Trump offers no details about improving food distribution in Israeli-controlled Gaza

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. will partner with Israel to run new food centers in Gaza to address the worsening humanitarian crisis there, but few details have been offered amid a growing outcry at home and abroad to do more to address starvation in Gaza. Trump said during his return from golfing in Scotland that Israel must “make sure the distribution is proper.”

Meanwhile Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency has proposed revoking the scientific “endangerment finding” that underpins U.S. regulations to fight climate change. The administration is pressing for a deal with Harvard University that would require the Ivy League school to pay far more than the $200 million fine agreed to by Columbia University. And Senate Republicans confirmed former Trump lawyer Emil Bove for a lifetime appointment as a federal appeals court judge, dismissing whistleblower complaints that he encouraged Justice Department lawyers to ignore court orders.

Here’s the latest:

European economy sees only 0.1% growth as scramble to get ahead of US tariffs goes into reverse

Europe’s economy barely grew in the April-June quarter as frantic earlier efforts to ship goods ahead of new U.S. tariffs went into reverse and output fell for the continent’s biggest economy, Germany.

GDP grew an anemic 0.1% compared to the previous quarter in the 20 countries that use the euro currency, the EU statistics agency Eurostat reported Wednesday. And near-term prospects are mediocre, given the 15% tax on European goods that U.S. importers must pay under the EU-U.S. trade deal announced Sunday. The higher costs must either be passed on to U.S. consumers or swallowed in the form of lower profits.

“With the 15% U.S. universal tariff likely to subtract around 0.2% from the region’s GDP, growth is likely to remain weak in the rest of this year,” said Franziska Palmas, senior Europe economist at Capital Economics.

US economy rebounds a surprisingly strong 3% in the second quarter

The U.S. economy expanded at a surprising 3% annual pace from April through June, bouncing back at least temporarily from a first-quarter drop that reflected disruptions from Trump’s trade wars. Economists had expected 2% second-quarter growth.

America’s gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — rebounded after falling 0.5% from January through March, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. The first-quarter drop was mainly caused by a surge in imports — which are subtracted from GDP — as businesses scrambled to bring in foreign goods ahead of Trump’s tariffs.

From April through June, a drop in imports added more than 5 percentage points to growth. Consumer spending came in at a weak 1.4%, though it was an improvement over the first quarter.

Trump announces 25% tariff on India starting Friday, penalties for buying Russian energy

Trump says he’ll impose a 25% tariff on goods from India, plus an additional import tax because of India’s purchasing of Russian oil.

Trump said on Truth Social on Wednesday that India “is our friend” but its “Tariffs are far too high” on U.S. goods.

The Republican president added that India buys military equipment and oil from Russia, enabling the war in Ukraine. As a result, he said he intends to charge an additional “penalty” starting on Friday as part of the launch of the administration’s revised tariffs on multiple countries.

Trump says Epstein ‘stole’ young women from Mar-a-Lago spa, including Virginia Giuffre

Trump said Tuesday that Jeffrey Epstein “stole” young women who worked for the spa at Mar-a-Lago, the latest evolution in his description of how their highly scrutinized relationship ended years ago.

One of the women, he acknowledged, was Virginia Giuffre, who was among Epstein’s most well-known sex trafficking accusers.

Trump’s comments expanded on remarks he had made a day earlier, when he said he had banned Epstein from his private club in Florida two decades ago because his one-time friend “stole people that worked for me.” At the time, he did not make clear who those workers were.

The Republican president has faced an outcry over his administration’s refusal to release more records about Epstein after promises of transparency, a rare example of strain within Trump’s tightly controlled political coalition. Trump has attempted to tamp down questions about the case, expressing annoyance that people are still talking about it six years after Epstein died by suicide while awaiting trial, even though some of his own allies have promoted conspiracy theories about it.

▶ Read more about Trump’s comments on Epstein

Senate confirms Trump lawyer Emil Bove for appeals court, pushing past whistleblower claims

The Senate confirmed former Trump lawyer Emil Bove 50-49 for a lifetime appointment as a federal appeals court judge Tuesday as Republicans dismissed whistleblower complaints about his conduct at the Justice Department.

Emil Bove, attorney for former US President Donald Trump, sits Manhattan criminal court during Trump’s sentencing in the hush money case in New York, Jan. 10, 2025. (Jeenah Moon/Pool Photo via AP, file)

A former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, Bove was on Trump’s legal team during his New York hush money trial and defended Trump in the two federal criminal cases. He will serve on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears cases from Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Democrats have vehemently opposed Bove’s nomination, citing his current position as a top Justice Department official and his role in the dismissal of the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. They have also criticized his efforts to investigate department officials who were involved in the prosecutions of hundreds of Trump supporters who were involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Bove has accused FBI officials of “insubordination” for refusing to hand over the names of agents who investigated the attack and ordered the firing of a group of prosecutors involved in those Jan. 6 criminal cases.

▶ Read more about Bove

Trump’s latest tariff deadline is approaching

The clock is ticking closer to Trump’s latest tariff deadline of Aug 1. And while several more deals — or at least frameworks for deals — have been reached since his last tariff deadline of July 9 came and went, trade talks with many countries are still in flux.

Trump unveiled sweeping import taxes on goods coming into the U.S. from nearly every country back in April. That included heightened so-called reciprocal rates for certain countries, the bulk of which have since been postponed twice.

The first 90-day pause arrived in an apparent effort to quell global market panic and facilitate country-by-country negotiations.

But three months later, only two deals emerged. And by early July, Trump began sending warning letters that higher tariffs would be imposed against dozens of countries on Aug. 1.

Since then, the U.S. has announced trade frameworks with the European Union, Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia. But, key details remain sparse — or not immediately captured in writing.

▶ Read more about agreements so far

Trump says US will partner with Israel to run additional food centers in Gaza, but details are scant

Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. will partner with Israel to run new food centers in Gaza to address the worsening humanitarian crisis there, but he and U.S. officials offered few additional details about the plan or how it would differ from existing food distribution centers.

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned from a trip to Scotland that Israel would preside over the new food centers “to make sure the distribution is proper.”

“We’re going to be dealing with Israel, and we think they can do a good job of it,” Trump said.

The opaque details come as the Trump administration is facing calls at home and abroad to do more to address the hunger crisis in Gaza. The U.S.’s close ally, Israel, is at the center of an international outcry as more images of emaciated children continue to emerge.

The White House described it as “a new aid plan” to help people in Gaza obtain access to food and promised that details would emerge. It did not elaborate.

▶ Read more about the plan