President Trump on Friday floated the possibility of firing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell as part of his latest round of intense criticism of the leader of the central bank over its decision not to lower interest rates.
Trump, in a lengthy post on Truth Social, railed against Powell, labeling him a “numbskull,” “a dumb guy,” “and an obvious Trump Hater.” Trump appointed Powell to the post in 2017.
“I fully understand that my strong criticism of him makes it more difficult for him to do what he should be doing, lowering Rates, but I’ve tried it all different ways,” Trump posted. “I’ve been nice, I’ve been neutral, and I’ve been nasty, and nice and neutral didn’t work!”
The post included a graphic showing how the United States’s central bank rate compared to other nations.
“I don’t know why the Board doesn’t override this Total and Complete Moron!” Trump added. “Maybe, just maybe, I’ll have to change my mind about firing him? But regardless, his Term ends shortly!”
Powell’s term ends in 2026. He said last November he would not step down if Trump asked and that it is “not permitted under the law” for the president to fire or demote him or any of the other Fed governors with leadership positions.
Trump in April said he had no intention of firing Powell, though he has in recent days ratcheted up his criticism amid frustration over the Fed’s handling of interest rates.
Fed officials kicked off the year expecting to continue cutting interest rates as inflation drifted back toward its ideal annual level of 2 percent. But the bank has held off through the first half of 2025 amid the uncertainty driven by Trump’s tariff plans.
Powell reiterated his call for patience Wednesday, after the Fed kept rates steady once again.
The billionaire slated to take over the controlling interest in the Los Angeles Lakers has built a career leading businesses investing in everything from sports franchises to artificial intelligence.
Mark Walter is CEO of the global investment and advisory company Guggenheim Partners, which is estimated to have more than $325 billion in assets. He’s also co-founder and CEO of holding company TWG Global.
Forbes estimates Walter’s net worth is $6.1 billion. The publication ranked him at No. 216 on its Forbes 400 list last year.
Walter received an undergraduate degree in business administration from Creighton University and a law degree from Northwestern University, but ultimately chose business over a career in law.
In the mid-1990s, he co-founded Liberty Hampshire, an investment management firm in Chicago. That business became part of Guggenheim Partners, which Walter co-founded in the late 1990s.
In addition to Guggenheim, Walter co-founded TWG Global with entrepreneur and investor Thomas Tull. The company holds a portfolio of finance and insurance sector companies, including Guggenheim Investments, Guggenheim Securities, Group 1001 Insurance and Delaware Life. It also includes aerospace and defense technology company Shield AI.
Last month, TWG Global announced a partnership with Palantir Technologies and Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, maker of Grok, aimed at developing artificial intelligence for use in the financial services industry.
TWG Global also includes investments in sports, media and entertainment franchises, such as the controlling interest in the Los Angeles Dodgers, Premier League club Chelsea, the Professional Women’s Hockey League and — through TWG Motorsports — ownership of several auto racing teams including Cadillac Formula 1.
Beyond business, Walter and his wife, Kimbra, have founded or contributed to various philanthropic organizations, including the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation, the Academy Group, Chicago Beyond and OneGoal.
Early-stage micromobility has shifted over the last few years. The cowboy antics of e-scooter companies causing chaos in a bid to scale has faded along with those fat venture checks that are now flowing to AI startups.
Tighter capital combined with an existential need to create sustainable business models has produced a new crop of micromobility startups.
This week, I attended Micromobility Europe in Brussels, where I toured the conference’s so-called “Startup Arena” to get a sense of what Europe’s early-stage micromobility ecosystem was bringing to the table. Many of the companies I spoke to are trying to fill the gaps of this industry — whether it’s through fleet management software, parking, or charging. Some, though, are just building the vehicles they wanted to ride.
All of them represent the next phase of the ever-evolving micromobility industry.
Convoy
Image Credits:Convoy
E-cargo bikes are often marketed as making parents’ lives easier, but most are heavy, bulky, and expensive. U.K.-based Convoy, which was founded in 2023, is trying to surpass those obstacles with a clip-on cargo conversion kit for bikes and e-bikes that can carry up to two small children.
The team behind Convoy has a diverse background that ranges from women’s health tech and e-bikes to the ex-CEO of Dyson.
“We have worked together for 10 years building the first hands-free wearable breast pump,” Tatiana Escobar-Peake, Convoy’s chief revenue officer, told TechCrunch. “For a decade, we have been obsessing over why life for new parents has to be so miserable?”
Convoy’s attachment fastens easily to the back wheel of an existing bike, stores easily, and only weighs about 26 pounds. It offers a 250-watt motor that turns pedal bikes into e-bikes, as well as rear-wheel steering that preserves the turning circle of the bike.
Convoy is launching preorders for the €2,200 ($2,500) trailer next week. The startup has raised modest funding and secured enough demand from European distributors this year to start thinking about expanding to Japan and the U.S. next year.
Azora Charge
Azora Charge co-founders Caroline and Johannes GoeckelImage Credits:Rebecca Bellan
Founded one and a half years ago by brother and sister duo Caroline and Johannes Goeckel, Germany-based Azora Charge is building solar-powered charging and parking stations for e-bikes. Azora Charge isn’t trying to directly meet the needs of shared micromobility operators as much as serving regular people who own an e-bike that can be safely charged and parked in public.
“There are no solutions like this,” Caroline Goeckel told TechCrunch. “In London, for example, there’s no way I can park my bike somewhere and know that it’s safe. It’s just gonna get stolen.”
Azora’s flagship product, Azora Arc, is a covered charging station that can fit inside one parking space. It features five integrated solar panels and four charging stations that can accommodate up to eight bikes, and can be adapted for advertising. It’s designed to be a plug-and-play solution, suitable for various locations like parking garages and city streets.
Azora wants to sell these stations at a retail price of €28,000 ($32,000) — or €15,999 ($18,400) for the Azora Flow that doesn’t have a cover — to cities, apartment complexes, shopping centers and other businesses. They hope to raise €250,000 through venture capital or friends and family, emphasizing the need for expertise in B2B distribution. A pilot program is set to start in Heidelberg, Germany, to test the first prototype’s viability.
Fleetser
Fleetser is a European-based micromobility marketplace that buys, sells, and refurbishes shared electric bikes and scooters. The company, founded in late 2024, caters to both new and established operators, offering help with supply chain, software management, and batteries.
Fleetser’s client base includes sellers looking to offload hardware and new operators seeking cost-effective entry into the market.
“We are the right marketplace to help someone that wants to start out, or even a big operator that wants to expand affordably,” Alexe Stefan, managing partner at Fleetser, told TechCrunch.
The company operates remotely with warehouses in Romania and the Netherlands. It has sold 6,000 bikes this year and is scaling organically through market demand and word-of-mouth. Fleetser also offers logistics support for moving and delivering bikes, and was seen chatting with the founders of Detroit-based Bloom — which wants to take on all the hard, behind-the-scenes work for e-bike startups — at the event.
Switch
Italian startup Switch is bringing AI and simulation to fleet planning and fleet management for cities and shared mobility operators — including a pilot with Lime. The startup offers two core products: Urbiverse generates synthetic data and simulations for logistics and mobility, while Urban Copilot offers real-time demand forecasting, fleet rebalancing, and operations optimization.
Then there’s the AI agent that is “able to access all the tools of the stakeholders,” from Slack to CRM apps, so that users can ask “cross-section questions.”
“So you can ask it somelike like, please send a notification on Slack every time that the fleet battery average level goes below 40% in this neighborhood, you can you ask for a report of the status of my fleet in comparison with public transport disruption,” Alessandro Ciociola, Switch’s AI officer, told TechCrunch.
Founded in 2020, the company has raised nearly $1 million, including from the European Institute of Technology.
Zapp
Zapp, a super app from Bosnia and Herzegovina, offers food delivery, shared micromobility, package delivery, rent a car, and taxi services. Zapp launched in 2020 and has expanded to 10 cities in Bosnia — where Uber still doesn’t have a big presence — and plans to enter Croatia this year.
What’s different about Zapp is that it operates a franchise model, an idea that came from CEO Martin Mikolic, the former CEO of gaming cafe franchise Friendly Fire.
“In the Balkans, there’s not a lot of competition [from established players like Uber], and the focus for our franchise is smaller cities below 1 million people because the concept is to empower local people, because local people know best what the customer needs in that city,” said Mikolic.
J2R
co-founders of j2r Martin allaIre and jean madauleImage Credits:Rebecca Bellan
Jean Madaule was a business analyst for the video game industry who wanted to buy an electric motorcycle, but couldn’t find anything on the market that met his needs of traceability, reparability, and a cool design.
A self-taught engineer, he started building motorcycles in his garage until he came up with what is now J2R’s flagship model. J2R, which was founded in 2022, named its first electric motorcycle Smol — in a nod to its small size. Smol has a sharp, radical design that has futuristic dirtbike styling with a minimalist appeal, which is enhanced by features like the exposed suspension.
“It’s a toy, but for the city,” Madaule said. “Basically for people who are really urban and into street culture. I guess that’s why scarcity marketing works for them. They feel like it’s a drop of something super exclusive.”
The team launched a presale campaign in September with a price tag of €9,450 ($10,800). They plan to deliver 15 numbered units by the end of the year and 100 units in January 2026. Smol is assembled in France with parts primarily sourced from the EU.
Trace Mobility
As the former founder of German bike-sharing operation Velocity Mobility, Tobias Meurer understands the pain points of the shared micromobility business. In April 2023 he returned with a new startup, Trace Mobility, which provides business intelligence services for bike and car-sharing operators.
Trace Mobility offers a subscription-based software service that tracks key metrics such as user registrations, bookings, vehicle utilization, and revenues. It also integrates publicly available data and offers an AI agent for customized insights and operational suggestions.
The company’s target client is smaller operators that don’t have their own booking platforms but rather rely on white label solutions, which Trace draws data from to come up with its own insights for clients.
“Profitability is a big issue for everyone in the business and to improve profitability, or to first reach profitability, it is important to know the mechanisms behind your cost and revenue structure and how these are connected,” Meurer said.
Inter Milan defender Francesco Acerbi lost his cool after a Club World Cup fan wearing a Paris Saint-Germain shirt in Seattle taunted him about last month’s Champions League final, with the Italian threatening to beat him up if the teasing continued.
The fan brought up a humiliating moment from Inter’s 5-0 defeat by the French champions in Munich, in which Acerbi was left sprawling after some dazzling footwork by Bradley Barcola.
On a video that went viral on social media, the visibly annoyed Italian international sought the help of a translator during a meet-and-greet with fans. The translator told the fan in English on Thursday: “You must be serious with him.”
Seconds later, Acerbi stepped in to say in Italian: “I’m serious. Don’t make fun of me — I don’t like it. … I’m crazy, I’ll beat the crap out of you.”
Acerbi then quickly moved on, posing for photos with other fans.
Inter were not immediately available for comment.
Inter take on the Urawa Red Diamonds in Group E on Saturday.
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Our favorite looks-good-on-everybody brand lululemon has been slashing prices on cult-favorite Align styles as of late, and now that even includes Align shorts for summer. We see the buttery-soft, breathable shorts on sale right now at lululemon.
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Alaina Beresford was 12 years old when her bottle was dropped into the North Sea
A Scottish schoolgirl’s message in a bottle has finally received a reply more than 30 years later – after being discovered in Norway.
Alaina Beresford, from Portknockie in Moray, sent the message in 1994 when she was 12 as part of a school project.
It washed up across the North Sea where it was found by a volunteer cleaning up a Norwegian island – who then dispatched a postcard to the delighted sender to let her know.
Alaina told BBC Scotland News she could not believe her original letter was in such good condition after three decades.
Aileen Stephen
Alaina was delighted to get a picture postcard telling her the bottle had been found
Her handwritten letter had been sent in an empty bottle of Moray Cup, a fizzy drink produced in the north east of Scotland.
It said: “Dear finder. My name is Alaina Stephen and I am 12 years of age. I come from Portknockie and I am doing a project on water so I decided to send a message in a bottle.
“My teacher’s husband took them and dropped them in the middle of the ocean.
“When you find this message, please write back with your name, hobbies, where you found the message, when, and if you could, a little information about your area. Yours sincerely, Alaina Stephen. PS I come from Scotland.”
Alaina Beresford
The letter could still be clearly made out
Now, 31 years on, Alaina has received a postcard from Pia Brodtmann, telling her the good news, with pictures of the find.
It said: “My name is Pia and I am from Germany. Today I found your message in a bottle on Lisshelløya, a tiny island around Vega in Norway.
“I am here for beach cleaning as a volunteer for four months and today we cleaned Lisshelløya. On the front of the postcard you can see our workboat Nemo and our sailboat Fonn, where we live. You can also see the area around Vega. I wonder when and where your teacher’s husband threw your bottle in the ocean?”
It added: “PS I am 27 years old and I like rock climbing and sailing a lot!”
Pia Brodtmann
The bottle was found in Norway
Alaina Beresford
Alaina was delighted to receive a response
Alaina, now 42, said she was stunned when she picked up the post and noticed the postcard addressed to herself.
“I’m at the same address,” she said.
“I did live in Buckie, and another house in Portknockie for a while, but moved back in with my parents.
“I couldn’t believe it, as I had sent it when I was 12 years old, 31 years ago.”
Alaina was able to find Pia via social media, and messaged her asking to send a photo of her letter.
“I was shocked when she did, I couldn’t believe how legible it was,” she said.
“I can’t remember actually writing the message, but I do remember it was a Moray Cup bottle, and that my teacher’s husband had dropped it into the sea when he was a fisherman.
“According to my message, I had done it as part of a project on water. It was when I was in P7.”
She added: “Pia and I have been keeping in touch and hopefully we will continue to do so.”
President Trump on Friday celebrated a newly announced deal to end the conflict between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo but lamented that he may not win a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in the deal, or for other international agreements he helped negotiate in office.
The State Department announced Wednesday that Rwanda and Congo will sign a deal to end fighting in eastern Congo, where rebels that Congo has accused Rwanda of backing have seized strategic cities since January. The United States was brought in to assist the peace talks at the request of Congo President Felix Tshekedi.
“This is a Great Day for Africa and, quite frankly, a Great Day for the World,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, calling the agreement “a wonderful Treaty.”
But he also griped that he believed he may not receive accolades for the deal, nor for a host of other conflicts that the United States has helped resolve.
“I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize for this, I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize for stopping the War between India and Pakistan, I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize for stopping the War between Serbia and Kosovo,” he wrote, also naming conflicts in North Africa and the Middle East.
Trump’s post came just hours after Pakistan announced that it would nominate him for the Peace Prize. India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire in May after several days of intense rocket fire between the two countries, an agreement that Trump said he played a significant role in. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought to downplay Trump’s claims.
Trump also said repeatedly on the campaign trail that he should be awarded the prize, which former President Obama won in 2009.
Pakistan’s nomination of Trump marks his fifth nomination. The pool of people who can submit nominations for the award is extensive, including university professors and members of national assemblies such as Congress. Michael Jackson and the international soccer federation FIFA have also been nominated in the past.
“No, I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize no matter what I do, including Russia/Ukraine, and Israel/Iran, whatever those outcomes may be, but the people know, and that’s all that matters to me!” Trump added.
See which banks are currently paying the highest CD rates. If you’re looking for a secure place to store your savings, a certificate of deposit (CD) may be a great choice. These accounts often provide higher interest rates than traditional checking and savings accounts. However, CD rates can vary widely. Learn more about CD rates today and where to find high-yield CDs with the best rates available.
Today’s CD rates vary quite a bit. In general, however, CD rates are beginning to decline due to the Fed’s decision to cut its benchmark rate three times in the later part of 2024. Even so, some banks are still offering competitive CD rates.
For those that are, top rates reach about 4% APY. This is especially true for shorter terms of one year or less.
Today, the highest CD rate 4.4% APY, offered by Western Alliance Bank on its 3-month CD. There is a $1 minimum opening deposit required.
Here is a look at some of the best CD rates available today from our verified partners:
Compare these rates to the national average as of June 2025 (the most recent data available from the FDIC):
Compared with today’s top CD rates, national averages are much lower. This highlights the importance of shopping around for the best CD rates before opening an account.
Online banks and neobanks are financial institutions that operate solely via the web. That means they have lower overhead costs than traditional brick and mortar banks. As a result, they’re able to pass those savings on to their customers in the form of higher interest rates on deposit accounts (including CDs) and lower fees. If you’re looking for the best CD rates available today, an online bank is a great place to start.
However, online banks aren’t the only financial institutions offering competitive CD rates. It’s also worth checking with credit unions. As not-for-profit financial cooperatives, credit unions return their profits to customers, who are also member-owners. Although many credit unions have strict membership requirements that are limited to those who belong to certain associations or work or live in certain areas, there are also several credit unions that just about anyone can join.
Whether or not you should put your money in a CD depends on your savings goals. CDs are considered a safe and stable savings vehicle — they don’t lose money (in most cases), are backed by federal insurance, and allow you to lock in today’s best rates.
However, there are some drawbacks to consider. First, you must keep your money on deposit for the full term, otherwise you’ll be subject to an early withdrawal penalty. If you want flexible access to your funds, a high-yield savings account or money market account might be a better choice.
Additionally, although today’s CD rates are high by historical standards, they don’t match the returns you could achieve by investing your money in the market. If you’re saving for a long-term goal such as retirement, a CD won’t provide the growth you need to reach your savings goal within a reasonable time frame.
Snap has acquired Saturn, a calendar app that helps students manage their school schedules and share them with others, the company confirmed to TechCrunch on Friday. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Saturn will continue to operate as a standalone app.
Snap says almost the entire Saturn team is joining Snap as part of the acquisition, with just under 30 full-time employees coming on board.
Although Snap didn’t share much about its plans for the acquisition, a spokesperson for the company told TechCrunch in an email that Snap will bring Saturn’s calendaring expertise into Snapchat in innovative ways.
Founded in 2018, Saturn reimagines the calendaring experience by bringing in a social element. The idea behind the startup is to allow high school and college students to connect with their classmates and see which classes their friends are in without having to share a bunch of pictures of different schedules.
Image Credits:Saturn
Users can share their schedules with their friends to see what they’re up to in real time and what they have coming up in order to make plans. In addition to classes, users can share their schedules for practices, rehearsals, meetings, games, and more.
Snap says that Saturn is used by a large number of schools and that 80% of U.S. high schools have support for Saturn. Snap believes that Saturn has built its success by turning scheduling into a more engaging and dynamic experience. The two companies will work together to foster more real-world connections, Snap says.
Forbes reported in 2021 that Saturn raised $44 million in a funding round led by General Catalyst, Insight Partners, and Coatue, with participation from Bezos Expeditions, Marc Benioff, Dara Khosrowshahi, and Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary’s Sound Ventures, among others.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Michael Olise fired Bayern Munich into the knockout stages of the Club World Cup, scoring in the 84th minute for a 2-1 win over Boca Juniors on Friday night.
German champion Bayern made it two wins in Group C and advanced to the round of 16 with a game to spare.
Olise secured the victory at Hard Rock Stadium after Miguel Merentiel had put Boca in position for a draw with a brilliant solo goal in the 66th.
Bayern, which tops the group, took the lead on Harry Kane‘s clinical finish in the 18th and went on to miss of a slew of chances before Merentiel’s equalizer.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, we knew we were coming into a hostile environment, hot weather, it was tough,” Kane said. “It’s a massive tournament. We are playing against the best teams in the world. We just have to compete to our highest level and we should be able to beat most teams.”
The victory did come at a cost.
Star German midfielder Jamal Musiala went off injured only 25 minutes after entering the game and was substituted by national team veteran Thomas Müller in the 82nd minute.
The nature of his injury wasn’t immediately known. The 22 year-old had been recovering from a torn hamstring during the Bundesliga season.
Boca Juniors still have a chance to advance, but they would need to rout Auckland City on Tuesday and have Benfica lose to Bayern the same day.
“We have to find a way (to advance). A draw would’ve been great but it’s up to us to compete and do our best and I would not be surprised if that happened,” coach Miguel Angel Russo said.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
