US president blasts long-delayed project to link Los Angeles and San Francisco as a ‘boondoggle’ and a ‘train to nowhere’.
United States President Donald Trump has pulled the plug on $4bn in funding for a long-delayed high-speed rail line in California, blasting the project as a “boondoggle” and a “train to nowhere”.
Trump said in a social media post on Wednesday that he had “freed” taxpayers from the “disastrously overpriced” proposed railway linking Los Angeles and San Francisco, which has been plagued by delays and cost overruns.
“This boondoggle, led by the incompetent Governor of California, Gavin Newscum, has cost Taxpayers Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we have received NOTHING in return except Cost Overruns,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, using a nickname he commonly deploys to mock the state’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom.
“The Railroad we were promised still does not exist, and never will.”
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy accused Democrats of wasting taxpayers’ money and said federal money was not a “blank cheque”.
“It’s time for this boondoggle to die,” Duffy said in a statement.
Newsom slammed the Trump administration’s move as illegal and said the state would put “all options on the table” to oppose the funding cut.
“Trump wants to hand China the future and abandon the Central Valley. We won’t let him,” Newsom said in a statement.
The 1,249km (776-mile) rail line, which was approved by California voters in a 2008 plebiscite, was initially envisaged for completion in 2020 at a cost of $33bn.
The project’s estimated cost has since ballooned to $89bn to $128bn, with services not expected to begin until 2033 at the earliest.
The US currently does not have a high-speed rail service, but a 354km (220-mile) high-speed link between Los Angeles and Las Vegas is scheduled to begin operations in 2028.
The study found that without the phasing out of fossil fuels, temperatures will continue to soar.
About half of the world’s population experienced an additional month of extreme heat over the past year due to human-caused climate change, according to a new study.
The extreme heat caused deaths and illnesses, damaged agricultural crops and strained energy and healthcare systems, according to the report (pdf) from World Weather Attribution, Climate Central and the Red Cross published on Friday.
Researchers analysed weather data from May 1, 2024 to May 1, 2025 to spotlight the dangers of extreme heat, which was defined as hotter than 90 percent of temperatures recorded at a given location between 1991 and 2020.
It found that about four billion people, or 49 percent of the world’s population, experienced at least 30 days of extreme heat. According to the report, 67 extreme heat events were found during the period.
“Although floods and cyclones often dominate headlines, heat is arguably the deadliest extreme event,” the report said.
Deaths linked to extreme heat are often underreported or mislabelled, according to experts. Heatwaves are silent killers, said Friederike Otto, associate professor of climate science at Imperial College London and one of the report’s authors.
“People don’t fall dead on the street in a heatwave … people either die in hospitals or in poorly insulated homes and therefore are just not seen,” he said.
“With every barrel of oil burned, every tonne of carbon dioxide released, and every fraction of a degree of warming, heatwaves will affect more people,” he added.
The Caribbean region was among the most affected by additional extreme heat days, the study found, with the island of Aruba recording 187 extreme heat days, 142 days more than would be expected without climate change.
Low-income communities and vulnerable populations, such as older adults and people with medical conditions, suffer the most from extreme heat.
The high temperatures recorded in the extreme heat events that occurred in Central Asia in March, South Sudan in February and the Mediterranean last July would not have been possible without climate change, according to the report.
At least 21 people died in Morocco after temperatures hit 118 degrees Fahrenheit (48 degrees Celsius) last July.
Roop Singh, head of urban and attribution at the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, in a World Weather Attribution statement, said people are noticing the temperature is getting hotter without linking it to climate change.
“We need to quickly scale our responses to heat through better early warning systems, heat action plans, and long-term planning for heat in urban areas to meet the rising challenge,” Singh said.
The researchers said that without phasing out fossil fuels, heatwaves will continue to become more frequent and severe.
A MAJOR car brand is reportedly looking to raise £5billion including a loan guaranteed by the UK government after axing 20,000 jobs.
Cash-strapped Nissan, Japan’s third-largest carmaker, is already facing £4billion in losses – its worst annual loss in a quarter century.
4
Nissan is trying to raise more than £5billion according to reportsCredit: Getty
4
The Japanese automaker has been struggling financially recentlyCredit: Getty
But now, the company are said to be considering raising more than 1 trillion yen – just over £5 billion – from debt and asset sales in a bid to prop up Nissan.
The struggling Japanese automaker plans to issue as much as 630 billion yen in convertible securities and bonds, including high-yielding US dollar and euro notes, according to Bloomberg News.
The move would also include a £1billion syndicated loan guaranteed by the British government, the documents show.
Sale-and-lease-back plans for its Yokohama headquarters, plus properties it owns in the United States, are also reportedly on the cards.
The aggressive fundraising plans underscore Nissan’s rapidly deteriorating financial and operational position, despite efforts by newly appointed chief executive Ivan Espinosa to turn the company around.
In addition, Nissan is reportedly seeking to sell part of the stakes it owns in Renault and battery maker AESC Group, as well as plants in South Africa and Mexico.
Bloomberg News cited sources as saying Nissan’s board did not appear to have approved the funding proposal yet, leaving it unclear whether it would happen.
The proposal was also slated to include the rollover of some debt, the report said.
A Nissan representative said the company does not comment on speculation.
It comes after Nissan said they could part ways with its global headquarters in Yokohama, Japan, to fund the company’s urgent restructuring plan.
After having moved to the 22-story high-rise in 2009, the car manufacturer is now facing mountains of debt and is on track to cut 20,000 jobs, shut several of its plants and slash billions in costs.
With a glitzy gallery, the flashy headquarters can showcase more than thirty motors and stands in stark contrast to their previous offices.
Legendary Nissan model is officially discontinued after selling for nearly 20 years as leaked car to ‘take its place’
The company have said that part of their plan has called for reviewing assets that can be sold in a desperate bid to pay for the restructuring.
With its own headquarters in sight, thought to be worth approximately £500 million, Nissan would structure a deal so it could continue to use the site through a lease so its offices and operations remain in place.
A company spokesperson said: “Nissan is considering all possibilities to recover its business performance, but there are no specifics to share at this point of time.”
The move is not unprecedented, however, with McLaren doing something similar with its HQ in Woking in recent years.
There have also been reports of downsizing or a partial sale of its Tochigi assembly plan and test centre facility north of Tokyo which was recently equipped with manufacturing technologies to assemble electric vehicles.
To underline the dire financial situation, the motor company is even halting the development of certain models to cut its expenses.
He said: “This is not something that happened in the last couple of years.
“It’s more of a fundamental problem that probably started back in 2015, when management thought this company could reach [annual global vehicle sales] of around eight million.
“There were heavy investments both in terms of planned capacity as well as in human resources, but the reality today is we are running at around half that volume. And nobody did anything to fix that until now.”
4
Cost-cutting measures will already see thousands of job losses with multiple factory closuresCredit: AFP
4
The manufacturer is facing mountains of debtCredit: Getty
