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For US President Donald Trump, it’s up to Israel to decide what to do next in Gaza — meaning Washington is offering quiet support for its ally’s plans to expand the offensive in the war-wracked Palestinian territory.While numerous European and Arab capitals urged Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday to reconsider his decision to “take control” of Gaza City, Trump this week has effectively given the Israeli prime minister free rein — even if it means pushback from the international community. After nearly two years of devastating conflict, Israel’s security cabinet approved Netanyahu’s plan to “defeat” Hamas, which triggered the war with its October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel.Before Israel’s announcement, when asked if he could support such a plan, Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday that he was focused on securing an increase in the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza to help starving Palestinians.”As far as the rest of it, I really, I really can’t say — that’s going to be pretty much up to Israel,” Trump said.Then on Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed that position, telling Catholic TV network EWTN, “Ultimately, what Israel needs to do for Israel’s security will be determined by Israel.”Trump and Rubio’s comments speak volumes about the US strategy: since Israel-Hamas talks on a ceasefire in Gaza fell apart, Washington has broadly embraced Israel’s views following US envoy Steve Witkoff’s visit last week.Details of Witkoff’s meeting with Netanyahu have not been made public, but it is hard to imagine that Trump’s emissary was not briefed on Israel’s plans.While Washington has amped up the pressure on Israel to allow more aid into the Gaza Strip, it has also insisted that all Israeli hostages — dead or alive — be freed from Hamas captivity and the complete annihilation of the militant group.”Our goals are very clear,” US Vice President JD Vance said Friday during talks with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.”We want to make it so that Hamas cannot attack innocent Israeli civilians ever again, and we think that has to come through the eradication of Hamas.”Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has offered Israel ironclad support, even while pushing for better humanitarian support.He seemed to throw in the towel on securing a ceasefire following repeated failed efforts at mediation, especially after talks crumbled late last month in Doha when Hamas refused a deal to free the hostages.Hamas still has 49 Israeli hostages abducted during the October 2023 attack, 27 of whom are presumed dead.- Capitulation -The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee — who is prone to making eyebrow-raising statements — slammed all criticism of Israel’s plans for Gaza.”So Israel is expected to surrender to Hamas & feed them even though Israeli hostages are being starved?” Huckabee wrote on social media.”Did UK surrender to Nazis and drop food to them?” he said in response to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who called Netanyahu’s approach “wrong.”In his interview with EWTN, Rubio said “as long as Hamas exists, particularly exists as an armed organization, there will never be peace in Gaza.”Rubio said he understood why the famine facing Palestinians in the territory was getting “almost all the media coverage” but lamented what he called a lack of attention to the plight of the remaining Israeli hostages.In recent weeks, Washington has sharply criticized international initiatives to formally recognize a Palestinian state, led notably by French President Emmanuel Macron, warning that it emboldens Hamas not to give up.

A US federal appeals court on Friday dismissed a contempt finding against President Donald Trump’s administration over its summary deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador.The 2-1 decision by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturns a ruling by a federal district judge that there was probable cause to find officials in contempt of court over the deportation flights.The case stems from Trump’s use in March of the obscure 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to deport more than 200 alleged Tren de Aragua gang members to a notorious prison in El Salvador.District Judge James Boasberg verbally ordered a halt to the deportation flights and for the planes to be turned around but it did not happen, leading to his criminal contempt inquiry.The two Trump appointees on the appeals court panel ruled that Boasberg had overstepped his authority while the third judge, an appointee of former Democratic president Barack Obama, dissented.Judge Neomi Rao, one of the Trump appointees, said Boasberg’s finding was an “abuse of the contempt power” and an “intrusion on the President’s foreign affairs authority.””The order forces a coequal branch to choose between capitulating to an unlawful judicial order and subjecting its officials to a dubious prosecution,” Rao wrote.In her dissent, Judge Nina Pillard, the Obama appointee, said “the rule of law depends on obedience to judicial orders.””Our system of courts cannot long endure if disappointed litigants defy court orders with impunity rather than legally challenge them,” Pillard said. “That is why willful disobedience of a court order is punishable as criminal contempt.”Attorney General Pam Bondi welcomed the decision as a “major victory” for the Trump administration and its use of the AEA “to deport illegal alien terrorists.””The DC Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed what we’ve argued for months: Judge Boasberg’s attempt to sanction the government for deporting criminal-alien terrorists was a ‘clear abuse of discretion’ — failed judicial overreach at its worst,” Bondi said.The White House has been sharply critical of district courts that have blocked some of the president’s executive actions, and Trump called in March for Boasberg to be impeached.That earned the Republican president a rare public rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.”For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts said in a statement. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”

More than one million undocumented migrants have left the United States on their own since President Donald Trump took office, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Friday.Noem also said that hundreds of thousands of “criminal illegal aliens” have been arrested since January and “zero illegal aliens” have entered the country during the past three months.”(This) is the first time in this nation’s history that we’ve seen that kind of security at our nation’s border,” she said at a press conference in Chicago.”Our top priorities have been these two items: securing our borders and arresting dangerous criminals.”We’ve been working on getting dangerous criminal illegal aliens out of our country — murderers, rapists, drug traffickers, human traffickers,” she said.Noem said thousands of migrants have “self-deported” using an app created by the Department of Homeland Security.”But we also know that hundreds of thousands of people have left on their own, not utilizing a government program to do so,” she said.”We believe over a million people have gone home on their own since we have started this administration.”Trump vowed during his White House campaign to deport millions of undocumented migrants and has moved to significantly expand the federal agency primarily responsible for doing so, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).”President Trump allocated to us the resources to hire 10,000 new ICE officers,” Noem said. “We have had that open for less than a week and we have over 80,000 applicants for those jobs.”Noem also lashed out during her press conference at officials in Illinois and other Democratic-ruled states, accusing them of “obstructing” federal efforts to remove undocumented migrants. 

US President Donald Trump warned Friday of cataclysmic consequences on the US economy if a court rules that his imposition of sweeping tariffs constitutes an illegal power grab.If a “Radical Left Court” strikes down the tariffs, “it would be impossible to ever recover, or pay back, these massive sums of money and honor,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.”It would be 1929 all over again, a GREAT DEPRESSION!” he said.Trump’s hyperbolic statements come as a US appeals court weighs the legality of his broad use of emergency powers to enact sweeping tariffs on trading partners.A lower court ruled against Trump in May, but the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit put the ruling on hold as it considers the case.Trump on Friday touted billions of dollars in tariff revenue “pouring” into the Treasury — paid by US importers — and recent stock market records, as proof his levies had created “the largest amount of money, wealth creation and influence the U.S.A. has ever seen.”Many economists meanwhile worry the tariffs are stoking inflation and see trade policy uncertainty as slowing investment.Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has announced a slew of new tariffs, seeking to force a reordering of global trade that he has long claimed is biased against the United States.In addition to sweeping tariffs invoked under declarations of economic emergencies, he has also instituted sectoral tariffs of between 25 percent and 50 percent on steel and other items.Those levies have generally followed government investigations and are not at issue in the pending litigation.At a July 31 hearing, members of the appeals court appeared skeptical of the Trump administration’s arguments that it had broad discretion to declare national economic emergencies and invoke tariffs as a remedy.To invoke his so-called “reciprocal” tariffs on many US trade partners, Trump declared a national emergency over “large and persistent annual US goods trade deficits.”Opponents to the White House policy have argued that such a reason does not qualify under the law Trump has cited for the tariffs, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.They also argue that levying blanket tariffs on imports requires the consent of Congress under the US Constitution.The case is likely to end up in the Supreme Court, where conservatives enjoy a 6-3 majority, though analysts say the outcome is uncertain.

A California library user who allegedly took home rare Chinese manuscripts and returned fake ones in their place has been charged with $216,000-worth of theft, US officials said Thursday.Jeffery Ying used a number of aliases to get access to classics works, some over 600 years old, at the library at the University of California, Los Angeles, the Department of Justice said.Ying, 38, would check the works out and return days later with dummy manuscripts. He would frequently travel to China shortly thereafter, charging documents say.”The library noticed that several rare Chinese manuscripts were missing, and an initial investigation revealed the books were last viewed by a visitor who identified himself as ‘Alan Fujimori,'” the DoJ said.When detectives raided the Los Angeles area hotel where Ying was staying, they found blank manuscripts in the style of the books that had been checked out.”Law enforcement also found pre-made labels known as asset tags associated with the same manuscripts that could be used to create ‘dummy’ books to return to the library in place of the original books.”Libraries allow rare, one-of-a-kind works to be examined on site; they are not permitted to be taken home like regular paperbacks.Ying, from Fremont, in the Bay Area, was also found to have a number of library cards in different names.If convicted of the charge of theft of a major artwork, Ying, who is being held in state custody, faces up to 10 years in federal prison.China is home to one of the world’s fastest-growing art markets, with a booming number of state-sanctioned museums as well as a lively private market, as an increasingly wealthy and nationalistic middle class looks to claim the country’s cultural heritage.

A cryptocurrency group has said it organized a spate of “stunts” in which sex toys were tossed on courts at WNBA games, US media reported on Thursday.USA Today first reported that an unnamed spokesman for a group behind a meme coin called Green Dildo Coin had orchestrated at least some of the incidents, which angered WNBA players and led to at least two arrests.”We didn’t do this because, like, we dislike women’s sports or, like, some of the narratives that are trending right now are ridiculous,” the unnamed source told USA Today.”We knew that in order to get a voice in the space … we had to go out and do some viral stunts to save us from having to pay that influencer cabal, sacrifice our souls and the fate of the project.”On July 29, a sex toy landed on the court as the Atlanta Dream hosted the Golden State Valkyries.In the week since, similar objects have been thrown onto the court or into the stands at several other games, including another game in Atlanta.The WNBA confirmed that one person had been arrested in connection with one of the incidents in Atlanta and on Wednesday an 18-year-old man was arrested for throwing a sex toy at a Phoenix Mercury game which hit another fan — who was at the game with his young neice.USA Today reported that the meme coin group spokesman said that Delbert Carter, who was arrested for allegedly throwing a green sex toy on the court at the end of Atlanta’s home game against Phoenix, was not part of the cryptocurrency group.Nor was Kaden Lopez, who was arrested in Phoenix. According to the statement from the Phoenix Police Department, Lopez said he saw the trend on social media and bought his own sex toy to throw.”Moving forward, we have a lot more pranks, but they’re a lot lighter. They’re a lot more tasteful,” the unnamed source told USA Today.The WNBA said in a statement on Thursday it was working with arena personnel to identify culprits and “ensure appropriate action is taken.”The WNBA did not immediately comment on the reports of the cryptocurrency group connection.

The United States doubled its bounty on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro — who faces federal drug trafficking charges — to $50 million on Thursday, a move Caracas described as “pathetic” and “ridiculous”.Washington, which does not recognize Maduro’s past two election victories, accuses the South American country’s leader of leading a cocaine trafficking gang.”Today, the Department of Justice and State Department are announcing a historic $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Nicolas Maduro,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a video on social media. “He is one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world and a threat to our national security.”The previous bounty was set in January at $25 million.Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said Bondi’s “pathetic” bounty was “the most ridiculous smokescreen we have ever seen.””The dignity of our homeland is not for sale. We reject this crude political propaganda operation,” Gil said on Telegram.In 2020, during President Donald Trump’s first term in office, Maduro and other high-ranking Venezuelan officials were indicted in federal court in New York on several charges including participating in a “narco-terrorism” conspiracy.- ‘Cartel of the Suns’ -The Justice Department accused Maduro of leading a cocaine trafficking gang called “The Cartel of the Suns” that shipped hundreds of tons of narcotics into the United States over two decades, earning hundreds of millions of dollars.Investigators say the cartel worked hand-in-hand with the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which the United States has labeled a terrorist organization.Bondi said Maduro also had worked with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) “has seized 30 tons of cocaine linked to Maduro and his associates, with nearly seven tons linked to Maduro himself,” Bondi said.The US government has also seized more than $700 million in Maduro-linked assets, including two Venezuelan government aircraft, since September last year, according to Bondi.”Yet Maduro’s reign of terror continues,” she said. “Under President Trump’s leadership, Maduro will not escape justice and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes.”The 62-year-old Maduro, a former bus driver and trade unionist, faces up to life in prison if he can be tried and is convicted.At the time of the indictment, Maduro slammed what he called “spurious, false” accusations.In June, Venezuela’s former intelligence chief Hugo Armando Carvajal pleaded guilty to US drug trafficking and narco-terrorism charges. The Miami Herald, citing sources familiar with the case, said Carvajal had offered to provide US authorities with documents and testimony implicating Maduro.- ‘Deeply flawed’ -Relations between Washington and Caracas have been deteriorating for years.The US government has not recognized Maduro, who first took office in 2013, as the duly elected president of Venezuela since what the State Department has called a “deeply flawed 2018 presidential election.””In the July 28, 2024 Venezuelan presidential election, Maduro fraudulently declared himself the victor despite evidence to the contrary,” the State Department said in an announcement of the earlier bounty in January.”The United States joined many other countries in refusing to recognize Maduro as the legitimate winner of the July 2024 presidential election.”Washington has placed an array of economic sanctions on Maduro’s government.For its part, Maduro’s government has long denounced US interference in Venezuela.On Thursday, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello announced that security services had thwarted a bomb attack in a commercial area of the capital Caracas. As Venezuelan authorities often do in such cases, Cabello accused the US and the Venezuelan opposition of instigating the thwarted attack.

US President Donald Trump said Thursday he would meet with Vladimir Putin for upcoming talks on the Ukraine war even if the Russian leader had not sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.The statement, which contradicted earlier reports that a Putin-Zelensky meeting was a prerequisite for the summit, came after Trump gave Moscow until Friday to reach a ceasefire or face fresh sanctions. But asked by reporters in the Oval Office if that deadline still held, Trump did not answer clearly.”It’s going to be up to (Putin),” Trump said. “We’re going to see what he has to say.”Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has been pressuring Moscow to end Russia’s military assault on Ukraine.The Kremlin said Thursday that Putin was set to attend a summit with Trump in the “coming days,” but the Russian leader essentially ruled out including Zelensky.Zelensky meanwhile insisted that he had to be involved in any talks.When Trump was asked if Putin was required to meet Zelensky before a summit, the US president said simply: “No, he doesn’t.”Putin has named the United Arab Emirates as a potential location for the summit, but this was not confirmed by Washington.- Next week? -The summit would be the first between sitting US and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021.Three rounds of direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul have failed to yield any progress towards a ceasefire. The two sides remain far apart on the conditions they have set to end the more than three-year-long conflict.Trump and Putin last sat together in 2019 at a G20 summit meeting in Japan during Trump’s first term. They have spoken by telephone several times since January.Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said that “next week has been set as a target date,” adding that both sides have agreed the venue “in principle,” without naming it.However, Washington later denied that a venue or date had been set.”No location has been determined,” a White House official said, while agreeing that the meeting “could occur as early as next week.” Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its military offensive on Ukraine in February 2022.Russian bombardments have forced millions of people to flee their homes and have destroyed swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine.Putin has resisted multiple calls from the United States, Europe and Kyiv for a ceasefire.At talks in Istanbul, Russian negotiators outlined hardline territorial demands for halting its advance — calling for Kyiv to withdraw from some territory it still controls and to renounce Western military support.Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged Trump to “finally get tough on the Kremlin” and use his leverage to end the war. “Face-to-face dialogue is important, but Putin cannot be allowed yet another opportunity to delay or water down President Trump’s promise of harsh sanctions taking effect tomorrow,” she said in a statement late Thursday. – ‘Only fair’ Ukraine involved -Reports of the possible summit came after US special envoy Steve Witkoff met Putin in Moscow on Wednesday.Witkoff proposed a trilateral meeting with Zelensky, but Putin appeared to rule out direct talks with the Ukrainian leader.”Certain conditions must be created for this,” Putin told reporters. “Unfortunately, we are still far from creating such conditions.”The former KGB agent, who has ruled Russia for over 25 years, said in June that he was ready to meet Zelensky, but only during a “final phase” of negotiations on ending the conflict.In his regular evening address on Thursday, Zelensky said “it is only fair that Ukraine should be a participant in the negotiations.”The Ukrainian leader spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as he called for the continent to be included in any potential peace talks.”Ukraine is an integral part of Europe — we are already in negotiations on EU accession. Therefore, Europe must be a participant in the relevant processes,” Zelensky said on social media.

President Donald Trump’s steeper global tariffs came into effect Thursday, leaving dozens of US partners scrambling to secure relief from soaring levies that are rewriting global trade practice.Shortly before the new rates kicked in, Washington also announced it would double India tariffs to 50 percent and hit many semiconductor imports with a 100-percent duty.Trump’s trade policy is a demonstration of economic power that he hopes will revive domestic manufacturing, but many economists fear it could fuel inflation and lower growth.In his latest move, the president raised import duties from 10 percent to levels between 15 percent and 41 percent for various trading partners.Many products from the European Union, Japan and South Korea now face a 15-percent tariff, even with deals struck with Washington to avert steeper threatened levies.But questions remain surrounding the implementation of these agreements.Others like India face a 25-percent duty — to be doubled in three weeks — while Syria, Myanmar and Laos face levels of 40 or 41 percent.Switzerland’s government, which failed to convince Trump not to impose a 39-percent tariff, said after an extraordinary meeting Thursday that it remains committed to talks aimed at lowering levies.Trump’s latest wave of “reciprocal” duties — a response to trade practices Washington deems unfair — broadens measures imposed since he returned to the presidency.Wall Street’s major indexes mostly dipped, while global markets largely shrugged off the higher tariffs Thursday.- ‘No charge’ -The steeper duties maintain exemptions on sectors that Trump separately targeted, like steel and autos.Categories that could be hit later, like pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, are also spared for now.Trump said Wednesday that he plans an “approximately 100-percent tariff” on semiconductor imports, but with no charge for companies investing in his country or committed to doing so.Companies and industry groups warn Trump’s new levies will severely hurt smaller American businesses.But providing some reprieve from the “reciprocal” tariff hike is a clause saying that goods already en route to the United States before Thursday — and arriving before October 5 — will not face the new rates.With the dust settling, at least temporarily, Georgetown University professor Marc Busch expects US businesses to “pass along more of the tariff bill” to consumers.Inventories are depleting and it is unlikely firms will absorb costs indefinitely, he told AFP.Trump is using tariffs to pursue a variety of goals — such as doubling planned duties on India due to its purchase of Russian oil, a key revenue source in Moscow’s war in Ukraine.The order threatened penalties on countries that “directly or indirectly” import Russian oil too.The Federation of Indian Export Organisations called the move a “severe setback” impacting nearly 55 percent of shipments to the United States.- Discrepancies -Lingering questions remain for partners who have negotiated deals with Trump.Tokyo and Washington appear at odds over the terms of their pact, such as when levies on Japanese cars will be lowered from an existing 25 percent on US auto imports.Both countries also seem to differ on whether the new 15-percent toll on Japanese goods would be added to existing levies or — like the EU — be capped at that level for many products.Japan’s tariffs envoy Ryosei Akazawa told reporters Thursday that Washington is expected to revise its order such that the new toll does not stack uniformly on existing ones. It would also lower vehicle tariffs on Japanese autos.Washington and Beijing meanwhile have a temporary truce in their tariff standoff expiring August 12. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Fox Business it is likely this will be extended another 90 days.Trump has separately targeted Brazil over the trial of his right-wing ally, former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is accused of planning a coup.US tariffs on various Brazilian goods surged to 50 percent Wednesday with broad exemptions.Lutnick expects Trump’s duties could bring in $50 billion in monthly revenue.burs-bys/mlm

From Uncle Sam to Superman, the US government is deploying patriotic icons and increasingly warlike rhetoric to recruit Americans into enforcing Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.Job ads promising $50,000 signing bonuses to new “Deportation Officers” have flooded social media over the past week, accompanied by jingoistic rallying slogans that declare “America Needs You.”White House officials have shared World War I-style posters, including one with Uncle Sam donning an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) baseball cap, while a former Superman actor has pledged he will “be sworn in as an ICE agent ASAP.””So many patriots have stepped up, and I’m proud to be among them,” Dean Cain, who starred as the Man of Steel in 1990s TV series “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” told FOX News.ICE, the agency chiefly responsible for the recent, divisive masked raids on farms, factories and Home Depot parking lots across the nation, is pulling out all the stops to hire new officers at a staggering rate. Flush with $75 billion in extra funding — making it the highest-funded US law enforcement agency, ahead of even the FBI — ICE has been tasked by Trump with deporting one million undocumented immigrants per year.To do so, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has pledged to hire 10,000 new officers, in a process that would swell ICE’s ranks by a whopping 50 percent.On Wednesday, Noem scrapped pre-existing age caps that prevented over-40s from becoming deportation officers.Student debt forgiveness, generous overtime pay and enhanced retirement benefits are all being flouted — alongside language about the opportunity to “Fulfill your destiny” and “Defend the Homeland.””Your nation needs you to step into the breach. For our country, for our culture, for our way of life. Will you answer the call?” read one post on Department of Homeland Security social media accounts.- ‘All-hands-on-deck’ -DHS officials say they have received 80,000 applications since the recruitment campaign began less than a week ago.But critics have quickly highlighted evidence that the aggressive drive may not be working as effectively as officials claim.Dozens of officials at FEMA — a separate agency that deals with emergency disaster response — have been reassigned to ICE and threatened with losing their jobs if they do not move, the Washington Post reported.DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the Post the move was part of “an all-hands-on-deck strategy to recruit 10,000 new ICE agents.”An ICE pilot program offering agents additional cash bonuses for deporting people quickly was scrapped less than four hours after it was announced, when its existence was leaked to the New York Times.And some local law enforcement agencies that have cooperated with the federal immigration crackdown have complained that they are now seeing their own officers poached.”ICE actively trying to use our partnership to recruit our personnel is wrong,” a Florida sheriff’s office spokesperson told CNN.-‘Kryptonite’ -Perhaps the highest profile and most scathing response has come from “South Park,” the popular animated TV satire that is becoming a thorn in the Trump administration’s side.In a recent episode, hapless school counselor Mr Mackey is offered an ICE job after a seven-second-long interview, immediately handed a gun and sent on a raid of a children’s concert.”If you’re crazy, or fat and lazy, we don’t care at all,” says a fictional ICE job advert.”Remember, only detain the brown ones. If it’s brown, it goes down,” orders Noem’s character during a satirical sequence set during an immigration raid in heaven.ICE raids have been accused using racial profiling by rights groups.Meanwhile, the recruitment drive has been hailed by conservative outlets.Fox News celebrated the news that Superman actor Cain had enlisted with the headline banner “Illegals, meet your Kryptonite.”Supportive comments on the channel’s Facebook page included “Now that’s a REAL Superman.” Several others pointed out that Superman, a beloved comic book hero who is closely associated with American patriotism, is “quite literally an alien immigrant.”