Tsunami waves reach US coast
Tsunami waves reach Hawaii and the West Coast hours after magnitude 8.8 earthquake
U.S. authorities remain vigilant Wednesday morning of wave heights, as well as strong or hazardous currents, after tsunami advisories were triggered across the Pacific, Alaska and the entire U.S. West Coast.
More updates: The waves began arriving in Hawaii after 7 p.m. local time after one of the strongest earthquakes in recorded history, a magnitude 8.8 temblor, struck Tuesday off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula.
The EPA just made the largest deregulatory action in US history
The Environmental Protection Agency will rescind the long-standing finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health, as well as tailpipe emission standards for vehicles. This means wiping out two decades of regulation aimed at reducing carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases from cars, power plants, oil production and other sources. President Donald Trump's pick to run the EPA Lee Zeldin will announce the proposal Tuesday. If finalized, this action will devastate the EPA's ability to carry out its primary authority to limit climate pollution under the federal Clean Air Act.
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What's the weather today? Check your local forecast here.
New York City shooter puts focus on NFL's troubling history with CTE
The mass shooting in New York has once again put the spotlight on the National Football League's troubling history with how the league deals with head trauma and, more recently, the links with playing football and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated blows to the head. New York police say Shane Tamura, a 27-year-old Las Vegas resident who played high school football in the Los Angeles area, killed four people, including a New York City police officer, before turning the gun on himself. Mayor Eric Adams said Tamura targeted the league's headquarters in New York, leaving a note claiming he had CTE.
Trump wants lower interest rates. Will the Fed make cuts?
All eyes will be on the Federal Reserve's post-meeting statement Tuesday to see if there are signs of an impending interest rate cut in September. The Fed has kept its key interest rate steady since late 2024, despite monthslong pressure from President Donald Trump to make cuts. While Trump has floated the idea of firing Fed chair Jerome Powell, the president on July 24 backed off his threats following a visit to the Fed's headquarters. Trump's ire stems from the central bank's decision to wait and see how tariffs impact prices before adjusting rates.
Today's talkers
Crack open a cold one with USA TODAY
From dive bars to hidden speakeasies, swanky cocktail lounges to beachfront watering holes, the best bars tell a story — and often serve up something tasty to go with your drink. USA TODAY's Bars of the Year 2025 are the places where locals and visitors alike gather for good conversation, warm vibes and a little slice of the city's character – whether that means savoring a Rusty Nail aboard a simulated flight in Phoenix, chasing an Orange Crush down the beach in Delaware or pairing a salty margarita with a deep-fried hot dog at a Florida dockside bar. Check out the spots chosen by USA TODAY Network journalists who know their hometown haunts inside and out.
Photo of the day: This kid from America
From New Hope, Pennsylvania, to Kawasaki, Japan: Zach Peckman, 16, is representing the best of American jump rope at the World Jump Rope Championships in Japan this week. His events are all about speed, such as the 30-second and 3-minute sprints where some athletes hit more than seven jumps per second. To keep rhythm during competition, Peckman listens to a sped-up version of Kim Wilde's 'Kids in America' — we'll be listening in support, too.
Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at USA TODAY, sign up for the email here. Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com.
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- Boston Globe
Dozens of countries with no deals face higher tariffs as trade deadline nears
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up For those countries without an agreement, they could face duties of as much as 50 percent, including on large economies such as Brazil, Canada, Taiwan, and India. Many smaller countries are also on track to pay more, including South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and even Advertisement The duties originated from Trump's Advertisement As of Thursday afternoon, White House representatives — and Trump himself — insisted that no more delays were possible. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that Trump 'at some point this afternoon or later this evening' will sign an order to impose new tariff rates starting midnight on Friday. Countries that have not received a prior letter on tariffs from Trump or negotiated a trade framework will be notified of their likely tariff rates, Leavitt said, either in the form of a letter or Trump's executive order. At least two dozen On Wednesday, Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social, 'THE AUGUST FIRST DEADLINE IS THE AUGUST FIRST DEADLINE — IT STANDS STRONG, AND WILL NOT BE EXTENDED.' In a flurry of last minute deal-making, the Trump has been announcing agreements as late as Thursday, but they are largely short on details. On Thursday, the United States and Pakistan And on Wednesday, Trump announced a deal with South Korea that would impose 15 percent tariffs on goods from that country. That is below the 25 percent duties that Trump threatened in April. Agreements have also been reached with the European Union, Indonesia, Vietnam, Advertisement The exact number of countries facing higher duties isn't clear, but the majority of the 200 have not made a deal. Trump has already slapped large duties on Brazil and India even before the deadline was reached. In the case of Brazil, Trump signed an executive order late Wednesday imposing a 50 percent duty on imports, though he exempted several large categories, including aircraft, aluminum, and energy products. Trump is While Trump has sought to justify the widespread tariffs as an effort to combat the United States' chronic trade deficits, the United States actually has a trade surplus with Brazil — meaning it sells more goods and services to Brazil than it buys from that country. Late Wednesday, Trump said that India would On Thursday, the White House said it had extended the deadline to reach a deal with Mexico for another 90 days, citing the complexity of the trade relationship, which is governed by the trade agreement Trump reached when he updated NAFTA in his first term.
Boston Globe
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- Boston Globe
Appellate judges question Trump's authority to impose tariffs without Congress
Brett Schumate, the attorney representing the Trump administration, acknowledged in the 99-minute hearing 'no president has ever read IEEPA this way' but contended it was nonetheless lawful. The 1977 law, signed by President Jimmy Carter, allows the president to seize assets and block transactions during a national emergency. It was first used during the Iran hostage crisis and has since been invoked for a range of global unrest, from the 9/11 attacks to the Syrian civil war. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Trump says the country's trade deficit is so serious that it likewise qualifies for the law's protection. Advertisement In sharp exchanges with Schumate, appellate judges questioned that contention, asking whether the law extended to tariffs at all and, if so, whether the levies matched the threat the administration identified. 'If the president says there's a problem with our military readiness,' Chief Circuit Judge Kimberly Moore posited, 'and he puts a 20 percent tax on coffee, that doesn't seem to necessarily deal with (it).' Schumate said Congress' passage of IEEPA gave the president 'broad and flexible' power to respond to an emergency, but that 'the president is not asking for unbounded authority.' Advertisement But an attorney for the plaintiffs, Neal Katyal, characterized Trump's maneuver as a 'breathtaking' power grab that amounted to saying 'the president can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, for as long as he wants so long as he declares an emergency.' No ruling was issued from the bench. Regardless of what decision the judges' deliberations bring, the case is widely expected to reach the US Supreme Court. Trump weighed in on the case on his Truth Social platform, posting: 'To all of my great lawyers who have fought so hard to save our Country, good luck in America's big case today. If our Country was not able to protect itself by using TARIFFS AGAINST TARIFFS, WE WOULD BE 'DEAD,' WITH NO CHANCE OF SURVIVAL OR SUCCESS. Thank you for your attention to this matter!' In filings in the case, the Trump administration insists that 'a national emergency exists' necessitating its trade policy. A three-judge panel of the The issue now rests with the appeals judges. The challenge strikes at just one batch of import taxes from an administration that has unleashed a bevy of them and could be poised to unveil more on Friday. The case centers on Trump's so-called 'Liberation Day' tariffs of April 2 that imposed new levies on nearly every country. But it doesn't cover other tariffs, including those on Advertisement The case is one of at least seven lawsuits charging that Trump overstepped his authority through the use of tariffs on other nations. The plaintiffs include 12 US states and five businesses, including a wine importer, a company selling pipes and plumbing goods, and a maker of fishing gear. The US Constitution gives Congress the authority to impose taxes — including tariffs — but over decades lawmakers have ceded power over trade policy to the White House. Trump has made the most of the power vacuum, raising the average US tariff to more than 18 percent, the highest rate since 1934, according to the Budget Lab at Yale University. The attorney general for one of the states suing Trump sounded confident after the hearing, arguing that the judges 'didn't buy' the Trump administration's arguments. 'You would definitely rather be in our shoes going forward,' Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said. Rayfield said that Trump's tariffs — which are paid by importers in the United States who often try to pass along the higher costs to their customers — amount to one of the largest tax increases in American history. 'This was done all by one human being sitting in the Oval Office,' he said.
Boston Globe
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- Boston Globe
Anger over starvation in Gaza leaves Israel increasingly isolated
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has responded angrily to the growing skepticism. He has said the reports of starvation are exaggerated, that Hamas must be destroyed, that critics are often antisemites, and that Western recognition of a Palestinian state is a reward to Hamas for the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that killed more than 1,000 people. 'The usual Israeli view is that this crisis is another temporary problem,' said Natan Sachs, an analyst of Israeli politics. 'But that's a misreading of the world, because it's accelerating a global turn against Israel that has dramatic effects, especially among young people.' Advertisement As anger grows over widespread hunger in Gaza, Israel risks becoming an international outcast. The deadly Hamas-led attack on Israel in 2023 remains a vivid, salient event for many Israelis. But for others around the world, the devastation and hunger in Gaza have become more visible and urgent. Children atop rubble awaited aid in Gaza City, on Sunday. SAHER ALGHORRA/NYT Since Israel cut off aid in March to try to force Hamas to give up hostages, Israel's effort to install its own distribution system has been marred by chaos and casualties while hunger has increased. Scores have been killed as Palestinians rushed to get food. Advertisement And no one has a clear idea of how the war will end, even as Israel has retaken large areas of Gaza several times over. The number of dead in the enclave has reached more than 60,000, a majority of them civilians, according to the United Nations. Netanyahu has not outlined what he has in mind for Gaza or who should try to rule it instead of Hamas. He has refused to engage with the countries most likely to help do that—the Persian Gulf states, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. Trump remains a strong supporter of Israel in its fight against Hamas, and he has in the past given Netanyahu carte blanche in how to do it. But even Trump has seemed shocked by the televised videos of hunger in Gaza, and some of his most fervent supporters are publicly questioning the relationship with Israel. Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff The increasing debate over whether Israel is committing genocide is also reflective of how 'something fundamental has shifted in how Israel is perceived,' said Daniel Levy, a negotiator under former Labor Party-led governments in Israel and current president of the US/Middle East Project, a nonprofit. Advertisement He points to a sharp cultural shift, with anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian, and sometimes antisemitic demonstrations at places including opera houses and music festivals. Pop stars including Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande have made strong appeals for a cease-fire and for the delivery of aid to Palestinians in Gaza. 'For a long time, Israel thought that if we throw antisemitism and the Holocaust at them loudly enough, it will all go away,' Levy said. 'But the zeitgeist is shifting, and the Israeli attempt at outrage works with an ever-smaller cohort.' Opinion polls reflect the change. A Pew poll in April found that American views of Israel had turned more negative. About 53 percent of US adults now express an unfavorable opinion of Israel, up from 42 percent before the Hamas attack. Of those, the share who voice very unfavorable views of Israel went up to 19 percent of adults this year, from 10 percent in 2022. A demonstrator wore a mask depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during an anti-government protest in Tel Aviv on Thursday, calling for the end to the war in Gaza. JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images Another Pew poll, conducted last month, found that in 20 of 24 countries surveyed, half or more of adults had an unfavorable view of Israel. Around three-quarters or more hold this view in Australia, Greece, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey. The figures are higher among younger people—and one of the largest gaps between young and old is in the United States. The largest danger to Israel in the future is not the stances taken by European leaders or its most passionate critics, Sachs argued. 'From the Israeli perspective, the most troubling phenomenon is the people on the fence. Either they don't know about the issue or want to stay away from it, because it's toxic,' he said. 'The average person who might normally support Israel would rather stay away.' Advertisement Netanyahu has been too slow to understand the reality of the shift and its cost to his country, said Chuck Freilich, a former deputy national security adviser in Israel. It is difficult to know the full reality in Gaza, because Israel does not allow foreign journalists to enter independently. But aid groups have described mounting malnutrition and cases of starvation. Israel needs diplomatic support, he said. And it desperately needs good economic relations with Europe and the United States, said Bernard Avishai, an Israeli American professor and analyst. 'Israel made a fantastic bet on globalization, and its economic life depends on its technological elites finding partners in developed countries,' Avishai said. 'What happens when companies like that get a cold shoulder from people around the world?' There is built-up anger in the West at having been pushed for years to keep down criticism over Israeli actions such as the occupation of the West Bank, Avishai said, and that anger is now coming out more strongly over Gaza. 'What's happening in Gaza is appalling,' and it diminishes the willingness of people to travel to Israel and to work with its scientists and companies, he said. 'For the Israeli economy,' he noted, 'this is already devastating.' Pushed by public reaction and by his own frustration, President Emmanuel Macron of France has said that his country will recognize Palestine as a state at the United Nations in September. Canada's prime minister, Mark Carney, said Wednesday that his country would do the same. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has made Britain's recognition conditional, but the moves nonetheless reflect how swiftly views of the war—and of Israel—have changed among Western countries. Advertisement This article originally appeared in .
