The US Department of Defence has launched GenAI.mil, a new AI platform powered by Google Cloud’s Gemini for Government, to equip nearly 3 million personnel with advanced capabilities.
This initiative aims for AI technological superiority.
enabling tasks like policy summarisation and risk assessment. The platform ensures secure, unclassified use, with Google guaranteeing data won’t train public models.
The US Department of War, also known as the War Department, has launched GenAI.mil, a military-focused artificial intelligence platform powered by Google Cloud’s Gemini for Government.
delivering advanced AI capabilities to nearly 3 million military personnel and civilian employees across all Pentagon desktops and American military installations worldwide. Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday that the platform represents the Pentagon’s commitment to achieving AI dominance.
an unprecedented level of AI technological superiority” following President Donald Trump’s July mandate. The deployment marks one of the largest mass rollouts of commercial generative AI technology across the entire defence apparatus.
The Pentagon prioritises AI dominance as a strategic imperative.
Emil Michael, the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering, stated that there is no room for second place in the global race for AI dominance. “We are moving rapidly to deploy powerful AI capabilities like Gemini for Government directly to our workforce.”
The platform enables defence personnel to perform tasks such as summarising policy handbooks and generating compliance checklists.
extracting key terms from work statements, and creating detailed risk assessments for operational planning. All tools are certified for Controlled Unclassified Information and Impact Level 5, ensuring secure operational use.
Google secures military contract with security guarantees
Google emphasised that employees could only use the platform for unclassified work and data from GenAI. MIL will never train Google’s public models.
The tech giant had previously held AI-related contracts with the Department of Defence, including the controversial Project Maven drone program. The War Department is providing free training to all employees, designed to build confidence in using AI and maximise its potential.
Gemini for Government features natural language conversation, retrieval-augmented generation, and web grounding against Google Search to reduce AI hallucinations.
Chief Technology Officer Emil Michael indicated that additional AI models will be available on the platform in the future, further establishing what Hegseth called an “AI-first” workforce culture aimed at dominating the digital battlefield.
Drug crime has skyrocketed in Marseille, France’s second-largest city
Warning: This article contains disturbing details from the start.
A group of children spotted Adel’s body on their way to school, just as his parents were heading to the police station to report him missing. Adel’s body, a grotesque, charred silhouette, lay reclining, with one knee raised, seemingly lounging on one of Marseille’s nearby beaches.
He was 15 when he died, in the usual way: a bullet in the head, then petrol poured over his slim corpse and set on fire.
Someone even filmed the scene on the beach, the latest in a grim series of shoot-then-burn murders linked to this port city’s fast-evolving drug wars, increasingly fuelled by social media and now marked by chillingly random acts of violence and by the growing role of children, often coerced into the trade.
“It’s chaos now,” said a scrawny gang member, lifting his shirt in a nearby park to show us a torso marked by the scars of at least four bullets – the result of an attempted assassination by a rival gang.
France’s Ministry of Justice estimates that the number of teenagers involved in the drug trade has risen more than fourfold in the past eight years.
“I’ve been in [a gang] since I was 15. But everything has changed now. The codes, the rules – there are no more rules. Nobody respects anything these days. The bosses start… to use youngsters. They pay them peanuts. And they end up killing others for no real reason. “It’s anarchy all over town,” said the man, now in his early 20s, who asked us to use his nickname, The Immortal.
The Immortal, a Marseille gang member, displayed his bullet wounds from an attack by a rival gang.
Across Marseille, police, lawyers, politicians and community organisers talk of a psychosis – a state of collective trauma or panic – gripping parts of the city, as they debate whether to fight back with ever tougher police action or with fresh attempts to address entrenched poverty.
“It’s an atmosphere of fear. It’s obvious that the drug traffickers are dominant and gaining more ground every day,” said a local lawyer, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals against her or her family.
“The rule of law is now subordinate to the gangs. Until we have a strong state again, we have to take precautions,” she said, explaining her recent decision to stop representing victims of gang violence.
“The competition in the drug trade is so intense that individuals are willing to do anything.” So, we have kids aged 13 or 14 who come in as lookouts or dealers. The young see dead bodies; they hear about it every day. And they’re no longer afraid of killing or being killed,” community organiser Mohamed Benmeddour told us.
The trigger for Marseille’s current psychosis was the murder, last month, of Mehdi Kessaci, a 20-year-old trainee policeman with no links to the drug trade. It is widely believed his death was intended as a warning to his brother, a prominent 22-year-old anti-gang activist and aspiring politician named Amine Kessaci.
Under close police protection now, Kessaci spoke to the BBC about Mehdi’s death and the guilt he feels.
“Should I have made my family leave [Marseille]? The struggle of my life will be this fight against guilt,” he said.
AFP via Getty Images
A French anti-drug activist, Amine Kessaci (centre), is mourning his brother Mehdi, who was murdered in Marseille.
In 2020, Amine Kessaci gained national prominence following the murder of his older brother, Brahim, a gang member.
“We’ve had this psychosis for years. We’ve known that our lives are hanging by a single thread. But everything has changed since Covid. The perpetrators are getting younger and younger. The victims are younger and younger,” he said.
“My little brother was an innocent victim. There was a time when real thugs adhered to a moral code. You don’t kill during the day. Not in front of everyone. You don’t burn bodies. First you threaten with a shot to the leg… Today these steps have all disappeared.”
France police are responding.
Citing today’s “unprecedented” levels of violence, French police are responding with what they call security “bombardments” in high-crime areas of Marseille.
Although one gang, the DZ Mafia, now appears to dominate the trade, it operates a kind of franchise system, with a fractious network of small distributors often staffed by teenagers and undocumented immigrants, who clash violently over territory.
According to one estimate, up to 20,000 people may be involved in the city’s drug industry. Last year officials confiscated €42m (£36m) in criminal assets from the gangs.
On a cold afternoon last week, we accompanied a group of armed riot police on one of their regular “bombardment” missions.
The officers sped up to a dilapidated block of flats in their vans as a youthful gang lookout on the gate promptly fled on foot. Splitting into two groups, the police ran up either side of the building seeking to catch dealers in the stairwells.
Watch: BBC films arrests in a Marseille drug raid.
“Turn him round,” said an officer, brusquely, as his team pinned an 18-year-old up against a door.
In a filthy cellar nearby, the police found dozens of vials and tiny plastic bags used to distribute cocaine. Later, a policeman explained that the young man they had detained was pleading to be arrested, saying he had come to Marseille from another city and was now being held against his will and forced to work for a drug gang.
The officers took him away in a van.
“This is not El Dorado. We have many youngsters recruited on social media. They come to Marseille thinking they’ll make easy money. They’re promised €200 ($233; £175) a day. But it often ends in misery, violence, and sometimes death,” said the city’s chief prosecutor, Nicolas Bessone.
In his office close to the city’s old harbour, Bessone described an industry thought to be worth up to €7 billion nationwide and characterised by two new developments: a growing emphasis on online recruitment, sales, and delivery and a rising number of teenagers coerced into the trade.
“We now see how the traffickers enslave these… little soldiers. They create fictional debts to make them work for free. They torture them if they steal €20 to buy a sandwich. It’s ultra-violence. The average age of the perpetrators and victims is getting younger and younger,” said Bessone.
He urged local people not to succumb to a psychosis but instead to “react, to rise up”.
The lawyer who asked us to hide her identity described a case she had handled.
“One young person, who absolutely didn’t want to be part of a network, was picked up after school, forced to participate in the drugs trade, was raped, then threatened, and then his family was also threatened. All means are used to create a workforce,” she said.
For some local politicians, the answer to Marseille’s troubles is a state of emergency and far tougher rules on immigration.
“Authority must be restored. We need to end a culture of permissiveness in our country. We need to give more freedom and more power to the police and the judiciary,” said Franck Alissio, a local MP for the populist, far-right National Rally party and a prospective mayoral candidate.
Although the ancient Mediterranean city of Marseille has, for centuries, been known for its large immigrant community, Alissio argued that “today, the problem is that we are no longer able to integrate economically and assimilate. The issue at hand is the excessive influx of immigrants. It’s the number [of immigrants] that’s the problem. And in fact, the drug traffickers, dealers, lookouts, and leaders of these mafias are almost all immigrants or foreigners with dual nationality.”
It is a controversial claim that is difficult to verify in a country that strives to avoid including such details in official figures.
Alissio claimed that billions of euros had been poured into Marseille’s poorest neighbourhoods by successive governments to no effect. While blaming parents and schools for enabling children to engage in the drug trade, he emphasised his focus on “solving the problem, not doing sociology”.
Far-right parties have long enjoyed strong support across the south of France, but less so in the diverse city of Marseille itself. Critics of the RN, like the lawyer whose identity we have concealed, accused the party of “exploiting misery and fear” and wrongly blaming immigrants for a “gangrene” that is widespread across all communities in France.
Philippe Pujol, a local writer and expert on the drug trade in Marseille, was also offered police protection after the murder of Mehdi Kessaci last month.
“I’m not sure if there’s a good reason for this terror. But… terror is taking hold. I would rather be afraid and careful than take unnecessary risks,” he said.
But he hit back against calls for tougher police action, arguing it was merely nursing the symptoms “of a suffering society”, rather than treating the causes of the problem.
Describing entrenched poverty as a “monster”, Pujol painted a picture of a society radicalised by decades of neglect.
“The monster is a mixture of patronage, corruption, and political and economic decisions made against the public interest,” Pujol said.
“These kids can be jerks when they’re in a group, but when you’re alone with them, they’re still children, with dreams, who don’t want this violence.”
The government of Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov has resigned after protesters took to the streets in cities across the country and filled the centre of the capital, Sofia, on Wednesday night.
Zhelyazkov’s dramatic move came ahead of a vote of no confidence in parliament and 20 days before Bulgaria joins the euro.
Protesters had accused his minority centre-right government, in power since January, of widespread corruption. The government had already scrapped a controversial budget plan for next year in response to the demonstrations last week.
“Both young and old have raised their voices for [our resignation],” he added. “This civic energy must be supported and encouraged.” A statement on the government website said ministers would continue in their roles until a new cabinet was elected.
Between 50,000 and 100,000 people turned out in Sofia’s central Triangle of Power and Independence Square on Wednesday evening, calling for the government to go. The words “Resignation” and “Mafia Out” were projected onto the parliament building.
President Rumen Radev, who had also called for the government’s resignation, backed them last week.
Zhelyazkov’s government had already survived five votes of no confidence and was expected to get through a sixth on Thursday.
Many of the protesters have been angered by the roles of two figures, oligarch Delyan Peevski and ex-prime minister Boyko Borissov, and Wednesday’s rally was organised under the slogan “Resignation! Peevski and Borissov Out of Power,” Bulgaria’s BTA news agency reported.
Peevski has been sanctioned by the US and UK for alleged corruption and his party has helped prop up the government.
Borissov is part of Zhelyazkov’s GERB party, which came first in the October 2024 elections, and he was reported to have said on Wednesday that the coalition parties had agreed to remain in power until Bulgaria joined the eurozone on 1 January.
Borissov was prime minister when anti-corruption protests brought down his government in 2020 and there have been seven elections since.
Despite the political drama in Sofia, Bulgaria’s move to join the euro is not seen as under threat.
Bulgarian faced a major challenge.
In his resignation statement, the outgoing prime minister said Bulgaria faced a major challenge and its citizens would need to produce “authentic proposals” on what the next government should look like.
Bulgaria ranks among the lowest in Europe in Transparency International’s index for public sector corruption, between Hungary and Romania.
The government has denied claims from Argentina’s president that the two countries are in talks about lifting an arms export ban that has been in place since the Falklands War.
A spokesman said there are “no specific talks” taking place, after Javier Milei told The Daily Telegraph negotiations with Britain were under way to lift weapons export restrictions.
The government’s policy since the Falklands War, more than 40 years ago, has been that weapons with British parts are not allowed to be exported to Argentina if they are judged to “enhance Argentine military capability.”
“There are no world powers without military power,” Mr Milei told the newspaper, adding, “There is no country that counts in the international context if they can’t defend their borders.”
He also said he wanted to see the Falklands handed to Argentina via diplomatic means after previously saying he would maintain the claim to sovereignty over the islands and would avoid conflict with the UK.
Image: Royal Air Force Station Mount Pleasant on the Falklands. Pic: iStock
A government spokesman rebutted this, too, saying, “Sovereignty of the Falkland Islands is not up for negotiation, and we will defend its right to self-determination.
“In 2013, the islanders held a referendum on their future, with an overwhelming majority choosing to remain part of the UK.”
But he added: “More broadly, we look forward to deepening our co-operation with Argentina across areas including trade, science, and culture to deliver growth for the British people.”
Milei wants Starmer meeting
Mr Milei said he plans to come to Britain in April or May next year and would like to meet with Sir Keir Starmer and Reform’s Nigel Farage.
Argentina’s cost-cutting agenda has gone down well with Mr Farage and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and helped inspire the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency under Elon Musk.
If he makes the trip, it would make him the first Argentinian president to visit the UK since 1998. US accused of ‘piracy’ after troops storm tanker How Nobel Peace Prize winner emerged from hiding
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Since the end of the conflict, there has been a UK military presence on the islands as a deterrent to Argentina not to exercise its continued claim over the Falklands.
A 2,000-strong garrison of troops and a squadron of fighter jets and transport aircraft based around the main airport at Mount Pleasant.
But Leona Roberts, a member of the Falkland Islands legislative assembly, said: “Argentina is always a bit of a shadow over our shoulder.”
The pop band VÆB represented Iceland at the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest
Iceland has joined Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and the Netherlands by saying it will boycott the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest.
Israel’s official confirmation of its participation in the competition last week led to the withdrawal of all five countries.
Stefan Eiriksson, director-general of Icelandic national broadcaster RÚV, said, “There is no peace or joy connected to this contest as things stand now. On that basis, first and foremost, we are stepping back while the situation is as it is.”
RÚV said Israel’s participation had “created disunity among both members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the general public”.
The broadcaster’s board agreed to the decision at a meeting on Wednesday, hours before the deadline for countries to confirm whether they will join what’s supposed to be a celebratory 70th anniversary edition of the song contest next May.
Iceland was believed to be the last remaining country to announce its decision.
Eurovision director Martin Green said, “We respect the decision of all broadcasters who have chosen not to participate in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest and hope to welcome them back soon.”
Reuters
Vienna will host the next contest in May 2026, following the triumph of Austrian singer JJ at this year’s event.
Israel’s presence at Eurovision has been an increasing source of tension because of the war in Gaza and concerns about the voting and campaigning processes, including accusations that Israel’s government tried to influence the public vote at this year’s event.
A new raft of measures designed to protect the integrity of the vote was approved at an EBU summit last week, after which most countries confirmed they would travel to Vienna for the 2026 contest.
Iceland was reportedly among seven countries that then requested a vote at the EBU general meeting on Israel’s participation.
That request was denied, and Israel’s future participation was instead effectively tied to a ballot on the new voting and campaigning rules.
The Icelandic broadcaster said that while the new measures addressed many of its concerns, it “believes that there are still doubts whether the agreed adjustments will be fully satisfactory.”
“RÚV has repeatedly raised concerns that various Icelandic stakeholders, such as artist associations and the general public, were opposed to participation in the contest.
“Furthermore, RÚV had requested the EBU to exclude [Israeli public broadcaster] KAN from the contest in accordance with precedents.
At Eurovision 2025, Israel’s Yuval Raphael emerged victorious in the public vote and secured the second position overall following the inclusion of jury scores.
KAN supplied a transcript of Thursday’s meeting, in which Golan Yochpaz, the broadcaster’s chief executive, criticised those attempting to exclude Israel.
“We can only understand the attempt to remove KAN from the contest as a cultural boycott,” he stated. Israel may be the first to be boycotted, but no one knows who else will be affected.
“Is such behaviour truly what we want this contest to be remembered for on its 70th anniversary?”
Israel has taken part in Eurovision since 1973 because KAN, its public broadcaster, is a member of the EBU, which organises the competition.
Iceland has never won.
Israel has won four times, most recently in 2018, and came second in the 2025 contest.
Alex Carey of Australia walks from the field during day four of the second 2025/26 Ashes Series Test Match between Australia and England at The Gabba on December 07, 2025, in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo/Getty Images)
Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey said England’s mid-series break in Noosa could help them but cautioned Australia against relaxing despite the 2-0 lead in the Ashes.
Carey said memories of the 2023 Ashes in England, when Australia were unable to win the series after leading 2-0, would keep his side alert. England reached Noosa, a resort town on the Queensland coast, on Tuesday for a four-night break.
For the Australian cricket,
They are scheduled to train three times in Adelaide before the third Test. “I think it’d be a relaxing holiday. It’s a pretty big series, with lots of time between games. For the Australian cricket team, we get to go home for a few days and be with families, so touring parties have got to find time to fill in those little windows.”
News agency ANI reported that Carey made this statement, citing ESPNcricinfo. “We know that England is a very good team.” We also understand we were in a position like this a couple of years ago in England. We weren’t able to win that series, but we were good enough to retain the Ashes.
We’re really excited for the opportunity we’ve got, but we understand we’ve got to keep playing excellent cricket,” he added. Carey stated that it was up to England to decide how to use the break, and he believed that stepping away from the game could help the players reset.
He said the Ashes demands balance and players cannot stay focused on cricket every day. “I’m not sure you need to do it [but] it’s totally up to the touring groups to find ways to take your mind off cricket for a little bit. The Ashes is very hotly contested.
You would prefer to take your mind off cricket every day of the tour. If you do have a little break, it’s probably not a terrible time to recharge,” Carey stated. England’s attacking batting approach did not work in the first two tests.
They suffered a two-day defeat in Perth in the opening Test, with Travis Head playing a key role. In the second Test, Joe Root scored a century, while Zak Crawley and captain Ben Stokes spent time at the crease.
After conceding a 177-run first-innings lead with a total of 511, England could not recover. Apart from a 96-run partnership between Stokes and Will Jacks, they were bowled out for 241 in the third innings, leaving Australia a target of 65, which they chased comfortably.
As Australia leads 2-0 in the Ashes heading to Adelaide, cautious Carey notes the 2023 lesson: “We’ve been here before” | Cricket News with captain Pat Cummins set to return in Adelaide after recovering from a back injury. The 32-year-old has not played international cricket since the third Test against the West Indies in July. Australia lead the five-match series 2-0. The third Ashes Test will be played in Adelaide on December 17.
It sounds dramatic to imagine one half of Earth slowly losing its internal warmth faster than the other, but that is the general direction many researchers are now exploring.
When geophysicists looked at long-term heat flow inside the planet, they noticed that the hemisphere covered mostly by the Pacific Ocean appears to be shedding heat more quickly than the side dominated by the continents.
This shift did not begin yesterday. It has taken shape over millions of years, quietly influencing the way plates move, volcanoes behave and how the deeper parts of the earth evolve. We do not sense any of the changes in our daily lives, but the interior of the planet is far from still.
A peer-reviewed paper in Geophysical Research Letters adds weight to the idea by pointing out how uneven the crust really is. Heat escapes with surprising ease through oceanic crust because it is thinner.
younger and sits directly beneath vast, cold oceans. The continental crust on the opposite side is much thicker, and that extra thickness slows down the release of heat.
How one side of the Earth is cooling faster because of crust differences
The uneven cooling begins with the basic structure of Earth’s crust. New oceanic crust forms along underwater ridges and slowly travels outward.
It moves, it cools, it interacts with freezing seawater and eventually sinks back into the mantle. This whole journey makes it an excellent pathway for heat to escape. The Pacific basin alone is so large that its combined heat loss becomes quite significant.
Continental crust, on the other hand, is older, thicker and sits on enormous landmasses that slow heat flow. Because of this, the continental hemisphere does not cool at the same pace.
Researchers think this long-standing difference has quietly shaped mantle circulation patterns and may have played a part in how major plates have drifted across the globe.
In simple terms, the deep Earth does not behave in a perfectly symmetrical way, even if the surface looks balanced.
What scientists think this cooling pattern reveals about Earth’s long-term behaviour
Looking at why one side cools faster helps researchers connect a lot of loose ends in Earth science. Regions with heavy volcanic or tectonic activity may be influenced by these deeper temperature differences.
Heat affects how the mantle moves, and that movement dictates where new crust forms, where old crust is pulled down, and where earthquakes tend to cluster.
The Pacific hemisphere, which already carries the Ring of Fire, may be partly shaped by its long history of stronger heat loss. Scientists also see this as a way to understand Earth’s past.
While climate at the surface is controlled by sunlight, oceans and greenhouse gases, the slow cooling beneath our feet sets the backdrop for changes over millions of years.
Knowing how heat flows inside the planet provides a clearer view of how Earth’s interior has changed and how it may continue to shift far into the future.
Why one side cooling faster does not mean any sudden climate change
This study does not suggest that the Pacific side of Earth is about to freeze or that an ice age is coming. Internal cooling is incredibly slow, happening on timescales much longer than human history.
The temperature changes we experience at the surface depend on entirely different factors, such as atmospheric circulation, ocean currents and how land is arranged across the globe.
What this discovery really offers is a better sense of how Earth works beneath the crust. By tracking where heat comes from and where it escapes, scientists can build clearer models of Earth’s interior and understand how our planet has been shaped over unimaginable lengths of time.
Next week’s strike by resident doctors in England may be averted after ministers offered the British Medical Association a fresh deal.
The doctors’ union has agreed to put the offer to members over the coming days – if they support it, the five-day walkout starting on Wednesday 17 December could be called off.
But it does not include any promises of extra pay. Health Secretary Wes Streeting has been adamant he will not negotiate on that, given that resident doctors – the new name for junior doctors – have had pay rises of nearly 30% over the past three years.
The deal also includes emergency legislation being introduced so that the NHS can prioritise doctors who have studied and worked in the UK for speciality training posts that resident doctors move into in year three of their training.
This year there was intense competition for these roles, with 30,000 applicants going for 10,000 posts. Under current rules, we must judge doctors from abroad on the same basis as UK doctors.
The number of speciality posts will also increase by 4,000 by 2028, with the first 1,000 available starting next year. Previously, the government had promised an increase of 2,000.
The BMA will now consult resident doctor members on whether this offer is sufficient to call off next week’s strike. A survey of members will run online, closing on Monday 15 December, just two days before the strike is due to begin.
Ministers fear that by Monday hospitals will have already had to cancel a significant number of treatments as part of their preparations to get ready for the strike.
Streeting said he had offered to allow the BMA to extend its mandate, which runs out in the first week of January, so they could still stage a five-day strike if members did not back the deal.
Streeting said he was “astounded” the BMA had not agreed to this given the difficulties hospitals are facing from flu and other winter pressures, which he said meant “the spectre of strikes next week still looms”.
“I cannot understand the wilful casualness with which the BMA’s leadership has chosen to inflict this pain on patients, other staff, and the NHS itself,” he said.
“It is one of the most shameful episodes in the long history of the BMA.”
He added, “The NHS leaders are going to have to start cancelling other doctors’ leave now to cover potential strikes, and patients will also experience unnecessary and avoidable disruption through some cancelled appointments and operations. That’s on the BMA.”
Doctors have requested that I fulfil my responsibilities regarding job delivery.
On the offer, he said, “Doctors asked me to deliver on jobs, especially unfair competition from overseas, and this comprehensive offer will deliver.”
BMA resident doctors committee chairman, Dr Jack Fletcher, said, “This offer is the result of thousands of resident doctors showing that they are prepared to stand up for their profession and its future.
“It should not have taken strike action, but make no mistake: it was strike action that got us this far.
“We have forced the government to recognise the scale of the problems and to respond with measures on training numbers and prioritisation.
“However, this offer does nothing to restore pay for doctors, which remains well within the government’s power to do.”
Streeting later said in the Commons he would retract the government’s offer if the BMA rejected it, so as not to “incentivise” further strikes.
Shadow Health Secretary Stuart Andrew said the strike was “unacceptable” and welcomed the government’s offer.
But he said the Conservatives had warned that providing “inflation-busting pay rises without any conditions at all” meant unions would “come back for more”.
The BMA argues that despite the pay rises of the last few years, pay is still a fifth lower than it was in 2008 once inflation is taken into account.
If members indicate in the online survey the offer is enough to call off next week’s strikes, a formal referendum of resident doctors would follow. This would give members time to consider the details of the offer and whether to accept it and end the current dispute, the BMA said.
If the survey of members decides it is not enough to call off strikes, they will go ahead as planned next week, the union added.
The US Federal Reserve has lowered interest rates for the third time this year, even as internal divisions create uncertainty about additional cuts in the coming months.
The central bank said on Wednesday it was lowering the target for its key lending rate by 0.25 percentage points, putting it in a range of 3.50% to 3.75% – its lowest level in three years.
But policymakers disagree about how the Fed should balance competing priorities: a weakening job market on the one hand and rising prices on the other.
The Fed’s economic projections released on Wednesday suggest one rate cut will take place next year, although new data could change this.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell said central bankers need time to see how the Fed’s three cuts this year work their way through the US economy. Policymakers will closely examine incoming data leading up to the Fed’s next meeting in January, he added.
“We are well-positioned to wait to see how the economy evolves,” Powell told reporters.
Those hoping for interest rates to keep coming down, including President Donald Trump, might have to wait.
The Fed is facing a “very challenging situation” as it confronts risks of rising inflation and unemployment, Powell said, adding, “You can’t do two things at once.”
The decision to lower rates on Wednesday was not unanimous, suggesting widening divisions among central bankers over the outlook for the US economy.
Three Fed officials broke ranks and officially dissented.
Stephen Miran, who is on leave from his post leading Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers, voted for a larger 0.5 percentage point cut.
Austan Goolsbee, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and Jeffrey Schmid, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City (State of Missouri), voted to hold rates steady.
After the meeting on Wednesday, Trump, who has repeatedly urged Powell to lower rates, expressed his belief that the Fed could have “at least doubled” its cut.
At a roundtable at the White House, he declared, “Our rates should be much lower.” “We should have the lowest rates in the world.”
A data blackout during the longest-ever US government shutdown, which ended in November, has left policymakers partially in the dark about the state of the economy. But concerns about a slowing job market continue to outweigh inflation fears, at least for now.
The unemployment rate ticked up from 4.3% to 4.4% in September, Labour Department figures showed in a delayed report released last month. Interest rate cuts aim to stimulate the job market by lowering borrowing costs for businesses.
Fears about tariff-driven inflation had taken centre stage earlier this year when Trump pushed forward with sweeping tariffs on many of the country’s largest trading partners.
Inflation is still above the Fed’s 2% target. In September, it hit 3% for the first time since January.
But while tariffs appear to be boosting some consumers’ prices, recent milder-than-expected inflation readings have allowed the Fed to focus on boosting the labour market by lowering rates, analysts said.
Dissents and disagreements
Still, policymakers remain divided over the path forward for interest rates.
Asked about disagreement among policymakers, Powell acknowledged that it’s “unusual” to have “persistent tension” between the Fed’s two mandates to keep prices stable and unemployment low.
“And when you do, this is what you see,” he said, referring to growing divisions.
“We come together and we reach a place where we can make a decision,” he said.
The central bank’s so-called dot plot, a quarterly anonymous economic forecast, showed on Wednesday a median expectation for one additional 0.25 percentage point cut in 2026.
That prediction was unchanged from the previous dot plot in September.
Central bankers are poised to have a bit more clarity next week, with the expected release of official data on the labour market and inflation in November.
The incoming data could shift policymakers’ outlook, potentially bolstering calls for further easing next year if there are new signs that the job market is stalling.
Who will succeed Powell?
Trump’s search for Powell’s replacement as Fed chair, once his term ends next May, is adding to uncertainty about the path forward for Fed policy.
Trump could announce his pick as soon as the next few weeks.
Long-time conservative economist and key Trump economic adviser Kevin Hassett is considered the front-runner to succeed Powell.
A Trump loyalist, Hassett served as chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers during Trump’s first term and now leads the National Economic Council.
He has been a stalwart defender of Trump’s economic policies, downplaying data showing signs of weakness in the US economy, doubling down on allegations of bias at the Bureau of Labour Statistics and backing Trump’s handling of the Fed.
Hassett’s allegiance to the president has drawn questions from analysts about whether he would act independently and how much sway he would have with other members of the board.
Other names that have been floated for the Fed chair include economist Kevin Warsh, current Fed Governor Christopher Waller and even Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Trump is “still making up his mind, and he’s looking for someone who will be in his way of thinking,” Thomas Hoenig, a distinguished senior fellow at the Mercatus Center, told the BBC.
The candidates, he added, “have to project that they will be independent, or the markets will become quite nervous – and that will create more volatility.”
Asked on Wednesday whether Trump’s search for a new Fed chair is hindering his job or changing his thinking, Powell responded with a resounding “no”.
The price of silver has hit a record high ahead of an expected US Federal Reserve interest rate cut and demand from the technology industry for the precious metal remains high.
On Tuesday, the spot market, where the precious metal is bought and sold for immediate delivery, saw the price of silver cross $60 (£45.10) an ounce for the first time.
Gold, which hit record highs earlier this year as concerns grew about the impact of US tariffs and the global economic outlook, also made gains this week.
Investors tend to move money into precious metals like gold and silver as interest rates come down and the US dollar weakens.
The US central bank is widely expected to cut its main interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday.
When interest rates are cut, traders typically buy assets like silver because the benefits of keeping cash in the bank or buying short-term bonds fall, said Yeow Hee Chua from the Nanyang Technological University.
“This naturally causes a shift in demand towards assets perceived as value stores, such as silver,” he explained.
The move into so-called “safe-haven” assets was also a key reason for gold hitting new record highs recently, as it crossed $4,000 an ounce for the first time.
Silver’s rally could also be seen as a “spillover effect” from the jump in the value of gold as investors look for cheaper alternatives, said OCBC bank analyst Christopher Wong.
Central banks’ major purchases have contributed to gold’s more than 50% gain this year. The prices of platinum and palladium have also climbed this year.
Experts assert that strong demand from the technology industry pushed up the value of silver, outstripping supply.
That has helped more than double the value of silver this year, as it outperformed other precious metals, including gold.
“Silver is not only an investment asset but also a physical resource,” and more manufacturers are finding a need for the material, said Kosmas Marinakis from the Singapore Management University.
The precious metal, which conducts electricity better than gold or copper, is used to produce goods like electric vehicles (EVs) and solar panels.
Experts predict that rising sales of EVs will further push up demand for silver, while advanced batteries for the cars will require even more of the metal.
difficult to quickly increase silver supplies,
But it is difficult to quickly increase silver supplies, as the majority of global output is a by-product from mines that mainly extract other metals like lead, copper or gold.
The price of silver is also being boosted by concerns that the US may impose tariffs on it as part of President Trump’s trade strategy.
Fears of potential tariffs have also prompted the US to stockpile silver, leading to shortages globally.
The US imports about two-thirds of its silver, which is used for manufacturing as well as jewellery and investments.
Manufacturers have been racing to secure supplies to ensure their operations are not interrupted by shortages, which has helped to push up prices on global markets, said Prof Marinakis.
