Americans are struggling financially, grappling with debt and the rising cost of living, and are blaming the Trump administration and corporate interests for worsening economic outlooks for working families, according to a new poll.

Six out of 10 Americans place blame on the Trump administration for driving up their cost of living, according to a poll conducted by Morning Consult for the Century Foundation, which asked 2,007 Americans how they are managing the high cost of living in the US economy, who they think is to blame and what are the solutions.

Public trust in institutions, capitalism, and even the value of hard work continues to erode in 2025, according to the latest Edelman Trust Barometer, now in its 25th year. The survey of more than 30,000 respondents across 28 countries highlights widening divisions between elites and the broader public, a growing crisis of legitimacy for capitalism, and deep fears about job security in an age of technological disruption.

The story of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a resident of the United States who was incorrectly deported to El Salvador and later became a symbol of the Trump administration’s strict immigration policy, has taken another unexpected turn.

• Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a US resident, was initially deported to El Salvador and later faced legal challenges in Tennessee.
• ICE allegedly issued Abrego Garcia the ultimatum of pleading guilty or being deported to Uganda.
• Prosecutors had previously proposed deportation to Costa Rica contingent on a guilty plea and compliance with penalties.
• Abrego Garcia, married to a US citizen, declined these agreements, raising concerns over coercion and indefinite detention.

The world’s five richest men have more than doubled their wealth to $869 billion (£681.5bn) since 2020, while nearly 5 billion people—the poorest 60% of the global population—have seen their wealth decline, according to a new report by Oxfam.

The study, released ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, warns that inequality is accelerating. If current trends continue, the world could see its first trillionaire within a decade, and global poverty may persist for another 229 years.

U.S. wholesale inflation surged unexpectedly in July, with the Producer Price Index rising 0.9% monthly and 3.3% annually—the sharpest increases since June 2022 and February 2025, respectively. The Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Thursday far exceeded economists’ forecasts of a 0.2% monthly gain and 2.5% annual increase.

President Trump announced Friday that his administration will launch a “major Tariff Investigation on Furniture coming into the United States,” setting the stage for new import duties on chairs, sofas and other home furnishings within the next 50 days.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the investigation will determine tariff rates on furniture imports from other countries. “This will bring the Furniture Business back to North Carolina, South Carolina, Michigan, and States all across the Union,” he wrote

Magnitude 7.5 quake hits remote Drake Passage near Antarctica

A magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck the Drake Passage between South America and Antarctica late Thursday night, prompting Chilean authorities to issue a tsunami advisory for parts of Antarctica while no immediate damage or casualties were reported from the remote seismic event.

The Trump administration immediately suspended all worker visas for commercial truck drivers on Thursday following a deadly highway crash in Florida that killed three people, marking the latest escalation in the administration’s immigration crackdown.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the freeze on X, stating that “the increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers”.

Italian police have arrested a Ukrainian man suspected of coordinating the 2022 attacks on the Nord Stream gas pipelines, according to German prosecutors, marking the first arrest in connection with one of the most mysterious acts of sabotage in recent European history.

The suspect, identified only as Serhii K. under German privacy laws, was detained overnight in the Italian coastal town of Rimini and is accused of being one of the key organizers of the underwater explosions that damaged the critical energy infrastructure. German authorities will seek his extradition to face charges of causing explosions, anti-constitutional sabotage, and destroying critical infrastructure.

A federal judge dealt a decisive blow to the Trump administration’s controversial immigration detention strategy Thursday night, ordering the shutdown of Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” facility within 60 days over environmental violations. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams ruled that the hastily constructed detention center in the Florida Everglades violated federal environmental laws and must cease accepting new detainees immediately.