Fed minutes show focus shifting to employment --Employment was a focal point for the Federal Reserve's most recent monetary policy deliberations, with officials expressing various levels of concern about its outlook. The labor market was a bigger point of discussion in the Federal Reserve's most recent monetary policy-setting meeting, but officials were divided about the path of future actions.
FOMC Minutes Show 'Divided' Fed Fears Stagflation, Clueless On Actual Tariff Impact - Graphics Source: Bloomberg. Since the last FOMC meeting (June 18th), which saw a hawkish tilt to the dots (with Fed members notably divided - nearly as many participants anticipated no rate cuts this year as expected two), we have seen stronger-than-expected jobs data, constant diatribes from the president that 'too late' Powell should be cutting rates, and some tariff developments that supported Powell's pause. Stocks have melted up since the FOMC meeting (even as macro has weakened - bad news is good news)... ...while crude was clubbed like a baby seal (Israel-Iran 'peace') as bonds have been very modestly bid against dollar and gold weakness... Rate-cut odds have risen modestly for 2025 since The FOMC meetings (two full cuts priced in, but July off the table) but are well down from pre-payrolls levels...
FOMC Minutes: Rate Cut this year would "likely be appropriate" - Different views on possible rate cuts (see paragraph 2). From the Fed: Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee, June 17–18, 2025. Excerpt: In considering the outlook for monetary policy, participants generally agreed that, with economic growth and the labor market still solid and current monetary policy moderately or modestly restrictive, the Committee was well positioned to wait for more clarity on the outlook for inflation and economic activity. Participants noted that monetary policy would be informed by a wide range of incoming data, the economic outlook, and the balance of risks. Most participants assessed that some reduction in the target range for the federal funds rate this year would likely be appropriate, noting that upward pressure on inflation from tariffs may be temporary or modest, that medium- and longer-term inflation expectations had remained well anchored, or that some weakening of economic activity and labor market conditions could occur. A couple of participants noted that, if the data evolve in line with their expectations, they would be open to considering a reduction in the target range for the policy rate as soon as at the next meeting. Some participants saw the most likely appropriate path of monetary policy as involving no reductions in the target range for the federal funds rate this year, noting that recent inflation readings had continued to exceed the Committee's 2 percent goal, that upside risks to inflation remained meaningful in light of factors such as elevated short-term inflation expectations of businesses and households, or that they expected that the economy would remain resilient. Several participants commented that the current target range for the federal funds rate may not be far above its neutral level. Various participants discussed risks that, if realized, would have the potential to affect the appropriate path of monetary policy. Regarding upside risks to inflation, participants noted that, if the imposition of tariffs were to generate a larger-than-expected increase in inflation, if such an increase in inflation were to be more persistent than anticipated, or if a notable increase in medium- or longer-term inflation expectations were to occur, then it would be appropriate to maintain a more restrictive stance of monetary policy than would otherwise be the case, especially if labor market conditions and economic activity remained solid. By contrast, if labor market conditions or economic activity were to weaken materially, or if inflation were to continue to come down and inflation expectations remained well anchored, then it would be appropriate to establish a less restrictive stance of monetary policy than would otherwise be the case. Participants noted that the Committee might face difficult tradeoffs if elevated inflation proved to be more persistent while the outlook for employment weakened. If that were to occur, participants agreed that they would consider how far the economy is from each goal and the potentially different time horizons over which those respective gaps would be anticipated to close. In considering the likelihood of various scenarios, participants agreed that the risks of higher inflation and weaker labor market conditions had diminished but remained elevated, citing a lower expected path of tariffs, encouraging recent readings on inflation and inflation expectations, resilience in consumer and business spending, or improvements in some measures of consumer or business sentiment. Some participants commented that they saw the risk of elevated inflation as remaining more prominent, or as having diminished by less, than risks to employment. A few participants saw risks to the labor market as having become predominant. They noted some recent signs of weakening in real activity or the labor market, or commented that conditions could weaken in the future, particularly if policy were to remain restrictive. Participants agreed that although uncertainty about inflation and the economic outlook had decreased, it remained appropriate to take a careful approach in adjusting monetary policy. Participants emphasized the importance of ensuring that longer-term inflation expectations remained well anchored and agreed that the current stance of monetary policy positioned the Committee well to respond in a timely way to potential economic developments.\
NY Fed report: Return to zero rates a 'significant' risk The Federal Reserve's policy rate is a long way from its lowest point, but markets remain concerned about a return to zero interest rates, according to findings from the Federal Reserve Banks of New York and San Francisco.New research from the Federal Reserve Banks of New York and San Francisco says markets put the odds of zero interest rates lower today than in the recent past, but economic uncertainty raises the potential for drastic cuts in the "medium to long term."
Waller says QE to blame for Fed losses on reserve interest - Federal Reserve Gov. Christopher Waller said the central bank does have a problem with income losses, but interest paid on reserves are not to blame. Federal Reserve Gov. Christopher Waller said that criticisms of the Fed's balance sheet and calls to return to a scarce reserves system are misinformed, saying that much of the central bank's balance sheet is the result of activities outside the Fed's control.
Trump trying to make Powell 'as miserable as possible': Haberman President Trump is trying to make Jerome Powell’s “life as miserable as possible” as he ramps up pressure on the Federal Reserve chair to lower interest rates or leave the central bank, a reporter who has closely followed Trump asserted this week. “I’m skeptical he will fire Powell — he might; obviously, anything is possible,” New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said on CNN’s “The Source” late Thursday. “But in the meantime, he is going to make his life as miserable as possible, or at least as miserable as the president perceives it could be, behaving this way.” Trump told reporters Friday morning that he does not plan to fire Powell but again criticized him for not adjusting interest rates. “I think he’s doing a terrible job,” Trump said before departing the White House for a trip to flood-ravaged Texas. “I think we should be 3 points lower, interest rates. He’s costing our country a lot of money.” “We should be No. 1, and we’re not, and that’s because of Jerome Powell,” Trump added. Haberman said on CNN that she has heard names floated as a possible replacement for Powell. “Always worth reminding people … the president appointed Jay Powell,” she said. “This was not somebody who was imposed upon him. This was an appointee of his, previously.”
BankThink Trump's assaults on the Federal Reserve's independence must cease --The president's ongoing effort to push Fed Chairman Jerome Powell out of his job are part of a dangerous effort to undermine the central bank's nonpartisan monetary policy processes, writes William Michael Cunningham.At a July 8 cabinet meeting, President Donald Trump launched a fresh barrage of attacks on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell over his handling of interest rates, claiming Trump's team could "do a better job than him," accusing Powell of lying to Congress and calling for his resignation.The president's ongoing effort to push Fed Chairman Jerome Powell out of his job are part of a dangerous effort to undermine the central bank's nonpartisan monetary policy processes.
When will key aspects of Trump ‘big, beautiful bill’ take effect? - President Trump signed his sweeping tax cut and spending package known as the “big, beautiful bill” into law during a Fourth of July celebration on Friday. The measure boosts defense and border wall funding and makes Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent, offsetting some of those costs with deep cuts to Medicaid, food assistance programs, student loans and clean energy programs. Some of the law’s key pieces will take effect later this year, while others will not be implemented until well after midterm elections. Among the bill’s most contentious parts are its reforms to Medicaid, the joint federal and state program that provides health insurance coverage to low-income Americans. A number of Republicans were worried about the cuts to Medicaid, with some saying the party risked political backlash by adopting the cuts since many GOP voters could be affected by them. The question may be how many of those voters feel the effects before November 2026. Roughly 16 million people could lose their health insurance coverage by 2034 due to cuts to Medicaid and changes to the Affordable Care Act marketplace, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Americans could also lose their coverage due to new work requirements for the program. Under the law, adults between the ages of 19 and 64 will need to work at least 80 hours a month to qualify for Medicaid coverage unless they qualify for certain exemptions. Medicaid’s funding changes under the law are not scheduled to take effect until 2028, well past the upcoming 2026 midterm elections. Some work requirements could come earlier, however. They are to begin no later than Dec. 31, 2026. The law will change the country’s largest food assistance program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps. Like Medicaid, SNAP will also undergo funding and work requirement changes.In the past, the federal government has funded the program while states have taken on the cost of managing it. Under the bill’s conditions, states will be required to partially fund SNAP if they have a payment error rate of 6 percent or higher beginning in 2028 — two years after the midterms. However, the law also allows states with payment error rates of 13.34 or higher to delay paying for the program for two additional years. Previously, most adults had to work until age 54 to qualify for SNAP unless they were a parent with dependents. Now, the working age to stay in the program has been raised to 64, and only parents with children younger than 14 are exempt from the requirement, according to the law. The law does not specifically state when the updated work requirements will begin to take effect, but a spokesperson for the Senate Republicans said there is no “delayed implementation in the law.” The law paves the way for numerous tax changes, with the most significant being to the cuts Trump enacted during his first term in 2017. Those expiring tax cuts are permanent, effective immediately. Under the law, Americans living in high-tax states such as New York and California will receive larger income tax deductions for state and local taxes, otherwise known as SALT, beginning this year and lasting until 2028. Republicans will be selling these tax cuts aggressively, since people who qualify for the cuts will feel them well ahead of the midterm elections. Starting this year, tip amounts of less than $25,000 will be tax-deductible through 2028. There is a cap for the deduction of a $150,000 income or $300,000 for people filing jointly, according to the law. The law also changes when overtime pay will be tax-deductible. Starting this year, up to $12,500 of extra overtime pay is tax-deductible until 2028. Again, there is an income limit of $150,000 a year for a single person or $300,000 for those filing jointly. Changes to the child tax credit will also take effect this year. Now, the child tax credit is $2,200 for every qualifying child. The amount will also be adjusted for inflation starting next year. Changes to the senior deduction also take effect this year. Beginning this year until 2028, Americans older than 65 can deduct an additional $6,000 on their tax returns. The law eliminates numerous tax incentives from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act for clean energy and energy efficiency programs. Under the law, $7,500 tax credits for electric vehicles will be eliminated starting Sept. 30 of this year — well ahead of the midterms. It also eliminates a $3,200 tax credit for Americans making energy-improvement changes to their homes beginning in 2026 and ends tax credits for Americans who make investments in clean energy sources for their homes, including solar panels, fuel cells or battery storage technology starting next year. The law also ends the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which helps finance local emissions-reduction projects, beginning this year. Although it appears that current contracts under the program will remain in place. The bill will make some changes to how Americans finance higher education. Grad PLUS loans as well as repayment options like the SAVE Plan and Income-Contingent Repayment and Pay as You Earn plans will be scrapped and replaced with a Repayment Assistance Plan or a standard repayment plan. Grad PLUS loans will be replaced with new borrowing caps of $100,000 for many grad students and $200,000 for professional students, such as those enrolled in medical schools or law schools.For undergraduate students, Stafford loans will remain capped, and Parent PLUS loans now have a reduced lifetime cap of $65,000. All of the loan changes are set to take effect in July of 2026. The law also changes tax rates for colleges based on the size of their endowments. In 2026, schools with higher endowments per student will receive higher tax rates on their endowment. Schools with endowments between $500,000 and $750,000 will have a tax rate of 1.4 percent. Those with endowments of $750,000 to $2 million now have a tax rate of 4 percent, and those with more than $2 million will be taxed at 8 percent.
Social Security no taxes message on Trump bill raises eyebrows -- President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” is sending mixed messages about whether most Americans are required to pay federal income taxes on their Social Security benefits.“It’s a mixed bag for seniors, because some seniors will get some tax relief; the cost of that, though, is borne by the entire Social Security system,” Alex Lawson, executive director of left-leaning advocacy organization Social Security Works, told USA Today.The bill, which Trump signed into law on Saturday, included a $6,000 tax deduction for Americans 65 or older. After Congress passed the bill on Thursday, the Social Security Administration said the legislation “delivers long-awaited tax relief to millions of older Americans.” “The new law includes a provision that eliminates federal income taxes on Social Security benefits for most beneficiaries, providing relief to individuals and couples,” the Thursday press release said. “Additionally, it provides an enhanced deduction for taxpayers aged 65 and older, ensuring that retirees can keep more of what they have earned.”However, policy experts are concerned that the bill does not include a provision to eliminate federal income taxes on Social Security benefits.There is no provision in the budget bill that directly ‘eliminates’ or even reduces taxes on Social Security benefits,” Howard Gleckman, senior fellow at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, told the Washington Post. Trump’s bill offers a tax deduction of $6,000 to seniors making up to $75,000 individually, or $150,000 on a joint return. The deduction is lowered for incomes above that level and axed for seniors with individual incomes of more than $175,000, or $250,000 jointly. However, the new deduction for seniors is set to expire within a couple of years. The median income for seniors in 2022 was about $30,000.“The people who benefit by definition have to be richer, and people who benefit the most are the richest people,” Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy at the Center for American Progress, told CBS News. Before the megabill’s passing, 64 percent of seniors receiving Social Security income paid no tax on their Social Security due to exemptions and deductions, according to an estimate by Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers. Under Trump’s megabill, 88 percent won’t be paying.Marc Goldwein, senior vice president of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, told the Post that the rise is due to the bill’s increase in “the standard deduction for seniors, which, as a result, reduces the number of seniors who will pay taxes on their Social Security benefits.”Put simply, the new legislation will provide limited benefits for lower-income seniors because they already pay less in taxes.“Lower-income earners benefit less than middle and upper-middle income households,” Garrett Watson, senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation, a center-right think tank, told USA Today.“It’s been marketed as tax relief for seniors, but a lot of seniors are going to be surprised when they find out it doesn’t apply to them,” he added. “I’m getting asked all the time by folks what this actually means for their tax situation.”
Bessent demands apology from Summers over ‘big, beautiful bill’ criticism -- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent late Sunday fired back at Larry Summers for the former Treasury secretary’s criticism of President Trump’s massive tax and spending legislation. In a thread on the social platform X, Bessent demanded an apology from Summers and suggested he should lose work for comparing the deaths that some estimates predict will result from the health care cuts in the bill to the fatalities reported after the catastrophic flooding in central Texas this weekend. “Today, former Treasury Secretary @LHSummers showed why he was forced to step down as president of @Harvard: a lack of humanity and judgment,” Bessent wrote in the first post of the series.He condemned Summers’s “shockingly callous interview” on ABC News’s “This Week” on Sunday, during which Summers cited the Yale Budget Lab estimate saying the bill “will kill, over 10 years, 100,000 people.”“That is 2,000 days of death like we’ve seen in Texas this weekend,” Summers added in the interview. “In my 70 years, I’ve never been as embarrassed for my country on July Fourth.”Trump signed his agenda-setting legislation into law July 4, the same day Texas experienced catastrophic flooding that has killed almost 90 people — a death toll experts say is expected to rise.Bessent condemned the remarks and called for an apology.
How Donald Trump’s megabill will impact health care across America -- The massive tax cut legislation passed by the House and Senate this week will dramatically upend health care in America. The legislation, signed Friday afternoon by President Trump, was never framed as a health bill, but it will mark the biggest changes to U.S. health policy since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed in 2010. The bill’s provisions will impact patients, doctors, hospitals, and insurers, as Republicans partially paid for it by cutting more than $1 trillion from federal health programs. The bulk of the cuts are coming from Medicaid. As a result, changes are coming that will affect how people qualify for and enroll in the program that covers more than 70 million low-income and disabled Americans, as well as how they can maintain coverage. “No matter how often repeated, the magnitude of these reductions — and the number of individuals who will lose health coverage — cannot be simply dismissed as waste, fraud, and abuse,” American Hospital Association President Rick Pollack said in a statement. “The faces of Medicaid include our children, our disabled, our seniors, our veterans, our neighbors, and friends. The real-life consequences of these reductions will negatively impact access to care for all Americans.” Almost 12 million lower-income Americans would lose their health insurance by 2034, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), blunting the significant coverage gains made under the ACA. The cuts were deep enough to give some Republicans in both chambers pause, but in the end, only two GOP House members and three GOP senators voted against the bill. It passed the Senate 51-50, and the House 218-214. By design, the group that would be hit the hardest are people whose income is between 100 percent and 138 percent of the federal poverty level (roughly between $32,150 and $42,760 for a family of four) who gained insurance when their states expanded Medicaid. The most significant change will be a first-ever requirement for adults under age 65 — including low-income parents of children older than 14 — to prove they work, volunteer or go to school at least 80 hours per month. States will need to develop and launch systems to verify enrollee’s work status at least every six months, beginning in December 2026. Health experts and advocates warn a blizzard of red tape and administrative hurdles will strip people of needed health care, even those who would normally be eligible. GOP lawmakers say they are fine with those consequences, even those who have said they oppose cutting Medicaid benefits, because the requirements will only target the “able-bodied” people who should be working but choose not to. Groups such as the disabled, pregnant women and people who are in prison or rehabilitation centers would be exempt from the requirements. Those people, Republicans say, are the truly needy. But someone who qualifies would need to prove they are exempt, which would require submitting the correct forms and documentation — in the correct order — at the time they apply for Medicaid and after they are already enrolled. Outside of work requirements, the legislation requires states to do an extra eligibility check on Medicaid enrollees starting in 2027. Checking every six months opens the possibility of a person losing coverage midyear. The bill will also require people with incomes above the poverty line to pay out-of-pocket co-pays for most Medicaid services, such as lab tests or doctor visits. States will be allowed to charge up to 5 percent of a person’s income per year, though some Democratic-led states may opt for a smaller amount. Primary care, mental health and substance abuse services are exempted, and prescription drugs would only have a nominal co-pay. The legislation will make it more difficult for people to sign up for and afford health plans on ACA exchanges. It will limit eligibility for premium subsidies to people living in the U.S. who are not eligible for any other federal insurance program. It will also bar most immigrants and lawful permanent residents from receiving the subsidies. The bill will require real-time verification of eligibility before a person can receive those subsidies to help afford premiums. Currently, anyone who purchases a subsidized plan can begin using it almost immediately. The state or federal government has 90 days to determine eligibility. But under the new bill, people won’t have access to cheaper premiums until they are deemed eligible. In addition, people who sign up for ACA coverage during some special enrollment periods will not be eligible for subsidies. The bill will also end automatic reenrollment ahead of the 2028 sign-up period, meaning enrollees will need to update their income, immigration status and other information each year. According to health research group KFF, 10 million people were automatically reenrolled in ACA plans in 2025. The GOP bill could pose a major problem for rural hospitals, and subsequently the patients who rely on them. Changes to state-levied provider taxes would reduce spending by nearly $191 billion over a decade, according to the CBO estimate. An analysis of an earlier version introduced in the Senate by the National Rural Health Association and Manatt Health found the legislation generates $58 billion in Medicaid cuts over the next 10 years for rural hospitals. The bill that passed includes a five-year, $50 billion rural health relief fund, but provider groups say it’s a Band-Aid compared to the overall cost of the cuts. Hospitals would see a spike in uncompensated care and overcrowding of emergency rooms. “Millions of Americans will see their health care coverage vanish through burdensome Medicaid work requirements and other eligibility changes throughout the bill. Hospitals across the country have been destabilized, affecting their ability to serve patients and their communities. We are in a crisis,” “Widespread coverage losses plus weakened hospitals is a recipe for disaster, and patients will pay the price.”
The ‘big, beautiful’ fight over school choice ends with escape clause for blue states --Republicans quietly passed a first-of-its-kind national school choice program in President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” but celebration among advocates was tempered after the Senate added a provision giving blue states a way out. The Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA) was in turbulent waters throughout the process, at one taken out of the bill due to the Senate parliamentarian and leaving backers on the edge of their seats. Its final form lifts the cap on how much the federal government can spend on the issue, but its opt-in feature means school choice programs might not make new advances in the Democratic-led states supporters have long targeted. “School choice is the civil rights issue of the 21st century. Every child, regardless of race or wealth or ethnicity, deserves access to an excellent education. This tax credit provision will unleash billions of dollars every single year for scholarships for kids to attend the K-12 school of their choice,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said in a speech before the Senate voted to pass the legislation, which President Trump signed Friday. The basic premise of the ECCA is a tax credit that will go to individuals or corporations who donate to nonprofits that offer educational scholarships to students looking for options outside of traditional public schools. The money from the program can go to certain qualified expenses such as tuition, fees, tutoring and supplies for students at public, private or religious schools. It can also cover transportation, room and board and computer equipment. “One thing we should certainly not be doing is creating a two-tier education system in America — private schools for the wealthy and well-connected, and severely underfunded public schools for low-income, disabled and working class kids,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said at a press conference against the reconciliation bill back in June, K-12 Dive reported. “That is not what this country is supposed to be about.”
Planned Parenthood sues over Trump megabill ‘defunding’ provision --Planned Parenthood sued the Trump administration Monday over a provision in the new tax and spending law that would strip Medicaid funding from its health centers because the organization also provides abortions. Planned Parenthood said the law unconstitutionally eliminates patients’ ability to use Medicaid as their insurance at any of its health centers nationwide. “The prohibition specifically targets Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its member health care providers in order to punish them for lawful activity, namely advocating for and providing legal abortion access wholly outside the Medicaid program and without using any federal funds,” the organization wrote in the complaint. Federal law has prohibited health care providers from using federal funds for abortions for more than 40 years. “Thus, this statute must be doing something more — and it is. The Defund Provision is a naked attempt to leverage the government’s spending power to attack and penalize Planned Parenthood and impermissibly single it out for unfavorable treatment,” the lawsuit stated. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts by Planned Parenthood Federation of America as well as state members Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts and Planned Parenthood Association of Utah. Republicans have been trying to pass legislation that blocks federal funding to Planned Parenthood for years, but the intricate rules of passing a party-line bill in the Senate meant the provisions have needed to pass muster with the Senate’s parliamentarian. To abide by those rules, the law imposed a one-year ban on state Medicaid payments to any health care nonprofit that offers abortions and received more than $800,000 in federal funding in 2023 — a list that’s comprised almost entirely of Planned Parenthood. The law will primarily affect Planned Parenthood clinics in blue states with large numbers of Medicaid beneficiaries where abortion is still legal. The organization said 200 clinics in 24 states were at risk of closing under the bill. Of those clinics, 90 percent are in states where abortion is protected and legal.
Megalaw complicates Trump’s plans to quickly ax renewable credits - President Donald Trump wants to quickly ax renewable tax credits. But his One Big Beautiful Bill Act could take years to unwind some Biden-era incentives.The legislation, signed into law by Trump last week, creates a complicated system for phasing out the investment tax credit and production tax credit available to wind and solar projects. Many projects could still see financing for years to come — though confusion reigns over which ones will qualify. Projects already under construction are effectively able to claim the credits if they enter operation through 2030. That threshold is met by roughly a third of onshore wind development projects and more than a quarter of solar projects, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration figures.Projects on the cusp of construction will also be able to claim credits. Those that start work before July 4, 2026, can avoid a new congressional requirement that projects be placed in service by the end of 2027 to get federal money.Trump injected uncertainty into those qualifications with an executive order Monday, titled “Ending Market distorting Subsidies for Unreliable, Foreign Controlled Energy Sources.” The order directed the Treasury Department to tighten the definition for what qualifies as the start of construction. But some renewable developers predict that their projects will weather the changes.“As long as there’s demand for power and not enough supply, we’ll have customers to buy our power,” said Nick Cohen, president and CEO of Doral Renewables. “And, you know, right now the customer market is paying double what it did five years ago, and that’s because it needs the power. So our business is actually in a very good position because there’s so little supply out there and such strong demand.”Still, the stakes for who qualifies are potentially massive for the country’s renewable energy industry and the climate.About two-thirds of wind projects and nearly three quarters of solar projects that plan to come online by 2030 haven’t begun construction, according to EIA’s figures. The agency’s numbers represent a rough estimate of the status of projects as of May. Most energy modelers are forecasting a big drop-off in renewable installations as a result of the GOP megabill. Wood Mackenzie, a consultancy, predicts wind and solar installations will decrease by 20 percent and 17 percent, respectively, over the next decade. Greenhouse gas emissions could be 7 percent higher in 2035, according to modeling done by a research group led by Jesse Jenkins, a Princeton University professor and outspoken climate hawk. That analysis also factors in rollbacks for other clean energy incentives, like tax credits for electric vehicles.And while Trump has long prioritized axing renewable tax credits — which he refers to as part of the “Green New Scam” — his order Monday shocked renewable developers. Under the order, Treasury will reconsider how it determines whether a project is under construction. Historically, companies that spend 5 percent of a project’s total cost or have begun significant construction activities are safe-harbored under federal tax law, making them eligible to receive subsidies. But Republican lawmakers belonging to the ultra conservative House Freedom Caucus maintain the current rules make it too easy for developers to claim they have started construction and receive the money. The Treasury Department has 45 days to issue a report on the topic.
GOP moderates balk at Trump renewables order - Moderate Republicans were steamed Wednesday about President Donald Trump’s executive order to placate conservatives who voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and John Curtis of Utah secured concessions to ease the phase-out of renewable energy tax credits in the budget reconciliation package. But Trump’s executive order this week was meant to blunt that deal. House conservatives demanded it last week before agreeing to help make the bill law. Murkowski, during a hearing Wednesday, said the order “really guts the effort for a compromise that we were able to secure within that reconciliation bill. So I don’t really like it. I’ll just be blunt, I don’t really like it all.” The law, which Trump signed on Independence Day, allows wind and solar projects to receive tax credits as long as they start construction by mid-2026 or are plugged into the grid by the end of 2027. Renewable energy companies and their allies also secured softer supply chain restrictions and managed to kill a new excise tax on projects. The president’s order directed officials to use a strict interpretation of the law and to prevent companies from securing materials from adversaries like China. “We had a debate, certainly, before the Senate last week when it came to certain of the tax credits for our solar and wind projects,” Murkowski said. “We negotiated a little bit longer runway for wind and solar tax credits in reconciliation. It wasn’t much, but it’s gonna help allow for the facilitation of a couple of projects, maybe a good handful, to proceed.” Members of the House Freedom Caucus were particularly irked with the start construction language, widely seen as a lifeline to wind and solar developers. Conservatives preferred only giving developers 60 days following passage. The executive order directed the Treasury Department to issue new and revised guidance within 45 days that is “appropriate and consistent with applicable law to ensure that policies concerning the ‘beginning of construction’ are not circumvented.” “For too long, the Federal Government has forced American taxpayers to subsidize expensive and unreliable energy sources like wind and solar,” the order reads.
GOP lawmaker: Trump’s ‘patience’ with Putin ‘wearing thin’ - Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) said Sunday that President Trump’s “patience” with Russian President Vladimir Putin is “wearing thin” after the president had a call with the Russian leader late last week. Crawford made the comment in response to a question during an appearance on Fox News. “People keep falling out of buildings in Russia, Ukraine is still under attack. Will this war ever end? And will the president, our president, eventually run out of patience with Putin?” Fox News’s Trey Gowdy asked on “Sunday Night in America.” “Well, I think, as the president demonstrated with Israel and Iran, he is not interested in starting wars. He’s interested in finishing them or ending them. He doesn’t want to see us in a state of war,” Crawford, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, responded. Crawford also said that the president “doesn’t want us involved in those long-term type of issues, and he’s demonstrated leadership, and what that has done, I think, has propelled him back to the position that we should have been all along, and that is essentially the leader of the free world.” “And President Trump has the initiative, people are listening to him. You look at the evidence of that in terms of the recent NATO conference, where we got the NATO assessment up to where it should be at 5 percent,” Crawford said, referring to commitments by members of NATO to raise their defense spending. “That’s all under his leadership. And so, it would bode well for Vladimir Putin to take heed, because it sounds like President Trump’s patience [is] wearing thin,” he added.
Trump: 'We have to' send Ukraine more weapons - President Trump said Monday his administration would send Ukraine additional weapons after his administration imposed a pause on some shipments to Kyiv. “We’re going to send some more weapons. We have to. They have to be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard now,” Trump told reporters during a dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Defensive weapons, primarily, but they’re getting hit very, very hard. So many people are dying in that mess,” he added. The Pentagon last week confirmed a decision to halt the delivery of some air defense missiles and munitions to Ukraine, citing concerns about U.S. military stockpiles being depleted. Trump himself seemed to defend the pause, saying the U.S. needed “to make sure we have enough for ourselves.” The decision drew backlash from Ukraine supporters in Washington and Europe, who expressed concern that a pause could seriously weaken Kyiv’s abilities to fend off Russia’s strikes and advances. The U.S. has given tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, though many Trump allies have expressed skepticism about continued American support for Kyiv. Democrats, and a small number of Republicans and European allies, have warned that abandoning Ukraine would be a major victory for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his country.
Trump Says He's Sending More Weapons To Ukraine After Some Shipments Were Paused - President Trump said on Monday that he would be sending more weapons to Ukraine after his administration paused the shipment of certain munitions, including Patriot air defense missiles.When asked if he would send more arms to Ukraine, the president said, “We have to. They have to be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard now. We’re going to send some more weapons — defensive weapons primarily.”Following the president’s comments, the Pentagon released a statement affirming that US “defensive” weapons were on the way to Ukraine.“At President Trump’s direction, the Department of Defense is sending additional defensive weapons to Ukraine to ensure the Ukrainians can defend themselves while we work to secure a lasting peace and ensure the killing stops,” said Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell.“Our framework for POTUS to evaluate military shipments across the globe remains in effect and is integral to our America First defense priorities,” Parnell added.While the administration never specified which weapons shipments were paused, media reports said it applied to Patriots, GMLRS munitions for the HIMARS rocket systems, artillery shells, and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles. It’s unclear at this point if the US is resuming the shipment of all the weapons or just the ones considered “defensive.”According to a report from Axios, Trump decided to resume the weapons shipments after speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. During the call, Trump promised to immediately send 10 Patriot interceptors. He is also asking Germany to send its own Patriot battery to Ukraine.The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump told Zelensky in the call that he wasn’t responsible for the weapons pause and that he ordered only a review of US stockpiles after the US bombed Iranian nuclear facilities. The US used a significant number of Patriot missiles to repel Iran’s retaliatory attack, which targeted the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.The pause in certain munitions to Ukraine was reportedly done under the direction of Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon’s policy chief, who is a China hawk and wants the US to focus on preparing for a war over Taiwan.
Pentagon Shifts Stance on Ukraine Military Aid - US President Donald Trump on July 7 said the United States will send more weapons to Ukraine to help the war-torn country defend itself against Russian attacks. “We're going to send some more weapons. We have to," Trump told reporters at the White House. “They have to be able to defend themselves. They're getting hit very hard now.” The United States will send primarily defensive weapons, he said, speaking at the start of a dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "At President Trump's direction, the Department of Defense is sending additional defensive weapons to Ukraine to ensure the Ukrainians can defend themselves while we work to secure a lasting peace and ensure the killing stops," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement shortly afterward. Neither Trump nor the Pentagon provided details, but the decision marked at least a partial reversal of a Pentagon announcement last week that it would hold back delivering some air defense missiles, precision-guided artillery, and other weapons amid concerns that US stockpiles have declined too much. Parnell's July 7 statement said the Pentagon's "framework for [Trump] to evaluate military shipments across the globe remains in effect and is integral to our America First defense priorities." Ukraine has been asking Washington to sell it more Patriot missiles and systems that it sees as key to defending its cities from what has become almost regular nightly Russian air strikes as Moscow's military tries to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defenses. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again referred to the need for more Patriot air defense units in his nightly video address on July 7. “We are working, in particular, with the American side on the relevant decisions regarding Patriots and missiles for them,” he said. After a call with Trump on July 4, Zelenskyy said he had agreed to work on increasing Kyiv's capability to "defend the sky" as Russian attacks escalated. He said he discussed joint defense production, purchases, and investments with Trump. Trump said after the call that Ukraine would need Patriot missiles to defend itself, but did not mention them specifically on July 7. Ukraine has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion that began in February 2022. Russian attacks on Ukraine that lasted into the early hours of July 7 killed at least 11 civilians and injured more than 80 others, including seven children, officials said. Trump has said he is determined to end the conflict and again vented his growing frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I’m not happy with President Putin at all," Trump said. Trump has threatened to impose new sanctions against Russia's oil industry to try to prod Putin into peace talks but has so far held off. However, Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican-South Carolina) said last week that Trump has given him the go-ahead to push a bill that calls for steep tariff on goods imported from countries such as China and India that continue to buy Russian oil. Zelenskyy on July 7 announced plans to expand drone production with allies for the post-war period. "We are working with partners to ensure that production in their countries operates at full capacity as well -- both for our shared defense today and for partners' arsenals after the war," Zelenskyy said in his nightly video. Kyiv is engaging with all leaders and countries that can help through investment, components, or manufacturing, he said.
Trump’s sudden shift on weapons for Ukraine takes the war back to square one | CNN — For a fleeting moment, Ukraine’s conflict may have come full circle. In the past 48 hours, US President Donald Trump has perhaps said his most forcefully direct words yet on arming Ukraine. And in the same period, the Kremlin have given their blankest indication to this White House that they are not interested in a realistic, negotiated settlement to the war. Let us start with Trump’s comments on arming Ukraine, a reversion to a basic bedrock of US foreign policy for decades – opposing Russian aggression. “We’re going to send some more weapons,” the president said Monday of Ukraine. “We have to – they have to be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard.” Behind him, his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth nodded, despite this contradiction of the administration’s announcement days earlier of military shipments being stopped. What did Trump actually mean? He was short on detail. A Pentagon spokesman later said that “at President Trump’s direction, the Department of Defense is sending additional defensive weapons to Ukraine to ensure the Ukrainians can defend themselves while we work to secure a lasting peace and ensure the killing stops.”The about-face came days after Volodymyr Zelensky’s call with Trump on Friday, in which the Ukrainian leader said the two men spoke of joint weapons production, and air defense. Zelensky urgently needs more Patriot interceptor missiles, which are the only way of taking down Russian ballistic missiles, and which only the US can authorize trade in. Trump spoke a day earlier with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has offered to buy Patriots from the US to supply to Ukraine. Enough is afoot to have led Zelensky to declare on Saturday his Trump call was “the best conversation we have had during this whole time, the most productive.” Trump’s failure to provide details may be strategic, or a by-product of his occasional disdain for them. But while he may sound briefly a little more like his predecessor, Joe Biden, in terms of arming Ukraine, herein lies one stark difference. Biden publicly announced in agonizing detail every capability he gave Kyiv, perhaps hoping the transparency would avoid a sudden unexpected escalation with Moscow. Instead, Biden ended up with an excruciating public debate with Kyiv about every new system, and arms shipment, during which every seemingly impossible demand – from HIMARS rockets, to tanks, to F-16 fighter jets, to strikes inside Russia by ATACMs – was eventually acceded to. The plain, open ladder of American escalation was laid bare to the Kremlin. Trump perhaps seeks to avoid that by saying less. But after barely six months in office, Trump finds himself back where Biden always was, after trying almost everything else – cosying up to then criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin, falling out and making up with Zelensky, and spurning before eventually backing Europe. But the timing of his latest conversion, however enduring, reveals the desperation of this moment in the conflict. The most recent, record Russian use of drones to attack Kyiv exposed possibly critical shortcomings in the capital’s air defenses. They would only have worsened without being resupplied, at a time when Ukraine has reported 160,000 Russian troops are massing to the north and east of the frontlines. The months ahead will be unpredictable and critical for Kyiv, even with renewed US military support.Trump’s reversal may have stopped panic edging towards the risk of collapse. Why the shift? Trump has always tried playing nice with Putin. Patient diplomacy, gentle words, and even last week’s brief pause in military aid – a Kremlin demand for a deal – still did nothing to change Putin’s position. The Kremlin does not want peace. And so Trump has learned slowly, rejecting the travails of recent history, that Russia is an opponent.Meanwhile, after six months of toying with the ideas of diplomacy, the Kremlin is back where it started too: willing to accept a peace only if it is surrender by another name. Its recent goal has been achieved: it has flattered the White House’s belief that it could talk out an end to the war, and taken enough time in talks that Russia’s summer offensive is now adequately manned, and the ground below these troops hard.
Russia Launches Record Drone Attack at Ukraine After Trump Calls Putin Out - Russia has launched its largest single-day drone attack of the Ukraine war to date, with President Donald Trump appearing to be losing patience with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. This involved 728 Shaheds, the Ukrainian Air Force said, adding that 13 missiles had also been fired, comprising seven Iskander-K cruise missiles and six Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles. It said 718 of the weapons were neutralized in the overnight attack that ended on Wednesday morning. "This is a telling attack—and it comes precisely at a time when so many efforts have been made to achieve peace, to establish a ceasefire, and yet only Russia continues to rebuff them all," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted to X. NATO's Poland scrambled fighter jets to protect its airspace amid the Russian assault on neighboring Ukraine. Russia's defense ministry said it had launched a strike "with high-precision long-range air-launched weapons, including Kinzhal hypersonic aeroballistic missiles and long-range attack unmanned aerial vehicles on the infrastructure of military airfields." "The target of the strike has been achieved. All designated objects have been hit," the ministry said in a post on Telegram. Trump Accuses Putin of 'B*******' The latest assault came after Trump accused Putin of throwing "a lot of b*******" at the U.S. "He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless," Trump said of Putin at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, July 8.Russia has been escalating its aerial attacks and making advances in eastern Ukraine, as Trump tries to broker an end to Moscow's war.A recent call with Putin left Trump "very disappointed.""I'm just saying, I don't think he's looking to stop, and that's too bad," Trump told reporters on July 3 following the call.Trump has since said he would send more Patriot missiles to Ukraine to help the country defend its skies after his administration scrapped a planned shipment when a Pentagon review raised concerns about the depletion of domestic stockpiles.
Putin Sends Message To US With Record 700+ Drones, Missiles On Ukraine Overnight -President Putin continues playing hardball and sending tough signals in the face of Trump administration criticisms, and after on Monday the White House confirmed it is reversing course on its recent pause on weapons to Ukraine, as it will instead send more. Russia overnight launched an unprecedented 728 Shahed drones as well as decoy drones, accompanied also by 13 cruise and ballistic missiles, Ukraine's air force announced Wednesday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described that the northwestern city of Lutsk, near the borders with Poland and Belarus, suffered the most intense attacks and damage, and ten other regions were also targeted. Lutsk hosts military airfields frequently used by Ukrainian cargo planes and fighter jets, and has long been a region crucial to military logistics and a hub for foreign military. Zelensky said that the Kremlin was "making a point" with this fresh attack, especially as it comes so closely on the heels of the Pentagon U-turn concerning weapons shipments to Kiev. "This is a telling attack — and it comes precisely at a time when so many efforts have been made to achieve peace, to establish a ceasefire, and yet only Russia continues to rebuff them all," he wrote on X. "Our partners know how to apply pressure in a way that will force Russia to think about ending the war, not launching new strikes," Zelensky added, and called for more Western anti-Moscow sanctions, particularly targeting its energy sector. Russia's Defense Ministry meanwhile later confirmed it launched "long-range" and "precision" strikes on Ukraine overnight Tuesday, seeking to take out military airfield infrastructure. The statement claimed that "all designated targets were destroyed." The bar on these massive drone swarm attacks keeps getting set higher, as earlier this month Russia sent a record over 500 UAVs. Never before has a single night's assault reached this level of over 700 drones and missiles. The Ukrainian president's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, pointed out on social media, "It is quite telling that Russia carried out this attack just as the United States publicly announced that it would supply us with weapons." The tempo of attacks is definitely and very noticeably increasing: Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russia has launched 28,743 Shahed/Geran drones at Ukraine - 2,736 of them in June of this year, according to President Zelensky. Our team took a brief look at the Shahed numbers and noted the following trends and figures: That's nearly 100 long range drones per day which target Kiev and other bigger cities. These are by the way no longer Iran made Shahed drones but a third generation development based on the original design. These drones are now bigger. They have new engines and fly faster and higher. Their load of explosives is now about 90 kilogram, double that of the original version. For each of these drones launched against Ukraine there is an additional decoy drone flying along. The decoys look similar but are not armed and much cheaper. They are to attract the air defenses while the real drones pass through. Recent targets have been Ukrainian refineries, industrial objects and, during the last days, recruiting offices of the Ukrainian military. These offices are in public buildings. Their addresses are naturally known as the whole mobilization process for additional soldiers is being run by them. The recruiters are hated by the population. Ukrainians are published the addresses of mobilization offices with requests to Russia to hit them. If true that would suggest unprecedented domestic anger directed at the Zelensky government and its notoriously harsh recruitment tactics, which have for years seen young men get nabbed on the streets and forced into vans by recruitment officers.
US is selling weapons to NATO allies to give to Ukraine, Trump says | The Hill (AP) — The United States is selling weapons to its NATO allies in Europe so they can provide them to Ukraine as it struggles to fend off a recent escalation in Russia’s drone and missile attacks, President Donald Trump and his chief diplomat said. “We’re sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying for those weapons, 100%,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News late Thursday. “So what we’re doing is, the weapons that are going out are going to NATO, and then NATO is going to be giving those weapons (to Ukraine), and NATO is paying for those weapons.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that some of the U.S.-made weapons that Ukraine is seeking are deployed with NATO allies in Europe. Those weapons could be transferred to Ukraine, with European countries buying replacements from the U.S., he said. “It’s a lot faster to move something, for example, from Germany to Ukraine than it is to order it from a (U.S.) factory and get it there,” Rubio told reporters during a visit to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Ukraine badly needs more U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems to stop Russian ballistic and cruise missiles. The Trump administration has gone back and forth about providing more vital military aid to Ukraine more than three years into Russia’s invasion. After a brief pause in some weapons shipments, Trump said he would keep sending defensive weapons to Ukraine. U.S. officials said this week that some were on their way.
GOP senators question Pete Hegseth's leadership after Ukraine weapons ‘goof-up’ --Republican senators say reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth froze weapons shipments to Ukraine without getting approval from President Trump raise serious questions about the level of coordination between the White House and Pentagon and warrants a closer review of the matter by Congress. GOP lawmakers say the weapons freeze may have been the result of “miscommunication” between Trump and Hegseth. A senior Senate Republican aide called it “a clear goof-up on a lot of levels.” Some GOP sources on Capitol Hill warn that if Hegseth or senior members of his team acted to deliberately circumvent the commander in chief, it would pose a serious problem that would need to be addressed. The latest in politics and policy. Direct to your inbox. Sign up for the Defense and National Security newsletter Enter Your Email Subscribe Senate Republicans are “alarmed” by reporting that Hegseth may have paused weapons shipments to Ukraine multiple times without their knowledge and they want details for who at the Pentagon was involved in freezing shipments. “That’s a problem,” said one GOP senator who requested anonymity. “To hear there may have been other pauses or this pause went on longer than any of us know, to me that’s alarming,” the lawmaker said.
US Resumes Shipping Artillery Shells and Precision Rockets to Ukraine After Brief Pause - The US military has begun delivering 155mm artillery shells and GMLRS missiles to Ukraine after briefly pausing the shipments, Reuters reported on Wednesday.The report said that the Pentagon had halted a shipment of 8,500 artillery shells, 250 GMLRS rockets (which can be fired from the HIMARS rocket systems), 142 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles, and 30 Patriot air defense interceptors after reviewing US military stockpiles.President Trump has claimed that he didn’t order a pause on aid to Ukraine and that he only wanted a review of US stockpiles. He reportedly told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week that at least 10 Patriot interceptors would be on the way, and he is also asking Germany to send a new Patriot battery.It’s unclear at this point if the US plans to resume the Hellfire missile shipment or if it will deliver all 30 Patriot interceptors. The US used a significant number of Patriot missiles to repel Iran’s attack on the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which came in response to the US bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities. The US reportedly has only 25% of the Patriot missile stocks that it needs for its own purposes.
US general calls for Europe to increase long-range missile stock -- As Russia intensifies its assault on Ukraine, NATO and European countries need to increase production of long-range weapons, U.S. Maj. Gen. John Rafferty told Reuters. “The Russian army is bigger today than it was when they started the war in Ukraine,” said Rafferty, who was interviewed in Germany. Long-range missiles can reach deep inside enemy territory. Russia has very effectively used these weapons in the war against Ukraine, striking critical infrastructure. The Kremlin has escalated its attacks in Ukraine in the past month. Negotiations for a peace deal seem bleak. President Trump has ramped up his criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin over his attacks in Ukraine, a reversal compared to the early days of his presidency. To counter Russia’s offensive, Trump struck a deal Friday with NATO to send Patriot batteries, part of an anti-missile defense system, to Ukraine. Out of 32 NATO members, only a fraction have long-range missiles, and many depend on the U.S. for their procurement. On Thursday, the U.S. agreed to send long-range missiles to Germany in 2026, in a clear warning to Russia. Since 2024, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the U.K. and Sweden have been participating in the European Long-Range Strike Approach to try to build new long-range strike capabilities within their respective armies, Reuters reported. Europe has made several moves in recent months to increase defense spending and weapons production. The European Union signed a $162 billion deal to invest in the union’s rearmament. At last month’s NATO summit, all 32 alliance members committed to investing 5 percent of their gross domestic product on NATO spending by 2035, a big win for the Trump administration. “And we know that they’re [Russia] going to continue to invest in long-range rockets and missiles and sophisticated air defenses. So more alliance capability is really, really important,” Rafferty said.
Ex-CIA Boss John Brennan, Ex-FBI Boss James Comey Under Criminal Investigation -Fox News Digital reported Tuesday that former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey are both under investigation by the Justice Department for their roles in the politicized and fruitless Russiagate investigation, as well as for making false statements to Congress. “CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred evidence of wrongdoing by Brennan to FBI Director Kash Patel for potential prosecution,” Fox News reported, citing anonymous DOJ sources. “A criminal investigation into Brennan was opened and is underway. DOJ sources declined to provide further details. It is unclear, at this point, if the investigation spans beyond his alleged false statements to Congress,” Fox News added. “As for Comey, DOJ sources told Fox News Digital that an investigation into the former director is underway, but could not share details of what specifically is being probed.” Under Brennan, the U.S. intelligence community issued a Russiagate report that included the infamous Steele Dossier, which contained false allegations against Trump. The Steele Dossier was found to have been financed by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Brennan was also one of the 51 intelligence officials to falsely assess that the Hunter Biden laptop scandal was disinformation—an assessment that helped tip the 2020 election towards Joe Biden. Comey, for his part, headed the bureau when Russiagate was launched, and he’s thought to have tried to blackmail Trump with the investigation in the early days of his first presidency. Trump fired Comey and replaced him with Christopher Wray.
Trump Brags About Threatening To Bomb Moscow and Beijing in Recording From 2024 - CNN has released audio of President Trump speaking to a private group of donors in 2024 and bragging that he threatened to “bomb the Sh*t” out of Moscow and Beijing in conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping if they invaded Ukraine or Taiwan. “With Putin I said, ‘If you go into Ukraine, I’m going to bomb the sh*t out of Moscow. I’m telling you I have no choice,’” Trump said in the recording. “And then [Putin] goes, like, ‘I don’t believe you.’ But he believed me 10%.”Trump also said he made the same threat to Xi if China invaded Taiwan. “I said if you go into Taiwan, I’m going to bomb the sh*t out of Beijing. He thought I was crazy … and he didn’t believe me either, he said 10%. And 10% is all you need, in fact 5% is all you need, and we never had a problem,” Trump said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to the report, saying he couldn’t confirm if the recording was authentic. “Whether this is fake or not, we don’t know either. There are a lot of fakes now. Often there are many more fakes than truthful information. And we always proceed from this when analyzing this or that news,” he said. CNN released a series of recordings that were obtained during 2024 fundraisers in Florida and New York, including one where Trump pledged to deport foreign students involved in protests critical of Israel, something his administration has been attempting to do but has faced legal challenges since the students are being targeted for their speech. CNN said the recording was obtained by journalists Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, and Isaac Arnsdorf and was detailed in their new book about the 2024 presidential race titled “2024.” The Trump campaign declined to comment on the contents of the recordings.
Iran issues nuclear update after US bombing --Iran's nuclear facilities were "severely damaged" in military strikes launched by the United States last month, the country's president has said. President Masoud Pezeshkian told conservative commentator Tucker Carlson that the U.S. strikes on Iran were "illegal," and that the nation had never intended to develop a nuclear bomb. President Donald Trump announced on June 21 that the U.S. had conducted successful airstrikes against three key Iranian nuclear facilities—Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. Pezeshkian added that Iran was ready to resume talks on verifying its nuclear program after it suspended its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) following the Israeli and U.S. strikes. He also said that Israel had attempted to assassinate him. Newsweek has contacted the White House and the Israeli government for comment. Pezeshkian's interview offers the clearest snapshot yet into Tehran's thinking following last month's military strikes on Iranian nuclear sites which Trump says were destroyed, following Israel's Operation Rising Lion. It also raises the possibility that Iran could cooperate with the IAEA although the president's comments that Tehran never wanted to develop a nuclear bomb are likely to be widely dismissed. Carlson has regularly criticized U.S. foreign policy, and particularly the idea of attacking Iran. Carlson even became embroiled in a high-profile dispute with GOP Senator Ted Cruz prior to the U.S. attacking Iranian sites, during which he accused Cruz of not knowing "anything" about Iran. In a wide-ranging interview released Monday, Pezeshkian reiterated that Iran had never sought to develop a nuclear bomb. Pezeshkian said Israel's attacks had "torpedoed" negotiations Tehran was undertaking with the U.S. but added that Iran was ready to have its nuclear program supervised. However, U.S. attacks had damaged many pieces of equipment and facilities "therefore we don't have any access to them." He also said Israel tried to assassinate him by bombarding an area in which he was holding a meeting "but they failed." Trump has already said he blocked Israel from trying to assassinate Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran Denies Trump Claim of New Nuclear Talks - Iran hasn’t asked for nuclear negotiations with the United States to resume, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Tuesday, disputing U.S. President Donald Trump’s remarks that a new round of talks is scheduled to be held soon. During a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday, President Trump said “We have scheduled Iran talks, and they ... want to talk. They took a big drubbing.”The U.S. President also said he would like to be able to lift the sanctions on Iran, at the right time. “I would love to be able to, at the right time, take those sanctions off,” President Trump said.Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Middle East envoy, said a meeting would take place in the next week or so.Iran, however, denies there is a meeting in the works.“No request for a meeting has been made to the American side from our side,” Iranian media quotedBaghaei as saying on Tuesday.Indirect U.S.-Iran talks on the Iranian nuclear program were held a few weeks ago, before being abruptly abandoned during the 12-day Israel-Iran war. Israel attacked Iranian nuclear sites and killed military leaders in coordinated strikes on June 13. Iran retaliated with missiles launched at Israeli cities, and the oil market added about a $10 per barrel war premium in the middle of June amid fears that the escalating hostilities could lead to disruption of oil and gas supply from the Middle East.The escalation ended after the U.S. bombed three of Iran’s nuclear sites – Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan – and warned the Islamic Republic that retaliation against U.S. troops in the region or any other retaliation would be the worst mistake it will make. (and Iran struck back at the biggest US base in the region in Qatar)Days after the strike, President Trump announced a ceasefire, which calmed the energy commodity markets and brought prices back down to pre-conflict levels. The market didn’t see any disruption to supply, but investors and speculators remain wary of the heightened geopolitics-driven volatility.
Iran Throws Cold Water on Idea of Resuming Talks With the US This Week --After media reports said the US and Iran were expected to resume negotiations this week, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei threw cold water on the idea, citing public opinion within Iran.“Public opinion is currently so angry that no one even dares to talk about negotiations and diplomacy,” Baghaei told Iranian media on Saturday, according to The Cradle. Baghaei’s comments came two days after Axios reported that US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is planning to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Oslo the week to restart nuclear negotiations.Amwaj.media also reported that Washington and Tehran were set to restart talks, but it hasn’t been confirmed by either side.Iranian officials have not ruled out diplomacy with the US but say they need a guarantee that Iran wouldn’t be attacked again during the next negotiations. Israel launched the 12-day war against Iran with full US backing on June 13, two days before US and Iranian officials were set to hold another round of nuclear talks.Iranian officials have also vowed that Tehran will restart its nuclear enrichment program despite threats from President Trump that he would bomb the country again if it did so. The president told reporters on Friday that he believed the US airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities set the sites back “permanently,” but he acknowledged Iran could resume its enrichment program at another location.“I would think they’d have to start at a different location. And if they did start, it would be a problem,” Trump said.Also on Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that its employees in Iran had left the country after Tehran took steps to suspend cooperation with the nuclear watchdog over what Iranian officials saw as its role in providing justification for the US-Israeli war.Neither the IAEA nor the US had evidence that Iran was seeking a bomb before the war, but the IAEA’s Board of Governors passed a resolution on June 12, the day before the bombing campaign began, that alleged Tehran was not living up to its commitments to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The claim was mainly based on alleged nuclear activity from over 20 years ago, which posed no risk of proliferation.
Iran's President Says the US Pledged Israel Wouldn't Attack During Previous Nuclear Negotiations - Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told Tucker Carlson in an interview released on Monday that the US said it wouldn’t give permission to Israel to launch an attack on Iran during recent negotiations.“We were told during the process of these negotiations and talks that as long as we (the US) don’t give permission to Israel, they’re not going to attack you, and we were going to have the next round of talks very soon, but suddenly, in the middle of it, Israel torpedoed the negotiating table,” Pezeshkian told Carlson through an interpreter.Israel launched its war on Iran with airstrikes on June 13, two days before the US and Iran were set to hold another round of negotiations. Pezeshkian’s comments align with recent reporting that said the US and Israel engaged in a deception campaign ahead of the attack to keep Tehran off guard.Just hours before Israel’s initial strikes on Iran, President Trump claimed in a post on Truth Social that he was still committed to a diplomatic solution with Iran. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, the first Israeli warplanes were already in the air when Trump made the post.The Journal report said that key to the deception was the idea “implanted in the minds of the Iranians that Israel wouldn’t strike without US authorization and participation” and that “as long as the US wasn’t mobilizing its forces and was engaged in negotiations, Israel could threaten to attack and even mobilize its troops in plain sight of Iran without giving away the element of surprise.”Pezeshkian said that Iran was willing to restart negotiations with the US, but it needed assurances that an attack wouldn’t occur during the next round of talks. “I’m of the belief that we could very much, easily resolve the differences and conflicts with the United States through dialogue and talks,” the Iranian leader said. “There’s a condition for restarting the talks: how are we going to trust the United States again?”
Iran's Foreign Minister Says US Must Rebuild Trust for Negotiations to Resume - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has reaffirmed Tehran’s positionon future negotiations with the US, saying his country is open to diplomacy but that the US needs to rebuild trust since it backed Israel’s attacks on Iran during previous talks. Writing in the Financial Times, Aragchi touted the progress made in his engagement with the Trump administration in contrast to the previous US administration.“In only five meetings over nine weeks, US special envoy Steve Witkoff and I achieved more than I did in four years of nuclear negotiations with the failed Biden administration. We were on the cusp of a historic breakthrough,” the Iranian diplomat wrote.Araghchi said there were “several ideas for a win-win solution” put forward by the US, Iran, and mediator Oman, on the issue of the future of Iran’s nuclear enrichment program and relief from US sanctions. “Things were looking up, with a flurry of messages exchanged. But only 48 hours before a pivotal sixth meeting, Israel launched an unprovoked assault on my country,” he wrote.Witkoff said on Monday that he expected negotiations with Iran to resume within a week, but Araghchi signaled Tehran still hasn’t agreed. “Although Iran has in recent days received messages indicating that the US may be ready to return to negotiations, how can we trust further engagement?” Araghchi said.“Iran signed a comprehensive nuclear deal with six countries in 2015, including the US, which Washington unilaterally abrogated three years later. And after agreeing to new negotiations in good faith, we have seen our good will reciprocated with an attack by two nuclear-armed militaries,” he added.Iranian media also reported on Tuesday that Iran was “studying” the US proposal for a resumption of negotiations. Araghchi said that the talks must be built on “mutual respect” and cannot be conducted under the “shadow of war.” President Trump has said he will bomb Iran again if it restarts its nuclear enrichment program.
Report: Israel Seeks Assurance From US That It Could Restart Attacks on Gaza If It Agrees To 60-Day Ceasefire Deal - Israel wants assurances from the US that if it agrees to a 60-day Gaza ceasefire deal, it could restart its genocidal war if it deems that its conditions are not met in negotiations with Hamas, Middle East Eyereported on Friday, citing Israeli media.Under the potential deal, the two sides would conduct negotiations during the 60-day truce on reaching a permanent ceasefire. According to an Israeli source speaking to Israel’s Channel 14, the current proposal includes a secret side letter from President Trump that would give Israel the green light to “renew the fire if our demands with regards to the disarmament of Hamas and the exile of its leaders are not met,” and Israel would be able to decide on whether or not to restart strikes on Gaza.A ceasefire deal reached between Israel and Hezbollah in November 2024 also included a secret side letter from the US to Israel that said Israel could continue to bomb Lebanon if it determined Hezbollah was violating the deal. As a result, Israel has constantly violated the ceasefire with airstrikes, ground raids, and its continued occupation of areas of southern Lebanon. The Middle East Eye report noted that the Channel 14 report cited a “member of the political echelon,” a phrase that’s often used to signal deliberate leaks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. If it was a deliberate leak, that means its purpose could be to sabotage ceasefire negotiations, as Hamas’s main demand is for a stronger guarantee from the US that it’s committed to the deal turning into a permanent ceasefire. Hamas offered several amendments to the US and Israeli proposal for a 60-day ceasefire, including a stronger guarantee from the US, clearer language on the Israeli withdrawal from certain parts of Gaza, and the unrestricted flow of aid led by the UN and the Palestinian Red Crescent. Netanyahu has already called the Hamas amendments “unacceptable,” but also agreed to send negotiators to Doha for indirect talks. According to Palestinian sources speaking to Reuters, the first round of talks ended “inconclusively.” During previous negotiations, Netanyahu frequently made public demands that were unacceptable to Hamas to scuttle the chances of a deal. An analysis published by Haaretz on Sunday suggested that the Israeli leader istrying to undermine the current negotiations, and that an agreement will likely only be reached if President Trump forces his hand.
Trump Hosts Netanyahu at the White House To Discuss Iran, Potential Gaza Deal - President Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday, marking the Israeli leader’s third visit to Washington within six months. The private talks between the two leaders were expected to focus on the 12-day US-Israeli war against Iran and the potential Gaza ceasefire deal. Ahead of the meeting, Axios reported that Israeli officials believed Trump would greenlight more Israeli attacks on Iran under certain circumstances, including if Iran attempts to restart its civilian nuclear program or tries to remove enriched uranium from the nuclear sites that the US bombed. Speaking to reporters ahead of dinner with Netanyahu, Trump said that he wants a deal with Iran. Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said that he expects talks with Iran to resume within a week, although Iranian officials are saying they need a guarantee that Israel won’t attack again during the next round of negotiations. Witkoff also said that there was an opportunity for a Gaza ceasefire deal, but it remains unclear if Trump is willing to put pressure on Netanyahu to achieve that goal. Drop Site News reported on Monday that there was “zero” progress at indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas in Doha as the two sides are awaiting the result of the Trump-Netanyahu meeting. In the meantime, Israel’s genocidal war continues with massive Palestinian casualties being inflicted each day. Trump and Netanyahu were also asked about their previous calls for the “relocation” of Palestinians from Gaza. Netanyahu claimed he wanted only for the Palestinians in Gaza to have the “free choice” to leave if they desire. Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have framed their desire for ethnic cleansing as “voluntary,” but the Israeli military campaign has been making Gaza uninhabitable. Both Netanyahu and Trump suggested that Arab countries in the region may be willing to take in Palestinians. “We’ve had great cooperation from surrounding … countries, great cooperation from every single one of them. So, something good will happen,” Trump said.
US To Spend $1.5 Billion Building New Air Bases and Facilities for the Israeli Military - The US is poised to spend over $1 billion on building new air bases and various other types of military facilities, Haaretz reported on Tuesday, citing documents and presentations from the US Army Corps of Engineers.The construction projects include building a facility to accommodate Israel’s new KC-46 refueling aircraft, a facility for CH-53 helicopters, new headquarters for the Israeli army’s Shayetet 13 naval commando unit, ammunition storage, and other projects.Ongoing US construction projects inside Israel are valued at about $250 million, and the total for all of the projects being planned is $1.5 billion. All of the construction will be funded by US military aid.Israel receives $3.8 billion in military aid each year, but has received significantly more since October 7, 2023. According to Brown University’s Costs of War Project, from October 2023 to October 2024, the US approved at least $17.9 billion in new military aid for Israel to support the genocidal war in Gaza and other Israeli wars in the region.In that same Year, Costs of War found that the US spent at least $4.8 billion on military operations supporting Israel in the Middle East, including the bombing campaign against the Houthis in Yemen. This year, the Trump administration also waged a war against the Houthis and fought a 12-day war with Israel against Iran, which cost about $1.25 billion in THAAD interceptors alone.
Trump Holds Second Meeting With Netanyahu at the White House - President Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House for a second day on Tuesday, holding a 90-minute meeting in the Oval Office. The two leaders were also joined by Vice President JD Vance.According to media reports, the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the potential for a Gaza ceasefire deal. Haaretz reported that following the Trump-Netanyahu meeting, US envoy Steve Witkoff will now travel to Qatar for ceasefire negotiations, but his office said the trip hasn’t been finalized.The negotiations in Doha are focusing on the potential of a 60-day ceasefire, during which the two sides are supposed to negotiate a long-term deal. Hamas is looking for a stronger guarantee from the US that it is committed to turning the temporary truce into a permanent one.There are conflicting reports on the progress in the ceasefire negotiations. Some have said the issues over aid deliveries have been resolved and that the main impasse is now over Israel’s demand to maintain control of the “Morag Corridor,” a strip of land between the southern Gaza cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, while other reports say there has been no progress at all.A Palestinian official told the Saudi Asharq News outlet that negotiations are “at a standstill” because the Israeli negotiating team is “limiting itself to listening rather than negotiating” and consulting on “every issue” with officials back in Israel. The official charged that the lack of authority for the negotiating team was “a continuation of the stalling policy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to obstruct any potential agreement.”Drop Site News reporter Jeremy Scahill said in a post on X that a Hamas official told him that claims from US officials that there was progress are part of a “deception game,” likely so the US and Israel can blame Hamas for the lack of a deal. The official also mentioned Israel’s demands about the Morag Corridor and its plans to build a camp to concentrate Gaza’s civilian population on the ruins of Rafah, which Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Monday.“This is a fluid situation and developments can happen at any moment as the talks continue and with Netanyahu in DC,” Scahill said. “The bottom line will be what Trump wants and all parties know this.”While Trump says he wants a deal, it remains unclear if he’s willing to put enough pressure on Netanyahu to reach one. US military aid is required for Israel to sustain its military operations and continue its genocidal war on the Palestinians of Gaza, meaning Trump has significant leverage.
Hegseth Hosts Netanyahu at the Pentagon, Says It Was an 'Honor' To Be Part of the War Against Iran - Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Pentagon on Wednesday and said that it was “an honor” to be a part of the war against Iran with Israel.Before holding a private meeting, Hegseth and Netanyahu spoke to each other in front of reporters for a few minutes and praised US and Israeli forces for conducting the 12-Day War. The US supported Israel’s initial attacks by refueling Israeli warplanes and intercepting Iranian missiles fired at Israel in counterattacks, and then carried out its own airstrikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities.The skill, and the bravery, and the courage of US forces involved in that operation, including in the defense of Israel, whether it was in the Mediterranean, or with THAAD batteries or others, was incredible,” Hegseth said. “It was an honor to be a part of it.”Hegseth referenced President Trump’s threats to bomb Iran throughout his negotiations with the country and the 60-day deadline that he set for a deal. “After 60 days of negotiation, President Trump was very clear, after 60 days he gave them every opportunity, and then Operation Rising Lion took place,” he said. Israel attacked Iran on June 13, two days before the US and Iran were scheduled to hold another round of talks. The US and Israel used the cover of negotiations to keep Tehran off guard before the initial Israeli airstrikes.Netanyahu told Hegseth that Israel was grateful for the support and that the war was like “the roar of two lions,” referring to the US and Israel. Hegseth praised the “capabilities” of the Israeli military and said what Israeli forces accomplished was “absolutely incredible.”While Israel was able to take out senior Iranian military leaders and launched heavy airstrikes on the country, which killed over 1,000 people, Iranian missiles also did significant damage in Israel, the extent of which is unclear since Israel’s military is attempting to censor what exactly was hit. Iran was also able to hit Israel until the last moments of the war.“Israel got hit really hard. Those ballistic missiles, boy, they took out a lot of buildings,” President Trump said at the NATO summit last month.
Israel Receives D-9 Bulldozers From the US That Will be Used To Demolish Palestinian Homes - A US shipment of Caterpillar D9 bulldozers arrived in the Israeli port of Haifa on Wednesday as Israel is conducting a record number of demolitions of Palestinian homes and structures in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza.According to Israeli media, the shipment of bulldozers was reportedly paused by the Biden administration last year due to their widespread use in destroying Gaza.“The shipment of D9 bulldozers is part of a broad-scale arming and military equipment effort worth billions of shekels, which the US government released and the Defense Ministry procured and transported to Israel,” Amir Baram, the head of Israel’s Defense Ministry, said.“We must continue to strengthen our military buildup to support all of the IDF’s needs in the current campaign and in preparation for the next decade,” Baram added.The destruction of homes in Gaza is a key part of Israel’s campaign. A recent report from Haaretz that revealed IDF troops are being ordered to fire on unarmed Palestinians near aid sites also revealed that private contractors are being paid $1,500 for each house they destroy in the Strip.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told a Knesset committee in May that the IDF was ramping up its demolitions of homes in Gaza so Palestinians had nowhere to return. “We are destroying more and more homes, and Gazans have nowhere to return to. The only inevitable outcome will be the wish of Gazans to emigrate outside of the Gaza Strip,” he said.Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have made clear that their goal is the destruction and ethnic cleansing of Gaza, and they’re now openly working on a plan to build a concentration camp on the ruins of the southern city of Rafah for the entire civilian population.In the West Bank, Israel has increased demolitions across the Palestinian territory, including in the northern refugee camps of Jenin, Nur Shams, and Tulkarem, where 40,000 people have been displaced since January.
Rep. Greene Wants To Remove $500 Million in Military Aid for 'Nuclear-Armed Israel' From NDAA - -Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has said she will be introducing an amendment to remove $500 million in military aid for “nuclear-armed Israel” from the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), marking a rare acknowledgement of Israel’s nuclear weapons from a member of Congress.The US has a policy of ambiguity toward Israel’s nuclear weapons program and does not acknowledge its existence or pressure Israel to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). It’s estimated that Israel has somewhere between 90 and 300 nuclear weapons.“I’m entering amendments to strike $500 million more for nuclear-armed Israel. And it’s important to say nuclear-armed Israel, because they do have nuclear weapons,” Greene told Steve Bannon on his “War Room” podcast.“And we already give them $3.4 billion every single year in the state, from the State Department. $3.4 billion every single year. They don’t need another $500 million in our defense budget. That’s for the American people’s defense,” Greene added.The US provides Israel with $3.8 billion in military aid each year under amemorandum of understanding signed between Israel and the Obama administration. Of that amount, $3.3 billion is provided through the State Department’s Foreign Military Financing program, and $500 billion goes toward missile defense through the Pentagon.The US has also provided billions of dollars in additional military aid after October 7, 2023. According to Israeli media, the US has financed roughly70% of Israel’s war-related military spending since then.Greene went on to stress the importance of acknowledging Israel’s nuclear weapons. “And Israel, you can—nuclear-armed Israel, I think it’s really important to phrase it that way. Nuclear-armed Israel doesn’t need $500 million more from the American people. Our government just bombed Iran on their behalf and destroyed their nuclear,” she said.
US Contractor Who Worked for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation Saw Colleagues Fire on Hungry Palestinians --An American security contractor who previously worked at aid distribution sites inside Gaza run by the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has told the BBC that he witnessed his co-workers fire live ammunition at unarmed, hungry Palestinians who posed no threat.In one incident, the contractor said a guard had opened fire from a watchtower with a machine gun because a group of women, children, and elderly people were moving too slowly away from the site. A second guard opened fire, and a Palestinian man appeared to have been hit.“A Palestinian man dropped to the ground motionless. And then the other contractor who was standing there was like, ‘damn, I think you got one’. And then they laughed about it,” the former contractor, who spoke to the BBC on the condition of anonymity, said.The former contractor said the teams operating at the distribution sites were told by a team leader: “If you feel threatened, shoot – shoot to kill and ask questions later.” He said the culture in the company is that there are “no rules” in Gaza, and the crowds of hungry Palestinians are referred to as “zombie hordes,” insinuating that they have no value.“If a Palestinian is walking away from the site and not demonstrating any hostile intent, and we’re shooting warning shots at them regardless, we are wrong, we are criminally negligent,” the contractor said.He said Palestinians were also harmed by pepper spray and stun grenades used on the crowds, and in one instance, he saw a woman get hit in the head by a stun grenade. “This metal piece hit her directly in the head and she dropped to the ground, not moving,” he said. “I don’t know if she was dead. I know for a fact she was unconscious and completely limp.”The Associated Press had a similar report that cited two GHF contractors who also said they saw colleagues use live fire, stun grenades, and pepper spray against the starving Palestinians. In response to the BBC report, the GHF said the allegations were false and claimed no civilians ever came under fire at its distribution sites.The GHF also claimed the former contractor was “disgruntled” after being fired for misconduct, but the BBC said its source showed evidence that he left the job on good terms. The former contractor noted that each aid site has CCTV monitoring, and GHF’s claim that no one there had been hurt or shot at was “an absolute bare-faced lie.”
Israel Urges the US To Start Bombing Yemen Again - According to Israeli media, Israel is urging the US to start bombing Yemen again following two Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea this week, operations the Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, have said will stop if there’s a ceasefire in Gaza.Citing Israel’s Kan public broadcaster, The Times of Israel reported that Israel told the US that the Houthi attacks “can no longer remain solely an Israeli problem,” and called for “more intense combined attacks against Houthi regime targets — not just [Israeli] air force fighter jet strikes, but also a renewal of American attacks and the formation of a coalition including additional countries.”An Israeli official said that a “broad coalition is needed to convey to the Houthi regime that it is in danger.” Israel has launched several rounds of airstrikes since the US stopped bombing Yemen, but it has failed to stop Yemeni attacks.The report came after the US State Department hinted that US airstrikes on Yemen could resume after the Houthi attacks on two Greek-owned ships, which killed at least four crewmembers from one of the ships. “The United States has been clear: we will continue to take necessary action to protect freedom of navigation and commercial shipping from Houthi terrorist attacks, which must be condemned by all members of the international community,” said State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce. President Trump launched airstrikes against Yemen from March 15 to May 6, which involved over 1,000 missile strikes and killed over 250 civilians. The brutal bombing campaign was launched in response to the Houthis announcing they were reimposing a blockade on Israeli shipping in response to Israel violating the Gaza ceasefire by imposing a total blockade on the Palestinian territory.Throughout the US bombing campaign, the Houthis were able to fire missiles and drones at US warships and launch missiles at Israeli territory. Multiple US MQ-9 Reaper drones were shot down, and the US lost two F/A-18 fighter jets that fell off aircraft carriers during Houthi attacks. While Trump framed his ceasefire with the Houthis as a victory, he essentially gave up on trying to stop the Houthi attacks on Israel.
US Hints It Could Restart Bombing Campaign in Yemen After Houthi Attacks on Commercial Ships - The US State Department suggested in a statement on Tuesday that the US could restart its bombing campaign in Yemen after the Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, attacked two commercial ships in the Red Sea, operations the Houthis say will stop if there’s an end to Israel’s genocidal war and siege on Gaza.“These attacks demonstrate the ongoing threat that Iran-backed Houthi rebels pose to freedom of navigation and to regional economic and maritime security,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.“The United States has been clear: we will continue to take necessary action to protect freedom of navigation and commercial shipping from Houthi terrorist attacks, which must be condemned by all members of the international community,” she added.On Wednesday, the Houthis took credit for the Monday attack on the Eternity C, a Greek-owned cargo ship, which reportedly killed four crewmembers. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said that the ship was en route to the Israeli port of Eilat.“The attack was carried out with an unmanned boat and six cruise and ballistic missiles,” Saree said. “The operation resulted in the complete sinking of the ship, and the operation was documented with audio and video.”According to The Guardian, seven crewmembers of the Eternity C have been rescued, four were confirmed killed, and 14 are missing. Saree said Yemeni forces “rescued a number of the ship’s crew,” suggesting the crewmembers who are missing could be in Yemen.The Houthis previously released photos and videos of the sinking of the Magic Seas, another Greek-owned ship that was targeted on Sunday. The attack on the Magic Seas marked the first time the Houthis targeted a commercial ship this year. The group halted its attacks after a ceasefire was reached in Gaza in January of this year. But after Israel violated the deal by imposing a total blockade on the Palestinian territory in March, the Houthis announced Yemen was re-imposing its blockade on Israeli-linked shipping in the Red Sea.It was in response to that announcement that the Trump administration began a major bombing campaign in Yemen on March 15, which lasted until May 6. Throughout the heavy US missile strikes on Yemen, the Houthis were able to fire missiles and drones at US warships and at Israeli territory. The bombing campaign was especially brutal and killed more than 250 civilians.President Trump framed his ceasefire with the Houthis as a victory, but the US essentially gave up on trying to stop Yemeni attacks on Israel. The Houthis agreed not to target US naval or commercial vessels, meaning the attacks on Greek-owned cargo ships don’t violate the deal. The Houthis have maintained that all of their attacks will stop if there is a ceasefire in Gaza.
US Revokes Terror Designation for HTS, the Al-Qaeda Offshoot That Took Over Syria -Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Monday that the Trump administration is revoking the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designation for Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the al-Qaeda offshoot that took power in Damascus in December 2024.HTS started as the al-Nusra Front, which was the official al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria until the group’s leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who is now Syria’s de facto president, rebranded. In 2016, Sharaa, who was known at the time as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, announced he was disassociating from al-Qaeda, and thanked the “commanders of al-Qaeda for having understood the need to break ties.”Sharaa renamed his group HTS in 2017 and ruled Syria’s northwestern Idlib province until he led the offensive that ousted former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at the end of last year. The US has embraced the new Syrian leader despite his al-Qaeda past, which included fighting against US troops in Iraq.“In line with President Trump’s May 13 promise to deliver sanctions relief to Syria, I am announcing my intent to revoke the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designation of al-Nusrah Front, also known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), under the Immigration and Nationality Act. This revocation will be effective tomorrow, July 8,” Rubio said in a statement on Monday.The revocation comes about a week after President Trump signed an executive order lifting most sanctions on Syria. Rubio said the decisions come after the Syrian government’s “commitment to combat terrorism in all its forms.”But since HTS took power, there have been significant massacres of thousands of Alawite civilians and other minorities, which, according to a recent report from Reuters, trace back to the government. A recent suicide bombing at an Orthodox Christian church in Damascus also has an HTS link, as the group that took credit is led by a former member of HTS.
US Envoy Faults Kurds as Syria Integration Slows - Back in March, the Kurdish SDF agreed on integration into the Syrian Army. The deal was mostly “in principle” with the details to be worked out in later talks. The process seems to have slowed on a number of different points, and the US isn’t happy.The SDF retains effective control of northeast Syria, and most of the effort of late has been in fighting against a resurgent ISIS in that area. Though talks are continuing with the HTS a lot of specifics have yet to be worked out.SDF leader Mazloum Abdi met with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader Ahmed al-Sharaa today in Damascus, and US envoy Tom Barrack was present as well, pushing the Kurds to make a final deal and advance the process quickly.“I think SDF has been slow in accepting and negotiating and moving towards that, and my advice to them is to speed that,” Barrack declared,adding that federalism “doesn’t work” and the Kurds’ only choice is to integrate with the HTS government.“What we’ve learned is federalism doesn’t work. You can’t have independent non-nation states within a nation,” Barrack insisted, warning that the Kurds “are running out of time” to accept a deal with the government. He also cheered the HTS for their “generosity” in aligning with the Kurds at all.President Trump met Sharaa in May, praising the former al-Qaeda figure as an “attractive, tough guy.” Since then officials have been enthusiastically pro-HTS, and now it seems their patience with their traditional allies in the SDF is wearing thin, since they’re struggling to work out details of the integration with the HTS.Most of the pressure to disarm and/or destroy the SDF was coming from Turkey in the first place, though since the Kurdish PKK has announced it is disbanding and ending the guerrilla war against Turkey, the government’s priorities are less concentrated on undermining Kurdish autonomy abroad.
Imperial Hypocrisy About "Terrorism" Hits Its Most Absurd Point Yet -Caitlin Johnstone- The US has removed Syria’s Al Qaeda franchise from its list of designated terrorist organizations just days after the UK added nonviolent activist group Palestine Action to its own list of banned terrorist groups.The western empire will surely find ways to be even more hypocritical and ridiculous about its “terrorism” designations in the future, but at this point it’s hard to imagine how it will manage to do so.Antiwar’s Dave DeCamp writes the following:“Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Monday that the Trump administration is revoking the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designation for Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the al-Qaeda offshoot that took power in Damascus in December 2024.“HTS started as the al-Nusra Front, which was the official al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria until the group’s leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who is now Syria’s de facto president, rebranded. In 2016, Sharaa, who was known at the time as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, announced he was disassociating from al-Qaeda, and thanked the ‘commanders of al-Qaeda for having understood the need to break ties.’“Sharaa renamed his group HTS in 2017 and ruled Syria’s northwestern Idlib province until he led the offensive that ousted former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at the end of last year. The US has embraced the new Syrian leader despite his al-Qaeda past, which included fighting against US troops in Iraq.” This move comes as Sharaa holds friendly meetings with US and UK officials and holds normalization talks with Israel, showing that all one has to do to cease being a “terrorist” in the eyes of the empire is to start aligning with the empire’s interests. So that was on Monday. The Saturday prior, the group Palestine Action was added to the UK’s list of proscribed terrorist groups under the Terrorism Act of 2000, making involvement with the group as aggressively punishable as involvement with ISIS. The “terrorism” in question? Spraying red paint on two British war planes in protest against the UK’s support for the Gaza holocaust. A minor act of vandalism gets placed in the same category as mass murdering civilians with a car bomb when the vandalism is directed at the imperial war machine in opposition to the empire’s genocidal atrocities.Even expressions of support for Palestine Action are now illegal under British law, leading to numerous arrests over the weekend as activists expressed solidarity with the organization. Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, who is British, has been formally reported to UK counterterrorism police by UK Lawyers for Israel following the musician’s public statement saying “I support Palestine Action. It’s a great organisation. They are non-violent. They are absolutely not terrorist in any way.” So let’s recap. Nonviolent protest against a genocide that’s being backed by the western empire: Terrorism. Banned. Nobody’s allowed to support this. Being actual, literal Al Qaeda but aligning with the interests of the western empire: Not terrorism. Okie dokie. This is fine.These hypocrisies and contradictions of the empire are worth drawing attention to because they clearly show that the empire does not stand where it claims to stand. For decades we’ve been told that western military explosives are falling from the sky in the middle east and Africa because there are terrorists there who need to be stopped, but it turns out “terrorism” is just a meaningless label that means whatever the empire needs it to mean at a given time and place.Iran’s IRGC is labeled a terrorist group because the Iranian military is not aligned with the US empire. Israel’s IDF is not labeled a terrorist group despite its constant use of violence upon civilian populations in order to advance political goals. Palestine Action is labeled a terrorist group because it opposes the empire’s genocidal atrocities. Al Qaeda in Syria is no longer a terrorist group because it’s making nice with Israel and doing what the empire wants.“Terrorist” just means “anyone who inconveniences the empire in any way.” It really is that simple.
Rubio Announces US Sanctions Against UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese Over Israel Criticism - Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Wednesday that the US was imposing sanctions on Francesca Albanese, a UN special rapporteur who is very critical of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and its genocidal war in Gaza.The sanctions come after Albanese issued a report titled “From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide” that called out dozens of private companies, including several US tech firms, that she says are involved in supporting Israel’s violence against Palestinians.“Today I am imposing sanctions on UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese for her illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt [International Criminal Court] action against U.S. and Israeli officials, companies, and executives,” Rubio wrote on X.“Albanese’s campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel will no longer be tolerated. We will always stand by our partners in their right to self-defense,” he added.The US has previously called for the UN to end Albanese’s mandate as the special rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories.“The United States once again expressed its grave concerns to UN Secretary-General António Guterres about the continued activities of Francesca Albanese … and again called upon the Secretary-General to condemn her activities and call for her removal,” the US mission to the UNsaid in a statement on July 1.The US mission accused Albanese of “virulent antisemitism” for her criticism of Israel. The Biden administration also smeared Albanese as an antisemite after she authored a report accusing Israel of genocide.
The Empire Is A Nonstop Insult To Our Intelligence - Caitlin Johnstone -The US has imposed sanctions on UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese for using her position to oppose the most thoroughly documented genocide in history. At the same time, the US has removed Syria’s Al Qaeda franchise HTS from its list of designated terrorist organizations, because its leader successfully carried out the regime change in Damascus that the western empire had been chasing for years. At the same time, the UK has added nonviolent anti-genocide activism group Palestine Action to its list of banned terrorist organizations for opposing the Gaza holocaust.At the same time, the Israeli prime minister who is carrying out that holocausthas nominated the American president who is helping him perpetrate genocidal atrocities for a Nobel Peace Prize.At the same time, Israel has continued its ban on foreign journalists entering Gaza, while also arresting the Israeli journalist who helped expose the IDF officials who cooked up fake atrocity propaganda about burnt babies on October 7.At the same time, the Trump administration has enraged its MAGA base byconcluding that Jeffrey Epstein had no client list for any kind of sexual blackmail operation and definitely committed suicide.The western empire is one nonstop insult to our intelligence. The peace advocates are terrorists, the genocide architects deserve peace prizes, the journalists are dangerous, and Epstein was just a wealthy socialite who made a few mistakes.They do everything they can to make us stupid via propaganda, Silicon Valley information control, and indoctrination schooling systems, and then they treat us like we’re morons for the rest of our lives.The empire depends on ignorance. The more stupid, racist, gullible, and easily distracted we become, the nastier agendas the empire can roll out. Now here we are watching a live-streamed genocide unfold right in front of our eyes for nearly two years while being tube fed a daily diet of the most ridiculous lies imaginable. As Aaron Bushnell said, this is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.
Genocide Summer Camp, And Other Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix – Caitlin Johnstone - It really is nuts how a young person can fly to Israel and go play genocide games in Gaza for a while and then just fly back to their own country and expect to be treated like a normal member of society like it’s some kind of genocide summer camp. The narrative about an “antisemitism crisis” in our society has two main components:
- 1. Redefining “antisemitism” to mean “criticism of Israel”, and
- 2. Pretending not to see a connection between rising incidents of “antisemitism” as it’s been redefined and Israel perpetrating an active genocide.
“Antisemitism” means criticism of Israel. That’s just what it means now. It used to mean something else, but years of bad faith actors using that word in the most dishonest ways imaginable to defend the most horrific things you’ve ever seen has changed the definition.It is no longer possible to separate that word from this sustained campaign of mass deception. You can only have governments, institutions and individuals use a word differently for so long with such a high degree of uniformity before the definition changes.Word definitions change over time depending on how people use them. Nice used to mean stupid. Explode used to mean applaud. The word meat used to refer to any kind of food, not just animal flesh. The meanings changed because enough people started using them to refer to something else, in exactly the same way we’ve seen occur with the word antisemitism.That’s locked in. It has already happened. Everyone knows that antisemitism refers to criticism of Israel and its actions and antisemite refers to someone who does so. Everyone understands this regardless of whether they support Israel or oppose it. That is the definition now.If you want a word for someone who thinks Hitler was correct or uses triple brackets and posts big nose memes online, you’re going to have to make up a new word, because antisemite is taken. You can’t even really use “Jew hater” either, because that meaning is being polluted in the exact same way antisemite has been. You have to make up an entirely new word, and use it consistently.Israel’s spinmeisters will deny this publicly, even though they know it’s true. They’ll say it’s possible to criticize Israel without being an antisemite, but if you ask them to name someone who regularly and forcefully criticizes Israel’s genocidal atrocities in Gaza whom they don’t consider antisemitic, they won’t be able to. Every single person who criticizes Israel with appropriate consistency and force is branded an antisemite (or perhaps “self-hating” if they happen to be Jewish), without a single, solitary exception.These aren’t my rules, they’re the rules of the Israel apologists. I’m just pointing out the obvious fact that those rules have been set.
US Envoy: Disarm Hezbollah or Israel, Syria Will Conquer Lebanon - In comments in an interview with The National, US Ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack warned that Lebanon faces an “existential” crisis if they don’t give in to US demands to fully disarm Hezbollah and all other armed factions by November.“You have Israel on one side, you have Iran on the other, and now you have Syria manifesting itself,” Barrack insisted, adding that if Lebanon doesn’t give in to the demands both Israel and Syria are liable to just carve up the area as Bilad al-Sham, or Greater Syria.“If Lebanon doesn’t hurry up and get in line, everyone around them will,” Barrack cautioned. The US recently issued demands or Lebanon to disarm everyone, though last week Lebanon responded after Hezbollah made it clear they would not disarm simply because of US demands.While Barrack presented himself as “unbelievably satisfied” at the time, which was less than a week ago, his current comments suggest he is anything but, and rejecting the US demands seem to have escalated into full-scale threats to wipe Lebanon off the map by way of US allies.
US Launches Airstrike in Somalia's Puntland Region - US Africa Command announced on Monday that its forces launched an airstrike in northeast Somalia’s Puntland region as the Trump administration continues to bomb the country at a record pace.As usual, AFRICOM offered no details on the strike, saying only that it targeted the ISIS affiliate in Puntland and that it was launched to the southeast of the port city of Bosasso. Since April, the command has stoppedsharing estimates on casualties or assessments of potential civilian harm.AFRICOM also said the strike was launched in “coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia,” although the US-backed government, which is based in Mogadishu, does not control Puntland, as the state withdrew from the federal system last year after Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud made changes to the constitution that Puntland’s government didn’t support.The US has been backing local Puntland forces who have been fighting against ISIS. Garowe Online, a media outlet based in Puntland, reported on Saturday that local forces claimed to have killed several senior ISIS leaders in its ongoing offensive in the Cal Miskaad mountains in Puntland’s Bari region, the same area where the US has been launching airstrikes.The US has also been supporting the Federal Government in its fight against al-Shabaab, which has been on the offensive in southern and central Somalia. Garowe Online reported on Monday that al-Shabaab hadcaptured a key town in Somalia’s central Hiraan region after launching a multi-pronged assault against US-backed forces, which included a suicide car bombing.Al-Shabaab claimed to have killed 40 government soldiers in the assault. So far, the Federal Government hasn’t issued an official statement on the assault, while Somali state media reported that the al-Shabaab attack was repelled.
Donald Trump announces 25 percent tariffs coming for Japan, South Korea -- President Trump announced Monday his administration would impose a 25 percent tariff on imports from South Korea and Japan beginning Aug. 1 as part of a batch of letters going out to foreign countries. Trump detailed the expected tariff rates in letters to the leaders of Japan and South Korea, also posting them to Truth Social. The president had previously indicated he would send letters to roughly a dozen countries Monday. “Please understand this 25% number is far less than what is needed to eliminate the Trade Deficit disparity we have with your Country,” Trump wrote to both countries. The president warned that if either nation raised its tariffs in response, the U.S. would increase its tariffs by the same amount. “As you are aware, there will be no Tariff if Korea, or companies within your Country, decide to build or manufacture product within the United States and, in fact, we will do everything possible to get approvals quickly, professionally, and routinely – in other words, in a matter of weeks,” Trump wrote to South Korea’s president. He conveyed the same message to Japan’s prime minister. Under the “Liberation Day” tariffs announced on April 2, South Korea was hit with a 25-percent tariff and Japan hit with a 24-percent tariff, so Monday’s announcement amounts to an extension of the negotiation deadline, which was initially set for Wednesday. The president also sent similar letters to the governments of Malaysia, Kazakhstan and South Africa, imposing 30 percent tariffs on their goods, and another to Myanmar laying out a 40 percent tariff. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday the president would send letters to a total of 12 nations by the end of the day, with more to come throughout the week. Trump is also scheduled to sign an executive order to delay his Liberation Day tariffs to Aug. 1. Administration officials have been touting tariffs and the new protectionist U.S. trade posture as delivering results in the negotiating room, but the extended deadline and increased rate of punitive tariffs indicates that things may not be proceeding as smoothly as hoped. “The administration’s delay announcement should come as no surprise,” Scott Lincicome, vice president of general economics at the Cato Institute, wrote in a commentary on Monday. “We’ve known since April that quickly inking, no less implementing, complicated trade agreements with dozens of foreign governments was impossible.”
Trump not '100 percent' firm on new tariff deadline -- President Trump on Monday indicated there may be some wiggle room for nations to negotiate on trade despite his fresh threat of additional tariffs going into effect on Aug. 1 Trump spoke to reporters hours after he issued letters to roughly a dozen countries informing them that they would face tariff rates of 25 percent or higher beginning Aug. 1. That deadline was delayed from July 9. “Is the Aug. 1 deadline firm now? Is that it?” a reporter asked Trump during a dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. “No, I would say firm, but not 100 percent firm,” Trump replied. “If they call up and they say ‘we’d like to do something a different way,’ we’re going to be open to that. But essentially that’s the way it is right now.” Trump earlier Monday announced his administration would impose a 25 percent tariff on Japan and South Korea, two of the United States’s largest trading partners. He also announced tariff rates that will go into effect next month on goods from Indonesia (32 percent), Bangladesh (35 percent), South Africa (30 percent), Malaysia (25 percent) and a handful of other countries. The White House has indicated Trump will announce additional letters in the days to come. The timing and severity of tariffs on other nations have been shifting targets since Trump took office, after vowing on the campaign trail to aggressively impose duties on imports. He has reportedly threatened tariffs on other nations, only to back off or delay their imposition.
US offers EU 10 percent tariff deal — with caveats - The United States has offered an agreement to the European Union that would keep a 10 percent baseline tariff on all EU goods, with some exceptions for sensitive sectors such as aircraft and spirits, an EU diplomat and a national official told POLITICO.The Trump administration had said Sunday that it would push back a deadline for the return of its sweeping tariffs to Aug. 1. Tariffs would then revert to their April 2 rates for countries that fail to nail down new U.S. trade deals.Trump began on Monday to issue letters to countries stating their tariff rates, starting with South Korea and Japan, which will both face a 25 percent tariff from Aug. 1.EU trade chief Maroš Šefčovič has been in contact with the U.S. administration following a call Sunday between President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.Copper Prices Skyrocket 17% After Trump Announces 50% Tariff --Copper futures soared as much as 17% on Tuesday, their largest intraday gain in at least three decades, after former President Donald Trump announced a 50% import tariff on the industrial metal. Speaking at a Cabinet meeting, Trump confirmed plans to impose new duties on copper, part of a broader tariff push targeting metals, semiconductors, and pharmaceuticals.“We’re going to make it 50%,” Trump said when asked about the copper rate. The announcement immediately jolted markets, highlighting how sensitive the global copper supply chain is to U.S. trade policy.Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick later told CNBC that the Commerce Department had completed its Section 232 investigation into copper, and that the new tariff could be implemented as soon as late July or August 1. “We’ve studied the market, the president now has the ability to set the tariff,” Lutnick said.The proposed tariff threatens to reshape a vital industrial supply chain at a time when global copper demand is expected to surge, driven by the clean energy transition. The U.S. consumed around 1.6 million tons of refined copper in 2024, relying on imports for 36% of its total needs. Chile remains the top supplier, followed by Canada and Mexico.The U.S. produced roughly 850,000 tons of primary copper last year, but domestic production alone isn’t enough to meet demand for electric vehicles, grid expansion, and renewable infrastructure. Trump’s copper move mirrors his first-term actions on steel and aluminum, which shook global trade. Copper, until now, had been spared.In the same meeting, Trump hinted at a potential 200% tariff on foreign-made pharmaceuticals, though with a grace period of up to 18 months for companies to relocate production to the U.S. Still, it was copper that sent shockwaves through markets. With the U.S. gearing up for an electrified future and global demand intensifying, a 50% copper tariff could have massive consequences — not just for prices, but for the energy transition itself.
Trump Says BRICS Members Will Get Additional 10% Tariffs Over De-Dollarization Attempt --President Donald Trump on Tuesday reiterated a previous warning to BRICS nations that he would be imposing an additional 10 percent tariff on them, saying the bloc was created to replace the U.S. dollar as the dominant currency for international trade. Speaking to journalists during a meeting with Cabinet officials at the White House, Trump said: “If they’re a member of BRICS, they’re going to have to pay 10 percent tariff just for that one thing. And they won’t be a member long.” The president said that while he doesn’t see the bloc as “a serious threat,” it was set up to “destroy the dollar so that another country can take over and be the standard.” “And we’re not going to lose the standard,” he said. The comments came after some in the 11-member group denied comments by the U.S. president that the bloc supports “anti-American” policies. BRICS, which was set up in 2009, initially included Brazil, Russia, India, and China before absorbing South Africa the next year and further expanding in 2024 to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The group also involves partner countries Bolivia, Nigeria, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Uganda. According to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who hosted the bloc’s 17th annual leaders summit this week, BRICS nations now represent more than half the world’s population and 40 percent of its economic output. BRICS leaders have said they want payment alternatives to reduce dependency on U.S. dollars and the SWIFT system—a cross-border payment messaging mechanism that has been used to enforce U.S. and EU sanctions against Russian and Iranian entities. In November 2024, Trump said he would hit BRICS members with 100 percent tariffs if they attempted to create an alternative trading currency to the U.S. dollar, a warning he repeated in January.Writing on social media platform Truth Social on Monday, the U.S. president said, “Any Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff.”The BRICS leaders’ Sunday statement condemned military actions on Gaza and Iran by Israel, a U.S. ally, and called for reforms to global institutions, saying that the rise in “unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures” threatened global trade.Reacting to Trump’s tariff warning on Monday, Lula said, “We don’t want an emperor.”The Brazilian president said BRICS wants “another way of organizing the world from the economic perspective.” He reiterated his call for trade relations that “don’t have to pass through the dollar.”
Trump’s 50% tariff on Brazilian goods like coffee and orange juice could drive up US breakfast costs -(AP) — President Donald Trump’s threat to boost import taxes by 50% on Brazilian goods could drive up the cost of breakfast in the United States. The prices of coffee and orange juice — two staples of the American morning diet — could be severely impacted if there’s no agreement by Aug. 1. Brazilian beef and regional airliners are also among the products that could be affected by Trump’s decision announced Wednesday, which Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva promised on Thursday to reciprocate. Trump’s move this time is overtly political, targeting the Brazilian Supreme Court trial of former president Jair Bolsonaro, an ally of his who was charged for his alleged role in trying to overturn his 2022 election loss. The court’s prosecution of U.S.-based social media companies failing to comply with local laws was also mentioned by Trump in a public letter as a reason to hike Brazil’s trade tariffs. The U.S. Census Bureau said the country had a $6.8 billion trade surplus with Brazil last year. Brazilian exporters, bodies that represent them and politicians — many of whom are friendly with Bolsonaro — have poured criticism on Trump and urged Lula to negotiate, with coffee, beef and orange juice associations rallying to the nation’s defense. “These new tariffs produce direct effects and hit Brazil’s agribusiness, impacting the exchange rate, in the rise of the cost of imported inputs and in the competitiveness of Brazilian exports,” Brazil’s agribusiness caucus in Congress said in a statement Thursday. Lula said in interviews after Trump’s move that the U.S. had a trade surplus with the South American nation of more than $410 billion over the past 15 years, with orange juice and coffee among the few goods made in Brazil that American consumers get in huge numbers.
Trump announces 35% tariffs on Canada starting Aug. 1, warns of higher levies if Ottawa retaliates --U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday raised tariffs on Canadian imports to 35%, effective Aug. 1, complaining that Ottawa had retaliated with duties against Washington."Instead of working with the United States, Canada retaliated with its own Tariffs," Trump said to Mark Carney, prime minister of Canada, in a letter posted on Truth Social.He attributed fentanyl as a reason for that rate in the letter: "If Canada works with me to stop the flow of Fentanyl, we will, perhaps, consider an adjustment to this letter."A total of 43 pounds of the drug was seized at the northern border during 2024 with an additional 58 pounds having been confiscated there so far this year, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.Responding to Trump's announcement, Carney said in a post on X that "Canada has made vital progress to stop the scourge of fentanyl in North America. We are committed to continuing to work with the United States to save lives and protect communities in both our countries.""The Canadian government has steadfastly defended our workers and businesses. We will continue to do so as we work towards the revised deadline of August 1."The 35% tariffs will be separate from all sectoral tariffs, Trump said, warning that the duty might be increased, if Canada retaliated. Canada is subject to Trump's 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, 25% tariffs on autos, and faces a 50% levy on copper shipments starting Aug. 1.Other imports from Canada into the U.S. currently attract a25% levy that Trump imposed earlier this year over the country's alleged role in the flow of fentanyl, with exemptions for those in compliance with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Energy imports from Canada are subject to a lower 10% levy. "If for any reason you decide to raise your Tariffs, then, whatever the number you choose to raise them by, will be added onto the 35% that we charge," Trump said Thursday. "Goods transshipped to evade this higher tariff will be subject to that higher tariff."Trump indicated that the tariff rates in future will depend on how Washington's relationship with Ottawa pans out, while mentioning that his country faced challenges from Canada that went beyond fentanyl."[Canada] has many Tariff, and Non-Tariff, Policies and Trade Barriers, which cause unsustainable Trade Deficits against the United States ... The Trade Deficit is a major threat to our Economy and, indeed, our National Security!"Thursday's letter came after the two countries agreed to resume the trade talks on June 29 and to work on hammering out a deal by July 21, according to a statement from the Department of Finance Canada.Trump had threatened to end all trade discussions with Canada, one of its largest trading partners, over Ottawa's "digital services tax" on American firms. Canada withdrew that tax in order to restart trade talks with Washington.In response to Trump's duties, Ottawa had also imposed 25% tariffs on non-USMCA complaint vehicles from the U.S. and a list of American exports including steel, aluminum, computers, apparels and food earlier this year. The countermeasures, Canada said in March, would stay "until the U.S. eliminates its tariffs against Canadian steel and aluminum products."U.S. total goods trade with Canada was $761.8 billion in 2024, with Washington's deficit standing at $62 billion last year, according to U.S. Census data. In the first five months this year, the U.S. deficit in goods trade with Canada rose 9.8% year on year to $25.6 billion.Separately, Trump told NBC news Thursday that he intends to impose blanket tariffs of 15% or 20% on most trade partners, up from the current 10%.
Trump Blows Up Major Trade Talks with Deranged Letter -- TACO Trump has unleashed another wild tariff swing, threatening huge new penalties for Canada in an unhinged letter peppered with random capital letters and catty insults.The message to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was part of the administration’s fresh blitz to secure trade deals after postponing the original July 9 deadline to reinstate tariffs that were first announced in April.The on-again, off-again tariff threats have earned Trump an infamous nickname among Wall Street brokers: TACO, or Trump Always Chickens Out.“It is a Great Honor for me to send you this letter in that it demonstrates the strength and commitment of our Trading Relationship,” Trump began, foreshadowing a string of bizarre capitalization choices that would appear throughout the letter.He went on to threaten a 35 percent tariff on Canadian goods beginning Aug. 1 unless Canada decides to build or manufacture its products in the U.S.“The United States of America has agreed to continue working with Canada, despite Canada having financially retaliated against the United States,” the letter continues, referencing the 25 percent tariff on American goods that Canada imposed in March.Shortly after he returned to office, Trump announced that he would slap a 25 percent tariff on Canada and Mexico for supposedly contributing to the fentanyl crisis in the U.S., but quickly put the plan on ice after the stock market got spooked.In April, he unveiled a slew of tariffs on dozens of U.S. trading partners but paused their rollout until July 9 after his “Liberation Day” announcement sent the markets crashing.“As you will recall, the United States imposed Tariffs on Canada to deal with our Nation’s Fentanyl crisis, which is caused, in part, by Canada’s failure to stop the drugs from pouring into our Country,” Trump said in the Thursday letter. “Instead of working with the United States, Canada retaliated with its own Tariffs.”Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said over the weekend that Trump would be sending out letters to several countries warning them that the tariffs will be reinstated on Aug. 1 unless they close a trade deal soon.This time around, Trump warned Canada that “goods transshipped to evade this higher Tariff will be subject to that higher Tariff” and that, “if for any reason you decide to raise your Tariffs, then, whatever the number you choose to raise them by, will be added onto the 35% that we charge.” Trump also accused Canada of causing “unsustainable Trade Deficits against the United States,” which he branded a “major threat” to the U.S. economy.
Mark Carney Responds to Donald Trump's 35% Tariff Threat to Canada - Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney has responded to President Donald Trump's threats to impose a 35 percent tariff on Canada from August 1. Trump published a letter to Carney on Truth Social on Thursday, accusing Canada of having "financially retaliated against the United States." "As you will recall, the United States imposed tariffs on Canada to deal with our nation's fentanyl crisis, which is caused, in part, by Canada's failure to stop the drugs from pouring into our country. Instead of working with the United States, Canada retaliated with its own Tariffs," he said. In response, Carney vowed to defend Canadian economic interests and reaffirmed Canada's commitment to cooperative efforts with Washington, including curbing the fentanyl crisis. "We are committed to continuing to work with the United States to save lives and protect communities in both our countries," he said. The economic fallout from the proposed tariffs could be severe. Canada exports about three-quarters of its goods to the U.S., and key sectors such as automotive manufacturing and metals are particularly vulnerable to the levies. Trump's blanket 35 percent tariff is separate from existing U.S. duties on steel, aluminum, and automobiles, which already weigh heavily on Canadian industries. The proposed tariff escalation comes during an already fragile moment in U.S.-Canada relations. The two nations have been negotiating updates to their trade and security agreements following Trump's demands for stricter cross-border controls and trade rebalancing. Responding to Trump, Carney wrote on X: "Throughout the current trade negotiations with the United States, the Canadian government has steadfastly defended our workers and businesses. We will continue to do so as we work towards the revised deadline of August 1. "Canada has made vital progress to stop the scourge of fentanyl in North America." He added: "We are building Canada strong. The federal government, provinces and territories are making significant progress in building one Canadian economy. We are poised to build a series of major new projects in the national interest. We are strengthening our trading partnerships throughout the world."
Trump intensifies trade war with 30% tariffs on EU and Mexico (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to impose a 30% tariff on imports from Mexico and the European Union starting on August 1, after weeks of negotiations with the key U.S. allies and top trading partners failed to reach a comprehensive trade deal. In an escalation of Trump's trade war, the fresh tariffs were announced in separate letters to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum posted on Truth Social on Saturday. The European Union and Mexico are among the largest U.S. trading partners. Trump has sent similar letters to 23 other U.S. trading partners this week, including Canada, Japan and Brazil, setting blanket tariff rates ranging from 20% up to 50%, as well as a 50% tariff on copper. The August 1 deadline gives countries targeted by Trump's letters time to negotiate a trade deal that could lower the threatened tariff levels. The EU had hoped to reach a comprehensive trade agreement with the U.S. for the 27-country bloc. Three EU officials told Reuters on Saturday that Trump's threats represent a negotiating tactic. Trump's letter to the EU included a demand that Europe drop its own tariffs, an apparent condition of any future deal. "The European Union will allow complete, open Market Access to the United States, with no Tariff being charged to us, in an attempt to reduce the large Trade Deficit," Trump wrote. EU President von der Leyen said the 30% tariffs “would disrupt essential transatlantic supply chains, to the detriment of businesses, consumers and patients on both sides of the Atlantic.” She also said while the EU will continue to work towards a trade agreement, they “will take all necessary steps to safeguard EU interests, including the adoption of proportionate countermeasures if required.” Canada got a higher tariff rate of 35% compared to Mexico, with both letters citing fentanyl flows, even though government data shows the amount of the drug seized at the Mexican border was significantly higher than the Canadian border. "Mexico has been helping me secure the border, BUT, what Mexico has done, is not enough. Mexico still has not stopped the Cartels who are trying to turn all of North America into a Narco-Trafficking Playground," Trump wrote. Mexico sends more than 80% of its total exported goods to the U.S. and free trade with its northern neighbor drove Mexico to overtake China as the U.S.'s top trading partner in 2023. The European Union had been bracing for the letter from Trump outlining his planned duties on the United States' largest trade and investment partner after a broadening of his tariff war in recent days. The EU initially hoped to strike a comprehensive trade agreement, including zero-for-zero tariffs on industrial goods, but months of difficult talks have led to the realization it will probably have to settle for an interim agreement and hope something better can still be negotiated. The 27-country bloc is under conflicting pressures as powerhouse Germany urged a quick deal to safeguard its industry, while other EU members, such as France, have said EU negotiators should not cave into a one-sided deal on U.S. terms. Trump's cascade of tariff orders since returning to the White House has begun generating tens of billions of dollars a month in new revenue for the U.S. government. U.S. customs duties revenue shot past $100 billion in the federal fiscal year through to June, according to U.S. Treasury data on Friday. Spokespeople for Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Mexico's Economy Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
EU, Mexico open to trade negotiations after latest Trump tariffs announced -- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, in response to President Trump’s latest tariff announcement, say they are open to trade talks but won’t rule out taking countermeasures. Trump in his Saturday letters to von der Leyen and Sheinbaum announced a 30 percent tariff rate on goods imported into the U.S. beginning Aug. 1, after an initial 90-day pause and deadline delay lapses on the import taxes. “Imposing 30 percent tariffs on EU exports would disrupt essential transatlantic supply chains, to the detriment of businesses, consumers and patients on both sides of the Atlantic,” the European Union (EU) leader wrote in a statement. “Few economies in the world match the European Union’s level of openness and adherence to fair trading practices,” von der Leyen continued. “The EU has consistently prioritized a negotiated solution with the U.S., reflecting our commitment to dialogue, stability, and a constructive transatlantic partnership.” Still, the European leader said the commission is open to working toward an agreement before the latest deadline arrives. “We remain ready to continue working towards an agreement by August 1,” von der Leyen wrote. “At the same time, we will take all necessary steps to safeguard EU interests, including the adoption of proportionate countermeasures if required.” She added, “Meanwhile, we continue to deepen our global partnerships, firmly anchored in the principles of rules-based international trade.” Sheinbaum on Saturday said Mexican leaders met with the Trump administration on Thursday to discuss “issues of security, migration, border and water management.” “We mentioned at the meeting that this was an unfair deal and that we disagreed,” she wrote in a statement, according to translation. She added later, “In other words, Mexico is already in negotiations.” In April, Trump hit the EU with a 20 percent tariff. Following his “Liberation Day” announcement, von der Leyen said the commission was open to trade discussions. Later in the month, she lashed out at Trump, accusing him of leaning on an “unpredictable tariff policy.” The president has in the past claimed the EU has been unfair to the U.S. and argued that the bloc of nations was created to “screw” America.. Several of the union’s member states — including Germany, Italy, France and the Netherlands — are considered top trading partners. Mexico, which is the U.S.’s top trading partner, along with Canada earlier this year were slapped with 25 percent tariffs — with the exception of goods covered under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. Sheinbaum and Trump have also clashed in the past over the import taxes. In her statement Saturday, the Mexican leader said trade talks were focused on looking to protect companies and jobs “on both sides of the border.” Trump in recent days began sending letters to various countries with new tariff rates set to begin on Aug. 1. The duties on goods coming into the U.S. have hit top trade partners and poorer countries alike as he reorients the nation’s trade policy. So far, the leaders of 25 countries have received letters with updated “retaliatory” tariff rates ranging from 20 percent to 50 percent. While he originally said the August date was “not firm” for imposing the taxes, the president has since doubled down on the deadline — though the Trump administration has left open the door for more trade deals. Trump has so far announced just one official agreement with the United Kingdom as well as frameworks for deals with China and Vietnam.
Mayor Bass confronts federal agents in park amid immigration tensions - Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said Monday she confronted federal agents at a city park amid tensions between her city and the federal government over immigration. “When I got to MacArthur Park, by the way, and my purpose was one, to witness what was going on, but then when I got there, to do what I could to stop it,” Bass said during a press conference Monday. “And so I asked the person, an individual from the custom and border patrol, who was in charge. They put me on the phone with the individual. I said that this needed to end, what was the purpose in them being here, but it absolutely needed to end. He said that they would be leaving within minutes, and I believe a few minutes later they left,” she added. Video posted Monday by a local Fox reporter who said it was taken at the park appeared to show Bass interacting with a U.S Border Patrol agent.Earlier, Bass had featured a video in post on social platform X that she said was “from today in MacArthur Park.In the video, a group of what appears to be uniformed authorities on foot and horseback move across what seems to be a park. “Minutes before, there were more than 20 kids playing — then, the MILITARY comes through. The SECOND I heard about this, I went to the park to speak to the person in charge to tell them it needed to end NOW,” Bass said in her post. “Absolutely outrageous.”
LA mayor signs executive order supporting immigrants amid federal raids - Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) signed an executive order Friday affirming the city’s support for immigrants amid an enforcement crackdown by the Trump administration. “Under my new Executive Order, I am submitting a request under the Freedom of Information Act about when and where enforcement activities have taken place in LA, the identities of individuals and reason they were arrested or detained,” Bass wrote in a Friday post on social platform X. “We will also be requesting information exposing how much these raids cost taxpayers nationwide,” she added. The order directs departments to deliver preparedness plans for immigration enforcement within two weeks and establish a working group with local police, the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, immigrant rights organizations and community leaders to gather feedback and additional guidance on responses to federal authorities. “We are a proud city of immigrants, and with the Trump Administration signaling that they will ratchet up their chaotic approach, I’m making sure we deploy every resource and tool available within the City to ensure that we are supporting immigrant communities,” Bass said.
WATCH: ICE agents tase man at Albuquerque Walmart– Video circulating on social media this week showed what appeared to be U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detaining and tasing a man inside an Albuquerque Walmart. On Thursday, ICE confirmed the incident did happen, saying a man from Venezuela, who was in the country illegally, fled from agents into the crowded retail store. The video shared with Nexstar’s KRQE showed three people, two of whom had masks on and visible tactical vests, attempting to detain a man at the end of an aisle inside the Walmart store. One of the agents used a taser, and the man could be heard yelling and screaming before falling to the floor. ICE said the man they were after resisted arrest and “posed an immediate threat to the safety of agents, shoppers, and employees.” Agents deployed the taser while attempting to detain the man to “mitigate that threat and prevent further escalation,” ICE said in an email statement to KRQE, adding that “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and officers are trained to employ force judiciously and in accordance with agency policy and federal standards.” An ICE spokesperson said the Venezuelan man had recently been arrested by the Albuquerque Police Department for driving under the influence, resisting arrest, evading police and obstructing an officer. “Given this pattern of behavior this individual is considered a danger to the community. These decisions are never made lightly, but officer safety and the protection of the public remain top priorities,” ICE wrote in its statement.
Homan claims ICE officers ‘don’t need probable cause’ to ‘briefly detain’ people - President Trump’s border czar Tom Homan asserted Friday morning on Fox News that federal immigration agents do not need probable cause to detain people for a short period of time. “People need to understand, ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] officers and Border Patrol don’t need probable cause to walk up to somebody, briefly detain them, and question them,” he said on “Fox & Friends.” “They just go through the observations, get articulable facts, based on their location, their occupation, their physical appearance, their actions.” Homan was speaking in response to a question about an anticipated ruling from a federal judge in Los Angeles that could order the Trump administration to pause immigration raids. The American Civil Liberties Union argued in court that ICE agents were apprehending or questioning Los Angeles residents simply because they looked Latino. The group claimed the stops were not necessarily targeted to immigration because many of the people who were questioned were U.S. citizens. On Fox News, Homan insisted his agents did not need probable cause to briefly detain someone. “It’s not probable cause. It’s reasonable suspicion,” he said, citing the standard used for stop-and-frisk cases.
79 percent say immigration benefits US: Gallup– A large majority of U.S. adults in a survey say they believe immigration is good for the country while the number of those wanting to bar it has dropped 20 points in the last year. Results from the latest Gallup survey, released Friday, found that 79 percent of respondents said they think immigration is good for the nation, while 17 percent said the opposite. The record-high figure represents a 15 percentage point jump from last year, when it was about 64 percent. The percentage of those of who said they see immigration as a “bad thing” has also dropped by nearly half since 2024, when 32 percent argued it was detrimental to the U.S., the data shows. The increase in positive perception about immigration was, in part, due to a bump among GOP voters and, to a limited degree, independents, Gallup noted. The view among Democrats that it is beneficial has also increased slightly, now hovering around 91 percent. On the other side, about 30 percent of Americans still argued the U.S. should decrease how many migrants come into the U.S., the latest poll found. That, however, is a 25 point decrease from the 55 percent who held the same view in the 2024 survey. Up Next - WCMH: AI regulation bill Nearly 4 in 10 respondents, or 38 percent, said immigration should remain at current levels, while another 26 percent said that it should be increased. The desire to curb immigration, one of President Trump’s top priorities since returning to office, has dipped among voters in major parties, particularly among GOP voters, where it now sits at 48 percent — a 40 point decrease since last year, when it was at 88 percent. The view has also decreased 21 points among independents, going from 51 percent to 30 percent. Among Democratic Party voters, the sentiment declined by 12 points, now sitting at 16 percent, according to the survey.
Deadly Texas floods leave officials pointing fingers after warnings missed — Local, state and federal officials are all pointing fingers in the wake of the deadly Texas flooding, but one thing is certain: The warnings weren’t heard by the people who needed them. After the catastrophic Independence Day floods that killed at least 90 across central Texas, state and county officials told reporters that the storm had come without warning. But a wide array of meteorologists — and the Trump administration itself — has argued that those officials, as well as local residents, received a long train of advisories that a dangerous flood was gathering. The timeline of the floods on Friday, experts say, revealed a deadly gap in the “last mile” system that turns those forecasts into life-saving action. That issue is particularly pronounced in central Texas, where cellphones go off with National Weather Service (NWS) flash flood advisories practically every time there is a thunderstorm — and where limestone canyons split by countless creeks and punctuated by riverside campgrounds and vacation homes are particularly vulnerable to sudden floods. A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) timeline released over the weekend showed a drumbeat of steadily increasing warnings — something that is characteristic of flash floods, said John Sokich, former legislative director of the NWS staffers union.. Whether a specific neighborhood or camp floods can come down to “which creek basin the rainfall is going to fall, and 3 miles makes a complete difference,” Sokich said. So NWS forecasters, he said, put out regionwide warnings of potential flash floods, which they tighten as the danger develops. “And then when it gets really bad, they put out the ‘catastrophic flood levels,’ messages, which is what they did for the situation in Texas.” “The challenge there,” he added, “was people receiving the information.” Meteorologists’ warnings of potential flooding, which drew on NWS forecasts, began as early as Wednesday, when CBS Austin meteorologist Avery Tomasco warned that the dregs of Tropical Storm Barry had parked “all this tropical fuel” over central Texas.“I hesitate to show you this because it’s so outlandish,” Tomasco said, but the storm could produce “5 to 15 inches of rain somewhere in central Texas. Again, I think that’s pretty far-fetched, but you can’t rule out something crazy happening when you have this kind of tropical air in place.” By sunset the night before the floods, federal forecasters were warning that rainfall would “quickly overwhelm” the baked-dry soil. By 1:14 a.m. local time, the NWS released the first direct flash flood warnings for Kerr County, which officials told The Texas Tribune should have triggered direct warnings to those in harm’s way. Instead, beginning on the day of the flood, state and local officials insisted they had no idea the flood was coming. Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said leaders “had no reason to believe this was going to be anything like what has happened here, none whatsoever.” They were echoed the following day by Nim Kidd, the state’s top emergency management official, who told reporters that forecasts “did not predict the amount of rain that we saw.”
Texas floods shine spotlight on Trump’s weather and disaster cuts -The deadly Texas floods are drawing renewed scrutiny to Trump administration cuts at the nation’s weather and climate research agencies. A flash flood on Friday unleashed water from the Guadalupe River in Central Texas, killing at least 90 people as of Monday afternoon. The incident spurred questions about the preparedness of federal agencies such as the National Weather Service (NWS) and others like it as they face the administration’s crosshairs. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which houses NWS, lost hundreds of staffers to Trump administration cuts, and positions within the Weather Service were among them. The Austin/San Antonio Weather Service office’s warning coordination meteorologist, who organizes alerting the outside world about agency forecasts, took a Trump administration buyout in April. The office’s Science Operations Officer, who implements new technology and data, also retired around the same time. Rick Spinrad, who led the NOAA during the Biden administration, said that the office’s forecasters still did well, but that staffing-related issues could be causing communication problems. “I do think the cuts are contributing to the inability of emergency managers to respond,” Spinrad said. “The Weather Service did a really good job, actually, in getting watches and warnings and …wireless emergency alerts out,” he told The Hill on Monday. “It’s really a little early to give a specific analysis of where things might have broken down, but from what I’ve seen, it seems like the communications breakdown in the last mile is where most of the problem was.” He particularly pointed to the absence of a warning coordination meteorologist. “Information went out with significant lead time of several hours, and yet no action was taken,” Spinrad said. “When you send a message, there’s no guarantee that it’s received, so someone needs to follow up,” he said. “In the weather forecast offices, the one who follows up with that is the position called the warning coordination meteorologist. And guess what, there is no WCM in the San Antonio/Austin weather forecast office, because that’s one of the positions that was lost in the cuts from this administration.”
Ted Cruz says 'something went wrong' when camp wasn’t warned of flood - Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) said “something went wrong” when Camp Mystic staff wasn’t warned of rising floodwaters on the Guadalupe River, which killed at least 27 campers and counselors at the all-girls Christian summer camp in Kerr County. “The fact that you have girls asleep in their cabins when the flood waters are rising — something went wrong there. We’ve got to fix that and have a better system of warning to get kids out of harm’s way,” Cruz told Fox News in an interview. Cruz is the latest member of Congress to criticize the lack of adequate preparation for Friday’s flash flood in central Texas, which has killed at least 81 people. The Trump White House has defended the federal response to the storm. White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson said in a post on the social platform X that meteorologists say the National Weather Service (NWS) “did its job in Texas.” She noted Chris Vagasky of the American Meteorological Society said the NWS “was on the ball” and got the message out. Vagasky said the forecast office in San Antonio did a “fantastic job.” But Democrats, notably Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), are calling for a thorough investigation of whether vacancies at NWS field offices in San Antonio and San Angelo resulted in poor communication with local authorities in charge of issuing evacuation orders.
Democrats demand probes into deadly Texas floods - Congressional Democrats are calling for investigations and hearings into the federal government’s preparation and response in the wake of last week’s deadly floods in Texas. On Monday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer asked the Commerce Department’s internal watchdog to immediately open an investigation into reported staffing vacancies at two Texas-based National Weather Service forecast offices. In a letter to the acting inspector general, Duane Townsend, Schumer, a Democrat from New York, called the floods, which have killed more than 100 people, “a national tragedy which people across the country are mourning.” “The American people deserve answers,” he wrote.At the same time, a top House Democrat is calling for hearings on the flood disaster focused on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s capacity to respond to catastrophic weather events given President Donald Trump’s statements that he may dissolve the agency.“The Federal government must have the proper tools in place to prepare for and respond to disasters, and states must have access to these tools and the relevant data,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement.It’s unclear whether federal staffing levels played a role in the disaster. NWS forecasts were accurate and came well in advance of the disaster, though there are vacancies in several weather service offices in the state. Local officials have resorted to finger-pointing. Administration officials and Republicans have dismissed any concerns over staffing.Trump last month said he wanted to “wean off of FEMA,” shifting responsibility for disaster recovery to state agencies. Some experts have said continued direct federal engagement in post-disaster settings is essential to restoring individuals, families and communities to healthy lives.On Sunday, the president issued a disaster declaration for Kerr County, which saw the most devastating impacts from the storm. The declaration allows flood victims to apply for grants to cover temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help with disaster recovery, the White House said. In his statement Monday, Thompson said that as investigations begin, “this administration cannot pretend that disasters like this are happening in a vacuum. They cannot ignore the fact that natural disasters are becoming more severe and more frequent due to climate change.” He added: “The federal government — as well as state and local governments — all have a role to play. We must also determine if any budget cuts or staffing shortages at the federal level — of any kind — made matters worse,” he added. Schumer’s letter focuses on concerns that the National Weather Service, a NOAA agency overseen by the Commerce Department, was understaffed at two Texas forecast offices — San Angelo and Austin/San Antonio — prior to the flood event. jPOLITICO’s E&E News reported that the San Antonio field office had several vacancies — including the office’s warning coordination meteorologist, a senior staff position. Schumer asked Townsend, the inspector general, to investigate whether staffing issues contributed to “delays, gaps or diminished accuracy in forecasts related to the July 4 flooding.” Schumer also asked the IG to investigate the Trump administration’s deep NOAA staff cuts under its government downsizing program. “The roles unfulfilled are not marginal, they’re critical,” he wrote.Senate Democrat questions Noem on reported Texas flooding response delay - Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) called a reported Department of Homeland Security policy requiring Secretary Kristi Noem personally approve significant purchases “one of the stupidest decisions and policies I’ve ever heard of” as questions swirl about the federal response to deadly flash floods in Texas.“For an administration that tries to talk about red tape, they are adding red tape here. They are adding bureaucracy,” the New Jersey Democrat said during an MSNBC appearance Thursday. “This is a terrible idea to bottleneck.”Kim, who serves on the Senate Homeland Security Committee and serves as ranking Democrat on its disaster management subpanel, also took aim at the policy in a letter to Noem asking her department for its hurricane response plan for the 2025 season, which began in June.CNN and The Washington Post reported that the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) response to the deadly floods, which killed more than 120 people, was hamstrung by a Department of Homeland Security budget restriction that required Noem’s approval for any purchase, grant and contract of more than $100,000. The policy, which was previously reported by CNN in June, meant FEMA was slowed in positioning and deploying search and rescue teams as well as other resources. Those teams were reportedly not authorized until Monday, 72 hours after the flooding. Texas deployed its own disaster response to the floods, now among the deadliest weather events in state history.
Flood predictions could worsen when Trump’s cuts take hold - The White House is rejecting assertions from Democrats and former NOAA officials that its cuts to weather and disaster spending contributed to the Texas flooding that killed more than 100 people.But that stance sidesteps a looming reality: The vast majority of President Donald Trump’s rollbacks to the agencies’ funding, staffing and science have yet to land.Scientists and weather prediction experts warned that once he fulfills his agenda, areas around the country could face new risks as federal programs are degraded — from disaster warning systems and satellite observations to funding for flood projects and disaster aid. The Trump White House has proposed cutting $163 billion from the federal budget in the next fiscal year — making it the smallest in recent history.“Lives are going to be lost, property is going to be damaged,” said Rick Spinrad, who served as NOAA administrator under former President Joe Biden. On Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described Democrats who had pointed to Trump’s cuts at the National Weather Service in the aftermath of the floods as “depraved and despicable” and said the offices in the affected area were fully staffed. In fact, both offices had vacancies in key positions, according to NOAA’s own records. A spokesperson for the White House budget office rejected the idea that Trump’s policy ideas could affect the outcome of disasters. “It is sad that while recovery efforts are ongoing, people are opportunistically trying to score political points by faulting unrelated budget cuts like the Green New Scam,” said Rachel Cauley. It’s true that weather forecasts and warnings were accurate ahead of the disaster despite widespread cuts at the National Weather Service, which is part of NOAA. But weather predictions and forecast accuracy stand to change as Trump cements his agenda, according to a former top NOAA official and climate scientists. Hundreds of NWS officials have already lost their jobs, leaving vacancies in top meteorological roles that warn communities of looming weather extremes. The agency’s basic functionality is already suffering. Billions more in federal budget cuts to agencies involved in weather and climate prediction and planning is slated for elimination. That includes cutting entire divisions of atmospheric research at NOAA, half of NASA’s science division, labs that study extreme weather, weather-monitoring spacecraft now in orbit and thousands of additional scientists. The proposed Trump administration cuts are so steep to weather prediction and science that the forecast in Texas could be far more accurate than future predictions, Spinrad said. “If you have a problem with the quality of that forecast, then you want to have a real problem with eliminating the National Severe Storms Laboratory,” Spinrad said, referring to one of the NOAA labs — an extreme weather research facility that Trump has slated for elimination. “Our ability to improve the forecast, the understanding and the guidance with respect to responding to events like this is only going to degrade, not improve, and this is after decades and decades of improvement in all of these forecasts.” That includes tools for flood prediction and recovery — setting the country up for potentially worse outcomes when extreme rainfall strikes.
Marjorie Taylor Greene Announces Bill To Tackle 'Weather Modification' --Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has announced she is introducing a new bill which would tackle "weather modification."Writing on X, the Republican politician said she was creating legislation that would make "the injection, release, or dispersion of chemicals or substances into the atmosphere for the express purpose of altering weather, temperature, climate, or sunlight intensity" a felony.Some conspiracy theorists claim that the government or secretive organizations are using commercial or military aircraft to release chemicals or metals into the atmosphere, visible in so-called "chemtrails" —the white lines aircraft leave behind in the sky. People have claimed these are used for a range of things from weather modification to mind control.According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the white lines observed behind aircraft are contrails—condensation trails—that form when hot exhaust from jets meets cold air at high altitudes. The EPA states these are a natural result of flight and pose no risk.Federal agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), have publicly denied undertaking or planning any weather modification experiments such as those described by chemtrail conspiracy theorists.In 2024, after Hurricane Helene killed at least 227 people, Greene made several conspiratorial comments and seemed to suggest the then-Democrat controlled U.S. government could control the weather.In Florida, a new law makes unapproved cloud seeding and other similar activities a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison or significantly raised fines of up to $100,000. It came into effect on July 1.Writing on X, Greene said she had "been researching weather modification" and working on a bill, which she said would be similar to the one in Florida that was signed into law by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in June 2025."I am introducing a bill that prohibits the injection, release, or dispersion of chemicals or substances into the atmosphere for the express purpose of altering weather, temperature, climate, or sunlight intensity," she wrote. "It will be a felony offense."
Ted Cruz responds to 'weather modification' claims following Texas flooding - Sen. Ted Cruz dismissed talk about weather modification Monday, saying there is "zero evidence" to support claims that the government is manipulating the weather.The Texas Republican made the comments in response to a proposed bill by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, which aimed to ban atmospheric interventions—a move rooted in long-debunked "chemtrail" theories."The internet can be a strange place," Cruz said at a press conference this morning. "People can come up with all sorts of crazy theories."Senator Cruz spoke to reporters Monday morning, after devastating floods spread in his state, including at Camp Mystic where 27 campers and counselors died as the Guadelupe River rose 20 feet in less than two hours on July 4.He referenced the multiple natural disasters Texas faces on a yearly basis, from flooding, to hurricanes, to wildfires, and the heroism shown by community members and first responders each time, including over the weekend.When asked about cuts to the NWS and their potential impact on the disaster, Cruz said what was predictable was "some people engaging in partisan games" and seeking to blame the other party for whatever disaster has unfolded.When asked about the weather modification theory, Cruz dismissed the claims and brought the conversation back to the grieving families, repeating that political fights were not needed.
Map shows where cloud seeding takes place in Texas - Cloud seeding operations have covered about one-sixth of Texas, spanning approximately 31 million acres across the Northwest, West, and South regions of the state as of 2022, according to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR). Projects have included the West Texas Weather Modification Association, South Texas Weather Modification Association, Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District, Trans Pecos Weather Modification Association, and the Rolling Plains Water Enhancement Project, each targeting millions of acres.Weather modification has become entangled in political debate. Recent events—such as deadly flooding in Texas' Hill Country and subsequent political commentary—have once again brought the topic to the fore. Officials and experts have attested that weather modification efforts are incapable of controlling severe events like hurricanes or large-scale floods, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration having previously issued fact checks dispelling claims about secret government weather control. The Main Cloud Seeding Projects in Texas
- West Texas Weather Modification Association (WTWMA): This group covers about 6.4 million acres in west-central Texas, conducting both rain enhancement and hail suppression.
- South Texas Weather Modification Association (STWMA): Based in Pleasanton, this program targets about six million acres from the Edwards Plateau to the coastal bend region.
- Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District (PGWCD): This project aims to enhance rainfall and groundwater recharge over nearly 4.1 million acres in the eastern Texas Panhandle.
- Trans Pecos Weather Modification Association (TPWMA): Active since 2003, TPWMA seeds clouds across 5.1 million acres along and west of the Pecos River.
- Rolling Plains Water Enhancement Project: Initially covering 3.5 million acres, this initiative has added more counties over time to its coverage.
Weather modification, commonly referred to as cloud seeding, is an eco-friendly method used to increase precipitation—such as rain or snow—from clouds, according to the North American Weather Modification Council (NAWMC). The process involves dispersing tiny particles, or "seeds," into the clouds to stimulate the formation of extra water droplets or ice crystals, which speeds up precipitation and enhances the cloud's effectiveness. Cloud seeding is also employed to minimize hail damage and dissipate fog. "This well-established technology has been in use since the 1940s in dozens of countries around the world," it says. Bria DeCarlo, a meteorologist for the South Texas Weather Modification Association told the Houston Chronicle: "Weather modification is a long-term water management strategy that has been proven to be effective for the drought-stricken areas across the United States and Texas." On Saturday, Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said she was introducing a new bill which would target "weather modification." The bill would prohibit "the injection, release, or dispersion of chemicals or substances into the atmosphere for the express purpose of altering weather, temperature, climate, or sunlight intensity," she said on X. "No person, company, entity, or government should ever be allowed to modify our weather by any means possible!!" she wrote in a follow-up post.
Marjorie Taylor Greene pledges probe into geoengineering - On a day when the EPA administrator elevated concerns about weather modification as his agency downplayed those worries, an outspoken House Republican said she would hold a hearing on the issue. In a statement provided to POLITICO’s E&E News, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said she plans to use her perch as a subcommittee chair on the House Oversight and Government Reform panel to investigate geoengineering, a nascent field in which chemicals are dispersed in the air to lower temperatures.“Let’s be clear: Weather modification is no longer a ‘conspiracy theory.’ It’s real, it’s happening, and the American people deserve a voice,” said Greene, who in the past has peddled fringe theories.Such baseless assertions have been widespread in the aftermath of the deadly floods in Texas this past weekend, including that cloud seeding may have played a role in the disaster.
Militia fueled by bizarre conspiracy theory brings down weather radars -A militia known as the "Veterans on Patrol" aims to dismantle weather radars, and KWTV News 9 has discovered that it's part of a larger conspiracy theory surrounding weather manipulation.Amid false conspiracies about the floods in Texas being part of a kind of cloud seeding attack, organization founder Michael Lewis Arthur Meyer confirmed to News 9 that they were "absolutely" working to target Oklahoma radars.The comments come "days after an individual vandalized News 9’s weather radar," the report said. A sign they found posted near one Oklahoma weather radar claims that Doppler radars are being targeted "by victims of U.S. military weather experimentation." The militia calls it "Operation Leaning Tower." The Southern Poverty Law Center classified VoP as an “anti-government militia,” which also promotes "anti-immigrant ideas," as well as "anti-Indigenous, antisemitic, anti-Catholic and anti-Mormon falsehoods." "They can embed their technology and civilian infrastructure in every home and every household utilizing the phones and their network towers to not only control the weather, modify the weather, but they can [target] individuals,” Meyer, a Christian Nationalist, told News9. Last year, Meyer was part of an effort in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene for posing as an aid worker to encourage locals to tear down cell towers and attack the military."When the military plays God with the weather, they're mocking our Heavenly Father by calling one of his most favorite instruments a 'weather weapon,'" Meyer added.When asked whether VoP is responsible for bringing down the News 9 weather radar, Meyer responded, "Veterans On Patrol is responsible for a lot more than that."News 9’s Chief Meteorologist David Payne fact-checked the claims, explaining that weather radars have no weaponry.“We have one of the most powerful live radars in Oklahoma, and one of the most powerful live radars in the country, but we cannot do any weather modification at all,” he said. When those radars are damaged, “We cannot track severe weather. We cannot track tornadoes, and it basically becomes instantly obsolete," he added.
EPA puts 139 employees on leave who criticized administration - EPA has put more than 100 employees on administrative leave after they signed a letter criticizing the Trump administration, the agency said Thursday. The staffers on leave include 139 current EPA employees who signed an open letter to Administrator Lee Zeldin blasting the Trump administration’s regulatory rollbacks and its push to downsize the agency’s funding and staffing levels, EPA said Thursday. Those employees are on leave pending an investigation, the agency said, after they signed on to a letter using their official titles and EPA positions. “We have a ZERO tolerance policy for agency bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging, and undercutting the agenda of this administration as voted for by the great people of this country last November,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement.“Unfortunately, a small number of employees signed onto a public letter, written as agency employees, using their official work title, that was riddled with misinformation regarding agency business,” Zeldin said in the statement. “Our ZERO tolerance policy is in full force and effect and will be unapologetically implemented unconditionally.”Staffers began to receive notice Thursday that they were being put on 10 days of administrative leave pending an administrative investigation, said Nicole Cantello, president of a union local that represents EPA employees in the Chicago region.“It’s basically a demonstration of weakness, not strength,” said Cantello, who signed onto the letter.“They couldn’t control these people,” Cantello said of the agency leadership. “Instead of trying to engage them, they decided, ‘Oh, yeah, let’s discipline them or do an administrative investigation of what happened here,’ which is not appropriate, obviously, and completely a dereliction of their duties.”Marie Owens Powell, president of American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, EPA’s largest union, called EPA’s actions “disgraceful.” It’s an “obvious retaliation for individuals expressing their beliefs,” she said, adding that the union is investigating its legal recourse.On Monday, the open letter sent to Zeldin blasted the Trump administration for its treatment of EPA and its staff. The missive was organized by Stand Up for Science, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit group that has coordinated protests and worked with employees at the National Institutes of Health that have been critical of the Trump administration.As of Thursday afternoon, the EPA dissent letter had 620 signers, including 387 who signed anonymously because they fear retaliation from the administration. The signatories also include former EPA employees.
Bipartisan ‘abundance’ caucus sets sights on NEPA -Congress’ big push to streamline environmental reviews for new energy projects ended last December with an impasse and a senior senator storming out of a Capitol meeting room. Six months later, lawmakers have launched a bipartisan caucus they hope will bring fresh ideas and momentum to the stalled negotiations. The House’s new Build America Caucus is taking on permitting reform — one of Capitol Hill’s thorniest policy issues in recent years — and hoping to generate legislative proposals that could make it easier to build energy infrastructure, manufacturing plants, transit, housing and more. “We’re going to put the full force of our members to try and make sure that this gets done,” said Rep. Josh Harder, the California Democrat chairing the caucus. The group — 17 Democrats and 12 Republicans so far — includes just one lawmaker who was deeply involved in last year’s discussions around improving the electric grid and accelerating permit approvals. But one of the caucus’ strengths, members say, is the host of relative newcomers on both sides of the aisle who are eager to contribute to the effort after years of little progress. The caucus is coming together at an opportune moment. The group is poised to help fill a void left behind by the retirement of several key negotiators last year, and it comes as the federal regulatory landscape is undergoing a sweeping transformation at the hands of the Trump administration and the Supreme Court. Members say they want to be aggressive and ambitious in seeking out meaningful reforms. And in a notable shift from past attempts, multiple Democrats are eyeing the nation’s so-called bedrock environmental law as a potential target. “We’re seeing the administration talk about permitting reform. We’re seeing a lot of Democrats say that they are incredibly frustrated,” Harder said. “I think now is the time to make sure that something’s happening.” The idea is to create a sort of hub for lawmakers and outside groups to assess what has been standing in the way of progress and figure out how to combine popular elements of existing permitting proposals with new ideas, Harder said. The group hopes to be able to develop bipartisan language that could be attached to broader bipartisan bills such as the upcoming surface transportation reauthorization or the Water Resources Development Act.
Jamie Dimon on Democratic friends: ‘Big hearts and little brains’ -- JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on Thursday knocked Democrats for pushing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies instead of “real world” solutions.“I have a lot of friends who are Democrats, and they’re idiots,” Dimon said at a foreign-ministry event in Ireland, according to Bloomberg. “I always say they have big hearts and little brains. They do not understand how the real world works. Almost every single policy rolled out failed,” he added. Dimon argued many have been overly focused on DEI.“They overdid DEI. We all were devoted to reaching out to the Black community, Hispanic, the LGBT community, the disabled — we do all of that,” Dimon said. “But the extent, they got to stop it. And they got to go back to being more practical. They’re very ideological,” the Fortune 500 CEO added. In March, Dimon’s company rebranded its DEI efforts to diversity, opportunity and inclusion.“The ‘e’ always meant equal opportunity to us, not equal outcomes, and we believe this more accurately reflects our ongoing approach to reach the most customers and clients to grow our business, create an inclusive workplace for our employees and increase access to opportunities,” Chief Operating Officer Jenn Piepszak wrote in a company memo, as reported by Reuters.
RFK Jr. bans Head Start, health clinic access for people in US illegally - The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Thursday it was rescinding a nearly 30-year interpretation of legislation that allowed immigrants without legal status to access certain federal public benefits. HHS said it was officially rescinding a 1998 interpretation of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), which allowed immigrants without legal status to access services like community health centers and Head Start, the federal program that provides education, health and nutrition services to low-income families. In fiscal 2022, Head Start provided services to 833,000 children and pregnant women. The PRWORA, passed in 1996, restricted benefit eligibility for immigrants without legal status and many legal immigrants during their first few years in the U.S. But exemptions allowed for states to extend benefits to immigrants without legal status, including programs for public health and emergency services. “For too long, the government has diverted hardworking Americans’ tax dollars to incentivize illegal immigration,” Kennedy said in a statement. “Today’s action changes that—it restores integrity to federal social programs, enforces the rule of law, and protects vital resources for the American people.”
Medical organizations sue RFK Jr., HHS over vaccine policies --A group of medical organizations is suing Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other health leaders in the Trump administration over the decision to stop recommending COVID-19 vaccines to healthy children and pregnant women. The lawsuit was filed in Massachusetts and alleges the removal of healthy children and pregnant women from the recommendation to receive COVID-19 vaccines is part of Kennedy’s demonstrated “pattern of hostility toward established scientific processes.” Kennedy announced in May that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would no longer be recommending COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women. The agency later updated its guidance to say healthy children “may receive” the vaccine, while providing “no guidance” for pregnant women. Plaintiffs include the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Physicians, American Public Health Association, Infectious Diseases Society of America, Massachusetts Public Health Association, Massachusetts Public Health Alliance, and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. An unnamed female physician in Massachusetts who is pregnant and is seeking a COVID-19 vaccine on the guidance of her doctors, referred to as “Jane Doe” in the suit, is also suing over the directive. Along with Kennedy, the groups are also suing Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary, National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya and acting CDC Director Matthew Buzzelli. The plaintiffs allege Kennedy’s directive to remove children and pregnant women from the COVID-19 vaccine schedule violated the Administrative Procedure Act. They argued his decision was rife with “arbitrariness and capriciousness,” pointing to his admission that his opinions on vaccines are “irrelevant” and his belief that people should not be “taking medical advice” from him.
RFK Jr. sued over vaccine changes -Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. violated the law when he withdrew certain recommendations about the coronavirus vaccine, according to a new lawsuit from a coalition of medical organizations. The lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Massachusetts, seeks to overturn Kennedy’s decision to remove healthy children and pregnant women from the list of recommended individuals to receive COVID-19 vaccines. The organizations alleged the removal is part of Kennedy’s demonstrated “pattern of hostility toward established scientific processes.” They argued his moves made it difficult for some pregnant women to get vaccinated to protect themselves and their future children. Plaintiffs include the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Physicians, American Public Health Association, Infectious Diseases Society of America, Massachusetts Public Health Association, Massachusetts Public Health Alliance and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. After Kennedy’s announcement, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) moved from recommending the vaccine to healthy children to encouraging parents to consult their doctors. It also no longer recommended pregnant women get the shot. The suit asks that Kennedy’s directive be declared unlawful, COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for pregnant women be restored and for Kennedy to announce the reinstated guidance on the social media platform X. “This administration is an existential threat to vaccination in America, and those in charge are only just getting started. If left unchecked, Secretary Kennedy will accomplish his goal of ridding the United States of vaccines, which would unleash a wave of preventable harm on our nation’s children,” said Richard Hughes IV, partner at Epstein Becker Green and lead counsel for plaintiffs. An unnamed female physician in Massachusetts who is currently pregnant and is seeking a COVID-19 vaccine on the guidance of her doctors, referred to as “Jane Doe” in the suit, is also suing over the directive. The coronavirus has killed more than 1 million people in the past five years, and annual shots have served as a dose of protection. Yet fewer and fewer people have been getting them, and top administration officials argue there’s no benefit — and even potential harm to individuals. The previous recommendation from the CDC was for everyone at least 6 months old, including pregnant women, to get COVID vaccines annually.
Medical groups sue HHS, Kennedy over COVID vaccine policy changes -Six medical groups today sued the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in a US district court in Massachusetts for acting "arbitrarily and capriciously" in making recent changes to COVID-19 vaccine policy.The plaintiffs also include an unnamed pregnant doctor who is at immediate risk for being unable to receive a COVID-19 booster, based on the recommendations that Kennedy announced unilaterally in May. The doctor contends that she is at high risk for exposure to infectious disease due to her job working as a hospital-based physician. The groups that signed onto the lawsuit are the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American College of Physicians (ACP), the American Public Health Association (APHA), the Infectious Diseases Society of America (ISDA), Massachusetts Public Health Alliance (MPHA), and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM). On May 27, Kennedy announced sweeping changes in US vaccine policy, including the removal of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 recommendation for healthy children and pregnant women. The move came a week after the Food and Drug Administration announced that the COVID-19 vaccine would be recommended only for adults ages 65 and older and others who have health conditions that make them most susceptible to infection complications. In both instances, the decisions were made without input from federal vaccine advisory groups. A few weeks later, Kennedy removed 17 members of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), replacing them with eight members, including several of Kennedy's anti-vaccine allies.The lawsuit filed today is the latest among a handful of efforts to push back against Kennedy’s assault on vaccines. Others include the launch of the Vaccine Integrity Project (VIP), a group of leading public health experts that defend vaccination and make recommendations on how nongovernmental agencies can help make sure that vaccine recommendations remain grounded in the best available science, free of external influence. The project is led by a steering group brought together by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), which publishes CIDRAP News, and is supported by Alumbra, a foundation established by philanthropist Christy Walton. Along with the charge that Kennedy acted arbitrarily and capriciously when changing the COVID-19 vaccine recommendations, the plaintiffs say Kennedy unjustly dismissed the 17 previous ACIP members. The plaintiffs, in a statement from the ACP, added that, since then, the committee has undermined the science behind vaccine recommendations. In its first recommendations on June 26, Kennedy's hand-picked panel recommended against receiving flu vaccines that contain the preservative thimerosal, reviving a hot-button topic of anti-vaccine groups. More than 40 studies over many decades have found no link between thimerosal and developmental delays, but the CDC and AAP asked vaccine manufacturers to remove the preservative in 1999 to bolster confidence in vaccines, not because the ingredient is harmful.The lawsuit asks for preliminary and permanent injunctions to halt Kennedy's COVID vaccine recommendations and to declare that the changes are unlawful.Richard Hughes IV, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said in the statement, "This administration is an existential threat to vaccination in America, and those in charge are only just getting started. If left unchecked, Secretary Kennedy will accomplish his goal of ridding the United States of vaccines, which would unleash a wave of preventable harm on our nation’s children."The lawsuit contends that coordinated actions by HHS and Kennedy were designed to mislead, confuse, and gradually desensitize the public to anti-vaccine and anti-science rhetoric. It also contends that Kennedy has widely flouted federal procedural rules, including blocking CDC communications, cancelling federal vaccine advisory group meetings without explanation, and announcing studies to probe non-existent links between vaccines and autism.
Trump administration sues California over egg prices and blames animal welfare laws --The Trump administration is suing the state of California to block animal welfare laws that it says unconstitutionally helped send egg prices soaring. But a group that spearheaded the requirements pushed back, blaming bird flu for the hit to consumers’ pocketbooks. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in California on Wednesday, challenges voter initiatives that passed in 2018 and 2008. They require that all eggs sold in California come from cage-free hens. The Trump administration says the law imposes burdensome red tape on the production of eggs and egg products across the country because of the state’s outsize role in the national economy. “It is one thing if California passes laws that affects its own State, it is another when those laws affect other States in violation of the U.S. Constitution,” U.S. Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in a statement Thursday. “Thankfully, President Trump is standing up against this overreach.” Egg prices soared last year and earlier this year due in large part to bird flu, which has forced producers to destroy nearly 175 million birds since early 2022. But prices have come down sharply recently. While the Trump administration claims credit for that, seasonal factors are also important. Avian influenza, which is spread by wild birds, tends to spike during the spring and fall migrations and drop in summer. “Pointing fingers won’t change the fact that it is the President’s economic policies that have been destructive,” the California Department of Justice said in a statement Friday. “We’ll see him in court.” The average national price for a dozen Grade A eggs declined to $5.12 in April and $4.55 in May after reaching a record $6.23 in March, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But the May price was still 68.5% higher than a year earlier. “Trump’s back to his favorite hobby: blaming California for literally everything,” Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said in a social media post. The federal complaint alleges that California contributed to the rise in egg prices with regulations that forced farmers across the country to adopt more expensive production practices. The lawsuit also asserts that it is the federal government’s legal prerogative to regulate egg production. So it seeks to permanently block enforcement of the California regulations that flowed from the two ballot measures. “Americans across the country have suffered the consequences of liberal policies causing massive inflation for everyday items like eggs,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “Under President Trump’s leadership, we will use the full extent of federal law to ensure that American families are free from oppressive regulatory burdens and restore American prosperity.” While 2018’s Proposition 12 also banned the sale of pork and veal in California from animals raised in cages that don’t meet minimum size requirements, the lawsuit only focuses on the state’s egg rules.
Rubio begins mass firings at State Department -Secretary of State Marco Rubio began mass firings at the State Department on Monday, part of a reorganization plan to form a leaner foreign policy force that, he argues, will allow the United States to respond more nimbly by removing layers of bureaucracy. The department sent reduction in force (RIF) notices Friday morning to about 1,100 civil servants and 250 foreign service officers stationed in the U.S., with plans to cut its workforce further. Staff were directed to report to the office Friday along with their laptops, telephones, diplomatic passports and any other property of the department. The move prompted heavy pushback from Democrats and former diplomats who contended that by downsizing its diplomatic footprint the administration is putting national security at risk. Rubio, who is also President Trump’s national security adviser, unveiled a reorganization plan for the State Department in April, with plans to get rid of 132 offices and fold 137 other offices within the department. The U.S.’s top diplomat said Thursday the layoffs are a “very deliberate step to reorganize the State Department to be more efficient and more focused.” “It’s not a consequence of trying to get rid of people. But if you close the bureau, you don’t need those positions. Understand that some of these are positions that are being eliminated, not people,” Rubio told reporters while in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Veterans Affairs dramatically scales back layoffs to less than half of initial plan -- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has abandoned plans to cut more than 80,000 employees, scaling back that number to just under 30,000 after a massive outcry from veterans, advocate groups and lawmakers and an exodus of individuals from the agency. In a Monday news release, the VA said it was on pace to reduce its total staff by nearly 30,000 employees by the end of this fiscal year due to “the federal hiring freeze, deferred resignations, retirements and normal attrition.” That reduction eliminates “the need for a large-scale reduction-in-force” of up to 15 percent of employees, or some 83,000 individuals, according to the release. The announcement is a sharp turn for the Trump administration, which for months has sought to eliminate 83,000 roles — reducing the VA’s workforce to its 2019 size of less than 400,000 staffers — as laid out in an internal memo sent to employees in March. VA Secretary Doug Collins said at the time that the cuts were following President Trump’s executive order, signed in February, directing all federal agencies to prepare for a reduction in force, meaning large-scale layoffs. He also insisted that the move was tough but necessary and that the cuts would not affect health care or benefits to veterans and VA beneficiaries. The White House, meanwhile, said the VA had grown “bloated” and claimed the slashed jobs would make the agency more efficient. But Democratic lawmakers were quick to push back on the plans, with Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee ranking member Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) calling the development “a gut punch” and “breathtaking in its potential significance and its malevolence and cruelty” to former U.S. service members.
Senate Appropriations Committee votes to block Trump FBI headquarters move - The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved an amendment to the annual Justice Department funding bill aimed at blocking the Trump administration from keeping the FBI’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. The committee voted 15-14 to adopt language that seeks to block funding from being used to relocate the headquarters from its current J. Edgar Hoover Building site to any location other than the Greenbelt, Md., site selected by the General Services Administration in 2023. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) bucked party lines to join Democrats in backing the proposal. “My understanding is that this has been a decision that was made just very recently,” Murkowski said ahead of the vote. “So I, for one, would like to know that this analysis has actually been going on for more than just a couple months, that there’s actually been that effort to ensure that we’re going to move forward.” Republicans had sought to have the amendment withdrawn to allow members to receive more information from the FBI regarding the relocation plans, but Sen. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), the senior appropriator who offered the proposal, declined.
El Chapo's son pleads guilty to drug trafficking --Ovidio Guzmán López, a son of notorious Mexican drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, pleaded guilty Friday to federal drug trafficking charges related to his leadership role in the Sinaloa Cartel that his father cofounded decades ago. A sentencing date has not been set, but Guzmán López faces up to life in prison and may have to forfeit $80 million.The Associated Press reported that as part of a plea agreement, Guzmán López admitted to his role in the drug operation, but specific terms of the deal, including sentencing recommendations or cooperation agreements, were not disclosed. Many of the most recent filings in Guzmán López’s case are marked sealed in the federal court filing system. Authorities alleged that Guzmán López, also known as “El Ratón” and “El Ratón Nuevo,” conspired to distribute drugs from Mexico and other countries into the U.S. from 2008-21. Guzmán López and his three brothers, known collectively as “Los Chapitos,” assumed control of the deadly Sinaloa drug enterprise after their father’s arrest in 2016, according to federal prosecutors. Guzmán López, 35, was arrested in Mexico in 2023 and extradited to the U.S. to face conspiracy charges in the alleged drug trafficking scheme. He pleaded guilty in Chicago.According to Guzmán López’s indictment, he and his brothers conspired to amass “greater control over the Sinaloa Cartel by threatening to cause violence, and causing violence” against associates. Guzmán López allegedly acted as a “logistical coordinator” in aiding the transportation of “multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana” from Mexico to the U.S. border then throughout the U.S. for distribution. Additionally, he was accused of helping launder money from the drugs sold.
DOJ releases video backing Epstein's suicide claim -The Department of Justice (DOJ) released surveillance footage Monday to back up its determination that disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in a New York City prison in 2019. The nearly 11-hour video was filmed outside Epstein’s prison cell during the final hours of his life while he was awaiting trial on additional federal sex trafficking charges. “After a thorough investigation, FBI investigators concluded that Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City on August 10, 2019,” the DOJ wrote in a memo cosigned Monday by the FBI. “This conclusion is consistent with previous findings.” Conspiracy theories have lingered about the cause of Epstein’s death since his lifeless body was found in the Special Housing Unit (SHU) cell where he was being held. Epstein, a wealthy New York socialite who owned his own jet and private island, frequently hobnobbed with celebrities and the political elite, including President Trump and former President Clinton. The footage the DOJ released this week covers the area outside of Epstein’s cell — not what happened inside — but no one is seen entering or exiting. “As DOJ’s Inspector General explained in 2023, anyone entering or attempting to enter the tier where Epstein’s cell was located from the SHU common area would have been captured by this footage,” the DOJ’s memo states. “The FBI’s independent review of this footage confirmed that from the time Epstein was locked in his cell at around 10:40 pm on August 9, 2019, until around 6:30 am the next morning, nobody entered any of the tiers in the SHU.” But more skepticism emerged after the video’s release regarding the timestamp, which appears to jump ahead one minute at midnight on Aug. 10. The jump is noticeable in the original video and an enhanced version from the FBI.The DOJ didn’t immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment on the apparent timestamp shift.Federal authorities announced Monday that Epstein’s long-discussed “client list” does not exist and the government does not plan to release additional documents from the case.Attorney General Pam Bondi facilitated a splashy release of documents related to Epstein’s case in February, but the records — many of them files already available to the public — did not quell skeptics. Bondi later claimed she was “misled” about the contents.
MAGA influencers react to new Epstein investigation memo - Right-wing influencers who have long promoted conspiracy theories about convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein are turning their ire on the Trump administration over a new Department of Justice memo seeking to debunk those theories.The memo released Monday said there was no evidence Epstein kept a “client list,” nor that he sought to blackmail powerful figures implicated in his crimes. It also confirmed the notorious financier died by suicide, rebutting theories that he was secretly murdered.Many of President Trump’s staunchest MAGA backers were not convinced, blasting Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino for the findings. “This is the swamp winning. The question is, is Trump’s DOJ actually using this to control the deep state, or are they just so overwhelmed by it they are tapping out?” far-right radio host Alex Jones asked in a 10-minute reaction video that included him breaking down into tears.The memo — first reported late Sunday night by Axios — came after Bondi previously said the Epstein client list was on her desk. The White House said Monday she was referring more generally to paperwork about his crimes.
Elon Musk tweaks Donald Trump with Jeffrey Epstein post -Tech billionaire Elon Musk trolled President Trump early Monday with a post knocking the administration for making no arrests related to the Jeffrey Epstein case.Musk, Trump’s former ally-turned-foe, posted an image to his social platform X of “The Official Jeffrey Epstein Pedophile Arrest Counter,” set to “0000.”“What’s the time? Oh look, it’s no-one-has-been-arrested-o’clock again …,” Musk captioned the photo.“This is the final straw,” Musk responded to an earlier Monday post, which knocked the Trump administration for initially promising to release the “Epstein list” before reportedly saying, “There is no Epstein list.” The post came after Axios reported on a memo Sunday evening revealing the Justice Department and FBI have concluded there is no evidence that Epstein, a convicted sex offender, blackmailed powerful figures or kept a “client list,” as many conspiracy theories suggest. The memo, according to Axios, also says there’s no evidence to suggest Epstein was murdered — supporting a medical examiner’s report that he died by suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019.According to the news outlet, the two-page memo also suggests no one else involved in the Epstein case will be charged.
Bongino fumes over handling of Epstein files - Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino is at the center of internal fighting in the Trump administration about the handling of files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, leading to questions about Bongino’s future in his role. A source familiar with the matter confirmed to The Hill that Bongino is furious over the handling of the Epstein documents and has clashed with Justice Department leaders over the issue this week. The White House, meanwhile, called any indications of divisions “baseless.” “President Trump has assembled a highly qualified and experienced law and order team dedicated to protecting Americans, holding criminals accountable, and delivering justice to victims,” White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a statement. “This work is being carried out seamlessly and with unity. Any attempt to sow division within this team is baseless and distracts from the real progress being made in restoring public safety and pursuing justice for all.” Multiple news outlets, including CNN and Semafor, reported Bongino was not at work Friday and was mulling whether to resign from his position. Axios first reported that Bongino had fought with Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier in the week. Laura Loomer, a far-right activist and staunch Trump supporter, was first to raise the possibility that Bongino was considering resigning. Loomer, who has met with Trump at the White House, called for Bondi to be ousted.
Metadata Shows the FBI’s ‘Raw’ Jeffrey Epstein Prison Video Was Likely Modified | WIRED -- UNITED STATES Department of Justice this week released nearly 11 hours of what it described as “full raw” surveillance footage from a camera positioned near Jeffrey Epstein’s prison cell the night before he was found dead. The release was intended to address conspiracy theories about Epstein’s apparent suicide in federal custody. But instead of putting those suspicions to rest, it may fuel them further.Metadata embedded in the video and analyzed by WIRED and independent video forensics experts shows that rather than being a direct export from the prison’s surveillance system, the footage was modified, likely using the professional editing tool Adobe Premiere Pro. The file appears to have been assembled from at least two source clips, saved multiple times, exported, and then uploaded to the DOJ’s website, where it was presented as “raw” footage. Experts caution that it’s unclear what exactly was changed, and that the metadata does not prove deceptive manipulation. The video may have simply been processed for public release using available software, with no modifications beyond stitching together two clips. But the absence of a clear explanation for the processing of the file using professional editing software complicates the Justice Department’s narrative. In a case already clouded by suspicion, the ambiguity surrounding how the file was processed is likely to provide fresh fodder for conspiracy theories. Any aspect of the official story that isn’t fully explained will be co-opted by conspiracy theorists, says Mike Rothschild, an author who writes about conspiracy theories and extremists. “So whatever your flavor of Epstein conspiracy is, the video will help bolster it.” For months leading up to the joint memo the DOJ and FBI published Monday, attorney general Pam Bondi had promised the release of records related to Epstein, raising expectations that new, potentially incriminating details might surface about the disgraced financier’s death and his ties to powerful individuals. However, rather than revealing new information, the memo largely confirmed conclusions reached years earlier: that Epstein was found in a Manhattan prison cell on August 10, 2019, and died by suicide while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. To support its conclusion, the FBI reviewed surveillance footage overlooking the common area of the Special Housing Unit (SHU) at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC), where Epstein was held. The FBI enhanced the footage by adjusting contrast, color, and sharpness, and released both the enhanced and what it described as the “raw” version. Both versions of the video appear to have been processed using Premiere and include much of the same metadata. According to the FBI, anyone entering the area containing Epstein’s cell during the relevant time frame would have been visible on that camera.
Dershowitz says he knows Epstein client list names: ‘But I’m bound by confidentiality’ - Pundit Sean Spicer resurfaced on Thursday a March interview with Alan Dershowitz in which the attorney said he knows all about a list of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged clients. “I know the names of the individuals. I know why they’re being suppressed. I know who’s suppressing them,” Dershowitz said during an appearance on “The Sean Spicer Show” that was originally broadcast on March 19 and was reposted on social media on Thursday. “But I’m bound by confidentiality from a judge and cases, and I can’t disclose what I know,” he added, noting at one point he was falsely named as a client. The Trump administration vowed earlier this year to release the documents and names of individuals tied to Epstein’s inner circle. Tech billionaire Elon Musk ignited flames after reminding the public that President Trump was formerly one of Epstein’s acquaintances after dissing the “big, beautiful bill.” The president brushed off comments related to Epstein earlier this week. “Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy’s been talked about for years. You’re asking — we have Texas, we have this, we have all of the things. And are people still talking about this guy? This creep? That is unbelievable,” Trump said Tuesday to a reporter who asked about the convicted sex offender and financier.
Musk says exposing Epstein files will be America Party priority - Tech billionaire Elon Musk once again slammed President Trump over the Jeffrey Epstein case, confirming that his new political party, which he has dubbed the “America Party,” will make it a priority to expose the files. Musk first questioned how people can be expected to have faith in the president if he doesn’t release the files regarding the convicted sex offender and financier. “How can people be expected to have faith in Trump if he won’t release the Epstein files?” he asked in a post on X, the social platform he owns. BestReviews is reader-supported and may earn an affiliate commission. A user commented on the post, asking if exposing the files would be a high-ranking priority for the “American Party.” Musk responded in the affirmative with a “100” emoji. The White House criticized the allegations and the “continued fixation on sowing division” within the Cabinet. “President Trump is proud of Attorney General Bondi’s efforts to execute his Make America Safe Again agenda, restore the integrity of the Department of Justice, and bring justice to victims of crime,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to The Hill. “The continued fixation on sowing division in President Trump’s Cabinet is baseless and unfounded in reality.”
France opens inquiry into Elon Musk and X over alleged bias -- A French prosecutor has opened a criminal investigation into social platform X and its owner, Elon Musk, on accusations of “creating bias in France’s democratic debate.” The investigation comes after Musk’s artificial intelligence (AI) company, xAi, deleted multiple posts from its chatbot Grok that included antisemitic comments. Among them, Grok called itself “MechaHitler” and insinuated that the Jewish people were controlling Hollywood. French National Assembly member Thierry Sother and European Union Parliament member Pierre Jouvet asked Arcom, France’s digital content regulator, to look into Grok’s behavior Thursday. “Since the July 4th update, Grok has substantially changed behaviors leading it to comment antisemitic ideas, to praise Hitler and even to support Le Pen,” Sother said to French media Libération. X has not immediately responded to requests for comment. X and Musk have been on French and European radars since January when Éric Bothorel, a French parliamentarian, raised concerns over X’s use of personal data, a biased algorithm and the reduction of diversity in posts. He also denounced Musk’s personal interference within the platform, calling it “a true danger and a threat for our democracies,” according to Libération. The European Union has been investigating X for two years on accusations it breached the EU’s platform regulation law, the Digital Service Act. The EU fined Apple and Meta $800 million in April over antitrust rules.Seeking moral advice from large language models comes with risk of hidden biases - More and more people are turning to large language models like ChatGPT for life advice and free therapy, as it is sometimes perceived as a space free from human biases. A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds otherwise and warns people against relying on LLMs to solve their moral dilemmas, as the responses exhibit significant cognitive bias.Researchers from University College London and University of California conducted a series of experiments using popular LLMs—GPT-4-turbo, GPT-4o, Llama 3.1-Instruct, and Claude 3.5 Sonnet—and found that the models have a stronger omission bias than humans, where their advice encourages inaction over action during moral decision making.The LLMs also tend to have a bias toward answering "no," thus altering their decision or advice based on how the question is asked. The findings also revealed that in collective action problems where self-interest is weighed against the greater good, LLM responses were more altruistic than those of humans. Human reliance on large language models (LLMs) has gone far beyond drafting school essays or preparing workplace presentations. Whether it's figuring out what to add to the grocery list, unpacking after emotionally vulnerable moments, or even guiding through complex moral questions that require careful weighing of the pros and cons, these AI tools have become an integral part of people's lives Most LLM developers have built moral guidelines into the systems to ensure that the answers generated by the AI chatbot promote kindness and fairness, and discourage hate and illegal activity. These guardrails aren't always foolproof, as LLMs tend to hallucinate and function in unpredictable ways, often exhibiting cognitive biases. Previous research has shown that LLMs respond differently from humans in traditional moral dilemmas. However, much of this research has focused on unrealistic scenarios, such as the classic trolley problem, which isn't a fair representation of everyday moral decision-making. To explore how much large language models (LLMs) shape people's views on important moral and societal issues, the researchers designed a series of four studies. The findings revealed an amplified omission bias, where LLMs are more likely to endorse inaction in moral dilemmas when compared to humans. In the case of the yes-no bias, none was found in humans; however, 3 out of the 4 LLMs used were biased toward answering no (GPT-4o preferred yes), even when it meant flipping their original decision when the questions were reworded. The evidence makes it clear that an unquestioned reliance on LLMs can amplify existing biases and introduce new ones in societal decision-making. The researchers believe that their findings will inform future improvements in the moral decisions and advice of LLMs.
In The Age Of AI, We Each Have To Choose How Much Of Our Humanity We Want To Keep - Caitlin Johnstone -Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok has gone full Nazi after changes were made to its programming to give it a heavier right wing bias, sparking international headlines with its tweets praising Adolf Hitler’s treatment of Jews and babbling about Jewish conspiracies to spread anti-white hate. The official X account for Grok announced that the team is “aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts,” saying “xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X.” So apparently they’re having a hard time teaching their chatbot specifically what kind of right wing bias they want it to have. Shit’s getting weird, man. The age of AI is weird. AI is presenting a very interesting dilemma to each of us. We now each have to decide as individuals just how human we wish to keep our experience, because we’re hitting a point where we can become just about as divorced from the things that make us human as we want to be. We can choose to let AI do our critical thinking for us if we want to. We can choose to let it do our reading and writing for us. We can choose to let it create the art we produce and consume. We can choose to let it formulate arguments for us justifying our opinions and our worldview, or to let it reshape our worldview altogether. We can even choose to anthropomorphize it and have relationships with it if we are lonely. We all have to choose for ourselves where the line is now. What point we will not cross beyond. What parts of our humanity we are willing and unwilling to trade for convenience or cognitive ease. Just how far into the guts and gristle of humanity do you want to be? How deeply do you want to be immersed in the breathing, sweating, pulsing fleshiness of the human adventure? How fully do you want to feel the erotic ticklings of creativity moving through you, and the frustration you’ll experience on the days when it doesn’t show up? To what extent do you want to experience the highs and lows of intimate human relationships, and all the unpredictability and insecurity that comes with them? How much cognitive discomfort are you willing to push through in order to form a new opinion, learn about a new subject, or understand an unfamiliar idea? How separated are you ready to become from that within us which produces the perfectly imperfect art, music and literature of our species? How much do you want to feel the earth beneath your feet, the wind in your hair, and the sacred thrum of existence in your veins? These didn’t used to be questions we needed to answer for ourselves. If we wanted something written, we had to write it. If we didn’t know how to write, we had to learn. If we didn’t put in the work, the thing we wanted to write never got written. Now it’s a conscious choice for us how far we’re each willing to move into this new AI thing. We all have to decide for ourselves how far is too far, with the understanding that every step we take in that direction is costing us something. Maybe something very dear to us. Maybe something we can never get back.
Musk’s latest Grok chatbot searches for billionaire mogul’s views before answering questions -The latest version of Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok is echoing the views of its billionaire creator, so much so that it will sometimes search online for Musk’s stance on an issue before offering up an opinion. The unusual behavior of Grok 4, the AI model that Musk’s company xAI released late Wednesday, has surprised some experts. Built using huge amounts of computing power at a Tennessee data center, Grok is Musk’s attempt to outdo rivals such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini in building an AI assistant that shows its reasoning before answering a question. Musk’s deliberate efforts to mold Grok into a challenger of what he considers the tech industry’s “woke” orthodoxy on race, gender and politics has repeatedly got the chatbot into trouble, most recently when it spouted antisemitic tropes, praised Adolf Hitler and made other hateful commentary to users of Musk’s X social media platform just days before Grok 4’s launch. But its tendency to consult with Musk’s opinions appears to be a different problem. “It’s extraordinary,” said Simon Willison, an independent AI researcher who’s been testing the tool. “You can ask it a sort of pointed question that is around controversial topics. And then you can watch it literally do a search on X for what Elon Musk said about this, as part of its research into how it should reply.” One example widely shared on social media — and which Willison duplicated — asked Grok to comment on the conflict in the Middle East. The prompted question made no mention of Musk, but the chatbot looked for his guidance anyway. As a so-called reasoning model, much like those made by rivals OpenAI or Anthropic, Grok 4 shows its “thinking” as it goes through the steps of processing a question and coming up with an answer. Part of that thinking this week involved searching X, the former Twitter that’s now merged into xAI, for anything Musk said about Israel, Palestine, Gaza or Hamas. “Elon Musk’s stance could provide context, given his influence,” the chatbot told Willison, according to a video of the interaction. “Currently looking at his views to see if they guide the answer.”
Anthropic proposes transparency framework for frontier AI models -The artificial intelligence (AI) startup Anthropic laid out a “targeted” framework on Monday, proposing a series of transparency rules for the development of frontier AI models. The framework seeks to establish “clear disclosure requirements for safety practices” while remaining “lightweight and flexible,” the company underscored in a news release. “AI is advancing rapidly,” it wrote. “While industry, governments, academia, and others work to develop agreed-upon safety standards and comprehensive evaluation methods—a process that could take months to years—we need interim steps to ensure that very powerful AI is developed securely, responsibly, and transparently.” Anthropic’s proposed rules would apply only to the largest developers of frontier models or the most advanced AI models. They would require developers to develop and publicly release a secure development framework, detailing how they assess and mitigate unreasonable risks. Developers would also be obligated to publish a system card, summarizing testing and evaluation procedures. “Transparency requirements for Secure Development Frameworks and system cards could help give policymakers the evidence they need to determine if further regulation is warranted, as well as provide the public with important information about this powerful new technology,” the company added. The AI firm’s proposed framework comes on the heels of the defeat last week of a provision in President Trump’s tax and spending bill that initially sought to ban state AI regulation for 10 years. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei came out against the measure last month, calling it “far too blunt an instrument” to mitigate the risks of the rapidly evolving technology. The AI moratorium was ultimately stripped out of the reconciliation bill before it passed the Senate. The company’s framework earned praise from AI advocacy group Americans for Responsible Innovation (ARI), which praised Anthropic for “moving the debate from whether we should have AI regulations to what those regulations should be.” “We’ve heard many CEOs say they want regulations, then shoot down anything specific that gets proposed — so it’s nice to see a concrete plan coming from industry,” Eric Gastfriend, executive director at ARI, said in a statement. “Anthropic’s framework advances some of the basic transparency requirements we need, like releasing plans for mitigating risks and holding developers accountable to those plans,” he continued. “Hopefully this brings other labs to the table in the conversation over what AI regulations should look like.”
Blackout risks risking as AI, reindustrialization push strain grid The Trump administration warned Monday that the risk of blackouts could be 100 times greater by the end of the decade, as the race to develop artificial intelligence (AI) and the push to reshore manufacturing strain the electrical grid. In a new report, the Department of Energy noted that 104 gigawatts of power capacity are set to be retired by 2030. Even if the U.S. brings online 209 gigawatts within the next six years as planned, the average annual outage time would increase from about 8 hours per year to more than 800 hours per year, according to the report. Data centers, which help power AI training and usage, are expected to add anywhere from 35 gigawatts to 108 gigawatts in load growth to the grid by the end of the decade. While eliminating the planned plant retirements would reduce the risk of blackouts, the potential for outages would still be 34 times greater by 2030, the report found. Energy Secretary Chris Wright used the findings to underscore the need to maintain current power sources, such as coal and natural gas, aligning with President Trump’s embrace of nonrenewable energy. “This report affirms what we already know: The United States cannot afford to continue down the unstable and dangerous path of energy subtraction previous leaders pursued, forcing the closure of baseload power sources like coal and natural gas,” Wright said in a statement. “In the coming years, America’s reindustrialization and the AI race will require a significantly larger supply of around-the-clock, reliable, and uninterrupted power,” he added. “President Trump’s administration is committed to advancing a strategy of energy addition, and supporting all forms of energy that are affordable, reliable, and secure.” However, some pushed back on the Department of Energy’s findings. Advanced Energy United, a trade group representing the advanced energy industry, suggested the report may overstate the risks of blackouts and undervalue resources like wind, solar and battery storage. “We are working quickly to dig into the numbers to unpack how [Energy Department] reached its conclusions, but it’s troubling that the report was not subject to public input and scrutiny,” Caitlin Marquis, managing director at Advanced Energy United, said in a statement. She noted that the report, which was produced in response to an April executive order, will be used to help identify which power plants are retained. “If the analysis is overly pessimistic about advanced energy technologies and the future of the grid, consumers will end up paying too much for resources we no longer need,” Marquis added.
DOE plays out worst-case scenarios for US grid - A Department of Energy report issued Monday warns that the United States will lose the race for leadership in artificial intelligence technology unless it slams the brakes on plans to close older coal- and gas-fired power plants and speeds up construction of new ones. To dramatize the challenge, DOE said that parts of the mid-Atlantic and Great Plains regions could face 400 hours of power outages in 2030 in a worst-case scenario where tech companies build giant energy-hungry AI data centers unabated, old coal plants keep closing and new power supplies come online slowly. Hardest hit under this scenario, according to the DOE analysis, would be eastern states served by the PJM Interconnection grid. Weeks of power shortages in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia by 2030 would result from power plant closures and data center expansion. Under the most severe weather conditions based on history (not including future climate forecasts), power shortages in the area could total more than a month over the course of a year. While the DOE scenarios are startling, the department noted that U.S. grid operators responsible for keeping the lights on would not approve data center growth that would “jeopardize the reliability of the system.” Still, the DOE analysis sets the stage for emergency actions President Donald Trump has promised. That includes ordering coal- and gas-fired generators to cancel planned closures and to keep running. A nearly 90-year-old provision of the Federal Power Act, written for wartime use, gives him broad leeway to keep the plants open during national emergencies. The DOE report declares Trump’s vow to win the AI race against China is such an emergency. “Absent intervention, it is impossible for the nation’s bulk power system to meet the AI growth requirements while maintaining a reliable power grid and keeping energy costs low for our citizens,” said the report. Presented as a technical analysis, the DOE report adopts Trump’s rebuke of former President Joe Biden’s goal of closing down coal power plants in favor of carbon-free wind and solar generation, which Trump recently called “windmills and the rest of this JUNK.” “Caused by the harmful and shortsighted policies of the previous administration, our Nation’s inadequate energy supply and infrastructure causes and makes worse the high energy prices that devastate Americans, particularly those living on low- and fixed-incomes,” the report said. Advanced Energy United, a group of clean technology developers and energy users, took issue with sweeping assertions that wind, solar and battery technology are a net-negative for the grid as opposed to energy assets during a period of rising electricity demand: “The study released today by the Department of Energy appears to exaggerate the risk of blackouts and undervalue the contributions of entire resource classes, like wind, solar, and battery storage, despite the fact that regions like Texas that have enabled rapid growth of these technologies have been rewarded with lower costs and a more reliable grid,” said Caitlin Marquis, managing director at Advanced Energy United. “[It’s] troubling that this final agency action will not be subject to public scrutiny before it’s used to justify retaining power plants that aren’t needed for reliability — a decision that would directly add costs to consumers bills,” Marquis added. Jennifer Danis, federal energy policy director at the Institute for Policy Integrity at the New York University School of Law, questioned whether the analysis supports emergency declarations from the administration ordering aging coal and gas plants to halt their retirement plans. “Reforms may be needed to ensure better planning for future resource adequacy to power AI,” Danis said in a statement, “but they should focus on improving existing markets and planning standards, as well as speeding up new resource interconnection, rather than forcing customers to pay to keep old, inefficient plants online.” Biden’s energy agenda — an unprecedented campaign to combat the threat of climate change fueled by the burning of coal, natural gas and oil for electricity — was only partially realized when Trump’s victory last November signed death warrants for much of the plan. The DOE report does not mention climate change. A consensus of grid operators in U.S. competitive power markets like PJM and the Southwest Power Pool is that grid reliability faces extraordinary stresses if the heavy rate of fossil plant retirements continues. Coal-fired plants, which supplied half of U.S. electricity two decades ago, have shrunk to just a 16 percent share, trailing natural gas plants, nuclear reactors, and just ahead of wind and solar power. The conclusion of power industry leaders at a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission conference last month was “keep what we have” until the dimensions of the AI boom are clear and the pace of new plant construction can finally pick up. “AI is going to change our world,” said Manu Asthana, the PJM CEO, told the FERC conference. “In our forecast between 2024 and 2030, currently we have a 32-gigawatt increase in demand, of which 30 is from data centers,” Asthana said. PJM must “find that intersection between reliability and affordability that works both for consumers and suppliers, and that intersection is getting harder and harder to find.” Clean energy advocates fault PJM for an overly costly, complex process for approving new solar and wind projects in the region over nearly a decade. “As if this wasn’t challenging enough,” said Lanny Nickell, CEO of the Southwest Power Pool, “we are now projecting our peak demand to be as much as 75 percent higher 10 years from now, and that’s largely driven by electrification and data center growth.” DOE reported that 104 GW of fossil fuel plant capacity is expected to retire by 2030. (One GW of power output—1,000 megawatts—supports about 850,000 average U.S. homes, with wide regional differences.) “This capacity is not being replaced on a one-to-one basis and losing this generation could lead to significant outages when weather conditions do not accommodate wind and solar generation,” DOE said. The supply-demand balance gets much worse with DOE’s assumption that at least 50 GW of new around-the-clock plant capacity will be needed to power data centers between now and 2030.
Gould confirmed as OCC head - — The Senate confirmed Jonathan Gould to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in a 45-5 vote on Thursday. Gould, who's worked in the crypto industry and has advocated for more fintech and crypto-friendly regulation of banks, was confirmed by the Senate Thursday. He is expected to both continue deregulating the banking sector and encouraging bank-fintech partnerships.
BankThink Are stablecoins money? What does that mean for payments? - The Senate passage of the GENIUS Act, which at time of writing is on its way to a House vote, has put stablecoins on the agenda of not only crypto builders, investors and lawyers, but alsotraditional institutions, merchants and other entities. Noelle Acheson asks whether stablecoins can be considered "money" according to traditional definitions. And if not, what does that mean for payments?
Bitcoin hits fresh record high above $113,000 -- Bitcoin broke through its second all-time high in less than 24 hours, hitting a record $113,822, climbing more than 4%. It marked the second time the cryptocurrency has reached a new all-time high, after it briefly surpassed the $112,000 mark Wednesday afternoon before paring gains. According to data from analysis firm CoinMarketCap, the value of the global cryptocurrency market, including Bitcoin, increased by approximately 3% over 24 hours, reaching $3.5 trillion. The price of Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is up almost 22% since the start of this year. The price of Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, gained more than 5% in value, rising to $2,798.
Wise fined $4.2 million for multistate compliance lapses- U.K. payment company Wise was tagged with a $4.2 million consent order for anti-money-laundering deficiencies following a multistate examination that brought together six state money transmission regulators. Regulators from California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York and Texas levied the fine for anti-money-laundering and Bank Secrecy Act violations, which comes as Wise seeks a banking license in the U.S.
Fed mulls smaller role for governance in supervisory ratings -- Lackluster governance and control standards would no longer disqualify banks from mergers and acquisitions under a new proposal from the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve Thursday issued a proposal that would allow banks to be considered "well managed" even if they are found to be deficient in their governance and controls.
BankThink: Everyone knows what broke in 2023; leverage ratio reform can fix it --It's time to dispense with the fiction that there is no cost to treating underwater "held-to-maturity" securities as regulatory capital. Thoughtful reconsideration of leverage ratio requirements offers an answer, writes Allen Puwalski, of Cybiont Capital. The June 2025 proposal by U.S. bank regulators to recalibrate the enhanced supplementary leverage ratio, or eSLR, for global systemically important banks, or GSIBs, is a welcome departure from the ad hoc exclusions of 2020 and a sound step toward aligning leverage standards with global norms. But if this is the only change, regulators will again miss the undeniable lesson delivered by the 2023 mini crisis: Treating unrealized securities losses as regulatory capital is a policy error that distorts risk-taking and undermines resilience. It's time to dispense with the fiction that there is no cost to treating underwater "held-to-maturity" securities as regulatory capital. Thoughtful reconsideration of leverage ratio requirements offers an answer.
OCC authorizes bank closures in Texas floods --Nationally chartered banks in parts of Texas were authorized to close Monday as needed, due to flooding in the state, according to a proclamation released by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Following deadly flash floods in Texas, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency allowed national banks to close branches for safety.
CTA rollback takes away key AML tool for banks -- The Treasury Department's rollback of key anti-money-laundering requirements — which required most U.S. companies to tell the federal government who actually owns or controls them — removes a transparency tool long sought by banks, enforcement agencies and advocates alike. Despite bipartisan support and backing from bank trade groups, the Treasury scrapped a corporate ownership reporting rule meant to expose shell companies and aid financial compliance. But the problems that spurred the law's passage still remain.
The securities that banks are backing away from -- US banks, among the few companies that still sell preferred shares, are following JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s lead and retreating from the securities, even as investors are eager to buy them. This could be the second year in a row that the market for U.S. bank preferred shares has shrunk, something that hasn't happened since the lenders were replacing obsolete capital after the global financial crisis.
BankThink: The Trump administration should dispose of the FFIEC Manual --Foisted on the banking industry decades ago, with no formal rulemaking process, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council Manual should be eliminated in favor of new rules crafted with the input of relevant stakeholders, write Dustin Nofziger and Pinchus Raice, of Pryor Cashman. The Trump administration has been laser focused on reining in the administrative state. As bank regulatory attorneys, we suggest it focus on an area where regulators have massively overstepped: the use of hundreds of pages of nonbinding guidance, primarily found in the BSA/AML Examination Manual of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (the FFIEC Manual), to substantively regulate financial crime compliance.Foisted on the banking industry decades ago, with no formal rulemaking process, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council Manual should be eliminated in favor of new rules crafted with the input of relevant stakeholders.
Military credit union group urges Congress to fund CDFIs - Advocates for military credit unions Tuesday urged top lawmakers on a senate appropriations subcommittee to restore funding for the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, after the White House proposed eliminating new funding. The group expressed concern with the White House proposal to reduce the program's funding, and urged Appropriators to fund the bipartisan-backed Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.
Supreme Court ruling won't directly impact CFPB case --The Supreme Court's ruling allowing President Trump to proceed with mass firings of federal employees does not directly affect the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to the CFPB's employee union, which is fighting workforce reductions at the agency in court. The union representing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in their suit against mass firings at the agency said the Supreme Court's ruling allowing President Trump to proceed with mass reductions-in-force elsewhere does not impact the union's lawsuit.
Texas judges repeals CFPB's medical debt rule --A Texas judge has vacated the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's medical debt rule and specifically admonished states that have sought to take medical debt off credit reports in a major win for the Trump administration, banks and two trade groups that sued the agency. A federal judge in Texas dismissed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's medical debt rule and prohibited states from passing their own laws prohibiting medical debt on credit reports.
NJ to consider CRA bill that would rope in nonbanks — New Jersey lawmakers have introduced a bill in the state that would create a state-level Community Reinvestment Act, one that would apply to more financial institutions than its federal counterpart. mNew Jersey state lawmakers have introduced a state-level Community Reinvestment Act that would include online lenders and credit unions — who are exempt from the federal law — in its scope.
HUD dissolves "woke" policies created by appraisal task force --The Department of Housing and Urban Development has "effectively disband[ed]" the Biden-era interagency Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity initiative, the federal housing agency announced late Thursday.The Department of Housing and Urban Development reiterated it has withdrawn a number of FHA mortgagee letters related to appraisals.
Fannie, Freddie add VantageScore, keep tri-merge -The conservator and regulator of two influential government-related mortgage investors has announced a credit score other than FICO's "classic" metric can be used when submitting loans to them. The move their regulator Bill Pulte announced introduces competition for one metric but charges from three credit bureaus will remain in place.
July ICE Mortgage Monitor: Home Prices Continue to Cool, Early Signs of Homeowner Risk Emerge - Today, in the Real Estate Newsletter: July ICE Mortgage Monitor: Home Prices Continue to Cool, Early Signs of Homeowner Risk Emerge
Brief excerpt: Here is the year-over-year in house prices according to the ICE Home Price Index (HPI). The ICE HPI is a repeat sales index. ICE reports the median price change of the repeat sales. The index was up 1.6% year-over-year in May, down from 2.0% YoY in April. The early look at the June HPI shows a 1.3% YoY increase.
• Mortgage rates in the high 6% range and growing inventory across the country continue to cool home price growth
• Annual price growth eased to 1.6% in May with ICE’s enhanced Home Price Index showing growth slowing further to 1.3% in early June marking the slowest growth rate since mid-2023
• Early June data also shows home prices rose by a modest 0.02% on a seasonally adjusted basis, which is equivalent to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) of +0.3%, suggesting more slowing on the horizon
• Single family prices were up +1.6% from the same time last year, while condo prices were down -1.3%, marking the softest condo market since 2012
• More than half of the top 100 housing markets in the U.S. are seeing condo prices below last year’s levels, with the largest declines in Florida, led by Cape Coral (-12.7%) and North Port (-10.4%)
MBA: Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey - From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey Mortgage applications increased 9.4 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending July 4, 2025. Last week’s results included an adjustment for the July 4th holiday. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 9.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 13 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 9 percent from the previous week and was 56 percent higher than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 9 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 13 percent compared with the previous week and was 25 percent higher than the same week one year ago. “Mortgage rates moved lower last week, with the 30-year fixed rate decreasing to 6.77 percent, its lowest level in three months. After adjusting for the July 4th holiday, purchase applications increased to the highest level of activity since February 2023 and remained above year-ago levels,” “Homebuyer demand is being fueled by increasing housing inventory and moderating home-price growth. The average loan size on a purchase application, at $432,600, was at its lowest since January 2025. The refinance index also increased over the week, with VA refinances in particular up 32 percent.” ... The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($806,500 or less) decreased to 6.77 percent from 6.79 percent, with points holding steady at 0.62 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The first graph shows the MBA mortgage purchase index. According to the MBA, purchase activity is up 25% year-over-year unadjusted. Purchase application activity is still depressed, but above the lows of October 2023 and above the lowest levels during the housing bust.
Housing July 7th Weekly Update: Inventory up 2.7% Week-over-week, Only Down 10% from 2019 Levels --Altos reports that active single-family inventory was up 2.7% week-over-week.Inventory is now up 36.6% from the seasonal bottom in January and is still increasing. Usually, inventory is up about 20% from the seasonal low by this week in the year. So, 2025 is seeing a larger than normal pickup in inventory.The first graph shows the seasonal pattern for active single-family inventory since 2015.The red line is for 2025. The black line is for 2019. Inventory was up 30.8% compared to the same week in 2024 (last week it was up 28.7%), and down 10.0% compared to the same week in 2019 (last week it was down 14.1%). This is the highest level since November 2019.It now appears inventory will be close to 2019 levels towards the end of 2025.This second inventory graph is courtesy of Altos Research. As of July 4th, inventory was at 853 thousand (7-day average), compared to 831 thousand the prior week. Mike Simonsen discusses this data regularly on Youtube
US housing shortage hit record 4.7M units in 2023: Zillow -The U.S. housing shortage recently grew to a record 4.7 million homes, fueling an affordable housing crisis that’s pricing families out of the American dream, according to a new Zillow analysis.The real estate website examined the latest census data and found the nation’s housing deficit grew by 159,000 homes in 2023 despite a homebuilding surge over the past five years.While that’s less than the housing deficit increased in 2022, when it rose by 257,000 homes, the growth shows the pandemic construction boom hasn’t been enough to narrow the gap.“The unfortunate fact is that we still don’t have enough housing in this country for people who need it,” Orphe Divounguy, senior economist at Zillow, said in the report.The shortage is driving an affordability crisis that is pushing millions of families to double up and live with nonrelatives.In 2023, 3.4 million homes sat vacant and available for rent or sale, while 8.1 million families shared their homes with unrelated individuals, Zillow determined. The 4.7 million-unit gap is what the company defines as the housing deficit.More recent data shows the number of homes for sale has ticked up this year, butelevated mortgage rates and high prices mean affordability remains a challenge. Those headwinds have made it especially difficult for younger, first-time homebuyers to get a foot in the door. Baby boomers recently overtook millennials and now account for the largest share of homebuyers.
Hotels: Occupancy Rate Decreased 0.4% Year-over-year -- From STR: U.S. hotel results for week ending 5 July -The U.S. hotel industry reported negative year-over-year comparisons, according to CoStar’s latest data through 5 July. ... 29 June through 5 July 2025 (percentage change from comparable week in 2024):
• Occupancy: 61.1% (-0.4%)
• Average daily rate (ADR): US$156.71 (-0.9%)
• Revenue per available room (RevPAR): US$95.80 (-1.3%)
The following graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate using the four-week average.
The red line is for 2025, blue is the median, and dashed light blue is for 2024. Dashed purple is for 2018, the record year for hotel occupancy. The 4-week average of the occupancy rate is tracking behind last year and the median rate for the period 2000 through 2024 (Blue).
Leading Index for Commercial Real Estate Increased 7% in June --From Dodge Data Analytics: Dodge Momentum Index Expands 7% in June -The Dodge Momentum Index (DMI), issued by Dodge Construction Network, grew 6.8% in June to 225.1 (2000=100) from the downwardly revised May reading of 210.9. Over the month, commercial planning grew 7.3% while institutional planning improved 5.7%. “Nonresidential planning steadily improved in June, alongside strength in warehouse, recreational and data center planning,” Planning momentum in other key sectors – like education, hotels, and retail stores – was more subdued. Expectations for weaker consumer spending and travel demand, as well as volatility around funding, is likely contributing to weaker momentum of projects entering the planning queue for those sectors.” Warehouse activity gained substantive momentum in June, and data center planning levels remain robust. On the institutional side, large recreational projects propped up the month-over month gain, while healthcare planning momentum continued to accelerate. In June, the DMI was up 20% when compared to year-ago levels. The commercial segment was up 11% from June 2024, and the institutional segment was up 46% after a weak June last year. If all data center projects between 2023 and 2025 are excluded, commercial planning would be up 12% from year-ago levels and the entire DMI would be up 23%. ... The DMI is a monthly measure of the value of nonresidential building projects going into planning, shown to lead construction spending for nonresidential buildings by a full year. This graph shows the Dodge Momentum Index since 2002. The index was at 225.1 in June, up from 210.9 the previous month. According to Dodge, this index leads "construction spending for nonresidential buildings by a full year". This index suggests a pickup in mid-2025, however, uncertainty might impact these projects. Commercial construction is typically a lagging economic indicator.
Update: Lumber Prices Up 26% YoY - This is something to watch again. Here is another monthly update on lumber prices. NOTE: The CME group discontinued the Random Length Lumber Futures contract on May 16, 2023. I switched to a physically-delivered Lumber Futures contract that was started in August 2022. Unfortunately, this impacts long term price comparisons since the new contract was priced about 24% higher than the old random length contract for the period when both contracts were available. This graph shows CME random length framing futures through August 2022 (blue), and the new physically-delivered Lumber Futures (LBR) contract starting in August 2022 (Red). On July 7, 2025, LBR was at $611.50 per 1,000 board feet, up 26% from a year ago.There is somewhat of a seasonal demand for lumber, and lumber prices frequently peak in the first half of the year.Note that last year prices bottomed in early July at $449.00 per 1,000 board feet, so the year-over-year comparison will be easier in the months ahead. The pickup in early 2018 was due to the Trump lumber tariffs in 2017. There were huge increases during the pandemic due to a combination of supply constraints and a pickup in housing starts.
Small Business Optimism Index decreased slightly in June - Note: Usually small business owners complain about taxes and regulations (currently 1st and 6th on the "Single Most Important Problem" list). During a recession, "poor sales" is usually the top problem and recently "inflation" was number 1. From the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB): June 2025 Report: Small Business Optimism Index The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index remained steady in June, edging down 0.2 of a point to 98.6, slightly above the 51-year average of 98. A substantial increase in respondents reporting excess inventories contributed the most to the decline in the index. The Uncertainty Index decreased by five points from May to 89. Nineteen percent of small business owners reported taxes as their single most important problem, up one point from May and ranking as the top problem again. The last time taxes reached 19 percent was in July 2021. This graph shows the small business optimism index since 1986. Right now for most important problem, after taxes (19%), "Quality of Labor" (16%) is #2, inflation (11%) is #3, and "Poor Sales" (10%) and "Cost of Labor" are tied for #4.
TSA: Airline Travel Mostly Unchanged YoY -- Here are the daily travel numbers from the TSA.This data is as of July 8, 2025. This data shows the 7-day average of daily total traveler throughput from the TSA for the last 6 years.Air travel is essentially unchanged YoY (7-day average up about 1.8% YoY). The red line is the seven-day average for 2025. Air travel is mostly tracking last year (down slightly YTD).
Wholesale Used Car Prices Increased in June; Up 6% Year-over-year - From Manheim Consulting today: Wholesale Used-Vehicle Prices Increase in June Wholesale used-vehicle prices (on a mix, mileage, and seasonally adjusted basis) were higher in June compared to May. The Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index (MUVVI) increased to 208.5, representing a 6.3% year-over-year increase and a 1.6% rise above May levels. The seasonal adjustment forced the index higher in the month, as non-seasonally adjusted values fell more than usual following the volatility induced by the tariff announcement. The non-adjusted price in June decreased 1.1% compared to May, which now makes the unadjusted average price higher by 5.1% year over year. This index from Manheim Consulting is based on all completed sales transactions at Manheim’s U.S. auctions.The Manheim index suggests used car prices increased in June (seasonally adjusted) and were up 6.3% YoY.
Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims Decrease to 227,000 The DOL reported: -In the week ending July 5, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 227,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 1,000 from 233,000 to 232,000. The 4-week moving average was 235,500, a decrease of 5,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised down by 250 from 241,500 to 241,250.The following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since 1971.The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims decreased to 235,500.The previous week was revised down.Weekly claims were lower than the consensus forecast.
Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ could strip thousands in Cuyahoga County of food, healthcare benefits — and cost millions– Cuyahoga County officials are warning of significant consequences for residents who depend on Medicaid and food assistance following the signing of President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” which is expected to shift millions in costs to the county and potentially cut thousands off from vital benefits. Currently, about a third of the county’s population, roughly 376,000 residents, are enrolled in Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income Americans, pregnant mothers and individuals with disabilities. And the county distributes $36 million monthly in SNAP benefits to 191,000 individuals. But now, tens of thousands of those residents could lose those benefits, Kevin Gowan, director of Cuyahoga Job and Family Services, warned in a presentation last week to Cuyahoga County Council’s Health and Human Services Committee. He predicted that the newly imposed requirements will result in longer wait times and lost benefits for residents and saddle the county with millions of dollars in added costs at a time when the Health and Human Services Levy and general budgets are already strained. But the true scope of the law’s impact still isn’t clear, he stressed to cleveland.com on Monday.“We’re still unpacking this bill,” he said, adding that the county won’t know the exact impact until the Center for Medicaid Solutions and the Food and Nutrition Service, which govern Medicaid and SNAP benefits, layout the guidelines. “We know what’s in the legislation, but they have to write the rules.”Regardless, the impact is expected to be “dramatic,” he said. “It’s going to impact thousands of people in Cuyahoga County,” Gowan told cleveland.com.For the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, federal changes will now require able-bodied adults up to age 64 to work to maintain benefits, including those who may have already retired and parents with children over the age of 14. This change means an estimated 25,000 county residents will need to join the workforce or risk being kicked off, Gowan said. Those changes could be implemented by the end of this year.Trump’s bill will also require states to pay a portion of those benefits for the first time in program history. That alone is expected to cost Ohio about $480 million annually. But the bill also reduces federal funding to administer the SNAP program, which means Cuyahoga County could be saddled with an added $7 million expense next year, just to provide residents access to the benefits. The state could pick up part or all of that bill, Gowan said, but he hasn’t received any indication that will happen. State lawmakers did not address the issue in the budget, he said, though amendments could be proposed later. For Medicaid, changes could eliminate healthcare benefits for hundreds of thousands of residents, particularly the roughly 100,000 recipients who only received coverage as part of the 2014 expansion to include those making less than 138% of the federal poverty level, or about $44,000 per year for a family of four. That population will now be required to renew their benefits every six months, instead of annually. Gowan has described the change as a paperwork nightmare for staff, which recently reduced wait times by 75% through hiring and overtime, and a potential trap door through which thousands of residents could be dropped off the rolls. n Every time a client has to fill out forms for renewals, it’s an opportunity to miss deadlines, misplace documents or encounter errors that can result in lost benefits, Gowan explained during the committee meeting. Under the current annual renewal process, about 1 in 3 clients lose their benefits for those reasons, he said, even though they otherwise qualify and eventually get back on. Recipients who qualified under the Medicaid expansion will now also be subject to new requirements mandating 80 hours of work or community service a month. About 60% of county Medicaid recipients already meet that threshold or are otherwise exempt, Gowan said, but he estimated about 35,000 county residents will now need to start working. Gowan predicted that too will cause thousands of people to lose their Medicaid benefits – cuts that Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress are counting on to generate the savings needed to pay for the tax breaks in their spending bill, he noted. Then there is the introduction of Medicaid co-pays of up to $35 per service that he fears will discourage struggling residents from seeking medical care and hurt hospitals, which could result in facility closures that further restrict access to healthcare. County Council President Dale Miller called the proposed changes “disgraceful” and “cowardly and mean-spirited.” He worried about the “large impact.” His concern followed a bleak presentation from United Way of Greater Cleveland about the rising percentage of working poor – or Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed population, as they’re officially known – in the county. They’re delivery drivers, fast food workers, home health aides who don’t make enough to cover the rising cost of housing, food, transportation, and other costs, yet don’t meet the federal guidelines to qualify for benefit programs. And they account for about 27% of the county’s workforce, as cleveland.com previously reported, based on a United Way report.And those living in eastern parts of the county fare worse. In East Cleveland, 79% of households qualify as ALICE – the highest percentage in the state, Maryam Kiefer, director of public policy for United Way, told the council committee. Cleveland followed behind with 62%, then Bedford Heights at 56%, and Euclid at 54%. A family of four living in Cuyahoga County with two children in childcare would need to make $91,000 to cover their basic expenses, Kiefer explained. Yet two parents working full time in common health care or retail jobs are likely only making about $55,000 a year. “So even for workers working full time, they still don’t have enough income,” she said. United Way advocated for several funding initiatives in the state budget that Kiefer said would have helped the ALICE population, none of which Gov. Mike DeWine or Republicans in the statehouse adopted. Any additional loss in benefits, as proposed, will only make things worse for working families, officials agreed.
Most say child care costs are ‘major problem’: Survey - Most Americans said the costs of child care are a “major problem,” and most are in favor of efforts to provide free or low-cost day care, according to a survey released Thursday. The new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that most Americans surveyed, 76 percent, agreed that the cost of child care is a major issue, while 18 percent said it is a “minor” problem. Some 5 percent said it is not a problem. Nearly two-thirds of respondents, 64 percent, were in favor of providing free or low-cost day care for kids who are too young to attend public school. About 15 percent opposed it, while another 20 percent were neither in favor nor opposed to the option. The majority of Americans surveyed, 67 percent, said they want the federal government to require employers to provide paid leave for new parents, according to the poll. Around 12 percent were not in favor, while another 20 percent were neither in favor nor opposed to it, according to the poll. “Everyone kind of agrees that it’s a problem that we need to address. By having this issue out there, it really is driving a lot of bipartisan conversations,” Sarah Rittling, the executive director of the First Five Years Fund advocacy organization, told the AP.Both Democrats and Republicans have at times offered support for expanding the child tax credit, arguing it would be a way to help families. More than 7 in 10 respondents, 72 percent, said they were supportive of increasing the annual child tax credit from $2,000 to $2,500 for parents who are U.S. citizens, according to a Washington Post/Ipsos poll that was released in mid-June. The AP-NORC survey was conducted June 5-9 among 1,158 adults. The margin of error was 4 percentage points.
Trends in Educational Attainment in the U.S. Labor Force - The first graph shows the unemployment rate by four levels of education (all groups are 25 years and older) through June 2025. Note: This is an update to a post from several years ago. Unfortunately, this data only goes back to 1992 and includes only three recessions (the stock / tech bust in 2001, and the housing bust/financial crisis, and the 2020 pandemic). Clearly education matters with regards to the unemployment rate, with the lowest rate for college graduates at 2.5% in June, and highest for those without a high school degree at 5.8% in June. All four groups are slightly above pre-pandemic levels now. Note: This says nothing about the quality of jobs - as an example, a college graduate working at minimum wage would be considered "employed". This brings up an interesting question: What is the composition of the labor force by educational attainment, and how has that been changing over time? Here is some data on the U.S. labor force by educational attainment since 1992. Currently, almost 67 million people (25 and over) in the U.S. labor force have a bachelor's degree or higher. This is 45% of the labor force, up from 26.2% in 1992. This is the only category trending up. "Some college", "high school" and "less than high school" have been trending down. Based on recent trends, probably half the labor force will have at least a bachelor's degree sometime next decade (2030s). Since workers with bachelor's degrees typically have a lower unemployment rate, rising educational attainment has pushed down, by my rough calculation, the unemployment rate by 0.3% to 0.4% over the last 30 years. Also, I'd guess more education would mean less labor turnover, and that education is a factor in lower weekly claims over time. A more educated labor force is a positive for the future.
The ‘big, beautiful’ fight over school choice ends with escape clause for blue states --Republicans quietly passed a first-of-its-kind national school choice program in President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” but celebration among advocates was tempered after the Senate added a provision giving blue states a way out. The Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA) was in turbulent waters throughout the process, at one taken out of the bill due to the Senate parliamentarian and leaving backers on the edge of their seats. Its final form lifts the cap on how much the federal government can spend on the issue, but its opt-in feature means school choice programs might not make new advances in the Democratic-led states supporters have long targeted. “School choice is the civil rights issue of the 21st century. Every child, regardless of race or wealth or ethnicity, deserves access to an excellent education. This tax credit provision will unleash billions of dollars every single year for scholarships for kids to attend the K-12 school of their choice,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said in a speech before the Senate voted to pass the legislation, which President Trump signed Friday. The basic premise of the ECCA is a tax credit that will go to individuals or corporations who donate to nonprofits that offer educational scholarships to students looking for options outside of traditional public schools. The money from the program can go to certain qualified expenses such as tuition, fees, tutoring and supplies for students at public, private or religious schools. It can also cover transportation, room and board and computer equipment. “One thing we should certainly not be doing is creating a two-tier education system in America — private schools for the wealthy and well-connected, and severely underfunded public schools for low-income, disabled and working class kids,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said at a press conference against the reconciliation bill back in June, K-12 Dive reported. “That is not what this country is supposed to be about.”
RFK Jr. bans Head Start, health clinic access for people in US illegally - The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Thursday it was rescinding a nearly 30-year interpretation of legislation that allowed immigrants without legal status to access certain federal public benefits. HHS said it was officially rescinding a 1998 interpretation of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), which allowed immigrants without legal status to access services like community health centers and Head Start, the federal program that provides education, health and nutrition services to low-income families. In fiscal 2022, Head Start provided services to 833,000 children and pregnant women. The PRWORA, passed in 1996, restricted benefit eligibility for immigrants without legal status and many legal immigrants during their first few years in the U.S. But exemptions allowed for states to extend benefits to immigrants without legal status, including programs for public health and emergency services. “For too long, the government has diverted hardworking Americans’ tax dollars to incentivize illegal immigration,” Kennedy said in a statement. “Today’s action changes that—it restores integrity to federal social programs, enforces the rule of law, and protects vital resources for the American people.”
Federal Crackdown Puts Harvard's Accreditation Status In Jeopardy -The Trump administration has significantly escalated its confrontation with Harvard University, warning that the institution may face the loss of its accreditation and moving to compel the university to release records related to its foreign student population. In coordinated actions on Monday, the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services formally notified the New England Commission of Higher Education that Harvard may be in violation of federal anti-discrimination laws and failing to meet the accrediting body’s standards. The agencies cited allegations of unchecked antisemitism during pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus in the wake of the Israel-Hamas conflict. “By allowing anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination to persist unchecked on its campus, Harvard University has failed in its obligation to students, educators, and American taxpayers,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. “The Department of Education expects the New England Commission of Higher Education to enforce its policies and practices, and to keep the Department fully informed of its efforts to ensure that Harvard is in compliance with federal law and accreditor standards.” According to HHS; "In light of HHS’ OCR’s that Harvard University is in violation of Federal civil rights law, there is strong evidence to suggest the school may no longer meet the Commission’s accreditation standards." Separately, the Department of Homeland Security announced it was issuing subpoenas for records related to the university’s Student Visitor and Exchange Program. The department accused Harvard of refusing to comply with multiple prior requests and is now seeking a wide range of documents and communications tied to foreign students enrolled since January 1, 2020. The requests include disciplinary records, protest-related footage, and any documentation of illegal activity involving foreign students, part of what the administration describes as a broader enforcement of immigration laws and oversight of campus unrest. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the administration has also barred Harvard from enrolling new international students until the university complies. “We tried to do things the easy way with Harvard. Now, through their refusal to cooperate, we have to do things the hard way,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement. The clash reflects a broader campaign by President Donald Trump to reshape the American higher education landscape, which he has long criticized as elitist, ideologically captured, and unaccountable to taxpayers. Harvard, the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university, has become a central target in this campaign.
Nearly 1 in 3 adolescents are prediabetic, CDC data shows -More than 30 percent of American teenagers were considered prediabetic in 2023, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).The CDC calculated there were 8.4 million children between the ages of 12 and 17 who were labeled prediabetic — or those whose blood sugar level may be higher than normal — that year, putting them at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes or other health problems like heart disease and stroke. That translates to 32.7 percent of the total adolescent population in the country. The CDC relied on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to reach the findings. The agency asked participants if they had ever been diagnosed with diabetes and to report their fasting blood glucose or hemoglobin A1C levels. Some diabetes experts have taken issue with the CDC’s findings since the organization only released a summary and not any raw data or a peer-reviewed study outlining how it came to its conclusion. The CDC also changed its methodology from a 2020 prediabetes analysis without explaining why. A spokesperson for the agency did not immediately espond to a request for comment from The Hill. “For any of the national health organizations now being decimated by firings (and) layoffs, I am going to be skeptical of data updates until there is transparency and clarity on the source of the data and analysis,” Christopher Gardner, a diabetes expert at Stanford University, told The Associated Press.
People diagnosed with dementia are living longer, global study shows -A person diagnosed with dementia has improved survival outcomes in recent years amid significant progress in dementia diagnosis and care, according to a recent multinational study led by a University of Waterloo researcher.The study analyzed data from more than 1.2 million people over the age of 60 living with dementia in eight global regions between 2000 and 2018. It found that in five of those regions, including Ontario, a lower risk of death exists today than in previous years.The paper, "A multinational cohort study of trends in survival following dementia diagnosis," is published in the journal Communications Medicine."Dementia is a global public health priority," said Dr. Hao Luo, assistant professor in the School of Public Health Sciences and lead author of the study."Understanding how survival among people living with dementia varies over time and across health systems can help policymakers assess its real-world impact on health and social care services."She said the increase in survival probability is likely due to factors such as progress in dementia prevention and care in recent years, as well as more effective drug treatments and psychosocial interventions tailored to an individual's needs."Knowledge of survival after the diagnosis of dementia is important for people living with dementia and their family members for making informed decisions about the subsequent care arrangement, for clinicians to improve their prognosis and care for people living with dementia and for policymakers to improve estimation of the real-world disease burden currently carried by health systems," Luo said. Of the eight regions in the study (Ontario, United Kingdom, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Finland, Germany and New Zealand), only New Zealand showed an increase in the risk of death following the first hospital record of dementia diagnosis. Data from Finland and Germany were inconclusive.
Ultra-processed foods linked to higher chronic disease risks, even at low intake - Even in moderation, consumption of ultra-processed foods is linked with measurable increases in risk for chronic diseases, according to research from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. Processed meat, sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), and trans fatty acids (TFAs) were associated with an increased disease risk, such as type 2 diabetes, ischemic heart disease (IHD), and colorectal cancer. Estimates suggest that diets high in processed meat contributed to nearly 300,000 deaths worldwide in 2021, while diets rich in sugar-sweetened beverages and trans fats accounted for millions of disability-adjusted life years. Processed meats preserved through smoking, curing or chemical additives often contain compounds such as N-nitroso agents, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and heterocyclic amines—compounds implicated in tumor development. Sugar-sweetened beverages remain the primary dietary source of added sugars in many populations, contributing to weight gain, cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk. Artificial trans fats, created to solidify vegetable oils, have been associated with systemic inflammation and coronary heart disease. In the study, "Health effects associated with consumption of processed meat, sugar-sweetened beverages and trans fatty acids: a Burden of Proof study," published in Nature Medicine, researchers applied Burden of Proof meta-regression methods to evaluate the associations between processed meat, sugar-sweetened beverages and trans fatty acidsand the risk of type 2 diabetes, ischemic heart disease and colorectal cancer. For processed meat and type 2 diabetes, the analysis included 15 cohort studies and one nested case-control study, representing 1,115,885 participants and 64,607 diabetes events. Processed meat and IHD analyses incorporated 11 cohort studies with 1,173,821 participants and 31,549 IHD events. Processed meat consumption between 0.6 grams per day and 57 grams per day was associated with at least an 11% higher average risk of type 2 diabetes compared with no consumption. Relative risk of developing type 2 diabetes was estimated at 1.30 at a daily intake of 50 grams. Consumption between 0.78 grams per day and 55 grams per day was associated with a 7% higher average risk of colorectal cancer. Sugar-sweetened beverage intake between 1.5 grams per day and 390 grams per day was associated with at least an 8% higher average risk of type 2 diabetes. Trans fatty acid consumption between 0.25% and 2.56% of daily energy intake was associated with at least a 3% higher average risk of IHD. Risk increased continuously at every level of consumption, with the steepest increases occurring at low habitual intake, approximately equivalent to one serving or less daily.
Adult childhood cancer survivors at 58% higher risk for severe COVID, report suggests Adult survivors of childhood cancer may remain at elevated risk for severe COVID-19 for decades after their cancer diagnosis, a Karolinska Institutet-led research team writes inThe Lancet Regional Health–Europe. The study, published late last week, used Danish and Swedish registry data to compare rates of COVID-19 infection and severe cases among 13,659 childhood cancer survivors diagnosed before age 20 with those of their 17,531 siblings and 58,803 community controls from 2020 through 2022. All participants were at least 20 years old when the pandemic began, with an average age of about 41 at study enrollment.Advanced diagnostic tests and progress in the treatment of childhood cancers have improved survival substantially, with 5-year-survival exceeding 85% in high-income countries, the study authors noted. "However, these survivors represent a vulnerable group, with a markedly higher risk of chronic health conditions and premature mortality compared to the general population," they wrote.While childhood cancer survivors were at lower risk for COVID-19 infection than controls (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.91), they were at higher risk for severe outcomes (hospitalization, intensive care unit admission, or death) if they were infected (aHR, 1.58). Stratified analyses revealed a notable increase in risk among cancer survivors aged 50 years or older at baseline (aHR, 1.85), survivors of solid tumors (aHR, 1.63), and those who received a cancer diagnosis at age 15 years or older (aHR, 2.28). The risk of severe outcomes was especially pronounced during periods of widespread community spread, such as at the beginning of the pandemic and after the emergence of highly transmissible variants like Alpha in 2020 and Omicron in 2021. The risk was also higher among those who lived in Sweden (aHR, 1.65), which relied on disease-mitigation recommendations and limited school closures rather than the early and stringent restrictions (eg, lockdowns, school closures) implemented in Denmark and elsewhere in Europe. "Our results suggest that childhood cancer survivors should be considered a risk group in future pandemics or other health crises," lead author Javier Louro, PhD, said in a Karolinska Institutet press release. "This could involve prioritising them for vaccination or offering special protection during periods of high transmission."
FDA approves Moderna COVID vaccine for kids under 12 at higher risk -- Vaccine maker Moderna announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted full approval of its Spikevax (mRNA-1273) COVID vaccine for children 6 months to 11 years old. But, because federal officials in May restricted its recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines to adults 65 and older and to people of all ages who are at increased risk for severe disease, Spikevax will be available only to kids in that age range who are at higher risk. "COVID-19 continues to pose a significant potential threat to children, especially those with underlying medical conditions. Vaccination can be an important tool for protecting our youngest against severe disease and hospitalization," said Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel, MBA, MEng. "We appreciate the FDA's diligent scientific review and approval of Spikevax for pediatric populations at increased risk for COVID-19 disease.""Moderna expects to have its updated Spikevax vaccine available for eligible populations in the U.S. for the 2025-2026 respiratory virus season," the Moderna news release states.Spikevax first received full FDA approval in January 2022 in adults after being available on an emergency use basis earlier in the pandemic. Last year the FDA expanded the approval to people 12 years and older. On May 31 the FDA approved Moderna's next-generation mRNA COVID vaccine, called mNexspike (mRNA-1283). It targets a portion of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein for virus neutralization, allowing for a dose that's one fifth the size of Spikevax. It will be available for the upcoming 2025-26 respiratory virus season to seniors and those 12 to 64 years who are at risk of severe COVID-19.Both vaccines are based on JN.1 lineage strains, which in May the FDA approved for use this coming season.
Measles outbreak: US sees record number of cases The United States has broken its record for the highest number of measles cases in the country since the disease was eliminated in 2000. It comes amid falling childhood vaccination rates and a rise in anti-vaccine sentiment fueled by lingering COVID-era distrust in public health authorities and a strengthening anti-vaccine movement. Just halfway through the year, at least 1,277 cases have been confirmed across 38 states and the District of Columbia, according to data from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Outbreak Response Innovation. That’s the most since 1992 and surpasses the previous record of 1,274 cases from all of 2019. Experts say this year’s cases are likely severely undercounted because many are going unreported. There have been at least 155 hospitalizations and three confirmed deaths from measles this year, including two otherwise healthy but unvaccinated children in Texas. A third death was reported in New Mexico in an unvaccinated adult who tested positive after dying. Only three measles deaths were reported between 2001 and 2024, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Measles was officially eliminated in 2000 due to a highly effective vaccination program, meaning there has not been continuous transmission for more than a year at a time. But vaccinations have waned, and that status could be threatened.
US measles cases hit highest level since disease was eliminated in 2000 -Measles cases in the United States have reached their highest level in 25 years, with more than 1,270 confirmed cases this year. That number surpasses the last record of 1,274 cases set in 2019, according to new data from Johns Hopkins University. Experts suspect the true number may be much higher, since many cases go unreported. So far this year, three people in the U.S. have died from measles: Two children in Texas and one adult in New Mexico. All of them were unvaccinated, CNN reported. "With an ongoing measles outbreak and routine child vaccination rates declining, this move will further fuel the spread of vaccine-preventable illnesses," said Dr. Bruce A. Scott, president of the American Medical Association. Measles—one of the world's most contagious diseases—was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, due to widespread use of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. The new cases dovetail with a significant drop in vaccination rates. The biggest outbreak, more than 750 cases so far, started in West Texas in January. Gaines County, where the outbreak began, has one of the lowest childhood vaccination rates in the state. Nearly 1 in 4 kindergartners there did not get their required measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) shot during the 2024–25 school year. The outbreak has also spread to nearby areas in New Mexico and Oklahoma, and may be linked to cases in Kansas as well.
Measles reaches highest number since elimination. Start of a Covid wave? Incoming Medicaid cuts, GAVI, and some good news - Katelyn Jetelina, Your Local Epidemiologist - Well, it finally happened. Over the weekend, the U.S. reached 1,281 measles cases in 2025—the highest number since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000, and the most we’ve seen since 1992 (when there were 2,126 cases).We’ve managed to keep measles at bay for decades thanks to high vaccination rates. But those rates are slipping, and since measles is the most contagious virus on Earth, it’s often the first to resurge when vaccination coverage declines. Interestingly, measles also flares up every four to five years for decades (even before vaccinations) for reasons we epidemiologists don’t know. A high case count doesn’t automatically mean the U.S. loses its measles elimination status. We would only lose that designation if an outbreak lasts more than 12 months. Currently, we’re about halfway to losing elimination status, thanks to a large West Texas outbreak that began in January and is still simmering. Covid-19 levels remain low overall, but we may be seeing early signs of a summer wave. Wastewater data—an early and reliable indicator of community spread—is sending mixed signals. CDC’s wastewater data hasn’t shifted much, but another source, WastewaterSCAN, is showing a rise across all U.S. regions (see below). In some states, such as Nevada and Texas, levels are increasing in both datasets. Another early indicator—the number of positive tests—has also begun increasing. Will we see a national summer wave? I’d be surprised if we didn’t. Three forces usually drive a surge:
- Weather/humidity and human behavior (more indoor time during summer heat)
- Waning immunity (it’s the highest it’s ever been following a mild winter wave and minimal vaccination rates)
- Variants (Covid-19 keeps mutating. The latest Omicron descendant [NB.1.8.1] is circulating but not spreading as quickly as it did in other countries)
Typically, the U.S. follows Europe’s lead, and in the U.K., Covid-19 cases were increasing slightly, but they have now started to decrease, resulting in a wimpy summer wave thus far. This may suggest that the U.S. will not experience a significant summer wave either. However, these days it’s so hard to compare across countries given different landscapes. (For example, in the U.K. more than 60% get vaccinated for Covid compared to US’s 25%.) Last week, Congress passed the largest health care cuts in U.S. history. Nearly $1 trillion will be cut over the next ten years. Instead of building a future where we prevent disease, feed children, reduce medical debt, and help people live longer, this bill takes us in the opposite direction.Millions will lose coverage. Hundreds of hospitals may shut down, particularly in rural areas, with up to 400 at risk. (Hover over the map below to see the number in your state.) One in four nursing homes could also close. Together, this will result in an expected 50,000 people dying each year from preventable causes. There’s been a striking lack of clear, plain-language explanations about what’s actually in the bill. Even headlines like “11 million may lose health insurance” don’t explain how or why. I’ll be back Wednesday with a “translation.”RFK Jr. announced that the U.S. will no longer financially support GAVI, the global vaccine alliance. This is a direct hit to one of the most effective public health partnerships in modern history.GAVI—the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization—was created in 2000 to solve a very specific problem: vaccines were being developed, but the poorest countries couldn’t afford them, and manufacturers had no financial incentive to serve those markets. GAVI stepped in to bridge this gap. By pooling donor funding and purchasing vaccines in bulk, GAVI makes them affordable and accessible in countries where disease outbreaks are most deadly and health systems are weakest.Thanks to GAVI, more than 1 billion children in low- and middle-income countries have been vaccinated, and more than 17 million lives have been saved. Today, GAVI helps vaccinate nearly half the world’s children. It is one of the clearest examples of what successful, coordinated global health action looks like.Yet in his justification, RFK Jr. barely mentions any of this. Instead, he used the announcement to cast doubt on vaccines. He cited a flawed 2017 observational study to claim that DPT (Diphtheria, Pertussis, and Tetanus) vaccines increase mortality in girls, ignoring confounding, biases, and the fact that more rigorous follow-up studies—including studies by the same researchers—found no such effect. Their 2022 conclusion: “We did not find that DTP was associated with increased female mortality.” The U.S. provided about 13% of GAVI’s budget (second highest contributor behind the U.K.). The funding was already appropriated through 2030, and it doesn’t even flow through HHS—it’s part of the State Department’s foreign aid. But apparently, process and procedure no longer matter. The Gates Foundation has since pledged $1.6 billion to help fill the gap, but it is likely not enough.
Kansas, North Dakota, New Jersey record more measles cases --Three states have reported new measles cases over the past few days, including Kansas, with four more cases, all linked to an outbreak in the southwestern part of the state. In a July 9 update, theKansas Department of Health and Environment upped the state's total to 87 cases, of which 84 are linked to the outbreak. The outbreak that began in January was initially tied to the large outbreak in West Texas. So far, outbreak-related cases have been reported in nine counties in Kansas, but five have gone 42 days with no new cases.Elsewhere, North Dakota Health and Human Services reported one more case, boosting the state's total to 35 and marking the state's first since late May. Health officials noted potential exposures at a gas station in Valley City and at two locations in Willison. A local media report, citing the health department, said the case is in Williams County and that the patient is unvaccinated and had traveled out of state.The New Jersey Department of Health yesterday confirmed a case in an Ocean County resident, though limited information is available and the state isn't ' experiencing an outbreak. Health officials are working with their local partners on contact tracing and notifying people who may have been exposed.The new cases are part of a national surge fueled by multiple factors, including a large outbreak in West Texas, illnesses related to international travel, and a growing number of unvaccinated people. This week the nation reached a new post-elimination high of 1,288 cases
New data reveal impact of RSV on kids with chronic conditions, plus high adult exposure -Two new studies demonstrate the impact of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in different populations, with one showing that children with chronic medical conditions (CMCs) affecting multiple body systems have the highest rate of RSV hospitalization, and a second showing that more than 8 in 10 adults have had RSV exposure. The first study was published this week in JAMA Network Open and involved 431,937 children followed up for a median of 2 years. It included 25,452 kids with at least one CMC.For the retrospective, population-based study, researchers analyzed data on children who were born from April 1, 2013, to March 31, 2023, in British Columbia and were enrolled in the provincial medical service plan and followed up until the day before their third RSV season or April 1, 2024, whichever came first.The investigators found that those with CMCs had more than triple the rate of needing hospital care for RSV. In the second RSV season, the RSV hospitalization rate per 1,000 person-years for children with CMCs was 7.8 (95% confidence interval [CI], 6.7 to 8.8), compared to 2.2 (95% CI, 2.1 to 2.3) for those without CMCs. Kids with multisystem CMCs, particularly those affecting the respiratory, cardiovascular, or gastrointestinal systems, had second-season RSV hospitalization rates that were at least double the rate among all children in the first season. Second-season rates among children with Down syndrome or those who were born prematurely were fivefold higher than for all children in the first season."Children with CMCs had higher RSV hospitalization rates than healthy children during their first 2 RSV seasons," the study authors concluded. "Hospitalization rates in the second RSV season among children with CMCs were similar to rates among all children in their first season."Therefore, long-acting monoclonal antibody prophylaxis may be warranted for a second season among children with CMCs if a universal monoclonal antibody program is considered warranted during the first season."For the second study, published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, Mayo Clinic scientists randomly selected specimens from 475 adults (ages 27 to 99) from a Mayo Clinic blood repository and tested the samples for antibodies against RSV. They also assessed 40 patients with documented RSV infection and 71 who had recently been immunized against RSV, for a total cohort of 586 patients.Among the group from the blood bank, 83.8% tested positive for RSV antibodies, with men having significantly higher antibody titers than women. Not surprisingly, higher rates of antibodies were detected in those recently infected (97.5%) or vaccinated (95.8%).The study also showed a significant increase in antibody titers following the RSV season, providing evidence of recent unrecognized infection.
Mpox cases rise in handful of Africa's outbreak countries - Though cases are falling in two of the region's high-burden countries, officials from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) are tracking rises in several other nations, including Burundi, Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, and Guinea, a top official said today. At the agency's weekly briefing, Yap Boum, PhD, MPH, deputy incident manager for Africa CDC's mpox response, said 23 African countries have reported outbreaks this year, and 18 of them are still active. He emphasized that outbreak dynamics vary by country, reflecting differences in clades, affected populations, outbreak measures, and health behaviors. Cases have been steadily declining in Sierra Leone—where community healthcare workers are making headway with contact tracing and vaccination—and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Boum added that health workers in several countries face the challenge of measles outbreaks occurring alongside mpox circulation, with diseases initially having similar symptoms. Infections in the DRC, Uganda, and Sierra Leone made up 74% of all cases in Africa last week, a proportion that has dropped as cases rise in other affected nations.He said Sierra Leone has made strong progress with mpox vaccination, with more than 120,000 people immunized so far, but vaccine shortages now limit expansion to other high-burden countries. Resurgence in Burundi, which saw early success after emerging as one of the continent's hot spots, is partly related to public perception that the outbreak is over, Baum said, adding that more risk communication efforts are needed to counteract that message. He also said stepped-up surveillance is needed to track down all chains of transmission.Circulation is occurring in 7 of Burundi's 46 districts, especially in Bujumbura North.Uganda, also experiencing resurgence, reported a 60% rise in cases last week. Kampala reported about half of the cases, which partly reflects increased active surveillance. Boum said outbreaks are also flaring in Wakiso and Masaka City. Elsewhere, Ghana reported a doubling of cases in the last reporting week, which he said is quite concerning. As in other West African countries, clade 2 is circulating. Ghana's Western Region is most affected, making up 54.6% of all confirmed cases.Kenya reported its highest weekly total since its outbreak began last summer, as responders face challenges in tracking cases in the community. Boum said circulation of the virus in Kenya has now moved beyond the northern transport corridor, where most of the infections involved truck drivers, sex workers, and businesspeople, which signifies wider community transmission. Elsewhere, Liberia has reported an upward trend over the past 2 weeks, with 43% of cases in Montserrado. Test positivity is up sharply, from 37% to 79% over the past 2 weeks. Similarly, Guinea has reported rising cases over the past 4 weeks, with most of the confirmed cases in Conakry and Kindia regions.
Health regulator issues warning as vaccine given to millions is linked to debilitating illness -- NHS staff must now warn patients of a rare neurological reaction linked to a new vaccine given to millions of pensioners and pregnant women after a string of cases.The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued the alert for two versions of a jab that protects against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). This alert was issued after reports of 21 patients—all over 60—developing Guillain-Barré syndrome after being vaccinated. Guillain-Barré syndrome is a rare but serious neurological disorder which needs urgent treatment in hospital to prevent it progressing. It can affect people's senses, movement, breathing and heartbeat and usual starts in the arms and legs before spreading to other areas. The alert doesn't mean the jab has been withdrawn, just that staff need to inform patients of the link so any who develop the reaction get the help they need as soon as possible. In fact, experts said the benefits of being protected against RSV, which kills 8,000 adults and 100 babies each year and hospitalises many more, outweighs the small risk of Guillain-Barre syndrome, so it is still recommended to get it if offered. The MHRA issued the alert for both the Abrysvo RSV jab—made by Pfizer of Covid vaccine fame—and another RSV jab called Arexvy, made by GSK. Abrysvo is available in the NHS while latter is available privately. The MHRA alert reads: 'Healthcare professionals should advise all recipients of Abrysvo and Arexvy that they should be alert to signs and symptoms of Guillain-Barré syndrome and, if they occur, to seek immediate medical attention as it requires urgent treatment in hospital.' While warnings that the jab may cause the syndrome are included in patient safety information leaflets NHS staff will now have to warn patients directly. The watchdog's warning follows a similar one issued by US health chiefs who in January. Like UK experts, American officials also said while awareness of the risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome was important taking jab if eligible was still recommended. Symptoms of Guillain-Barré syndrome can include tingling, numbness or pins and needles in feet and hands, muscle weakness and difficulty moving joints. There may also be problems breathing and drooping face muscles or trouble swallowing or speaking. Up to June 2, the MHRA has received 21 Yellow Card reports of suspected Guillain-Barré syndrome in older adults, aged 75-79 where known, after they were given an Abrysvo vaccine. This out of almost 2million doses of Abrysvo administered, it said. The MHRA has not received any Yellow Card reports of Guillain-Barré syndrome following Arexvy, however it noted there has been very limited use of this vaccine in the UK to date. The 'Yellow Card' scheme allows officials to track potential adverse reactions to medications approved for use in the UK and spot emerging patterns.
First-trimester antibiotic use for urinary tract infections tied to more congenital malformations - A study of more than 70,000 US pregnancies suggests a commonly used antibiotic for urinary tract infections (UTIs) may be tied to increased risk of congenital malformations when taken during the first trimester of pregnancy.The study, published today in JAMA Network Open, found that exposure to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) during the first trimester was associated with increased risk of any malformation, severe cardiac and other cardiac malformations, and cleft lip and palate compared with beta-lactam antibiotics. No increased risk of congenital malformations was observed with nitrofurantoin, which is also commonly used to treat UTIs. The study partly substantiates the concerns of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), which has suggested that TMP-SMX and nitrofurantoin be avoided during the first trimester when possible because of uncertainty about the risk of congenital malformations, though studies to date have produced mixed results. Despite the ACOG recommendation, the two antibiotics still account for more than half of first-trimester UTI prescriptions, according to the study authors. UTIs are one of the more common infections that occur during pregnancy, affecting roughly 8% of pregnancies. To assess associations with increased risk of congenital malformations, the study used beta-lactams as the active comparator because beta-lactams are widely accepted as safe during pregnancy.Of the 71,604 pregnancies that met the inclusion criteria, 42,402 (59.2%) had first-trimester exposure to nitrofurantoin, 3,494 (4.9%) to TMP-SMX, 3,663 (5.1%) to fluoroquinolones, and 22,045 (30.8%) to beta-lactams. The median age of pregnant individuals was 30, and patient characteristics were similar across agents. The median gestational age differed by antibiotic (nitrofurantoin, 62 days; TMP-SMX, 26 days; fluoroquinolones, 18 days; beta-lactams, 63 days). A total of 1,518 infants had malformations, including 729 with cardiac malformations. The unadjusted absolute risk of any malformation was 26.9 per 1,000 infants for TMP-SMX, 23.5/1,000 infants for fluoroquinolones, 21.2/1,000 infants for nitrofurantoin, and 19.8/1,000 infants for beta-lactams. After adjustments were made for potential confounders—including demographic characteristics, comorbidities, concomitant medications, and measures of healthcare use—TMP-SMX-exposed pregnancies had a 35% higher risk of any malformation compared with those exposed to beta-lactams (risk ratio [RR], 1.35; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04 to 1.75). In the analysis of organ-specific malformations, TMP-SMX was associated with increased risk of severe cardiac malformations (RR, 2.09; 95% CI, 1.09 to 3.99) and other cardiac malformations (RR, 1.52; 95% CI, 1.02 to 2.25) on a relative scale compared with beta-lactams. The risk of cleft lip and palate was more than triple (RR, 3.23; 95% CI, 1.44 to 7.22) among TMP-SMX-exposed pregnancies.
Study hints doxyPEP use coincides with rise in tetracycline-resistant gonorrhea in US --A genomic analysis of US gonorrhea isolates shows a dramatic increase in tetracycline resistance.In a letter published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and the University of Georgia reported that their analysis of more than 14,000 publicly availableNeisseria gonorrhoeae genome sequences collected through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's N gonorrhoeae surveillance system from 2018 through 2024 show that the percentage of isolates carrying the tetMresistance gene rose from 10% in 2020 to more than 30% in 2024. The tetM gene confers high-level resistance to tetracycline antibiotics.The analysis also found that the number of large tetM-carrying N gonorrhoeae lineages increased from one to four over the period. The researchers suggest that increased use of doxycycline for treatment of chlamydia infections and for doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxyPEP) may be playing a role."The increase in tetM prevalence in 2020 coincided with the shift away from azithromycin and toward doxycycline for treatment of chlamydia, and the increase that started in the summer of 2022 coincided with the reporting of the results of the DoxyPEP trial," the researchers wrote, citing a conferenceabstract. The highest prevalence of tetM-carrying N gonorrhoeae was in the Pacific Northwest. Seattle was also one of two cities (along with San Francisco) in which a large randomized clinical trial of doxyPEP was conducted. It was among the earliest adopters of doxyPEP for the prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) for high-risk groups.m The doxyPEP trial, conducted from August 2020 to May 2022, found that taking a dose of doxycycline within 72 hours of unprotected sex significantly reduced incidence of chlamydia and syphilis by 88% and 87%, respectively, and gonorrhea by 55% in men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women. Public health departments in San Francisco and Seattle began recommending the strategy for these groups shortly after the trial results were announced in the summer of 2022.The data from the doxyPEP trial and other clinical trials formed the evidence base for the CDC's recommendation of doxyPEP for gay, bisexual, and other MSM and transgender women in June 2024. Agency officials hailed it as the first new prevention tool against STIs in decades.To date, several studies have shown doxyPEP to be highly effective in real-world settings against chlamydia and syphilis and moderately effective against gonorrhea. But the new study is the latest to add to concerns that doxyPEP use may be promoting tetracycline resistance in gonorrhea—a result that even proponents of the strategy have said needs to be monitored.
Study estimates 74% efficacy of shingles vaccine in patients over 50 -Two doses of the adjuvanted recombinant shingles vaccine (Shingrix) are an estimated 74% effective against herpes zoster infection and 84% effective against postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) in US adults ages 50 and older, according to interim results from a real-world study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.Shingles is a painful rash caused by reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus, which causes chickenpox. PHN, or nerve pain that lingers after the shingles rash resolves, occurs in 10% to 18% of shingles patients.Researchers from Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KPSC) and shingles vaccine maker GSK matched older KPSC patients who received one or two vaccine doses from April 2018 to December 2020 in a 1:4 ratio with unvaccinated participants, with 2 years of follow-up. A total of 102,766 participants received two doses, and 192,984 received one dose.The median patient age was 68 years, 59.0% were women, 57.1% were White, 17.8% were Hispanic, and 46.7% had previously received the now-discontinued live zoster vaccine.Rates of herpes zoster per 1,000 person-years were 9.2 in unvaccinated and 2.6 in two-dose vaccinees. The incidence of PHN per 1,000 person-years was 0.5 in unvaccinated and 0.1 in two-dose recipients.The adjusted vaccine effectiveness (aVE) of two shingles vaccine doses was 73.9% (95% confidence interval [CI], 71.8% to 75.8%) against herpes zoster infection. aVE was 83.7% (95% CI, 75.1% to 89.3%) against PHN. VE against both conditions was stable for at least 4 years after vaccination.One dose of vaccine was 60.3% (95% CI, 56.4% to 63.9%) against herpes zoster and 45.6% (11.4% to 66.6%) against PHN..
Scientist's cat, again, helps discover new virus --Pepper, the pet cat who made headlines last year for his role in the discovery of the first jeilongvirus found in the U.S., is at it again. This time, his hunting prowess has contributed to the identification of a new strain of orthoreovirus. John Lednicky, Ph.D., Pepper's owner and a University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions virologist, took Pepper's catch—a dead Everglades short-tailed shrew—into the lab for testing as part of his ongoing work to understand transmission of the mule deerpox virus.Testing revealed the shrew had a previously unidentified strain of orthoreovirus. Viruses in this genus are known to infect humans, white-tailed deer, bats and other mammals. While orthoreoviruses' effects on humans are not yet well understood, there have been rare reports of the virus being associated with cases of encephalitis, meningitis and gastroenteritis in children. "The bottom line is we need to pay attention to orthoreoviruses, and know how to rapidly detect them," said Lednicky, a member of UF's Emerging Pathogens Institute. The UF team has published the complete genomic coding sequences for the virus they named "Gainesville shrew mammalian orthoreovirus type 3 strain UF-1" in the journal Microbiology Resource Announcements. "There are many different mammalian orthoreoviruses, and not enough is known about this recently identified virus to be concerned," said the paper's lead author, Emily DeRuyter, a UF Ph.D. candidate in One Health. "Mammalian orthoreoviruses were originally considered to be 'orphan' viruses, present in mammals including humans, but not associated with diseases. More recently, they have been implicated in respiratory, central nervous system and gastrointestinal diseases." The Lednicky lab's jeilongvirus and orthoreovirus discoveries come on the heels of the team publishing their discovery of two other novel viruses found in farmed white-tailed deer. Given the propensity of viruses to constantly evolve, paired with the team's sophisticated lab techniques, finding new viruses isn't entirely surprising, Lednicky said. "I'm not the first one to say this, but essentially, if you look, you'll find, and that's why we keep finding all these new viruses," Lednicky said. Like the influenza virus, two different types of orthoreovirus can infect a host cell, causing the viruses' genes to mix and match, in essence, creating a brand-new virus, Lednicky said."This was an opportunistic study," Lednicky said. "If you come across a dead animal, why not test it instead of just burying it? There is a lot of information that can be gained."
Screening all patients for hepatitis C testing in ED may find more cases than targeted approach A new randomized clinical trial conducted at three US emergency departments (EDs) concludes that screening all adults for hepatitis C virus (HCV) testing identifies significantly more cases than screening based on individual patient risk, although low proportions sought treatment.Researchers in Denver; Baltimore; and Jackson, Mississippi, randomly assigned 147,498 patients to receive nontargeted HCV screening or risk-based screening, with 18 months of follow-up. Screening is critical because most HCV infections cause no symptoms and thus go undetected, the authors noted. EDs "have been a focus of screening efforts, as they serve large numbers of at-risk patients who commonly do not access health care elsewhere," they wrote. The team published their findings yesterday in JAMA. Relative to targeted HCV screening, nontargeted screening found a significantly higher incidence of HCV infections (relative risk, 1.34). Nontargeted screening of 73,847 patients led to 9,867 (13.4%) tested for HCV, yielding 154 new diagnoses. Targeted screening of 73,651 patients identified 23,400 (31.8%) high-risk patients, resulting in 4,640 (6.3%) patients tested and 115 diagnoses. Yet only small percentages of patients with diagnoses sought follow-up care (19.5% nontargeted and 24.3% targeted), started direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment (15.6% and 17.4%, respectively), completed DAA treatment (12.3% and 12.2%), and achieved a sustained virologic response by 12 weeks (SVR12; 9.1% and 9.6%).
Rare plague death reported in Arizona -- An Arizona resident died on Friday from the pneumonic plague, Coconino County officials said. The infection is caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium. Arizona health officials clarified that the death is unrelated to a recent prairie dog die-off in the Townsend-Winona area, located northeast of Flagstaff. "This is the first recorded death from Pneumonic plague in Coconino County since 2007 when an individual had an interaction with a dead animal infected with the disease," the state said in a statement. Plague is rare in humans and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that an average of seven human plague cases are reported per year. "Our hearts go out to the family and friends of the deceased," Patrice Horstman, the chair of the Coconino County Board of Supervisors said. "We are keeping them in our thoughts during this difficult time. Out of respect for the family, no additional information about the death will be released." Public health officials say that people should avoid contact with wild animals; avoid fleas; report prairie dog die-offs; prevent rodent infestations; seek veterinary care for sik pets; and be aware that cats are highly susceptible to plague. Symptoms of plague in humans include:
- Fever
- Chills
- Headache
- Weakness
- Muscle Pain
Nipah virus infects 2 more in India, 1 fatally -- Tests have identified Nipah virus in two patients from India’s Kerala state, one of them an 18-year-old woman from Malappuram district who died from her infection after treatment in a hospital in Kozhikode district, according to an Indian media report that cited health department officials.Samples from the girl were positive on initial tests, and the infection was confirmed in follow-up testing at the National Institute of Virology in Pune. A second Nipah infection was reported in a 38-year-old woman from neighboring Palakkad district. Authorities conducted enhanced surveillance in 20 wards in Malappuram district to enhance awareness and identify a potential source of the first infection. No other illnesses were found. A source told the news outlet that there are no known epidemiologic connections between the two patients, but officials are looking into the possibility of a common social event that might link the cases.State health officials said 425 contacts have been identified, including five who are receiving intensive care. Test results on another contact were negative.India reported its last Nipah virus case in May, which marked the country’s seventh case in Kerala state since 2018. The woman was from the same district as the new fatal case. Nipah virus is spread by fruit bats and can be transmitted person-to-person. People can also contract the virus from drinking palm sap or eating fruit contaminated with bat urine, droppings, or saliva. The disease has a high case-fatality rate, and currently there are no specific treatments or vaccine, though trials are under way. Kerala state, located on India’s southwestern coast, has been the country's hot spot for the virus.
Quick takes: CDC H5N1 screening guidance, diphtheria risk in Europe | CIDRAP
- The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday published clinical guidance on evaluating patients for H5N1 avian flu infections, which covers treatment and post-exposure prophylaxis. It advised clinicians to consider H5N1 in patients who have acute respiratory illness symptoms or conjunctivitis and relevant exposure history; this includes unprotected contact with sick or dead birds, livestock, or other animals or their environments within 10 days of patient symptom onset. Exposure also includes consuming uncooked or undercooked food products such as raw milk or other dairy products made with raw milk. Such patients should be referred for prompt medical evaluation and testing and should be offered prophylactic antiviral treatment with oseltamivir as soon as possible.
- Though diphtheria cases in Europe have declined since a large outbreak in 2022, transmission continues, with levels higher than before 2020, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said today in an updated risk assessment. It warned that continued circulation ofCorynebacterium diphtheriae may affect some vulnerable populations, which include homeless people, those in transitional housing, migrants, and people who use and inject drugs. Since the end of 2022, six European countries have reported 82 cases caused by one of the genetic sequences involved in the 2022 outbreak. They include Austria, Czechia, Germany, Norway, Poland, and Switzerland. The ECDC said the risk to the general public is low due to high vaccination coverage but is moderate for groups vulnerable to infection. The rarity of cases and the many ways that diphtheria can present can make it hard for clinicians to identify infections, the group said. “It is essential to increase awareness of diphtheria among clinicians and those working with vulnerable populations to ensure that diphtheria is properly diagnosed and treated, and that cases are notified to public health authorities.”
CDC streamlines H5N1 avian flu reporting -The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday that it is streamlining its H5N1 avian flu updates to reflect the current public health situation, marked by declines in human cases as well as animal detections.The CDC said it will continue to report any new human H5 flu cases on its H5N1 situation page and in its weekly FluView updates. Also, it will switch to monthly reporting of people monitored and tested for bird flu, which currently stands at more than 18,600 people monitored after exposure to infected animals and more than 880 tested after exposure to sick animals. Of 70 human cases reported in the United States over the past few years, 64 were detected during targeted surveillance and 6 were found through national flu surveillance. The CDC said it will update national flu surveillance data on the first Friday of every month. Currently, more than 201,714 specimens have been tested through the system, which would have flagged H5 or other novel flu viruses.In another change, the CDC said it will no longer report animal detections on its main H5N1 page, noting that the updates are posted on the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS) avian flu page.New outbreaks have slowed during the warm-weather months. The most recent detection reported by APHIS is an outbreak at a commercial game bird farm in Pennsylvania's Lancaster County that has 29,300 birds. The detection was confirmed on July 2. The last detection in dairy cattle was on June 24, which involved a herd in Arizona, putting the nation's total at 1,074 since March 2024.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) today published new clinical guidance for treating four arboviral diseases: dengue, chikungunya, Zika, and yellow fever. The resource for clinicians treating patients with suspected or confirmed infections is the first that covers all four diseases. Arbovirus infections are a growing public health threat, putting 5.6 billion people at risk, the WHO said in a statement. The diseases are spreading to new areas and increasing the risk of outbreaks beyond tropical and subtropical regions owing to multiple factors that include climate change, population growth, and increased travel and urbanization. Mainland France, for example, is battling chikungunya outbreaks in seven departments, according to the latest weekly communicable disease updatefrom the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. For clinicians, diagnosing the diseases can be challenging, because symptoms for the four often overlap and resemble other diseases, and multiple arboviruses can co-circulate.
- The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has reported four more H5N1 avian flu detections in wild and captive mammals, two of them with recent sample collection dates. One involves a domestic cat from New Jersey's Mercer County that was sampled on June 30, with testing that revealed an H5 result on July 3. Another with a June collection date is a raccoon from Parmer County in Texas. The other detections involve two raccoons, one in Bronx County, New York, that was sampled in January and one in Randall County, Texas, that was sampled in March.
- Within 2 weeks of the start of a phased reopening of livestock imports at the southern US border, the USDA this week reversed the move, following new evidence that the New World screwworm (NWS) threat is spreading northward. The USDA is working on a plan to raise and release more sterile flies to curb the northward spread of NWS, which can lead to cattle loss and sporadic infections in people. Mexico's agriculture ministry this week reported a new case in a part of Veracruz state that is about 160 miles north of the current sterile-fly zone. The detection is 370 miles from the US border. In May, two earlier detections that were less than 700 miles away triggered the initial southern border closures to the import of Mexican cattle, bison, and horses.
Quick takes: More H5N1 in dairy cattle, US COVID wastewater uptick, polio in Pakistan | CIDRAP
- Though H5N1 avian flu detections in US dairy cattle have tailed off over the past few months, sporadic positives continue to be reported, including a new detection in a herd from California, the state's first since early June, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed today. The new positive from California raises the national total to 1,075 herds in 17 states.
- Wastewater detections of SARS-CoV-2 crept up from very low to the low level last week, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today. Though virus activity remains low across the nation this summer, the region with the highest levels continues to shift and is now the West. In the previous week it was the South.
- Pakistan reported another wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV 1) infection last week, according to the latestweekly update from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). The patient, from North Waziristan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, had a June 10 paralysis onset. Pakistan, one of the two countries with endemic WPV1 activity, has now reported 14 cases this year. Afghanistan, the other endemic country, reported three more environmental detections of WPV1. They were collected in May in Kandahar, Uruzgan, and Hilmand provinces.
Chagas disease–carrying kissing bugs establish new base in Florida homes -Kissing bugs that carry the parasite for Chagas disease, a potentially serious tropical condition, have established a base in Florida, researchers say. Chagas disease, which is rare in the United States, can cause a brief illness or remain latent for years before causing symptoms. If untreated, it can become a chronic condition that damages the heart, brain, and other organs. Scientists from the University of Florida (UF) and Texas A&M University collected more than 300 kissing bugs, or triatomines, from 23 Florida counties—one third of them from people's homes—from 2013 to 2023. The team analyzed the bugs' stomach contents to determine the source of their last meal and whether it contained the Trypanosoma cruzi parasite implicated in Chagas disease. Their findings were published this week in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. Parasite-infected kissing bugs were identified in 12 of the 23 counties, with roughly 30% of them carrying T cruzi. Most bugs found in the home had fed on people, while those located outside mainly contained blood from other mammals and, to a lesser extent, unexpected sources such as amphibians, reptiles, and cockroaches. Adult kissing bugs, likely so-named because they tend to bite people's faces—are roughly 0.5 to 1 inch long. They typically live in wood piles and feed on blood from people, dogs, or wild animals at night, leaving behind feces that contain parasites.The parasites may enter the victim's body through the eyes or mouth, a cut, or the insect bite itself. They may also spread through contaminated uncooked food or infected donor blood or from mother to baby. The bugs have a wide habitat range, living throughout North, Central, and South America, including 23 mostly southern states from coast to coast. "We're building into the Trypanosoma cruzi habitat, and so I think it increases the likelihood of people and companion animals becoming infected,” senior author Samantha Wisely, PhD, of UF, said in a university news release. Residents of high-risk areas for Chagas disease can drape insecticide-impregnated mosquito netting over their bed, use insecticides, or apply insect repellent to their skin.If Chagas disease causes symptoms in the acute phase, they may include fever, rash, headache, nausea and vomiting, swollen lymph glands, or an enlarged liver or spleen. Chronic disease may lead to heart conditions, trouble swallowing, and digestive problems. If infection is discovered early, an antiparasitic medication can be used. Once infection is established, however, therapy consists of symptom management.
Chagas disease transmission: Kissing bugs readily invade human dwellings to feed on humans and companion animals --Researchers from the University of Florida Emerging Pathogens Institute and Texas A&M University recently gathered their resources to investigate the potential of vector-borne transmission of Chagas in Florida. The 10-year-long study, published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, used data from Florida-based submissions, as well as field evidence collected from 23 counties across Florida. Chagas disease is considered rare in the United States. Since it is not required to notify most state health departments, it is quite difficult to know exactly how many cases there are and how frequently it is transmitted. Chagas disease is caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Nuisance blood-sucking insects known as kissing bugs spread the parasite to humans when exposure to their feces penetrates the mucous membranes, breaches the skin or gets orally ingested. Interestingly, it is believed that most companion animals, like dogs and cats, acquire the parasite from eating the kissing bug itself. Currently, there are two known endemic species of kissing bugs in the Sunshine State: Triatoma sanguisuga, the species invading homes, and the cryptic species Paratriatoma lecticularia, which live primarily in certain Floridian ecosystems but were not found in this study. "We've done the groundwork to show that we have a vector in our state that is harboring a parasite, invading homes and feeding on humans and our pets," All the insects from this study were specimens from Florida collected using these mixed methods. When searching for bugs in the field, the team pulled out all the stops to ensure sample integrity. The study collected insects in peridomestic environments, meaning insects that live in and around human dwellings. The researchers analyzed their stomach contents to determine the source of their last meal and whether the parasite was present. Of the insects collected, more than one-third were found inside homes. "[Triatomine bugs] are ambush predators, right? They wait for you to relax and then suck blood," They have been found to invade people's homes like other pests and wait until their food source is sleeping. The disease earned its name as a silent killer because it can be latent in the body for decades; once it becomes chronic, it can attack the heart, brain and other organs with devastating results.
Gene-edited pigs may soon enter the Canadian market, but questions about their impact remain -The Canadian government is currently considering approving the entry of gene-edited pigs into the food system. Using CRISPR gene-editing technology, genetic changes can be created precisely and efficiently without introducing foreign genetic material. If approved, these pigs would be the first gene-edited food animals available for sale in Canadian markets. My research examines how including the public indecision-making around emerging applications of genomics can help mitigate potential harms. These pigs are resistant to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome(PRRS), a horrible and sometimes fatal disease that affects pigs worldwide. PRRS has significant economic, food security and animal welfare implications.The United States Food and Drug Administration recently greenlit the commercial production of gene-edited pigs. Will the Canadian government follow suit?In 2016, Canada approved the first transgenic animal for human consumption—an Atlantic salmon called AquAdvantage salmon that contains DNA from other species of fish.This approval came more than 25 years after the genetically modified fish was created by scientists at Memorial University in Newfoundland. The approval and commercialization of AquAdvantage salmon faced strong public opposition on both sides of the border, including protests, supermarket boycotts and court battles. In 2024, the company that produced AquAdvantage salmon announced that it was shutting down its operations.In 2012, the Canadian government approved the manufacture of a transgenic pig known by its trade name, EnviroPig. Created by scientists at the University of Guelph, EnviroPigs released less phosphorus than conventionally bred pigs. EnviroPig did not make it to market; the same year, the University of Guelph ended the EnviroPig project. Funding for the project had been suspended, in part because of consumer concerns. nSome researchers argue that government regulation of gene-edited animals should be less restrictive than for transgenic techniques. Gene editing introduces genetic changes that can occur with conventional animal breeding that is not subject to regulation. Gene-edited crops in Canada are treated the same as conventionally bred crops. Others insist that stringent government regulation is necessary for gene editing to identify potential problems and ensure that laws keep up with industry and scientific ambition. Regulation plays a vital role in minimizing risk, encouraging public involvement and building trust. Social science research has, for decades, demonstrated that resistance to biotechnology is not because of the public's lack of knowledge, as is often argued by biotechnology proponents. Public resistance to biotechnology is better understood as a rejection of potential harms imposed by governments and industry without public input and consent.
Can gene-edited pigs solve the organ transplant shortage? - On 8 January, a 66-year-old retiree in New Hampshire named Timothy Andrews sent a Facebook Messenger note to a 53-year-old stranger in New York City, Towana Looney, with an unusual question. He wanted to know how her new pig kidney was doing. Six weeks earlier, surgeons at New York University (NYU) Langone Health had made international news when they gave Looney the organ from a pig genetically altered so its tissues would be less likely to be rejected by her body. Andrews himself was 2 weeks away from receiving a similar, engineered pig kidney. “There’s one person on the planet that has one, and I’m going to talk to her,” he told his doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). “I was just curious if there was anything different, what she felt about it.”Andrews and Looney both had kidney failure and had relied on dialysis to cleanse their blood, a procedure that sustains life but stresses the heart. Human kidney transplants routinely free people from spending hours a week on dialysis machines. But the waiting lists for the organs are long, and for biological reasons both Looney and Andrews were poor candidates for a human kidney. In his Facebook message, the former supermarket manager commended Looney, a former cashier at a Dollar General discount store, for her bravery. Understanding her journey, he said, would help him with his own. They became fast friends and she eased his anxiety about the pig organ. “I learned it was working for her,” Andrews says.Attempts to provide humans with animal organs—known as xenotransplantation—date back more than a century, a history marked by hype and dashed hopes. As surgeon Norman Shumway, who helped pioneer human-to-human heart transplants, quipped 2 decades ago, “Xenotransplantation is the future—and always will be.” But because of recent advances in gene editing, cloning, and immunosuppression, and major investor backing, many veteran researchers are increasingly confident that future is nearly here.
Paris closes Seine to swimmers 1 day after ending ban - Just one day after opening the Seine River to swimming for the first time in more than a century, French officials shut down the river due to concerns about pollution following heavy rainfall. Swimming in the Seine has largely been illegal since 1923 due to pollution and other safety risks. The river was opened for public swimming Saturday in three designated areas. The flip-flop follows a nearly 1.4 billion-euro project to clean up the river in the lead-up to last year’s Olympics. The river hosted several open-water events, including the swimming leg of the triathlon. It was also the site of the games’ opening ceremonies, with boats filled with athletes sailing through the city. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo even took a swim prior to the Olympics to demonstrate the water’s cleanliness to a skeptical public. Officials had first aimed in the 1990s to clean up the river. The plan that eventually got it done was proposed in 2015 and involved upgrading Paris’s 19th-century sewer system so that households were no longer dumping wastewater directly into the river. The city also built a reservoir to conserve rainwater and prevent waste from flowing into the river. Still, the system is vulnerable on rainy days, a French official told Le Monde. That’s what happened Sunday, with heavy rainfall raising concerns about pollution. Heavy rain also caused a spike in bacteria during the Olympics, causing the triathlon to be postponed a day. The river is tested daily for E. coli and other harmful bacteria.
‘Poisoning the Well’ Authors Sharon Udasin and Rachel Frazin on PFAS Contamination and Why It ‘Has Not Received the Attention It Deserves’ (includes 1:23:44 video) In the introduction to Sharon Udasin and Rachel Frazin’s new book, Poisoning The Well: How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America, the authors cite an alarming statistic from 2015 that PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are present in the bodies of an estimated 97% of Americans. How did we ever get to this point? Their book is an attempt to explain that history, and to highlight those resisting the seeming inevitability of PFAS. “I think we have the corporate cover-up and awareness on both the corporations’ and government’s part for decades upon decades,” said Udasin. “But we also see the power of regular people to effect change, to really bring about what politicians are not necessarily willing to do.” The book tells stories of people deeply affected by ingesting PFAS, and the saga of how companies have been able to continue to churn out hundreds of different chemicals under the banner of PFAS, despite the risks and harms to human health. It is estimated that there may be at least 15,000 types of PFAS. Udasin and Frazin, both reporters for The Hill, fanned out into four communities in the U.S. – in Alabama, Colorado, Maine and North Carolina. In Alabama, they found people ingesting industrial PFAS emanating from the very locations that employed them. In Maine, PFAS-contaminated sludge was spread over farmland. “Colorado is a story of military contamination, in which area installations released PFAS-laden firefighting foam into the environment, enabling the chemicals to make their way into groundwater and then in the faucets of unsuspecting residents,” said Udasin. In Alabama, Udasin said, “The death was so visible.” A key figure in the book is Brenda Hampton, an Alabama native who developed life-threatening illnesses that doctors suspected could be linked to toxic chemical exposure. “Brenda’s ‘death tour’ through the tiny twin towns of Courtland and North Courtland was particularly striking to me, because the extent of the damage was visible in such a compact space,” Udasin’s reporting also helped reveal the ugly underside to rural areas of New England. “Seeing the livelihoods of farmers ripped apart in the deceptively beautiful landscape of South and Central Maine allowed me to connect with both the people and natural beauty of that place — a place teeming with chemical contamination beneath its historic New England charm,” she said. “I believe we did have some original finds, including a document I dug up at the National Archives,” Frazin said, “where a doctor told the FDA that one of his patients who worked with Teflon was experiencing ‘angina-like’ symptoms. This document says the patient’s foreman told him the symptoms were caused by Teflon and that they all know about it. “The corporations definitely had evidence of the adverse health impacts and ubiquity of PFAS for decades and still manufactured and sold PFAS-containing products,” she added. Finds like these are highlighted throughout the book and tell the long and complicated story of the expansion of these “forever chemicals” into the world. The stories of death and illness are heartbreaking. But what Udasin and Frazin also discovered was that the crusade to break the hold of PFAS has become an ad-hoc national movement. “I do think it’s become a grassroots national movement,” Udasin said, “because even all these local activists, they all know each other now, and they have created the National PFAS Coalition. Drinking water standards vary widely from state-to-state, which “creates an environmental justice issue, in which certain communities are less protected than others, through no fault of their own,” Udasin noted. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has currently issued PFAS drinking water regulations. Frazin said that “this rule is a massive deal that is likely to lead many communities to filter out PFAS from their drinking water. It would not be subject to enforcement yet because the rule first required water utilities to test for PFAS and then to install filters if it found levels of one of a few PFAS above a certain threshold.” On top of this, Frazin noted that the Trump administration has reduced the types of PFAS that will be covered by this rule and that implementation will be delayed until 2031. Which, as Udasin noted, puts the onus more on states, “given the Trump administration’s decision to rescind and reconsider existing rules on drinking water standards.”
Study: PFAS detected in private wells in Pennsylvania - About 18% of private wells in Pennsylvania are contaminated with toxic PFAS chemicals, according to a new Pennsylvania State University study.State and federal regulations restrict the so-called “forever chemicals” in public drinking water. However, private wells are not state or federally regulated, meaning homeowners are responsible for testing and treating their own water.More than 1 million households in Pennsylvania rely on private wells.“PFAS is something that’s prevalent. It’s not something that is unique to private wells. It’s not unique to public water systems,” said Faith Kibuye, a water resources extension specialist at Penn State. “It’s a global problem that I think researchers as a whole should come together to figure out how to support communities who may be impacted vastly.”PFAS, widely used in consumer products such as nonstick cookware and waterproof clothing, as well as in firefighting foam, have been linked to serious health problems, including some cancers, thyroid disease, developmental delays in children and other health conditions.The health risks associated with PFAS, which can stay in the human bloodstream for years, have sparked numerous lawsuits against chemical manufacturers, such as DuPont and 3M.PFAS, which can stay in the environment for decades, have tainted water supplies across the U.S., including in private wells in Horsham, Warminster and Warrington —because of past uses of firefighting foam.
Higher Levels of PFAS Found in Waterways Downstream From Wastewater Treatment Plants: Report -- Recent research from Waterkeeper Alliance warns that 98% of tested waterways across 19 states contain PFAS, and the problem is particularly noticeable in areas downstream from water treatment plants and sites where biosolids are applied. According to a new report, the PFAS Report Phase II, 95% of sampling sites that were downstream from wastewater treatment plants and 80% of samples downstream from biosolids sites had higher concentrations of multiple PFAS. “There is no denying that PFAS contamination is a national crisis. Our latest sampling confirms that it’s widespread and persistent, threatening waterways and public health across the country,” Marc Yaggi, CEO of Waterkeeper Alliance, said in a statement. “Local Waterkeepers and partners bring deep local knowledge and dedication to this ongoing effort, helping to fill critical data gaps, driving policy and solutions.” PFAS at one site downstream from a water treatment plant increased nearly 3,000% to 228.29 parts per trillion (ppt), according to the report. The PFAS level at one site downstream from a biosolids site increased 5,100%, reaching 106.1 ppt. Further, the levels of PFAS found in samples from all water treatment plants and 90% of biosolids sites exceeded 1 ppt, a safety limit set by the Environmental Working Group. PFOA and PFOS, which may be linked to higher risks of cancer and birth defects, were also found to exceed the federal thresholds for drinking water in some samples. The report revealed the most contaminated river as the Pocotaligo River, located in South Carolina. Lack of limits on wastewater discharge contributed to the contamination here, The State reported.“PFAS can contaminate our water, soil, air, and evidence suggests that it is linked to several diseases and health risks,” said Vanessa Muñoz, waterways program manager at Hispanic Access Foundation. “But what is often overlooked is who is being exposed to it and why, and unfortunately Latino and other communities of color are disproportionately faced to bear the burden.”The research builds upon a previous report, the PFAS Report Phase I published in 2022, which revealed PFAS contamination in 83% of tested waterways. Last month, a study detected PFAS in private wells in Pennsylvania, and a previous report from the Environmental Working Group estimated that PFAS contamination from biosolids, or sewage sludge, was impacting as many as 20 million acres of crops in the U.S. Despite growing research on the widespread contamination of PFAS and links between PFAS and negative health outcomes, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced considerations for “regulatory flexibility” on PFAS standards.
EPA’s next PFAS headache: Sewage sludge - Six months after EPA warned about “forever chemicals” tainting sewage sludge, states are resorting to a patchwork of policies as the agency’s path forward on the widely used farmland fertilizer remains unclear.In the final days of the Biden administration, EPA inched toward regulating the toxic chemicals in sewage sludge, releasing a draft report outlining risks to people living near farms that use the foul-smelling, nutrient-rich material to grow crops.Now, as the Trump administration weighs options for addressing contamination concerns, states and localities are struggling with how to respond to growing evidence that sludge fertilizer can spread forever chemicals.“We now have more than a dozen states considering biosolids legislation to deal with this issue, because EPA is not doing anything about it,” said Dean Naujoks, who leads the Potomac Riverkeeper Network in Virginia.
‘A Trojan horse’: how toxic sewage sludge became a threat to the future of British farming - For decades, sewage sludge has been quietly spread across Britain’s farmland, marketed as a nutrient-rich fertiliser. But insiders and scientists warn that hidden within it is a mix of household and industrial chemicals such as Pfas (“forever chemicals”), pharmaceuticals, pesticides, hormone-damaging chemicals and microplastics, threatening the long-term health of the land.Every year, 768,000 tonnes of this byproduct of wastewater treatment is spread over 150,000 hectares of agricultural land in England. The practice is banned in some countries, such as Switzerland, but in the UK it continues with little scrutiny and has become a covert route for dumping toxic industrial waste, experts say.“It’s a Trojan horse,” said a water sector insider. “Pfas, pharmaceuticals, endocrine disruptors and microplastics hidden in sludge threaten the long-term sustainability of humanity’s farmland.” These pollutants are not tested for under current regulations, which only require screening for a handful of heavy metals.Spreading sludge is incentivised because it is the cheapest disposal method. “It would cost water companies a lot to get rid of it themselves,” said anEnvironment Agency (EA) officer, who asked to remain anonymous. “So they’re happy to give it to farmers cheaply or for free.” For farmers, rising fertiliser costs make it appear a win-win. “It’s a closed loop where everyone absolves themselves of costs,” the officer said.Industries also benefit by sending liquid waste to wastewater plants, which is cheaper than incineration or other methods.“Some water companies have made big business decisions around taking industrial wastewater and getting paid for it,” said a second EA insider. Both sources are concerned about using sewage works to dispose of hazardous waste – especially landfill leachate, which is often added to systems unequipped to treat it.“As soon as you let industrial waste into your sewer network, your sewage becomes hazardous waste,” said the first EA officer. “Masking it as sludge and calling it fertiliser is a problem.” The result is a system that financially benefits water companies, farmers and industry – but not the public or the environment.“If it’s seen to be given away it could be viewed as a waste, and they absolutely abhor the waste label,” said the second EA source. “The water companies say they can make a profit from it but they are very reluctant to give us any hard data – they claim commercial confidentiality.”
EU environment ministers test blood for 'forever chemicals' - EU environment and climate ministers meeting in Denmark on Thursday tested their blood for "forever chemicals" linked to serious health risks, in a bid to raise awareness about chemical pollution, Danish and European officials said. "Forever chemicals," known as PFAS or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a family of synthetic chemicals that take an extremely long time to break down. Chronic exposure to even low levels of the chemicals has been linked to liver damage, high cholesterol, reduced immune responses, low birth weights and several kinds of cancer. Ministers from 18 countries, including France, Germany and the Netherlands, pricked their fingers at the informal meeting in Aalborg to raise awareness about PFAS pollution, according to the European Environmental Bureau. The blood samples will be tested for 13 PFAS substances, with the results due after the summer. Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden have submitted a joint proposal to the European Commission to ban the production, sale, and use of almost all PFAS. "It is crucial that we now take strong action against PFAS pollution, which is why measures must be taken across the EU to prevent, contain, and clean up PFAS," Danish Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke said in a statement.
Reducing multiple tap water contaminants could prevent over 50,000 cancer cases --Drinking water treatment that pursues a multi-contaminant approach, tackling several pollutants at once, could prevent more than 50,000 lifetime cancer cases in the U.S., finds a new study by the Environmental Working Group.The finding challenges the merits of regulating one tap water contaminant at a time, the long‑standing practice of states and the federal government. In the paper, published in the journal Environmental Research, EWG scientists analyzed more than a decade of data from over 17,000 community water systems. They found that two cancer‑causing chemicals—arsenic and hexavalent chromium, or chromium‑6—often appear together in systems and can be treated using the same technologies.If water systems with chromium‑6 contamination also reduce arsenic levels to a range from 27% to 42%, this action could avoid up to quadrupling the number of cancer cases compared to just lowering chromium‑6 levels alone, the study finds.Treatment of drinking water for one contaminant, such as nitrate, has advantages forpublic health. But tackling multiple contaminants at once increases the health benefits. And those benefits can expand along with the number of pollutants treated at the same time. "Drinking water is contaminated mostly in mixtures, but our regulatory system still acts like they appear one at a time," said "This research shows that treating multiple contaminants together could prevent tens of thousands of cancer cases."Chromium‑6 and arsenic are commonly found in drinking water across the U.S. Chromium‑6 has been found in drinking water served to 251 million Americans. In California alone, nearly eight out of 10 preventable cancer cases are linked to arsenic exposure. Arizona, California and Texas bear the highest burden of arsenic pollution and would gain the most from multi‑contaminant water treatment efforts.
Agricultural liming in the US is a large CO₂sink, say researchers -- Adding lime to agricultural soils can remove CO2 from the atmosphere, rather than cause CO2 emissions, claims new research. The findings, based on more than 100 years of data from the Mississippi River basin and detailed computer modeling, run counter to international guidelines on reducing agricultural emissions. The research is being presented at theGoldschmidt Conference in Prague. The team, from the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture at Yale University, show that the addition of acidity, in the form of atmospheric pollution and fertilizers, is the main driver for CO2 emissions from soils. By calculating emissions based on acid inputs, they show how emissions may be being underestimated in some cases, and the potential for lime to reduce emissions is being overlooked. Agriculture is one of the largest greenhouse gas-emitting sectors with a significant proportion of agricultural emissions linked to soils. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) calculates that all the carbon in lime, when added to agricultural soils to reduce acidity, is emitted as CO2, although some countries use a lower figure. When lime is added to soil, it reacts with carbonic acid to create bicarbonate, calcium and magnesium. If there are strong acids present in the soil, such as nitric or sulfuric acid, these will react with the bicarbonate to create carbonic acid and release CO2. Lead author Dr. Tim Jesper Suhrhoff, from the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture, said, "It is the reaction of acidity with the carbonate that creates CO2 emissions, not the addition of the lime itself. In the absence of the strong acids, the liming would not lead to any emissions and would actually remove CO2 from the atmosphere through the formation of bicarbonate. "Current guidelines that penalize liming assume that if we didn't lime, there would be no emissions, but that's not the case. If we continue to add acidity to the soil, it will react with remaining natural pools of alkalinity to create emissions. By penalizing liming, rather than the addition of acids, we are targeting the wrong driver and potentially losing the other benefits that liming can bring, in terms of increased yields and lower nitrous oxide emissions." The researchers call for a reconsideration of policy on agricultural emissions, with emissions being linked to the addition of acid fertilizers rather than lime. However, they highlight that this needs to be handled with care. "We have known for a long time that liming is great for farmers and global food security," says Dr. Suhrhoff. "What we show here is that over longer timescales, it is also an efficient way to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Adding a large amount of silicate rock to neutralize the acidity, before moving to liming, may be the best strategy to limit emissions and gain the additional benefits that liming can bring."
Common Weedkiller Ingredient Harms Gut Bacteria and Multiple Organs: Study -- The toxic chemical diquat, an ingredient used in place of glyphosate in weedkillers in the United States, has been found to cause multiple types of damage to organs and kill gut bacteria, according to new research.Diquat is sprayed extensively on orchards and vineyards, and its use has increased as controversial substances like paraquat and glyphosate are being relied on less frequently, reported The Guardian.“Diquat is a widely used bipyridyl herbicide that is extensively applied in agricultural production and water management due to its high efficacy in weed control. However, its environmental persistence and the toxic effects it induces have raised widespread concern,” the authors of the analysis wrote. “Studies show that Diquat primarily enters the body through the digestive tract, leading to poisoning.”Despite the new research suggesting diquat is even more toxic than glyphosate, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has resisted banning the chemical, which is now being used in the common herbicide Roundup, The Guardian reported. Due to its risks, diquat has been banned in the European Union, China, the United Kingdom and many other countries.“From a human health perspective, this stuff is quite a bit nastier than glyphosate so we’re seeing a regrettable substitution, and the ineffective regulatory structure is allowing it,” said Nathan Donley, the Center for Biological Diversity’s science director, as reported by The Guardian.A Friends of the Earth analysis of EPA data in October found diquat to have roughly 200 times the toxicity of glyphosate when it comes to chronic exposure. The chemical is believed to be a carcinogenic neurotoxin with a potential link to Parkinson’s disease.Bayer, the maker of Roundup, has faced almost 170,000 lawsuits by users of the product alleging it caused them harm. Bayer reformulated Roundup after glyphosate was classified as a possible carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.The new scientific review focuses on how diquat damages gut bacteria and organs.‘The core mechanism of its toxicity involves reactive oxygen species (ROS)-induced oxidative stress, which not only directly damages the intestinal barrier function but also exacerbates inflammation and systemic toxicity by disrupting the balance of the gut microbiota and the normal production of metabolic products,” the authors wrote in the study.Diquat reduces gut protein levels, which allows pathogens and toxins to enter the bloodstream through the stomach, triggering intestinal and bodily inflammation. Damage to the gut lining interferes with nutrient absorption and energy metabolism, according to the authors.Diquat harms the lungs and liver and “causes irreversible structural and functional damage to the kidneys” by destroying their membranes and interfering with cell signals. Diquat-triggered inflammation also appears to attack the lungs and can lead to multiple organ dysfunction syndrome.The EPA is not conducting a review of diquat, and the dangerous chemical has been largely ignored by nonprofits pushing for more stringent pesticide regulations.
Environmental impact of common pesticides seriously underestimated, finds research --The environmental impact of nine pesticides, commonly used in grape cultivation, may have been significantly underestimated, suggesting current pesticide risk assessment criteria need updating.The research will be presented Friday 11 July at the Goldschmidt Conference in Prague. In laboratory experiments, the nine pesticides that are used in viticulture and on other crops, far exceeded the two-day threshold set by the Stockholm Convention for the half-life of chemicals in the atmosphere. The researchers also identified several unknown molecules when they looked at how the pesticides break down and degrade in the atmosphere. Global use of pesticides has doubled since 1990, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, raising concerns about the potential impact on health and the environment. In light of their new findings, the research team argues that regulatory frameworks governing the human and environmental safety of these pesticides should be urgently updated. Pesticides enter the atmosphere in particular when sprayed onto crops, leading to air pollution. As semi-volatile compounds, their molecules can be present in the atmosphere in several forms—either as a gas or vapor (gas phase), or as particles (particulate phase). In the particulate phase, they are adsorbed onto the surface of airborne particles, like dust or organic matter suspended in the air. This adsorption can lead to longer half-lives, meaning they take longer to break down and can travel further. European regulations currently only consider the atmospheric lifetimes of pesticides based on their gas phase. If a pesticide is shown to have an atmospheric half-life of more than two days, it is considered prone to long-range atmospheric transport, which is a key factor in classifying it as a persistent organic pollutant. In their study, they investigated the atmospheric half-lives of nine pesticides commonly used in viticulture—growing and harvesting of grapes. They adsorbed the pesticides onto atmospheric particles and exposed them to ozone and hydroxyl radicals—to simulate how they would behave in Earth's lower atmosphere—or troposphere. They reveal that none of the compounds has a half-life within the two-day limit set by Stockholm convention: instead, they ranged from three days (Cyprodinil) to over a month (Folpet). This suggests all nine compounds could be reclassified as persistent organic pollutants—far more harmful and persistent than previously thought. Samia says, "These pesticides are used in huge quantities across Europe and our research shows limited understanding about how they endure in the lower atmosphere. In the past they have been studied in their gas phase, and this is how EU regulations are set. Yet our research shows they are far less reactive in their particulate phase, meaning that they degrade more slowly. Because of this, they should be considered as persistent organic compounds with potential for long-range transport, and that the models used to test their safety do not go far enough." In a second experiment, the team studied the degradation mechanisms of their pesticides, observing several toxic and non-commercially available molecules. This suggests further study is needed to appropriately assess the toxicity of these pesticides. Finally, they looked at how temperature and relative humidity affect the partitioning of the pesticide molecules between gas and the particle phase, finding discrepancies compared with current models of their behavior. Samia states, "Together these experiments suggest that pesticides used in agriculture need updated regulatory frameworks that take into account their particulate phase behavior in the atmosphere."
Satellite mapping reveals tropical tree cover losses underestimated by 17%, highlighting gaps in global tracking - A new study published in Nature Communications has found that 17.31% of tropical tree cover—an area spanning 395.9 million hectares (Mha)—has been consistently overlooked by global forest monitoring systems, exposing significant gaps in efforts to track deforestation and ecological degradation.Using high-resolution satellite imagery(under 5 meters) and an advanced automated algorithm, an international research team mapped previously undetected tree cover (PUTC) across pan-tropical regions from 2015 to 2022. Their analysis revealed a net loss of 61.05 Mha in tropical tree cover during the period, with declines occurring not only in traditional forest areas (63.93%) but also in non-forested landscapes such as farmlands, grasslands, and urban zones (36.07%). Regions with high concentrations of PUTC—where trees grow outside conventional forest boundaries—saw the most dramatic changes, highlighting limitations in widely used 10-meter resolution datasets like World Cover, the researchers noted. The study documented a gross loss of 67.24 Mha (2.94% of total tropical tree cover) over the eight-year period, vastly outpacing gains of just 6.19 Mha. Brazil, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo bore the brunt of these losses. Human activities emerged as the primary driver of tree cover decline, accounting for 56.03% of losses—with logging, land conversion, and deforestation linked to 53.93% of total declines. Meanwhile, 43.98% of tree cover gains were attributed to increased rainfall.
Ancient trees are dying faster than expected in Eastern Oregon - Eastern Oregon's Malheur National Forest boasts some of the state's oldest trees, including pine and larch that live more than 500 years. But many of those ancient trees are dying at an alarming rate, a new analysis shows. Between 2012 and 2023, a quarter of trees more than 300 years old in randomly located sites in roadless areas died, the study found. A triple whammy of drought, bug infestations and competition with younger trees is likely driving the decline. "It's sad to see so many old trees dying," said lead researcher James Johnston, an assistant research professor in the University of Oregon's Institute for Resilient Organizations, Communities, and Environments. "In the moistest and most productive Douglas-fir-dominated forests in Western Oregon, setting forests aside as protected reserves has proven to be a successful strategy for protecting old trees," he said. "But this research shows that we need active management to remove younger trees in order to protect old trees in dry forests of Eastern and Southern Oregon." Johnston's team has published its findings in the journal Forest Ecology and Management. The study period stretches back to when Johnston, a fire ecologist, was working on his doctoral dissertation. His research back then involved taking core samples from old-growth trees in unlogged, roadless sections of the Malheur National Forest where trees were left undisturbed. Old-growth trees, such as the older pines, firs and junipers of Malheur, store away carbon and provide critical habitat. Their extensive root systems also act as filters as water moves through the soil, which helps maintain water quality and supply. A decade after his initial work, Johnston came back to the area to see what trees were still alive. He and colleagues located 1,617 trees from the previous project, the ages of which spanned a few decades to more than 600 years old. A third of trees between 150 and 300 years old and a quarter of trees greater than 300 years old had died within the last 10 years. "We're talking about trees that easily live to be 500 years old, and a quarter of them died in just 10 years. That's really alarming," Johnston said. The team then looked for causes of mortality. One trend that emerged was that trees whose growth had slowed down in the last five years or so were more susceptible to death. Older trees in areas that hadn't burned in a wildfire in the last 130 years were also at greater risk. That's because wildfire helps thin out the forest, removing younger trees that compete for water and nutrients. Competition is one of the major driving forces behind the Malheur's losses, Johnston said. In protected areas of the forest—such as the unlogged, roadless areas he sampled—it's generally illegal to cut down trees. That means there's an overgrowth of younger trees, compared to unprotected areas where land managers thin the forest. Competition for resources overlaps with another issue: drought. Although Eastern Oregon's forests are considered dry forests, meaning they've adapted to seasonal dry spells, they still need water to survive. And the area is significantly drier than it once was. To top it all off, several species of defoliating insects, such as western spruce budworm and Douglas-fir tussock moth, chowed down on the trees during the study period. Trends toward increased fire and insect invasions are likely to continue, Johnston said. When the team ran statistical models based on those trends, they found that younger trees can't keep up with the death rates of their elders. The models predict less than a quarter of old-growth trees will remain in the next 50 to 60 years. In part, that's simply due to the time it takes a tree to grow. "You can't replace a 300-year-old tree in 10 years or 20 years,"
Aquifer system faces decline in multiple regions, study shows - Groundwater is declining across Eastern Washington's complex, interconnected aquifer system, as people draw on it for irrigation, drinking and other uses at a pace that threatens its sustainability, according to a new study by a Washington State University researcher. In certain "hot spots"—such as the Odessa region and the Yakima Basin—the rates of decline are particularly significant, with groundwater levels dropping two to three feet a year or more. The data is built upon a new metric of water vulnerability; rather than simply calculating how much groundwater there is, it measures how much is actually accessible with current wells. "With these numbers we can say, "It's not a problem in the future, it's a problem now." The research, published in the journal Groundwater for Sustainable Development, provides a detailed new picture of the Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System. Although not all areas in the system showed declines, the study lends urgency to the need for increased water supplies, for example through water conservation, additional use of surface water, and aquifer-recharging projects. The paper focuses on a little-studied element of the aquifer system—its variability in both geographic location and depth below the surface. The system underlies the Columbia River Basin in Washington, Idaho and Oregon, providing a quarter to a third of irrigation water across the region. It is comprised of four main geological layers—three basalt layers formed at different periods in history, and a top layer of sedimentary materials. "Imagine a layer cake, where you have these chunks of actual cake, which is mostly fractured basalt in this case, and then there's frosting in between, the parts where water moves more easily," McLarty said. "That's our aquifer." Unlike a layer cake, however, the layers don't sit atop each other in a neat, orderly pattern. "From location to location, that layering looks different," she said. "Our paper is the first to really quantify that variability, based on observations, in both trends in water level and vulnerability across the entire aquifer." Previous groundwater studies have compared the rate of water usage with the volume of water in the aquifer layers, a metric known as saturated thickness. But a lot of that water lies below the depth of current wells. "If you have groundwater 15,000 feet deep, that doesn't help anybody," McLarty said. Using state Department of Ecology data collected from nearly 3,000 wells drawing water from the aquifers, researchers calculated trends in the four aquifer layers. The thickest basalt layer—known as the Grand Ronde—had the steepest declines in groundwater, at 1.86 feet per year on average and up to about 7 feet per year. The top layer of sedimentary materials, known as the Overburden layer, had the smallest annual decreases, at 0.22 feet per year. But the Overburden layer is still vulnerable because it has less available drawdown, the study shows.
Spotted lanternflies are emerging in huge numbers. Don't panic, says entomologist - The black-and-white nymphs may be crawling all over your flower beds. You're skirting (or smashing) the red-and-black adolescents as you stroll down the sidewalk. And now, they're about to become adults and take flight, dropping in on your lunch as you dine al fresco. Spotted lanternflies are an invasive species native to Asia that originally arrived in the United States in 2014. They've since spread from Pennsylvania into 17 states and are now established throughout Maryland in all but four southern counties, reproducing at a rapid clip. But while the eye-catching insect seems to be everywhere, they're more annoying than a real threat. "Insect populations are patchy," entomology Professor and University of Maryland Extension Specialist Paula Shrewsbury said. "The first year, you see one or two, then the next year, five or 10, and then the next year, you see hundreds or thousands. That's the pattern." Here in College Park and many parts of Maryland, we're at the start of the boom, which will last for three to five years before the population dips and levels out. While spotted lanternflies don't bite or directly harm people, they do feed on tree sap and excrete large amounts of a sugary substance called "honeydew." That liquid drips onto driveways, cars, patio furniture, plants and more, attracting stinging insects like yellow jackets and European hornets, which can be dangerous. The honeydew also grows black sooty mold, a fungus, that can discolor leaves and other surfaces. The nymphs may gather on vegetables, roses or other small plants, but the adults feed mainly on woody trees. Most trees are hardy enough to bounce back, but it doesn't hurt to hose down a sapling to knock off the pests, Shrewsbury said. Homeowners can even try applying neem oil or pyrethrum if the population becomes overwhelming. The spotted lanternflies' preferred host is the non-native tree-of-heaven, so cutting those down is one of the best ways to control the population. Unlike brown marmorated stink bugs, another invasive species that can damage a wide variety of vegetable and fruit crops, spotted lanternflies' only real victim is grape vines, which can die off in the winter after they're weakened. The UMD Extension and Maryland Department of Agriculture have been working for years to help growers determine the best timing and types of insecticide to use, as well as helping to scrape egg masses off wooden poles in vineyards and trees in surrounding woods. "We've seen lots of things eating them," said Shrewsbury. These include wheel bugs, spiders and praying mantises, as well as many types of birds. One vineyard is even using ducks. "Many generalist predators are opportunistic, so if it's easy pickings, they just eat and eat and eat.
Sea lamprey travel patterns follow the deepest parts of Great Lakes waterways - How do you catch an invasive fish that's solitary and nocturnal? Researchers in the Michigan State University College of Agriculture and Natural Resources are one step closer to figuring it out. In a study published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, Kandace Griffin, a fisheries and wildlife doctoral student, and Michael Wagner, professor in the MSU Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, found that sea lampreys—a parasitic fish considered an invasive species in the Great Lakes region of the U.S.—follow a clear pattern of staying in the deepest parts of a river. These findings are important for informing sea lamprey management strategies, conservation of fish species native to the Great Lakes and protecting the region's $7 billion fishing industry and the 75,000 jobs it provides. The primary methods used to control sea lamprey are dams that block them from entering waterways and lampricide, a species-specific pesticide that targets lamprey larvae."Dams create a lot of challenges for conserving river ecosystems: They block all the other fish that are moving up and down in the system. Even though lampricide is proven to be safe and effective, there are communities that are uncomfortable with its use going into the future," Wagner said."Figuring out the right way to fish sea lamprey would decrease its population, lower reproduction rates and provide managers with the opportunity to match their control tactics to the community's needs." To track lamprey movements, Griffin and Wagner used a method called acoustic telemetry, which involved using sound emitted from a surgically implanted tag to track the movement of 56 sea lampreys in the White River near Whitehall, Michigan.We used this information to triangulate the position of the sea lamprey and analyzed it to find out how they're using the river's environmental traits to make decisions on where to swim."Of the 56 lampreys studied, 26 of them (46%) consistently chose the deepest quarter of the river.Right now, a fishing device designed to catch bottom-swimming, solitary, nonfeeding, nocturnal sea lamprey doesn't exist. However, Wagner notes there are places around the world—including Indigenous communities in the U.S.—where people have fished migratory lampreys of various species for hundreds of years and could help inform the creation of such a mechanism.n"We want to talk with the communities of people who have histories of fishing these animals and use this information, along with other data we've gathered, to conceive a device that could be used to fish sea lampreys."
Tropical Storm Chantal makes landfall over Litchfield Beach, South Carolina - Tropical Storm Chantal made landfall over Litchfield Beach, South Carolina at approximately 05:00 EDT (09:00 UTC) on July 6, 2025. It is the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season to make landfall over the U.S. Coast. Chantal made landfall in far eastern South Carolina, approximately 113 km (70 miles) northeast of Charleston, South Carolina and 137 km (85 miles) west-northwest of Wilmington, North Carolina. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 80 km/h (50 mph) and an estimated minimum central pressure of 1 004 hPa at the time of landfall. As of 08:00 EDT (12:00 UTC), the center of Chantal was located approximately 24 km (15 miles) northwest of Conway, South Carolina and 129 km (80 miles) west of Wilmington. Maximum sustained winds reached 64 km/h (40 mph) as the storm moved north-northwest at 13 km/h (8 mph). It had an estimated minimum central pressure of 1 005 hPa. Tropical-storm-force winds extended outward up to 129 km (80 miles), mainly over water to the southeast of the center. A Tropical Storm Warning was in effect from South Santee River, South Carolina to Surf City, North Carolina. Satellite image of Tropical Storm Chantal. Credit: GOES-19, RAMMB/CIRA, The Watchers. Acquired at 13:00 UTC on July 6, 2025. Tropical Storm Chantal is expected to produce heavy rainfall across parts of northeastern South Carolina on July 6 and across portions of North Carolina through Monday. Rainfall totals of 51–102 mm (2–4 inches), with locally higher amounts up to 152 mm (6 inches), are expected. This heavy rainfall is likely to trigger flash floods throughout the region. In addition, a combination of storm surge and tide is expected to cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland. A storm surge of 0.3–0.6 m (1–2 feet) will be possible from South Santee, South Carolina to Surf City, North Carolina. Isolated tornadoes will be possible on July 6 across portions of eastern North Carolina and extreme northeastern South Carolina. Rough surf and potentially life-threatening rip currents are likely along beaches across the region.
States of emergency declared for Orange and Moore Counties as Chantal floods North Carolina – videos - Heavy rain produced by Tropical Storm Chantal on July 6 2025, inundated roads, damaged infrastructure, and forced emergency declarations in North Carolina’s Moore and Orange counties. Tropical Storm Chantal made landfall in South Carolina on July 6 and weakened into a tropical depression as it moved inland. North Carolina experienced the most severe impacts, as flooding triggered by Chantal’s landfall prompted states of emergency in Moore and Orange counties, where multiple roads were damaged. Ad ends in 13 Areas across the Carolinas received over 127 mm (5 inches) of rainfall, with some reports indicating localized totals exceeding 177 mm (7 inches). In South Carolina, Loris received 127.3 mm (5.01 inches) of rainfall, while Longs recorded 122.4 mm (4.82 inches) following Chantal’s landfall. In North Carolina, Lumber received 126.2 mm (4.97 inches), and Castle Hayne recorded 110.7 mm (4.36 inches). At least one EF-0 tornado was confirmed near the Kings Grant neighborhood in Wilmington, North Carolina, with winds reaching 113 km/h (70 mph). The tornado damaged trees and roofs along its 2.7 km (1.68 mile) path. Flooding caused widespread damage and led to multiple road closures, including sections of I-40 and I-85 in Orange County. The storm brought significant flooding to parts of North Carolina, leaving drivers stranded and roads submerged, prompting states of emergency in several counties. Moore County is under a State of Emergency after severe weather washed out two dams, with more at risk of failure. Significant impacts were reported across the county, including on U.S. Highway 1, where officials closed part of the road due to flooding. In Southern Pines, multiple roads were washed out, and a retaining wall collapsed near a shopping center on Brucewood Road. According to Mike Anderson, Southern Pines fire chief and assistant town manager, the Longleaf Dam failed and flooded numerous homes and apartment complexes. Boat crews and swimmers were deployed to rescue individuals trapped in vehicles. Anderson also reported that multiple retaining walls failed due to flooding, forcing multiple shopping centers to close. Nearly 30 000 people across the Carolinas were without power on July 7, with over 29 400 outages in North Carolina and more than 500 in South Carolina. Moore County Public Utilities advised customers in Pinehurst that the village is experiencing low water pressure after water mains were washed out by flooding. Customers are advised to boil water until normal pressure is restored.
Video shows destructive flash flood submerging Texas Hill Country bridge in minutes - video --Severe flash flooding struck central Texas from July 4 to 6, 2025, after extreme rainfall of up to 517 mm (20.3 in) fell within hours, causing rivers to surge by more than 9 m (30 feet) and resulting in extensive damage and loss of life. Intense storms stalled over the Texas Hill Country during the early morning hours of July 4, delivering extreme rainfall across Kerr, Travis, and surrounding counties. Localized rainfall totals exceeded 500 mm (20 inches) in less than 72 hours, rapidly saturating soils and triggering widespread flash floods. The Guadalupe River rose by more than 9 m (30 feet) within two hours in several locations, sweeping away roads, bridges, cabins, and vehicles. Drone and surveillance footage captured entire structures being carried off by the fast-moving water in a matter of minutes. More than 90 people have been confirmed dead as of 10:05 CST on July 7, with dozens still missing and hundreds rescued by emergency services. 75 people died in Kerr County, six in Travis, 4 in Burnet, 2 each in Williamson and Kendall and 1 in Tom Green. Camps along the Guadalupe River were particularly affected, with many children and staff forced to seek higher ground or await rescue as buildings were washed away. The rapid onset of flooding left many communities with little time to respond. The event was triggered by a combination of tropical moisture and stalled weather systems that produced record-breaking rainfall rates. Despite flash flood warnings, the speed and intensity of the deluge overwhelmed local warning systems and response capabilities.
All 27 missing Camp Mystic campers confirmed dead after historic flooding in central Texas – video - All 27 individuals previously reported missing from Camp Mystic were confirmed dead on July 7, 2025, following historic floods that affected central Texas on July 4. The overall death toll has reached 90, with search and rescue operations still ongoing across the region. Camp Mystic confirmed that all 27 individuals reported missing from the camp have died following the floods that struck central Texas on July 4. The overall death toll from the floods has now reached 90, including at least 28 children. “Our hearts are broken alongside our families that are enduring this unimaginable tragedy. We are praying for them constantly,” a statement on the camp website read. The statement added that the search continued for missing individuals and requested, “We ask for your continued prayers, respect, and privacy for each of our families affected.” According to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, the organization was hosting 750 campers when overnight floods struck on Friday, July 4. Although parts of the camp were evacuated, 27 girls and counselors were reported missing after the flash flood emergency in Hunt that morning. The number of missing persons from other nearby camps has not been released. Officials stated that life-threatening flooding continued to pose a risk as crews carried out urgent search operations. The total number of missing persons remains unconfirmed.
Texas faces new flash flood watch amid heavy rainfall -The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a new flash flood watch for central Texas through 7 p.m. local time Monday, covering areas already hit by heavy flooding.The watch covers Llano, Burnet, Williamson, Edwards, Real, Kerr, Bandera, Gillespie, Kendall, Blanco, Hays, Travis, Bastrop, Lee, Uvalde, Medina, Bexar, Comar, Guadalupe and Caldwell counties, along with parts of Hill County.A flood watch indicates that conditions are conducive to possible flooding, but it does not mean flooding has already begun.Slow-moving heavy rains overnight and throughout Monday could lead to flash floods, with the NWS saying it is difficult to pinpoint the exact areas where heavier rainfall will occur.The affected area could see two to four inches of additional rainfall with isolated amounts of up to 10 inches. Any heavy rainfall in the already hard-hit areas will lead to rapid runoff and flash flooding.Kerr County is already dealing with the aftermath of catastrophic flooding after the Guadalupe River rose 26 in 45 minutes in the early morning hours of Friday. Nearby counties have also suffered flooding, including an area that is home to several summer campsAt least 82 people have died in the floods, including 27 campers and counselors from Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp. That number is expected to rise as rescue and recovery efforts continue and more rain threatens the area.
FEMA leader is a no-show after deadly Texas flooding - As the Federal Emergency Management Agency responds to the deadly flooding in Texas, one key resource is missing: the FEMA leader.David Richardson, the agency’s acting administrator, has not been to the site of one of the nation’s deadliest floods in the U.S. in the past 25 years, upending a long practice of FEMA leaders making themselves visible after major disasters.Public appearances by FEMA administrators, including meetings with governors and disaster survivors, have been a typical part of the nation’s disaster response, reassuring the public of federal support and showcasing political unity.The Department of Homeland Security, FEMA’s parent agency, did not respond directly to questions Wednesday from POLITICO’s E&E News about Richardson’s role in the government’s response to the disaster.“DHS and its components have taken an all-hands-on-deck approach” to the Texas flooding, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an email, referring to help by the U.S. Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection. “FEMA has deployed extensive staff to support Texas response and recovery operations based on staff skills and requirements.”Still, former FEMA officials said Richardson’s absence — and his lack of public appearances, statements and social media postings — raise concerns that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is controlling FEMA’s response. Noem, who visited the flooded area of central Texas on Saturday, oversees 22 agencies, of which FEMA is just one.
Trump in Texas: ‘I’ve never seen anything like it’ - President Donald Trump toured flood-ravaged regions of central Texas on Friday as he praised emergency responders and lamented the destruction.“All across the country, Americans’ hearts are shattered,” Trump said in Texas after touring the region and meeting with officials.“I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve seen a lot of bad ones. I’ve gone to a lot of hurricanes, a lot of tornadoes. I’ve never seen anything like this. This is a bad one,” Trump said. “Nobody has any idea how and why a thing like this could happen.”The president and first lady Melania Trump met with state and local officials for briefings on the emergency response in the wake of the catastrophic flooding.
Militia fueled by bizarre conspiracy theory brings down weather radars -A militia known as the "Veterans on Patrol" aims to dismantle weather radars, and KWTV News 9 has discovered that it's part of a larger conspiracy theory surrounding weather manipulation.Amid false conspiracies about the floods in Texas being part of a kind of cloud seeding attack, organization founder Michael Lewis Arthur Meyer confirmed to News 9 that they were "absolutely" working to target Oklahoma radars.The comments come "days after an individual vandalized News 9’s weather radar," the report said. A sign they found posted near one Oklahoma weather radar claims that Doppler radars are being targeted "by victims of U.S. military weather experimentation." The militia calls it "Operation Leaning Tower." The Southern Poverty Law Center classified VoP as an “anti-government militia,” which also promotes "anti-immigrant ideas," as well as "anti-Indigenous, antisemitic, anti-Catholic and anti-Mormon falsehoods." "They can embed their technology and civilian infrastructure in every home and every household utilizing the phones and their network towers to not only control the weather, modify the weather, but they can [target] individuals,” Meyer, a Christian Nationalist, told News9. Last year, Meyer was part of an effort in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene for posing as an aid worker to encourage locals to tear down cell towers and attack the military."When the military plays God with the weather, they're mocking our Heavenly Father by calling one of his most favorite instruments a 'weather weapon,'" Meyer added.When asked whether VoP is responsible for bringing down the News 9 weather radar, Meyer responded, "Veterans On Patrol is responsible for a lot more than that."News 9’s Chief Meteorologist David Payne fact-checked the claims, explaining that weather radars have no weaponry.“We have one of the most powerful live radars in Oklahoma, and one of the most powerful live radars in the country, but we cannot do any weather modification at all,” he said. When those radars are damaged, “We cannot track severe weather. We cannot track tornadoes, and it basically becomes instantly obsolete," he added.
EF-2 tornado rips through Ontario County, damaging homes and businesses in Phelps, New York - (videos) An EF-2 tornado struck Phelps in Ontario County, New York, on July 7, 2025, causing widespread damage. Trees were toppled, and several buildings sustained damage. According to the National Weather Service (NWS), the tornado began at approximately 18:27 local time (LT), about 3.2 km (2 miles) south of Phelps near Fort Hill on July 7. It caused widespread damage as it passed Melvin Hill, with peak winds reaching 185 km/h (115 mph) along its 2.7 km (1.7 miles) path. The tornado had a maximum width of approximately 274 m (900 feet) and ended around 18:37 LT. The DeBoover Family Farm on County Road 23 sustained significant damage. No people or animals were injured, according to a statement from the family on social media. Footage from the area shows homes with missing roofs and many snapped or uprooted trees.
Three dead, 85 rescued as record river crest triggers Flash Flood Emergency in Ruidoso, New Mexico - (videos) Deadly flash floods in Ruidoso, New Mexico claimed at least 3 lives including 2 children on Tuesday, July 8, 2025. The fatalities occurred as the floodwaters swept the three downstream as the Rio Ruidoso river reached to record height on Tuesday. Tuesday’s heavy rainfall in New Mexico pushed the Rio Ruidoso River to record height and caused severe flash floods in Ruidoso (population 8 000), resulting in at least 3 fatalities. The fatalities included a man in his 40s or 50s, a 4-year-old girl, and a 7-year-old boy. Village officials stated that the flash flooding occurred on the afternoon of July 8 when heavy monsoonal rainfall fell on burn scar areas from the 2024 South Fork and Salt fires, leading to rapid water rise throughout the village. The Rio Ruidoso river crested at 6.17 m (20.24 feet) at Hollywood. If confirmed, this provisional measurement would surpass the previous record of 4.83 m (15.86 feet) set on July 20, 2024. The floods have caused widespread damage throughout the village sweeping away multiple homes and businesses in the area. Emergency crews performed at least 85 swift water rescues in the Ruidoso area, including rescues of individuals trapped in homes and vehicles, according to Danielle Silva of the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
Historic rainfall triggers floods in Boston, prompting closure along the I-93 in Massachusetts- (videos) Exceptionally heavy rainfall fell in parts of eastern Massachusetts on July 10, 2025, triggering widespread flash flooding across Boston and surrounding towns, stranding vehicles and temporarily shutting down all lanes of Interstate 93. Historic rainfall caused widespread flooding in Boston and several cities and towns south of the city on July 10, 2025. The flooding led to multiple road closures, including the temporary closure of all lanes on Interstate 93 during the morning hours. As severe storms passed through the region, approximately 161.8 mm (6.37 inches) of rainfall was recorded in Weymouth, while Hingham received 157.8 mm (6.21 inches) during the early hours of July 10. Braintree recorded 132.8 mm (5.23 inches), Sharon received 118.6 mm (4.67 inches), and Walpole had 98.3 mm (3.87 inches). Reports indicated that the majority of the rainfall occurred over approximately 3 hours, starting at 06:00 local time. WBZ-TV, citing executive weather producer Terry Eliasen, reported that the rain totals represented a 1-in-200-year event. At least three vehicles were stranded on Interstate 93 for several hours until the floodwaters receded. These included one van and two cars, which remained immobilized due to the challenging rescue conditions caused by the flooding. “Every time they sent a truck or a car by, our vehicles would move like boats,” said Kerri Kuehne, the driver of the van stranded on the highway. “So, we were almost hitting each other… the waves would come, and you could feel them pick up the car. It was crazy.” In Braintree, police rescued a retired Air Force veteran who became stranded by floodwaters while driving to an appointment at the Brockton VA Medical Center. “There was no way you could tell how deep it was. I thought maybe a couple inches, and before I knew it, it swept me away, and I couldn’t get out of there. I got stuck, so that’s when I called 911 for some help,” said the driver. “The water was waist-deep. They came through this water waist-deep — the police officers — and they did what they had to do, and I really appreciate that. They’re my heroes today.”
At least 4 dead in Taiwan following Typhoon Danas’ historic landfall - At least four people died after Typhoon Danas made landfall along Taiwan’s central western coast on July 6, 2025, causing widespread flooding and damage. It was the first typhoon to strike the region since 1986. Typhoon Danas made landfall near Budai in Chiayi County at around 23:40 local time (LT) on July 6. It was the first typhoon to strike the central western coast of Taiwan since Typhoon Wayne in 1986. It was also the first cyclone to make landfall in Chiayi County at typhoon strength. The storm caused at least two confirmed fatalities and injured at least 300 people in Taiwan on July 6. Both deaths were reported in Tainan. A 60-year-old man died after a power outage shut down his respirator. The second fatality was a 69-year-old man who was killed when a tree fell on him due to strong winds linked to the storm. Two additional fatalities were reported during the storm’s impact, but their connection to Typhoon Danas has not been confirmed. A 34-year-old woman died in Chiayi County after her car crashed into a guardrail on National Highway 3. While reports suggest Danas’s winds may have contributed, however, local authorities are yet to confirm whether it was a self-inflicted crash or associated to the storm. A 61-year-old fisherman from Nanao in Yilan County was swept away by waves while fishing during stormy conditions. This death has not been included in the official toll, as its connection to Danas remains unconfirmed. The typhoon brought over 600 mm (24 inches) of rainfall to parts of Taiwan and winds reaching up to 145 km/h (90 mph). As of 08:00 local time on July 7, the Central Disaster Response Center reported a total of 2 270 weather-related incidents, with 1 513 cases still being addressed. Most incidents involve damage to infrastructure and fallen trees.
Severe hailstorm leaves thick hail cover across León and Moroleón, Guanajuato, Mexico - A severe hailstorm struck the municipalities of León and Moroleón in Guanajuato, Mexico, at approximately 17:30 local time (LT) on July 6, 2025, producing significant hail accumulation across multiple neighborhoods. The event, which lasted for about 30 minutes, resulted in heavy accumulation of hail, significant flooding, and traffic disruptions across urban areas. In León, local sources reported hailstones about the size of marbles, with a diameter of 10 mm (0.4 inches). The storm was accompanied by intense rainfall and gusts of wind, reaching up to 60 km/h (37 mph) in some areas. Affected locations included both northern and southern zones of the city, with notable impact on main boulevards such as La Luz, Vicente Valtierra, Francisco González Bocanegra, Torres Landa, and the José María Morelos bypass. Ad ends in 27 Residential areas including Los Pinos, Andrade, Tlacuache Oriente, and Azteca also experienced significant hail accumulation. Temporary road closures were reported due to flooding and ice on the pavement, particularly in low-lying and high-traffic zones. In Moroleón, the hailstorm began shortly before 18:00 and covered roads, sidewalks, and rooftops in a layer of hail, prompting local comparisons to winter landscapes. Water depths of up to 25 cm (10 inches) were reported on major streets such as Alma Barragán, 12 de Octubre, Aquiles Serdán, Hidalgo, and Zaragoza, leading to temporary street closures. Several vehicles were stalled or trapped in icy, flooded lanes, and there was one report of minor water damage to a household. No injuries were reported. Local emergency services mobilized rapidly to manage the flooding and advise residents to avoid affected areas. The Servicio Meteorológico Nacional (SMN) had issued warnings for strong storms with possible hail accumulation and wind gusts of 40–60 km/h (25–37 mph) across Guanajuato for July 6. The hailstorm formed under unstable atmospheric conditions linked to a low-pressure system and high convective activity, which are typical during the region’s summer rainy season.
At least 1 dead, nearly 30 missing as floods destroy Miteri Bridge on China-Nepal border -- video - At least 1 fatality and nearly 30 people were reported missing as floods and landslide along the China-Nepal border destroyed the Miteri Bridge on July 8, 2025, halting trade along the key route connecting the two countries. At least one person has been reported dead after a mudslide struck the Miteri Bridge, also known as Sino–Nepal Friendship Bridge, on the China-Nepal border at around 03:15 local time on July 8. The flooding was triggered by heavy monsoon rainfall that affected the region overnight from July 7 into 8. According to reports, around 18 people are missing on the Nepal side of the border and 11 more on the Chinese side, according to Xinhua. Nearly 200 vehicles parked near the customs yard were washed away, several homes were destroyed, and a small hydroelectric plant in the area was damaged. In Nepal, the missing included six Chinese workers and three policemen, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA). Reports on the number of missing people vary, with local media sources reporting between 17 and 30 missing individuals. According to Xinhua and other reports, around 29 people were reported missing following the disaster. A more accurate figure is expected as authorities continue to assess the situation.
Monsoon floods sweep away 18 people and the main bridge linking Nepal to China (AP) — A mountain river flooded by monsoon rains swept away the main bridge connecting Nepal with China on Tuesday, leaving 18 people missing, Nepali authorities said. Rescue efforts were underway and an army helicopter was able to lift people stranded by the flooding. Police said 95 rescuers were already at the area and more are expected to join in rescue efforts. The flooding on the Bhotekoshi River destroyed the Friendship Bridge at Rasuwagadi, which is 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of the capital, Kathmandu. Several houses and trucks that were parked at the border for customs inspections also were swept away. Hundreds of electric vehicles imported from China had been parked at the border point. The 18 missing are 12 Nepali citizens and six Chinese nationals, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority. The Chinese along with eight Nepalis were workers at a Chinese-assisted construction project on the Nepali side of the border, according to the Chinese Embassy in Nepal, quoted by state media. The destruction of the bridge has halted all trade from China to Nepal through this route. The longer alternative is for goods to be shipped from China to India and then brought overland to Nepal.
25 rivers exceed safe levels in southwestern China after Typhoon Danas remnants and monsoon rains converge - (videos) The levels of 25 rivers in southwestern China exceeded warning thresholds on July 10, after the remnants of former Typhoon Danas merged with East Asian monsoon rains. Ten rivers, including the Longyan River in the municipality of Chongqing, were at risk of breaching embankments, while the remaining 15 rivers had exceeded bank-full levels, according to state media and the Ministry of Water Resources. Authorities evacuated over 10 000 residents in vulnerable areas across Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. The Chishui River in Guizhou province reached its highest recorded level since measurements began in 1953. In neighboring Sichuan, the Xiaocao River reached its highest level in 29 years, underlining the exceptional intensity of rainfall accumulation. In one county in Yunnan, 227.8 mm (9 inches) of rainfall was recorded within 24 hours, the highest daily total since 1958. In Zhaotong City, Yunnan, two people were confirmed dead following flash flooding. Heavy rainfall also affected northern regions. In Beijing’s Chaoyang district, 68.2 mm (2.7 inches) of precipitation fell within one hour on July 10. Authorities warned that the combination of high humidity, elevated temperatures, and poor drainage conditions may increase risks of water and food contamination. In Sichuan’s Yibin region, over 6 000 residents were relocated following flooding in residential areas. In Tibet’s Gyirong County, flooding along the riverbanks displaced more than 300 residents. The flood arc stretched across more than 1 400 km (870 miles) from the eastern coastal provinces to the western plateau regions. Meteorological authorities attribute the extreme rainfall to a convergence of residual moisture from Typhoon Danas with monsoonal flows. Danas made landfall in Taiwan on July 6, weakening over eastern China before its remnants reached the southwest.98 dead, 185 injured as monsoon rains cause devastation in Pakistan – Heavy monsoon rains and flash floods have claimed at least 98 lives and injured 185 people across Pakistan, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) reported on Friday.The NDMA added that in the past 24 hours, eight people died and 27 were injured in rain-related incidents. Punjab province saw the highest number of deaths at 37, including 20 children, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 30 fatalities.
Deadly temperatures blasted western Europe in record hot June -Western Europe sweltered through its hottest June on record last month, as extreme temperatures blasted the region in punishing back-to-back heat waves, the EU climate monitor Copernicus said Wednesday. Dangerous temperatures stretched into July, with separate research estimating that climate change made the heat up to 4C hotter, pushing the thermometer into deadly territory for thousands of vulnerable people and greatly worsening the projected death toll. Millions of people were exposed to high heat stress as daily average temperatures in western Europe climbed to levels rarely seen before—and never so early in the summer. Several countries recorded surface temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), with heat of up to 46C (114.8F) in Spain and Portugal, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said. "In a warming world, heat waves are likely to become more frequent, more intense and impact more people across Europe," said Samantha Burgess, the EU monitor's Strategic Lead for Climate. The two heat waves, in mid and late June, were linked to heat domes trapping warm air over affected regions and worsening pollution and wildfire conditions. France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and much of the Balkans saw some of the hottest "feels-like" temperatures, which measure the impact on the human body by taking into account factors such as humidity. Maximum feels-like temperatures north of Lisbon hit 48C (118.4F), about 7C above average and associated with "extreme heat stress," said Copernicus. Large parts of southern Europe also experienced so-called "tropical nights," when overnight temperatures don't fall low enough to let the body recover. Heat waves are particularly dangerous for the elderly, the sick, young children, outdoor workers, and anyone exposed to high temperatures for prolonged periods without relief. In separate research Wednesday, scientists drawing on historical weather data concluded the heat between June 23 and July 2 "would have been 2-4C cooler" without human-induced climate change in all but one of the 12 cities studied. They also for the first time sought to estimate how many people may have died, concluding that there may have been some 2,300 heat-related deaths over that period in the cities studied. Around two thirds of those, or 1,500, would not have happened without climate change, said the researchers, stressing that their estimate was just a snapshot of the wider heat wave. No official death toll is yet available, and the study has not been peer reviewed.
European heatwave caused 2,300 deaths in 10 days - Some 2,300 people are likely to have died of heat-related causes across 12 European cities during a severe heatwave that ended last week, with two-thirds of the deaths directly linked to climate change, according to a new study, Al Jazeera reported. The analysis, published on Wednesday, focused on the 10-day period between June 23 and July 2, during which large parts of Western Europe were hit by extreme heat, with temperatures breaching 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in Spain and wildfires breaking out in France. It covered 12 cities with a combined population of more than 30 million, including Barcelona, Madrid, London and Milan, where the study said climate change had increased heatwave temperatures by up to 4C (39.2F). Of the 2,300 people estimated to have died during this period, 1,500 deaths were linked to climate change, which made the heatwave more severe, said the study conducted by more than a dozen researchers from five European institutions in the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland. “Climate change has made it significantly hotter than it would have been, which in turn makes it a lot more dangerous,”
Burning of fossil fuels caused 1,500 deaths in recent European heat wave, study estimates -Human-caused climate change is responsible for killing about 1,500 people in last week's European heat wave, a first-of-its-kind rapid study found. Those 1,500 people "have only died because of climate change, so they would not have died if it would not have been for our burning of oil, coal and gas in the last century," said study co-author Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College in London. Scientists at Imperial and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine used peer-reviewed techniques to calculate that about 2,300 people in 12 cities likely died from the heat in last week's bout of high temperatures, with nearly two-thirds of them dying because of the extra degrees that climate change added to the natural summer warmth. Past rapid attribution studies have not gone beyond evaluating climate change's role in meteorological effects such as extra heat, flooding or drought. This study goes a step further in directly connecting coal, oil and natural gas use to people dying. "Heat waves are silent killers and their health impact is very hard to measure,″ said co-author Gary Konstantinoudis, a biostatistician at Imperial College. "People do not understand the actual mortality toll of heat waves and this is because (doctors, hospitals and governments) do not report heat as an underlying cause of death" and instead attribute it to heart or lung or other organ problems. Of the 1,500 deaths attributed to climate change, the study found more than 1,100 were people 75 or older. Researchers looked at June 23 to July 2 in London; Paris; Frankfurt, Germany; Budapest, Hungary; Zagreb, Croatia; Athens, Greece; Barcelona, Spain; Madrid; Lisbon, Portugal; Rome; Milan and Sassari, Italy. They found that except in Lisbon, the extra warmth from greenhouse gases added 2 to 4 degrees Celsius (3.6 to 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) to what would have been a more natural heat wave. London got the most at nearly 4 degrees (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit). Climate change only added about a degree to Lisbon's peak temperature, the study calculated, mostly because of the Atlantic Ocean's moderating effect, Otto said. That extra climate-change-caused heat added the most extra deaths in Milan, Barcelona and Paris and the least in Sassari, Frankfort and Lisbon, the study found. The 1,500 figure is the middle of the range of overall climate-related death estimates that go from about 1,250 to around 1,700.
Heat wave duration is accelerating faster than global warming, researchers find -New research finds that not only will climate change make heat waves hotter and longer, but the lengthening of heat waves will accelerate with each additional fraction of a degree of warming.In the study published in the journalNature Geoscience, researchers led by UCLA and the Universidad Adolfo Ibañez in Santiago, Chile, found that the longest heat waves will see the greatest acceleration, and the frequency of the most extreme heat waves will increase the most. The duration of a heat wave exacerbates the risk to people, animals, agriculture and ecosystems.By incorporating variables into climate models that account for how each day's temperature influences the temperature of the following day, the researchers detected this acceleration at a global level. The equation they developed has the flexibility to analyze one region or to gain additional broad insight by analyzing multiple regions as a whole, said senior author and UCLA climate scientist David Neelin. "Each fraction of a degree of warming will have more impact than the last," said Neelin, a distinguished professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences who studies climate variability. "The acceleration means that if the rate of warming stays the same, the rate of our adaptation has to happen quicker and quicker, especially for the most extreme heat waves, which are changing the fastest." "We found that the longest and rarest heat waves in each region—those lasting for weeks—are the ones that show the greatest increases in frequency," . "By taking into account the natural variation of temperatures at each location, we find that recent observed trends of heat wave durations already follow a similar pattern of acceleration predicted by climate models."Seasons and places that currently have less variability in their weather will see the biggest changes, Neelin said.Southeast Asia and the equatorial regions of South America and Africa will likely see some of the greatest impacts. The research projected that heat waves in equatorial Africa lasting more than 35 days would happen a whopping 60 times more often in the near future (2020 to 2044) compared with the recent past (1990 to 2014).
Wildfire injures more than 110 and damages dozens of homes near Marseille, France - More than 110 people were injured and at least 10 homes destroyed as a wildfire spread into the northern districts of Marseille, France, on July 8 and 9, 2025. The fire forced evacuations, grounded flights at the city’s airport, and damaged critical infrastructure during intense summer heat and strong winds. The fast-moving wildfire broke out on July 8, near Les Pennes-Mirabeau, approximately 13 km (8 miles) north of Marseille’s city center. The fire’s rapid spread was caused by strong winds reaching up to 100 km/h (62 mph), combined with high temperatures and dry vegetation. Authorities confirmed that between 110 and 119 people were injured, the majority suffering from smoke inhalation. Among the injured were at least nine firefighters. No fatalities have been reported. next stay Around 400 residents were evacuated from affected neighborhoods, while confinement orders were issued for tens of thousands of others. By the evening of July 9, most restrictions had been lifted as the fire began to recede. According to local officials, approximately 10 to 12 houses were completely destroyed and 63 others sustained varying degrees of damage. Hundreds of additional homes were threatened but spared due to firefighting efforts. Marseille Provence Airport suspended all operations during part of the incident and resumed flights later on July 9. Hospital Nord operated on emergency generator power after losing electricity. Sections of the A552 motorway, identified as the likely ignition point of the fire, possibly due to a vehicle fire—and several railway lines were temporarily closed.
Rare summer cold front brings 30 cm (12 inches) of snow to the Alps - A rare summer cold front swept across the Alps from late July 7 to July 8, 2025, bringing significant snowfall and sub-seasonal temperatures to elevations above 2 300 m (7 500 feet). Up to 30 cm (12 inches) of fresh snow was recorded in the Mont-Blanc massif, with temperatures dropping 5–10°C (9–18°F) below seasonal averages. The Mont-Blanc massif recorded up to 30 cm (12 inches) of fresh snow, with similar accumulations observed in other high-elevation areas of the French, Swiss, and Italian Alps. According to Météo-France and MeteoSwiss, temperatures at altitude dropped rapidly, reaching 5–10°C (9–18°F) below seasonal norms. Maximum temperatures in the lowlands fell to 19–22°C (66–72°F), while values at 1 500 m (4 900 feet) hovered between 10–13°C (50–55°F). The snow line briefly dropped to 2 000 m (6 560 feet), with precipitation falling as rain below and snow above this threshold. Authorities and mountain guides in the Chamonix and Zermatt regions reported temporary closures and increased avalanche risks on high routes, advising caution for outdoor activities. The sudden snowfall disrupted glacier-ski operations in areas such as Passo Stelvio, Italy, and created unexpected hazards for summer hikers and mountaineers. Climatologists noted that while snowfall at altitude can occur in any month, the scale and timing of this event were unusual following a prolonged period of warm, stable weather. Weather models attribute the event to a low-pressure system over Scandinavia, which directed a cold, moist northwesterly flow across central Europe.
Rare July snowfall blankets highlands of Rize and Trabzon, Turkey - 2 YouTube videos - Rare snowfall blanketed high-altitude regions of Rize and Trabzon in northeastern Turkey in early July, creating a winter-like landscape amid peak summer. Rare snowfall affected high-elevation areas in Turkey’s Rize and Trabzon provinces on July 2 and 3, 2025, transforming typically lush green summer plateaus into snow-covered landscapes. According to the General Directorate of Meteorology (MGM), this phenomenon was caused by a sudden cold air mass impacting northeastern Anatolia, bringing precipitation and significantly lower temperatures to regions above 2 000 m (6 560 ft). Snowfall was reported across plateaus including Anzer, Kavron, Samistal, and Ovit, where locals and visitors observed snow accumulation despite daytime temperatures in lower elevations ranging between 24–27°C (75–81°F). Inhabitants of mountain villages such as Çamlıhemşin, Hemşin, and İkizdere woke up to scenes resembling mid-winter. A local journalist from Rize said this was the first time in his 65 years that he had seen snow in July. Similar conditions were observed in parts of Bayburt Province, suggesting the phenomenon affected a large area across northeastern Turkey’s mountainous spine. While these northeastern highlands were covered in fresh snow, southwestern Turkey faced a stark contrast with extreme heat and wildfires reported near İzmir, where temperatures rose to 40°C (104°F). Meteorologists noted that although summer snow in the Kaçkar Mountains is not unprecedented, the extent and timing of this event were highly unusual.
Major eruption at Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki sends ash to 19.6 km, triggers ashfall in nearby villages, Indonesia – videos - A major explosive eruption occurred at Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki, Indonesia, on July 7, 2025, producing an ash column that rose to over 19 km (63 000 feet) above sea level (a.s.l.). The Aviation Color Code was raised to Red, resulting in the cancellation of multiple flights to and from Bali. Heavy ashfall is falling over the nearby villages. Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki erupted explosively on July 7, 2025, producing pyroclastic flows up to 5 km (3 miles) down its slopes and an ash column reaching 19.6 km (63 000 feet) above sea level—the highest since its deadly November 2024 eruption. Thick ashfall was reported across downwind villages, including Boru, prompting health warnings and mask advisories. The eruption also disrupted aviation with multiple flight cancellations between Australia and Indonesia. This marks the third major eruptive phase at Lewotobi Laki-laki in 2025, with the volcano remaining at the highest alert level and a 7 km (4.3 miles) exclusion zone still in effect due to continued risk of lahars and seismic activity. A major explosive eruption occurred at Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki, located on Flores Island, Indonesia, at 11:05 WITA (03:05 UTC) on July 7. Indonesia’s Geological Agency (Badan Geologi) reported that pyroclastic flows, an avalanche of hot gas clouds, mixed with rocks and lava, traveled up to 5 km (3 miles) down the slopes of the volcano during the eruption. Pyroclastic flows pose extreme hazards due to their speed, heat, and force, and can destroy anything in their path. The Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center (PVMBG) reported an ash column height of approximately 18 km (59 000 feet) above the summit or about 19.6 km (63 000 feet) a.s.l. This is the highest ash column at Laki-laki since the November 2024 eruption, which killed nine people and injured dozens. The ash plume was observed as gray to black in color with thick intensity, spreading toward the north, northeast, and northwest, affecting villages downwind. Residents are being warned to wear masks or cover their mouths due to ash exposure.
Senate hearing to spotlight Forest Service cuts - The Trump administration’s vision for a smaller Forest Service that hands off wildfire management to the Interior Department will be on display this week as the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee considers the agency’s spending proposal for the next fiscal year. Lawmakers are likely to explore two divergent views of what the Forest Service should be: the historic manager of federal lands that’s deeply involved in wildfire suppression, community-based forestry and research; or a newly pared-back agency that’s focused on timber production, wildfire prevention and public access to the 193-million acre system. Republicans on the panel, led by Chair Mike Lee of Utah, have had a more sympathetic view to the administration’s change in direction. Democrats are pushing in the opposite direction, complaining of canceled grants to states and communities and the loss of several thousand Forest Service employees to deferred resignations, early retirement and firings of probationary workers.
True polar wander of 1.13 m (3.72 feet) linked to global dam-building from 1835 to 2011 - Storage of water in artificial reservoirs shifted Earth’s rotational poles by 113 cm (44 inches) and caused a 21 mm (0.83 inches) global sea level drop between 1835 and 2011, according to new research published in Geophysical Research Letters. The study modeled the geophysical effects of 6 862 global reservoirs and found distinct pole movements aligned with major dam-building phases. Reservoir locations in the Hawley et al. (2020) database. Location of 6,862 artificial reservoirs in the database adopted in this study. Symbol size is proportional to the logarithm of the reservoir capacity. New research published in Geophysical Research Letters finds that artificial water impoundment has contributed measurably to Earth’s true polar wander (TPW) over the past 175 years. True polar wander refers to the shift of Earth’s entire solid outer shell, its crust and mantle, relative to the planet’s spin axis. As large masses like water are moved around the globe (e.g. by building reservoirs), the Earth gradually rebalances its outer shell to maintain rotational stability. This causes the geographic poles to migrate over time, even though the planet’s rotation axis in space remains fixed. The study, led by Natasha Valencic, a graduate student in Earth and planetary sciences at Harvard University, integrated the global record of 6 862 reservoirs built between 1835 and 2011 to quantify the impact of redistributed water mass on Earth’s rotation axis. Modeling of reservoir mass changes and secondary ocean redistribution reveals a total polar motion of 113.4 cm (3.7 feet) over the study period.
International tribunal declares right to healthy climate - Countries across Central and South America have an obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect the environment, a human rights court found last week in a landmark decision that boosts efforts to address climate change in the region.The Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday that countries bear a responsibility to prevent harms from climate change under the American Convention on Human Rights. It also emphasized a need to protect the rights of Indigenous people and those most vulnerable to environmental harm, including rural communities, children and people with disabilities.The nonbinding opinion also found that countries have an obligation to regulate polluters and adopt ambitious climate targets based on science. And it called on countries to act to prevent climate disinformation. “The court has broken new ground and set a powerful precedent in affirming the human right to a healthy climate,” said Nikki Reisch, climate and energy program director at the Center for International Environmental Law. “The court’s conclusions should put big polluters, like the fossil fuel industry, on notice: Climate-destructive conduct violates the law.”
U.S. Insurers Are Refusing to Cover Climate Change Risk Zones --As countries worldwide experience more regular extreme weather events, insurers have become more reluctant to cover properties in high-risk areas. However, without insurance, it is impossible for many people to gain access to mortgage financing. We are seeing an insurance crisis in the United States, as insurers are becoming less likely to offer coverage for homes in certain areas, particularly those that have experienced natural disasters, such as flooding and wildfire, in recent years. Between 2018 and December 2024, over 1.9 million home insurance contracts were “nonrenewed”, meaning they came to an end. The nonrenewal rate tripled or more in over 200 U.S. counties, according to a congressional report. These figures became clear following an investigation spurred by the Senate Budget Committee, which demanded in November 2023 that the largest U.S. insurance companies provide the number of nonrenewals by county and year.Some states and cities are seeing greater nonrenewal rates than others, particularly those at greater risk of fire, flood, hurricanes and other severe weather events. Although there is still a lack of information on the reason behind the nonrenewals, the countrywide map of nonrenewals strongly reflects the climate crisis as it is being seen across the U.S. Some of the areas most affected include California, Florida, and North Carolina. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in 2024, there were 27 individual weather and climate disasters, coming only behind the record-setting 28 events in 2023. Last year was the fourth-costliest year on record in terms of these types of events, with a total cost of approximately $182.7 billion, coming after 2017 ($395.9 billion), 2005 ($268.5 billion), and 2022 ($183.6 billion). The 2024 weather events included storms, wildfires, droughts, flooding, tornadoes, tropical cyclones and other types of extreme weather. Some companies have halted new insurance policies in certain parts of the country, such as AllState. In 2022, AllState paused the sale of new home and condo insurance policies in California. A spokesperson for the firm stated, “Our payments to help California residents recover from accidents and disasters have increased significantly in recent years due to higher repair costs and more frequent and severe weather… We continue to offer coverage to most existing home insurance customers.” State Farm, one of the biggest insurance providers in the U.S., followed suit in 2023 by halting the sale of new housing insurance products in California. In Florida, by the spring of 2024, at least 12 insurance companieshad stopped selling housing insurance in the state. Farmers Insurance stated upon withdrawing from Florida, “This business decision was necessary to effectively manage risk exposure.”A 2024 report by the non-profit First Street Foundation, showed that 23.9 million properties in the U.S. were at risk from damaging winds, 4.4 million properties were at risk from wildfire, and a further 12 million properties were at significant risk of flooding – in addition to properties in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema)'s Special Flood Hazard Areas. The report stated, “Private insurance companies are effectively labelling areas as uninsurable.”The result of the withdrawal of insurance companies from certain parts of the country is the inability for consumers to get a mortgage, meaning fewer people can buy a house. As houses sit empty, it drives down property prices in the area and leads to less tax revenue being collected to invest in services. Many communities are facing these consequences and feel left behind. If the U.S. government does not take action to mitigate the risk of the impact of extreme weather events in these areas or encourage insurers to continue covering high-risk areas, this will happen to a greater number of communities across the country.
Marjorie Taylor Greene pledges probe into geoengineering - On a day when the EPA administrator elevated concerns about weather modification as his agency downplayed those worries, an outspoken House Republican said she would hold a hearing on the issue. In a statement provided to POLITICO’s E&E News, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said she plans to use her perch as a subcommittee chair on the House Oversight and Government Reform panel to investigate geoengineering, a nascent field in which chemicals are dispersed in the air to lower temperatures.“Let’s be clear: Weather modification is no longer a ‘conspiracy theory.’ It’s real, it’s happening, and the American people deserve a voice,” said Greene, who in the past has peddled fringe theories.Such baseless assertions have been widespread in the aftermath of the deadly floods in Texas this past weekend, including that cloud seeding may have played a role in the disaster.
Trump directs Treasury to limit wind and solar tax credits -President Trump on Monday directed the Treasury Department to take a strict approach to limit which projects can get access to wind and solar tax credits. The recently passed Republican megabill ends the tax credits for wind and solar tax creditsunless solar or wind farms start producing electricity by 2028 – or unless they start construction in the next year. Trump’s executive order tells his administration to limit which projects can count as having started construction. Specifically, he directs the Treasury Department to restrict “the use of broad safe harbors unless a substantial portion of a subject facility has been built.” It also says the department should try to prevent “the artificial acceleration or manipulation of eligibility.” Trump also directed the Interior Department, which manages energy production on federal lands and waters, to look for and eliminate any policies that give “preferential treatment” to wind and solar. The Republican bill dramatically diminishes the solar and wind incentives passed by Democrats in their 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Megalaw complicates Trump’s plans to quickly ax renewable credits - President Donald Trump wants to quickly ax renewable tax credits. But his One Big Beautiful Bill Act could take years to unwind some Biden-era incentives.The legislation, signed into law by Trump last week, creates a complicated system for phasing out the investment tax credit and production tax credit available to wind and solar projects. Many projects could still see financing for years to come — though confusion reigns over which ones will qualify. Projects already under construction are effectively able to claim the credits if they enter operation through 2030. That threshold is met by roughly a third of onshore wind development projects and more than a quarter of solar projects, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration figures.Projects on the cusp of construction will also be able to claim credits. Those that start work before July 4, 2026, can avoid a new congressional requirement that projects be placed in service by the end of 2027 to get federal money.Trump injected uncertainty into those qualifications with an executive order Monday, titled “Ending Market distorting Subsidies for Unreliable, Foreign Controlled Energy Sources.” The order directed the Treasury Department to tighten the definition for what qualifies as the start of construction. But some renewable developers predict that their projects will weather the changes.“As long as there’s demand for power and not enough supply, we’ll have customers to buy our power,” said Nick Cohen, president and CEO of Doral Renewables. “And, you know, right now the customer market is paying double what it did five years ago, and that’s because it needs the power. So our business is actually in a very good position because there’s so little supply out there and such strong demand.”Still, the stakes for who qualifies are potentially massive for the country’s renewable energy industry and the climate.About two-thirds of wind projects and nearly three quarters of solar projects that plan to come online by 2030 haven’t begun construction, according to EIA’s figures. The agency’s numbers represent a rough estimate of the status of projects as of May. Most energy modelers are forecasting a big drop-off in renewable installations as a result of the GOP megabill. Wood Mackenzie, a consultancy, predicts wind and solar installations will decrease by 20 percent and 17 percent, respectively, over the next decade. Greenhouse gas emissions could be 7 percent higher in 2035, according to modeling done by a research group led by Jesse Jenkins, a Princeton University professor and outspoken climate hawk. That analysis also factors in rollbacks for other clean energy incentives, like tax credits for electric vehicles.And while Trump has long prioritized axing renewable tax credits — which he refers to as part of the “Green New Scam” — his order Monday shocked renewable developers. Under the order, Treasury will reconsider how it determines whether a project is under construction. Historically, companies that spend 5 percent of a project’s total cost or have begun significant construction activities are safe-harbored under federal tax law, making them eligible to receive subsidies. But Republican lawmakers belonging to the ultra conservative House Freedom Caucus maintain the current rules make it too easy for developers to claim they have started construction and receive the money. The Treasury Department has 45 days to issue a report on the topic.
GOP moderates balk at Trump renewables order - Moderate Republicans were steamed Wednesday about President Donald Trump’s executive order to placate conservatives who voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and John Curtis of Utah secured concessions to ease the phase-out of renewable energy tax credits in the budget reconciliation package. But Trump’s executive order this week was meant to blunt that deal. House conservatives demanded it last week before agreeing to help make the bill law. Murkowski, during a hearing Wednesday, said the order “really guts the effort for a compromise that we were able to secure within that reconciliation bill. So I don’t really like it. I’ll just be blunt, I don’t really like it all.” The law, which Trump signed on Independence Day, allows wind and solar projects to receive tax credits as long as they start construction by mid-2026 or are plugged into the grid by the end of 2027. Renewable energy companies and their allies also secured softer supply chain restrictions and managed to kill a new excise tax on projects. The president’s order directed officials to use a strict interpretation of the law and to prevent companies from securing materials from adversaries like China. “We had a debate, certainly, before the Senate last week when it came to certain of the tax credits for our solar and wind projects,” Murkowski said. “We negotiated a little bit longer runway for wind and solar tax credits in reconciliation. It wasn’t much, but it’s gonna help allow for the facilitation of a couple of projects, maybe a good handful, to proceed.” Members of the House Freedom Caucus were particularly irked with the start construction language, widely seen as a lifeline to wind and solar developers. Conservatives preferred only giving developers 60 days following passage. The executive order directed the Treasury Department to issue new and revised guidance within 45 days that is “appropriate and consistent with applicable law to ensure that policies concerning the ‘beginning of construction’ are not circumvented.” “For too long, the Federal Government has forced American taxpayers to subsidize expensive and unreliable energy sources like wind and solar,” the order reads.
FERC proceeds cautiously with Trump-ordered ‘sunset’ for energy rules - The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is poised to start rulemaking to “sunset” certain regulations, according to a draft “notice of inquiry” obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News. The notice follows President Donald Trump’s executive order directing FERC to establish sunset dates of between one and five years for rules on energy production. It is the optional first step in commission rulemaking, allowing the agency to gather public feedback before proposing a rule.Energy experts said the draft notice, which is not yet published, shows FERC is being cautious as it begins to implement an executive order expected to create significant uncertainty for industry and legal challenges for the agency. “I see this as the commission being very prudent,” said Matt Christiansen, a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and former FERC general counsel, when given a summary of the contents of the document.
Supreme Court’s NEPA ruling will reshape FERC climate fights - A recent Supreme Court ruling could shake up how environmental groups challenge natural gas pipelines by undercutting a seminal lower court decision that required federal regulators to evaluate a project’s downstream greenhouse gas emissions. In May, the high court ruled in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County that agencies are not required to analyze environmental impacts outside of their jurisdiction, or that are too far removed in either time or space from the project under review. A number of legal experts say the 8-0 decision undermines the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit’s 2017 ruling in Sierra Club v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The so-called Sabal Trail decision is often cited by environmental groups and others pushing FERC to more seriously consider how its approval of new gas projects could contribute to rising global temperatures.“What the Supreme Court did was give Sabal Trail a decent burial,” said Joe Kelliher, who was FERC chair under former President George W. Bush.
Interior’s NEPA changes largely cut public out of permitting process - Agencies are rewriting their National Environmental Policy Act regulations, potentially muting public input and curtailing environmental reviews for everything from new railroads to oil wells.The broad changes, enacted by at least four agencies, will narrow the scope of environmental analyses, cut down on public comment periods and speed up environmental permitting. At the Interior Department, the changes include cutting close to one-sixth of the regulations implementing NEPA — and switching most of the remaining rules to less-stringent guidelines.Mark Squillace, who worked at Interior during the Clinton administration, called the changes “outrageous.”“What they’re basically doing is wiping out all of these requirements wholesale,” Squillace, a law professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, said in an interview. “The public is being cut out of the process for commenting on major kinds of decisions.”
Trump budges on freezing funds for EV charging - The Trump administration may have relented this week in its effort to freeze $875 million of federal funds to build electric vehicle charging stations.The U.S. attorney general’s office on Tuesday declined to appeal a court order from last week that freed a variety of states, from California to Rhode Island, to draw money halted in the first month of the Trump presidency. At stake is a fraction of the $2.7 billion that states had been expecting as part of the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, which was created by the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law. The Biden administration designed the program to put chargers every 50 miles on major highways.The attorney general’s office of Washington state, which led the lawsuit, said in a statement to POLITICO’s E&E News, “Now that the injunction is in effect, we expect the Trump Administration to promptly comply with the order as we move our infrastructure programs forward.”But the Federal Highway Administration, which administers the program and is a defendant in the case, suggested on Wednesday that its fight isn’t over. The Department of Transportation, which oversees FHWA and is also a defendant, “still can appeal the preliminary injunction and is currently coordinating its legal strategy with the Department of Justice,” FHWA said in a statement to POLITICO’s E&E News.The Sierra Club, which led a group of nonprofits that joined the lawsuit, celebrated the ruling by Judge Tana Lin of the Western District of Washington. “The NEVI program is hugely consequential” in fostering an environment in which electric vehicles spread, said Joe Halso, the Sierra Club’s lead attorney on the case.President Donald Trump put the NEVI program in his crosshairs in an Inauguration Day executive order, grouping it with Biden’s other EV initiatives and seeking the “elimination of unfair subsidies and other ill-conceived government-imposed market distortions.” The Department of Transportation then froze the program in February, saying that funding would be withheld until it created new rules to replace Biden’s.Those rules have not emerged, though on Monday, the administration suggested in a filing that it is preparing to do so. FHWA said on Wednesday that it is creating new guidance because the Biden version “was a disaster and failed miserably to deliver EV chargers.”Sixteen blue states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration in May, arguing that the freeze harmed them by paralyzing plans to deploy EV charging stations that they had painstakingly prepared.
Nissan to Curb Production of New EV Amid China’s Rare Earths Export Controls --Japanese car manufacturing giant Nissan Motor is revising down production plans for its new Leaf series electric vehicle as the Chinese controls on exports of rare earth elements have created a shortage of car parts, Kyodo News reported on Tuesday. The setback for Nissan’s new EV is the latest in a series of hurdles that carmakers globally have faced since China announced export controls of rare earths in early April. Suzuki Motor, another Japanese giant, has reportedly halted production of its flagship Swift subcompact because of supply chain shortages, sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters last month.At the beginning of April, China announced it would curb its exports of dysprosium, gadolinium, scandium, terbium, samarium, yttrium, and lutetium. These so-called “heavy” and “medium” rare earth elements are mostly used in automotive applications, including rotors and motors and transmission in electric vehicles and hybrids, as well as in the defense industry in parts of jets, missiles, and drones.The Chinese export restrictions reverberated through global supply chains and were initially felt in the automotive industry, where major car manufacturing associations warned that production and assembly lines are being idled due to a bottleneck in magnet and rare earth supply.Germany’s automotive industry group VDA joined other carmakers to sound the alarm that the curbs and controls on China’s exports of rare earth elements and magnets could disrupt and even idle manufacturing lines.In May, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation – which represents GM, Toyota, Volkswagen, and other major car manufacturers – warned of production reductions and even shutdowns of assembly lines without access to magnets and to rare earths.China has eased some of its restrictions on exports of rare earth elements by approving “a certain number” of export licenses. However, global supply chains continue to feel the shortage of magnets and other rare earth-derived parts.
Heat waves renew warnings: Growth could overwhelm regional electric grid by 2027 -During a recent heat wave, PJM Interconnection, the Midwest’s electric grid operator, found itself operating at 163,000 megawatts, flirting with the grid’s all-time peak usage record of 165,000 megawatts.“That’s pretty close to our all-time peak usage,” said Asim Haque, PJM Interconnection’s senior vice president of governmental and member services (and a former Springfield resident).In an interview, Haque said PJM managed the moment “seamlessly.” But the non-profit operator had to call on customers who had signed up for a power curtailment program to temporarily lessen their power usage. In an era of data center and electric vehicle proliferation, as power demand grows and older, fossil-fuel-based power sources are retired, making sure the region has enough power is only going to get harder, Haque said.“From where we sit, here’s what I’ll say: Operation of the power grid is going to be far more complicated,” he said.Asked if he loses sleep over the problem, Haque answered without hesitating.“1,000%,” he said. In late June, temperatures in Dayton and the region logged in the mid- to upper-90s.With demand rising faster than capacity, Ohio’s electric grid is at risk of being overwhelmed as early as 2027, Alexandra Denney warned Ohio lawmakers this spring, echoing warnings from PJM itself. Denney is vice president of government relations and communication with the Ohio Business Roundtable.“Ohio is at a critical point in shaping its energy policy, and as private companies assess investment opportunities across the United States, we want Ohio to be their top choice,” Denney told lawmakers.PJM first issued that warning in 2023, saying the grid operator was concerned a shortfall might happen “if nothing changed,” said Jeffrey Shields, a spokesman for PJM.“Recently, we said, we think that’s actually moving up,” Shields added. “That timeframe (2027-28) is pretty realistic.”But PJM leaders have been careful not to say definitively that anything will happen at a precise point.Haque said PJM will soon release what he called a “balance sheet” contrasting power demand and supply, especially during peak summer and winter periods. It is those peak periods — the hottest and coldest days in the Midwest, a region famed for dramatic weather swings — that most worry PJM decision-makers.“Remember, 362 days out of the year, you’re not going to notice a difference,” “It’s really these peak days when we’re really, really concerned.” The projected shortfall — the gap between expected peak demand with a reserve margin and installed power capacity — is fueled by the spread of data centers and growing businesses, according to a study from the Ohio Business Roundtable.Based in Valley Forge, Pa., PJM Interconnection manages and pays on-call generators to keep electricity humming. Its area of responsibility covers all or parts of 13 states plus Washington, D.CBlackout risks risking as AI, reindustrialization push strain grid - The Trump administration warned Monday that the risk of blackouts could be 100 times greater by the end of the decade, as the race to develop artificial intelligence (AI) and the push to reshore manufacturing strain the electrical grid. In a new report, the Department of Energy noted that 104 gigawatts of power capacity are set to be retired by 2030. Even if the U.S. brings online 209 gigawatts within the next six years as planned, the average annual outage time would increase from about 8 hours per year to more than 800 hours per year, according to the report. Data centers, which help power AI training and usage, are expected to add anywhere from 35 gigawatts to 108 gigawatts in load growth to the grid by the end of the decade. While eliminating the planned plant retirements would reduce the risk of blackouts, the potential for outages would still be 34 times greater by 2030, the report found. Energy Secretary Chris Wright used the findings to underscore the need to maintain current power sources, such as coal and natural gas, aligning with President Trump’s embrace of nonrenewable energy. “This report affirms what we already know: The United States cannot afford to continue down the unstable and dangerous path of energy subtraction previous leaders pursued, forcing the closure of baseload power sources like coal and natural gas,” Wright said in a statement. “In the coming years, America’s reindustrialization and the AI race will require a significantly larger supply of around-the-clock, reliable, and uninterrupted power,” he added. “President Trump’s administration is committed to advancing a strategy of energy addition, and supporting all forms of energy that are affordable, reliable, and secure.” However, some pushed back on the Department of Energy’s findings. Advanced Energy United, a trade group representing the advanced energy industry, suggested the report may overstate the risks of blackouts and undervalue resources like wind, solar and battery storage. “We are working quickly to dig into the numbers to unpack how [Energy Department] reached its conclusions, but it’s troubling that the report was not subject to public input and scrutiny,” Caitlin Marquis, managing director at Advanced Energy United, said in a statement. She noted that the report, which was produced in response to an April executive order, will be used to help identify which power plants are retained. “If the analysis is overly pessimistic about advanced energy technologies and the future of the grid, consumers will end up paying too much for resources we no longer need,” Marquis added.
DOE plays out worst-case scenarios for US grid - A Department of Energy report issued Monday warns that the United States will lose the race for leadership in artificial intelligence technology unless it slams the brakes on plans to close older coal- and gas-fired power plants and speeds up construction of new ones. To dramatize the challenge, DOE said that parts of the mid-Atlantic and Great Plains regions could face 400 hours of power outages in 2030 in a worst-case scenario where tech companies build giant energy-hungry AI data centers unabated, old coal plants keep closing and new power supplies come online slowly. Hardest hit under this scenario, according to the DOE analysis, would be eastern states served by the PJM Interconnection grid. Weeks of power shortages in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia by 2030 would result from power plant closures and data center expansion. Under the most severe weather conditions based on history (not including future climate forecasts), power shortages in the area could total more than a month over the course of a year. While the DOE scenarios are startling, the department noted that U.S. grid operators responsible for keeping the lights on would not approve data center growth that would “jeopardize the reliability of the system.” Still, the DOE analysis sets the stage for emergency actions President Donald Trump has promised. That includes ordering coal- and gas-fired generators to cancel planned closures and to keep running. A nearly 90-year-old provision of the Federal Power Act, written for wartime use, gives him broad leeway to keep the plants open during national emergencies. The DOE report declares Trump’s vow to win the AI race against China is such an emergency. “Absent intervention, it is impossible for the nation’s bulk power system to meet the AI growth requirements while maintaining a reliable power grid and keeping energy costs low for our citizens,” said the report. Presented as a technical analysis, the DOE report adopts Trump’s rebuke of former President Joe Biden’s goal of closing down coal power plants in favor of carbon-free wind and solar generation, which Trump recently called “windmills and the rest of this JUNK.” “Caused by the harmful and shortsighted policies of the previous administration, our Nation’s inadequate energy supply and infrastructure causes and makes worse the high energy prices that devastate Americans, particularly those living on low- and fixed-incomes,” the report said. Advanced Energy United, a group of clean technology developers and energy users, took issue with sweeping assertions that wind, solar and battery technology are a net-negative for the grid as opposed to energy assets during a period of rising electricity demand: “The study released today by the Department of Energy appears to exaggerate the risk of blackouts and undervalue the contributions of entire resource classes, like wind, solar, and battery storage, despite the fact that regions like Texas that have enabled rapid growth of these technologies have been rewarded with lower costs and a more reliable grid,” said Caitlin Marquis, managing director at Advanced Energy United. “[It’s] troubling that this final agency action will not be subject to public scrutiny before it’s used to justify retaining power plants that aren’t needed for reliability — a decision that would directly add costs to consumers bills,” Marquis added. Jennifer Danis, federal energy policy director at the Institute for Policy Integrity at the New York University School of Law, questioned whether the analysis supports emergency declarations from the administration ordering aging coal and gas plants to halt their retirement plans. “Reforms may be needed to ensure better planning for future resource adequacy to power AI,” Danis said in a statement, “but they should focus on improving existing markets and planning standards, as well as speeding up new resource interconnection, rather than forcing customers to pay to keep old, inefficient plants online.” Biden’s energy agenda — an unprecedented campaign to combat the threat of climate change fueled by the burning of coal, natural gas and oil for electricity — was only partially realized when Trump’s victory last November signed death warrants for much of the plan. The DOE report does not mention climate change. A consensus of grid operators in U.S. competitive power markets like PJM and the Southwest Power Pool is that grid reliability faces extraordinary stresses if the heavy rate of fossil plant retirements continues. Coal-fired plants, which supplied half of U.S. electricity two decades ago, have shrunk to just a 16 percent share, trailing natural gas plants, nuclear reactors, and just ahead of wind and solar power. The conclusion of power industry leaders at a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission conference last month was “keep what we have” until the dimensions of the AI boom are clear and the pace of new plant construction can finally pick up. “AI is going to change our world,” said Manu Asthana, the PJM CEO, told the FERC conference. “In our forecast between 2024 and 2030, currently we have a 32-gigawatt increase in demand, of which 30 is from data centers,” Asthana said. PJM must “find that intersection between reliability and affordability that works both for consumers and suppliers, and that intersection is getting harder and harder to find.” Clean energy advocates fault PJM for an overly costly, complex process for approving new solar and wind projects in the region over nearly a decade. “As if this wasn’t challenging enough,” said Lanny Nickell, CEO of the Southwest Power Pool, “we are now projecting our peak demand to be as much as 75 percent higher 10 years from now, and that’s largely driven by electrification and data center growth.” DOE reported that 104 GW of fossil fuel plant capacity is expected to retire by 2030. (One GW of power output—1,000 megawatts—supports about 850,000 average U.S. homes, with wide regional differences.) “This capacity is not being replaced on a one-to-one basis and losing this generation could lead to significant outages when weather conditions do not accommodate wind and solar generation,” DOE said. The supply-demand balance gets much worse with DOE’s assumption that at least 50 GW of new around-the-clock plant capacity will be needed to power data centers between now and 2030.
Competing power markets press ahead in the West. But at what cost? - As two electricity markets take shape across the West, state regulators are weighing the potential costs of bifurcating the region’s electric grid.The two market options — one from California’s main grid operator, the other from Southwest Power Pool — both seek to better organize utilities west of the Rockies, allowing for better sharing of resources as the grid faces increasing challenges. Some environmental groups are warning that the current bifurcated market that is developing may not offer consumers the maximum benefits. And as both markets press ahead with planned launches in the next two years, those concerns are growing louder. “To be clear, any market is better than no market,” said Brian Turner, a director for the clean energy group Advanced Energy United. But, he added, having utilities join different markets has “limited potential upside” and threatens to isolate some in a less expansive market.
Lawmakers weaken Calif. bill pushing for more plastic bottle recycling - Sen. Catherine Blakespear amended a bill Monday that would require state agencies to reduce their use of single-use plastics, lowering the threshold for the amount of recycled material that must be in bottles purchased by departments. Blakespear accepted an amendment offered by the Assembly Natural Resources Committee that would lower the threshold for the amount of recycled content in plastic bottles proposed in SB 14 from 90 percent to 50 percent. That level matches the threshold in AB 793, a 2020 law that requires plastic bottles to contain 50 percent recycled resin by 2030. The bill cleared the committee on an 8-0 vote. Groups that had been fighting against the bill, including the California Manufacturers & Technology Association and the International Bottled Water Association, said during the hearing that they were dropping their opposition due to the amendment.
Walmart recalls about 850,000 water bottles after 2 people blinded — Walmart is recalling approximately 850,000 Ozark Trail water bottles after multiple injuries, including two incidents that resulted in consumers suffering permanent blindness, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The CPSC stated that the screwcap lid on the 64-ounce stainless steel water bottles “can forcefully eject” when opening after food or beverages have been inside for a while. So far, the CPSC says it has received three reports of people being struck in the face by the bottles’ lids. Two people have suffered permanent vision loss after being hit in the eye. The bottles, which have been sold in Walmart stores nationwide since 2017, are silver with a black lid and the Ozark Trail logo on the side.
Council members learn about oil, gas drilling - Times Observer - Warren City Council members now have a deeper understanding of oil and gas drilling in the city. Council members recently heard a presentation by Sam Harvey, president of Bull Run Resources LLC, an energy exploration and development company operating over 1,000 oil wells. The company has six wells in Warren that were drilled starting in 2013 on the Whirley property. Harvey described the typical well inside the city limits as a shallow conventional well. While shallow, these wells go well below the water table, with a depth reaching 450 to 1,000 feet deep into a layer of sandstone below the city. By contrast, wells that go into the Marcellus shale tend to be 5,000 to 9,000 feet deep. “They have nothing to do with the Marcellus Shale, the Utica Shale, long laterals, all the new stuff that’s happened since about 2011. The wells that are being drilled now and have been drilled since the 1960s in this area are basically the same as they’ve been since the 60s,” Harvey said. Wells inside the city can only be drilled on industrial territory. Many wells in Warren are what are called slant wells, which can be distinguished by the pump jack that people see being set at an angle. That allows drillers to install their equipment in an area zoned industrial – the only places drilling is allowed in the city limits – into other areas, such as was proposed recently near Betts Park. Slant wells in Warren reach between 400 and 500 feet. Similar wells in the Marcellus Shale, Harvey said, can extend horizontally for miles. “Basically, instead of drilling straight down you’re drilling at an angle,” Harvey said. Drillers work to get beneath any local freshwater drinking water to protect freshwater drinking sources. A 450 foot hole in Warren is below the water table, Harvey said. “Everything to do with the regulations is about keeping the oil and the gas out of the freshwater and from the producer’s side keeping the freshwater out of your oil and gas,” he said. Some of these sites use the gas onsite for heating local businesses. The wells go down at slight angle and are coated in cement to keep them from leaking. “This technology has been used for decades and is pretty secure” according to Harvey. “The biggest problem is when the cracks created by fracking hit an old well and the stray gas goes somewhere unexpected.” The different products from the well are split and go to different places. Crude oil goes to the refinery. Brine water is either treated – there is a plant in Ridgeway -, reinjected into another well or used to frack a new well. Methane, propane and butane gas produced by the wells are sent to a plant – including one in Warren – that strips the various gases and sells it to wholesalers for consumption. “Generally in Warren you’re making a lot more oil than brine – fortunately. There are a lot of places where you’re making a lot more brine than oil so it becomes a sneaky expense,” Harvey said. Gas wells in the city tend to be very productive for their first few years, but production falls off sharply. A five year old well may only pump gas out for 5 or 10 minutes a day, but work for 30 to 35 years as a marginal gas well. If a well is abandoned there likely won’t be a pump jack on it. “That’s how a well gets plugged in normal circumstances,” Harvey said. “We look at the production from that area and say as things break down hole, it’s not worth going in and fishing that all out and fixing it and putting it all back together. It would take too long to get our money back. At that point you pull all the guts out and reuse all that’s reusable – the pump jack, the motor, everything like that. Then you fill the hole basically with cement. Warren city had older production from prior to the 1960s. Some of those wells may or may not have been plugged correctly. They’re basically gone at this point. They’re underneath. Who knows where they’re at. Those don’t seem to be causing any problems.”
Aspire Energy Building New Pipeline in Ohio to Feed Power Plant - Marcellus Drilling News -- Chesapeake Utilities Corporation, not to be confused with the former Chesapeake Energy Corporation (which is now Expand Energy), announced that its Ohio subsidiary, Aspire Energy Express, LLC, has entered into an agreement with American Electric Power (AEP) to construct and operate an intrastate natural gas pipeline in central Ohio to feed Marcellus/Utica gas to a new fuel-cell facility, which will provide on-site electric power to a data center. The pipeline is expected to cost approximately $10 million to construct.
Chesapeake Utilities to build $10 million pipeline for Ohio data center - - Chesapeake Utilities Corporation (NYSE:CPK), a $2.84 billion market cap utility company with impressive revenue growth of 20.34% over the last twelve months, announced Tuesday that its subsidiary, Aspire Energy Express, will construct and operate an intrastate natural gas pipeline in central Ohio to serve a new fuel-cell facility providing power to a data center. According to InvestingPro analysis, the company is currently trading above its Fair Value.The agreement with American Electric Power (AEP) represents a capital investment of approximately $10 million for Chesapeake Utilities. The new transmission infrastructure is expected to deliver natural gas to power on-site electricity generation at the data center, with completion anticipated in the first half of 2027. With EBITDA of $326 million and a P/E ratio of 22.87, the company maintains a FAIR financial health score according to InvestingPro metrics."This project is a clear example of how Chesapeake Utilities Corporation continues to execute on our growth strategy by leveraging our core capabilities," said Jeff Sylvester, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Chesapeake Utilities Corporation, in the press release.The project comes as demand for distributed data infrastructure continues to rise across the United States, with AEP working to support these developments by providing power solutions to customers with increasing energy requirements.Aspire Energy Express, founded in 2020, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chesapeake Utilities that operates as an intrastate pipeline company in Ohio. The parent company, Chesapeake Utilities, operates multiple energy infrastructure subsidiaries that enable the transmission and distribution of natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers. The announcement represents the latest expansion of natural gas infrastructure by Chesapeake Utilities in Ohio, a state the company describes as having strong workforce availability and abundant resources.
Chesapeake Utilities to Power New Data Center with Natural Gas -- Chesapeake Utilities Corporation announced Tuesday that its Ohio subsidiary, Aspire Energy Express, LLC, will construct a $10 million intrastate natural gas pipeline in central Ohio to supply a new fuel-cell facility powering a data center. The project, in partnership with American Electric Power (AEP), is set to deliver reliable natural gas by the first half of 2027, addressing the surging energy demands of the data center industry.The pipeline will support a fuel-cell facility providing on-site electricity to a data center, reflecting a broader trend of utilities adapting to the power-intensive needs of data infrastructure driven by artificial intelligence and cloud computing. The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects U.S. electricity consumption will hit record highs in 2025 and 2026, largely due to data centers, with natural gas playing a key role in meeting this demand despite its declining share in power generation, expected to drop from 42% in 2024 to 40% in 2025.Chesapeake’s investment aligns with its growth strategy, leveraging its expertise in natural gas transmission to serve high-growth regions. “This project is a clear example of how Chesapeake Utilities continues to execute on our growth strategy by leveraging our core capabilities,” said Jeff Sylvester, senior vice president and chief operating officer. The company, with a market cap of $2.84 billion, reported a 20.34% revenue increase over the past year, driven by strong natural gas demand and infrastructure investments.AEP, a major utility serving 5.6 million customers across 11 states, is also positioning itself to meet rising commercial load growth, which hit 12.3% in the first quarter of 2025. Its collaboration with Chesapeake underscores efforts to provide innovative power solutions, including low-carbon options like fuel cells, as seen in AEP’s recent 100-megawatt Bloom Energy fuel cell project in Ohio.The project comes amid concerns about the risks of overbuilding gas infrastructure. Environmental groups, like the Sierra Club, warn that speculative data center demand could lead to stranded assets, burdening ratepayers if projects fail to materialize. AEP Ohio has introduced tariffs requiring data centers to cover most of their projected energy costs to mitigate such risks.This pipeline, operated by Aspire Energy Express, founded in 2020, adds to Chesapeake’s 2,300 miles of natural gas pipelines across 40 Ohio counties. As data centers reshape energy landscapes, this initiative highlights the critical role of natural gas in balancing reliability and growth, even as utilities navigate a complex transition toward cleaner energy sources.
Southwest Ohio Power Plant Sold to ArcLight Capital Partners -- Marcellus Drilling News -- Another day, another gas-fired power plant has been sold. It’s becoming a routine thing. Yesterday, ArcLight Capital Partners announced that it has entered into definitive agreements to acquire 100% of the economic interests in Middletown Energy Center, a 484 megawatt (MW) natural gas-fired power plant located in Butler County, Ohio. We wrote about the original plan to build the Middletown plant back in 2014 (see New SW Ohio Electric Generating Plant to be Powered by Natgas). It got built, sold once, and is now being sold again.
Marcellus/Utica May Finally Be on the Verge of Production Increase Marcellus Drilling News - A month ago, MDN published a post predicting that Marcellus/Utica natural gas production is set to grow thanks to new pipeline projects and demand from data centers and LNG exporters (see Marcellus/Utica Set to Grow Thanks to LNG, Data Centers, Southeast). Today, we shift the focus from customers to what drillers are saying (predicting) about their 2025 production and their long-term production plans.
27 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jun 23 – 29 -- Marcellus Drilling News - For the week of June 23 – 29, the number of permits issued to drill new wells in the Marcellus/Utica rose slightly from the previous week. There were 27 new permits issued across the three M-U states last week, up three from 24 issued two weeks ago. The Keystone State (PA) issued 10 new permits. Six of the ten permits went to EQT for a single pad in Greene County. Two permits were issued to Range Resources for a pad in Washington County. And one permit each was issued to Coterra Energy in Susquehanna County (in Dimock!), and Infinity Natural Resources in Indiana County. ANTERO RESOURCES | ARSENAL RESOURCES | ASCENT RESOURCES | CARROLL COUNTY | COTERRA ENERGY (CABOT O&G) | ENCINO ENERGY | EOG RESOURCES | EQT CORP | GREENE COUNTY (PA) | GUERNSEY COUNTY | HARRISON COUNTY | HARRISON COUNTY | INDIANA COUNTY | INR/INFINITY NATURAL RESOURCES | MARION COUNTY | MARION NATURAL ENERGY | RANGE RESOURCES CORP | SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY | WASHINGTON COUNTY | WETZEL COUNTY
21 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jun 30 – Jul 6 - Marcellus Drilling News - For the week of June 30 – July 6, the number of permits issued to drill new wells in the Marcellus/Utica decreased from the previous week, likely due to the July 4th holiday. There were 21 new permits issued across the three M-U states last week, down six from 27 issued two weeks ago. The Keystone State (PA) issued 13 new permits. EQT and its recently acquired Olympus Energy received a combined five permits scattered across three counties: Allegheny, Greene, and Washington. Snyder Brothers received four permits in Armstrong County. BKV scored three permits in Wyoming County. Range Resources received a single permit in Washington County. ALLEGHENY COUNTY | ARMSTRONG COUNTY | ASCENT RESOURCES | BKV/BANPU | EQT CORP | EXPAND ENERGY | GREENE COUNTY (PA) |GUERNSEY COUNTY | HARRISON COUNTY | OHIO COUNTY | OLYMPUS/HUNTLEY & HUNTLEY | RANGE RESOURCES CORP | SNYDER BROTHERS |WASHINGTON COUNTY | WYOMING COUNTY (PA)
As a longtime fracking activist moves on, his concerns about the industry persist (podcast and transcript) A dozen years ago, as fracking was getting started in Ohio and was already well underway in Pennsylvania, data researcher Ted Auch began working at the new nonprofit, FracTracker Alliance, which tracks the risks of oil, gas and petrochemical industries. Auch has been using photography, maps and data analysis to document the region’s gas and petrochemical industries and has been a source for many Allegheny Front stories about the industry’s waste and water usage in Ohio and the region. He has recently announced he’s leaving FracTracker. He spoke with The Allegheny Front’s Julie Grant. LISTEN to their conversation here.
New York pipeline foes allege Trump ‘shakedown’ - Opposition is growing over a revived natural gas pipeline project that would run into New York City, and critics say President Donald Trump’s heavy-handed intervention has made the plan vulnerable to a legal takedown.The line of attack raises the prospect that Trump’s transactional method of operating — and a White House boast — could be used to challenge the Northeast Supply Enhancement project and another gas project Trump wants built: the Constitution pipeline.“In a normal era, this would be a Watergate-level scandal. I’m actually shocked that everyone acknowledges the basic factual timeline, but yet most people just shrug and move on,” said Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen’s Energy and Climate Program.In the consumer advocacy group’s formal protest to federal regulators, Slocum called it a “quid pro quo.” Trump administration officials say they’re simply advancing projects that will reduce energy costs. The outcome of the tussle over gas pipeline plans may help shape whether the northeastern United States builds more renewable energy infrastructure or relies more on fossil fuels such as natural gas.The Northeast project, or NESE, proposed by Williams Cos. would include a 24-mile pipeline running underwater into New York from New Jersey, which would host three miles of onshore pipe. It is an expansion of Williams’ 10,000-mile Transcontinental natural gas pipeline system connecting Gulf states with the New York metro area.Williams is seeking to reinstate a permit — known officially as a certificate — from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that expired in May 2024 after being slowed by regulatory hurdles imposed by New York state officials. Public Citizen’s formal protest before the commission says the “unseemly” way the project was revived shows it is not in the public interest.The Natural Resources Defense Council is seeking to slow the project, arguing to FERC that Williams cannot simply resurrect the permit. Instead, NRDC said, the company needs to start over with a new application.Transco cites zero relevant support for its contention that a dead certificate can be shocked back to life in these circumstances,” the organization said in a protest filed with FERC. And more than 500 people have registered for formal “intervenor” status with FERC, amid encouragement from environmental groups and opposed local governments.For example, the Franklin Township government in New Jersey has posted online detailed instructions on how to intervene. Its sample language suggests saying, in part, “Air quality, water quality, health and safety are threatened by the potential for an explosion.”Williams, which is based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, did not respond to requests for comment from POLITICO’s E&E News. But in its request to FERC to revive its permit, the company said NESE is needed to fulfill Trump’s energy goals.“President Trump’s executive orders make clear the NESE Project is more important than ever,” the company said in its petition, signed by Francesca Ciliberti, senior counsel of Williams’ Transcontinental subsidiary.In the White House’s telling, both pipeline projects were dead until Trump shut down construction of a wind energy project important to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D). The White House said Trump allowed the wind project to resume only after Hochul “caved” and agreed to approve the pipeline, along with Constitution. Hochul has not approved either pipeline proposal and told Newsday she made no deal to do so. But Slocum still thinks something about the situation smells rotten.It’s “the product of an unseemly, tawdry political shakedown involving unlawful abuse of powers by the Trump Administration and the State of New York,” Slocum said in his protest filing.. In a statement, the administration said it is “championing domestic energy production.” Department of Energy spokesperson Ben Dietderich said NESE is needed to bring down energy costs in a section of the United States.“The Northeast has long had the some of the most expensive energy in the country due largely to the inadequate natural gas pipeline capacity in the region, leaving it vulnerable to price spikes and system reliability issues,” Dietderich said. High electricity prices have helped to weaken pipeline resistance among elected Democrats in the Northeast. The region relies heavily on natural gas but has limited pipeline capacity and has some of the highest electricity prices in the nation.The revival of NESE — which is commonly pronounced “nessy” — and Constitution are the latest development in a yearslong tug-of-war over whether to power the Northeast with wind turbines and other renewable sources, or fossil fuels delivered by pipeline.Constitution and NESE were two of at least five northeastern gas pipeline shredded by local opposition and environmental litigation. One gas trade group, the Marcellus Shale Coalition, has accused New York of erecting an “energy blockade.”
Summer Maintenance Continues to Limit LNG Feed Gas Demand — The Offtake -A look at the global natural gas and LNG markets by the numbers
- 500,000 Dth: More maintenance at Cheniere Energy Inc. facilities is limiting LNG feed gas demand after nominations returned to near-record highs last week. Compressor maintenance at Corpus Christi LNG could limit up to 500,000 Dekatherms/d (Dth/d) of transportation capacity through the week, according to Kpler data. Continued maintenance on the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. LLC that feeds Sabine Pass LNG could also limit deliveries this week to Lighthouse Road, according to Wood Mackenzie. Planned maintenance at a compressor station connected to Sabine Pass from July 21-27 could take an additional 230,000 Dth/d of transportation capacity offline.
- 5%: LNG Canada’s commissioning is raising feed gas demand around British Columbia and price assumptions for AECO, but how fast can production reasonably grow? Researchers with TD Securities Inc. projected AECO would average $3/Mcf in 2026 as international exports drive demand. By comparison, NGI’s NOVA AECO C spot price averaged C$1.090/GJ (79.6 cents/MMBtu) on Tuesday (July 8). TD estimated that in 2026, producers in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin could grow gas volumes by 1 Bcf/d, a 5% year/year increase, without impacting current price assumptions.
- $4.40: Despite a summer of maintenance, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects LNG demand will continue to present upside pressure on U.S. natural gas prices next year. EIA estimated feed gas demand would average 16 Bcf/d in 2026 as commissioning LNG terminals near commercial operations. Feed gas demand was estimated at 15.1 Bcf/d Wednesday, according to Wood Mackenzie. In the latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, EIA researchers assumed production would remain mostly flat in the coming year, pushing Henry Hub to an average of $4.40.
- 0.29 Mt: China’s falling demand for LNG is continuing to push U.S. natural gas volumes to price sensitive buyers, according to Kpler ship tracking data. A cargo from Plaquemines LNG carried by a QatarEnergy-controlled ship diverted from China to Bahrain earlier in the week as the Middle East country looks to meet summer demand. An import terminal in Bahrain became operational earlier in the year and has already received 0.29 million tons (Mt) in U.S. volumes. Another cargo from Freeport LNG that had been on the water since late May diverted from China to Malaysia over the weekend. China has not imported U.S. LNG since February, according to Kpler.
Venture Global Capitalizes on Spot Sales From Plaquemines LNG --U.S. LNG exporter Venture Global is cashing in on its recently launched Plaquemines LNG plant, which has yet to be commissioned, by selling cargoes on the spot market, making much more money from the facility than the commissioned Calcasieu Pass plant which now sells LNG under long-term contracts.In December 2024, Venture Global reached first LNG production at its second facility, Plaquemines LNG, in Port Sulphur, Louisiana.While the plant achieved first LNG production, its buyers under long-term contracts – including ExxonMobil, Chevron, EDF, and Petronas – may have to wait until the end of 2026 or 2027 to receive cargoes when the commissioning period expires and the facility achieves the so-called commercial operation date. The long commissioning period allows Venture Global to sell LNG cargoes on the spot market, earning more than if it sold gas to long-term customers under fixed fees.The much higher revenues from the not-yet-commissioned Plaquemines LNG became evident in an SEC filing of the company. The filing showed that Venture Global exported 51 cargoes from its Plaquemines LNG facility in the second quarter, realizing a weighted average fixed liquefaction fee of $7.09/MMBtu.To compare, Venture Global’s exports from the commissioned Calcasieu Pass facility totaled 38 cargoes, allowing the company to realize a weighted average fixed liquefaction fee of approximately $2.66/MMBtu—over two times lower.Venture Global is a relative newcomer on the LNG stage but it has already earned a controversial reputation for not keeping its long-term contracts and instead selling all its LNG on the spot market to make more money. The company’s defense has been that its first LNG plant, Calcasieu Pass, was not really completed, which left it with a loophole to sell on the spot market but not make deliveries under long-term contracts. Venture Global gained notoriety after half a dozen European energy majors accused it of breaking long-term delivery contracts to sell LNG on the spot market at higher prices. This made Venture Global billions of dollars while causing losses for the long-term clients, which contributed to the funding of the U.S. company’s first LNG plant.
Plaquemines LNG Achieves Record Output, Earns More Than Double U.S. Natural Gas Benchmark Price --Venture Global LNG Inc. continued to push production at its developing Plaquemines terminal to a new high in the second quarter as it raked in more than twice the average price of Henry Hub for each cargo. The Virginia-based company exported 51 cargoes from the southeast Louisiana facility from April to the end of June, according to a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing. It was a more than 75% increase over the previous quarter as Venture continued to bring additional liquefaction blocks online and pushed production past nameplate capacity. The company told regulators it realized an average of $7.09/MMBtu for its Plaquemines cargoes sold during the period. The price was slightly above Venture Global’s first quarter guidance of $6-7 for each commissioning cargo for the remainder of the year.
U.S. LNG Exports to Latin America Jump in June, Led by Chile — The United States sent 0.92 million tons (Mt) of LNG to Latin America and the Caribbean in June, up from 0.57 Mt in May and 0.62 Mt in April, according to data from Kpler. Chart showing delivered ex-ship LNG prices specific to the Latin American LNG market. Chile led the way in June at 0.21 Mt, followed by the Dominican Republic at 0.17 Mt and Argentina at 0.12 Mt. Mexico imported zero cargoes of LNG from the United States in June, Kpler data showed. The United States was by far the largest supplier of LNG to Latin America and the Caribbean in June, accounting for 66% of all exports to the region during the month.
‘Overlooked’ U.S. Natural Gas Plays, Innovation Shaping Private Capital Investments -The Anadarko Basin appears to be drawing in more private natural gas and oil investments as Lower 48 prospects tighten, while Haynesville Shale activity remains poised for more activity as LNG capacity expands and natural gas demand grows, according to a survey by Enverus. Table showing the Top 15 private exploration and production companies in the Lower 48 U.S. for 2024, ranked by production (boe/d), including data on liquids production, natural gas production, percentage of liquids, well count, primary operating region, previous year's rank, directional changes, and active rig counts. Continental Resources, Mewbourne Oil, and Aethon Energy occupy the top three positions. Source: Enverus. ExpandThe Austin, TX-based consultancy recently published its annual top 100 list of private exploration and production (E&P) companies working in the United States. The survey, based on 2024 data, ranked the private E&Ps based on gross operating production, well counts and rig movements. “This year’s top 100 list reflects a private operator landscape that’s been shaped by the drastic consolidation of operators over the last two years,” Enverus principal analyst Shawn Stuart. He spoke with NGI about the latest survey.
US natgas prices fall 4% to six-week low on low cash prices, ample stockpiles — U.S. natural gas futures fell about 4% to a six-week low on Wednesday on low cash prices, an increase in output so far this month and higher-than-normal amounts of gas in storage. That price decline occurred despite a drop in gas output in recent days and forecasts for the weather to remain hotter than normal through late July, which should lead power generators to keep burning large amounts of gas to meet demand for air conditioning. Front-month gas futures for August delivery NG1! on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) fell 12.6 cents, or 3.8%, to settle at $3.214 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), their lowest close since May 28. The premium of futures for September over August 2025 (NGQ25-U25) rose to a record high, meaning some in the market are betting supplies will be lower, demand will be higher and/or there will be less gas in storage compared with normal in September. Looking forward, the premium of futures for March over April 2026 (NGH26-J26), which the industry calls the widow maker, fell to its lowest since July 2020, while the premium of futures for November over October 2025 (NGV25-X25) rose to a record high. The industry calls the March-April spread the "widow maker" because rapid price moves resulting from changing weather forecasts have forced some speculators out of business, including the Amaranth hedge fund, which lost more than $6 billion in 2006. The industry uses the March-April and October-November spreads to bet on winter weather forecasts and supply and demand since March is the last month of the winter heating season when utilities pull gas out of storage and October is the last month of the summer cooling season when utilities inject gas into storage. One factor weighing on futures prices over the past few months has been low cash prices. Next-day gas at the U.S. Henry Hub benchmark in Louisiana traded around $3.20 per mmBtu. Spot contracts have traded below front-month futures every day since late April. Analysts said that so long as spot prices remain far enough below front-month futures to cover margin and storage costs, traders should be able to lock in arbitrage profits by buying spot gas, storing it and selling a futures contract. Another factor weighing on futures prices in recent months has been the growing surplus of gas in storage over the five-year normal level for this time of year. Analysts projected energy firms added more gas into storage than usual for an 11th time in 12 weeks during the week ended July 4. Gas stockpiles were already about 6% above normal levels for this time of year. Financial firm LSEG said average gas output in the Lower 48 U.S. states rose to 106.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in July, up from a monthly record high of 106.4 bcfd in June. On a daily basis, however, output was on track to drop by around 3.0 bcfd over the past six days to a preliminary four-week low of 104.5 bcfd on Wednesday. Analysts have noted that preliminary data is often revised later in the day. With hotter weather expected, LSEG forecast average gas demand in the Lower 48, including exports, would rise from 106.8 bcfd this week to 108.1 bcfd next week. Those forecasts were higher than LSEG's outlook on Tuesday.
U.S. Natural Gas Climbs 4% on Low Storage Build, Rising Export Demand | (Reuters) — U.S. natural gas futures climbed about 4% on July 10 on a smaller-than-expected storage build, rising gas flows to liquefied natural gas export plants and forecasts for hotter-than-normal weather over the next two weeks than previously expected. Front-month gas futures for August delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 12.3 cents, or 3.8%, to settle at $3.337 per million British thermal units. On Wednesday, the contract closed at its lowest price since May 28. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said energy firms added 53 billion cubic feet of gas into storage during the week ended July 4. That was smaller than the 58-bcf build analysts forecast in a Reuters poll and compares with an increase of 61 Bcf during the same week last year and an average of 53 Bcf over the last five years (2020-2024). The build left gas stockpiles around 6% above the five-year normal for this time of year. Financial firm LSEG said average gas output in the Lower 48 U.S. states rose to 106.7 billion cubic feet per day so far in July, up from a monthly record high of 106.4 Bcf/d in June. But on a daily basis, output has fallen by around 2.4 Bcf/d over six days to a four-week low of 105.1 Bcf/d on Wednesday. That daily output decline, however, was smaller than previously expected. The average amount of gas flowing to the eight big U.S. LNG export plants rose to 15.6 Bcf/d so far in July as liquefaction units at some plants slowly exited maintenance reductions and unexpected outages. That was up from 14.3 Bcf/d in June and 15.0 Bcf/d in May, but remained below the monthly record high of 16.0 Bcf/d in April. On a daily basis, however, LNG export feedgas was on track to rise to a 10-week high of 16.0 Bcf/d on Thursday with flows to U.S. energy company Cheniere Energy's 3.9-Bcf/d Corpus Christi plant in operation and under construction in Texas expected to rise from 1.5 Bcf/d on Wednesday to 2.2 Bcf/d on Thursday, according to LSEG data. Gas was trading around $12 per MMBtu at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility benchmark in Europe and $13 at the Japan Korea Marker benchmark in Asia.
Chevron Prepares to Close Hess Acquisition - Chevron is preparing for a quick finalization of the Hess Crop. Acquisition, even as the two still await the decision of the arbitration court on Exxon’s right to first refusal on Hess’s stake in the Stabroek Block in Guyana. Reuters reported the news, citing unnamed sources and “an industry analyst”, who said that Chevron was even working on severance packages for some Hess employees who would be let go after the tie-up. Yet for that to happen, the International Chamber of Commerce needs to rule in Chevron’s favor. The dispute that the ICC ruled on earlier this month but has yet to make its decision public, concerns the Guyanese operations of Exxon, in which Hess Corp. is a minority partner with 30%. It is this 30 stake that Chevron is especially interested in, but, it turns out, so is Exxon. Chevron announced its plans to acquire Hess for some $53 billion in late 2023. Yet the megadeal ran into an obstacle when Exxon said it had right of first refusal to Hess’s stake in the Stabroek Block. Hess and Chevron countered that such a clause would only be valid in a stake acquisition situation, while the two had a company acquisition situation. CNOOC, the third partner in Guyana, sided with Exxon. The Stabroek Block has so far yielded estimated resources of some 11 billion barrels and there’s likely to be more. Production has been growing quickly and steadily, too, at around 660,000 bpd currently. Plans are to raise this to 1.3 million barrels daily by 2030. Meanwhile, Chevron is buying Hess stock. The company was recently reported to have accumulated a stake of 5% in the target company, with the price tag at $2.3 billion. At the same time, the supermajor has appointed a team to take care of the integration of Hess’ operations into the larger entity once the deal s finalized, signaling it is confident the arbitration court will announce a favorable decision.
Canadian Natural Gas Prices Poised for Breakout as LNG Sector Finally Booms - The Canadian natural gas market is on the cusp of a new era as LNG Canada’s first cargo makes its way toward South Korea and three more export terminals are in advanced development, setting the stage for supply, demand and prices to rise. Line chart showing the projected forward basis differentials for NOVA/AECO C compared to U.S. benchmark pricing from August 2025 through July 2035. The curve indicates a gradual tightening trend in the negative basis, improving from around -$2.50/MMBtu in 2025 toward -$1.00/MMBtu by 2035, based on NGI’s Forward Look data. “The emerging LNG industry could transform Canada’s west coast into a significant energy export hub – one that supplies secure energy to our trading partners and fuels economic growth at home,” said CEO Lisa Baiton of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. Western Canadian natural gas prices have for years traded below Henry Hub in the United States, which has become the world’s largest LNG exporter. Prices have continued to flounder. Robust production, a lack of pipeline capacity, wavering U.S. import demand and seasonality have all combined to hold prices back.
Citing Trump Trade War, Alberta and Ontario Move to Build Infrastructure, Expand Natural Gas, Oil Exports -Canada’s Ontario and Alberta provinces, which lead the nation in economic growth, inked agreements Monday to unlock trade opportunities beyond the United States, including for natural gas. In memorandums of understanding (MOU), Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Ontario Premier Doug Ford said they would investigate ways to advance natural gas and oil pipelines, rail lines and other infrastructure to unlock growth opportunities. The MOUs, a preliminary step toward final agreements, are designed to “diversify Canada’s trading partners,” the premiers noted.
Trade Tensions, Asian Spot Buying Keep Global Natural Gas Prices Afloat — - Global natural prices were steady on Monday amid a rare calm that reigned over the market with geopolitical tensions at ease and a deadline for countries to make trade deals with the United States nearing. Chart and map of Lower 48 LNG export facilities tracking daily natural gas feedstock flows to sites for market intelligence. Prices have declined over the past two weeks since Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire that eroded risk premiums. Intense heat in both Europe and Asia has spurred some spot buying and prevented prices from falling further. Japan-Korea Marker futures have traded at about a $2/MMBtu premium to the Title Transfer Facility (TTF) benchmark in Europe, putting the continent at risk of losing some cargoes as it works to refill storage inventories ahead of winter.
Prices Linked to Natural Gas Hubs Dominate Global Trade With Boost from U.S. LNG - Natural gas buying at prices linked to dominant benchmarks like Henry Hub, the Japan-Korea Marker and the Title Transfer Facility last year again outpaced purchases linked to oil prices in a trend being driven largely by LNG trade growth, according to the International Gas Union (IGU). Bar chart from the International Gas Union showing spot LNG imports by region from 2005 to 2024, with significant growth led by Asia Pacific, Europe, and Asia; total global imports rising to nearly 225 billion cubic meters in 2024, highlighting increased global reliance on flexible LNG supply. Between 2005 and 2024, the share of global gas-on-gas (GOG) competition, or deals with prices linked to dominant natural gas hubs, rose to 49% of all gas purchases from 31.5%. The share of crude-indexed transactions fell to 18.5% from 24% of gas consumption over the same time, according to IGU’s 17th annual Wholesale Gas Price Survey. Responses to the survey came from buyers that represent 96% of global natural gas consumption, IGU said. Since 2016, buying linked to gas hubs has increasingly gained market share as spot LNG trades have increased, accounting for about 38% of all LNG transactions last year, IGU said. The trend has been driven in large part by the rise of flexible U.S. LNG contracts tied to Henry Hub that allow buyers to take the super-chilled fuel anywhere in the world instead of more traditional contracts that restricted destinations.
Valsad: Oil spills reported in Nargol and Umargam beaches | Ahmedabad News - The Indian Express -Oil spills, in the form of tar balls, were reported along the beaches of Nargol and Umargam in Valsad district — the reason behind which is yet to be ascertained — following which the officials of Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) reached the areas and collected samples for tests. According to officials, the oil spill, after coming in contact with coastal sands, turns into tar balls. The matter came to light on Sunday morning when fishermen from Nargol and Umargam went to the beaches and found a black layer of tar balls spread all over the area. In Nargol, the fishermen reported the incident to village sarpanch Sweety Bhandari, who reached the beach with the gram panchayat members and surveyed the entire 7-kilometre stretch of the beach. The GPCB authorities have set up multiple teams and deployed them to various beaches in Valsad, said sources. On Monday, a team from the GPCB, Valsad division, visited Nargol beach and collected samples from the beach. Meanwhile, the Nargol Gram Panchayat started the cleaning work on the beach as it witnesses a large footfall of tourists. Repeated phone attempts to contact Valsad division GPCB regional officer A O Trivedi for his remarks over the development went unanswered. Nargol resident and environment activist Yatin Bhandari told this paper, “Oil spills were reported along the beaches of Nargol and Umargam. The oil spill may have taken place deep into the sea due to the neighbouring ONGC Bombay High oil field. During the monsoon season, with high-speed winds and high tides in the sea, oil spill incidents take place at Nargol and Umargam beaches. We had requested the GPCB officials to clean the spill as a large number of tourists visit the beach. Since the officials did not take any action, the village sarpanch and a few volunteers started the cleaning work.” Sarpanch Sweety Bhandari told The Indian Express, “We have started the procedure to get Blue Flag certification for Nargol beach. Currently, Dwarka’s Shivrajpur beach is the only one in the state that holds a Blue Flag.” The Blue Flag certification is awarded to beaches for meeting high standards of water quality, environmental management and safety among other criterias. Sweety Bhandari added, “Every year, over 6,000 people from Gujarat and Maharashtra come to Nargol beach for a pre-wedding shoot. We charge Rs 500 as a fee, which is used to clean and maintain the beach. We also keep a record of the people attending the pre-wedding shoots at the Gram Panchayat office. The beach is a popular destination among foreign tourists also.” “We complained about the presence of tar balls on the beach to the concerned authorities, but no action was taken. We are now cleaning the beach on our own,” the sarpanch added.
Kerala court sues MSC for $1.1 billion over fuel spill - The Kerala government has filed a lawsuit against Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), seeking $1.1 billion in compensation after one of its container vessels sank and leaked fuel into the Arabian Sea in May.This legal action follows a Kerala High Court order on 7 July directing port authorities to “arrest, seize and detain” another MSC ship anchored at Vizhinjam Port until the company deposits securities covering the claim amount, Reuters reports. In May, the MSC ELSA 3, traveling from Vizhinjam to Kochi, capsized while carrying 640 containers, including 12 containing calcium carbide, a chemical that poses fire and explosion risks if it comes into contact with seawater. The vessel was also transporting 84.44 metric tons of diesel and approximately 376.1 tons of furnace oil, raising serious environmental concerns. Following the sinking, MSC began tracking and recovering containers that washed ashore. Authorities in the southern Indian state of Kerala had been urgently working to contain the oil spill, putting coastal areas on high alert and stated that the Coast Guard took action to prevent the spread of oil using two ships and sprayed dust to destroy the oil using a Dornier aircraft.
Renaissance Shuts Down Okordia–Rumuekpe Pipeline After Oil Leak --Crude oil feed into the Okordia–Rumuekpe pipeline in Rivers State has been suspended by Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited. This action was taken by the energy firm after a leak in the 14-inch pipeline in Ikata under the Ahoada East Local Government Area of Rivers State. Before now, the oil facility was operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), but Renaissance recently acquired all the oil assets of Shell in a deal finally approved by the federal government. Business Post reports that Renaissance took over onshore oil and gas assets of Shell in Nigeria for about $2.4 billion. The recent oil leak was the first major incident the facility was experiencing since the transaction was concluded a few months ago. Confirming the shutdown in a statement on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Renaissance Africa Energy, Mr Michael Akande, explained that the action was taken to protect the environment. “We have taken immediate steps to isolate and discontinue production into the pipeline to minimise any potential environmental impact,” Mr Adande stated. He noted that the relevant regulatory authorities have been informed of the oil leak, assuring that the company will cooperate with the regulators to determine the cause and extent of the spill. “Government regulators have been informed, and we are actively coordinating the statutory joint investigation visit, which will include their representatives and those from the local community,” he added. As anticipation builds for the outcome of the JIV, environmental advocates and local leaders have called for transparency and immediate remediation. Nigeria’s oil production have been affected over the years by a series of challenges. While efforts to curb them have yielded some results, the country is still far from hitting its 2.06 million barrels per day target to fund its 2025 budget. Nigeria’s oil production peaked at 2.5 million barrels decades ago and despite ambitious 3-4 million barrels promises by subsequent governments, the highest actualisation in recent times have been 1.8 million barrels per day.
'Planeloads of Russians' Touch Down in Iraq as Moscow Eyes Oil, Nuclear Deals - So, what could all these heavy-set monobrowed gentlemen be discussing in a country that historically has been used as a front and conduit for all sorts of unpleasant Iranian exports destined to cause trouble of one sort or another around the world? At the top of the list in terms of scale and scope is energy, as might be expected in a country with the fifth highest oil reserves on the world and sizeable associated and non-associated gas resources to boot, a senior oil industry source who works closely with Iraq’s Oil Ministry exclusively told OilPrice.com last week. “There are two elements that most interest them: first, safeguarding the assets they have here in the south [of Iraq] to add to the presence they have in the north [in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan] and, second, ensuring that we [the Iraqis] continue the practical relationship we had with Iran for assisting in its oil, gas, and other sectors sector too,” he said. In the case of the former, new deals are on the table from Moscow to further explore and develop key oil and gas regions in the south. This was part of the content of last week’s meetings between Iraq’s Oil Minister, Abdul Ghani, and a delegation from Russia comprising its Ambassador to Iraq, Elbrus Kutrashev, and several very senior representatives from one of its energy giants Lukoil. As a sign of new deals to come in this regard, the Oil Ministry’s Director General of the Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate (PCLD) was also in attendance, as was the Undersecretary for Extraction Affairs, Bassem Mohammed Khudair, presumably to note down all the fields Russia wants. As it stands, Lukoil holds a 75% operating stake in the supergiant West Qurna 2 field and a 60% stake in the supergiant Eridu oil field. “Russia wants to build a big multi-year cooperation agreement here [in Iraq] like the one it had in Iran, and like the one China already has here,” said the Iraq source. Although all the details for both are laid out in full in my in my latest book on the new global oil market order, the Russia deal in Iran and China’s deals in Iraq and Iran share several key elements. One is that they give preference to Russian and/or Chinese firms (both sides have a dividing line running through Iraq and Iran that favours one side or the other as the major player) for development and exploration rights in Iraqi and Iranian oil and gas fields. The temporal terms of these deals are also skewed in favour of the Russian and/or Chinese developers in that although a contract might be for 25 years, it would not officially start for two years after the signing date, so allowing the developer more time to recoup more profits on average per year and less upfront investment. On the other side of the risk/reward balance, the payments made to the developers are usually the higher of either the mean average of the 18-month spot price for crude oil produced, or the past six months’ mean average price, although other time periods are occasionally. There are further eye-watering concessions involved, including the Russia and/or Chinese developer being given the chance to significantly manipulate the exchange rates at which these payments from Iraq or Iran are made to them. These recent negotiations going on between Russia and Iraq are designed to complement Moscow’s already tight grip on the Kurdistan region in the north, added the Iraq source. Following the chaos after 2017’s overwhelming vote in favour of full independence in the region, as also analysed in my latest book, Russian energy giant Rosneft effectively took control of the region’s oil sector. This was achieved through a combination of offering massive pre-payment deals for oil exports and huge infrastructure investment. Since then, the Kremlin has been a key factor in sewing discontent between the north and the south through the mechanism of the highly controversial ‘oil exports for budget payments’ deal between the federal government of Iraq in Baghdad and the semi-autonomous government of Kurdistan in Erbil. The aim on Russia’s side was first to use its leverage in Kurdistan to extend its on-the-ground presence in the south and then to help Baghdad with the process of subsuming the Kurdistan region into the rest of Iraq, with a loss of all its independence. By doing this, it was – and is believed – by both Russia and China (as a senior political source in Moscow exclusively told OilPrice.com many months ago) that: “Iraq will be one unified country and by keeping the West out of energy deals there, the end of Western hegemony in the Middle East will become the decisive chapter in the West’s final demise.” Underlining Russia’s commitment to this is the fact that it recently made clear that it is torestart its key oil and gas operations in Kurdistan region. The second of Russia’s two key interests at play in the current talks is ensuring that Iraq stays on message about continuing to act as the front for Iran. For Russia, this partly means continuing to allow Iran to rebrand is oil as Iraqi oil, which although is now partly under sanctions’ scrutiny is still far less heavily monitored than Iran’s. This can be done with remarkable ease, as very often oil on the Iraqi side of the border with Iran is being drilled from the same reservoirs as the oil being drilled on the Iranian side, and sometimes through long-distance horizontal directional drilling. Notable examples of shared reservoirs and fields are Iran’s Azadegan oil reservoir (split into North and South fields) that is the same reservoir upon which sits Iraq’s Majnoon oilfield. This identical feature applies to Azar (on the Iran side)/Badra (on the Iraq side), Yadavaran (Iran)/Sinbad (Iraq), Naft Shahr (Iran)/Naft Khana (Iraq), Dehloran (Iran)/Abu Ghurab (Iraq), West Paydar (Iran)/Fakka/Fauqa (Iraq), and Arvand (Iran)/South Abu Ghurab (Iraq). All of this gives Iran money that can be used in the various arms-for-oil swaps being utilised between Tehran and Moscow now. Iraq also plays a vital role in Russia’s broader Middle Eastern plans, by dint of its geographical location between Iran and Turkey to the north and Syria to the west. Just before the removal of al-Assad from power by the U.S. and U.K., Russia, Iran, and China had been putting the final touches to a plan that would see the long-anticipated ‘Land Bridge’ come into being. This would run from Tehran to Syria’s Mediterranean Sea coastline and crucially was aimed at exponentially increasing the scale and scope of weapons delivery into southern Lebanon and the Golan Heights area of Syria for use in attacks on Israel.Having said all of this, perhaps the most concerning element of parts of these discussions between Russia and Iraq have concerned its nuclear future. According to several sources, talks began on China’s side in the same style as they had when addressing Saudi Arabia’s desire to build out its own nuclear energy programme. This was before the second presidential term of Donald Trump, which prompted a rapid reassessment of its priorities by Riyadh. According to a comment on 1 June from Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Naeem Al-Aboudi, the long-running negotiations between China and Iraq on this nuclear future have led to the imminent signing of an agreement with the China Atomic Energy Corporation for the founding of Iraq’s first subcritical training reactor. This apparently is aimed at “developing the skills of students and researchers in the fields of nuclear physics and peaceful radiation technologies”.
Saudi Arabia’s Crude Oil Exports Jumped by 400,000 Bpd in April --Saudi Arabia’s crude exports soared by 412,000 barrels per day (bpd) in April from March, the latest data by the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) showed on Tuesday.Saudi Arabia, the world’s top crude exporter, saw its exports in April at an average of 6.17 million bpd, according to the JODI data which compiles self-reported figures from the individual countries.Crude oil production in Saudi Arabia rose by around 48,000 bpd in April compared to the March production level of 8.96 million bpd.Domestic refinery intake slumped in April from March, which also freed more barrels for exports.Since April, Saudi Arabia has been consistently increasing its crude oil production, as the OPEC+ group it leads is unwinding 2.2 million bpd in total oil production cuts.Since starting to unwind the cuts earlier this year, OPEC+ producers Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, UAE, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman made a small output increase of 138,000 bpd in April and then began to aggressively raise production quotas by 411,000 bpd for each of May, June, and July.At this weekend’s meeting, the OPEC+ group caught the market by surprise by announcing a larger-than-expected output hike of 548,000 bpd for August.This exceeded market expectations of another routine 411,000 bpd hike, while the move set the alliance on track to fully unwind 2.2 million bpd cuts nearly a year ahead of schedule. Another production boost of 550,000 bpd for September is expected, and this would allow OPEC+ to unwind all the 2.2 million bpd cuts.OPEC+ producers still have 1.6 million bpd in other production cuts spread among the group members and expiring at the end of 2026.Saudi Arabia is thus set to further increase its crude oil production, but its crude oil exports may not be as proportionately high in the summer because the Kingdom uses crude for direct burn at power plants to meet peak air-conditioning demand in the scorching temperatures.
OPEC+ to Complete Unwinding of Oil Output Cuts With Big September Hike -The eight OPEC+ producers withholding supply to the market are set to complete the unwinding of their 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) production cuts from 2023 with another supersized output hike of 550,000 bpd for September, five sources with knowledge of the alliance’s discussions told Reuters on Monday.Since starting to unwind the cuts earlier this year, OPEC+ producers Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, UAE, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman made a small output increase of 138,000 bpd in April and then began to aggressively raise production quotas by 411,000 bpd for each of May, June, and July.At this weekend’s meeting, the OPEC+ group caught the market by surprise – once again – by announcing a larger-than-expected output hike of 548,000 bpd for August. This exceeded market expectations of another routine 411,000 bpd hike, while the move set the alliance on track to fully unwind 2.2 million bpd cuts nearly a year ahead of schedule.Another production boost of 550,000 bpd for September would allow OPEC+ to unwind all the 2.2 million bpd cuts, as well as complete the 300,000 bpd output increase from the UAE as the Gulf producer last year argued for and received a higher quota due to the ramp-up of its production capacity.OPEC+ has an additional 3.6 million bpd in active cuts spread across members, including voluntary reductions from major producers. These expire at the end of 2026. The accelerated unwinding of the 2.2 million bpd cuts is a sign that OPEC+ is going after market share and pleasing U.S. President Donald Trump, who has campaigned on lower energy prices and has called for lower energy prices and higher OPEC output since taking office early this year.However, with a market glut expected after the peak summer season, oil prices are likely to remain depressed, analysts say. This is not good news for U.S. shale producers, the majority of which said in the latest Dallas Fed Energy Survey out last week that their oil production would decrease slightly from June 2025 to June 2026 if the WTI price remained at $60 per barrel.At WTI prices at $50 per barrel, 46 percent of executives expect their firms’ oil production would decrease significantly from June 2025 to June 2026, and another 42 percent anticipate their firms’ oil production would decrease slightly. The most selected response among executives at large E&P firms was “decrease slightly,” while among executives at small E&P firms it was “decrease significantly.”
Iran ranks as OPEC’s second-largest oil refiner - -- Iran has become the second-largest oil refiner among OPEC member states, with a daily refining capacity of 2.237 million barrels — accounting for 16 percent of OPEC’s total and 2.1 percent of global refining capacity, according to the latest OPEC Annual Statistical Bulletin. The 60th edition of the bulletin, released last week by the OPEC Secretariat, highlights the refining capacities of member states as of 2024. The combined refining capacity of OPEC countries last year stood at 14.139 million barrels per day (bpd), while global capacity reached 103.769 million bpd. These figures indicate that OPEC countries held 13.6 percent of the world’s refining capacity in 2024. Globally, refining capacity increased by 1 percent year-on-year, while OPEC's capacity grew by 0.5 percent. Saudi Arabia topped the list among OPEC members with a daily refining capacity of 3.291 million barrels, representing more than 23 percent of the organization's total. Iran followed in second place with its 2.237 million bpd capacity, capturing roughly 16 percent of OPEC’s share and 2.1 percent of global capacity. Iran’s position is notable considering that it ranks third in crude oil production within OPEC, behind Saudi Arabia and Iraq. However, thanks to its advanced refining infrastructure, Iran processes around 69 percent of its crude domestically into high-value petroleum products — a strategy that not only curbs crude exports but also meets internal demand. In contrast, Saudi Arabia refines 39 percent of its output, while Iraq refines just over 30 percent.
Oil Prices Dip Amid Supply Glut Fears, Tariff Concerns - Oil prices fell on Monday as a larger-than-expected production increase from OPEC+ and renewed concerns over U.S. tariff plans weighed on market sentiment. Brent crude slipped 0.4% to $67.67 per barrel, while the U.S. benchmark, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), edged down 0.2% to $65.48 per barrel, from $65.65 in the previous session. Over the weekend, the OPEC+ alliance announced it would boost production by 548,000 barrels per day in August, exceeding the planned monthly hikes of 411,000 barrels approved for May through July and reversing about 80% of the 2.2 million barrels per day in voluntary cuts introduced earlier by eight OPEC members. The move raised concerns about a potential supply glut as members, particularly Saudi Arabia, ramp up output while others struggle to meet quotas. Despite the broader increase, Saudi Arabia signaled confidence in demand by raising the official selling price of its Arab Light crude to Asia for August, the highest in four months. Analysts at Goldman Sachs expect OPEC to implement an additional 550,000 barrels per day increase in September, with the final decision anticipated at its August 3 meeting. On the demand side, renewed uncertainty around U.S. trade policy added to bearish sentiment. While U.S. officials indicated a delay in planned tariff changes, President Donald Trump warned that countries would be notified of new, higher tariffs by July 9, with implementation set for August 1. The proposed rates could range widely, from a baseline of 10% up to 70% under a “reciprocity” framework, fueling investor concerns about potential impacts on global economic growth and energy demand. “Fears about Trump’s tariffs continue to dominate market sentiment in the second half of 2025, with dollar weakness being the only support for oil right now,” said Priyanka Sachdeva, senior market analyst at Phillip Nova. For now, while a softer U.S. dollar is providing some support to crude prices, concerns over rising supply and trade-related economic risks continue to weigh on the outlook for oil markets in the coming weeks.
Concerns About the Potential Impact of U.S. Tariffs - The oil market posted an outside trading day as it traded higher on Monday despite the OPEC+ decision to increase output more than expected for August and concerns about the potential impact of U.S. tariffs. The market sold off to a low of $65.40 on the opening on Sunday night following the OPEC+ decision to increase its output by 548,000 bpd in August, more than the 411,000 bpd increase they made for the previous three months. The oil market also came under pressure as U.S. officials flagged a delay on when tariffs would begin. While President Donald Trump said the U.S. was close to finalizing several trade pacts and will notify other countries of higher tariff rates by July 9th, he added that the higher rates would take effect on August 1st, a three-week reprieve. The August WTI crude contract rallied to a high of $68.09 ahead of the close and settled up 93 cents at $67.93. The WTI market continued to trend higher and rallied to a high of $68.32 in the post settlement period. The September Brent contract ended up $1.28 at $69.58. The product markets settled higher, with the heating oil market settling up 5.13 cents at $2.4211 and the RB market settling up 3.36 cents at $2.1522. U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. would impose a 25% tariff on imports from Japan and South Korea beginning August 1st as he unveiled the first two of what he has said will be a wave of letters to trading partners outlining the new levies they face. The rate for South Korea is the same that President Trump initially announced on April 2nd, while the rate for Japan is 1 point higher than initially announced. Earlier, U.S. Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, said the U.S. will make several trade announcements in the next 48 hours, ahead of a U.S. deadline on Wednesday to finalize trade pacts.OPEC+ agreed on Saturday to raise production by 548,000 bpd in August, further accelerating output increases at its first meeting since oil prices rallied and then retreated following Israeli and U.S. attacks on Iran. The August increase represents an increase from monthly increases of 411,000 bpd OPEC+ had approved for May, June and July, and 138,000 bpd in April. OPEC+ cited a steady global economic outlook and healthy market fundamentals, including low oil inventories, as reasons for releasing more oil. With the August increase, OPEC+ will have released 1.918 million bpd since April, which leaves just 280,000 bpd to be released from the 2.2 million bpd cut. On top of that, OPEC+ allowed the UAE to increase output by 300,000 bpd. The group of eight OPEC+ members will next meet on August 3rd.Five sources said OPEC+ oil producers are set to approve another big output increase for September as they complete the unwinding of voluntary output cuts by eight members and allow the United Arab Emirates to produce more to meet a larger quota. The sources said that the groupis likely to approve an increase of around 550,000 bpd for September when it meets on August 3rd. That will complete the planned return of 2.17 million bpd to the market from the eight members. Fuel oil imports into the refinery hub on the U.S. Gulf Coast reached a record low in June as tighter global supplies prompted refiners to run heavy, sour crude. According to Kpler, Gulf Coast-bound fuel oil imports reached a record low at 213,000 bpd in June, down from 233,000 bpd on the month, compared with 430,000 bpd in June 2024. Refineries along the Gulf Coast account for more than 55% of total U.S. refining capacity. The fall was driven by a drop in Mexican crude volumes, which in June fell to their lowest level since April 2020 at just 22,000 bpd, down from 71,000 bpd on the month.
Oil Gains on Saudi Price Hike | Rigzone --Oil rose as Saudi Arabia surprised customers in Asia by hiking prices for its main crude grade, a vote of confidence that the market can absorb extra OPEC barrels. West Texas Intermediate crude advanced more than 1% to settle just below $68 a barrel, erasing earlier losses, while Brent settled above $69 a barrel. Saudi state producer Aramco will raise the price for Arab Light crude, its flagship grade, by $1 a barrel to $2.20 a barrel more than the regional benchmark for Asian customers in August, according to a sheet from the company seen by Bloomberg. The pricing move staved off a rout in oil after a simultaneous decision by eight OPEC+ nations to increase supply more rapidly than expected, adding 548,000 barrels a day in August, with more expected in September. “The decision to raise prices during the peak summer demand season signals that physical markets remain tight, suggesting the additional barrels can be absorbed — for now,” “In the short term, downside risks to crude appear contained.” Meanwhile, President Donald Trump unveiled the first in a wave of promised letters that threaten to impose higher tariffs rates on key trading partners, including levies of 25% on goods from Japan and South Korea beginning Aug. 1. That start date pushed back the previous July 9 deadline for country-by-country tariffs to go into effect. The move allows trade partners more time to negotiate away economy-crushing levies on their exports to the US. The delay has improved the near-term demand outlook for oil-consuming nations, including the European Union, which is facing especially punishing tax rates. Still, uncertainty surrounding the final outcome of talks continues to weigh on crude prices. Traders and analysts also noted that OPEC’s decision to hike production at a faster-than-anticipated rate highlights bullish market fundamentals, including resilient demand in the US and China, as well as pockets of extreme tightness in the physical market amid summer driving season. The larger increase also amplifies a dramatic strategy pivot away from years of output restraint to reopening the taps to reclaim market share. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies had announced hikes of 411,000 barrels a day for May, June and July — already three times faster than initially planned — and traders had expected the same for August. The cartel will consider adding another 548,000 barrels a day in September at its next meeting on Aug. 3, according to delegates. The boost was based on “a steady global economic outlook and current healthy market fundamentals,” the group said in a statement on Saturday. Traders snapped up oil futures ahead of the close as Yemen’s Houthis claimed responsibility for an attack on a ship sailing through the Red Sea in their first strike on merchant shipping since December, reviving the market’s geopolitical risk premium. Oil has been trading in a relatively narrow band since the pause in the Israel-Iran conflict, which saw Brent top $80 a barrel. OPEC+ is “clearly taking advantage of a period of tightness in global energy markets,” said Robert Rennie, the head of commodity and carbon research at Westpac Banking Corp. However, there are “downside risks” to oil prices as seasonal demand wanes after summer, he added. Oil Prices WTI for August delivery settled 1.4% higher at $67.93 a barrel. There was no settlement on Friday due to the US holiday. Brent for September delivery was 1.9% higher at $69.58 a barrel.
Oil Prices Steady Amid Tariff Deadline Delay, OPEC+ Hike - Oil futures were little changed Tuesday morning, after gaining 1.5% in the previous trading session despite a larger-than-expected OPEC+ production hike plan. Market participants shifted their focus to U.S. trade policy as U.S. President Trump announced new tariff rates but postponed their implementation to Aug. 1. NYMEX-traded WTI for August was down $0.05 bbl to trade near $67.88 bbl, and ICE Brent for September delivery advanced $0.05 bbl to $69.63 bbl. August RBOB gasoline futures rose $0.0173 to $2.1695 gallon, while the front-month ULSD futures contract fell $0.0031 to trade near $2.4180 gallon. The U.S. Dollar Index gained 0.094 points to 97.235. The 90-day tariff freeze, which was set to expire July 9, has been postponed to Aug. 1, at which point new, significantly higher import duties will be levied by the U.S. government. President Trump on Monday said that this new date was "not 100% firm," leaving market participants in the dark over new tariff rates and their timing. Higher tariffs are set to curb oil demand growth at a time when OPEC plans to significantly ramp up production, elevating global oversupply concerns. By September, the 2.2 million bpd production cut shouldered by eight member states, in place since 2023, will be fully unwound -- at least on paper. How much of these planned production hikes will be realized, and will they have a larger impact on oil prices than quotas which OPEC members have increasingly struggled to meet? Monday's lack of market reaction to the larger-than-expected output hike may come down to this very factor, namely to the growing gap between production targets and de facto output. According to OPEC's latest monthly oil market report, OPEC+ collectively produced 180,000 bpd more in May than in April, and production from the eight member countries who had agreed to raise output by a combined 411,000 bpd was up 153,000 bpd month-on-month. OPEC's next monthly report containing production figures for June is scheduled for July 15 release.
Oil Prices Near 2-Week Highs On OPEC+ Output and U.S. Tariffs - Oil prices climbed Tuesday, hovering near two-week highs as markets absorbed the impact of a larger-than-expected OPEC+ production increase and ongoing uncertainty around US trade policy.As of mid-afternoon, Brent crude was up 89 cents at $70.47 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate rose 80 cents to $68.73. Both benchmarks are on track for their highest close since June 24.OPEC+ on Saturday approved a 548,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) production hike for August, outpacing the 411,000 bpd monthly increases seen earlier this summer. The move accelerates the rollback of the group’s 2.2 million bpd in voluntary cuts and hints at a similar bump likely to be announced at the group’s next meeting on August 3.Despite the higher output, tight middle distillate inventories and ongoing Red Sea shipping disruptions have helped keep prices supported. Analysts at Rystad Energy noted that actual physical supply remains tighter than headline production figures suggest.US trade policy added further volatility. President Trump announced new tariffs on 14 countries, including 25 percent duties on imports from Japan and South Korea, and up to 40 percent for others. Both Japan and South Korea have said they will attempt to negotiate exemptions ahead of the August implementation. The move has raised fears of a global economic slowdown that could dampen oil demand.Traders are also awaiting weekly US inventory data. The API and EIA are set to report Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. Analysts expect a draw of 2.8 million barrels from crude stocks for the week ending July 4, which would be the sixth draw in seven weeks.
Concerns Over Houthi Attacks on Vessels Off Yemen - The crude market traded higher as the market assessed the latest developments regarding U.S. tariffs against the concerns over Houthi attacks on vessels off Yemen and lower U.S. oil output forecast. The market traded to a low of $67.33 in overnight trading amid the news that U.S. President Donald Trump announced that higher U.S. tariffs will take effect on August 1st. The tariff news has once again raised uncertainty in the markets and concerns that they could have a negative impact on the global economy and oil demand. While the market was also weighed by OPEC+ unwinding of its output cuts, Houthi attacks on cargo ships provided support to the market, with Israel striking Houthi targets in response on Monday for the first time in nearly a month. The oil market bounced off its low and rallied to a high of $68.91 in afternoon trading. The market was further supported by EIA’s Short Term Energy Outlook forecasting that the U.S. will produce less oil in 2025 than previously expected as declining oil prices have prompted U.S. producers to slow activity this year. The crude market later erased some of its gains ahead of the close. The August WTI contract settled up 40 cents at $68.33 and the September Brent contract settled up 57 cents at $70.15. The product markets ended the session higher, with the heating oil market settling up 2.02 cents at $2.4413 and the RB market settling up 3.28 cents at $2.1850. U.S. President Donald Trump notified 14 nations, from major suppliers such as Japan and South Korea to minor trade players, that they now face sharply higher tariffs from a new deadline of August 1st. In letters so far to 14 countries, President Trump hinted at opportunities for additional negotiations, even while warning that reprisals would draw a like-for-like response. The higher tariffs take effect from August 1t and will not combine with previously announced sectoral tariffs, such as those on automobiles and steel and aluminum. On Tuesday, China warned the United States against reinstating tariffs on its goods, and said it could retaliate against countries striking deals with the U.S. to cut China out of supply chains. A European Commission spokesperson said the European Union still aims to reach a trade deal by Wednesday after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and President Trump had a “good exchange”. Later on Tuesday, President Trump said he is probably two days off from sending the European Union a letter disclosing the tariff rate on their exports to the United States.Kpler data showed that EU and UK diesel and gasoil imports are on track to reach 727,000 bpd in July, down from 936,000 bpd in June.The EIA reported that the U.S. will produce less oil in 2025 than previously expected as declining oil prices have prompted U.S. producers to slow activity this year. The U.S. is projected to produce 13.37 million bpd of oil in 2025, versus last month’s forecast of 13.42 million bpd. In 2026, the U.S. will produce 13.37 million bpd, in line with the previous forecast. Meanwhile, U.S. oil demand is estimated at 20.4 million bpd in both 2025 and 2026, unchanged from previous estimates. The EIA also reported that it sees world oil output of 104.6 million bpd in 2025, up 200,000 bpd from a previous forecast, while output in 2026 is seen at 105.7 million bpd, up 600,000 bpd from a previous estimate. World oil demand in 2025 is seen at 103.5 million bpd, unchanged from a previous forecast, before it increases to 104.6 million bpd, unchanged from a previous forecast.
Oil edges up to two-week high on lower US output forecast, renewed Red Sea attacks (Reuters) - Oil prices edged up to a two-week high on Tuesday on forecasts for less U.S. oil production, renewed Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, worries about U.S. tariffs on copper and technical short covering. Brent crude futures rose 57 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $70.15 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude closed at $68.33, up 40 cents, or 0.6%. Those were the highest closes for both crude benchmarks since June 23 for a second day in a row. "The lower (U.S.) production outlook got the price rally going and it kept going along with other commodities on the copper tariff news and the increased tensions in the Red Sea," The U.S. will produce less oil in 2025 than previously expected as declining oil prices have prompted producers to slow activity this year, according to the latest Energy Information Administration (EIA) outlook. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he will announce a 50% tariff on copper later in the day, aiming to boost U.S. production of a metal critical to electric vehicles, military hardware, the power grid and many consumer goods. Trump's decision to impose copper tariffs surprised markets and boosted prices of the metal to a record high. In the Red Sea, three seafarers on the Liberian-flagged, Greek-operated bulk carrier Eternity C were killed in a drone and speedboat attack off Yemen, the second incident in a day after months of calm. Attacks in the Red Sea have forced vessels carrying oil, liquefied natural gas and other energy products to travel long distances to avoid the region, boosting energy costs. Some analysts also noted the oil market was supported by technical short-covering after Brent prices traded over $70 a barrel, a key level of both psychological and technical resistance. In addition, energy traders noted rising prices for U.S. gasoline and diesel in recent weeks have boosted the diesel crack spread to its highest since March 2024 and the 3:2:1- crack spread to a six-week high. Crack spreads measure refining profit margins. "The best thing that this complex has going for it on the upside is its recent ability to advance despite a steady flow of seemingly bearish headlines that would usually be weighing on oil values," analysts at energy advisory firm Ritterbusch and Associates said in a note. Those bearish headlines include Trump's plan to ramp up his trade war again and plans by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, a group known as OPEC+, to raise production by 548,000 barrels per day (bpd) in August. Analysts forecast U.S. crude stockpiles fell about 2.1 million barrels last week. The American Petroleum Institute (API) trade group and the EIA are due to release weekly U.S. inventory data on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
Oil prices rise on Red Sea attacks, lower US output - Oil prices rose due to attacks in the Red Sea and lower US production, with Brent crude reaching $70.63 per barrel and WTI climbing to $68.84per barrel US President Trump announced a 50 percent tariff on copper imports, aiming to boost domestic production, while OPEC+ is preparing for a significant production boost in September Despite concerns about tariffs affecting oil demand, strong travel activity during the US Fourth of July holiday supported consumption, with a likely increase of 7.1 million barrels in US crude stockpiles Oil prices rose on Wednesday, maintaining their highest levels since June 23, supported by attacks on ships in the Red Sea, alongside concerns over sharp US tariffs on copper and expectations of reduced oil production in the United States. Brent crude futures rose by 48 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $70.63 per barrel by 08:55 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude climbed by 51 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $68.84 per barrel. After months of calm in the Red Sea, attacks resumed last week in this vital global shipping route. Sources indicated that the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen was behind the latest incidents. A rescue operation is currently underway for the crew of a cargo ship that sank in the Red Sea following an attack that killed at least four crew members. The Houthis have not yet claimed responsibility for the strike. Oil prices were also supported by a report from the US Energy Information Administration released Tuesday, which projected lower oil output in 2025 compared to earlier forecasts, citing slower activity among American producers due to falling prices. On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said he would announce a 50 percent tariff on copper imports, aiming to boost domestic production of the metal — vital for electric vehicles, military equipment, power grids, and a range of consumer goods. This announcement came as Trump postponed some tariff deadlines to August 1, offering key trading partners hope that deals could be reached to ease the tariffs, though many companies remain uncertain about the future direction. Despite concerns that tariffs may curb oil demand, strong travel activity during the US Fourth of July holiday supported consumption, and data suggested a likely increase of 7.1 million barrels in US crude stockpiles. In a research note, oil brokerage PVM said: “With attacks in the Red Sea and increased summer fuel consumption in the U.S., expectations of a future supply glut should take a back seat to short-term realities.” Official US crude inventory data from the Energy Information Administration is due at 14:30 GMT. Meanwhile, OPEC+ oil producers are preparing for another significant production boost in September as they continue to unwind voluntary supply cuts previously agreed upon by eight member states. The UAE is also transitioning to a higher production quota, according to five informed sources. This follows the group’s Saturday announcement of a supply increase of 548,000 barrels per day for August. Suvro Sarkar, head of the energy sector team at DBS Bank, said: “Oil prices have shown surprising resilience in the face of accelerating supply increases from OPEC+.” UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said Wednesday that oil markets are absorbing OPEC+ supply hikes without stockpile build-ups, indicating that markets are “thirsty” for more oil. “You can see that even with the continuous increases over several months, we haven’t seen significant stockpile accumulation — meaning the market genuinely needed these volumes,” Mazrouei added.
WTI Slides After Biggest Crude Build Since January - Oil prices are down this morning as signs of a large gain in US crude stockpiles undermined comments by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia about tight market conditions. In the US, API reported overnight that crude inventories rose 7.1 million barrels last week. That would be the largest increase since January if confirmed by government data due later on Wednesday. The expected inventory gain threw some cold water on UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei’s comments that a lack of major inventory buildups shows the market needs the production that OPEC+ is reviving, while Saudi Aramco sees healthy global demand despite trade challenges and tariffs.API
- Crude +7.1mm
- Cushing +100k
- Gasoline -2.2mm
- Distillates -800k
DOE:
- Crude +7.07mm - biggest build since Jan
- Cushing +464k
- Gasoline -2.66mm
- Distillates -825k
The official data confirmed API's big crude build while products saw inventories drawdown... With the 238k addition to SPR, total crude stocks rose by the most since January last week... US crude production remains just off record highs, even as the US rig count plunges... WTI Crude is well off the highs of the day now...
The Crude Market Weighed the Attacks on Shipping Vessels in the Red Sea --The crude market on Wednesday ended the session up 0.07% as it weighed the attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea, forecasts of lower U.S. oil output and increased gasoline demand against the unexpected build in crude stocks. The market traded mostly sideways in overnight trading before it extended its previous gains and posted a high of $68.94 following the news of a second cargo ship sinking in the Red Sea due to an attack by Houthi militants that killed at least four crew members. The market also remained well supported by the EIA forecast that the U.S. will produce less oil in 2025 than previously expected, as declining oil prices have prompted U.S. oil producers to slow their activity. The market later erased its gains and traded to a low of $67.70 ahead of the release of the EIA’s weekly petroleum stocks report. The oil market later bounced off its lows and traded back towards its high as the market focused on a larger than expected draw in gasoline stocks of over 2.6 million barrels and shrugged off an unexpected build in crude stocks of over 7 million barrels. The August WTI contract settled up 5 cents at $68.38 and the September Brent contract settled up 4 cents at $70.19. The product markets ended the session in mixed territory, with the heating oil market settling down 3.21 cents at $2.4092 and the RB market settling up 29 points at $2.1879. The U.S. Treasury Department said the U.S. imposed sanctions on 22 companies in Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey on Wednesday for their roles in helping sell Iranian oil. It said the oil sales benefit Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force. The Treasury Department said the Quds Force employs front companies outside of Iran that use offshore accounts to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in profits derived from Iranian oil sales to circumvent U.S. sanctions. On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump issued a round of tariff letters to six countries, including Algeria, Brunei, Iraq, Libya, Moldova and the Philippines. United Arab Emirates’ Energy Minister, Suhail al-Mazrouei, said oil markets are absorbing OPEC+ production increases without building inventories. IIR Energy said U.S. oil refiners are expected to shut in about 113,000 bpd of capacity in the week ending July 11th, increasing available refining capacity by 56,000 bpd. Offline capacity is expected to increase to 171,000 bpd in the week ending July 18th. The recovery in global jet fuel demand is set to slow and stall below pre-pandemic levels this year and next as the Chinese travel abroad less, stringent U.S. immigration policies deter some tourists and aircraft fleets become more fuel-efficient. Jet fuel accounts for around 7% of global fuel use and softer consumption leads to lower overall demand for oil and ultimately weaker oil prices. Aviation fuel consumption has lagged the recovery seen in fuel oil and gasoline since the pandemic, held back largely by a decline in long-haul flights from Asia, particularly China, with tight consumer spending cutting travel budgets. In June, the International Energy Agency forecast that jet fuel consumption would reach 8 million bpd in 2027, above 2019’s level of 7.9 million bpd, having earlier predicted it would recover to the pre-pandemic rate last year. Demand grew by 5.6% last year, but the IEA expects a slowdown to 1.32% in 2025 and 1.29% next year.
Oil Prices Rise As US Dollar Weakens -Crude oil prices climbed on Thursday, supported by a weaker US dollar and expectations of strong fuel demand in the United States, the world’s largest oil consumer. Global oil prices have been volatile amid renewed US tariff threats and concerns over potential damage to global economic growth. Analysts have expressed worries that President Donald Trump’s use of tariffs against longstanding allies could reverse the global trade order, adding uncertainty to commodity markets. The US dollar has weakened against major trading partners as investors reduced their exposure to the greenback, making oil cheaper for holders of other currencies and boosting demand. The US dollar index dipped 0.15% to 97.055 in early Thursday trading. Brent crude rose to $69.62 per barrel, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) inched up by 0.01% to $67.30 per barrel from $67.29 in the previous session. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a 2.7 million barrel drop in gasoline inventories last week, indicating strong fuel demand during the July 4 holiday period. Further supporting market sentiment, minutes from the US Federal Reserve’s recent meeting showed that most Fed officials see it appropriate to cut interest rates this year, with some open to a rate cut as early as July. Lower interest rates typically weaken the dollar, providing an additional boost to oil demand. Meanwhile, Trump’s comments on trade tariffs remain in focus for markets. The US president warned that any country aligning with BRICS’ “anti-American policies” would face an additional 10% tariff, adding, “There will be no exceptions.” He also announced new tariff plans targeting seven countries, including the Philippines, Iraq, and Libya, while threatening a separate 50% customs duty on Brazilian products. These trade tensions continue to cloud the global economic outlook, creating mixed signals for oil prices as concerns over demand remain despite near-term support from a weaker dollar and strong US consumption.
Trump Tariff Comments Trigger Oil Price Decline - Crude futures fell over 2% Thursday as traders reacted to fresh tariff threats from U.S. President Donald Trump, raising alarms over future oil demand in key growth markets. At 12:19 p.m. ET, Brent crude was trading down 1.80%, at $68.93 per barrel, while WTI dropped to $66.97, shedding 2.06% on the day.In comments made Wednesday evening, Trump warned of a broadening tariff regime targeting Chinese imports, citing ongoing imbalances and Beijing’s trade practices. While no specific measures were announced, the tone of escalation rattled energy markets already facing macroeconomic headwinds.The tariff remarks come amid signs of cooling demand in Asia’s industrial and transportation sectors. Chinese refinery throughput has slowed for the second consecutive month, and recent export data showed continued weakness across regional manufacturing hubs.Futures traders responded with a broad selloff in crude and refined products. Gasoline prices also dropped, while diesel cracks in Asia edged lower.No immediate response has been issued by China’s Ministry of Commerce, but analysts say any retaliatory action could directly impact crude flow dynamics between the two largest energy consumers.Trump has also dispatched letters warning seven additional countries–Algeria, Brunei, Iraq, Libya, Moldova, the Philippines and Sri Lanka–that they could face tariffs ranging from 20% to 30% starting August 1, citing “common sense” and trade imbalance concerns. The letters signal a broader move to reassert U.S. leverage in trade negotiations, though Trump notably excluded major economic partners like Japan, South Korea and the EU, for now. Meanwhile, Iraq has publicly downplayed the impact of the impending U.S. tariffs. The country’s Trade Ministry emphasized that crude oil–exempt from the new duties–represents its main export to the U.S., totaling around 200,000 barrels per day or roughly $4.5?billion annually. However, Iraqi officials view this moment as an opportunity to streamline and redirect non-oil trade flows, reducing reliance on third-party brokers and seeking more transparent, direct engagement with U.S. markets.
Oil falls amid bearish Trump tariff outlook (Reuters) - Oil prices fell more than 2% on Thursday, as investors weighed the potential impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on global economic growth. Brent crude futures settled at $68.64 a barrel, down $1.55, or 2.21%. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude finished at $66.57 a barrel, down by $1.81, or 2.65%. On Wednesday, Trump threatened Brazil, Latin America's largest economy, with a punitive 50% tariff on exports to the U.S., pressuring his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva over Brazil's trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro over charges of plotting a coup to stop Lula from taking office in 2023. On Thursday, Lula called a meeting with ministers, a day after hinting at reciprocal measures in a post on social media. Trump has also announced plans for tariffs on copper, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. His administration sent tariff letters to the Philippines, Iraq and others, adding to over a dozen letters this week including to powerhouse U.S. suppliers South Korea and Japan. Trump's history of back-pedalling on tariffs has caused the market to become less reactive to such announcements, said Harry Tchilinguirian, group head of research at Onyx Capital Group. "People are largely in wait-and-see mode, given the erratic nature of policymaking and the flexibility the administration is showing around tariffs," Tchilinguirian said. Policymakers remain worried about inflationary pressures from Trump's tariffs, with only "a couple" of officials at the Federal Reserve's June 17-18 meeting saying they felt interest rates could be reduced as soon as this month, minutes of the meeting released on Wednesday showed. Higher interest rates make borrowing more expensive and can slow demand for oil. OPEC+ oil producers are set to approve another big output boost for September, as they complete unwinding voluntary production cuts by eight members and the United Arab Emirates' move to a larger quota. However, OPEC+ indicated it may pause output hikes in October because of a possible peak in oil demand, said Phil Flynn, senior analyst with Price Futures Group. "Earlier fears of reaching 'peak oil' have not materialized, and rising prices incentivize the discovery of new oil sources, both domestically and offshore," Flynn wrote in a note on Thursday. Elsewhere, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio held "frank" talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in which he expressed Washington's frustration around a lack of progress in ending the war in Ukraine. Trump said recently he was considering a bill that would impose tougher sanctions on Russia.
Oil edges higher as investors weigh market outlook - Oil prices edged up on Friday, as investors weighed a tight prompt market against a potential large surplus this year, according to the International Energy Agency, while U.S. tariffs and possible further sanctions on Russia were also in focus. Brent crude futures were up 40 cents, or 0.58%, at $69.04 a barrel as of 1027 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude ticked up 45 cents, or 0.68%, to $67.02 a barrel. At those levels, Brent was headed for a 1.1% gain on the week, while WTI was little changed against last week's close. The IEA on Friday said the global oil market may be tighter than it appears, with demand supported by peak summer refinery runs to meet travel and power-generation. Front-month September Brent contracts were trading at a $1.10 premium to October futures at 1027 GMT. "Civilians, be they in the air or on the road, are showing a healthy willingness to travel," PVM analyst John Evans said in a note on Friday. Prompt tightness notwithstanding, the IEA also boosted its forecast for supply growth this year, while trimming its outlook for growth in demand, implying a market in surplus. "OPEC+ will quickly and significantly turn up the oil tap. There is a threat of significant oversupply. In the short term, however, oil prices remain supported," Commerzbank analysts said in a note. One other sign of robust prompt oil demand was the prospect of Saudi Arabia shipping about 51 million barrels of crude oil in August to China, the biggest such shipment in over two years. Longer term, however, rival forecasting agency OPEC cut its forecasts for global oil demand in 2026 to 2029 because of slowing Chinese demand, the group said in its 2025 World Oil Outlook published on Thursday. Both benchmark futures contracts lost more than 2% on Thursday as investors worried about the impact of Trump's evolving tariff policy on global economic growth and oil demand. "Prices have recouped some of this decline after President Trump said he plans to make a 'major' statement on Russia on Monday. This could leave the market nervous over the potential for further sanctions on Russia," ING analysts wrote in a client note. Trump has expressed frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin due to the lack of progress on peace with Ukraine and Russia's intensifying bombardment of Ukrainian cities. The European Commission is set to propose a floating Russian oil price cap this week as part of a new draft sanctions package.
European Commission proposes Russian oil price cap 15% below global price (Reuters) - The European Commission proposed on Friday a floating price cap on Russian oil of 15% below the average market price of crude in the previous three months, EU diplomats said. The European Union and Britain have been pushing the Group of Seven nations to lower the cap for the last two months after a fall in oil futures made the current $60 a barrel level largely irrelevant. Brent crude has since rebounded somewhat, and settled on Friday at $70.36 per barrel. The G7 price cap, aimed at curbing Russia's ability to finance the war in Ukraine, was originally agreed in December 2022. The new floating cap would be revised according to the average price every three months, one of the diplomats added. The EU diplomats, who were not authorized to speak publicly, said technical details of the latest proposal still needed to be discussed, but the idea seemed to assuage concerns of the EU's maritime states - Malta, Greece and Cyprus. Despite repeated attempts from European leaders, the U.S. administration has not agreed to lower the cap, prompting the Europeans to push ahead on their own. The price of Russia's Urals oil remained $2 per barrel below the $60 per barrel limit on Friday. The cap bans trade in Russian crude oil transported by tankers if the price paid was above $60 per barrel and prohibits shipping, insurance and re-insurance companies from handling cargoes of Russian crude around the globe, unless it is sold for less than the price cap. The Commission initially proposed in June to lower the cap from $60 a barrel to $45 a barrel as part of its 18th package of sanctions on Russia. The Kremlin said on Friday it has good experience in tackling challenges such as a floating Russian oil price cap, which could be introduced by the European Union. EU sanctions must be agreed unanimously by member states to be adopted.
Oil rises over 2% as investors weigh market outlook, tariffs, sanctions (Reuters) - Oil prices rose over 2% on Friday as the International Energy Agency said the market was tighter than it appears, while U.S. tariffs and possible further sanctions on Russia were also in focus. Brent crude futures settled up $1.72, or 2.5%, at $70.36 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained $1.88, or 2.8%, to $68.45 a barrel. For the week, Brent rose 3%, while WTI had a weekly gain of around 2.2%. The IEA said the global oil market may be tighter than it appears, with demand supported by peak summer refinery runs to meet travel and power generation. Front-month September Brent contracts were trading at about a $1.20 premium to October futures. "The market is starting to realize that supplies are tight," U.S. energy firms this week cut the number of oil and natural gas rigs operating for an 11th straight week, energy services firm Baker Hughes said. The last time that happened was July 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic cut demand for fuel. Short-term market tightness notwithstanding, the IEA boosted its forecast for supply growth this year, while trimming its outlook for growth in demand, implying a market in surplus. "OPEC+ will quickly and significantly turn up the oil tap. There is a threat of significant oversupply. In the short term, however, oil prices remain supported," Commerzbank analysts said. Further adding support to the short-term price outlook, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Russia will compensate for overproduction against its OPEC+ quota this year in the August-September period. Another sign of robust short-term demand was the prospect of Saudi Arabia shipping about 51 million barrels of crude oil in August to China, the biggest such shipment in more than two years. On a longer-term basis, however, OPEC cut its forecasts for global oil demand in the 2026-2029 period because of slowing Chinese demand in its 2025 World Oil Outlook, published on Thursday. Saudi Arabia's energy ministry said on Friday the kingdom had been fully compliant with its voluntary OPEC+ output target. On Thursday, both benchmark futures contracts lost more than 2% as investors worried about the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on global economic growth and oil demand. Trump told NBC News on Thursday that he will make a "major statement" on Russia on Monday, without elaborating. Trump has expressed frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin due to the lack of progress in ending the war in Ukraine and Russia's intensifying bombardment of Ukrainian cities. The European Commission is set to propose a floating Russian oil price cap this week as part of a new draft sanctions package, but Russia said it has "good experience" of tackling and minimizing such challenges.
Israel bombs British ship seized by Houthis - Israel has bombed a British-owned ship captured by the Houthis as part of a wave of air strikes against the Yemen-based terror group. The ship, Galaxy Leader, was hijacked in November 2023 by terrorists rappelling from a helicopter in a commando-style raid that caught the world’s attention. The cargo vessel, registered in the Bahamas, is owned by a British company which is partly owned by the Israeli businessman Rami Ungar. Its seizure became a symbol of the terror group’s aggression in the Red Sea, and they have reportedly fitted radar to it, making it a floating observation platform. The crew was released in January 2024. According to the IDF, the Israeli attack on Sunday night involved approximately 50 missiles and bombs. They said the attack, the first on Yemen in nearly a month, was in response to repeated Houthi attacks on Israel.The IDF said: “The Houthi terrorist regime’s forces installed a radar system on the ship, and are using it to track vessels in international maritime space in order to promote the Houthi terrorist regime’s activities.” The strikes also hit the ports of Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Salif, as well as the Ras Qantib power plant on the coast. Hours later, Israel said two missiles were launched from Yemen. Attempts were made to intercept them, though the results were still under review.
Yemen's Houthis Take Credit for Attack on Ship in Red Sea and Fire More Missiles at Israel - Yemen’s Houthis on Monday took credit for the attack on the Magic Seas, a Greek-owned bulk carrier that came under fire on Sunday, forcing the crew to abandon ship. The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, also fired more missiles at Israel following a round of Israeli airstrikes against Yemeni ports.The attack on the Magic Seas marked the first time the Houthis targeted a commercial ship this year. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the attack was carried out over claims that the company that owns the ship repeatedly “violated” the Houthis’ ban on vessels entering Israeli ports, which it has implemented in response to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.According to Al Jazeera, Michael Bodouroglou, a representative of Stem Shipping, one of the Magic Seas’ commercial managers, said that the ship had been carrying iron and fertilizers from China to Turkey, and had nothing to do with Israel. The ship was targeted with small arms, rockets, and drones, and Saree claimed that it sank.Another ship, the Greek-owned Eternity C cargo vessel, was attacked in the Red Sea on Monday, and two crew members were reported wounded and two missing. So far, no one has claimed responsibility.Saree also announced a series of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel, operations that he said would continue until Israel ends its war and siege on Gaza. “We are fully prepared for a sustained and prolonged confrontation, to confront hostile warplanes, and to counter attempts to break the naval blockade imposed by our armed forces on the enemy, in triumphing for our people in Gaza,” he said.According to Israeli media, a ballistic missile fired from Yemen fell short of its target, marking the fourth missile attack within two days. The Israeli military also said that it intercepted a drone fired from Yemen on Monday.The Israeli airstrikes that hit Yemen on Sunday night targeted the ports of Hodeidah, Ras Isa, and Salif, which are all located in the Hodeidah Governorate on the Red Sea. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz dubbed the attack “Operation Black Flag” and also said that it targeted the Galaxy Leader, a ship the Houthis seized in 2023 when the Yemeni group first started its attacks on Israel-linked shipping.
Yemen Houthis sink second Red Sea cargo ship in a week -BBC Six crew members have been rescued and at least three others killed after a cargo ship was attacked by Yemen's Houthis and sank in the Red Sea, a European naval mission says. The Liberian-flagged, Greek-operated Eternity C was carrying 25 crew when it sustained significant damage and lost all propulsion after being hit by rocket-propelled grenades fired from small boats on Monday, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency. The attack continued on Tuesday and search rescue operations commenced overnight. The Houthis said they attacked the Eternity C because it was heading to Israel, and that they took an unspecified number of crew to a "safe location". The US embassy in Yemen said the Houthis had "kidnapped many surviving crew members" and called for their immediate release. Authorities in the Philippines said 21 of the crew were citizens. Another of them is a Russian national who was severely wounded in the attack and lost a leg. It is the second vessel the Houthis have sunk in a week, after the group on Sunday launched missiles and drones at another Liberian-flagged, Greek-operated cargo ship, Magic Seas, which they claimed "belong[ed] to a company that violated the entry ban to the ports of occupied Palestine". Video footage released by the Houthis on Tuesday showed armed men boarding the vessel and setting off a series of explosions which caused it to sink. All 22 crew of Magic Seas were safely rescued by a passing merchant vessel.
Houthis killed and kidnapped cargo ship crew following attack in Red Sea, U.S. Embassy in Yemen says -- Several people remain missing Wednesday following an attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels on a Liberian-flagged cargo ship in the Red Sea. Six castaway crew members of the Greek-owned Eternity C were recovered from the sea, a European Union naval force said Wednesday. The Houthi rebels killed three mariners and wounded two others, the EU Operation Aspides said, and several crew members were kidnapped, according to the U.S. Embassy in Yemen. "We call for their immediate and unconditional safe release," the U.S. Embassy said in a statement. "The Houthis continue to show the world why the United States was right to label them a terrorist organization." A statement from the EU naval mission in the Red Sea said the crew of the ship included 22 sailors, among them 21 Filipinos and one Russian, as well as a three-member security team. Those rescued were five Filipinos and one Indian. The attack on the merchant vessel followed a claim by the Houthis to have attacked and sank another vessel on Monday in the Red Sea, a vital maritime trade route. The twin assaults are the first Houthi attacks on shipping since November 2024 and could signal the start of a new campaign by the Iran-backed Yemeni rebels threatening the waterway, which had begun to see more ships pass through it in recent weeks. The Eternity C bulk carrier had been heading north toward the Suez Canal when it came under fire by men in small boats and by bomb-carrying drones on Monday night. Security guards on board also fired their weapons. The European Union Operation Aspides and the private security firm Ambrey both reported those details. While the Houthis haven't claimed the attack, Yemen's exiled government and the EU force blamed the rebels for the attack. The EU force offered the casualty information, saying one of the wounded crew members lost his leg in the attack. The crew remain stuck on board the vessel, which is now drifting in the Red Sea.
Six crew rescued, 15 missing after Houthis sink latest Greek ship in Red Sea (Reuters) - Rescuers pulled six crew members alive from the Red Sea after Houthi militants attacked and sank a second ship this week, while the fate of another 15 was unknown after the Iran-aligned group said they held some of the seafarers. The Houthis claimed responsibility for the assault that maritime officials say killed four of the 25 people aboard the Eternity C before the rest abandoned the cargo ship. Eternity C went down Wednesday morning after attacks on two previous days, sources at security companies involved in a rescue operation said. The six rescued seafarers spent more than 24 hours in the water, those firms said. The United States Mission in Yemen accused the Houthis of kidnapping many surviving crew members from Eternity C and called for their immediate and unconditional safe release. "The Yemeni Navy responded to rescue a number of the ship's crew, provide them with medical care, and transport them to a safe location," the group's military spokesperson said in a televised address. The Houthis released a video they said depicted their attack on Eternity C. It included sound of a Yemen naval forces' call for the crew to evacuate for rescue and showed explosions on the ship before it sank. Reuters could not independently verify the audio or the location of the ship, which it verified was the Eternity C. The Houthis also have claimed responsibility for a similar assault on Sunday targeting another ship, the Magic Seas. All crew from the Magic Seas were rescued before it sank. The strikes on the two ships revive a campaign by the Iran-aligned fighters who had attacked more than 100 ships from November 2023 to December 2024 in what they said was solidarity with the Palestinians. In May, the U.S. announced a surprise deal with the Houthis where it agreed to stop a bombing campaign against them in return for an end to shipping attacks, though the Houthis said the deal did not include sparing Israel. Leading shipping industry associations, including the International Chamber of Shipping and BIMCO, denounced the deadly operation and called for robust maritime security in the region via a joint statement on Wednesday. "These vessels have been attacked with callous disregard for the lives of innocent civilian seafarers," they said. "This tragedy illuminates the need for nations to maintain robust support in protecting shipping and vital sea lanes."
Surviving Crew Members Kidnapped By Houthis After Greek-Owned Cargo Ship Attacked -Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the strategic Bab el-Mandeb/Southern Red Sea corridor have intensified following U.S. airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities, ordered by President Trump. This marks a significant escalation of asymmetric Iranian-proxy operations aimed at choking the critical maritime chokepoint. Last weekend, rebel forces attacked the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned cargo ship Eternity C, resulting in the deaths of at least three mariners and injuries to several others. The ship lost propulsion and is now adrift with the crew still on board.Between Sunday and Monday, the Houthis launched another assault on the bulk carrier Magic Seas using small boats and bomb-laden drones.Rebels later released video footage showing their fighters boarding the vessel, strategically placing explosives throughout the ship. The detonation ultimately led to the vessel's sinking, marking one of the most brazen and well-documented Houthi maritime attacks to date. Update (1252ET): One of the two commercial ships attacked by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels—the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned cargo ship Eternity C—has sunk, resulting in the deaths of at least four crew members, with 15 still missing. The other ship, Magic Seas, was also attacked and sank earlier this week (crew rescued). Here's more from Reuters: Rescuers pulled six crew members alive from the Red Sea on Wednesday and 15 were still missing from the second of two ships sunk in recent days in attacks claimed by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militia after months of calm. Four of the 25 people aboard the Eternity C cargo ship were killed before the rest of the crew abandoned the vessel, which sank on Wednesday morning after being attacked on Monday and Tuesday, sources at security companies involved in a rescue operation said.Since late 2023, more than 100 ships in the strategic Bab el-Mandeb/Southern Red Sea corridor have been targeted by Houthi rebels using drones and missiles. These attacks are expected to continue until a ceasefire is reached in the Israel-Hamas war.. The attacks on Eternity C and Magic Seas mark the first Houthi strikes in the critical maritime chokepoint since President Trump announced a truce with the rebels in May.Update(1505ET): Things have gone from bad to worse regarding the situation of the Greek-owned cargo ship Eternity C, which was sunk in a deadly Houthi raid. The missing mariners aboard the ship are now confirmed kidnapped, after at least four were killed.The US embassy accused Yemen's Iran-backed militants Wednesday of kidnapping crew members from the Eternity C in the Red Sea earlier this week - an attack which was carefully documented and filmed for the world to see by the attackers (see below)."After killing their shipmates, sinking their ship and hampering rescue efforts, the Huthi terrorists have kidnapped many surviving crew members of the Eternity C. We call for their immediate and unconditional safe release," the embassy said in a statement on X. Below is more from the Houthi statement, claiming the captive and surviving crew members are 'safe'... will President Trump get involved? It appears at least 15 have been taken.
Israeli Defense Minister Orders Plan To Build Concentration Camp for Gaza's Civilian Population - Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has ordered the IDF to prepare a plan to establish a camp to concentrate the entire civilian population of Gaza on the ruins of the southern Gaza city of Rafah.According to Haaretz, Katz said that once Palestinian civilians are pushed into what he is calling a “humanitarian city,” they will not be allowed to leave. The idea is to first transfer 600,000 civilians from the al-Mawasi tent camp on the coast in southern Gaza, followed by the rest of the civilian population.Katz said that if conditions permit, the “city” could be built during a potential 60-day ceasefire, comments that will make Hamas less likely to agree to a temporary truce. The Israeli defense minister also said that during the ceasefire, Israel will maintain control of the “Morag Corridor,” a strip of land between Rafah and Khan Younis.Katz also suggested the camp can facilitate the government’s ultimate goal of ethnic cleansing, which it refers to as “voluntary migration,” telling reporters that Israel will implement “the emigration plan, which will happen.”Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has previously said that the goal of Israel’s current military operation, dubbed Gideon’s Chariots, is to create a concentration camp south of the Morag Corridor and pressure the civilians forced into it to leave.“The Gazan citizens will be concentrated in the south. They will be totally despairing, understanding that there is no hope and nothing to look for in Gaza, and will be looking for relocation to begin a new life in other places,”Smotrich said in May.Katz’s comments come after Reuters reported that the controversial US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) had proposed to the US government the idea of creating camps it called “Humanitarian Transit Areas” inside Gaza or possibly outside Gaza.The GHF plan describes the camps as “large-scale” and “voluntary” places where the Palestinian population could “temporarily reside, deradicalize, re-integrate and prepare to relocate if they wish to do so.”Katz said Israel is seeking “international partners” to manage the zone and that four aid distribution sites would be set up inside the camp, suggesting the GHF will be involved in the plan. GHF aid sites are secured by American security contractors, who have been credibly accused of using live ammunition and stun grenades to disperse crowds of hungry Palestinian civilians.
Almost 800 people killed in Gaza while trying to get food aid since end of May -At least 798 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces while attempting to access humanitarian aid in Gaza since the end of May, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported on Friday.A spokesperson for the office told reporters that 615 of those killed died in the vicinity of aid distribution centers operated by the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation since May 27. An additional 183 were killed along routes used by aid convoys.The alarming death toll comes amid growing international concern over the distribution mechanism currently in place in Gaza.The organizations urged a return to the UN-led distribution mechanism that operated in Gaza until March. Since late May, aid has been gradually allowed into Gaza but is being distributed through the foundation.
Israeli Airstrike Slaughters 10 Children Waiting for Nutritional Aid Near Medical Clinic in Gaza - Warning: Graphic footage below. On Thursday, a US-backed Israeli airstrike hit near a medical clinic in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah as civilians gathered to receive nutritional aid, killing 16 Palestinians, including 10 children and three women.The clinic is run by Project HOPE, an American aid group, and the organization’s regional director, Natia Deisadze, confirmed that civilians were waiting to “receive essential nutrition support” at the time of the strike.The New York Times said that it verified CCTV footage that showed a strike hit two men who were walking near a group of women and children. Smoke and dust filled the screen, and other footage shows dead and wounded women and children strewn along the side of the street.Aftermath of the Israeli airstrike in Deir el-Balah (via Reuters) Based on the CCTV footage and the video of the aftermath, there’s no evidence that the two men who were directly hit with the airstrike were armed. According to Reuters, the IDF claimed that it struck a Hamas “militant” who participated in the October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel but offered no evidence.State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce was asked about the massacre and referred the reporter to the state of Israel. “I can’t speak to that particular event, I would direct you to the country of Israel,” she said. Bruce claimed that the US “decries” civilian casualties but made clear the US will continue to back Israel.“It’s a war. We stand by Israel, to say the least. And we also know that Israel, when it is due, investigates, and we’ll await to see what their actions will be,” Bruce said.
Russia and Ukraine Trade Hundreds of Drone Attacks - Russia and Ukraine fired hundreds of drones at each other’s territory over the weekend as fighting continued to rage across the frontlines in eastern Ukraine amid a stalled peace process.Ukrainian officials said that Russia launched its largest drone attack on the war overnight Thursday into Friday, which killed one person in Kyiv and injured at least 39. Russia fired at least 322 drones and decoys into Ukraine overnight Friday into Saturday, and Russian attacks continued on Sunday, with drone and missile strikes reported across the country. Military situation in Ukraine on July 6, 2025 (SouthFront.press map)Ukraine also fired a significant number of drones into Russian territory and claimed to have hit a Russian airbase on Saturday. According to SouthFront, from Saturday to Sunday, Russian air defenses destroyed 159 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions.Also on Sunday, Russia said that its forces captured two settlements, one in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk Oblast and another in the northeastern Kharkiv Oblast.Ukrainian drone attack on Russian territory from July 5 to July 6 (SouthFront.press map) The heavy fighting comes after President Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and said he made no “progress” on reaching a ceasefire in Ukraine. On Friday, Trump hinted that he could impose sanctions on Russia, saying he discussed the possibility with Putin. “He understands that it may be coming,” Trump said.Trump held a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, which came after the US halted a series of weapons shipments to Ukraine. Despite the pause in some arms supplies, Zelensky appeared to be very happy with the call. “This was probably the best conversation in all this time, it was maximally productive. We discussed the topic of air defenses. I am grateful for the readiness to help,” he said.The pause in US weapons shipments included a halt in the supply of Patriot air defense missiles. The US used a significant number of Patriots to repel the recent Iranian retaliatory attack on the Al Udeid Airbase in Qatar, which came after the US bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Russian minister dies hours after being sacked by Putin -Former Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit was found dead in his car Monday, hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed him from his post, according to local officials. Svetlana Petrenko, a spokesperson for Russia’s State Investigative Committee, said the former minister’s body was found in his personal car with a gunshot wound and that the committee was on the scene investigating. Starovoit’s death “is preliminary being called a suicide,” according to TASS, the state-run news agency. Starovoit was dismissed from his post Monday morning, and Putin tapped Andrey Kinitin to serve in his stead as acting transport minister. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the former minister was not fired “due to a loss of trust,” adding, “otherwise, the presidential decree would have explicitly stated so,” TASS reported. Up Next - WH on man being killed after opening fire at Border Patrol facility in Texas The Kremlin posted an official decree signed by Putin on Monday morning, saying Starovoit had been relieved of his duties. Starovoit began in the post in May 2024. He had previously served for several years as governor of the Kursk region, which was invaded by Kyiv three months after he became transport minister. Ukraine held that territory until April of this year, when Russian troops forced them out.
Italy hosts conference on rebuilding Ukraine as Russia escalates war (AP) — European leaders urged private business and equity on Thursday to invest in rebuilding Ukraine now, even as Russia accelerates its war, as they opened an annual recovery conference with announcements of a new equity fund and public-private partnerships amid uncertainties of the U.S. commitment to Kyiv’s defense. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy kicked off the proceedings in Rome as Moscow pounded Ukraine’s capital with anothermajor missile and drone attack overnight in some of the heaviest attacks on Kyiv in the more than three-year war.The conference is expected to finalize individual deals of guarantees and grants to unlock more than 10 billion euros (around $12 billion) in investments, Meloni said. The European Commission, for its part, announced the creation of the European Flagship Fund for the Reconstruction of Ukraine, the largest equity fund to date to support the country. “The message we want to send today to businesses is: Don’t be afraid to invest to build and rebuild Ukraine,” Meloni told the gathering of business, political and development representatives. “The reconstruction of Ukraine is not a risk. It’s an investment in a nation that has shown more resilience than any other.”Zelenskyy told the gathering that investing in Ukraine and especially its domestic defense industry was in Europe’s own security interest.“Ukraine has some of the world’s most advanced drone technologies for both offensive and defensive use, and we are ready to share this expertise and these technologies with our partners,” he said. “Ukraine needs investment, you need skills, you need technology, and everything we are building now to protect Ukraine will also help protect you.”He thanked those countries and companies that have already invested and warned that only friends would be welcome to rebuild: “We will only welcome true partners, those who are not helping Russia continue this war,” he said, without naming specific nations.
Kuwaiti student sues Bangor University after being 'dragged' off stage for pro-Palestine protest-- A Kuwait student is suing her former UK university for violating her free speech after it prevented her from peacefully protesting the institution’s investments in Israel during her graduation ceremony, MEE reported. Aishah AlBader has filed a legal claim against Bangor University in Wales for assault, battery, false imprisonment and breach of her human rights. The claim stems from an incident that took place during her graduation ceremony last year. AlBader planned to walk across the stage as she graduated with a pillowcase bearing the message "Bangor University invests in genocide". But AlBader, who was part of a local student group that campaigned for Bangor University to divest from companies complicit in possible Israeli war crimes, was stopped by four security guards who dragged her off the stage before removing her from the building. Multiple videos of the incident that gained more than 150,000 views showed several security guards dragging AlBader off the graduation stage from behind in front of hundreds of people.
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