Asad Hashim

Journalist, sometimes anthropologist. AFP's US Macroeconomics Correspondent. Ex-AJE, Reuters, Dawn, others. AFP Kate Webb Prize '18. Views/opinions my own.

[Asad Hashim @AsadHashim]

In 2001, Wajeeh-ul-Hassan was arrested for committing "blasphemy", allegedly writing a series of letters insulting to Islam and its Prophet. He spent almost half his life on death row, before the Supreme Court acquitted him in October. This is his story: https://t.co/BQknQfBZe0

[Asad Hashim @AsadHashim]

@AFP US labor supply continues to shrink, by quite striking numbers. Labor supply is down by 1.02 million ppl from the same month last year, with the # of employed people also down by more than half a million. Labor force participation plummeted to its lowest level since March 2021.

[Asad Hashim @AsadHashim]

[For @AFP] The United States posted weaker-than-expected job growth in June as new data showed the labor market is facing headwinds ahead of testing midterm elections for President Donald Trump's Republicans. https://t.co/ZRPhvhjX5T

[Asad Hashim @AsadHashim]

@AFP Key takeaways of today's report: Weaker job growth, and also revised down for the last two months by 74,000, so the general labor market upward trajectory is a little less steep than expected. Still largely positive though, with unemployment steady, because... 1/2

[Asad Hashim @AsadHashim]

[For @AFP] US Fed Chair Warsh said the central bank was committed to delivering price stability, hardly making mention of the Fed's employment mandate. Reiterated his belief in productivity-led growth from AI, no outlook on inflationary implications of it. https://t.co/esdPqEZe2A

[Asad Hashim @AsadHashim]

[For @AFP] The World Bank will phase out its lending to China by 2031, according to the organization's new country partnership framework, a source familiar with the matter told AFP on Tuesday. https://t.co/tvAwlZYCQa

[Asad Hashim @AsadHashim]

The United States announced new sanctions targeting an alleged fuel smuggling ring linked to Mexican drug cartel Jalisco New Generation, which Treasury says earned the gang tens of millions by moving fuel both ways across the Mexico-US border. https://t.co/mIcdyDtphy

[Asad Hashim @AsadHashim]

#BREAKING US Supreme Court rejects Trump bid to restrict birthright citizenship: @AFP

[Asad Hashim @AsadHashim]

[For @AFP] The World Bank has renewed its climate action framework but dropped its climate financing targets -- a pointed demand by the US, which under President Trump has retreated heavily from climate science and denied the existence of climate change. https://t.co/flRPGnT0e6

[Asad Hashim @AsadHashim]

US President Trump has threatened to take immediate "action" against Fed Governor Lisa Cook, despite a Supreme Court ruling this morning barring him from firing her without cause. (The administration says Cook committed mortgage fraud, which Cook denies. Litigation is ongoing.)

[Asad Hashim @AsadHashim]

Two huge rulings by the US Supreme Court today - one substantially expanding President Trump's authority to fire members of independent federal agencies,and the other blocking him from doing so at the Federal Reserve specifically. Full story for @AFP here: https://t.co/RgHgc91A4G

[Asad Hashim @AsadHashim]

[For @AFP] The US Supreme Court on Monday fortified President Donald Trump's powers to fire members of independent government agencies, but carved out protections for the Federal Reserve by blocking the firing of Governor Lisa Cook. Full story: https://t.co/RgHgc91A4G

[Beiyi Seow @beiyis]

This morning: US Supreme Court allows Fed Governor Lisa Cook to stay in her job for now, in a 5-4 decision.
Trump sought to fire her last summer over allegations of mortgage fraud. She can remain while litigation on the attempted removal is ongoing. More from @AsadHashim to come!

[Asad Hashim @AsadHashim]

For @AFP, an interview with outgoing IMF chief economist @pogourinchas on the fragmentation of the global economy, a possible "middle-income trap" for developing economies, and how he sees the latest international trade turmoil playing out: https://t.co/ybUKCXIzYr

[Heather Barr @heatherbarr1]

The gap btw company profits & employee compensation has never been greater, notes KPMG chief econ, “a measure of inequality, which creates social/economic instability”. The French revolution, she notes drily, “is an extreme example” of that instability. https://t.co/iznSDTeW67

[The Washington Post @washingtonpost]

Breaking news: The Supreme Court restricted a massive wave of lawsuits claiming the chemical giant Monsanto had a duty to warn consumers of alleged cancer risks from the world’s most popular weed killer, Roundup. https://t.co/Qz0QYySlw9

[Asad Hashim @AsadHashim]

[For @AFP] The International Monetary Fund's Africa director on Monday warned that the economic fallout of the Iran war was creating a "difficult moment" for the region, and that it would take months for Gulf energy production to ramp back up. Full story: https://t.co/Q9EIPplpxE

[Asad Hashim @AsadHashim]

The United States said Monday it is temporarily lifting sanctions on Iran to allow Tehran to produce, sell and deliver crude oil and related products through August 21. https://t.co/qoXvflANEI

[Asad Hashim @AsadHashim]

[For @AFP] US Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh on Wednesday vowed wide-ranging reforms at the central bank, as its rate-setting committee held rates steady but projected a rate hike by year-end to counter surging inflation. Full story: https://t.co/D5Zrb5sN8a

[Asad Hashim @AsadHashim]

The Fed removed forward guidance language from its monetary policy statement, and only 18 of 19 policymakers provided their projections for the Summary of Economic Projections. Chair Kevin Warsh was widely expected to withhold his projections.

[Asad Hashim @AsadHashim]

The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday held interest rates steady as expected at Kevin Warsh's first meeting in charge of the central bank, raising its year-end inflation expectations and projecting a rate hike by the end of 2026.