Category: Uncategorized

  • After voting for Trump’s megabill, GOP Sen. Josh Hawley wants to prevent a key provision from going into effect

    After voting for Trump’s megabill, GOP Sen. Josh Hawley wants to prevent a key provision from going into effect


    HAZELWOOD, Mo. — Four days after President Donald Trump signed his “big, beautiful bill” into law, one of the Republicans who voted for it wasn’t interested in touting the measure’s high-profile tax, immigration or health care provisions.

    Instead, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., held an event here Tuesday centered on a less-noticed part of the nearly 1,000-page bill: an expanded fund for victims of nuclear waste, a bipartisan issue he worked for years to get across the finish line.

    And when asked about the steep Medicaid cuts in the bill, Hawley continued to criticize them. Hawley said his “goal” is to ensure the provider tax changes, which will limit state reimbursement for Medicaid, don’t go into effect in Missouri in 2030 — even as he helped to pass a piece of legislation that will do just that.

    It illustrates the challenges Republicans face as they turn their attention to selling to the public the massive bill they’ve been working on for months, ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

    “I think that if Republicans don’t come out strong and say we’re going to protect rural hospitals, then, yeah, I think voters aren’t going to like that,” Hawley told NBC News in an interview at St. Cin Park. “The truth of the matter is, we shouldn’t be cutting rural hospitals. I’m completely opposed to cutting rural hospitals period. I haven’t changed my view on that one iota.”

    Hawley suggested he would work with Democrats to cut prescription drug pricing, a priority Trump has said he wants Congress to focus on, to pay for the tax cuts made permanent by the new law.

    Josh Hawley speaks at a podium outside, people surround him, and American flag hangs behind him
    U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., at an event in Hazelwood, Mo., on Tuesday.Kyle Stewart / NBC News

    Ultimately, Hawley — who is seen as a potential future presidential candidate — chose to stay in Trump’s good graces and vote for the bill despite his reservations, while managing to score victories for his constituents.

    “Gotta take the wins that you can,” Hawley told NBC News when asked about voting for a bill he admitted he didn’t like.

    Defending his vote for the package that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected will cause nearly 12 million people to lose their health care coverage by 2034, Hawley said the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), as well as the rural hospital fund included in the bill at the eleventh hour to appease GOP holdouts in the Senate, would expand health care in Missouri.

    But for the hospitals and social safety net administrators in Missouri, the law’s changes — even if not fully implemented until later — bring uncertainty to a community dependent on funding from expanded Medicaid access. The Missouri Hospital Association estimates the state will lose hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from the provider tax changes alone.

    Federally qualified health centers, which rely on government funding to function and provide health care to underserved populations, are already facing shortfalls and budget cuts. An administrator at such a health center in the rural Missouri Highlands told NBC News last month that the impacts from Trump’s megabill will lead to death in her community.

    The issue is already impacting states across the country. Hundreds of rural hospitals could close and many more will lose billions of dollars in funding over the next decade, according to an analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

    From a political standpoint, Republicans will need to defend policy choices that Democrats are already attacking as they seek to hold onto their congressional majorities in 2026.

    Hawley joined many GOP lawmakers in gaining private assurances from leadership early on and securing priorities in the sprawling legislation.

    He worked with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., “early in the year” to attach RECA to the package. RECA, a federal law that provided financial compensation to individuals who developed certain diseases as a result of exposure to radiation, expired last year.

    “For me, it was key to my vote,” Hawley said. The expanded fund will accept new claims from “downwinders” and uranium workers until Dec. 31, 2027 and covers more cities and states, including zip codes in Missouri.

    Sherrie Hanna sits at a picnic table outdoors, an interviewer sits across from her
    Sherrie Hanna, an Arizona-based advocate for victims of nuclear radiation, in Hazelwood, Mo., on Tuesday.Kyle Stewart / NBC News

    Joining Hawley at the news conference Tuesday were advocates for victims of nuclear radiation from all over the country dating back to the Manhattan Project, including Sherrie Hanna from Prescott, Arizona. Hanna lost her father and her husband to cancers that were later linked to nuclear waste in the area.

    “They both succumbed to painful deaths,” Hanna said. “I know how important the RECA compensation is.”

    Hanna said she was “devastated” when RECA expired in June 2024. “I thought we would never get the program back. But we kept fighting.”

    The event was also bipartisan in nature: Hawley embraced former Democratic Rep. Cori Bush — who was a member of the progressive “squad” in Congress — and showered her with praise.

    “So Cori, thank you. We would not be here without you and your work,” Hawley said.

    Also joining Hawley was Rep. Wesley Bell, D-Mo., who defended his support for the provision even as he and every other Democratic member of Congress voted against the Big Beautiful Bill.

    “There are some concerns and issues that many of us have with this budgetary bill. But at the same time, the folks who have been waiting a long time for compensation, to be acknowledged for the pain and suffering, that’s one thing that I can rejoice in,” Bell said.

    Buu Nygren speaks outside
    Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren, in Hazelwood, Mo., on Tuesday.Kyle Stewart / NBC News

    Some of the advocates who fought for RECA’s passage acknowledged the bill’s double-edged sword, like Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren, who traveled from Arizona to praise Hawley’s efforts in securing compensation for indigenous communities impacted by the government’s nuclear programs.

    “It’s difficult to celebrate,” Nygren told NBC News, acknowledging the bill’s negative consequences on renewable energy and health care coverage for the Navajo nation.



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  • Trump sends more letters dictating high tariff rates around the world

    Trump sends more letters dictating high tariff rates around the world



    President Donald Trump on Wednesday sent letters dictating new U.S. tariff rates on at least seven more countries’ imports, leaning into his aggressive approach to resetting America’s global trade relationships.

    The latest letters, revealed by Trump via Truth Social screenshots, were sent to the leaders of the Philippines, Brunei, Moldova, Algeria, Iraq, Libya and Sri Lanka.

    Trump had teased the announcement Tuesday evening, writing on social media that he “will be releasing a minimum of 7 Countries” on Wednesday morning and an “additional number of Countries” in the afternoon.

    The new round comes two days after Trump first shared letters telling 14 countries’ leaders that their exports to the U.S. would face steep new tariffs starting Aug. 1.

    The nearly identical two-page letters signed by Trump on Monday were sent to Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Laos, Myanmar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Tunisia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Serbia, Cambodia and Thailand.

    The tariff rates for the 21 countries targeted so far range from 20% to 40%. The letters note that the U.S. will “perhaps” consider adjusting the new tariff levels, “depending on our relationship with your Country.”

    The letters all say that the tariffs are “far less than what is needed to eliminate the Trade Deficit disparity we have with your country.” Trump frequently claims that trade deficits show the U.S. is being taken advantage of, though many experts disagree.

    A number of the countries that have received letters so far are relatively minor U.S. trading partners. And while the U.S. has trade deficits with all of them, some of those gaps are minuscule.

    For instance, America’s trade deficit with Moldova in 2024 totaled just $85 million, according to U.S. data.

    Many of the new rates are close to what Trump had imposed as part of his “liberation day” tariff rollout on April 2, which set a 10% baseline levy for nearly all countries on earth and slapped much higher duties on dozens of individual nations.

    That announcement sparked a week of turmoil in global trading markets, which only ended when Trump abruptly said he would pause those higher rates for 90 days.

    That reprieve was set to expire Wednesday. But on Monday, Trump signed an executive order delaying the tariff deadline until Aug. 1.

    In another post earlier Tuesday, Trump asserted that “there will be no change” to the August start date.

    “No extensions will be granted,” he said.



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  • Olivia Munn’s mother diagnosed with breast cancer after actor’s own cancer diagnosis

    Olivia Munn’s mother diagnosed with breast cancer after actor’s own cancer diagnosis



    Olivia Munn shared on Wednesday that her mother was diagnosed with and underwent treatment for breast cancer, revealing the news more than a year after the actor announced her own diagnosis.

    Munn wrote in an Instagram post that after her own breast cancer diagnosis, she encouraged her mother, Kim Munn, to take a lifetime breast cancer risk assessment. It’s the same test that Munn’s own doctor encouraged her to take which led to a score that prompted an MRI test, and ultimately a biopsy.

    “The Newsroom” actor was found to have Luminal B cancer in both breasts in 2023, she said last year.

    Her mother had a score of 26.2%, and although mammograms came out fine, Munn wrote that she insisted her mother get an MRI.

    “Shortly after that MRI, my mother was diagnosed with Stage 1 Her2 breast cancer,” Munn wrote. “She has since completed 12 rounds of chemo and will continue monthly Herceptin transfusions until this fall.”

    Her2 breast cancer is a fast-growing and invasive form of the disease, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

    Munn shared that her mother had a double mastectomy, a surgery that Munn also had when she was diagnosed.

    The actor encourage everyone to take the free, online risk assessment that she credits with saving her and her mother’s lives.

    “Anything above 20% is considered high risk for breast cancer and you should insist that your doctor order a breast MRI,” Munn wrote.

    Munn added that her mother wanted to say that she hopes sharing her story will help save someone’s life.

    “I want to say how proud I am of my mom,” Munn wrote. “She’s handled all of this with bravery and humor while still driving us crazy (just days after her double mastectomy she tried to do laundry and make dinner — she’s insane.)”

    Munn’s post included video of her mother making fried green tomatoes days after surgery, joking that Munn won’t get any if she isn’t nice.

    “I want you to go sit down and rest,” Munn said in the video.

    “I will, after I finish this one,” her mother said. “Leave me alone.”

    She also shared video of her mother ringing a bell to indicate she finished her last round of chemo, cheering with hospital staff who held signs.



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  • Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio stand firm as Trump threatens deportation

    Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio stand firm as Trump threatens deportation


    Accompanied by their newborn son, Michelet and his wife arrived at the St. Vincent de Paul Community Center in Springfield, Ohio, last week looking for help from the non-profit’s volunteers. They wanted to apply for a valuable document for the infant that for now seems out of reach for them as Haitian immigrants: a U.S. passport.

    With their own legal status precarious, Michelet and his wife see the passport as crucial proof that their U.S.-born son is an American citizen. But they know that their son’s citizenship will do nothing to stop the Trump administration from following through on its goal of deporting them — and hundreds of thousands of other Haitian immigrants — back to the violence-racked Caribbean island nation.

    Michelet, who only provided his first name for fear of drawing attention from immigration agents, said he was not interested in migrating to a third country and sees his pending asylum claim as the best option for staying in the U.S.

    Casey Rollins, left, seated at a table speaks with Haitians inside of a community center
    Casey Rollins, left, executive director at St. Vincent de Paul Society in Springfield, Ohio, helps a member of the Haitian community at the community center, on July 2.Jeffrey Dean / Reuters

    “Moving to Canada or another country would mean starting over,” said the 35-year-old, who works for a local auto parts company and came to Springfield via Chile more than two years ago. “I’m already here. I have a job and experience here.”

    Some migrants began exploring such contingency plans after the Department of Homeland Security said on June 27 that it would terminate the Temporary Protected Status providing legal status for half a million Haitians, effective September 2.

    On July 1, a federal judge in New York blocked that DHS effort, but the Trump administration is expected to appeal. The Supreme Court already allowed a similar move to go ahead, ruling in May that the administration could end TPS protections for Venezuelans in the United States.

    Initially granted to Haitians after a devastating 2010 earthquake, TPS has been extended numerous times, most recently due to gang violence and unrest that persists to this day.

    White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement that the earthquake no longer posed a risk and that ending TPS showed Trump was “keeping his promise to restore sanity to our immigration system.” Eligible Haitians could pursue legal status through other means, she said.

    ‘Jesus put me here’

    Springfield is home to an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 Haitian nationals. Working at Amazon warehouses and auto suppliers, they help drive the local economy. Predominantly Christian, many lean on their faith when talking through their deportation fears.

    “I’m going to stay here. I’m not afraid,” said Jean Marc, a warehouse worker in his 20s. “Jesus put me here.”

    Jean, back to the camera, stands against a white brick wall
    Jean Marc poses for a photo outside of St. Vincent de Paul Society in Springfield, Ohio, on July 2.Jeffrey Dean / Reuters

    Michelet’s and Jean Marc’s stories were typical of the dozen Haitian nationals interviewed by Reuters in Springfield last week. Of the total, eight said they were banking on asylum claims for a shot at staying in the United States. All said a third country was an unrealistic option for them.

    Still, a number of migrants with pending asylum claims have been swept up in the immigration crackdown around the country and are now in detention awaiting court hearings.

    The Haitians interviewed by Reuters said they remain committed to staying despite facing a torrent of threats and online hate last year triggered by false rumors on social media that Haitian nationals were eating local pets. Those claims were then repeated by Trump on the campaign trail.

    Some Haitians find it hard to believe that Trump, as a former businessman, would want to deport hardworking members of society contributing to economic growth, said Casey Rollins, executive director at St. Vincent in Springfield.

    “They have been in such denial about this,” she said, adding that some Haitians leaned into a belief that God would take care of them or that the administration would somehow change its thinking and let them stay.

    “They have this ultimate faith thing,” she said.

    ‘I don’t have anywhere else to go’

    During an interview at the Haitian Community Help and Support Center just outside downtown Springfield, a Haitian man in his 50s lifted his collared shirt to reveal the scar from a hot iron pressed to his chest six years ago.

    M.B., who only gave his initials because he was afraid of being singled out by ICE, said he did not know the men who tortured him, but believes the attack was likely related to his work for a political party out of power in Haiti at the time.

    M.B., who is permitted to work for a local manufacturer under the TPS program, said he and his wife are consulting with a lawyer about their asylum claims. In his 50s, he said he did not want to uproot to somewhere else.

    “This is the only other country that we have lived in besides Haiti,” he said. “I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

    Rampant gang violence in Haiti has displaced some 1.3 million people from their homes, fueling hunger and insecurity, while hospitals have shut their doors, and much of the economy, judicial system and government remain paralyzed.

    I.M., a Haitian man in his 20s and a brain cancer survivor, worries he would not be able to get medications needed to sustain his life in Haiti. But he said he will not flee to a third country and would self-deport to avoid detention.

    I.M. has his back to the camera, posed against a brick wall
    I.M. poses for a photo in Springfield, Ohio, on July 2.Jeffrey Dean / Reuters

    I.M. also asked to be identified by his initials, citing concerns he could be targeted by ICE.

    He laughed when asked about the DHS assertion that Haiti was now stable and safe enough for Haitian migrants to return, pointing to the U.S. State Department advisory warning Americans against traveling there due to “kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and limited health care.”

    “If they tell me to go September the 2nd, I will go before that just not to let people put me in handcuffs and treat me like a criminal,” he told Reuters, referring to how migrants deported from the United States are often transported shackled.

    Viles Dorsainvil, director at the Haitian Community Help and Support Center, said most Haitians faced limited options, without the family ties or financial resources needed to get to a third country like Canada or Brazil.

    “It’s like a Catch-22,” he said. “It’s so sad.”



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  • Protesters rally against closure of largest gender-affirming care center for kids in the U.S.

    Protesters rally against closure of largest gender-affirming care center for kids in the U.S.


    LOS ANGELES — Growing up, Sage Sol Pitchenik wanted to hide.

    “I hated my body,” the nonbinary 16-year-old said. “I hated looking at it.”

    When therapy didn’t help, Pitchenik, who uses the pronoun they, started going to the Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the country’s biggest public provider of gender-affirming care for children and teens. It changed their life.

    But in response to the Trump administration’s threat to cut federal funds to places that offer gender-affirming care to minors, the center will be closing its doors July 22. Pitchenik has been among the scores of protesters who have demonstrated regularly outside the hospital to keep it open.

    Sage Sol Pitchenik stands outside
    Sage Sol Pitchenik in Santa Clarita, Calif., on Monday.Jae C. Hong / AP

    “Trans kids are done being quiet. Trans kids are done being polite, and trans kids are done begging for the bare minimum, begging for the chance to grow up, to have a future, to be loved by others when sometimes we can’t even love ourselves,” Pitchenik said, prompting cheers from dozens of protesters during a recent demonstration.

    They went to the center for six years.

    “There’s a lot of bigotry and just hate all around, and having somebody who is trained specifically to speak with you, because there’s not a lot of people that know what it’s like, it meant the world,” they told The Associated Press.

    The center’s legacy

    In operation for three decades, the facility is among the longest-running trans youth centers in the country and has served thousands of young people on public insurance.

    Patients who haven’t gone through puberty yet receive counseling, which continues throughout the care process. For some patients, the next step is puberty blockers; for others, it’s also hormone replacement therapy. Surgeries are rarely offered to minors.

    “I’m one of the lucky ones,” said Pitchenik, who received hormone blockers after a lengthy process. “I learned how to not only survive but how to thrive in my own body because of the lifesaving health care provided to me right here at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.”

    Many families are now scrambling to find care among a patchwork of private and public providers that are already stretched thin. It’s not just patient care, but research development that’s ending.

    “It is a disappointment to see this abrupt closure disrupting the care that trans youth receive. But it’s also a stain on their legacy,” said Maria Do, community mobilization manager at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. “I think it showcases that they’re quick to abandon our most vulnerable members.”

    Maria Do stands outside
    Maria Do, community mobilization manager at the Los Angeles LGBT Center, outside of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, on July 3.Jae C. Hong / AP

    The closure comes weeks after the Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors, amid other efforts by the federal government to regulate the lives of transgender people.

    The hospital initially backed off its plans to close after it announced them in February, spurring demonstrations, but later doubled back.

    The center said in a statement that “despite this deeply held commitment to supporting LA’s gender-diverse community, the hospital has been left with no viable path forward” to stay open.

    “Center team members were heartbroken to learn of the decision from hospital leaders, who emphasized that it was not made lightly, but followed a thorough legal and financial assessment of the increasingly severe impacts of recent administrative actions and proposed policies,” the statement said.

    California Attorney General Rob Bonta has warned that by closing the center, the hospital is violating state antidiscrimination laws, but his office hasn’t taken any further actions. Bonta and attorney generals from 22 other states sued the Trump administration over the executive order in February.

    “The Trump administration’s relentless assault on transgender adolescents is nothing short of an all-out war to strip away LGBTQ+ rights,” Bonta told the AP in an email. “The Administration’s harmful attacks are hurting California’s transgender community by seeking to scare doctors and hospitals from providing nondiscriminatory healthcare. The bottom line is: This care remains legal in California.”

    LGBTQ protesters and health care workers offer visibility

    Still wearing scrubs, Jack Brenner, joined protesters after a long shift as a nurse in the hospital’s emergency room, addressing the crowd with a megaphone while choking back tears.

    “Our visibility is so important for our youth,” Brenner said, looking out at a cluster of protesters raising signs and waving trans pride flags. “To see that there is a future, and that there is a way to grow up and to be your authentic self.”

    Jack Brenner sits on a bench
    Jack Brenner, an emergency room nurse at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, on July 3.Jae C. Hong / AP

    Brenner, who uses the pronoun they, didn’t see people who looked like them growing up or come to understand what being trans meant until their mid-20s.

    “It’s something I definitely didn’t have a language for when I was a kid, and I didn’t know what the source of my pain and suffering was, and now looking back, so many things are sliding into place,” Brenner said. “I’m realizing how much gender dysphoria was a source of my pain.”

    Trans children and teens are at increased risk of death by suicide, according to a 2024 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    Brenner described encountering young patients in the emergency room who are trans or otherwise on the gender-nonconforming spectrum and “at the peak of a mental health crisis.” Brenner wears a lanyard teeming with colorful pins emblazoned with the words “they/them” to signal their gender identity.

    A hand holds a pin on a lanyard decorated with pronoun pins
    Jack Brenner shows their lanyard decorated with pronoun pins and buttons.Jae C. Hong / AP

    “I see the change in kids’ eyes, little glints of recognition, that I am a trans adult and that there is a future,” Brenner said. “I’ve seen kids light up when they recognize something of themselves in me. And that is so meaningful that I can provide that.”

    Beth Hossfeld, a marriage and family therapist, and a grandmother to an 11- and 13-year-old who received care at the center, called the closure “patient abandonment.”

    “It’s a political decision, not a medical one, and that’s disturbing to me,” she said.



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  • Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin says his family was rescued in Texas floods

    Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin says his family was rescued in Texas floods



    Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said his family was rescued in the unprecedented floodwaters that killed more than 100 people in central Texas.

    Youngkin said that the floods that struck Hunt, Texas, in the early hours of July 4 left his wife, Suzanne Youngkin, and other family members stranded at a property near the Guadalupe River, according to NBC affiliate WWBT.

    “My family was there, along with friends, and by the grace of God, my family was safe,” he said. “I have to say there was moments when they weren’t. They ended up being safe during the day.”

    In an event unrelated to the floodwaters, Youngkin told reporters that Texas authorities offered to airlift his family out of the area. The family declined once it was clear they were no longer in danger, he said, and those resources went to those in life-threatening situations.

    Youngkin added that he flew to Texas on Friday afternoon and met with members of the National Guard who had helped rescue his family.

    The Youngkin family visits the property several times a year, according to WWBT. Youngkin told reporters that his wife’s family has stayed in the area

    “These people are family to us, deep relationships,” he said. “And, therefore, what happened in the wee hours of the morning on Friday has been devastating. The loss of life is just shocking.”

    Over the weekend, the governor announced in a statement that he was deploying two Virginia Type III Swift Water Rescue Teams to assist the ongoing recovery efforts in Texas.

    “Our hearts go out to the families and communities in Texas who have been devastated by these historic floods,” he said at the time. “We stand in solidarity with the people of Texas, and we are committed to offering any and all support requested during this critical time.”

    On Tuesday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that more than 173 people are still missing, days after the floods struck the area in Kerr County, roughly 90 miles northwest of San Antonio.



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  • Ship attacked in the Red Sea after a bulk carrier sinking claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels

    Ship attacked in the Red Sea after a bulk carrier sinking claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels



    A Liberian-flagged cargo ship came under fire from Houthi rebels Monday in the Red Sea, with two on board reported to be hurt and two others missing in an assault a day after the Yemen-based militant group sunk another vessel.

    The attack on the Greek-owned bulk carrier Eternity C in the crucial maritime route came after the Houthis attacked the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier Magic Seas with drones, missiles, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire Sunday, forcing its crew of 22 to abandon the vessel.

    The two attacks and a round of Israeli airstrikes early Monday targeting the rebels raised fears of a renewed Houthi campaign against shipping that could again draw in U.S. and Western forces, particularly after President Donald Trump’s administration targeted the rebels in a major airstrike campaign.

    The attacks come at a sensitive moment in the Middle East, as a possible ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war hangs in the balance, and as Iran weighs whether to restart negotiations over its nuclear program following American airstrikes targeting its most sensitive atomic sites during the Israel-Iran war in June.

    The European Union anti-piracy patrol Operation Atalanta and the private security firm Ambrey reported the latest attack. They said the Eternity C had been heading north toward the Suez Canal when it came under fire by men in small boats and by bomb-carrying drones. The security guards on board also fired their weapons.

    Operation Atalanta said the Eternity C had a crew of 21 Filipinos and one Russian, plus three security personnel. The E.U. force said the ship had not requested an escort.

    The E.U. force also said the Houthis carried out the attack.

    Moammar al-Eryani, the information minister with Yemen’s internationally recognized government that opposes the Houthis and is based in southern Yemen, also blamed the rebels for the Eternity C attack. The Houthis control the northern half of Yemen and its capital, Sanaa.

    The attack on the Eternity C happened in the same area as the attack Sunday on the Magic Seas, about 60 miles southwest of the port of Hodeida, Yemen, which is held by the Houthis.

    An armed security team on the vessel had returned fire against an initial attack of gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades, though the vessel later was struck by projectiles. Operation Atalanta, said 22 mariners had been on board the Magic Seas, with the United Arab Emirates saying an Abu Dhabi Ports vessel rescued the sailors.

    Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, the Houthis’ military spokesman, claimed Sunday’s attack on the Magic Seas. Saree later said the vessel sunk.

    The Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel noted the later attack Monday, but the rebels didn’t claim that assault. They routinely wait hours or even days after an attack to do so.



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  • Son of ‘El Chapo’ expected to plead guilty to drug trafficking charges in Chicago

    Son of ‘El Chapo’ expected to plead guilty to drug trafficking charges in Chicago



    CHICAGO — A son of notorious Mexican drug kingpin “El Chapo” is expected to plead guilty to U.S. drug trafficking charges at a Wednesday hearing. He would be the first of El Chapo’s sons facing similar charges in the U.S. to enter a plea deal.

    Prosecutors allege Ovidio Guzman Lopez and his brother, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, ran a faction of the Sinaloa cartel. They became known locally as the “Chapitos,” or little Chapos, and federal authorities in 2023 described the operation as a massive effort to send “staggering” quantities of fentanyl into the U.S.

    Ovidio Guzman Lopez previously pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking, money laundering and firearms charges tied to his leadership role in the cartel. Online court records indicate he is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday to change his plea as part of a deal with prosecutors.

    Speculation about a deal has been percolating for months, as behind-the-scenes negotiations have quietly progressed.

    Ovidio Guzman Lopez’s father, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, is serving a life sentence after being convicted in 2019 for his role as the former leader of the Sinaloa cartel, having smuggled mountains of cocaine and other drugs into the United States over 25 years. The brothers allegedly assumed their father’s former role as leaders of the cartel.

    Ovidio Guzman Lopez was arrested in Mexico in 2023 and extradited to the United States. He initially pleaded not guilty but has signaled in recent months his intent to change his plea.

    Joaquin Guzman Lopez and another longtime Sinaloa leader, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, were arrested in July 2024 in Texas after they landed in the U.S. on a private plane. Both men have pleaded not guilty to multiple charges. Their dramatic capture prompted a surge in violence in Mexico’s northern state of Sinaloa as two factions of the Sinaloa cartel clashed.

    Longtime Chicago mob attorney Joe “The Shark” Lopez, who has represented Chicago mobsters Mario “The Arm” Rainone and Anthony “Tough Tony” Calabrese, said he expects both of El Chapo’s sons to pursue plea deals and avoid trials.

    He estimated that Ovidio Guzman Lopez still may face about 20 to 25 years in prison based on the charges.

    “This is an international drug case,” Lopez said. “These cases are usually very solid, almost unbeatable. There is no upside to them going to trial because they can’t win. And he saw what happened when his dad went to trial.”

    Laurie Levenson, law professor at Loyola Law School and a former assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, added that a plea can be strategic to avoid a revealing trial, full of testimony about cartel operations and the actions of both sons and their father.

    “For Chapo, I don’t think he’d want to get into the details on his family’s conduct,” she said.

    Last week, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum expressed skepticism about the possibility of Ovidio Guzman Lopez reaching a plea deal. She reminded people that Mexican soldiers died in the operation to apprehend him.

    Ten soldiers and 19 alleged members of the cartel died during the Jan. 5, 2023, operation.

    “What did the United States government call organized crime groups in Mexico?” Sheinbaum asked during her daily press briefing last week. To which, those assembled called out “terrorist organizations.”

    She suggested that by negotiating with Guzman Lopez, Washington was doing one of the things President Donald Trump’s administration has said not to do.



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  • Philadelphia workers and city reach a deal to end strike that halted residential trash pickup

    Philadelphia workers and city reach a deal to end strike that halted residential trash pickup



    PHILADELPHIA — A union representing thousands of city workers in Philadelphia and the city has reached a deal to end a more than weeklong strike that halted residential curbside trash pickup and affected other services, officials said Wednesday.

    Nearly 10,000 blue-collar employees from District Council 33 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees had walked off the job July 1, seeking better pay and benefits after failing to agree with the city on a new contract.

    The tentative agreement was announced on what would have been the ninth day of the strike.

    Mayor Cherelle Parker announced the end of the strike and the agreement with the union on social media. “The work stoppage involving the District Council 33 and the City of Philadelphia is OVER,” she posted.

    “We have reached a tentative agreement with District Council 33, which must be ratified by its membership on a new three-year contract that, coupled with the one-year contract extension we agreed to last fall, will increase DC 33 members’ pay by 14 percent over my four years in office.”

    District Council 33 is the largest of four major unions representing city workers. Its membership includes 911 dispatchers, trash collectors, water department workers and many others. Police and firefighters weren’t part of the strike.

    “The strike is over! Details forthcoming,” the union posted on Facebook Wednesday morning.

    The city had designated about 60 sites as drop-off centers for residential trash, but some were overflowing, while striking workers on hand asked residents not to cross the picket line. Most libraries across the city are were closed, with support workers and security guards off the job.



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  • French police and judges raid far-right National Rally party HQ

    French police and judges raid far-right National Rally party HQ



    Police raided the headquarters of France’s far-right National Rally party Wednesday, in what officials said was an investigation into alleged fraud, illegal loans and forged documents relating to the party’s successful elections of recent years.

    National Rally President Jordan Bardella wrote on X that armed officers wearing bulletproof vests, accompanied by two judges, entered the Paris offices and seized emails, documents and accounting records.

    He called it a “spectacular and unprecedented operation” that was “clearly part of a new harassment campaign.” he added, “It is a serious attack on pluralism and democratic change.”

    The anti-immigration National Rally party has grown in popularity in recent years, only to be narrowly kept out of government by a coalition of mainstream political forces after a snap election called last year by President Emmanuel Macron.

    In April, its co-founder and de facto leader Marine le Pen was convicted of embezzling campaign funds, banned from office for five years and sentenced to house arrest for two years. She denies the offenses, and Paris Court of Appeal says it will issue a ruling on her dispute of the decision by next summer.

    This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.



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