California's Ban on Gas-Powered Cars is Dead
Senate Republicans last Thursday voted to repeal California's rule banning the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035. The 51-44 vote, pushed through using the Congressional Review Act, nullifies a waiver granted under the Clean Air Act — something Congress has never done in the law's 50-year history.
California's rule was part of an aggressive plan to shift the auto market toward electric vehicles, and 11 other states had intended to adopt it. Together, those states represent about 40% of U.S. auto sales. The decision marks a major victory for the oil and gas industry and a setback for climate advocates hoping to use state-level policy to push the national market toward cleaner technologies.
Democrats cry foul as legal battle begins
Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta said the state would sue the Trump administration over what they called an 'unlawful' congressional action. 'This is about our economy, it's about our health, it's about our global competitiveness,' Newsom said. 'It is, Donald Trump, about our national security, and it's about our ability to continue to innovate and outpace competition all across the globe.'
California Attorney General Rob Bonta and California Governor Gavin Newsom. —
Source: Getty
Legal experts argue that the Congressional Review Act should not apply to California's waivers, which only affect one state. But Republicans said California's standards essentially dictated national policy, given how many automakers follow them.
More votes, more damage to California's climate agenda
The Senate also voted to block California rules requiring half of new trucks sold by 2035 to be electric and limiting emissions of nitrogen oxide, a key contributor to smog. All three measures passed the House earlier this year and are expected to be signed into law by President Trump. In response, Senator Alex Padilla of California placed a hold on several EPA nominees and warned of future retaliation. 'All bets will be off' next time Democrats hold a majority, he said.
With two Rivian R1S SUVs in the background, a sign reading 'Vehicle Charging only' is seen in front of a charger that is part of the Rivian Adventure Network charging station on May 10, 2025, in Buttonwillow, California.
While some automakers, like Ford and Honda, had agreed to California's emission standards, the industry as a whole pushed back against the 2035 mandate. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation said the targets were 'never achievable,' citing infrastructure gaps and market readiness. Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan was the lone Democrat to vote with Republicans, pointing to concerns from automakers in her state.
A Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck is displayed for sale at a Ford dealership on August 21, 2024, in Glendale, California. —
Source:Final thoughts
The ruling leaves California scrambling to revise its climate strategy. Officials may look to cut emissions from factories and refineries or increase incentives for EV purchases. They may also consider penalties for gas car usage, such as higher registration fees.
But a clause in the Congressional Review Act prevents California from adopting any rule 'substantially the same' as the one just repealed — a potential legal roadblock that could tie the state's hands for years. 'We're going to have to think pretty innovatively,' said Dean Florez of the California Air Resources Board. 'But there will still be a massive hole.'
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Telegraph
27 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Israeli settlers burn West Bank's last Christian town
The Israeli settlers crept up to the ancient church perched above the West Bank's last Christian-majority town. As they reached the outer walls, they crouched down to light a ring of fire. Then they revved the engines of their secret weapons brought to fan the flames: garden leaf blowers. Residents watched in horror as the blaze spread closer to the Church of St George, which dates back to the fifth century. The flames were doused, but not for long. That evening, settlers returned to the town of Taybeh with assault rifles. The same happened the next day and three days after that. Bashar Fawadleh, the parish priest, told The Telegraph: 'Each time we called the Israeli police, but they did not come. 'If they attack our sacred site, they can attack anything of ours.' Settler attacks on Palestinians are on the rise across the occupied West Bank, where roughly half a million Israelis live in Jewish settlements among three million Palestinians. Five Palestinians have been killed in the last two weeks in villages and towns not far from Taybeh, including Sinjil where two men, including a dual US citizen, were beaten to death by settlers on July 12, prompting fury from the Trump administration. While most of the violence is directed against Muslims, settlers have started to attack Palestinian Christian villages like Taybeh. The once-flouring Christian community in the West Bank has dramatically shrunk to less than 2 per cent of the population as many emigrated abroad to escape the violence and religious discrimination. The same has happened in Gaza, where its roughly 1,000 Christians are mostly sheltering in the war-battered Strip's last three churches, one of which was attacked by Israeli forces last week, killing three civilians. Walking around the scorched earth that now encircles the Church of St George, Father Bashar warned: 'This is just the beginning. They want to put fear in our hearts to live here. 'These attacks will bleed the town of people as they leave scared. We have lost 10 families already in the past two years.' Emboldened settlers have set up illegal outposts closer to the town. A makeshift sign written in Hebrew erected outside the ancient town in June read: 'There is no future for you here.' David Khoury, the leader of Taybeh's Greek Orthodox Church, also fears an exodus. 'The settlers are making problems for us every day. Assaulting, vandalising, terrorising, terrifying our families, destroying our fields of olive trees, damaging our properties,' he said. There were more than 750 incidents of settler violence recorded in the first half of this year, up from 216 for the whole of 2023, according to the United Nations. The settler community is seizing the moment to annex land Israel has occupied since the 1967 Six Day War, encouraged by hard-Right ministers in Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government, including Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, who come from settler backgrounds. The Israeli settlers first attacked Taybeh, north east of Ramallah – the de-facto capital of the Palestinian territory – just before the Oct 7 massacre in southern Israel. During the devastating war that followed in Gaza, the situation has grown dire. Visiting Taybeh, the Patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem condemned the most recent violence as 'clearly part of the systematic attacks against Christians that we see unfolding throughout the region'. Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel who is an evangelical Christian and staunch advocate of Israeli settlement construction, also toured the blackened church site on Saturday. He called the attacks an 'act of terror' and demanded 'harsh consequences' for the perpetrators. But he did not attribute the attack to settlers. The town is waiting to see if the condemnation will have an effect. The reality, however, is that settlers rarely face any legal consequences. Last week, the settlers grazed their cattle at the church, in what residents said was a desecration of the holy site. Throwing his hands in the air, Suleiman Khouryeh, Taybeh's mayor, said: 'We cannot protect the town, they are armed, we are not.' He believes the settlers are taunting the residents, trying to get them to answer with violence. 'And we will not,' he said. The mayor is on high alert after the recent killings in Sinjil. 'What happened there could at any moment happen to us – the settlers don't care whether we are Christian or Muslim. We are under attack because we are Palestinian.' Affirming what other witnesses had told The Telegraph, he said that Israeli police provided no help. 'We call the Israeli guards for help and no one comes. Who will protect us?' The future of the community is in peril, he warned. 'The youth has lost hope, there is no work, no safety, no life, no future and they want to leave.' Standing on an arid hill above Taybeh, Ramiz Akhoury pointed towards a huge swath of land to the east of the town, which hosts thousands of olive trees, sheep and chicken farms and fields of crops – the lifeblood of the local economy. 'They have taken it all,' the 37-year-old olive oil producer said forlornly. Over the past two years, he estimates that the settlers have seized 3,000 acres, which includes 70 per cent of his own land. 'They steal our farming equipment, cut our trees, burn them…We are all scared,' he said. In an attack last year, his uncle and aunt were badly beaten while working on the land. He showed The Telegraph dozens of videos showing the settlers grazing their cattle through Palestinian land, destroying vegetation and olive trees, as well as gun-wielding settlers burning land. 'Why do they come to us carrying guns. Do they want peace? I do not think so,' he said. In the face of the persistent violence and intimidation, farmers like Mr Akhoury have been forced to surrender most of their best land, ridding many of their livelihoods. Eid Kabnaeh, a 63-year-old Muslim-Palestinian, lives with 100 members of his extended family, creating their own small village on the outskirts of Taybeh. A tightly-wired fence has been erected around their open front room to stop settlers throwing stones at them when they drive-by, sometimes in a Jeep that was stolen from the family in April. They said they have been the target of settler attacks for four years, despite their home being 50 yards away from an Israeli military barracks. The family lives in constant fear of the next attack, not knowing when or how it will come. 'We are scared to move, we do not take our sheep to the valley to graze, they steal our cars, detain our children, behave like the military,' Mr Kabnaeh said. On June 25, dozens of men attacked the family while they prayed. 'We smelt the fires before we felt them,' Mr Kabnaeh said. Footage shows masked attackers setting fire to their cars and then trying to burn their homes. Many of the women and children suffered badly from smoke inhalation. 'It is hard to talk about what happened. The children were the most afraid, now they have nightmares,' Mr Kabnaeh added. Before leaving, the settlers painted a large Star of David on their outside wall. Mr Kabnaeh claimed that Israeli police just stood and watched from their base. The grandfather looked drained; his role as the leader of his household has taken its toll. 'I cannot manage this situation,' he said. If it is not the settlers, he said the Israeli Police harassing the family sometimes daily, often weekly. 'They come at night for checks all the time,' he said, describing how they pulled the house apart and separated the men from the women and children. 'We don't know what they are looking for, they never find anything.' Despite the relentless threats and violence, when asked if he would move, he shook his head and said: 'I will continue to live here, this is my land, this is my home, my future.' Illegal actions given legitimacy A report in December by Peace Now and Kerem Navot, Israel-based rights groups, said that settlers, with the backing of the Israeli military and government, have seized 14 per cent of the West Bank through establishing outposts and driving Palestinian farming communities out. Yonatan Mizrachi, the co-director of Settlement Watch at Peace Now, said the levels of settler violence that has been seen since Oct 7 'cannot happen without government support, indirectly or directly', and the [coalition's decision not to enforce the law'. 'The settlers right now feel strong and that their illegal actions have been given legitimacy by the government,' he added. Israel Police confirmed it had received reports from residents of an arson attack near the church and said a 'thorough investigation' would be carried out. 'If arson is confirmed, justice will be pursued regardless of race or background,' a statement said. The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement: 'Contrary to claims regarding the arson of a church in the village area, such incidents are not known to the IDF. Fires near the church are known and were extinguished by Israeli civilians.' It confirmed it had received reports of fires being set in an open area near Taybeh on July 8 and several suspects setting fire to land on July 11. In the latter incident, the IDF said it dispatched forces but 'found no suspects in the act of arson'. It added: 'Regarding the question of military presence around the village, the IDF operates continuously in Judea and Samaria against terrorist activity and to improve the security of all area residents.'
Daily Mail
29 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Ghislaine Maxwell to release bombshell new evidence as Epstein deposition footage reemerges
Ghislaine Maxwell is expected to unveil 'new evidence' during her jailhouse meeting with the Justice Department. The revelation came as resurfaced footage showed Jeffrey Epstein responding to questions about Donald Trump and underage girls. Maxwell will personally meet with a top Justice Department official at a federal prison in Florida where she is serving a 20-year sentence for helping Epstein traffic young women. Her brother Ian told The New York Post on Wednesday that she will be providing 'new evidence' regarding Epstein. 'She will be putting before that court material new evidence that was not available to the defense at her 2021 trial, which would have had a significant impact on its outcome,' Ian Maxwell said. Ghislaine Maxwell, 63, did not testify in her defense at her 2021 trial which saw her convicted in over her role in a scheme to sexual exploit and abuse multiple minor girls with Epstein over the course of a decade. Her discussions with the White House came as a torrent of information on the Epstein saga continued to get blasted across traditional outlets and social media. Liberal podcasters MeidasTouch posted video Wednesday of a 2010 deposition in which Epstein was asked about Trump but is largely evasive. 'Have you ever had a personal relationship with Donald Trump?' Epstein is asked by a lawyer representing an underaged victim. 'What do you mean by 'personal relationship,' sir?' he replies. 'Have you socialized with him?' the questioner continues. 'Yes, sir,' he admits. 'Have you ever socialized with Donald Trump in the presence of females under the age of 18?' the lawyer persists. 'Though I'd like to answer that question, at least today I'm going to have to assert my Fifth, Sixth, and 14th Amendment rights, sir,' he replies. The Fifth Amendment protects individuals from being forced to testify against themselves in a criminal case, while the Sixth and 14th involve other individual protections under the law. Epstein invoked the fifth on all questions he was asked during the deposition. However his response to the Trump questions appeared unique. 🚨🚨🚨 Watch Jeffrey Epstein plead his Fifth, Sixth, and 14th Amendment rights when asked if he and Donald Trump socialized with females under the age of 18 during a 2010 deposition: Q: Have you ever had a personal relationship with Donald Trump? A. What do you mean by "personal… — MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) July 24, 2025 has reached out to the White House for comment. The story of the deceased billionaire pedophile has plagued the Trump administration after the botched release of the so-called 'Epstein files' - which the president now claims is a Democrat-led hoax. Attorney General Pam Bondi is facing Democratic calls to testify before Congress following The Wall Street Journal's revelation that she told Trump that his name appeared in the files of the sex-trafficking investigation. Earlier this week, Ghislaine's brother Ian Maxwell revealed her sister's frame of mine in the wake of the botched release of the files. Ian Maxwell communicates regularly with her sister in jail on the phone and told The Times she fears for her safety. 'Prisons are very dangerous places and we know from Ghislaine that there are serious staff shortages and more dangerous higher-risk-category prisoners now being admitted to … Tallahassee,' said Maxwell. 'For sure she remains at great, if not greater, risk and has expressed her real concerns about this to me.' He also said his older sister believes that Epstein may have been murdered, contradicting the DOJ and FBI's belief in the official theory that he committed suicide. 'There were certainly a number of convicted murderers on the wing in [Metropolitan Correctional Center] New York where Epstein died,' Maxwell said. 'The contemporaneous investigation of Epstein's death was cut short, cursory and frankly shoddy, certainly as regards the duty guards' story the night he died. At least one distinguished, independent forensic pathologist concurred with the Epstein family-appointed pathologist that homicide was more likely than suicide,' he added. He added that the pathologist from the New York Medical Examiner's office never examined the body. 'I think despite the DOJ memo concluding that Epstein died by suicide, there must remain serious doubts and the jury remains out about that.' Ian Maxwell's take was that President Trump and others would be 'pleased' by the suicide verdict. 'The principal casualties here are truth and justice and my sister's freedom,' he said. 'That's the reality and it should make all right-thinking people seethe with anger. We remain ever hopeful that the truth of the 'hoax', as President Trump now refers to it, comes out.' Ian Maxwell also 'welcomes total discourse' and the complete public release of the FBI files. Ghislaine Maxwell, 63, is the only person behind bars - serving 20 years on child sex trafficking charges - despite the fact that pedophile Jeffrey Epstein allegedly controlled a web of underage girls. Additionally, Epstein's victims alleged they were passed around as sex toys to his wealthy friends and billionaire business associates who regularly visited his homes including his private island, Little Saint James. A source said: 'Despite the rumors, Ghislaine was never offered any kind of plea deal. She would be more than happy to sit before Congress and tell her story. 'No-one from the government has ever asked her to share what she knows. She remains the only person to be jailed in connection to Epstein and she would welcome the chance to tell the American public the truth.' What that 'truth' is remains to be seen. Maxwell was convicted in 2022 over her role in a scheme to sexual exploit and abuse multiple minor girls with Epstein over the course of a decade. Maxwell argues she should have been protected from prosecution as part of a Non Prosecution Agreement made by Epstein - her former lover and boss - in 2007 when he agreed to plead guilty to two minor charges of prostitution in a 'sweetheart deal' which saw him spend little time behind bars. And now, controversy continues to rage over the Department of Justice's statement that there is no Epstein 'client list' and the release of videos from inside New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center which the DOJ says proves he committed suicide in 2019 while being held in jail on sex trafficking charges. Critics have pointed to the fact that there is a crucial minute missing from the jail house video that also does not show the door or, indeed, the inside of Epstein's jail cell. The scandal - and alleged 'cover up' - has prompted a rebellion amongst President Trump's loyal MAGA base. Some even believe Bondi should be fired after promising to release all files relating to Epstein and his high-profile male friends only to apparently renege on that promise. On Wednesday, it was revealed that Bondi told Trump his name was among many high-profile figures mentioned in the files, which the Justice Department this month said it would not be releasing despite a clamor from online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and members of Trump's base. Trump´s personal ties to Epstein are well-established and his name is already known to have been included in records related to the wealthy financier, who killed himself in jail in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. The Justice Department declined to comment on the report but issued a joint statement from Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche saying that investigators had reviewed the records and 'nothing in the files warranted further investigation or prosecution.' 'As par of our routine briefing, we made the president aware of the findings,' the statement said. The mere inclusion of a person's name in Epstein's files does not imply wrongdoing and he was known to have been associated with multiple prominent figures, including Trump. Over the years, thousands of pages of records have been released through lawsuits, Epstein´s criminal dockets, public disclosures and Freedom of Information Act requests. They include a 2016 deposition in which an accuser recounted she spent several hours with Epstein at Trump´s Atlantic City casino but didn´t say if she met Trump and did not accuse him of any wrongdoing. Trump has also said he once thought Epstein was a 'terrific guy' but they later had a falling-out.
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Venezuelan scarred after being sent to maximum security prison by Trump administration
Arturo Suarez cries as he hugs his family for the first time in months. His sister's modest home in Caracas, Venezuela's capital city, is decorated with red, blue and black balloons and banners to welcome him back. Friends and neighbours fill the living room and the street outside. He video calls other family members elsewhere in the world. This is the first time they have heard his voice since March. "I hadn't felt so safe for a while," Arturo tells Sky News, "when I hugged my brothers, my uncle, my aunt, that's where I felt that the nightmare was over, that I had made it home." Then the story of what he had endured begins to pour out of him. The 34-year-old was one of more than 250 Venezuelan men sent by the Trump administration to a maximum security prison in El Salvador, despite having no criminal record in any of the four countries he has lived in. Last week, he was released as part of a prisoner swap with 10 American citizens and permanent residents detained in Venezuela. But he is scarred by the four months he spent at the CECOT prison, a terrorism confinement centre, in El Salvador, alongside some of the world's most dangerous men. "We were constantly beaten," he says, "we suffered physical, verbal, and psychological abuse. "There wasn't a day the wardens didn't tell us that the only way we'd leave that place was if we were dead. In fact, the first words the head of the prison said to us after the first beating was 'welcome to hell'." Arturo is an aspiring singer. He had moved to the US to escape Venezuela's authoritarian regime and set up home in North Carolina. He had a feeling when Donald Trump became president for a second time that there would be a crackdown on immigration, as promised in his campaign. But, because Arturo had followed all the legal channels to enter the country, he didn't think he would be caught up in the deportation policy. He was wrong. While he was filming a music video in a house in North Carolina in March, he was arrested by immigration agents and accused by the White House of being a gang member, although they have provided little evidence publicly to support that claim. He was then flown to El Salvador - a country he had never even visited - and put in a maximum security prison. His ordeal was under way. "We were sleeping 19 people to a cell," he says, "if we spoke loudly, they would take away our mattresses, if they found us bathing more than once a day, they'd take away the mattresses from us. "The punishment was severe. It was beatings and humiliations and they took away our food. "I remember we were exercising and a cellmate, very politely, asked the prison head if we could bathe a second time that day, since we were doing exercise. "His words were 'that's your problem, it's not my problem if you exercise'. We were also made to eat with our hands. "They tried to take our humanity away from us. They tried to make us lose everything." The Trump administration paid El Salvador millions of dollars to detain the 252 Venezuelan men, claiming they were part of the notorious Tren De Aragua gang. Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, visited the prison for a tour and photoshoot in March and Arturo saw her. "Obviously they did a show of this," he says, "they had cameras. When she came in, my cellmates and I began to make the help sign, which she disliked a lot. We began to shout freedom." Arturo was denied due process to appeal his extradition to El Salvador and was not allowed to speak to a lawyer or any family or friends during his time in prison. as he appealed for his release. He said Arturo's only crime was having tattoos, which the White House cited as evidence of involvement with gangs. On a video call, Arturo shows me the tattoos. Most of them, he says, are in tribute to his late mother. I ask if he thinks that the Trump administration believed he was a gang member. "I think it was just an excuse to get us out," he says, "we weren't taken for having tattoos or belonging to a criminal gang. "We were taken for being Venezuelans. And today I want to tell the world that being Venezuelan is not a crime." When he applied for asylum in the United States, Arturo had hoped to be reunited eventually with his wife, Nathali, and their 10-month-old daughter Nahiara, who are currently in Chile. "When I was given the opportunity to go to the United States, I was going to go with my wife," he says, "we found out that she was pregnant but I went anyway because it was for the future, for my daughter's future. "Unfortunately, this decision led me to one of the most brutal prisons. What I most long for, is to be with my daughter and my wife." He's now being supported by other family members in Venezuela, but he will never return to the US. He went for a better life but instead was labelled a criminal. Now, he says, he just wants to clear his name.
