Bitter Kabul winter leaves vulnerable Afghan families in crisis
Freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall have pushed vulnerable Afghan families to breaking point, adding new pressure to a country already battered b...
President Donald Trump is touting strong job numbers as proof of his economic leadership while blaming former President Joe Biden for lingering problems, even as economic indicators show mixed signals.
“I think the good parts are the Trump economy and the bad parts are the Biden economy because he’s done a terrible job,” President Donald Trump said in an interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker set to air on “Meet the Press.” “He did a terrible job on everything, from his autopen — which I’m sure he knew nothing about, some of the things he was supposedly signing.”
Trump did not explain how he separates the impacts of each presidency on the current state of the economy. Still, he was quick to link April’s better-than-expected jobs report to his own policies, despite only recently returning to the White House.
In the first 100 days of his new term, Trump has aggressively pushed to overhaul the global economic order, reintroducing broad tariffs that affect both rivals and allies. He has also prioritized bringing manufacturing back to the U.S., though many of his punitive measures have been temporarily paused for 90 days to allow time for negotiations.
However, the early data has not been entirely favorable. The U.S. economy contracted in the first quarter of 2025, a notable downturn from the 2.4 percent growth seen in the final quarter of 2024. Consumer confidence has also taken a hit.
“Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers,” Trump wrote on Truth Social last week. “Our country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden ‘Overhang.’ This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other. BE PATIENT!!!”
In April, U.S. employers added 177,000 jobs and hourly wages rose, although many of the federal job cuts proposed by the Trump administration have not yet impacted employment figures. Despite these gains, Trump’s approval rating on economic issues stands at just 39 percent, according to a recent CNN poll.
“Ultimately, I take responsibility for everything,” Trump told Welker. “But I’ve only just been here for a little more than three months.”
He added, “The stock market — look at what’s happened in the last short period of time. Didn’t it have nine or 10 days in a row, or 11 days, where it’s gone up? And the tariffs have just started kicking in. And we’re doing really well. Psychologically, I mean, the fake news was giving me such press on the tariffs. The tariffs are going to make us rich. We’re going to be a very rich country.”
The S&P 500 edged to a record closing high on Tuesday, marking its fifth consecutive day of gains, as strong advances in technology stocks offset a sharp selloff in healthcare shares and a mixed batch of corporate earnings.
Residents in Syria’s Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli have stepped up volunteer patrols amid growing pressure from the country’s Islamist-led government, expressing deep mistrust of Damascus despite a fragile U.S.-backed ceasefire.
Liverpool confirmed direct qualification to the UEFA Champions League round of 16 with a 6-0 win over Qarabağ at Anfield in their final league-phase match. Despite the setback, Qarabağ secured a play-off spot, with results elsewhere going in the Azerbaijani champions’ favour on the final matchday.
Iraq's former Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki said on Wednesday that he rejects U.S. interference in Iraq's internal affairs, after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to cut off support to the country if Maliki was picked as prime minister.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa stressed to U.S. President Donald Trump in a phone call on Tuesday the importance of unifying international efforts to prevent the return of "terrorist groups", including Islamic State.
“For some weeks now, we have been seeing with increasing clarity the emergence of a world of great powers,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday (29 January), declaring that Europe had found “self-respect” in standing up for a rules-based global order.
Colombian authorities on Wednesday (28 January) located a missing plane carrying 15 people in the northeast of the country, with no survivors found, an Air Force source and local media said.
Chinese authorities say they've carried out capital punishment against a group of individuals tied to notorious telecommunications fraud syndicates operating across the southern border, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party is likely to increase its number of parliamentary seats and gain a majority in the lower house, a preliminary survey by the Nikkei newspaper showed on Thursday (29 January).
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for the 29th of January, covering the latest developments you need to know.
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