(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Friday voiced frustration with what he called China’s “trade hostility,” threatening to respond with large tariffs on China and to cancel his upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The comments triggered a stock selloff. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 385 points, or 0.8%. While the S&P 500 fell 1.25% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 1.75%.
Trump’s remarks came a day after China imposed new restrictions on rare-earth minerals, key materials in the production of semiconductors used for everything from artificial intelligence to home appliances.
In a social media post, Trump said China had sent letters to countries around the world threatening to impose export controls on “each and every element of production having to do with Rare Earths.”
“There is no way that China should be allowed to hold the World ‘captive,'” but that seems to have been their plan for quite some time,” Trump said.
In retaliation, Trump threatened a “massive increase” on tariffs on Chinese products coming into the US, even though he said the move would be “potentially painful.”
Tariffs on Chinese imports into the US currently stand at 30%, down from the high point of 145% earlier this year.
Trump also threatened to cancel an upcoming meeting with Jinping.
“This was a real surprise, not only to me, but to all the Leaders of the Free World. I was to meet President Xi in two weeks, at APEC, in South Korea, but now there seems to be no reason to do so,” Trump concludes.
This comes as the trade truce between the US and China is still in effect but set to expire in less than a month.
(MCEWEN, Tenn.) — Multiple people are dead following a “devastating blast” at an explosives manufacturing plant in Tennessee on Friday, according to authorities.
The explosion occurred Friday morning at Accurate Energetic Systems in McEwen, located about 50 miles west of Tennessee.
Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis confirmed to reporters there are “some” fatalities and several people missing in the blast, though he did not give specific numbers.
At least 13 people are unaccounted for, Hickman County Mayor Jim Bates told ABC News.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
First Lady Melania Trump. Aaron Chown-WPA Pool/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — First lady Melania Trump announced Friday that she and Russian President Vladimir Putin have had an “open channel of communication” regarding children impacted by the Russian-Ukraine war.
“We have agreed to cooperate with each other for the benefit of all people involved in this war,” she said in brief remarks delivered from the Grand Foyer of the White House.
“In fact, eight children have been rejoined with their families during the past 24 hours,” she added.
The first lady had written a letter to Putin stating it was time to protect the children impacted by the yearslong war, which was hand-delivered by President Donald Trump when he met with the Russian leader in Alaska in August.
“He responded in writing, signaling a willingness to engage with me directly and outlining details regarding the Ukrainian children residing in Russia,” she said on Friday.
Melania Trump said her representative has been working directly with Putin’s team on reunification of children separated from their families as the conflict continues.
“Russia has demonstrated a willingness to disclose objective and detailed information reflective for the current situation,” she said.
The first lady also said she was provided a “detailed report” about the eight children who were reunited and the U.S. government-confirmed facts contained in the documents.
“This is an important initiative for me. It is built on shared purpose and lasting impact,” she said, adding that plans are “underway” to reunify more children in the near future.
“A child’s soul knows no borders, no flags,” she said. “We must foster a future for our children which is rich with potential, security and complete with free will. A world where dreams will be realized rather than faded by war.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — A potential nor’easter is beginning to develop off the coast of Florida on Friday, which could pose a threat to the East Coast this weekend into next week. Major cities and coastal areas in the Northeast could see heavy rain, gusty winds, coastal flooding and beach erosion.
The cold front that has brought chilly temperatures across the Northeast stalled out over the Florida Peninsula on Friday morning, with a low-pressure system developing in its wake along the Southeast coast later on Friday into Saturday that will track parallel to the East Coast.
By Sunday into Monday, the storm will skirt North Carolina’s Outer Banks and spin off the Jersey Shore before pulling away later in the day on Tuesday into Wednesday.
Over the next several days, this potential nor’easter will bring a plethora of impacts to the East Coast, with some threats even extending well inland.
Coastal areas from the Carolinas up to Long Island and southern coastal New England will bear the brunt of this storm, with winds reaching up to 60 mph, rain totals hitting between 2 to 5-plus inches, moderate to major tidal flooding and significant beach erosion.
Inland areas, including along the Interstate 95 corridor, could see up to 2 inches of rain and wind gusts reaching anywhere between 20 to 40 mph.
The heaviest rain totals will come from Saturday through Tuesday, bringing concerns of flash flooding, gusty winds and coastal flooding.
High wind watches have been issued for southern Delaware, coastal New Jersey and Long Island from Sunday morning through the overnight hours into Monday, with sustained winds of 20 to 30 mph and gusts of 60 mph or more.
Coastal flood watches have also already been issued from the Outer Banks of North Carolina up to coastal Massachusetts for Sunday through Monday for at least minor to moderate flooding. Areas from Delaware up to the Jersey Shore and Long Island could see moderate to potentially major impacts, with structural damage possible in coastal and bayside communities.
Additionally, significant beach erosion is also possible along the East Coast, especially from the Outer Banks up to coastal New England.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on October 09, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Attorney General Pam Bondi and other senior leadership of the Justice Department were caught off guard Thursday by news that the Trump-installed U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia had presented to a grand jury seeking an indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James, multiple sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
While Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and other DOJ officials had expected Lindsey Halligan would move forward in seeking to indict James, against the recommendation of prosecutors in the office who had investigated for months the claims she committed mortgage fraud, they were not informed until after Halligan had already presented the case, sources said.
“The Justice Department is united as one team in our mission to make America safe again and as stated previously Lindsey Halligan is fully supported by the AG, DAG, and the entire team at Main Justice,” a Justice Department spokesperson told ABC News in a statement.
The news that Halligan was making her presentment was not news, however, to Ed Martin — who was appointed to several senior leadership positions at DOJ by President Trump after his nomination to be the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C. failed to earn support from Republican senators earlier this year.
Martin, who goes by his self-described nickname “Eagle Ed” posted on his ‘X’ account Thursday morning an image of an eagle flying over the Brooklyn Bridge – and reposted the image Thursday evening following news of James’ indictment.
As ABC News previously reported, Martin and Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, who initially made the criminal referral to DOJ over James’ mortgage applications, have in recent weeks clashed with senior leadership of the department as they’ve demanded more aggressive actions to prosecute President Trump’s political enemies.
In a Truth Social post last month, President Trump publicly urged Bondi to move “now” to prosecute his enemies and said he was appointing Halligan to lead the office and “get things moving.”
One former senior DOJ official said it would be extraordinary for leadership at the department to not be informed of a pending indictment of a major political figure like James, which would more typically be led by the department’s Public Integrity Section. Staff in that office has been eliminated to just two officials down from roughly 30 since Trump’s inauguration, according to sources.
Despite her being initially caught off guard by Halligan’s presentment, Bondi posted on ‘X’ following James’ indictment, “One tier of justice for all Americans.”
(NEW YORK) — Consumer sentiment soured in October as a government shutdown threatens to weaken a wobbly economy beset by an uptick in inflation and a sharp slowdown of hiring, fresh data on Friday showed. The reading marked a decrease from the previous month but it came in higher than economists expected.
Shopper attitudes have worsened for three consecutive months, resuming a decline that took hold after President Donald Trump took office, University of Michigan Survey data showed.
At its low point this year, consumer sentiment fell close to its worst level since an acute bout of inflation three years ago. The measure remains well below where it stood in December, before Trump took office.
Year-ahead inflation expectations ticked down from 4.7% in September to 4.6% in October, the data showed. The outcome anticipated by respondents would put inflation well above its current level of 2.9%. Long-run inflation expectations held steady from the previous month, data showed.
The data on consumer sentiment is likely to garner more attention than usual, since the government shutdown has halted closely watched releases from the federal government, including monthly jobs and inflation reports.
Consumer spending, which accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, is a key bellwether for the outlook of the nation’s economy.
A government shutdown typically risks only modest damage for the economy but it can cause a marked decline in consumer sentiment, threatening a later drop in consumer spending, some experts previously told ABC News.
Consumer sentiment fell more than 7 points from December 2018 to January 2019, coinciding with the most recent 35-day government shutdown, according to a Committee for Responsible Federal Budget analysis of University of Michigan survey data. A souring of consumer sentiment, albeit limited, occurred over each of the three most recent shutdowns that preceded 2018.
The government shutdown, which entered its 10th day on Friday, has shown little sign of resolution. The Senate has rejected dueling funding proposals from Democrats and Republicans in seven separate votes.
The shutdown has coincided with a delicate moment for the nation’s economy, as a hiring slowdown stokes recession fears and inflation proves difficult to fully contain.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said last month that policymakers face a “challenging situation” while they attempt to navigate the economy through a “turbulent period.”
Kilmar Abrego Garcia (R) and his wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura (L) attend a prayer vigil before he enters a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office on August 25, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(BALTIMORE) — Attorneys for wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia will be in court in Maryland on Friday for an evidentiary hearing in which government witnesses are expected to testify about the steps taken to remove him from the United States.
The hearing comes after U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis appeared exasperated on Monday with government attorneys who could not answer if there was additional evidence about plans to deport him to Eswatini, beyond letters sent to Abrego Garcia’s lawyers.
The Department of Homeland Security on Thursday notified Abrego Garcia that it planned to deport him to Ghana. The agency told his attorneys later that the notice was “premature” and asked them to disregard the document.
Ghana’s foreign minister, Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa, said in a Friday X post that the West African nation is not accepting Abrego Garcia.
“This has been directly and unambiguously conveyed to US authorities,” he wrote. “In my interactions with US officials, I made clear that our understanding to accept a limited number of non-criminal West Africans, purely on the grounds of African solidarity and humanitarian principles would not be expanded.”
The Salvadoran national’s attorneys have argued that if there are no current plans for his imminent removal, Abrego Garcia should be released from detention.
Abrego Garcia, who had been living in Maryland with his wife and children, was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison, despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution. The Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which his family and attorneys deny.
He was brought back to the U.S. in June to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee, to which he has pleaded not guilty. After being released into the custody of his brother in Maryland pending trial, he was again detained by immigration authorities and is currently being held in Pennsylvania.
The government has told Abrego Garcia’s attorneys that it intends to deport him to a country other then El Salvador, including possibly Uganda or Eswatini.
As Abrego Garcia awaits trial in Tennessee, Judge Xinis has currently banned the government from removing him from the United States.
A separate hearing in that case is scheduled for Friday, where his criminal attorneys in Tennessee will discuss discovery and Abrego Garcia’s motion to dismiss that case for vindictive and selective prosecution.
In a filing on Thursday, Robert McGuire, the acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, said he will not produce communications between senior government officials, including Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, about the prosecution of the case.
“The United States submits that any communications between senior government actors themselves about this case, but which did not influence the Acting United States Attorney because they did not reach him or were not communicated to him would not be discoverable,” McGuire said.
The government said in the filing that Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have to show that McGuire was “prevailed upon” by another entity like the Department of Homeland Security or the Justice Department to seek an indictment that otherwise would not have been brought.
McGuire previously said in a sworn affidavit that he never received any direction from the DOJ “that was unethical or inappropriate.”
“Undersigned counsel intends to submit a supplemental affidavit that he has had no such communications from any source: the Department of Homeland Security, the White House, or anyone,” McGuire said.
Abrego Garcia’s criminal trial on the Tennessee charges is scheduled for Jan. 27.
The Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado attends a protest called by the opposition in Caracas, Venezuela, on January 9, 2025, one day before the presidential inauguration.(Photo by Jonathan Lanza/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado for her work “promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela” and her push to move the country from dictatorship to democracy.
Jorgen Watne Frydens, the Nobel Committee chair, spoke broadly about the advance of authoritarian regimes in the world and retreat of democracy in the announcement.
The Nobel Committee called the Venezuelan politician and industrial engineer who is currently the opposition leader in Venezuela “a brave and committed champion of peace.”
“Machado is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize first and foremost for her efforts to advance democracy in Venezuela,” the committee said. “But democracy is also in retreat internationally. Democracy — understood as the right to freely express one’s opinion, to cast one’s vote and to be represented in elective government — is the foundation of peace both within countries and between countries.”
“Maria Corina Machado has led the struggle for democracy in the face of ever-expanding authoritarianism in Venezuela. Ms Machado studied engineering and finance, and had a short career in business,” the Nobel Committee said.
In 1992, Machado established the Atenea Foundation, which works to benefit street children in Caracas and, 10 years later, she was one of the founders of Súmate, a group that works to promote free and fair elections and has conducted training and election monitoring. In 2010, Machado was elected to the National Assembly and won a record number of votes.
“The regime expelled her from office in 2014,” the Nobel Committee said. “Ms Machado leads the Vente Venezuela opposition party and in 2017 helped found the Soy Venezuela alliance, which unites pro-democracy forces in the country across political dividing lines.”
The announcement was made on Friday morning, but the actual award ceremony will take place on Dec. 10, in Oslo, Norway.
Frydens was asked about U.S. President Donald Trump’s “campaign” for the prize, but denied it had any impact on the decision making process.
“We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year of people wanting to say what, for them, leads to peace,” Frydens said. “This committee sits in a room filled with the portraits of all laureates and that room is filled with both courage and integrity. We base only our decision on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel.”
“Democracy is a precondition for lasting peace. However, we live in a world where democracy is in retreat, where more and more authoritarian regimes are challenging norms and resorting to violence,” the Nobel Committee said.
“The Venezuelan regime’s rigid hold on power and its repression of the population are not unique in the world,” it continued. “We see the same trends globally: rule of law abused by those in control, free media silenced, critics imprisoned, and societies pushed towards authoritarian rule and militarisation. In 2024, more elections were held than ever before, but fewer and fewer are free and fair.”
“Maria Corina Machado meets all three criteria stated in Alfred Nobel’s will for the selection of a Peace Prize laureate. She has brought her country’s opposition together. She has never wavered in resisting the militarisation of Venezuelan society. She has been steadfast in her support for a peaceful transition to democracy,” the committee said.
“[She] has shown that the tools of democracy are also the tools of peace. She embodies the hope of a different future, one where the fundamental rights of citizens are protected, and their voices are heard. In this future, people will finally be free to live in peace,” Nobel Committee officials said.
Last year, Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese anti-nuclear weapons group, won the Nobel Peace Prize for their work toward the abolition of nuclear weapons, with the Norwegian Nobel Committee saying that the testimony of the Hibakusha, who are the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is unique in this larger context and that their perspective helps to “generate and consolidate widespread opposition to nuclear weapons around the world by drawing on personal stories, creating educational campaigns based on their own experience, and issuing urgent warnings against the spread and use of nuclear weapons.”
There were 338 candidates nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2025, of which 244 were individuals and 94 were organizations. This is a significant increase from last year when there were 286 nominees. The highest number of nominees to date was in 2016 when there were 376 candidates.
The list of nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize is released 50 years after the prize is awarded, in accordance with the statutes of the Nobel Foundation.
Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt turns 100 on Wednesday, Aug. 21,2019. Sister Jean is surprised after she’s given an NCAA Final Four ring before the Loyola Ramblers play the Nevada Wolf Pack in 2018 at Gentile Arena in Chicago, Ill. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
(CHICAGO) — Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, the team chaplain for the Loyola University Chicago basketball team who became a national celebrity during the school’s 2018 underdog March Madness run, has died at 106.
“This is a tremendous loss of someone who touched the lives of so many people. We appreciate everyone’s thoughts & prayers during this difficult time,” the university said in a statement.
In an announcement last month, just a month after her 106th birthday, the university said Schmidt was retiring and stepping back from official duties at the school.
In a letter to students and other members of the university community sent on her birthday in August, Schmidt said she was unable to travel to campus to celebrate due to a “bad summer cold and other health issues.”
She wrote, “That makes me very sad, but you can still celebrate,” and encouraged students to “make new friends. Talk to your old friends. Enjoy your move-in and your preparations for class.”
Schmidt became a nationally recognized figure during the 2018 NCAA men’s basketball tournament, when Loyola University Chicago, which entered March Madness as an 11-seed, reached the Final Four in San Antonio, Texas.
Schmidt’s presence courtside — always adorned in the team’s maroon and gold colors — and her enthusiastic cheering on of the team drew attention from fans and national broadcasters.
“In many roles at Loyola over the course of more than 60 years, Sister Jean was an invaluable source of wisdom and grace for generations of students, faculty, and staff,” Loyola President Mark C. Reed said in a statement. “While we feel grief and a sense of loss, there is great joy in her legacy. Her presence was a profound blessing for our entire community and her spirit abides in thousands of lives. In her honor, we can aspire to share with others the love and compassion Sister Jean shared with us.”
Born Dolores Bertha Schmidt in San Francisco on Aug. 21, 1919, she joined the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1937, taking the name Sister Jean Dolores, according to a university obituary.
A basketball player in her youth, Schmidt later became a nun, then a grade school teacher, and started girls’ sports programs before her time on the college basketball sidelines.
She came to the university’s Lake Shore campus in 1961 to teach at Mundelein College, which affiliated with Loyola in 1991.
She first became an academic adviser for the men’s basketball team in 1994 and later became the team chaplain.
She released a memoir in 2023, “Wake Up with Purpose!: What I’ve Learned in My First Hundred Years.”
In a 2023 interview with ABC News, Schmidt said, “I think sports [are] very important because they help develop life skills, and during those life skills you’re also talking about faiths and purpose.”
(WASHINGTON) — In two courthouses in different parts of the country, President Donald Trump’s attempt to send troops into Democratic-led cities faced a critical legal test on Thursday, with a judge in Chicago temporarily blocking deployment.
District Judge April Perry entered a TRO enjoining the deployment of National Guard troops from any U.S. state into Illinois. This ruling will be in effect for 14 days.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a notice of appeal to Perry’s ruling late Thursday evening.
Meanwhile, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals helda heated, hour-long oral argument on whether to lift a lower court’s order blocking the deployment of troops into Portland.
The dueling hearings on Thursday set the stage for one of the most high-profile legal battles since Trump took office, as local governments turn to the courts to stop what some judges have described as a blurring of the line between military and civilian rule.
Chicago
In the decision, Perry determined that there is “no credible evidence that there is a danger of rebellion in Illinois” and no evidence that the president is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the U.S.
She said that the deployment of the national guard to Illinois “is likely to lead to civil unrest” requiring a response from local and state law enforcement.
Referencing what she called the “provocative nature of ICE enforcement activity” in Illinois, she said, “I find allowing the national guard to deploy will only add fuel to the fire that they started.”
Before Judge Perry’s decision, a lawyer for the Department of Justice, Eric Hamilton, countered that the Chicago area is experiencing “brazen hostility” to federal law enforcement officers, a “tragic lawlessness” in the city that is manifesting in hostile and violent acts against the Department of Homeland Security and ICE personnel.
Hamilton listed as examples “agitators” that had brought guns to federal facilities, and who have thrown rocks, bottles, tear gas and fireworks at federal agents, and who have blocked and impeded immigration enforcement, including by surrounding ICE agents and ramming their vehicles into law enforcement vehicles.
All of which has shown, Hamilton argued, that in Illinois there is an “unprecedented” and “blatant disregard for law and order.”
Judge Perry questioned Hamilton extensively over the scope of the Guard’s deployments and responsibilities and asked what the limits were to their authority, scope and mission. Hamilton described a limited mission to protect federal personnel and property but, under repeated questioning from Perry, Hamilton declined to rule out an expansion of the mission if events were to warrant it.
Describing a “dynamic situation” on the ground in and around Chicago, Hamilton said, “the response is going to be tailored to whatever the needs are” at the moment.
If the mission changes, Hamilton said, the plaintiffs would be able to return to court to issue a renewed challenge.
Wells, the attorney for Illinois, contended that the situation on the ground, particularly outside the ICE facility in Broadview, had calmed substantially since the local government and police force had instituted restrictions on protest hours and since the Illinois State Police began providing protection at the facility.
Portland
As the Chicago hearing took place, a three-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments about whether to lift a lower court’s order blocking the deployment of 200 federalized members of the Oregon National Guard into Portland.
On Wednesday, the Ninth Circuit issued an administrative stay of that order to preserve the status quo as the lawsuit moves through the court.
Oregon argued that the deployment of troops is “part of a nationwide campaign to assimilate the military into civilian law enforcement” and is based on “inaccurate information” about the conditions in Portland.
“Defendants’ nearly limitless conception [of the law] would give the President discretion to repeat this experiment in response to other ordinary, nonviolent acts of civil disobedience across our Nation. The public interest is served by a judicial order preserving the rule of law in the face of unprecedented and unlawful Executive action that threatens grave and irreparable damage to our State and the Nation,” lawyers for the state said in a recent filing.
A federal judge on Sunday expanded her order to bar any state’s National Guard from entering Portland after concluding that the Trump administration was attempting to work around her temporary restraining order by using troops from other states.
That second order has not been formally appealed yet, although the broader issue may arise during the hearing as the Trump administration challenges judicial limits on the president’s authority to deploy the National Guard.
“Congress did not impose these limits on the President’s authority to federalize the Guard, nor did it authorize the federal courts to second-guess the President’s judgment about when and where to call up the Guard to reinforce the regular forces in response to sustained and widespread violent resistance to federal law enforcement,” lawyers for the Trump administration wrote in a filing earlier this week.
In an amicus brief filed on Thursday, a group of former secretaries of the Army and Navy, retired four-star admirals and generals, encouraged Judge Perry to express caution about the broader use of the National Guard in domestic operations.
“Domestic deployments that fail to adhere to [the Posse Comitatus Act] threaten the Guard’s core national security and disaster relief missions; place deployed personnel in fraught situations for which they lack specific training, thus posing safety concerns for servicemembers and the public alike; and risk inappropriately politicizing the military, creating additional risks to recruitment, retention, morale, and cohesion of the force,” lawyers for the former military leaders wrote.
