21 hours ago

First Thing: Federal court blocks Trump from imposing ‘illegal’ sweeping tariffs

Good morning.

A federal trade court has ruled Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs regime illegal, a dramatic twist that could block the president’s controversial global trade policy.

The ruling by a three-judge panel at the New York-based court of international trade came after several lawsuits argued that Trump had exceeded his authority, treating trade policy as a matter of the president’s whim and unleashing economic chaos around the world.

The ruling, if it stands, blows a giant hole through Trump’s strategy to use steep tariffs to wring concessions from trading partners, draw manufacturing jobs back to US shores and shrink a $1.2tn goods trade deficit.

What was the ruling? Tariffs typically need to be approved by Congress but Trump has so far bypassed that requirement by claiming that the country’s trade deficits amounted to a national emergency. The court’s ruling said Trump’s tariff orders “exceed any authority granted to the president … to regulate importation by means of tariffs”.
How are markets reacting? Global markets cheered the ruling, with the US dollar rallying along with indexes in France, Germany, Japan, and futures for the US S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq indexes rising.
What’s next? The Trump administration has already filed to appeal. White House officials attacked the court, calling it “unelected”.

Israel’s Gaza food plan in chaos as starving Palestinians burst into UN warehouse

Crowd of people, mostly men and boys, waiting for food

Four people were killed as thousands of starving Palestinians burst into a UN warehouse in Gaza, tearing away sections of the building’s metal walls in a desperate attempt to find food.

Two people were fatally crushed and two others died of gunshot wounds after people crowded into a World Food Programme warehouse in Deir al-Balah on Wednesday, health officials said. It was not immediately clear if Israeli forces, private contractors or others had opened fire.

Earlier, at least one civilian was killed and 48 wounded when Israeli troops opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians, after the US-backed food logistics group chosen by Israel to ship food into Gaza, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), lost control of its distribution center, health officials reported.

Gunfire heard as thousands rush to receive aid at Gaza distribution centre – video

What is the humanitarian situation after Israel’s aid blockade since 2 March? Earlier this month, the IPC estimated that nearly 71,000 children under the age of five were expected to be “acutely malnourished”, with 14,100 cases expected to be severe in the next 11 months.
What has the UN said about the new Israel-backed plan? The UN and other humanitarian groups have rejected the system, warning it would not be able to meet the needs of Gaza’s 2.3 million people and that it allowed Israel to use food as a weapon to control the population.

Elon Musk announces exit from government role after criticizing Trump’s tax bill

Elon Musk has announced he is leaving his role in the Trump administration, a departure the White House confirmed on Wednesday evening.

It followed Musk publicly criticizing Donald Trump’s tax bill, saying the plan undermined cost-cutting efforts, in comments likely to widen a rift between the two men.

Musk said he was “disappointed to see the massive spending bill, which … undermines the work that the Doge team is doing” in a CBS interview that will air on Sunday.

What’s in the bill? Extending tax cuts for individuals and corporations; ending Joe Biden’s clean energy incentives; construction of a wall along the Mexican border; about $1tn in cuts to benefits, including Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) food stamps.
How is it progressing on Capitol Hill? Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act was narrowly approved last week by the House of Representatives, sending it to the Senate, where the Republican majority will probably make its own changes.

In other news …

Composite of the plane, and Trump speaking into a microphone

Donald Trump’s plane from the government of Qatar, which he said would be turned into the new Air Force One, has arrived – but the president says it’s too big to use as his personal aircraft.
A former French surgeon was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the sexual abuse of hundreds of patients, mostly aged under 15, after the biggest child abuse trial in French history.
Argentina is being used as a “testing ground” for stripping back abortion rights around the world, Amnesty International has warned.

Stat of the day: Rubio threatens to ‘aggressively’ revoke Chinese student visas

The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has said the Trump administration will “aggressively” revoke visas of Chinese students. China sent 277,398 students in the 2023-24 academic year, and international students are one of the largest sources of revenue for US colleges.

Don’t miss this: what I learned from the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter uprising

People looking at a street art memorial with a picture of George Floyd

“For the first time in my life, a notional concept of global Black solidarity became concrete,” writes Nesrine Malik. Five years on? “The biggest lesson is that we don’t get to choose how revolutions unfold” but also that “BLM opened up the issue of racial justice in ways that can never again be closed”.

Climate check: world faces new danger of ‘economic denial’ in climate fight, Cop30 head says

André Corrêa do Lago speaking into a microphone at an event

The president of Cop30 has warned that the world is facing a new form of climate denial: a concerted attack on the idea that the economy can be reorganized to fight the climate crisis. André Corrêa do Lago, a veteran Brazilian diplomat, has said he believes countering this new type of denialism will be his biggest job as director of this year’s UN climate summit.

Last Thing: Chinese paraglider survives accidental flight over 8,000 meters

Paraglider Peng Yujiang was accidentally carried more than 8,o00 meters into the air.

Hitting a strong updraft during a test of his new equipment, Peng Yujiang was sent soaring from 3,000 meters to above 8,000 meters, nearly the height of Mount Everest. He managed to survive despite losing consciousness and enduring temperatures of -31F (-35C), eventually landing 30km from the launch site.

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