© Julia Gartland for The New York Times
NEW YORK — Leaders of Young Republican groups throughout the country worried what would happen if their Telegram chat ever got leaked, but they kept typing anyway.
They referred to Black people as monkeys and “the watermelon people” and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies and driving them to suicide and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery.
William Hendrix, the Kansas Young Republicans’ vice chair, used the words “n--ga” and “n--guh,” variations of a racial slur, more than a dozen times in the chat. Bobby Walker, the vice chair of the New York State Young Republicans at the time, referred to rape as “epic.” Peter Giunta, who at the time was chair of the same organization, wrote in a message sent in June that “everyone that votes no is going to the gas chamber.”
Giunta was referring to an upcoming vote on whether he should become chairman of the Young Republican National Federation, the GOP’s 15,000-member political organization for Republicans between 18 and 40 years old.
“Im going to create some of the greatest physiological torture methods known to man. We only want true believers,” he continued.
Two members of the chat responded.
“Can we fix the showers? Gas chambers don’t fit the Hitler aesthetic,” Joe Maligno, who previously identified himself as the general counsel for the New York State Young Republicans, wrote back.
“I’m ready to watch people burn now,” Annie Kaykaty, New York’s national committeewoman, said.
The exchange is part of a trove of Telegram chats — obtained by POLITICO and spanning more than seven months of messages among Young Republican leaders in New York, Kansas, Arizona and Vermont. The chat offers an unfiltered look at how a new generation of GOP activists talk when they think no one is listening.
Since POLITICO began making inquiries, one member of the group chat is no longer employed at their job and another’s job offer was rescinded. Prominent New York Republicans, including Rep. Elise Stefanik and state Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt, have denounced the chat. And festering resentments among Young Republicans have now turned into public recriminations, including allegations of character assassination and extortion.
The 2,900 pages of chats, shared among a dozen millennial and Gen Z Republicans between early January and mid-August, chronicle their campaign to seize control of the national Young Republican organization on a hardline pro-Donald Trump platform. Many of the chat members already work inside government or party politics, and one serves as a state senator.
Together, the messages reveal a culture where racist, antisemitic and violent rhetoric circulate freely — and where the Trump-era loosening of political norms has made such talk feel less taboo among those positioning themselves as the party’s next leaders.
“The more the political atmosphere is open and liberating — like it has been with the emergence of Trump and a more right wing GOP even before him — it opens up young people and older people to telling racist jokes, making racist commentaries in private and public,” said Joe Feagin, a Texas A&M sociology professor who has studied racism for the last 60 years. He’s also concerned the words would be applied to public policy. “It’s chilling, of course, because they will act on these views.”
The dynamic of easy racism and casual cruelty played out in often dark, vivid fashion inside the chats, where campaign talk and party gossip blurred into streams of slurs and violent fantasies.
The group chat members spoke freely about the pressure to cow to Trump to avoid being called a RINO, the love of Nazis within their party’s right wing and the president’s alleged work to suppress documents related to wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein’s child sex crimes.
“Trumps too busy burning the Epstein files,” Alex Dwyer, the chair of the Kansas Young Republicans, wrote in one instance.
Dwyer and Kaykaty declined to comment. Maligno and Hendrix did not return requests for comment.
But some involved in the chat did respond publicly.
Giunta claimed the release of the chat is part of “a highly-coordinated year-long character assassination led by Gavin Wax and the New York City Young Republican Club” — an allusion to a once obscured internecine war that has now spilled into the open.
“These logs were sourced by way of extortion and provided to POLITICO by the very same people conspiring against me,” he said. “What’s most disheartening is that, despite my unwavering support of President Trump since 2016, rouge (sic) members of his administration — including Gavin Wax — have participated in this conspiracy to ruin me publicly simply because I challenged them privately.”
Wax, a staffer in Trump’s State Department, formerly led the New York Young Republican Club — a separate, city-based group that is at odds with the state organization, the New York State Young Republicans. He declined to comment.
Despite his allusions to infighting, Giunta still apologized.
“I am so sorry to those offended by the insensitive and inexcusable language found within the more than 28,000 messages of a private group chat that I created during my campaign to lead the Young Republicans,” he said. “While I take complete responsibility, I have had no way of verifying their accuracy and am deeply concerned that the message logs in question may have been deceptively doctored.”
At least one person in the Telegram chat works in the Trump administration: Michael Bartels, who, according to his LinkedIn account, serves as a senior adviser in the office of general counsel within the U.S. Small Business Administration. Bartels did not have much to say in the chat, but he didn’t offer any pushback against the offensive rhetoric in it either. He declined to comment.
A notarized affidavit signed by Bartels and obtained by POLITICO also sheds light on the intraparty rivalry that led the “RESTOREYR WAR ROOM” Telegram chat to be made public. Bartels references Wax as well. He wrote that he did not give POLITICO the chat and that Wax “demanded” in a phone call that he provide the full chat log.
“When I attempted to resist that demand, after providing some of the requested information, Wax threatened my professional standing, and raised the possibility of potential legal action related to an alleged breach of a non-disclosure agreement,” Bartels claimed in the affidavit. “My position within the New York Young Republican Club was directly threatened.”
Walker, who now leads the New York State Young Republicans, touched on a similar theme, saying that he believes portions of the chat “may have been altered, taken out of context, or otherwise manipulated” and that the “private exchanges were obtained and released in a way clearly intended to inflict harm.”
He also apologized.
“There is no excuse for the language and tone in messages attributed to me. The language is wrong and hurtful, and I sincerely apologize,” Walker said. “This has been a painful lesson about judgment and trust, and I am committed to moving forward with greater care, respect, and accountability in everything I say and do.”
Mixed into formal conversations about whipping votes, social media strategy and logistics, the members of the chat slung around an array of slurs — which POLITICO is republishing to show how they spoke. Epithets like “f----t,” “retarded” and “n--ga” appeared more than 251 times combined.
In one instance, Walker — who at the time was a staffer for Ortt — talked about how a mutual friend of some in the chat “dated this very obese Indian woman for a period of time.”
Giunta responded that the woman “was not Indian.”
“She just didn’t bathe often,” Samuel Douglass, a state senator from northern Vermont and the head of the state’s Young Republicans, replied to Giunta.
In a separate conversation, Giunta shared that his flight to Charleston, South Carolina, landed safely. Then, he offered some advice for his fellow Young Republicans.
“If your pilot is a she and she looks ten shades darker than someone from Sicily, just end it there. Scream the no no word,” Giunta wrote.
Douglass did not respond to requests for comment.
In a statement, Ortt called for members of the chat to resign.
“I was shocked and disgusted to learn about the racist, anti-Semitic, and misogynistic comments attributed to members of the New York State Young Republicans,” Ortt said. “This behavior is indefensible and has no place in our party or anywhere in public life.”
Walker had been in line to manage Republican Peter Oberacker’s campaign for Congress in upstate New York, but a spokesperson for the campaign said Walker won’t be brought on in light of the comments in the chat.
The private rhetoric isn’t happening in a vacuum. It comes amid a widespread coarsening of the broader political discourse and as incendiary and racially offensive tropes from the right become increasingly common in public debate. Last month, Trump posted an AI-generated video that showed House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in a sombrero beside Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, whose fabricated remarks were about trading free health care for immigrant votes — a false, long-running GOP trope. The sombrero meme has been widely used to mock Democrats as the government shutdown wears on.
In his 2024 campaign, Trump spread false reports of Haitian migrants eating pets and, at one of his rallies, welcomed comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” and joked about Black people “carving watermelons” on Halloween.
Liz Huston, a White House spokesperson, rejected the idea that Trump’s rhetoric had anything to do with the chat members’ language.
“Only an activist, left-wing reporter would desperately try to tie President Trump into a story about a random groupchat he has no affiliation with, while failing to mention the dangerous smears coming from Democrat politicians who have fantasized about murdering their opponent and called Republicans Nazis and Fascists,” she said. “No one has been subjected to more vicious rhetoric and violence than President Trump and his supporters.”
In the “RESTOREYR WAR ROOM” chat, Giunta tells his fellow Republicans that he spoke with the White House about an endorsement from Trump for his bid to become chairman of the national federation. Trump and the Republican National Committee ultimately decided to stay neutral in the race.
A White House official said that it has no affiliation with RESTORE YR and that hundreds of groups ask the White House for its endorsement.
Giunta was the most prominent voice in the chat spreading racist messages — often encouraged or “liked” by other members.
When Luke Mosiman, the chair of the Arizona Young Republicans, asked if the New Yorkers in the chat were watching an NBA playoff game, Giunta responded, “I’d go to the zoo if I wanted to watch monkey play ball.” Giunta elsewhere refers to Black people as “the watermelon people.”
Hendrix made a similar remark in July: “Bro is at a chicken restaurant ordering his food. Would he like some watermelon and kool aid with that?”
Hendrix was a communications assistant for Kansas’ Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach until Thursday. He also said in the chat that, despite political differences, he’s drawn to Missouri’s Young Republican organization because “Missouri doesn’t like f--s.”
POLITICO reached out to Danedri Herbert, a spokesperson for the attorney general who also serves as the Kansas GOP Chair, and shared with her excerpts of the chat involving Hendrix. In response, Herbert said “we are aware of the issues raised in your article” and that Hendrix is “no longer employed” in Kobach’s office.
In another exchange, Dwyer, the Kansas’ chair, informs Giunta that one of Michigan’s Young Republicans promised him the group “will vote for the most right wing person” to lead the national organization.
“Great. I love Hitler,” Giunta responded.
Dwyer reacted with a smiley face.
Giunta, who serves as chief of staff to New York state Assemblymember Mike Reilly, ultimately fell six points short of winning the chairmanship to lead the Young Republican National Federation earlier this year — despite earning endorsements from Stefanik and longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone.
Reilly did not respond to requests for comment.
Earlier this year, Stefanik accepted an award from the New York State Young Republicans. She lauded Giunta for his “tremendous leadership” in August and had her campaign and the political PAC she leads donate to that state organization. Alex deGrasse, a senior adviser for Stefanik, said the congresswoman “was absolutely appalled to learn about the alleged comments made by leaders of the New York State Young Republicans and other state YRs in a large national group chat.”
“According to the description provided by Politico, the comments were heinous, antisemitic, racist and unacceptable,” he continued, noting Stefanik has never employed anyone in the chat. “If the description by Politico is accurate, Congresswoman Stefanik calls for any NY Young Republicans responsible for these horrific comments in this chat to step down immediately.”
Stone also condemned the comments in a statement.
“I of course, have never seen this alleged chat room thread,” he said. “If it is authentic, I would, of course, denounce any such comments in the strongest possible terms, This would surprise me as it is inconsistent with Peter that I know, although I only know him in his capacity as the head of the New York Young Republicans, where I thought he did a good job.”
Few minority groups are spared from the Young Republican group’s chat. Their rhetoric — normalized at most points as dark humor — mirrors some popular conservative political commentators, podcasters and comedians amid a national erosion of what’s considered acceptable discourse.
Giunta’s line on a darker-skinned pilot, for example, echoes one used by slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk last year when he said, “If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, boy, I hope he’s qualified.” Kirk was discussing how diversity hiring “invites unwholesome thinking.”
Walker also uses the moniker “eyepatch McCain” (originally coined by conservative commentator Tucker Carlson) in an apparent reference to GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw. Crenshaw lost his eye while serving as a Navy SEAL in Afghanistan. Walker also makes the remark, “I prefer my war heroes not captured,” a repeat of a similar 2015 line from Trump.
Art Jipson, a professor at the University of Dayton who specializes in white racial extremism, surmised the Young Republicans in the chat were influenced by Trump’s language, which he said is often hyperbolic and emotionally charged.
“Trump’s persistent use of hostile, often inflammatory language that normalizes aggressive discourse in conservative circles can be incredibly influential on young operatives who are still trying to figure out, ‘What is that political discourse?’” Jipson said.
Jipson reviewed multiple excerpts of the Young Republicans’ chat provided by POLITICO. One was a late July message where Mosiman, the chair of the Arizona Young Republicans, mused about how the group could win support for their preferred candidate by linking an opponent to white supremacist groups. But Mosiman then realized the plan could backfire — Kansas’ Young Republicans could end up becoming attracted to that opponent.
“Can we get them to start releasing Nazi edits with her… Like pro Nazi and faciam (sic) propaganda,” he asked the group.
“Omg I love this plan,” Rachel Hope, the Arizona Young Republicans events chair, responded.
“The only problem is we will lose the Kansas delegation,” Mosiman said. Hope and the two Kansas Young Republicans in the chat reacted with a laughing face to the message. Hope did not respond to requests for comment. Mosiman declined to comment.
Jipson said the Young Republicans’ conversations reminded him of online discussions between members of neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups.
“You say it once or twice, it's a joke, but you say it 251 times, it's no longer a joke,” Jipson said. “The more we repeat certain ideas, the more real they become to us.”
Weeks later, someone in the chat staying in a hotel asks its members to “GUESS WHAT ROOM WE’RE IN.”
“1488,” Dwyer responds. White supremacists use the number 1488 because 14 is the number of words in the white supremacist slogan “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” H is the eighth letter in the alphabet, and 88 is often used as a shorthand for “Heil Hitler.”
In another conversation in February, Giunta talks approvingly about the Orange County Teenage Republican organization in New York — which appears to be part of the network of national Teen Age Republicans — and how he was pleased with its young members’ ideological bent.
“They support slavery and all that shit. Mega based,” he said. The term “based” in internet culture is used to express approval with an idea, often one that’s bold or controversial.
In a statement, Orange County GOP Chairwoman Courtney Canfield Greene said the party was disappointed to learn its teen group was mentioned in the chat.
"Our teen volunteers have no affiliation with the NYSYR's or the YRNF,” she said. “This behavior has no home within the Republican Party in Orange County."
Ed Cox, the chair of the New York State GOP, also condemned the remarks made in the chat.
“I was shocked and disgusted to learn about the reports of comments made by a small group of Young Republicans,” he said. “Just as we call out vile racist and anti-Semetic rhetoric on the far left, we must not tolerate it within our ranks.”
Members of the Telegram chat speak about their personal lives, too. Extensive discussions about their everyday lives include one exchange about how devoutly Catholic some chat members are and how often they attend church.
Many of the slurs, epithets and violent language used in the chat often appear to be intended as jokes.
Mosiman was derided by members of the chat as “beaner” and “sp-c.”
“Stay in the closet faggot,” Walker of New York also jested in July, though he is the group’s main target for the same epithet.
The group used slurs against Asians, too.
“My people built the train tracks with the Chinese,” Walker says at one point, referring to his Italian ancestors.
“Let his people go!” Maligno responds. “Keep the ch--ks, though.”
In another instance, Mosiman tells the group that, “The Spanish came to America and had sex with every single woman.”
“Sex is gay,” Dwyer writes.
“Sex? It was rape,” Mosiman replies.
“Epic,” Walker says.
There’s more explicit malice in some phrases, too, especially when they turn their ire on opponents outside the chat, such as the leader of the rival Grow YR slate, Hayden Padgett, who defeated Giunta and was reelected chairman of the Young Republican National Federation this summer.
“So you mean Hayden F----t wrote the resolution himself?” Giunta asked the group about the National Young Republicans chair in late May.
“RAPE HAYDEN,” Mosiman declared the following month.
“Adolf Padgette is in the F----tbunker as we speak,” Walker said in July.
Padgett responded to the chat’s language in a statement.
“The Young Republican National Federation condemns all forms of racism, antisemitism, and hate,” Padgett said. “I want to be clear that such behavior is entirely inconsistent with our values and has no place within our organization or the broader conservative movement.”
Giunta also had expletive-laden criticism for the Young Republicans in states that were supporting or leaning toward Padgett’s faction.
“Minnesota - f----ts,” he messaged, continuing: “Arkansas - inbred cow fuckers Nebraska - revolt in our favor; blocked their bind and have a majority of their delegates Maryland - fat stinky Jew … Rhode Island - traitorous c---s who I will eradicate from the face of this planet.”
Giunta also said he planned to make one of the competing Young Republicans “unalive himself on the convention floor.”
In another instance, Douglass, the Vermont state senator, describes to the group members how one of Padgett’s Jewish colleagues may have made a procedural error related to the number of Maryland delegates permitted at the national convention.
“I was about to say you’re giving nationals to (sic) much credit and expecting the Jew to be honest,” Brianna Douglass, Sam’s wife and Vermont Young Republican’s national committeewoman, replied to her husband’s message. Brianna Douglass did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
While reporting this article, POLITICO was examining a separate allegation: that Giunta and the Young Republicans mismanaged the New York organization’s finances and hadn’t paid at least one venue for a swanky holiday party it hosted last year. POLITICO’s report detailed how the organization was missing required financial disclosure forms and how their subsequent efforts to file the forms revealed the organization was in more than $28,000 of debt. As of Tuesday, updated records show the organization is in more than $38,000 of debt.
Donations to New York State Young Republicans' political account must be reported to the state Board of Elections. Expenditures must be reported too.
At the time, Giunta told POLITICO the allegations were “nothing more than a sad and pathetic attempt at a political hit job.” But in their “RESTOREYR WAR ROOM” chat, he and Walker speak flippantly about mishandling the club’s finances.
“NYSYR Account be like: $500 - Balding cream $1,000 - Ozempik,” Walker said in one message. “NYSYR will be declaring bankruptcy after this I just know it,” he said in another.
“I drained $10k tonight to pay for my next vacation to Italy,” Giunta appeared to joke about the organization’s bank account.
“I spent it on massage,” he says of another check that was deposited in the account.
“Great. Can’t wait to get sued by our venue,” Walker replies.
Members of the chat occasionally appeared to be aware of its toxicity and even made remarks that considered the possibility someone outside their tight-knit group could view it.
Walker seemed to consider that possibility the most.
In one instance, he joked about bombing the Young Republican National Federation’s convention in Nashville and then remarked, “Just kidding for our assigned FBI tracker.”
In another, he considered the totality of the thousands of messages he and his peers had written, and what would happen if the public saw them come to light.
“If we ever had a leak of this chat we would be cooked fr fr,” he wrote.
© Illustration by Jade Cuevas/POLITICO
输入美国的加拿大木材，以及中国和越南墨西哥的家具将受较大影响。
自周二凌晨00:01分起，建筑木材、家具和厨房设备成为最新一批受特朗普政府行业关税影响的领域。特朗普声称此举旨在保护美国工业产能。
与之前对钢铁、铝、汽车和铜征收的行业附加税一样，白宫以维护国家安全为由，为这些新附加税辩护。
进口建筑木材进入美国将征收10%的关税，而家具和厨房设备将征收25%的关税，然后从1月1日起，家具关税将提高到30%，厨房设备关税将提高到50%。
但那些与美国签署了贸易协定的国家，如英国（10%）或欧盟和日本（15%）将适用最为优惠的税率。
对加拿大来说是个沉重打击，加拿大约占美国进口木材量的四分之一，由于两国之间的多次贸易争端，加拿大此前已面临35%的木材关税，此次加征10%将使关税总额达到45%。
据法新社报道，资本经济公司的斯蒂芬·布朗估计，平均而言，这些关税可能会使房屋建筑成本增加2200美元。
就家具行业而言，斯蒂芬·布朗说，“美国27%的家具进口来自中国，20%来自越南和墨西哥。”
唐纳德·特朗普已经针对十多个行业征收了特定关税，其中一些已经实施，如钢铁、铝、铜和汽车，其他一些尚未实施，也未明确具体时间，如药品、国外制作的电影和半导体。
BBCThe son of an Israeli hostage whose body remains in Gaza has told the BBC he is dealing with the realisation that "it's not over and it's going to be a longer battle".
Rotem Cooper, whose father Amiram is among 24 hostages whose bodies were not returned to Israel on Monday, said the families were trying "to find the strength somehow to pick ourselves up... and continue the fight".
He called on US President Donald Trump, Qatar, Egypt and other countries involved in peace deal negotiations "to show Hamas that this is not acceptable".
A ceasefire and hostage release agreement signed by Israel and Hamas stated that the remaining hostages in Gaza would be returned by noon on Monday, with nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held by Israel released in exchange.
While the 20 hostages still alive were released, a copy of the agreement published by Israeli media appeared to acknowledge that Hamas and other Palestinian factions may not be able to locate all of the bodies of the deceased hostages by the deadline.
Their families had pinned their hopes on their loved one returning on Monday, after two years in captivity.
"We hoped and expected that maybe 15 to 20 out of the 28 deceased hostages would be released, but that didn't happen. Only four were announced," Mr Cooper said.
Family handoutHe described the news as a "very big disappointment" for the families.
"It's clear to us that they could have and should have released more and [that] they're playing games."
Mr Cooper's parents were both kidnapped in the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on Israel, from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz. His mother was released later that month while his father was killed in captivity.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had been operating in the area at the time but did not confirm how he was killed, referring the BBC this week to a previous statement saying the circumstances were "under examination". Hamas has claimed he was killed by an Israeli military strike.
AFP via Getty ImagesThe Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents the relatives of many of the hostages, has called for "a very serious response" from the Israeli government and mediators, for what is described as Hamas's "violation of the agreement".
It said further stages of the peace plan should not progress until all the remaining bodies had been returned.
Mr Cooper headed to the Re'im military base in southern Israel on Monday to see the return of the 20 living hostages.
In voicenotes sent over the course of the day, he described feeling "tremendous anticipation" and a "big relief" as he saw them return. But he said the thought of the bodies coming back to Israel was "heartbreaking".
Family handoutSpeaking again the following day, after the news that the four bodies returned did not include Amiram's, he described the experience as a "big rollercoaster".
Mr Cooper said the return of his father's body would allow him to have "some closure" and to "sleep better at night".
"Everything has been on hold," he said.
Ruby Chen, whose son Itay's body remains in Gaza, said he had experienced a similar mix of emotions.
"We were overjoyed [on Monday] to see 20 hostages coming out and being reunited with their families, but we were very disappointed not to see more deceased hostages coming out," he said in a video message shared with the BBC by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
"We request the Israeli government, the US and the mediators to continue the fight and put pressure on Hamas to adhere [to] and follow the agreement that was signed and bring back all the remaining 24 hostages in captivity," Mr Chen added.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday that, following forensic tests, it had identified the four hostages whose bodies had been returned and had informed their families that their loved ones had been reburied.
It said they included Guy Iloz - who was shot at the Nova music festival and is believed to have died from the wounds - and Bipin Joshi, who it said was believed to have been "murdered in captivity during the first months of the war".
US President Donald Trump's day-long trip to the Middle East came as the Gaza deal was clinched: an agreement coming into force amounting to one of the most critical moments yet after two years of catastrophic war.
Painting as he does in primary colours, Trump's portrayal was vivid - of the biggest turning point in three millennia. On the return flight in the early hours of Tuesday, he reflected that it had been a "historic day, to put it mildly". He had earlier suggested "everlasting peace" had been grasped under his tutelage, in a region long convulsed by violence.
As part of the White House press corps, we were travelling on Air Force One – which is how I found myself at the centre of this US diplomatic tornado.
As we headed for Tel Aviv, the presidential plane took a turn to do a fly-by of the beach. It dipped a wing so we could get a view of a giant sign atop the sand that said "thank you" to Trump, and featured the Israeli flag as well as an outline of the US president's head in profile.
ReutersThe manoeuvre set the mood for a trip that was a victory lap, rather than an exercise in setting out the punishing detail for starting "phase two" of the negotiations and securing a longer-term future for Gaza.
The agreement made in Doha last week was under intensive pressure on the sides from Trump. It marked one of the most profound moments for millions of people in the last two years: major combat operations in Gaza ceased, the remaining living hostages held by Hamas released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, and Palestinians in Gaza returning to the ruins of their homes in the north amid a partial withdrawal by Israeli troops.
But I found Trump's journey was in fact to a waypoint, not a destination - a fragile truce in a century-old conflict which shows no real signs of being solved.
The most immediate question hanging over the trip was whether Trump's deal could hold - and whether more intensive, arguably harder, negotiations could now build on it.
During the flight, Trump came back to speak to us. Standing in the doorway as we crowded around, he clearly wanted to build up the sense of achievement, frequently referring to his own role in negotiating the deal.
"Every country is dancing in the streets," he said repeatedly. I pressed him on whether the ceasefire would stay intact. He was confident it would, saying there were "a lot of reasons why it's going to hold". But he glossed over the really big questions about what comes next, particularly how to secure and govern Gaza.
I asked him about the proposed multinational force, or International Stabilization Force (ISF), outlined in his 20-point plan but whose existence has yet to be agreed by the sides.
"It's going to be a big, strong force," said Trump, adding that it would "barely" have to be used because "people are going to behave, everybody knows their place".
On the tarmac in Tel Aviv, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greeted Trump with a red carpet and a military band. We then zoomed off in the motorcade towards Jerusalem, along the Route 1 motorway which had been completely cleared for the presidential convoy.
The same day, thousands watched a giant screen in a public plaza in Tel Aviv that has become known as Hostages Square. They shed tears of joy and relief as the hostages were released by Hamas in Gaza. Trump's arrival was the other half of this split-screen moment – pictures were beamed out of the US president setting foot on Israeli territory.
Getty ImagesIn the chamber of the Knesset, or Israeli parliament, the mood was altogether more raucous than that in the streets. Emblazoned on the red baseball caps handed out by staff, and worn by some of the audience, were the words: "The president of peace". Spectators shouted from the gallery behind me: "Thank you Trump." Lawmakers hammered their desks. Trump hailed a "historic dawn of a new Middle East".
He also wanted to leave little doubt the war was over, and it seemed he expected it to stay that way: Israel, he said, with America's help, had won all that it could "by force of arms". His speech meandered into extensive attacks on his political opponents in the US. He praised a major donor to his election campaign seated in the gallery.
And he even appealed to Israel's president, Isaac Herzog, seating next to him, to pardon Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption – charges that the Israeli PM denies. "Cigars and champagne, who the hell cares about that?" Trump exclaimed, referencing the allegation that Netanyahu accepted pricy gifts.
The White House press officers who chaperone the press pool - the "wranglers" - took us back into the press vans and the motorcade made its way back to Ben Gurion airport after fewer than seven hours in Israel.
We took the short flight to Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt; location of the mediated talks between Israel and Hamas that led to last week's breakthrough. On our descent, Egyptian F16s escorted us - the ultimate show for the president who loves displays of military might. Trump had wanted to celebrate every minute of the day.
But the dangers in this region are many, and the risk seemed clear that he was declaring the ultimate deal before really landing it.
That was reflected in the giant sign, written in capital letters, above the presidential podium in Sharm el-Sheikh: "PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST". There, I watched the extraordinary sight of world leaders filing into a room to stand behind Trump as he made his speech hailing peace. They lined up in front of their national flags and listened as he listed their countries one by one. Trump had been introduced to the stage by the host, Egyptian president Abdel Fatah el-Sisi, who said that the goal remained a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians.
Trump has changed his position markedly since the start of this year. He became increasingly irritated by the Israeli leadership and was drawn closer to his friends in the Gulf. That came amid a diplomatic move by the Europeans to isolate Israel over its escalating campaign in Gaza and to get the Saudi leadership onboard with their vision. Trump then shifted, drawn by his Gulf allies – whose wealth and "power" he frequently referred to during the drip.
Trump presided over the signing ceremony in Sharm saying it had taken "3,000 years" to get here. But there are still many more years to go - and it will take more than one man to get there.
AFPFrench Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has told parliament he backs suspending controversial 2023 pension reforms, in the face of crucial votes of no-confidence later this week.
The changes, which raised the retirement age from 62 to 64, were seen as signature reforms in Emmanuel Macron's presidency.
"This autumn I will propose to parliament that we suspend the 2023 pension reform until the [2027] presidential election," Lecornu said to applause from left-wing parties.
Lecornu was reappointed prime minister last week only four days after he resigned, and needs the support of Socialist MPs in parliament if his government is to survive.
Opposition parties on the far right and far left have called confidence votes, known as "censure" votes in Lecornu, for Thursday morning and are demanding parliamentary elections.
The Socialists said they would be prepared to support the new government, but only if it promises a complete suspension of Macron's pension changes.
"If he does not explicitly say the words 'immediate and complete suspension of the pension reform', it will be censure," Socialist MP Laurent Baumel said earlier on French TV.
"He is holding his destiny in his own hands. He knows what he has do if he doesn't want to be the prime minister who resigns every week."
The reforms were finally pushed through parliament in March 2023, less than a year after Macron was voted in for a second presidential term.
There had been months of political debate, strikes and street protests, and in the end the bill had to go through without a vote in parliament using a constitutional mechanism known as 49:3.
Last week, Lecornu said it was something many French people remembered as a "wound on democracy" .
On Tuesday he made it plain to MPs that suspending the pension reform would cost €400m (£350m) in 2026 and a further €1.8bn (£1.57bn) in 2027. This will have to be "compensated by other savings," Lecornu said.
Lecornu is France's third prime minister in the past year but even if he does survive he needs to get a budget through parliament that brings down a budget deficit heading for 5.4% of economic output (GDP) this year.
France's public debt earlier this year stood at €3.4tn, or almost 114% of GDP, the third highest in the eurozone after Greece and Italy.
Lecornu has been one of Macron's most loyal allies, so his decision to row back on such a contested reform shows how keen the president is to avoid further turmoil.
Philippe Aghion, who was jointly awarded the 2025 Nobel economics prize on Monday, said earlier that he also backed a suspension of the pension reform, because it would still come at a smaller cost than the instability that would follow another government collapse.
BBCBuenos Aires, September 2023. Hundreds of people crowded around to wave flags and film on their phones. The man with unruly hair and sideburns in the centre of them, clad in a black leather jacket, hoisted a roaring chainsaw above his head.
This was an election rally taking place in the San Martín area of the Argentine capital a month before the presidential election - and the metaphor was explicit.
The candidate Javier Milei believed the state was far too bloated, with annual debts that were bigger than Argentina's entire annual economic output.
Rather than 'trimming the fat', as some politicians delicately put it, he said he would take a chainsaw to ministries, subsidies and the ruling political class he derided as "la casta" - the caste.
Getty ImagesMilei had form for stunts. In 2019, he dressed up in a "libertarian superhero" costume, purporting to be from Liberland - a land where no taxes are paid. In 2018, he smashed a piñata of the Central Bank on live television.
According to official data, inflation in 2023 topped 211% annually - Milei took office in December of that year. Roughly 40% of the population lived in poverty. Years of high public spending, and a reliance on printing more money and borrowing to cover deficits, had left the country in a cycle of debts and inflation.
Yet nearly two years on, the headline figures are vastly different: Argentina recorded its first fiscal surplus in 14 years -the state spending less than it's collecting - and inflation, which had hit triple figures annually, has tumbled to about 36%.
The UK Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch called the measures Milei has taken a "template" for a future Conservative government. And in the US, President Donald Trump described Milei as "my favourite president".
They will meet in Washington on Tuesday.
ReutersForeign investors regained confidence in Argentina too. Although that recently slipped, Washington's decision last week to swap $20bn (£15bn) in dollars for pesos, effectively propping up Argentina's currency with International Monetary Fund (IMF) backing, is a sign Milei's fiscal shock therapy has appeased international lenders. Trump and Milei's meeting will hail the deal.
Yet for all the international praise, this is just one side of the story. On the streets there have been heated protests over Milei's reforms, with police firing tear gas, rubber bullets and a water cannon during clashes.
"He said in his campaign that this adjustment would be paid for by 'la casta' – the wealthy, the politicians, the evil businessmen," says Mercedes D'Alessandro, a left-wing economist and senate candidate.
But, she argues, the result was less money for pensioners and hospitals. "The adjustment in the end was directed at the working classes, not the caste."
ReutersMilei's critics argue that the price of his changes have been recession, job losses, weaker public services and declining household budgets. And now some economists say the country could be about to enter a recession.
Milei has created a paradox.
On paper, his chainsaw has achieved some of the macroeconomic successes he set out to do. But Milei has lost political support and that has spooked the markets, which in turn has destabilised his economic project.
With midterm elections looming on 26 October, Argentina is about to deliver its verdict: will Milei be punished for doing what he set out to do — and could losing political support completely unravel his economic gains?
Around 700 miles from the capital in the Misiones province, tea farmer Ygor Sobol looks anxious. "We're all going backwards economically," he says. "I had to close the payroll. Now I am completely without employees."
For three generations his family has grown yerba mate, a drink popular with Argentines, but since Milei deregulated his industry by scrapping minimum prices, he says that his crops have become worth less than the cost of producing them.
Now, Mr Sobol says he can't afford to do basic tasks like cleaning and fertilising his plantation. And with the business making a loss, he's deciding what his family will have to go without too.
ShutterstockArgentina's multibillion dollar textile industry is also affected. Luciano Galfione, chairman of a non-profit for the sector Fundacion Pro Tejer, describes "daily" closures and job losses.
Unlike Trump's approach of raising tariffs to promote "America First", Milei cut tariffs and other criteria for imports.
"I have environmental controls, labour controls - we don't pay people $80 (£60) a month, or have 16-hour work days that might be allowed in places like Bangladesh or Vietnam. This creates an unequal playing field," Mr Galfione argues.
He believes that boosting imports has battered domestic producers. "Our sector lost more than 10,000 direct jobs. If you add indirect jobs, there are many more."
Mr Galfione also blames rising costs of utilities, health and schools for reducing the disposable income of average people, and in turn making them less likely to buy clothes.
And yet amid it all, Milei is adamant that his measures will improve the lives of ordinary Argentines.
In the run-up to the election Milei had said there was no alternative to big cuts.
As well as the soaring inflation, vast government subsidies had kept energy and transport prices down. Public spending was high, even before the Covid-19 pandemic. Price controls set fixed prices for certain goods. Argentina, still, owes £31bn in debt to the IMF.
"The demand for public spending was brutal," argues Ramiro Castiñeira, an economist at the consultancy Econométrica who supports Milei.
"Society seemed willing to live with so much inflation. Or didn't recognise that inflation was a product of so much public spending."
EPA - EFE/REX/ShutterstockInflation ate away the peso currency's purchasing power. Many ordinary Argentines handed over disproportionate sums of pesos to illegal street traders to buy dollars, fearing their money would lose value overnight.
"Everything was a huge mess," explains Martin Rapetti, an economics professor at the University of Buenos Aires and executive director of think tank Equilibria.
"People felt money slipping like water through their fingers."
For many economists, drastic change (even if painful) was essential to restore credibility. And Milei promised radical change.
He went viral for ripping government ministries such as Culture and Women off a whiteboard while shouting 'afuera!' - 'out!'
Among other austerity measures, he halved government ministries, cut tens of thousands of public jobs, slashed budgets including for education, health, pensions and infrastructure, and removed subsidies – spiking utility and transport prices.
His initial devaluing of the peso by 50% caused inflation to spike but then it fell as people spent less and demand fell.
EPA/ShutterstockWhen I met him in April 2024 at his office, there were sculptures of him with a chainsaw on display and coasters showing Margaret Thatcher's face. Thatcher is loathed by many people in Argentina owing to the Falklands War, but Milei told me he admired her and that she was "brilliant."
Last month one British newspaper described Milei's own approach as having "echoes of Thatcherism".
Miguel Boggiano, an economist on Milei's economic advisory board, is full of praise for Milei getting inflation down and reducing the deficit. "When you bear in mind the starting point, that's a huge accomplishment," he says.
ReutersHe believes this will help alleviate poverty in the long-run and enable lower taxes, but also help people to plan their own spending more easily with inflation currently fluctuating less.
But Alan Cibils, an independent economist and former professor, warns reduced inflation is only a success if it is sustained over time which he believes will not be the case.
Javier Milei is not a career politician. Before becoming president he had two years experience as a deputy in Argentina's Congress.
"Being so detached kind of shields him," Prof Rapetti observes, citing a lack of "signs of empathy in public life".
On 7 September Milei's party lost unexpectedly badly in the Buenos Aires provincial elections. His convoy was pelted with rocks on the campaign trail. The markets panicked: foreign investors sold off pesos and bonds of Argentine government debt.
EPA - EFE/REX/ShutterstockFinancial markets had generally supported his economic programme. But the midterm elections were upcoming and the £15bn of debt repayments are due next year.
Trump's £15bn currency swap lifeline has provided some stability: Argentine bonds and the peso rose in value in response to the announcement. But D'Alessandro argues that though US intervention might solve a wider problem, nothing will change in "people's real lives".
"We're going to continue with no investment in hospitals, education, social programmes. This money from the United States is not going to improve Argentina's infrastructure."
Some of Milei's supporters - like Mr Boggiano - believe there is something else at play in the round criticism of the president: In this view much of it comes down to the opposition trying to "break" what Milei has done, in order to get back into power.
"Once everyone starts to believe stability is here to stay, investment will come back," says Mr Boggiano. "I think Milei will become a model for other countries."
Others are unsure. "There is some stability which helps things not to explode," said Mr Cibils. "But I think that stability is also a mirage."
Milei had also kept inflation under control by spending the country's reserves on propping-up the peso so it didn't crash. Meanwhile, Argentina owes $20bn of debt next year.
One former central bank economist, who wished to speak anonymously, warns Milei's strategy of keeping inflation down could unravel if Argentina can't pay its debts.
"If at the end of the day we have a financial crisis that partially undoes all the effort, then it's a failure. If it ends with social unrest, any good done will be reversed," says the economist.
The left-wing governor of Buenos Aires, Axel Kicillof, has been touted as a future presidential candidate, long ahead of the elections in 2027. He has spoken in favour of the welfare state. Some investors are calculating whether this could mean a return to the days of big spending.
Getty ImagesAs to the question of whether Milei has succeeded, the answer largely depends how you define success - and who it is for.
Many workers see shuttered factories, rocketing bills, and a vanishing safety net.
Meanwhile, some investors see a success story of fiscal discipline, tamed inflation, an ally in Washington and simply a "normalisation".
But even as leaders abroad watch Milei's experiment with fascination, politics may explain why few are unlikely to copy it.
If normal people lose faith in what he is doing, markets will also lose confidence that his programme is sustainable – and that could wipe out even the 'macro' successes.
"He has no political expertise, and I think you need it," Prof Rapetti argues.
Still, he believes it is too early to judge: "We are in the middle of his term… The story hasn't finished."
Top picture credit: WPA Pool/Getty Images, Bloomberg via Getty Images
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US President Donald Trump says Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a Gaza peace deal.
It comes two years and two days after Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage.
At least 67,183 have been killed by Israeli military operations in Gaza since then, including 20,179 children, the Hamas-run health ministry says.
Here is what we know about the agreement, and what remains unclear:
After intense negotiations in Egypt, Israel and Hamas have agreed to a first phase of a US peace plan, the US president said.
Announcing the deal on social media, Trump said: "This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line."
"All parties" would be treated fairly, said Trump, who called these the "first steps toward... everlasting peace".
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it "a great day for Israel" and said his government would meet on Thursday to approve the agreement and "bring all our dear hostages home".
In confirming the announcement, Hamas said it would "end the war in Gaza, ensure the complete withdrawal of the occupation forces, allow the entry of humanitarian aid, and implement a prisoner exchange".
Israel and Hamas do not speak directly to each other - the negotiations were brokered by Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, and mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey.
Israel's government is due to vote on the deal on Thursday.
If they formally approve it, Israel must withdraw its troops from Gaza to the agreed line, a senior White House official told BBC's US partner, CBS News. The withdrawal would likely happen within 24 hours, the official said.
After this happens, a 72-hour clock will begin where Hamas must release the living hostages.
The release of the hostages would likely begin on Monday, the senior White House official said.
What's been announced so far is just the initial phase of Trump's 20-point peace plan, which Israel has accepted and Hamas has partly agreed to.
However the announcements did not cover some thorny issues both sides have not reached a resolution on.
Notably, no details surround the disarmament of Hamas - a key point in Trump's plan. Hamas has previously refused to lay down its weapons, saying it would only do so when a Palestinian state had been established.
The future governance of Gaza is also a sticking point. Trump's 20-point plan states Hamas will have no future role in the Strip and proposes it be temporarily governed by a "technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee", before being handed over to the Palestinian Authority.
Netanyahu appeared to push back on the Palestinian Authority's involvement last week, even as he accepted Trump's plan.
Ultranationalist hardliners within Netanyahu's ruling coalition, many of whom want to reconstruct Jewish settlements in Gaza, are also likely to object to this point.
Hamas, in response, said it still expected to have some role in governing Gaza.
In addition, as of Wednesday night, Hamas had not yet received the final list of Palestinian prisoners that Israel plans to release in exchange for the hostages in Gaza, a Palestinian source told the BBC.
The 20-point plan states that 250 life sentence prisoners plus 1,700 Gazans who were detained after 7 October 2023 will be released.
ReutersRelatives of Israeli hostages have welcomed the deal.
Eli Sharabi, whose wife and children were killed, and whose brother Yossi's body is being held by Hamas, posted: "Great joy, can't wait to see everyone home."
The mother of hostage Nimrod Cohen posted: "My child, you are coming home."
Meanwhile in Gaza, celebrations broke out after the announcement. "Thank God for the ceasefire, the end of bloodshed and killing," Abdul Majeed abd Rabbo, a man in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, was quoted as saying by Reuters.
"I am not the only one happy, all of the Gaza Strip is happy, all the Arab people, all of the world is happy with the ceasefire and the end of bloodshed."
ReutersWorld leaders have urged parties to abide by the deal.
"The suffering must end," United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said, adding that the UN would support the "full implementation" of the deal, as well as increase its delivery of aid and its reconstruction efforts in Gaza.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer welcomed the news, saying: "This is a moment of profound relief that will be felt all around the world, but particularly for the hostages, their families, and for the civilian population of Gaza, who have all endured unimaginable suffering over the last two years."
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the agreement a "much needed step towards peace" and urged parties to "respect the terms of the plan".
Lawmakers in the US have struck a cautiously optimistic tone.
"This is a first step, and all parties need to ensure this leads to an enduring end to this war," Democrat Senator Chris Coons said in an X post.
Republican James Risch, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called it a welcome deal and said he "looks forward to learning [its] details".
With reporting by Rushdi Abualouf and Lucy Manning
Hindustan Times via Getty ImagesIndia is losing sunlight.
A new study by six Indian scientists finds that over the past three decades, sunshine hours - the time direct sunlight reaches the Earth's surface - have steadily declined across most of India, driven by clouds, aerosols and local weather.
Data from 20 weather stations from 1988 to 2018 shows a persistent decline in sunshine hours nationwide, with only the northeast region seeing a mild seasonal reprieve, according to the paper published in Scientific Reports, a peer-reviewed journal published by Nature Portfolio.
Scientists from Banaras Hindu University, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and the India Meteorological Department report that the steepest annual declines occurred in the northern inland region - notably Amritsar and Kolkata - as well as along the Himalayan belt and the west coast, particularly Mumbai.
All of nine India's geograpically diverse regions showed an overall annual decline in sunshine hours, though the rate of decrease varied across India. Monthly analysis revealed significant increases from October to May, followed by sharp drops from June to July in six of the nine regions.
This seasonal pattern of sunshine intersects with a deeper, long-standing problem: India's severe air pollution crisis - it's now among the world's top 10 polluted countries - which scientists trace back to the 1990s. Rapid urbanisation, industrial growth and land-use changes drove up fossil fuel use, vehicle emissions and biomass burning, sending aerosols into the atmosphere and dimming the Sun's rays.
Getty ImagesIn winter, high air pollution from smog, temperature inversions and crop burning across the Indo-Gangetic plains produces light-scattering aerosols, which reduce sunshine hours.
These aerosols - tiny solid or liquid particles from dust, vehicle exhaust, crop burning, and other sources - persist in the air long enough to affect sunlight, climate and health.
During June-July, monsoon clouds blanket much of India, sharply reducing sunlight even though aerosol levels are lower than in winter.
Scientists note that higher sunshine hours from October to May don't indicate cleaner air; rather, they reflect more cloud-free days. Hazy winter sunlight may scatter or diffuse, lowering intensity without entirely blocking sunshine, which instruments still record as sunshine hours.
"Our study found that shrinking sunshine hours are linked to clouds that linger longer without releasing rain, blocking more sunlight. These longer-lasting clouds form indirectly due to aerosols that alter weather and climate," says Manoj Kumar Srivastava, a professor of geophysics at the Banaras Hindu University, and one of the authors of the study.
Aerosols have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching the ground in India by about 13%, while clouds accounted for an additional 31-44% drop in surface solar radiation between 1993 and 2022, according to Sachchida Nand Tripathi, an atmospheric scientist at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur.
These patterns raise concerns for agriculture, daily life and India's solar energy ambitions, while highlighting where solar panels could be most effective.
Solar now makes up 47% of India's renewable energy capacity. The government says it's on track for 500GW of renewables by 2030, with more than 100GW of solar installed as of early 2025. But declining sunlight could cast a shadow on the country's solar ambitions.
According to Prof Tripathi, air pollution compounds the problem. It reduces solar panel output by 12-41% depending on the type of photovoltaic system - the technology that converts sunlight into electricity - and costs an estimated $245-835m in lost power generation.
LightRocket via Getty ImagesStudies also show that cleaner air could boost India's annual solar energy production by 6-28 terawatt hours of electricity - enough to power millions of homes for a year.
But the impact of pollution doesn't stop at solar energy. It also takes a heavy toll on agriculture, causing an estimated 36–50% loss in crop yields - mainly rice and wheat - in the country's most polluted regions, according to Prof Tripathi.
India isn't alone in losing sunshine; across the world, rising air pollution and shifting weather patterns have dimmed the skies.
A study published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics observed that Europe likely experienced reduced sunlight reaching the ground because of air pollution between1970–2009. In Germany, sunshine hours decreased by approximately 11% from 1951 to 1980, attributed to industrial gas emissions and associated cloud formation.
Research also showed that stricter clean-air laws in the 1990s led to a rebound in sunshine hours across Europe.
China also experienced a significant decline in sunshine hours from the 1960s to the 2000s, primarily due to increased aerosol emissions from rapid industrialisation. Sunshine duration varied across Chinese cities, with some areas experiencing more significant declines due to factors such as air pollution.
The good news: scientists say the Earth's surface has gradually been receiving more sunlight since the 1980s - a trend known as global brightening, following decades of dimming.
New analysis of satellite data from 1984 to 2018 appears to confirm this, showing the effect is strongest over land and in the Northern Hemisphere, driven mainly by falling aerosols in the 1980s and 1990s and shifts in cloud patterns.
The bad news: heavily polluted countries like India are missing out. If the Sun keeps hiding behind smog, India risks running on fumes instead of full power.
© Rachel Wisniewski for The New York Times
© Thomas Samson/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
© Colin Clark for The New York Times
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries met in a Zoom meeting with members of the Illinois congressional delegation Monday to talk about redistricting in the state — an effort that is already triggering concern among lawmakers who fear the changes could dilute Black political power.
No maps were shown to the group but some versions of boundaries have been shared during individual conversations, according to one person in the meeting who was granted anonymity to speak freely.
“It’s what you’d expect. They’re trying to get another district,” the person said, adding that Republican Rep. Mary Miller’s downstate district appears to be the target. Miller is one of three Republicans in the 17-member delegation.
Redistricting talk is raising concern that adjusting congressional boundaries could dilute Black communities in districts, thereby undermining Black political influence.
“At what cost do you try to get one more seat? How many more do you put in jeopardy?” said another person on the call who was also granted anonymity to speak about a private meeting.
The implications go beyond Illinois. As national Democrats look ahead to the 2026 and 2028 election cycles, there’s pressure to find winnable seats in Republican-dominated districts. Any redistricting effort in Illinois would come before the midterms in an effort to counter Republicans’ push for more favorable maps to keep the House.
Jeffries sees Illinois and Maryland as states that could pick up Democrats, according to one of the people in Monday’s meeting.
A few weeks ago during a visit to Springfield, Jeffries acknowledged the push to get more seats in some states, including Illinois. President Donald Trump wants to “rig the midterms," he told POLITICO. "Democrats will respond in self-defense of the American people.”
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker didn’t immediately return a request for comment, but he previously has not ruled out congressional redistricting. "None of us want to do it. None of us want to go through a redistricting process. But if we're forced to, it's something we'll consider doing," he said in a recent interview.
The Illinois General Assembly, which is controlled by Democrats in both chambers, would have to vote on any new maps.
After the 2020 census, Democrats redrew district maps to adjust for losing a seat because of population decline. They cut out two Republican incumbents and created a new district favoring their party. The state's congressional delegation now includes 14 Democrats and three Republicans from deeply conservative areas of the state.
Regardless of the political dynamics, candidates have until Nov. 3 to file for congressional races, meaning any revised map would need to be finalized before that deadline.
Election attorneys in Illinois say the Legislature can make adjustments to accommodate new boundaries.
“The main complication is that currently, each district has a different signature requirement, based on the number of votes cast in that district in the last primary," said election lawyer Michael Dorf, whose past clients include the Democratic Party of Illinois and several statewide officials. “But the Legislature could revert to the standard used in the first election following a redistricting, where every congressional candidate just needs 600 signatures.”
So far, leaders in the Illinois House and Senate say there are no ongoing talks about altering the current map. But it could come up in caucus meetings today when lawmakers return for a legislative session to take up new bills and address potential vetoes.
“We haven’t seen any maps. We haven’t had any conversations with our members about maps,” House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch said in a statement when asked Monday whether his caucus would be addressing the issue.
Illinois House Republican Leader Tony McCombie said “it would be obscene” for Illinois Democrats “to erase” any Republican-held seats given Trump won 44 percent of the statewide vote.
© Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
The Cameroonian opposition leader Issa Tchiroma Bakary has declared himself the winner of the 12 October presidential election and called on the incumbent, Paul Biya, to accept the end of his 43-year rule.
“Our victory is clear, it must be respected,” Tchiroma said in a video statement on Facebook with the national flag in the background, before directly addressing 92-year-old Biya: “We call on the regime in power to show greatness and to honour the truth of the ballot box with a long-awaited gesture: that phone call of congratulations, which will demonstrate the political maturity of our nation and the future strength of our democracy.”
Elecam, the Cameroonian electoral commission, has yet to release the results, which are expected at the latest by 26 October, after validation by the constitutional council.
Supporters on both sides are claiming victory based on images circulating on social media of blackboards and papers tallying the results. While it is permitted to publish tally sheets from individual polling stations, it is illegal to announce the overall result of the vote before the constitutional council. “This is the red line that must not be crossed,” the territorial administration minister, Paul Atanga Nji, told a press conference on Sunday.
The election, contested by nine opposition candidates, was conducted in a single-round format where the candidate with the most votes wins. More than 8 million citizens were eligible to vote but the turnout remains unknown. Some of the other candidates have already congratulated Tchiroma.
A longtime Biya ally and former government spokesperson, Tchiroma, 76, broke ranks by resigning in June, and emerged as the leading opposition candidate. He heads the Front for the National Salvation of Cameroon (FSNC) and is backed by the Union for Change, a coalition of opposition parties.
“A country cannot exist in the service of one man,” Tchiroma wrote in an open letter announcing his candidacy. “It must live in the service of its people.”
In the 2018 presidential election, opposition challenger Maurice Kamto declared himself the winner the day after the vote. He was subsequently arrested. His supporters’ rallies were dispersed with teargas and water cannon and dozens were detained. Some are still in jail.
Biya is only the second head of state to lead Cameroon since independence from France in 1960. He has ruled with an iron fist, repressing all political and armed opposition, and holding on to power despite social upheaval, economic disparity and separatist violence.
Tchiroma’s election manifesto promised a transition period of three to five years to rebuild the country, which he said Biya had destroyed.
The incumbent has governed in absentia for years, partly from Switzerland, where he and his wife, Chantal, are regular visitors. There are reports that presidential decrees are regularly signed on Biya’s behalf by Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, the secretary general of the presidency.
Born in Garoua, in northern Cameroon, Tchiroma went from being imprisoned for his alleged involvement in a failed 1984 coup against Biya to being a minister. In one pre-election interview, Tchiroma said that in two decades as minister he had never met the president face-to-face.
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
© Kenny Holston/The New York Times
韩国造船巨头韩华-海洋旗下的5家美国子公司被中国商务部列入制裁清单，禁止中国境内组织、个人与这5家企业进行交易、合作等活动。
韩联社：在美中因相互征收船舶停靠费等问题在海运和造船领域出现摩擦之际，韩国造船巨头韩华-海洋旗下的5家美国子公司被中国商务部列入制裁清单，禁止中国境内组织、个人与这5家企业进行交易、合作等活动。
中国商务部14日表示，为反制美国对中国采取海事、物流和造船业301调查措施，经国家反外国制裁工作协调机制批准，公布《关于对韩华海洋株式会社5家美国相关子公司采取反制措施的决定》，自2025年10月14日起施行。
据韩联社介绍，上述5家企业包括：Hanwha Shipping LLC、Hanwha Philly Shipyard Inc.、Hanwha Ocean USA International LLC、Hanwha Shipping Holdings LLC和HS USA Holdings Corp.。中方禁止中国境内组织、个人与这5家企业进行有关交易、合作等活动。
中国商务部新闻发言人就此表示，美国开始实施对中国海事、物流和造船领域301调查的最终措施，严重违反国际法和国际关系基本准则，严重损害中国企业合法权益。韩华海洋株式会社在美相关子公司协助、支持美国政府相关调查活动，危害了中方的自身主权、安全和发展利益。
中国电视艺术家协会副主席、演员林永健在《人民日报》发文说，互联网时代，大家都在追求大流量，创作就是要让流量从网民的指尖流向观众的心尖。观众不是不喜欢长剧，他们是不喜欢又长又难看的剧；观众也不是只爱短剧，他们是爱短剧里那种直给、不废话的爽感。
中国官媒《人民日报》星期二（10月14日）刊发林永健的文章《精品是怎样炼成的》。文章说，剧本是一剧之本，本子要是歪了，无论是“最佳女主角”还是“最佳男主角”，演得越卖力，“扑街”扑得越华丽。
林永健指出，好剧本有两点：“根”要扎得深，“梗”要玩得真。很多剧被批评“悬浮”，是因为它们是编剧在高星级酒店里喝着咖啡、吃着大餐想象出来的民间疾苦。
他说，写农村戏，得知道化肥多少钱一袋，苞米多少钱一穗，牛肉多少钱一斤；写都市戏，得明白年轻人为啥一边努力一边又想“躺平”。观众不是不喜欢长剧，他们只是不喜欢又长又难看的剧；观众也不是只爱短剧，他们是爱短剧里那种真实、直给、不废话的爽感。
林永健还说，好剧本得让观众猜不透，但又合情合理。好“梗”不在多新奇，而在于能不能一把钩住人心。
他还提到，一些顶流演员自带“编剧团队”进组，随时准备给剧本“动手术”。这考验着导演的综合水平和大局观，既不能太软弱，失了艺术追求，也不能太固执，听不进合理化建议。
此外，影视行业有个陋习，即什么火了立马一窝蜂去抄。观众老吃同一道菜，就会嫌腻。
文章最后说，用流量明星省心省力，数据好看，招商容易，但副作用也不能忽视。观众现在反感的是“强行喂饭”——不管合不合适，硬塞一个明星；而影视业得自己学会“看戏下菜碟”。
© Desiré van den Berg for The New York Times
© David J. Phillip/Associated Press
美国总统特朗普在从中东返程的飞机上被记者问及是否会于周五与乌克兰总统泽连斯基会面。他回答道：“我想是的”。
乌克兰总统泽连斯基周一早些时候在基辅表示，“我本周将在华盛顿与特朗普总统会晤”。当时他正与欧盟外交政策高级代表卡娅-卡拉斯共同出席记者会。
泽连斯基补充道：“我们需要讨论一系列我想向特朗普总统提出的措施”，并说，他还将与美国官员举行“其他会晤”，他特别提到了将在美国与“军事公司”代表和议员会晤。
泽连斯基总统继续说，“主要议题是防空，但我也会与能源公司举行会谈。
在上周末两天内，泽连斯基与特朗普进行了两次电话交谈。他说：“我感谢特朗普总统与我们进行的对话及其支持”。
周一，泽连斯基在与欧盟外长卡拉斯的记者会上透露，他与特朗普的通话中“详细”讨论了“乌克兰的远程（打击）能力”。
特朗普周日表示，如果俄罗斯不同意结束其在2022年入侵乌克兰引发的战争，他可能会威胁弗拉基米尔·普京，并向基辅运送美国远程战斧导弹。
法新社说，最近几天，乌克兰能源基础设施再次遭到俄罗斯轰炸。冬季临近，许多乌克兰人可能因此无法获得照明和供暖。
周一晚上，泽连斯基在X平台上表示，包括总理尤利娅·斯维里登科、总统办公厅主任安德烈·叶尔马克和国家安全与国防委员会秘书鲁斯泰姆·乌梅罗夫在内的高级官员代表团已经启程前往美国。
Getty ImagesThe UK is forecast to be the second-fastest growing of the world's most advanced economies this year and next, according to new projections from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The rates of growth remain modest at 1.3% for both years, but that outperforms the other G7 economies apart from the US, in a torrid year of trade and geopolitical tensions.
However, UK inflation is set to rise to the highest in the G7 in 2025 and 2026, the IMF predicts, driven by larger energy and utility bills.
UK inflation is forecast to average 3.4% this year and 2.5% in 2026 but the IMF says this will be "temporary", and fall to 2% by the end of next year.
The G7 are seven advanced economies - the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan - but the group doesn't include fast-growing economies such as China and India.
The IMF is an international organisation with 190 member countries. They work together to try to stabilise the global economy.
In the IMF's forecast for economic growth, the UK overtook Canada, after its trade-war-affected economy was hit by the biggest downgrades for 2025 and 2026. Germany, France and Italy are all forecast to grow far more slowly at rates of between 0.2 and 0.9% in 2025 and 2026.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves welcomed the fresh upgrade to the IMF's outlook for the UK's economy.
"But know this is just the start. For too many people, our economy feels stuck," she said.
"Working people feel it every day, experts talk about it, and I am going to deal with it."
But highlighting the inflation forecasts, shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride said the IMF assessment on made for "grim reading".
He said that UK households "were being squeezed from all sides", adding: "Since taking office, Labour have allowed the cost of living to rise, debt to balloon and business confidence to collapse to record lows."
The IMF said a slight overall upgrade for the UK in its World Economic Outlook, from its previous outlook in April, was due to "strong activity in the first half of 2025" and an improved trade outlook, partly thanks to the recently announced US-UK trade deal.
The global outlook is dominated by the so far "muted response" of the world economy to the imposition of hefty tariffs on almost all imports into the US, a weakened dollar, questions about the independence of the US Federal Reserve and sky high valuations of US tech companies.
The IMF expect some of this to unwind soon, saying "resilience is giving way to warning signs". In the US tariff costs which had been absorbed by exporters and retailers, are now feeding into higher goods prices.
So far tariffs have been reflected in higher prices for American shoppers of household appliances, but not for food and clothing.
The IMF cited Brexit as an example of how uncertainty around major changes in trading arrangements can, after a delay, lead to steady falls in investment.
The Fund also pointed to a possible bursting of the US AI tech boom.
"Excessively optimistic growth expectations about AI could be revised in light of incoming data from early adopters and could trigger a market correction," the IMF said.
Disappointing profit numbers could lead to a "reassessment of the sustainability of AI-driven valuations and a drop in tech stock prices, with systemic implications. A potential bust of the AI boom could rival the dot-com crash of 2000–01 in severity".
The concentration of the stock market surge on a tiny number of firms and massive funding from less regulated sources outside the banking sector, were particular risks.
Slow growth could hit household wealth, with a lesser ability of major economies to use government borrowing to support their economies, as occurred in recent crises.
Conversely, the IMF also said that "faster AI adoption" could help unleash significant gains in productivity, helping the global economy is handled appropriately.
Elsewhere, the IMF again pointed to the outperformance of the Spanish economy, the fastest-growing large western economy. But the war economy growth seen in Russia last year has now petered out.
There are also concerns about funding for the world's poorest countries now that aid budgets in many countries, such as the UK and US are being slashed in favour of increased defence spending.
The forecasts were released on the eve of the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank attended by the world's finance ministers and central bankers in Washington DC, with considerable attention on a new US bailout for Argentina.
PA MediaFar-right activist Tommy Robinson was unlawfully stopped driving a Bentley at the entrance to the Channel Tunnel, and counter terrorism officers made a disproportionate use of their powers, his lawyer has told a court.
The 42-year-old, who was charged under his real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon is standing trial at Westminster Magistrates Court for refusing to give the Pin for his mobile phone to officers during the stop. He has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutor Jo Morris said that while the stop may not have been "perfect", that does not mean it was unlawful.
Judgement in the trial has been delayed until 4 November following closing arguments.
If found guilty, Mr Lennon could be jailed for up to three months and/or receive a £2,500 fine.
He was stopped by police on 28 July, 2024, using their counter-terrorism powers as he prepared to enter the Channel Tunnel while driving a silver Bentley Bentaygo.
Officers from Kent Police said they did so partly because he was driving someone else's car and had not pre-booked his ticket.
They said they became more suspicious when Mr Lennon would not make eye contact with them and said he was driving all the way to Benidorm. When asked for the Pin to his phone he refused.
A person who is detained under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act is legally obliged to provide the password or Pin for electronic devices.
In his closing submissions to the judge on Tuesday, Mr Lennon's barrister, Alisdair Williamson KC, said: "The question for you. Is this a lawful stop? If it is not, you cannot convict Mr Lennon."
Mr Williamson described the power that police officers have at ports and airport as "extraordinary" and said there needed to be "assiduous oversight" of this power, which he described as the only one there was to "compel people under pain of criminal penalty to answer questions".
He described Mr Lennon as a "public figure" whose views are "well known" and asked what the justification was for the police's use of "coercive powers".
"What were they going to find out that wasn't in the public domain?" Mr Williamson asked.
He pointed out that the officers did not ask any further questions about the Bentley after Mr Lennon told them it belonged to "a mate" and said his client travelled to Benidorm regularly.
In her closing speech, prosecutor Jo Morris said "we accept that the stop may not have been a perfect one but that does not make it unlawful."
She said "there was no real dispute over the facts" and that Mr Lennon had been warned of the consequences and was offered legal advice but still refused to give officers his Pin.
Before the hearing began on Monday, Mr Lennon - the former leader of the English Defence League (EDL) - said on X that the social media platform's billionaire owner, Elon Musk - who has previously championed him - had "picked up the legal bill" for the case against him, which Mr Lennon described as "state persecution".
Mr Musk has not publicly confirmed this.
AFPFrench Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has told parliament he backs suspending controversial 2023 pension reforms, in the face of crucial votes of no-confidence later this week.
The changes, which raised the retirement age from 62 to 64, were seen as signature reforms in Emmanuel Macron's presidency.
"This autumn I will propose to parliament that we suspend the 2023 pension reform until the [2027] presidential election," Lecornu said to applause from left-wing parties.
Lecornu was reappointed prime minister last week only four days after he resigned, and needs the support of Socialist MPs in parliament if his government is to survive.
Opposition parties on the far right and far left have called confidence votes, known as "censure" votes in Lecornu, for Thursday morning and are demanding parliamentary elections.
The Socialists said they would be prepared to support the new government, but only if it promises a complete suspension of Macron's pension changes.
"If he does not explicitly say the words 'immediate and complete suspension of the pension reform', it will be censure," Socialist MP Laurent Baumel said earlier on French TV.
"He is holding his destiny in his own hands. He knows what he has do if he doesn't want to be the prime minister who resigns every week."
The reforms were finally pushed through parliament in March 2023, less than a year after Macron was voted in for a second presidential term.
There had been months of political debate, strikes and street protests, and in the end the bill had to go through without a vote in parliament using a constitutional mechanism known as 49:3.
Last week, Lecornu said it was something many French people remembered as a "wound on democracy" .
On Tuesday he made it plain to MPs that suspending the pension reform would cost €400m (£350m) in 2026 and a further €1.8bn (£1.57bn) in 2027. This will have to be "compensated by other savings," Lecornu said.
Lecornu is France's third prime minister in the past year but even if he does survive he needs to get a budget through parliament that brings down a budget deficit heading for 5.4% of economic output (GDP) this year.
France's public debt earlier this year stood at €3.4tn, or almost 114% of GDP, the third highest in the eurozone after Greece and Italy.
Lecornu has been one of Macron's most loyal allies, so his decision to row back on such a contested reform shows how keen the president is to avoid further turmoil.
Philippe Aghion, who was jointly awarded the 2025 Nobel economics prize on Monday, said earlier that he also backed a suspension of the pension reform, because it would still come at a smaller cost than the instability that would follow another government collapse.
BBCBuenos Aires, September 2023. Hundreds of people crowded around to wave flags and film on their phones. The man with unruly hair and sideburns in the centre of them, clad in a black leather jacket, hoisted a roaring chainsaw above his head.
This was an election rally taking place in the San Martín area of the Argentine capital a month before the presidential election - and the metaphor was explicit.
The candidate Javier Milei believed the state was far too bloated, with annual debts that were bigger than Argentina's entire annual economic output.
Rather than 'trimming the fat', as some politicians delicately put it, he said he would take a chainsaw to ministries, subsidies and the ruling political class he derided as "la casta" - the caste.
Getty ImagesMilei had form for stunts. In 2019, he dressed up in a "libertarian superhero" costume, purporting to be from Liberland - a land where no taxes are paid. In 2018, he smashed a piñata of the Central Bank on live television.
According to official data, inflation in 2023 topped 211% annually - Milei took office in December of that year. Roughly 40% of the population lived in poverty. Years of high public spending, and a reliance on printing more money and borrowing to cover deficits, had left the country in a cycle of debts and inflation.
Yet nearly two years on, the headline figures are vastly different: Argentina recorded its first fiscal surplus in 14 years -the state spending less than it's collecting - and inflation, which had hit triple figures annually, has tumbled to about 36%.
The UK Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch called the measures Milei has taken a "template" for a future Conservative government. And in the US, President Donald Trump described Milei as "my favourite president".
They will meet in Washington on Tuesday.
ReutersForeign investors regained confidence in Argentina too. Although that recently slipped, Washington's decision last week to swap $20bn (£15bn) in dollars for pesos, effectively propping up Argentina's currency with International Monetary Fund (IMF) backing, is a sign Milei's fiscal shock therapy has appeased international lenders. Trump and Milei's meeting will hail the deal.
Yet for all the international praise, this is just one side of the story. On the streets there have been heated protests over Milei's reforms, with police firing tear gas, rubber bullets and a water cannon during clashes.
"He said in his campaign that this adjustment would be paid for by 'la casta' – the wealthy, the politicians, the evil businessmen," says Mercedes D'Alessandro, a left-wing economist and senate candidate.
But, she argues, the result was less money for pensioners and hospitals. "The adjustment in the end was directed at the working classes, not the caste."
ReutersMilei's critics argue that the price of his changes have been recession, job losses, weaker public services and declining household budgets. And now some economists say the country could be about to enter a recession.
Milei has created a paradox.
On paper, his chainsaw has achieved some of the macroeconomic successes he set out to do. But Milei has lost political support and that has spooked the markets, which in turn has destabilised his economic project.
With midterm elections looming on 26 October, Argentina is about to deliver its verdict: will Milei be punished for doing what he set out to do — and could losing political support completely unravel his economic gains?
Around 700 miles from the capital in the Misiones province, tea farmer Ygor Sobol looks anxious. "We're all going backwards economically," he says. "I had to close the payroll. Now I am completely without employees."
For three generations his family has grown yerba mate, a drink popular with Argentines, but since Milei deregulated his industry by scrapping minimum prices, he says that his crops have become worth less than the cost of producing them.
Now, Mr Sobol says he can't afford to do basic tasks like cleaning and fertilising his plantation. And with the business making a loss, he's deciding what his family will have to go without too.
ShutterstockArgentina's multibillion dollar textile industry is also affected. Luciano Galfione, chairman of a non-profit for the sector Fundacion Pro Tejer, describes "daily" closures and job losses.
Unlike Trump's approach of raising tariffs to promote "America First", Milei cut tariffs and other criteria for imports.
"I have environmental controls, labour controls - we don't pay people $80 (£60) a month, or have 16-hour work days that might be allowed in places like Bangladesh or Vietnam. This creates an unequal playing field," Mr Galfione argues.
He believes that boosting imports has battered domestic producers. "Our sector lost more than 10,000 direct jobs. If you add indirect jobs, there are many more."
Mr Galfione also blames rising costs of utilities, health and schools for reducing the disposable income of average people, and in turn making them less likely to buy clothes.
And yet amid it all, Milei is adamant that his measures will improve the lives of ordinary Argentines.
In the run-up to the election Milei had said there was no alternative to big cuts.
As well as the soaring inflation, vast government subsidies had kept energy and transport prices down. Public spending was high, even before the Covid-19 pandemic. Price controls set fixed prices for certain goods. Argentina, still, owes £31bn in debt to the IMF.
"The demand for public spending was brutal," argues Ramiro Castiñeira, an economist at the consultancy Econométrica who supports Milei.
"Society seemed willing to live with so much inflation. Or didn't recognise that inflation was a product of so much public spending."
EPA - EFE/REX/ShutterstockInflation ate away the peso currency's purchasing power. Many ordinary Argentines handed over disproportionate sums of pesos to illegal street traders to buy dollars, fearing their money would lose value overnight.
"Everything was a huge mess," explains Martin Rapetti, an economics professor at the University of Buenos Aires and executive director of think tank Equilibria.
"People felt money slipping like water through their fingers."
For many economists, drastic change (even if painful) was essential to restore credibility. And Milei promised radical change.
He went viral for ripping government ministries such as Culture and Women off a whiteboard while shouting 'afuera!' - 'out!'
Among other austerity measures, he halved government ministries, cut tens of thousands of public jobs, slashed budgets including for education, health, pensions and infrastructure, and removed subsidies – spiking utility and transport prices.
His initial devaluing of the peso by 50% caused inflation to spike but then it fell as people spent less and demand fell.
EPA/ShutterstockWhen I met him in April 2024 at his office, there were sculptures of him with a chainsaw on display and coasters showing Margaret Thatcher's face. Thatcher is loathed by many people in Argentina owing to the Falklands War, but Milei told me he admired her and that she was "brilliant."
Last month one British newspaper described Milei's own approach as having "echoes of Thatcherism".
Miguel Boggiano, an economist on Milei's economic advisory board, is full of praise for Milei getting inflation down and reducing the deficit. "When you bear in mind the starting point, that's a huge accomplishment," he says.
ReutersHe believes this will help alleviate poverty in the long-run and enable lower taxes, but also help people to plan their own spending more easily with inflation currently fluctuating less.
But Alan Cibils, an independent economist and former professor, warns reduced inflation is only a success if it is sustained over time which he believes will not be the case.
Javier Milei is not a career politician. Before becoming president he had two years experience as a deputy in Argentina's Congress.
"Being so detached kind of shields him," Prof Rapetti observes, citing a lack of "signs of empathy in public life".
On 7 September Milei's party lost unexpectedly badly in the Buenos Aires provincial elections. His convoy was pelted with rocks on the campaign trail. The markets panicked: foreign investors sold off pesos and bonds of Argentine government debt.
EPA - EFE/REX/ShutterstockFinancial markets had generally supported his economic programme. But the midterm elections were upcoming and the £15bn of debt repayments are due next year.
Trump's £15bn currency swap lifeline has provided some stability: Argentine bonds and the peso rose in value in response to the announcement. But D'Alessandro argues that though US intervention might solve a wider problem, nothing will change in "people's real lives".
"We're going to continue with no investment in hospitals, education, social programmes. This money from the United States is not going to improve Argentina's infrastructure."
Some of Milei's supporters - like Mr Boggiano - believe there is something else at play in the round criticism of the president: In this view much of it comes down to the opposition trying to "break" what Milei has done, in order to get back into power.
"Once everyone starts to believe stability is here to stay, investment will come back," says Mr Boggiano. "I think Milei will become a model for other countries."
Others are unsure. "There is some stability which helps things not to explode," said Mr Cibils. "But I think that stability is also a mirage."
Milei had also kept inflation under control by spending the country's reserves on propping-up the peso so it didn't crash. Meanwhile, Argentina owes $20bn of debt next year.
One former central bank economist, who wished to speak anonymously, warns Milei's strategy of keeping inflation down could unravel if Argentina can't pay its debts.
"If at the end of the day we have a financial crisis that partially undoes all the effort, then it's a failure. If it ends with social unrest, any good done will be reversed," says the economist.
The left-wing governor of Buenos Aires, Axel Kicillof, has been touted as a future presidential candidate, long ahead of the elections in 2027. He has spoken in favour of the welfare state. Some investors are calculating whether this could mean a return to the days of big spending.
Getty ImagesAs to the question of whether Milei has succeeded, the answer largely depends how you define success - and who it is for.
Many workers see shuttered factories, rocketing bills, and a vanishing safety net.
Meanwhile, some investors see a success story of fiscal discipline, tamed inflation, an ally in Washington and simply a "normalisation".
But even as leaders abroad watch Milei's experiment with fascination, politics may explain why few are unlikely to copy it.
If normal people lose faith in what he is doing, markets will also lose confidence that his programme is sustainable – and that could wipe out even the 'macro' successes.
"He has no political expertise, and I think you need it," Prof Rapetti argues.
Still, he believes it is too early to judge: "We are in the middle of his term… The story hasn't finished."
Top picture credit: WPA Pool/Getty Images, Bloomberg via Getty Images
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Family / British Transport PoliceAn asylum seeker from Sudan danced and laughed after murdering a Walsall hotel worker in a "vicious and frenzied attack" on a train station platform, a trial has heard.
Prosecutors allege Deng Majek, who claims to be 19, stabbed 27-year-old Rhiannon Whyte 23 times with a screwdriver at Bescot Stadium railway station on 20 October 2024. She died in hospital three days later.
Opening the case for the prosecution at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Michelle Heeley KC told the jury that the defendant was "clearly excited about what he had done".
Mr Majek denies murder.
The jury heard Mr Majek was seen on CCTV at the Park Inn Hotel in Walsall, laughing shortly after killing Ms Whyte.
The defendant had been living at the hotel, which houses asylum seekers, while Ms Whyte had worked there for about three months.
The court heard her job included cleaning and serving food and co-workers could not recall any issue which might have led to the attack.
"There had been an issue about some broken biscuits with some of the residents but nothing serious," Ms Heeley said.
In a statement released following her death, Rhiannon Whyte's family described her as "selfless... brave, quirky, funny" and always there for other people.
The prosecution said CCTV showed the defendant staring at Ms Whyte, before he followed her from the hotel to the railway station when she finished her shift at 23:00 BST.
"He had been hanging around waiting for her to leave and waited until she was on her own before he followed her," Ms Heeley said.
The court was told Ms Whyte called a friend at 23:04 and he was seen on CCTV cameras closing the gap on her as she approached the deserted platform.
Ms Heeley said: "It was then that the prosecution say that this defendant attacked her."
Her friend heard a scream and then another scream, before the phone went dead at 23:19.
The prosecution said Mr Majek could then be seen running back up the stairs with an object in his hand, which they said was Ms Whyte's mobile phone.
Ms Heeley said he then went to a local shop to buy himself a drink before returning to the hotel.
She added: "In between the station and the hotel he had thrown Rhiannon's phone into a river.
"Once at the hotel he was seen dancing and laughing, clearly excited about what he had done."
The train she had been due to catch pulled in at 23:24 and the driver saw a figure slumped on the platform, the court was told.
Ms Heeley said the guard tried to help her, along with another employee from the hotel, but nothing could be done to save her and she died on 23 October, having never regained consciousness.
The court was told 11 of the 23 stab wounds penetrated her skull, one of which damaged the brain stem, causing her death.
She also had injuries to her chest and arm, indicating she had tried to defend herself, the court heard.
The puncture wounds had the appearance of a cross-headed screwdriver, which has never been found.
The jury was told the defendant's jacket, sandals and ring had Rhiannon Whyte's blood on them, and her DNA was found under Mr Majek's fingernails.
Ms Heeley said: "He left her bleeding to death and then casually went back to his hotel. We say you can be sure he is guilty of murder."
The trial is expected to last about three weeks.
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