Trump has brought PGA closer to deal with Saudi-backed LIV Golf, PGA commissioner says
Feb 6 (Reuters) - Professional Golfers' Association Commissioner Jay Monahan said on Thursday President Donald Trump has brought the PGA and Saudi-backed LIV Golf closer to a deal to reunify the game.
"We asked the president to get involved for the good of the game," Monahan and player directors Adam Scott and Tiger Woods said in a statement. "We are grateful for his leadership has brought us closer to a final deal."
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The Independent
21 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump's plan to begin 'phasing out' FEMA after hurricane season burdens states, experts warn
President Donald Trump 's plan to begin 'phasing out' the federal agency that responds to disasters after the 2025 hurricane season is likely to put more responsibilities on states to provide services following increasingly frequent and expensive climate disasters, experts said. 'We want to wean off of FEMA and we want to bring it down to the state level,' Trump said Tuesday in an Oval Office appearance with administration officials about preparations for summer wildfires. Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have repeatedly signaled their desire to overhaul, if not completely eliminate, the 46-year-old Federal Emergency Management Agency. While there has been bipartisan support for reforming the agency, experts say dismantling it completely would leave gaps in crucial services and funding. 'It just causes more concern on how states should be planning for the future if the federal government's not going to be there for them,' said Michael Coen, FEMA chief of staff during the Obama and Biden administrations. Disaster response is already locally led and state-managed, but FEMA supports by coordinating resources from federal agencies, providing direct assistance programs for households and moving money to states for repairing public infrastructure. Trump said Tuesday he wants to 'give out less money,' and to 'give it out directly,' sidestepping FEMA programs. He said he did not know who would distribute the funds, saying they could come 'from the president's office' or DHS. 'I was left with the impression that he doesn't really understand the scale of what FEMA manages on a yearly basis with a budget of over $30 billion,' said Coen. Dismantling FEMA, or even changing how much of the costs it shares with states in the event of a major disaster declaration, would require action from Congress, including amending the 1988 Stafford Act, which outlines FEMA's roles and responsibilities and the cost share between the feds and the states. Declaring fewer major disasters or giving less federal support could put an untenable financial burden on states, said Sara McTarnaghan, principal research associate at the Urban Institute. 'Very few of them would have had enough funds set aside to anticipate the federal government stepping back from its historic role in disaster recovery for major events,' McTarnaghan said. A recent Urban Institute analysis found that between 2008-2024, quadrupling the economic threshold of when major disasters are declared would have shifted $41 billion in public assistance costs alone to state and local governments. 'I think the trade off for states and communities is going to be, do we accept a less full recovery or do states draw on other resources to meet these goals and needs, perhaps at the cost of investments in other kinds of social programs or functions of the state,' said McTarnaghan. Not all states will be able to generate much more revenue, she added. 'The confluence of states that have really high disaster exposure and states that have relatively limited fiscal capacity are overlapping in many ways,' she said. 'That's the case for a lot of states along the Gulf Coast that we're concerned about going into hurricane season but also the case for some Midwestern states that face issues with severe convective storms.' Trump dismissed the idea that states can't handle the bulk of disasters on their own. 'The governor should be able to handle it and frankly if they can't handle the aftermath, then maybe they shouldn't be governor,' he said. He suggested that some of the gaps could be filled by more collaboration among states. Noem said FEMA is building communication and mutual aid agreements among states 'to respond to each other so that they can stand on their own two feet.' A national mutual-aid structure called the Emergency Management Assistance Compact already exists, but its operations are typically reimbursed by the federal government, said Coen. 'There's already robust communication between states. The confusion is what they can expect from the federal government.' Regarding the current hurricane season, which began June 1, Noem said FEMA 'stands prepared.' But there have already been changes to how the agency operates. It suspended its door-to-door canvassing program that helped enroll survivors for assistance. More than 2,000 FEMA staff, around one-third of the full-time workforce, have left or been fired since January. After severe weather this spring, some states waited as long as eight weeks for their disaster declaration requests, and several requests are still pending. Trump has not approved any requests for hazard mitigation assistance since February, a typical add-on to individual and public assistance that helps states build back in more resilient ways. A FEMA review council established by Trump and co-chaired by Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will submit suggestions for reforms in the next few months, according to Noem. In its first meeting in May, Noem told the group of governors, emergency managers, and other officials primarily from Republican states that Trump is seeking drastic change. 'I don't want you to go into this thinking we're going to make a little tweak here,' she said. 'No, FEMA should no longer exist as it is.' ___
The Independent
31 minutes ago
- The Independent
Nintendo says sales of its Switch 2 hit a record within four days
Nintendo says it sold more than 3.5 million of its new Switch 2 gaming consoles within the first four days since its release — breaking a record for the company. In a Wednesday announcement, Nintendo said that this marks the 'highest global sales level' for any of hardware it's sold within that window of time. The Japanese gaming company officially launched the Switch 2 on June 5. Fans of the console's eight-year-old predecessor have been clamoring for an upgrade for years. Throngs of gamers stood in long lines outside stores for the Switch 2's release around the world last week — less than two months after a chaotic rush for preorders quickly sold out. Nintendo is counting on the Switch 2 to boost sagging sales. And in addition to a larger screen and new games, the console has added social features aimed at luring new players into online gaming. Nintendo has said it expects to sell 15 million Switch 2 consoles for the fiscal year through March 2026. The 3.5 million sold in the first four days includes the Nintendo Switch 2's Mario Kart World Bundle, as well as the Switch 2's Japanes e-language and multi-language systems sold in Japan. The Switch 2's baseline price of $449.99 is significantly higher than the original Switch's $299 price tag. While new bells and whistles may account for a sizeable portion of that hike, experts have previously noted that new tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump are also a contributor. Evaluating the impact of these import taxes also led Nintendo to delay its April preorders by several weeks.
Sky News
33 minutes ago
- Sky News
Donald Trump to visit Kennedy Center for Les Mis - as cast members 'plan to boycott'
Les Miserables, what else. The hit musical about anti-government protest is now showing at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Donald Trump will be in the audience for Wednesday's performance for what amounts to a busman's holiday. The script of Les Miserables barely presents a break from the day job - Trump won't be the only one getting a sense of art imitating life, as the real thing plays out on the streets of LA. It is the first show the president has chosen to attend since he made sweeping changes at the iconic venue, prompting an outcry and accusations that he was politicising art and 'MAGAfying' the venerated institution. According to CNN, a number of Les Miserables cast members plan to sit out the performance in protest. The Kennedy Center is a prestigious venue that showcases the best of American performance art. More than 2,000 shows per year include the famous honours ceremony, an annual event that celebrates artists who have made a significant contribution to US culture. Honourees through the years have included Joni Mitchell, Aretha Franklin, the Grateful Dead and Francis Ford Coppola. Following his election in November, Trump made himself chairman of the Kennedy Center's board and replaced members with political loyalists. Traditionally, the board has been made up of individuals from across the political spectrum; after his election, Trump got rid of 18 members and replaced them with political soulmates, including his chief of staff Susie Wiles and Fox presenters Laura Ingraham and Maria Bartimoro. Donald Trump signalled a change in artistic direction at the Kennedy Center when he wrote on social media of "Drag shows specifically targeting our youth", and said of its production schedule: "We didn't like what they were showing, we're going to make sure it's good and it's not going to be woke." His changes prompted a number of acts to cancel shows at the venue in protest. The touring production of Broadway hit Hamilton cancelled dates, as did actor and producer Issa Rae, writer Louise Penny and Pulitzer Prize-winning folk musician Rhiannon Giddens. 👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈 Trump's attendance at the Les Mis performance is designed to boost fundraising, with donors paying up to $2m to attend a reception with the president. Ticket sales and subscriptions have, reportedly, slumped since Trump's changes although the centre's management points out its campaign to renew subscriptions has been launched later this year than last. Trump is expected to watch the performance of Les Miserables from the presidential box, in the company of his wife, Melania. Vice president JD Vance will also be there. When he attended a performance by the National Symphony Orchestra in March with his wife, he was booed by members of the audience.
