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Trump sacks Federal Reserve Governor
00:27:53
President Trump removes Fed governor Cook for "making false statements” about mortgage
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This is the global news podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Julia McFarlane and at 13 hours GMT on Tuesday, 26 August, these are our main stories. President Trump declares war on the U.S. federal Reserve. We examine what's at stake for the U.S. and world economy. A day of national protest is taking place in Israel called by the families of hostages being held in Gaza. A manhunt is underway in Australia after two police officers were shot dead in Victoria State. Also in this podcast, countries around the world are teaming up for a new global network on mosquitoes. As climate change fuels new and unpredictable diseases, mosquitoes are occupying areas where they were not found before. And with this, you start to have new challenges. These are new challenges that African countries are not used to dealing with. President Trump has dramatically escalated his war with the US Federal Reserve, announcing that he's sacking its governor, Lisa Cook, claiming that she had falsified records in order to obtain favorable terms on a mortgage. The bombshell news, which came late on Monday night, resulted in a slump in the markets as investors priced in fears for the independence of America's central bank. It's the latest twist in what's been a long running argument between President Trump and the Fed, with the White House and the bank both at odds over interest rates. Speaking to reporters last week, President Trump was already hinting at his intentions when it came to the governor. Are you going to file Lisa Cook, the Fed governor, over her mortgage photo if she doesn't resign? Yeah, she's, she, what she did was bad. So I'll fire her if she doesn't resign. Well, for more on what this means for the US Consumer, for the dollar and for the global financial system, I spoke to our business presenter Suranjana Tiwari. Asian markets and currencies are down on this shock dismissal because it's really rattled confidence in the US Central bank's independence. This is an unprecedented move and a significant escalation of Trump's attacks on the independence of the US Central bank. And we've also heard from Lisa K issued a statement saying that no cause exists under the law for Trump to remove her from the job. He has no authority, according to her. And she added that she will continue to carry out her duties to help the US Economy. Now, the Trump administration claims that Lisa Cook, who was nominated by former President Joe Biden in 2022, committed mortgage fraud by allegedly naming two different properties as her primary residence at the same time. She said she's looking into, but rejects that that is any cause or that she has committed mortgage fraud. What does this tell us about the Trump administration's relationship with the US Central bank? Well, Trump has repeatedly criticized the central bank and its chair, Jerome Powell for not cutting short term interest rates. Powell has so far resisted that pressure, even though the president also threatened to fire him before his term as chair expires next year. Having said, Jerome Powell has suggested in the last few days that conditions may warrant interest rate cuts as the Fed proceeds carefully. That and we'll find out more about that in September when the central bank meets for its next monetary policy review. But yes, lots of questions, not just about the legality of whether a president actually has the authority to fire a Fed governor, but also, you know, Trump's involvement in an institution that is historically and traditionally kept very, very separate from the powers of government. Suranjana markets are lower. Amidst this news coming out. Tell us what is at stake here. Yeah. Here in Asia, markets really look to the Fed for an indication of what's to come. So in terms of interest rates, because higher interest rates mean it's harder for businesses to be able to exp and grow and take on new staff and new orders. And the other issue is the dollar. Now, we've seen that the dollar has weakened as a result of this move because markets are frankly very rattled and investors think that the US Central bank is no longer as independent as it can be. And a weak dollar is actually not great because it means it affects investment in the US in the long term. It also affects how much American businesses can do business over here because a weaker dollar means things and they can import less things into the US and the other really important thing as well is confidence. Remember, President Trump has come into office and he has created tariff chaos with his policies on trade. And so a lot of manufacturers around the world are unsure what tariff or tax they're going to have to pay on their goods. And the markets certainly don't like uncertainty. And this just creates even more uncertainty for them. A week ago, a US Judge ordered the shutdown of the Alligator Alcatraz Migrant Detention Centre in Florida. This controversial facility has been the subject of multiple lawsuits since it opened at the end of June in the Everglades swampland, an area famous for its alligators. Josephine Casserly reports from outside the center. The controversial Alligator Alcatraz Detention center was speedily built in eight days on a disused airstrip in the Everglades of protected wetlands in South Florida. The Everglades is not only important because of the incredible flora and fauna in the ecosystem, but it really is. Eve Samples is the executive director of environmental group Friends of the Everglades. They're suing the Trump administration over the construction of the facility. The state and federal government disregarded a very common sense law that requires our government to look before it leaps to make sure that its actions aren't causing environmental harm. And no environmental impact analysis was done, no public input was sought. She's concerned about the impact of construction on the protected wetlands. And that has impacts on species like the endangered Florida panther, a nocturnal species. And impacts to the Miccosukee Tribe, which has residents who live right near the site, are also really concerning. The Miccosukee tribe has joined the lawsuit alongside Eve's organization. A record number of people are currently being held in immigration detention centres in the US following President Trump's crackdown on immigration. And new facilities like Alligator Alcatraz are being built to meet these needs. So there's no exemption under a state of emergency for the environmental impact analysis that's required by law. We're clear on that. Last week, the judge in this case ruled that the facility must be dismantled and no more migrants should be taken there. The judge's ruling is preliminary. The case brought by environmental groups will continue to be heard before the final decision is made. And the State of Florida has already filed an appeal. And there's another lawsuit that's challenging this facility. Good morning. How y' all doing? I'm here for a legal visit. I submitted my credentials the day before yesterday. As an attorney? Yep. Mitch Gonzalez is an immigration lawyer. We accompanied him last month as he attempted to visit his client Michael inside the centre. I'm not sure if we're having any visitors come in today. This is the first time this has ever happened to me. I've been doing this over a decade and at every other detention facility, I can just go in the day of with my legal credentials and meet my client. Mitch's organization, Sanctuary of the south, alongside other legal groups, is suing the Trump administration because they claim that without access to confidential, in person legal visits, the rights of the people in Alligator Alcatraz are being violated. I'm just running out of tools. I'm running out of tools. I just know Michael's right in there and I can't. I can't meet with him. And to be able to hear from him and for him to know he can speak freely, that is asking for the barest minimum. The Department for Homeland Security told us that these allegations are false and that there is a physical space in the facility for Legal meetings. I have spoken to one lawyer who's been allowed into the centre, but she told me that there were guards in the room during her interview and a camera. The lawsuit is ongoing. Alligator Alcatraz has become a lightning rod for fierce debates around immigration in the US as well as critics. It has many supporters. Evan Power is the chair of the Florida Republican Party. To give you a few examples of some people who have been in Alligator Alcatraz or are still there. There was a 15 year old boy there with no criminal record. There's been a Cuban asylum seeker there with no criminal record. None of those people seem to fit the profile that you're talking about. Well, they're here illegally. You also have people who are sexual predators who have been caught. You have people who've committed murder in other countries that were sent to Alligator Alcatraz. I think what you have is people who are here illegally and we're enforcing the laws of our country. The Florida authorities have appealed against the preliminary ruling, arguing that because the facility is operated by a state agency, it shouldn't be subject to federal law. Well, you can hear more from Josephine Casserly at Alligator Alcatraz on the Crossing Continents podcast. Thousands of protesters have been taking to the streets across Israel, blocking highways, burning tires and angrily protesting outside the homes of government ministers. It's all part of a nationwide day of action that was announced by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. And it began at 6:29 in the morning, the time reflecting the start of the Hamas attack on 7th October 2023. They are calling on Prime Minister Netanyahu to reach an agreement with Hamas to end the war and release the hostages. Many are now also calling on President Donald Trump to intervene. Yehudi Cohen is the father of the Israeli hostage Nimrod Cohen. Israelis standing against Netanyahu and his regime. Another day for protest. Another day to make sure the issue of the hostages stays in high priority. Another day to pressure Netanyahu and force him to end the war and get a hostage deal. Trump, if he's declaring for ending wars, if he's declaring for releasing hostages, should stand by his word and force Netanyahu to end the war and get a hostage deal. He can do it if you want. So what chance of this day of disruption to actually influence the decision making process inside the Israeli cabinet? I spoke to Yolan Nell, our Middle east correspondent in Jerusalem. They're across much of Israel, particularly concentrated in Tel Aviv. And since early in the morning, the families of the hostages and tens of thousands of their supporters they say have been holding these demonstrations. And they unfold a huge banner in front of the US embassy in Tel Aviv with pictures of all 50 rem hostages laid out on a large Israeli flag. They've been blocking the main roads, particularly from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, so been very visible and caused disruption for morning commuters. They've also been outside the homes of some government ministers and they're planning another big rally in Tel Aviv this evening. And Yolande, will they have any impact? These protests do seem to have kind of picked up momentum in recent weeks out of really the sense of despair among the hostage families. Polls suggest that most Israelis do support a ceasefire deal that will bring back the remaining hostages. There are 50 who are held in Gaza by Palestinian armed groups, 20 of whom are believed to be alive. But, you know, they're really pleading to President Trump to try to help bring a deal to bring their loved ones back, seeing him as the key figure here. Israel's government has indicated really that it's not going to discuss the latest ceasefire proposal for a 60 day truce and the return of half the remaining hostages, both dead and alive. The Israeli security cabinet is set to meet later. But this is not supposed to be on their agenda. Hamas agreed to this plan from regional mediators, Qatar and Egypt at the start of last week. But the Israeli government has said that having previously agreed to such a deal, it will now only approve a comprehensive one which would free all the hostages, hostages in one go and end the war on Israel's terms. And we also had the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, saying late last week that he would send Israeli negotiators immediately, he said to join a new round of talks via mediators. But that still hasn't happened now. And Yolande, we've continued to hear more testimony of that double strike occurring at the Nasser hospital in Gaza. How is that playing out in Israel? Well, I mean, it's now clear what the events were that Israel struck this hospital. Not a hospital, it's a main hospital further south of the Gaza Strip yesterday morning. And then it hit it again as journalists and rescue workers were rushing to the scene. The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is calling this a tragic mishap. He said the military is investigating. The Israeli media are saying that these were two artillery shells and they were targeting what they suspected was a Hamas surveillance camera on the roof. This is a rooftop where live TV shots have been set up at that location. Jollah Nell in Jerusalem, Africa's reliance on imported fossil fuels could be on the verge of a transition as a record number of solar panels were imported by countries on the continent. South Africa imported the most, but Nigeria and Algeria also saw big increases. Our climate editor Justin Rolatt. The data reveals some striking increases in solar panel imports. Algeria saw a 33 fold rise, while Zambia's imports increased Eightfold and Botswana's sevenfold. Many other countries more than tripled their imports. Ember says the surge could transform electricity generation in some African countries. It estimates that if all its newly imported panels were installed, Sierra Leone could generate more than 60% of its 2023 electricity output. From Sol. In Chad, the figure would be nearly 50%. And five other countries could see electricity generation rise by more than 10%. Ember describes the surge as a pivotal moment for Africa's energy future, but cautions that the boom is still in its early days. Justin Rowlatt, still to come I'm very old now. I'm 80 years old old and I also think it's time that I I have to rest. Leave everything to the young ones. We hear from the renowned Zimbabwean musician Thomas Mapfumo, who's retiring from the stage as we record this podcast. A manhunt is underway in the Australian state of Victoria after two police officers were sh dead and one seriously wounded. The officers were attacked as a group of them attended a property to serve an arrest warrant to a man living in the small rural town of Porepunka in what's known as the Australian Alps, northeast of Melbourne. The Victoria Chief Commissioner is Mike Bush. Firstly, I want to acknowledge our fine and brave officers that lost their lives today in the line of duty. One of those officers was a 59 year old detective, the other officer a 35 year old senior constable. The suspect for this horrific event is still at large. We believe he is armed. We have deployed every specialist resource into this area to locate him. Our reporter Simon Atkinson has the details. Police have called this a killing in cold blood. They say the suspect is heavily armed. Locals living in the area are being told to stay indoors. What we know about this incident is that the two officers who were killed were in a group of 10 who'd gone to this semi rural property to execute an arrest warrant and police have said the fact so many officers had gone to the address shows that they knew there was some risk. The Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese this evening has sent his thoughts to those affected. The State Police Authority has also said that this is the senseless murder of our mates. Now there is a lot of shock in Australia at this incident. Gun crime Here is fairly rare. There are very strict regulations around gun ownership. But it is harking back to an incident in 2022 when three police officers in Queensland were killed after they were ambushed after attending a property tonight in Australia in Victoria. The police are trying to find this suspect and they've said they have deployed heavily in order to bring this to a peaceful conclusion. They're urging the suspect to give himself up. Simon Atkinson staying in Australia. The country has expelled Iran's ambassador after accusing Tehran of orchestrating at least two anti Semitic attacks in Melbourne and Sydney. It's the first time since the Second World War that Australia has expelled an ambassador. Here's my Mike Burgess, the head of the Australian Geospatial Intelligence Organisation. ASIO now assesses the Iranian government directed at least two and likely more attacks on Jewish interests in Australia. Our painstaking investigation uncovered and unpicked the links between the alleged crimes and the commanders in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the irgc. The IRGC used a complex web of proxies to hide its involvement. Karin Ginoni spoke to our correspondent Phil Mercer in Sydney. Australia believes that organised criminal gangs overseas and criminal networks here in Australia could have been involved in this plot, organised allegedly by Iran. And as the authorities here in Australia believe that at least two anti Semitic attacks have been plotted by Iranian authorities at a restaurant, a popular restaurant near Sydney's Bondi beach in October of last year and also a synagogue in Melbourne. While you're speaking, Phil, we're watching a briefing by the Iranian Foreign Ministry. The lines emerging from that is that Iran says the decision to expel their ambassador was motivated by internal Australian affairs and Iran has vowed reciprocal action. Not surprising. This is a very serious diplomatic dispute between Australia and Iran that, as you've indicated, is only going to get worse. So we know that Australia is closing its embassy in Tehran. All the diplomatic staff over there have been moved to another country and Australia would have been expecting some sort of tit for tat action by Iran. It is worth noting too, that ASIO believes that the two attacks that they've identified is a minimum, that there could be others. Phil Mercer, speaking to Karin Ginoni. With climate change enabling the spread of new and unpredictable diseases, the ability to track how infections spread is more important than ever. There are hopes that a new mosquito observatory network could provide a massive step forward for disease surveillance in Africa. A new initiative launching today called Vector Grid Africa, is backed by the EU and is led by scientists from the University of Glasgow and its African partners. Its principal investigator, Professor Fredros Okumu told James Kopnell more about the project. This is the first major mosquito observatory, or rather observatory of mosquitoes and mosquito borne diseases in Africa. I think it helps to begin by saying that Africa is facing an increasing burden or increasing danger of mosquitoes and mosquito borne diseases. Most people have heard about malaria, but we actually also now with the challenges associated with climate change, we're starting to experience a lot of dengue fever, for example. You know, you have other mosquito borne diseases like chikungunya virus, yellow fever. And the challenge we have in many of these countries is that we just do not have any data on how these diseases are spread, where they are spread, how much of it is happening. And so the purpose of Vector Grid Africa is really to lay this platform, this long term platform that is going to help track the mosquitoes spread and also the diseases that they spread over long periods of time across several countries. And we are working with partners in five African countries to begin this initiative. Yeah, so those countries, Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa and Madagascar. Does that mean that the data will help those countries or is it something that is at some point going to be expanded beyond those five? Correct. The idea is eventually to expand this across the entire continent in the, in the future. And what's the best case scenario? How do you think this could really help? In many, many ways. So you were mentioning earlier that we have the challenge with the climate warming, which means that, you know, I mean, we've seen data at the moment suggesting that mosquitoes are spreading very fast in the continent. We have 7 km of spread southwards every year and about 5, 6 meters of spread in the higher altitude areas. So mosquitoes are occupying areas where they were not found before. And with this you start to have new challenges. The other thing that's happening is we have mosquitoes that are invading Africa, mosquitoes that are indigenously North African. So we have for example, Aedes albopictus, the Asian tiger mosquito that is coming to Africa and is spreading very fast. The problem with this is that these are new challenges that African countries are not used to dealing with. We need first to be able to track these challenges, provide this data to the authorities so that they are better able to prevent the disaster. Professor Fredros Okumu, speaking to James Kopnell at a ceremony in Paris, France, has formally returned the head of a Madagascan king killed by French troops during a colonial era war. The skull of King Toeira and those of two other members of his court were taken to Paris at the end of the 19th century and stored in a museum. Hugh Schofield reports now from the French capital. On this day in 1897, a French force sent to assert colonial control over the Menabe kingdom in western Madagascar massacred a local army. King Tuera was killed and decapitated, his head sent to Paris, where it was placed in the archives of the Museum of natural history. Nearly 130 years later, pressure from the king's descendants, as well as the Madagascan government has opened the way for the skull's return. It's not the first time human remains from the colonial era have been given back by France. Most famous was the South African woman cruelly nicknamed the Hottentot Venus, who'd once been put on display in Europe and whose body was taken home in 2012. But this is the first return under a recent law which makes the process much easier. It's estimated that at the Museum of Natural History alone, there are more than 20,000 human remains brought to France from around the world for supposedly scientific reasons. Hugh Scofield the legendary Zimbabwean musician Thomas Map Fumo is retiring after a remarkable career that spanned more than five decades. Map Fumo has become a symbol of cultural pride after using his voice to challenge colonial rule, expose corruption, and speak truth to power. For Zimbabweans at home and in the diaspora, Sophie Smith reports it's the end of an era in African music. On Sunday, Thomas Mucunya Mutfumo took his final bow in the UK as he retires from a career that spanned more than five decades. It's a disappointment for many, but the lion of Zimbabwe said the time had come. It's about your age. I'm very old now. I'm 80 years old. And I also think it's time that I have to rest. I have to rest and leave everything to the young ones. Thomas Matt Fumo's music was the soundtrack during the fight for independence in Zimbabwe. He was the pioneer of Chimarenga music, named after the Shona word for revolutionary struggle, which fueled the country's fight for freedom from the Rhodesian regime in the 1970s. Since then, he's continued to speak out for social justice, criticizing successive governments for corruption and chaos in the country. Now he says he has to make a space for the next generation. The most important for the young ones is they should actually fight for the people, fight for the people's rights, because as you can see today in Zimbabwe, everything is just chaos. So we need to stand by the people who are suffering and we support them as musicians. But Mpfumo has paid the price for his struggle. Over the course of his life, he's been detained without charge, banned by state owned media and forced into exile by the Mugabe regime, living for 14 years in the US. So why has he done it? It's very, very important for me because I have to stand with the people who are suffering. You understand, when our country, our people went to war fighting for liberation and today those people are not liberated at all. We are not free. We have to keep on fighting. His work has earned him many titles, including the Line of Zimbabwe and Macunya, the praise name for his Shona people. It's also earned him global success through touring with his band, the Blacks Unlimited. Sophie Smith reporting. And that's all from us for now. But there will be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or any of the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcastbc.co.uk you can also find us on XBC World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspod. This edition was mixed by Rosinwyn Durrell and the producers were Judy Frankel and Tracey Gordon. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Julia MacFarlane. Until next time. Goodbye.