Author: News Room

Republicans in Congress have responded to President Trump’s unilateral moves to freeze federal spending, dismantle programs and fire civil servants with a collective shrug, staying mostly silent and even praising him as he circumvents the legislative branch.But in recent days, as his slash-and-burn campaign to remake the government has begun to affect their states and districts, some Republicans have tried to push back in subtle ways. They have sought carve outs and special consideration for agriculture programs, scientific research and more, even as they cheered on Mr. Trump’s overall approach.Their swift and quiet moves to protect their own pieces of…

U.S. inflation rose to 3 percent in January, strengthening the case for the Federal Reserve to extend a pause on interest rate cuts.The Consumer Price Index jumped more than expected, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed on Wednesday, rising 0.5 percent from December in what was the fastest monthly increase since August 2023. Last month, the annual pace was 2.9 percent.“Core” C.P.I., which more closely reflects underlying inflation by removing volatile food and energy prices, also showed little improvement. It rose 0.4 percent from December or 3.3 percent on a year-over-year basis, both higher than economists expected. The…

Canned tuna sold at grocery stores in 26 states and in Washington, D.C., was recalled because of botulism risks, the Food and Drug Administration and Tri-Union Seafoods said on Friday.The F.D.A. said that Tri-Union Seafoods had voluntarily recalled the tuna “out of an abundance of caution” after being notified of potential issues with the product seal. The “easy open” pull tab on some products, including those sold at Trader Joe’s and Costco, was defective, meaning that the tuna could have been contaminated with clostridium botulinum, a potentially fatal form of food poisoning.Here’s what to know.Which brands are affected and where?Here’s…

We’ve got some more thoughts on Elon Musk’s $97 billion hostile bid for Sam Altman’s OpenAI, which, we’re told, still hasn’t been delivered to anyone at OpenAI.Assuming an offer does show up, from a legal standpoint it’s actually dead on arrival. That’s because the board of OpenAI has no legal fiduciary duty to maximize investor returns in the for-profit subsidiary. The only duty the board has is to the charter of the organization, which includes in its mission: “to avoid enabling uses of A.I. or A.G.I. that harm humanity or unduly concentrate power.” It can decide whether an acquirer of…

President Trump promised voters that, if elected, he would enact policies that would bring prices down on “Day 1” in office.But three weeks into his term, Mr. Trump and White House officials have become more measured in how they discuss their efforts to tame inflation. They have begun downplaying the likelihood that consumer costs like groceries will decline anytime soon, reflecting the limited power that presidents have to control prices. Those are largely determined by global economic forces.The shifting tone could allow Mr. Trump to reset expectations about how fast prices will come down as he pursues policies like tariffs…

Fred Savage, the actor best known for his childhood role in the television comedy “The Wonder Years,” has taken on a new part in real life: watch collector and entrepreneur.In the past six months or so, he attended Geneva Watch Days, WatchTime New York and the Dec. 6 Important Watches auction at Sotheby’s New York. He also is a member of Classic Watch Club, a collectors’ group in Manhattan, and owns about 50 watches.“Watch collecting started as a hobby, because I was really interested in these mechanical objects that still worked and looked so great a hundred years after they…

A pillar of President Trump’s policies has been tariffs, which are taxes on products imported from other countries. He has imposed or threatened to impose them as a way to influence global supply chains, raise revenue and extract concessions from other countries. But what can often be lost amid proclamations targeting other countries is who ultimately pays for tariffs. It often isn’t the country itself. Understanding who will end up paying for the higher costs means understanding how manufacturing, trade and supply chains function — and how costs build along each step of the complex process. Take shoes, for example.…

The economic relationship between India and the United States is widely seen as good for both sides. Two-way trade is growing and, alone among Asian countries, India routinely trades more with the United States than it does with China, its neighbor and rival.Yet under President Trump, trade is a point of friction. Like virtually all countries that do business with the United States, India runs a surplus: Last year it shipped about $87 billion worth of goods and imported $42 billion, adding $46 billion to America’s trade deficit.Mr. Trump does not like those kinds of figures. He has railed against…

World leaders, tech moguls and assorted hangers-on (including yours truly) are gathered in Paris this week for the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit, a conference co-hosted by Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, to discuss a host of A.I.-related issues.The leaders of three American A.I. companies — Sam Altman of OpenAI, Dario Amodei of Anthropic and Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind — are here, as are a flock of prominent A.I. leaders, academic researchers and civil society groups. (Vice President JD Vance, who is leading the U.S. delegation, is expected to appear on Tuesday.)Between bites of…

California’s home insurance plan of last resort, designed for people who can’t get coverage on the private market, does not have enough money to pay claims from the Los Angeles wildfires and is getting an infusion of cash from regular insurers.State regulators said Tuesday that they will allow the program, known as the FAIR Plan, to collect $1 billion from private insurance companies doing business in California to pay its claims. That is likely to drive up insurance costs for homeowners across the state.The situation marks a perilous new stage for California’s home insurance market, which had already been reeling…