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California And Democrat-Led States Press Trump EPA To Scrap Rollback Of Greenhouse Gas Rules
On Tuesday, attorneys general from California and some other Democratic-led states called on President Donald Trump’s administration to drop its proposal to overturn the long-standing federal finding that greenhouse gas emissions pose a threat to human health.
They warned that eliminating this rule would strip away the legal basis for all existing U.S. regulations on greenhouse gases.
If finalized, repeal of the finding by Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency would end current limits on greenhouse gas pollution from vehicle tailpipes, power plants, smokestacks and other sources. This would hamper future U.S. efforts to combat global warming.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the proposal is unlawful and “relies on a draft, unvetted, scientifically unsound report from the Department of Energy to attempt to override the abundant and growing science supporting its endangerment finding and motor vehicle GHG emissions standards for over 15 years.”
The Trump administration is moving on a series of fronts to dismantle rules requiring automakers to build more electric-powered and fuel-efficient vehicles. It is holding virtual hearings this week to take public comments on its proposal.
EPA Plans To Repeal Emission Standards
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has said repealing the endangerment finding will save Americans money and unravel two decades of regulation aimed at reducing carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases from cars, power plants, oil production and other sources.
The EPA plans to repeal all greenhouse gas emission standards for light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicles and engines after it removes the scientific finding justifying those rules.
Arizona Attorney General Chris Mayes said “the EPA is obligated to consider the cost of climate change by using rigorous, peer-reviewed methods. Instead, the EPA is proposing to bury its head in the sand and ignore the mounting costs of climate change for all Americans.”
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell called the EPA proposal deeply flawed and said it seeks to eliminate “all motor vehicle greenhouse gas emission standards in one fell swoop.”
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said the EPA proposal “suggests we allow the federal government to ignore its own scientific determinations and abdicate their legal duty to take action, and this simply cannot stand. No state is safe from the threats posed by climate change and the pollutants that are causing it.”
(With inputs from Reuters)
Kilmar Abrego Claims U.S. Government Pursued Vindictive Prosecution
Kilmar Abrego, an alleged gang member whose disputed deportation to El Salvador turned him into a symbol of President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration approach, argued on Tuesday that the criminal case against him should be thrown out, saying he was being prosecuted in a vindictive and selective manner.
In a 35-page motion Abrego’s lawyers asked a judge in Tennessee to dismiss federal charges accusing him of unlawfully transporting migrants living illegally in the United States.
Federal law allows for the dismissal of criminal charges if a judge determines they were brought to punish someone for exercising their due process rights. Such requests rarely succeed.
“Even as government officials recognized both publicly and privately that Mr. Abrego’s removal to El Salvador had been a serious mistake, the government responded not with contrition, or with any effort to fix its mistake, but with defiance,” the motion stated.
‘Vengeance’
“A group of the most senior officials in the United States sought vengeance; they began a public campaign to punish Mr. Abrego for daring to fight back, culminating in the criminal investigation that led to the charges in this case.”
Justice Department representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Abrego, a native of El Salvador who had been living in Maryland, was deported and imprisoned in El Salvador in March despite a 2019 judicial ruling that he could not be sent there because of a risk of gang persecution.
Abrego then challenged that deportation in a civil lawsuit before a federal judge in Maryland. The U.S. Supreme Court in April upheld an order from the Maryland judge that the Trump administration facilitate Abrego’s return.
In June, U.S. officials brought Abrego back to the U.S. after securing an indictment accusing him of transporting migrants in the U.S. illegally as part of a smuggling ring. Abrego has pleaded not guilty and has disputed that he was a gang member.
Abrego is currently being detained in a Tennessee jail. He won a ruling last month that he could be freed from custody while awaiting trial, but his lawyers asked the judge to delay his release because of concerns that the Trump administration might deport him to a third country.
(With inputs from Reuters)
UK Council Secures Court Approval To Relocate Asylum Seekers From Hotel At Center Of Protests
A district council in Britain on Tuesday obtained approval to temporarily relocate asylum seekers from a hotel that had become the center of anti-immigration protests, following the charging of a resident with sexual assault.
Epping Forest District Council took legal action to stop asylum seekers from being housed in the Bell Hotel in Epping, in the county of Essex, about 20 miles (32.19 km) north of London.
Anti-immigration protesters and pro-immigration groups have gathered outside the hotel since an Ethiopian asylum seeker was charged in July with sexual assault and other offences. He has denied the charges and is due to stand trial next week.
Judge Stephen Eyre granted the council an interim injunction against the owner of the hotel, ruling that asylum seekers should be removed by September 12. The hotel’s owner said it would seek to appeal the ruling.
Eyre also dismissed a last-minute attempt on Tuesday by the Home Office, Britain’s interior ministry, to intervene in the case in support of the hotel owner.
‘Substantial Impact’
The Home Office’s lawyer, Edward Brown, had argued the injunction would have a “substantial impact” on the government’s ability to comply with its legal duty to provide accommodation, describing the hotel as “a key part of national asylum accommodation infrastructure.”
Border Security Minister Angela Eagle said in a statement: “We will continue working with local authorities and communities to address legitimate concerns. Our work continues to close all asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament (2029).”
Hundreds of people have protested outside the Bell Hotel since two asylum seekers were charged over separate incidents, with 16 people also having been charged in relation to what Essex Police described as criminal disorder in Epping.
Care4Calais, a charity supporting asylum seekers and refugees, said some residents have felt frightened and frustrated after being threatened, chased, and had objects thrown at them since the protests in Epping began.
Local police have been on high alert after nationwide rioting last summer, when racist unrest involving far-right supporters broke out after misinformation that the murderer of three girls in Southport was a radical Islamist migrant.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged to stop thousands of migrants arriving in Britain via small boats, but his government is struggling to do so and faces mounting pressure to show voters he can counter illegal immigration, with support rising for Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK party.
(With inputs from Reuters)
4-Day Strike Ends As Air Canada, Union Reach Tentative Deal
Air Canada’s unionised flight attendants have reached a breakthrough agreement with the country’s largest airline, bringing an end to the first cabin crew strike in 40 years, which had severely disrupted travel plans for hundreds of thousands of passengers across the busy summer season.
The strike that lasted nearly four days led the airline that serves about 130,000 people daily to withdraw its third-quarter and full-year earnings guidance.
Full Restoration To Take A Week
The carrier said it would gradually resume operations later on Tuesday, and a full restoration may require a week or more. The union said it has completed mediation with the airline and its low-cost affiliate Air Canada Rouge.
“The Strike has ended. We have a tentative agreement we will bring forward to you,” the Canadian Union of Public Employees said in a Facebook post.
Air Canada said some flights will be canceled over the next seven to 10 days until the schedule is stabilized, and that customers with canceled flights can choose between a refund, travel credit, or rebooking on another airline.
Mark Nasr, Air Canada’s executive vice president and chief operations officer, told CBC that 5,000 employees are working to rebook customers on Air Canada and 120 other airlines.
No Unpaid Work
The flight attendants walked off the job on Saturday after contract talks with the carrier failed. They had sought pay for tasks such as boarding passengers.
While details of the negotiations were not immediately released, the union said unpaid work was over.
Air Canada’s flight attendants had for months argued new contracts should include pay for work done on the ground, such as boarding passengers.
“Ground pay is settled. Our flight attendants will be compensated for their time on the ground,” Nasr told CBC.
CUPE, which represents Air Canada’s 10,400 flight attendants, wanted to make gains on unpaid work that go beyond recent advances secured by their counterparts at US carriers like American Airlines.
Rare Act Of Defiance
In a rare act of defiance, the union remained on strike even after the Canada Industrial Relations Board declared its action unlawful.
Their refusal to follow a federal labor board order for the flight attendants to return to work had created a three-way standoff between the company, workers, and the government.
Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu had urged both sides to consider government mediation and raised pressure on Air Canada on Monday, promising to investigate allegations of unpaid work in the airline sector.
A spokesperson for Hajdu said the probe would take six to eight weeks and then be made public.
Passenger Frustration
Over the past two years, unions in aerospace, construction, airline, and rail sectors have pushed employers for higher pay, improved conditions, and better benefits amid a tight labor market.
While many customers had expressed support for the flight attendants, frustration with flight cancellations was growing.
Retiree Klaus Hickman, who missed a flight to Toronto earlier in the week, sympathizes with workers demanding better pay but is worried about his own health and travel challenges.
“They want to get more money to survive. And so it is with everybody else,” he said.
Canada’s largest carrier is part of the global Star Alliance of airlines.
James Numfor, 38, from Regina, Saskatchewan, had been stranded in Toronto for two nights since returning from Cameroon for his brother’s funeral. Air Canada only provided one night in a hotel for his family before leaving them without further support, he said.
He had slept in the airport with his family.
(With inputs from Reuters)
China Plans Grand Military Parade To Mark 80 Years Of Japan’s Surrender
China is set to hold a grand military parade in central Beijing next month, featuring tens of thousands of participants, to mark 80 years since Japan’s surrender and the end of World War Two, in a major show of national pride and military strength.
Hundreds of aircraft including fighter jets and bombers as well as ground equipment, some of which have never been seen in public before, will be featured in the parade, military officials said at a press conference.
Show Of Military Strength
The September 3 parade, the second such procession since 2015 to observe the formal surrender of Japanese forces in 1945, will be a show of China’s military strength as some of its neighbours and Western nations look on with concern over the projection of power by the People’s Liberation Army in recent years.
From trucks fitted with devices to take out drones, new tanks and early warning aircraft to protect China’s aircraft carriers, military attaches and security analysts say they are expecting China to display a host of new weapons and equipment at the parade.
Additions to its expanding suite of missiles, particularly anti-ship versions and weapons with hypersonic capabilities, will be particularly closely watched as the US and its allies prepare to counter China in any future regional conflict.
Putin To Attend Parade
The 70-minute-long “Victory Day” parade, comprising 45 contingents of troops will be surveyed by President Xi Jinping at Tiananmen Square alongside a number of foreign leaders and dignitaries including Russian President Vladimir Putin, who also attended the 2015 parade.
Authorities have significantly heightened security across downtown Beijing since early August, when the first full-scale rehearsal for the upcoming military parade took place. Multiple checkpoints have been set up, road traffic has been diverted, and several shopping malls and office complexes have been temporarily shut to ensure smooth preparations and maintain public safety.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Kim Yo Jong Accuses South Korea Of Hypocrisy Over Peace Talks, US Drills
Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has accused South Korean President Lee Jae Myung of having a “dual personality” for speaking of peace while conducting joint military exercises with the US, North Korea’s state media KCNA reported on Wednesday.
South Korea and its ally the United States kicked off joint military drills this week, including testing an upgraded response to heightened North Korean nuclear threats.
Pyongyang regularly criticises such drills as rehearsals for invasion and sometimes responds with weapons tests, but Seoul and Washington say they are purely defensive.
Trying To Normalise Ties
Since entering office in June, Lee’s government has sought to improve relations between the neighbours which are still technically at war following their 1950-1953 conflict, though top North Korean officials have been quoted by state media dismissing overtures made by the South’s liberal president.
Lee this week ordered his cabinet to prepare a partial step-by-step implementation of existing agreements with North Korea, and South Korea has begun removing loudspeakers that had been blaring anti-North Korea broadcasts along the border.
Pyongyang Not Convinced
“Lee Jae Myung is not the sort of man who will change the course of history,” of confrontational ambition, Kim Yo Jong said, according to KCNA.
“They (South Korea) continue to tediously talk about peace and improved relations, being well aware that it is impossible to realise them, because they have an ulterior motive to finally shift the responsibility for the DPRK-ROK relations failing to recover on to the DPRK,” Kim said.
DPRK is short for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name, while ROK refers to the Republic of Korea, South Korea’s official name.
South Still Hopeful
In response to her statement, South Korea’s presidential office said the administration would open a new era for joint growth with North Korea, and its recent measures were meant for the stability and prosperity of both Koreas, YTN TV reported.
Earlier this week, Kim’s brother and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said that the joint US-South Korea drills were an “obvious expression of their will to provoke war” and that his country needed to rapidly expand its nuclear armament.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Bessent Confirms Intel Investment Talks; Equity-For-Aid Model In Focus
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday said any investment in Intel would focus on helping the struggling chipmaker regain stability, while Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick stated that the government seeks equity shares in return for its financial backing of semiconductor firms.
Asked about reports that the US was considering taking a 10% stake in Intel, Bessent told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” programme: “The stake would be a conversion of the grants and maybe increase the investment into Intel to help stabilize the company for chip production here in the US.”
It’s Official
Bessent gave no details about the size or timing of any US stake in Intel, but said any investment would not be aimed at forcing US companies to buy chips from Intel.
Bessent’s comments were the first official response after Bloomberg News reported on Monday that the US government is in talks to take a 10% stake in Intel. The White House had declined to comment on the report on Monday.
His comments also came a day after SoftBank Group agreed to invest $2 billion into the US chipmaker, which has struggled to compete after years of management blunders.
Changing Biden’s Policies
Lutnick, speaking on a separate CNBC program, said the Biden administration had been “giving away” grants with no return on investment, but US President Donald Trump wanted to change that equation.
“The Biden administration literally was giving Intel money for free and giving TSMC money for free, and all these companies just giving the money for free, and Donald Trump turned it into saying, ‘Hey, we want equity for the money. If we’re going to give you the money, we want a piece of the action for the American taxpayer.'”
Intel has struggled financially and recorded an annual loss of $18.8 billion in 2024, its first such loss since 1986, as it grapples with multiple challenges.
(With inputs from Reuters)
UN Reports Record Surge In Aid Worker Deaths Amid Gaza Conflict
The United Nations said nearly 400 aid workers were killed in 2024, marking a rise of almost one-third and the highest toll since records began in 1997, with the ongoing war in Gaza continuing to drive high casualty rates for humanitarian staff in 2025.
In 2024, 383 aid workers were killed, nearly half of them in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories, the U.N. said on Tuesday, citing a database.
“Attacks on this scale, with zero accountability, are a shameful indictment of international inaction and apathy,” said Tom Fletcher, U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs in a statement.
So far this year, 265 aid workers have been killed, according to provisional data from the Aid Worker Security Database, a U.S-funded platform that compiles reports on major security incidents affecting aid workers.
Of those, 173 were in Gaza in Israel’s near two-year offensive against Hamas terrorists, launched after the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attacks by Hamas-led terrorists, the provisional data showed.
Grim Statistics
This year, 36 aid workers have so far been killed in Sudan and three in Ukraine, the database showed.
In one incident in Gaza that drew international condemnation, 15 emergency and aid workers were killed by Israeli fire in three separate shootings in March, before being buried in a shallow grave.
This grim statistic underscores not only the rising danger but the erosion of protection for aid workers under international humanitarian law, as acknowledged by U.N. officials.
Israel’s military said in April that the incidents resulted from an “operational misunderstanding” and a “breach of orders”. There had been “several professional failures” and a commander would be dismissed, it said.
Aid workers enjoy protection under international humanitarian law but experts cite few precedents for such cases going to trial, with concerns about ensuring future access for aid groups and difficulty proving intent cited as impediments.
“It is catastrophic, and the trend is going in right the opposite direction of what it should,” said Jens Laerke, U.N. humanitarian office spokesperson.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Modi–Wang Yi Meet: First Real Reset Since Galwan?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin later this month, marking the first such bilateral encounter since the 2020 Galwan clashes.
The formal announcement came after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s two-day visit to India, during which he co-chaired the 24th round of Special Representatives’ talks on the boundary issue with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, met External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, and called on Modi.
Striking a reconciliatory note, Wang said the bilateral relationship is facing an “important opportunity” and acknowledged that the “setbacks we experienced in the past few years were not in the interest of the people of our two countries.”
Referring to Modi’s October 2024 meeting with Xi in Kazan, Russia, during the BRICS summit, Wang said that dialogue “pointed the direction for the development of our bilateral relations and provided impetus for the proper settlement of the boundary question.”
In his meeting with Wang, Modi said, “Stable, predictable, constructive ties between India and China will contribute significantly to regional as well as global peace and prosperity.”
The Prime Minister also emphasised the importance of maintaining peace and tranquillity along the border and reiterated India’s commitment to a “fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable resolution of the boundary question.” Wang handed over a personal message and invitation from Xi to Modi for the SCO summit, which Modi accepted, the Ministry of External Affairs confirmed.
According to the MEA, Jaishankar “strongly raised” concerns over cross-border terrorism from Pakistan, “reminded” that countering terrorism was one of the SCO’s founding objectives, and highlighted India’s apprehensions about China’s planned mega dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra), calling for “utmost transparency.” Jaishankar also stressed that the process of disengagement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) needs to “move forward.”
NSA Doval, describing last year’s SR-level talks in China as “wonderful,” said ties had shown an “upward trend” and expressed hope the 24th round would be equally successful.
Wang, for his part, said, “Now the bilateral relationship is facing an important opportunity for improvement and growth. History and reality proved once again that a healthy and stable China-India relationship serves the fundamental long-term interests of both of our countries. It is also what the developing countries all wanted to see.”
According to StratNewsGlobal Editor-in-Chief Nitin Gokhale, there were “major decisions between India and China on the protracted boundary issue apart from several positive takeaways” in Wang’s talks with Doval and Jaishankar.
Sharing highlights, he wrote on X:
Major decisions between India and China on the protracted boundary issue apart from several positive takeaways in Wang Yi’s talks with NSA Ajit Doval and EAM S. Jaishankar. Lots to unpack but here are the main highlights.
1. What does early harvest in the delimitation in… pic.twitter.com/qjqZlmW80F
— Nitin A. Gokhale (@nitingokhale) August 19, 2025
“1. What does early harvest in the delimitation in India-China border areas really means? Could it be exchange of maps of the less controversial Middle Sector eventually leading to delineation and demarcation of all part of the boundary? … The expert group mechanism agreed to in the latest talks may begin that process.
2. Like in the Western or Ladakh sector, three star generals will now talk to each other in both Eastern and Middle sectors.
3. Will the formation of the working group under the WMCC lead to new border management protocols?
4. Border trade to resume from designated points.
5. Number of Indian pilgrims undertaking the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra … to increase in 2026.
6. The two sides exchanged views on trans-border rivers cooperation … The Chinese side agreed to share hydrological information during emergency situations …
7. EAM Jaishankar underlined India’s concerns with regard to the mega dam construction …
8. The Chinese side raised the issue of Taiwan. The Indian side underlined that there was no change in its position …”
“Five years after Galwan, this is a LOT of progress. More analysis tomorrow,” he concluded.
Some observers, however, while welcoming discussions on border peace and economic cooperation, noted that Wang heading directly to Islamabad from Delhi “makes for bad optics,” and sends mixed messages about China’s seriousness toward normalising ties with India.
Somalia Grapples With Rising Diphtheria Cases Amid Vaccine Shortages, Aid Cuts
Somali officials stated that diphtheria cases and deaths have increased significantly this year in Somalia, where the overall response has been severely hindered by vaccine shortages and reductions in U.S. aid.
More than 1,600 cases, including 87 deaths, have been recorded, up from 838 cases and 56 deaths in all of 2024, said Hussein Abdukar Muhidin, the general director of Somalia’s National Institute of Health.
Diphtheria, a bacterial disease that causes swollen glands, breathing problems and fever and mostly affects children, is preventable with a vaccine that became widely available in the mid-20th century.
Childhood immunisation rates in Somalia have improved over the past decade, but hundreds of thousands of children are still not fully vaccinated.
After fleeing fighting between government forces and Islamist militants in the central Somalia town of Ceeldheere three months ago, all four of Deka Mohamed Ali’s children, none of whom was vaccinated, contracted diphtheria. Her 9-year-old daughter recovered, but her 8-year-old son died, and two toddlers are now being treated at a hospital in the capital, Mogadishu.
“My children got sick and I just stayed at home because I did not know it was diphtheria,” she told Reuters from the bedside of her 3-year-old son Musa Abdullahi, whose throat was swollen to the size of a lemon from the infection.
Vaccine Shortages
Health Minister Ali Haji Adam said the government had struggled to procure enough vaccines due to a global shortage and that U.S. aid cuts were making it difficult to distribute the doses it had.
Before President Donald Trump cut most foreign assistance earlier this year, the United States was the leading humanitarian donor to Somalia, whose health budget is almost entirely funded by donors.
“The U.S. aid cut terribly affected the health funds it used to provide to Somalia. Many health centres closed. Mobile vaccination teams that took vaccines to remote areas lost funding and now do not work,” said Adam.
Muhidin separately echoed his comments about the closures.
Overall, U.S. foreign assistance commitments to Somalia stand at $149 million for the fiscal year that ends on September 30, compared with $765 million in the previous fiscal year, according to U.S. government statistics.
“The United States continues to provide lifesaving foreign assistance in Somalia,” a U.S. State Department spokesperson said when asked about the impact of its aid cuts in the country.
“America is the most generous nation in the world, and we urge other nations to dramatically increase their humanitarian efforts.”
Clinic Closures Worsen Outbreak
Aid group Save the Children said last month that the closure of hundreds of health clinics in Somalia this year due to foreign cuts has contributed to a doubling in the number of combined cases of diphtheria, measles, whooping cough, cholera and severe respiratory infections since mid-April.
Besides the U.S., Britain, France, Germany and other major Western donors are also cutting aid budgets.
Somalia’s government has also faced criticism from doctors and human rights activists for its limited funding of the health sector. In 2024, it allocated 4.8% of its budget to health, down from 8.5% the previous year, Amnesty International said.
The health ministry did not respond to a question about that criticism. It has said it is planning to launch a vaccination drive, but has not given details when.
(With inputs from Reuters)