noted Yerkin Tukumov, Director of Kazakhstan's Institute for Strategic Studies. At the same time, Kazakh Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry Zhaslan Madiyev noted that Kazakhstan is already preparing a law that will regulate AI use to prevent its abuse. 'The idea is not to overregulate, but to consider some of the ethical standards,' Madiyev said, noting that the law is under consideration by the parliament at the moment. Over two days, the Astana International Forum pulsed with dialogue, exchange, and collaboration. From parallel sessions to high-level networking, participants sought common ground and fresh solutions, leaving with a shared commitment to shaping a more stable, sustainable future.
