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The EV maker also opened its first showroom in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Tesla has launched its Model Y in India for about $70,000, a significant markup relative to its other major markets, reflecting the country’s high tariffs on electric vehicle imports, which CEO Elon Musk has long criticised.

The electric carmaker announced the price on Tuesday.

Deliveries are estimated to start from the third quarter, the US automaker is targeting a niche electric vehicle segment in India that accounts for just 4 percent of overall sales in the world’s third-largest car market.

It will compete mainly with German luxury giants such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz and South Korea’s Kia rather than domestic mass-market EV players such as Tata Motors and Mahindra Auto.

On Tuesday, Tesla opened its first showroom in Mumbai and began taking Model Y orders on its website, marking its long-awaited entry into the market where Musk once had plans to open a factory.

For now, Tesla will import cars into a country where tariffs and related duties can exceed 100 percent, driving up the price for consumers.

Tesla’s Model Y rear-wheel drive is priced at about $70,000 (6 million rupees), while its Model Y long-range rear-wheel drive costs roughly $79,000 (6.8 million rupees), according to the website.

Tariff pressures

The prices include the tariff and additional levies imposed by the state. There was no breakdown of the price on the website and Reuters could not immediately ascertain the listing price.

They compare with a starting price from $44,990 in the US, $36,700 (263,500 yuan) in China, and $53,700 (45,970 euros) in Germany.

At the media-only event at the showroom, Tesla displayed two Model Y cars made in China and its supercharger, which it will install at eight different locations in Mumbai and in and around New Delhi, where it is also expected to open its next showroom.

“We are here to create the ecosystem, to invest in the necessary infrastructure, including the charging infrastructure,” Isabel Fan, a regional director at Tesla, said at the launch event.

“We are building from 0 to 100. It will take time to cover the whole country.”

Grappling with excess capacity in global factories and declining sales, Tesla has adopted a strategy of selling imported vehicles in India, despite the duties and levies.

The US EV maker has long lobbied India for lower import tariffs on cars, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s officials remain in talks with US President Donald Trump’s administration to lower the levies under a bilateral trade deal.

Tesla’s US factories also do not currently make the right-hand drive vehicles that are used in India.

Although India’s road infrastructure has improved, traffic discipline – like lane driving – is still rudimentary, EV chargers are far and few and stray animals, including cattle, and potholes on the road are a big hurdle, even in cities.

“In the future, we wish to see R&D and manufacturing done in India, and I am sure at an appropriate stage, Tesla will think about it,” Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told reporters outside the new Tesla outlet.

Those sanctioned engaged in vote-buying and bribery ahead of the country’s 2024 election, the EU says.

The European Union has imposed sanctions on seven individuals and three entities it said are responsible for efforts to destabilise Moldova’s democracy, including through vote-buying and political bribery linked to the country’s 2024 presidential election and referendum on EU accession.

In a statement on Tuesday, the European Council said those sanctioned were engaged in “actions aimed at destabilising, undermining or threatening the sovereignty and independence as well as democracy, the rule of law and stability of the Republic of Moldova.”

Among those targeted are figures closely associated with Ilan Shor, the exiled pro-Russian Moldovan businessman and political figure already under EU sanctions. Shor is accused of funding political operations from abroad and leading efforts to spread disinformation.

The council named Shor’s Victory political bloc as one of the three entities sanctioned. It accused the bloc of running orchestrated campaigns to buy votes and spreading misinformation during the EU referendum.

In October 2024, Moldovans voted ‘yes’ to constitutionally codifying their goal to join the EU by a razor-thin margin amid accusations of Russian meddling.

Another group, the Cultural Educational Centre of Moldova, was listed for facilitating interference in the elections. The third entity, A7, was cited for its links to Russian political influence operations.

Those listed will face asset freezes and travel bans across the EU, the council said.

This is the second time the EU has used its special sanctions system for Moldova, which was set up in 2023 at the request of the Moldovan government. It comes as the country faces growing threats linked to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“The EU remains unwavering in its support for the Republic of Moldova and its peace, resilience, security, stability, and economic growth in the face of destabilising activities by external actors,” the council said, adding that destabilisation attempts would be met with firm measures.

With Tuesday’s announcement, a total of 23 individuals and five entities have been sanctioned under the Moldovan government. EU officials said the listings send a clear signal to actors attempting to undermine the country’s pro-European trajectory.

The move comes as Moldova, a former Soviet republic, continues to strengthen its ties with the EU. The country was granted candidate status in 2022 and began accession talks last year.

Defence Minister John Healey says about 4,500 people are in Britain or in transit under the secret programme.

The United Kingdom set up a secret plan to resettle thousands of Afghan people in Britain after an official accidentally disclosed the personal details of more than 33,000 people, putting them at risk of reprisals from the Taliban, court documents showed.

A judge at London’s High Court said in a May 2024 judgement made public on Tuesday that about 20,000 people may have to be offered relocation to Britain, a move that would likely cost “several billion pounds”.

Britain’s current Defence Minister John Healey told Parliament that around 4,500 affected people “are in Britain or in transit … at a cost of around 400 million pounds [$540m]” under the programme known as the Afghan Response Route.

The government is also facing lawsuits from those affected by the data breach.

A Ministry of Defence-commissioned review of the data breach, a summary of which was also published on Tuesday, said more than 16,000 people affected by it had been relocated to the UK as of May this year.

The breach revealed the names of Afghans who had helped British forces in Afghanistan before they withdrew from the country in chaotic circumstances in 2021.

The details emerged after a legal ruling known as a superinjunction was lifted. The injunction had been granted in 2023 after the Ministry of Defence argued that a public disclosure of the breach could put people at risk of extra-judicial killing or serious violence by the Taliban.

The data set contained personal information of nearly 19,000 Afghans who had applied to be relocated to Britain and their families.

It was released in error in early 2022, before the Defence Ministry spotted the breach in August 2023, when part of the data set was published on Facebook.

The former Conservative government obtained the injunction the following month.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s centre-left government, which was elected last July, launched a review into the injunction, the breach and the relocation scheme, which found that although Afghanistan remains dangerous, there was little evidence of intent by the Taliban to conduct a campaign of retribution.

Healey said the Afghan Response Route has now been closed and apologised for the data breach, which “should never have happened”.

About 36,000 more Afghans have been relocated to the UK under other resettlement routes.

British troops were sent to Afghanistan as part of a deployment of the United States-led so-called “War on Terror” against al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US.

At the peak of the operation, there were almost 10,000 British troops in the country.

Sue Parfitt is an 83-year-old retired priest who was arrested for protesting in solidarity with Palestine Action, a group designated as a terrorist organisation by the UK government.

In this Unmute, she talks about what led her to stand against the government’s decision.

Kyiv, Ukraine – Heavy thuds that resemble fast hip-hop beats fill the night air when MIM-104 Patriots, air defence systems made in the United States, get to work.

Each Patriot surface-to-air launcher can shoot up to 32 missiles within seconds – and hit Russian ballistic missiles closing in on their targets.

The missiles fly at supersonic speeds, and the collision triggers a bright, split-second blast followed by a thunderous shock-wave.

“That’s the kind of explosion that makes me feel safe,” Ihor Lysenko, a 17-year-old in the capital Kyiv told Al Jazeera. He believes that the “technology is pretty reliable”.

The Patriots were developed in the 1970s to down Soviet missiles. Kyiv first received them in April 2023 from Washington and several of its Western European allies.

Within weeks, they had intercepted Russia’s Kinzhal (Dagger) intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are launched from fighter jets at more than 12km (7.5 miles) above the ground.

The Kinzhals mostly fly in the Earth’s stratosphere to maintain their speed, which, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is 10 times faster than the speed of sound, which he said makes any Western air defence system “useless”.

But in the past two years, about 10 Patriot systems in Ukraine – the exact number is a state secret – stationed in Kyiv and the southern port of Odesa have downed dozens more Kinzhals – along with other cruise and ballistic missiles, including North Korean ones; fighter jets; helicopters; and attack drones.

The latter is similar to hammering a nail with an electronic microscope – a Patriot missile is priced at several million dollars while Russian drones cost 100 times less.

The Patriots are, however, not 100 percent efficient.

During a late April attack on Kyiv, a Russian missile razed a two-storey apartment building, killing 12 people and wounding 87, gouging out windows and damaging roofs in dozens of buildings nearby.

On Sunday, US President Donald Trump announced that he would supply Kyiv with more Patriots – by selling them to Washington’s NATO allies who would pass them on to Ukraine.

“We will send them Patriots, which they desperately need,” Trump told reporters. “Putin really surprised a lot of people. He talks nice, and then he bombs everybody in the evening.”

On Monday, Trump specified the number of systems – 17 – during a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

“It’s everything. It’s Patriots. It’s all of them. It’s a full complement with the batteries,” Trump said.

He referred to an unnamed Western nation that had the “17 Patriots ready to be shipped”.

Days earlier, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Berlin was ready to acquire additional Patriot systems.

‘We need hundreds of interceptors’

The new Patriots that will be deployed to large Ukrainian cities will definitely lower the lethality of Russian air raids, but won’t cross any “red lines” for Putin, a Kyiv-based analyst said.

“Russia occasionally cried about red lines when it came to long-range weaponry for strikes on Russia,” Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Penta think tank, told Al Jazeera. “There are no red lines with Patriots.”

However, the new Patriots won’t solve Ukraine’s problems with Russian air raids.

“The problem is not just about the Patriots,” Fesenko said. “We don’t just need the Patriots to fight ballistic missiles. Now Russia’s main strike weapon is drones. They cause most of the damage.”

Most damage and deaths are caused by attack drones that fly in swarms of hundreds at heights of up to 5km (3 miles) and cannot be hit by Ukraine’s own air defence systems or mobile air defence teams armed with machineguns.

Ukraine needs up to 25 more Patriot systems to cover its key urban areas, according to Lieutenant General Ihor Romanenko, former deputy head of the Ukrainian military’s General Staff.

While the details about the new Patriots’ arrival are unknown, some observers said the purpose of Trump’s pledge is clear.

“He does that to support his image that has been tarnished domestically and internationally,” Romanenko told Al Jazeera.

And what Ukraine needs the most is drone interceptors that can fly up to 500 kilometres per hour (310 miles per hour) as Moscow equips new generations of its unmanned vehicles with jet engines, he said.

“The quantity is what matters. If they launch more than 700 [drones per attack], if they are capable of upping it to 1,000, then we need hundreds of interceptors,” Romanenko said.

Moscow scrupulously analyses the routes of its drone swarms and frequently changes them to avoid interception, so Kyiv needs light planes with electronic jamming, helicopters and air defence systems that can down aerodynamic targets, he said.

On Saturday, the Ukrainian air force said the newly supplied, German-made Skynex air defence system shot down six Russian-made Geran drones.

The Skynex has a 35mm automatic cannon that fires up to 1,000 rounds per minute and uses programmable ammunition that detonates near its targets, releasing a cloud of projectiles.

However, there are only two Skynex systems in Ukraine, and there are no details about further supplies.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence has been slow to develop drone interceptors so far, an expert said.

“Everything is on an amateur level,” Andrey Pronin, one of the pioneers of Ukrainian drone warfare who runs a school for drone pilots in Kyiv, told Al Jazeera.

He said he was part of a team that developed an interceptor drone capable of catching up to Russian loitering munitions.

But even though the interceptor was battle-tested, Ukraine’s Defence Ministry didn’t show any interest, he said.

“The ministry is such a hole. Things haven’t moved at all,” he said.

India’s aviation agency tells airlines to investigate fuel switch locks on several Boeing models, including 787s and 737s.

India has ordered its airlines to examine fuel switches on several Boeing models following last month’s deadly Air India crash.

India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Monday said it asked the airlines to investigate fuel switch locks on several Boeing models, including 787s and 737s.

The precautionary moves by India and several other countries came despite the plane maker and the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) telling airlines and regulators in recent days that the fuel switch locks on Boeing jets were safe.

The locks have come under scrutiny following the June 12 crash of an Air India jet, which killed some 260 people – the worst such disaster on Indian soil.

A preliminary report on the crash by Indian authorities did not offer any conclusions or apportion blame for the disaster, but indicated that one pilot asked the other why he cut off fuel, and the second pilot responded that he had not.

The report noted a 2018 advisory from the FAA, which recommended, but did not mandate, operators of several Boeing models, including the 787, to inspect the locking feature of fuel cutoff switches to ensure they could not be moved accidentally.

In recent days, the Air India Group started checking the locking mechanism on the fuel switches of its 787 and 737 fleets and has discovered no problems yet, a source familiar with the matter told the Reuters news agency on Monday.

About half the group’s 787s have been inspected and nearly all its 737s, the source added, speaking on condition of anonymity since the source was not authorised to speak to the media. Inspections were set to be completed in the next day or two.

Precautionary checks

The Air India crash preliminary report said the airline had not carried out the FAA’s suggested inspections, as the FAA’s 2018 advisory was not a mandate.

But it also said maintenance records showed that the throttle control module, which includes the fuel switches, was replaced in 2019 and 2023 on the plane involved in the crash.

In an internal memo on Monday, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson said the preliminary report found no mechanical or maintenance faults and that all required maintenance had been carried out.

Some airlines around the world have been checking relevant switches since the 2018 advisory, including Australia’s Qantas Airways and Japan’s ANA.

Others said they had been making additional or new checks since the release of the preliminary report into the Air India crash.

Singapore Airlines said on Tuesday that precautionary checks on the fuel switches of its 787 fleet, including planes used by its low-cost subsidiary Scoot, confirmed all were functioning properly.

Flag carrier Korean Air Lines also said on Tuesday it had proactively begun inspecting fuel control switches and would implement any additional requirements the Ministry of Transport may have.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was headed to London from Ahmedabad in western India when it crashed, killing all but one of the people on board as well as 19 people on the ground.

Cape Town, South Africa – When Patricia Blows heard a senior police official’s explosive allegations against South Africa’s political and law enforcement elite last week, her thoughts went straight to the stalled investigation into her son’s killing nine years ago.

Angelo, an apprentice boilermaker, was about to turn 28 when he was shot in an apparent robbery on a Sunday afternoon in March 2016 while walking home from work in Langlaagte, Johannesburg.

To this day, the investigation has gone nowhere despite Blows providing the police with evidence they said they lacked, including witness statements she collected herself.

The lack of progress in the case began to make sense last week when the police commissioner in coastal KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province, Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, claimed he had uncovered a crime syndicate involving politicians, senior police officers, correctional services officials, prosecutors, the judiciary and businesspeople in his province.

According to Mkhwanazi, speaking at a news conference on July 6, the systemic corruption rises all the way to the country’s police minister, Senzo Mchunu, whom he accused of disbanding a task force set up to investigate political killings in KZN to protect his shady associates.

Like millions of South Africans, Blows was outraged by Mkhwanazi’s allegations – but not entirely surprised.

“I immediately thought of our battle for justice. I just couldn’t find an open door. It still hurts like hell,” said Blows, a community activist from Blackheath on the Cape Flats, a part of Cape Town plagued by violent drug-trafficking gangs.

“I had fresh hope in Mchunu. Now this? Then doubt drifted in, and I had an overwhelming fear for [Mkhwanazi’s] safety,” Blows said from her suburb on the outskirts of the Cape Flats, where a police station came under attack about a month ago, presumably in retaliation for the arrest of a local crime boss.

‘Hands off Mkhwanazi’

Mkhwanazi’s revelations triggered an outpouring of support from crime-weary South Africans and politicians alike, who almost universally admire his no-nonsense approach to crime. Last month, after a series of police shootouts with criminals, he was quoted as saying he cared more about impact than strategy.

His popularity reflects a national malaise as well as a regional one that is particular to volatile KZN. The province regularly features among the country’s crime hotspots and is notorious for its history of political violence that dates back to the 1980s when the apartheid regime fomented tensions among the Black supporters of the African National Congress (ANC) and its rival Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in an attempt to undermine the planned transition to democracy.

National quarterly statistics for January to March indicated a decrease in violent crime compared with the same quarter in 2024. Murders decreased by 12.4 percent to 5,727, or an average of 64 per day, according to the Institute for Security Studies.

Still, violent crime is a major problem. According to the World Population Review, South Africa has the fifth highest crime index in the world, following Venezuela, Papua New Guinea, Afghanistan and Haiti.

South Africa also ranks 82nd in the world on the corruption perception index compiled by the NGO Transparency International.

In this context, Mkhwanazi has become a hero to many South Africans who are fed up with the government’s failure to address chronic social ills.

Not even an investigation into his conduct in March could dampen the support for Mkhwanazi. The Independent Police Investigative Directorate dropped the case after a “Hands off Mkhwanazi” campaign, which was revived on social media after his July 6 news conference.

Dressed in special operations fatigues and surrounded by armed guards, Mkhwanazi told journalists: “I am combat ready. I will die for this badge. I will not back down.”

Ramaphosa’s legacy at risk

Much to the frustration of many South Africans, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s response to the unfolding crisis has been in sharp contrast to Mkhwanazi’s gung-ho attitude.

In a brief and carefully crafted televised address on Sunday, Ramaphosa announced that Mchunu had been placed on special leave and he would establish a judicial commission of inquiry to look into the allegations raised by Mkhwanazi.

Kagiso Pooe, a senior lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand’s School of Governance in Johannesburg, was hoping for Mchunu to be suspended or fired and the country’s seemingly compromised security structure to be overhauled, especially after the recent arrest of a senior crime intelligence official and several officers for fraud.

Pooe believes Ramaphosa played it safe to preserve himself and his ANC party, which was forced to form a coalition government with rivals after it failed to secure an outright majority in last year’s general election. It was a historic defeat for Nelson Mandela’s party, which has dominated domestic politics since the democratic era began in 1994.

Before local government elections next year, Pooe believes the last thing Ramaphosa wants is to alienate an ally like Mchunu, who has a strong support base in the highly contested KZN and helped secure Ramaphosa’s presidency in 2017.

“He doesn’t rock the boat. It’s not in his nature,” Pooe said, pointing out that Ramaphosa is determined to accomplish what no president has managed to do since 1994 – complete a second term in office.

“I give the president 33 percent, which is the average score for everything he does,” he said.

Pooe bemoaned the idea of yet another commission of inquiry under Ramaphosa. In May, the president even appointed a commission to investigate the by-product of a previous commission set up in 1996 that failed to deal with apartheid-era crimes. Decades on, more than 100 cases that arose from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, headed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, have yet to be prosecuted.

The most high-profile commission under Ramaphosa was established shortly after he took office in 2017. The Zondo Commission was meant to investigate corruption that was so deeply entrenched under Ramaphosa’s predecessor Jacob Zuma that it became known as “state capture”.

After millions of dollars and years of highly publicised testimony, the findings of the commission have yet to deliver a major prosecution.

Toyin Adetiba, a professor at the University of Zululand’s Department of Political and International Studies, said Ramaphosa could pay a dear price for failing to act decisively, especially at a time when he is trying to burnish South Africa’s international reputation and fend off the threat of potentially damaging tariffs from the United States.

“Remember, he will soon be out as the president of the country and that of the ANC. The respect that he commands among political leaders across the continent will suffer a setback, and for him to play the role of elder statesperson after leaving office will be a Herculean task as no one will respect his opinion, no matter how important and genuine it might be,” Adetiba said.

In a strange twist of timing, this crisis comes as the country marks the anniversary of the July 2021 unrest when riots broke out in two of the country’s most populous provinces – KZN and Gauteng – after Zuma’s imprisonment for contempt of court following his refusal to testify before the Zondo Commission.

The leader of the minority party Freedom Front Plus, Pieter Groenewald, blamed the unrest on a failure of the intelligence services. Pooe said Mkhwanazi’s allegations supported the view that the country’s intelligence has been compromised.

“South Africa is literally naked intelligence-wise. Think about it from the perspective of foreign entities and criminals,” Pooe said. “If this [the allegations of corruption] is happening, don’t you think criminals also know that you can take advantage of a country like South Africa?”

As the country processes Ramaphosa’s much-awaited speech in response to Mkhwanazi’s allegations and wonders what is to come, Blows is recovering from the shock of another shooting in her neighbourhood, reported on a community WhatsApp group. This time, it sounded like an automatic weapon was used.

“I seriously pray daily against the high crime. Many parents suffer as I do,” Blows said. “Our lives are controlled by crime.”

Emergency Lawyers says paramilitary force set fire to villages, killing dozens, including children and pregnant women.

A group of human rights lawyers in Sudan have accused the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of raiding and setting fire to villages in the state of North Kordofan and killing nearly 300 people, including children and pregnant women.

The statement by Emergency Lawyers late on Monday came as fighting rages between the RSF and the Sudanese army in the western areas of the country.

The two sides have been locked in a civil war since 2023, and the army has taken firm control of the centre and east of the country, while the RSF is trying to consolidate its control of the western regions, including North Kordofan and Darfur.

Emergency Lawyers said the RSF had attacked several villages on Saturday around the city of Bara, which the paramilitary force controls.

In one village, Shag Alnom, more than 200 people were killed in a “terrible massacre”, the group said. The victims were either “burned inside their homes” or shot. In the neighbouring villages, 38 other civilians were also killed and dozens more have been forcibly disappeared.

The next day, the RSF carried out “another massacre” in the village of Hilat Hamid, killing at least 46 people, including pregnant women and children, the group added.

“It has been proven that these targeted villages were completely empty of any military objectives, which makes clear the criminal nature of these crimes carried out in complete disregard of international humanitarian law,” Emergency Lawyers said, placing the responsibility with the RSF leadership.

The United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Sunday that intensified fighting in the region forced more than 3,000 people to flee the villages of Shag Alnom and al-Kordi.

Many have sought refuge in the surrounding parts of Bara, according to the UN agency.

The United States and human rights groups have accused the RSF of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Its soldiers have carried out a series of violent looting raids in territory it has taken control of across the country.

The RSF leadership says it will bring those found responsible for such acts to justice.

Sudan’s civil war has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, driving more than half the population into hunger and spreading disease, including cholera, across the country.

At least 40,000 people have been killed, while 13 million have been displaced.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has launched a new probe into war crimes in the western Darfur region, and on Thursday, senior prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan told the UN Security Council that her office has “reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity” are being committed there.

Khan said her office has focused its probe on crimes committed in West Darfur, and interviewed victims who have fled to neighbouring Chad.

She said the depth of suffering and the humanitarian crisis in Darfur “has reached an intolerable state”, with famine escalating and hospitals, humanitarian convoys and other civilian infrastructure being targeted.

“People are being deprived of water and food. Rape and sexual violence are being weaponised,” Khan said, adding that abductions for ransom had become “common practice”.

An appeals court has briefly extended temporary protected status (TPS) for nearly 12,000 Afghans in the United States, hours before it was to expire.

Monday’s order came 60 days after the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under President Donald Trump announced that it was ending the legal protections for thousands of Afghans legally living in the United States.

The order by the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Virginia, granted an administrative stay on the termination until Monday after a request from the immigration advocacy organisation CASA.

The appeals court gave no reason for its decision but indicated it would be deciding what to do swiftly.

CASA had sought an emergency stay on Monday when the protection of Afghans was due to be terminated, court documents showed.

Its case also includes Cameroonians whose TPS is to end on August 4.

The immigrant advocacy group said the step to remove the status was arbitrary and discriminatory and would cause “irreparable harm” to those affected.

The court has asked both sides to submit briefs this week.

The Trump administration has until 11:59pm US Eastern time on Wednesday (03:59 GMT on Thursday) to respond.

A federal judge on Friday allowed the lawsuit to go forward but didn’t grant CASA’s request to keep the protections in place while the lawsuit plays out.

The stay is not a final decision but gives time for the legal challenge, said Shawn VanDiver, founder of AfghanEvac, the main coalition of US military veterans and advocacy groups that coordinates resettlements of Afghan refugees with the government.

“AfghanEvac stands firmly behind the legal challenge and calls on DHS and the Trump administration to immediately reverse course and extend TPS protections,” VanDiver said in an email to the Reuters news agency.

That status had allowed Afghans to live and work in the US and meant the government could not deport them.

Millions of Afghans who fled their country over previous decades are now being forced back to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan from countries including Iran, Pakistan and the US.

Deportations of Afghans are also anticipated in Germany as its government seeks talks with the Taliban.

About 180,000 Afghans have come to the US since the Taliban retook control of the country in 2021. About 11,700 of them are currently covered by TPS.

When Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ended temporary protected status for Afghans, the department wrote in the decision that the situation in their home country was getting better.

“The Secretary determined that, overall, there are notable improvements in the security and economic situation such that requiring the return of Afghan nationals to Afghanistan does not pose a threat to their personal safety due to armed conflict or extraordinary and temporary conditions,” according to the May announcement.

But rights advocates said many Afghans who helped the US during its war in Afghanistan would be targets of the Taliban if they return home.

Particularly at risk would be women, whose rights the Taliban have rolled back since its return to power after the US withdrawal, rights groups said.

The International Criminal Court last week issued arrest warrants for two top Taliban leaders in Afghanistan on charges related to abuses against women and girls.

“While the Taliban have imposed certain rules and prohibitions on the population as a whole, they have specifically targeted girls and women by reason of their gender, depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms,” the court said in a statement.

The US homeland security secretary may grant TPS to people from specific countries.

Countries that are currently designated for TPS include Afghanistan, Myanmar, Cameroon, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Lebanon, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela and Yemen.

In addition to Afghanistan and Cameroon, the Trump administration has moved to end the designation for an estimated 260,000 Haitians and 350,000 Venezuelans.

The Trump administration has also announced it will revoke the two-year “humanitarian parole” of about 530,000 people in the US, including Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans.

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The US is pitching the creation of a new advisory body for the Digital Markets Act (DMA) involving those companies subject to enforcement of the regulation a voice, in the context of negotiations over an EU-US trade deal, according to three sources familiar with the matter. 

The EU will never accept the idea however according to two of the sources.

On Saturday, Trump posted a new set of letters to his social media platform Truth Social, declaring 30% tariffs on the EU and Mexico starting 1 August, a move that could cause massive upheaval between the United States and two of its biggest trade partners.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen quickly responded by noting the bloc’s “commitment to dialogue, stability, and a constructive transatlantic partnership.”

On Sunday, she emphasised that reaching a negotiated solution remains the priority, but that the EU is ready to respond with countermeasures.

The DMA regulates the largest online platforms with a view to protecting the rights of consumers and curbing any abusive behaviour by dominant tech players. 

Under the rules, companies face fines of up to 10% of their global annual turnover for non-compliance. 

Peter Navarro, a senior Trump advisor, has openly accused the bloc of waging “lawfare” against US Big Tech through the DMA and its sister Digital Services Act (DSA) regulation. In response, the EU has said it will “not make any concessions on its digital and technology rules” as part of any trade negotiations with the US. 

The DMA already has an advisory board, which plays a consultative and strategic role in its implementation, supporting the Commission in oversight and enforcement.

The board is made up of independent experts and representatives from relevant national authorities and regulatory bodies, however, and is not supposed to be a body of representatives drawn from the enforced entities.

The sources did not expand on what form the advisory body touted by the US would take, beyond giving influence over the enforcement methods.

“The fact that the US proposed setting up an advisory board for the DMA, where those who might be affected would actually sit, that certainly won’t happen, and there will be no exceptions for US companies under the DMA,” one source said.

The Commission has repeatedly said that DMA probes are conducted strictly according to the regulation, which does not discriminate against companies on the basis of country of origin. But the fact that most of those under its scope are US tech giants means that the decisions are now seen through the lens of the brewing trade war.

On both sides of the Atlantic, EU digital legislation has become a red line in the negotiations over tariffs: the US considers the DMA and DSA – which covers illegal content online – as non-tariff barriers to their trade with the EU, while the EU refuses to amend these regulations, which were adopted in 2022. 

Sovereignty

Commission Vice-President Teresa Ribera told Euronews on 27 June that it is impossible to for the EU to backtrack on its digital rules. 

“We are going to defend our sovereignty. We will defend the way we implement our rules, we will defend a well functioning market and we will not allow anyone to tell us what to do,” she said.

Without changing the rules, the Commission could nonetheless finesse implementation of the DMA, according to Christophe Carugati, a Brussels-based tech consultant. Investigations and fines could become the exception in the DMA enforcement. 

“To calm the US, the idea could be to settle disputes formally or informally through dialogue. That will implicitly ‘pause’ the investigations,” he told Euronews.

Non-compliance investigations launched over the past year under the DMA have resulted in relatively low fines compared to those imposed on Big Tech under the Commission’s previous mandate. Apple has received a €500 million penalty and Meta was fined €200 million, the former for preventing developers from steering consumers to alternative offers, the latter for its “Pay or Consent” advertising model. 

In April, EU officials said that the lower fines reflected the short duration of the violations since the DMA implementation started in 2023 but also the Commission’s current focus on achieving compliance rather than punishing breaches. 

Simplification

US tech giants could also seek to benefit from the Commission’s simplification agenda to secure some relief from regulatory enforcement. In May, Amazon, IBM, Google, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI called on the Commission to keep its upcoming Code of Practice on General-Purpose AI (GPAI) “as simple as possible”, as reported.

EU Tech Commissioner Henna Virkkunen is currently carrying out a digital fitness check, which will result in an “omnibus” simplification package to be presented in December. 

She aims to identify reporting obligations in existing digital legislation that can be cut to ease pressure on enterprises, particularly SMEs.

The question remains whether that simplification package will also cover the DMA, DSA and the AI Act.

Virkkunen has always said that despite facing criticism from former Trump advisor and X-owner Elon Musk, the laws are fair and equitable.

 “Our rules are very fair, because they are the same rules for everybody who is operating and doing business in the European Union. So, we have the same rules for European companies, American companies, and Chinese companies,” Virkkunen told Euronews in April.

Rescue effort under way after boat carrying 18 people capsizes in bad weather off the Mentawai Islands.

Rescuers in Indonesia are searching for 11 people who went missing after a boat capsized in bad weather off the Mentawai Islands in West Sumatra province, according to a local search and rescue agency.

Dozens of rescuers and two boats were at the site of the disaster on Tuesday, and seven of the 18 people on board the boat have been rescued, the agency said in a statement.

The vessel capsized at about 11am on Monday (04:00 GMT) as it sailed around the Mentawai Islands.

It had departed Sikakap, a small town in the Mentawai Islands, and was heading to another small town, Tuapejat. Of 18 people on board, 10 were local government officials.

“Our focus is on combing the area around the estimated accident site to find all victims,” said Rudi, the head of the Mentawai search and rescue agency.

He did not give a cause for the boat capsizing, but marine accidents are a regular occurrence in the Southeast Asian archipelago of approximately 17,000 islands, in part due to lax safety standards or bad weather.

On July 3, a ferry carrying 65 people sank off the popular resort island of Bali, killing at least 18 people.

In March, a boat carrying 16 people capsized in rough waters off Bali, killing an Australian woman and injuring at least one other person.

In 2018, more than 150 people drowned when a ferry sank in one of the world’s deepest volcanic lakes on Sumatra island.

Makers of Sesame Street blame an unknown hacker for slew of offensive social media posts.

The makers of Sesame Street have deleted a slew of offensive social media posts after hackers hijacked the puppet Elmo’s X account to launch a tirade about Jews and Jeffrey Epstein.

The posts on Elmo’s account on Sunday called for the extermination of Jewish people, referred to United States President Donald Trump as a “puppet” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and demanded the release of law enforcement files about Epstein, the accused sex trafficker who died in 2019.

The posts attracted a flurry of attention online before being deleted a short time after they were uploaded on Sunday.

“Elmo’s X account was compromised by an unknown hacker who posted disgusting messages, including antisemitic and racist posts,” a spokesperson for the Sesame Workshop told Al Jazeera in a statement on Monday.

“The account has since been secured.”

Elmo, a furry red monster known for his high-pitched voice and habit of referring to himself in the third person, debuted on PBS’s Sesame Street in 1980, quickly becoming one of the show’s most beloved characters.

Elmo’s X account, which has more than 650,000 followers, is usually associated with uplifting messages and clips of the puppet playing games with other Sesame Street characters and his human friends.

Last year, a post asking Elmo’s audience how they were doing went mega-viral, attracting nearly 225 million views on X.

The hacking is the latest incident to draw attention to anti-Jewish content on tech billionaire Elon Musk’s X.

Earlier this month, Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI was forced to make upgrades to its chatbot Grok after users reported that it provided anti-Jewish responses to questions, including statements praising Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

Israeli forces have continued to pound the besieged Gaza Strip, killing at least 72 Palestinians, including several aid seekers, as ceasefire talks stall amid a deepening fuel and hunger crisis.

An Israeli attack near an aid distribution point in Rafah in southern Gaza killed at least five people who were seeking aid on Monday, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

The killings raised the death toll of Palestinians killed near aid sites run by the controversial Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to 838, according to Wafa.

In Khan Younis, also in southern Gaza, an Israeli strike on a displacement camp killed nine people and wounded many others. In central Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp, four people were killed when an Israeli air strike hit a commercial centre, Wafa said.

Israeli forces also resumed stepping up attacks in northern Gaza and Gaza City. Israeli media reported an ambush in Gaza City, with a tank hit by rocket fire and later, with small arms. A helicopter was seen evacuating casualties. The Israeli military later confirmed that three soldiers were killed in the incident.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said Israeli forces responded with “massive air strikes in the vicinity of [the] Tuffah and Shujayea neighbourhoods, levelling residential buildings”.

The Wafa news agency said at least 24 Palestinians were killed in Gaza City and dozens more were wounded.

The attacks come as UN agencies continue to plead for more aid to be allowed into Gaza, where famine looms and a severe fuel shortage has brought the already battered healthcare sector to its knees.

Gaza’s water crisis has also intensified since Israel blocked nearly all fuel shipments into the enclave on March 2. With no fuel, desalination plants, wastewater treatment facilities and pumping stations have largely shut down.

Egypt’s foreign minister said on Monday that the flow of aid into Gaza has not increased despite an agreement last week between Israel and the European Union that should have had that result.

“Nothing has changed [on the ground],” Badr Abdelatty told reporters ahead of the EU-Middle East meeting in Brussels.

‘A real catastrophe’

The EU’s top diplomat said on Thursday that the bloc and Israel agreed to improve Gaza’s humanitarian situation, including increasing the number of aid trucks and opening crossing points and aid routes.

When asked what steps Israel has taken, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Saar referred to an understanding with the EU but did not provide details on the implementation.

Asked if there were improvements after the agreement, Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi told reporters that the situation in Gaza remains “catastrophic”.

“There is a real catastrophe happening in Gaza resulting from the continuation of the Israeli siege,” he said.

Meanwhile, stuttering ceasefire talks entered a second week on Monday, with mediators seeking to close the gap between Israel and Hamas.

The indirect negotiations in Qatar appear to still remain deadlocked after both sides blamed the other for blocking a deal for the release of captives and a 60-day ceasefire.

An official with knowledge of the talks said they were “ongoing” in Doha on Monday, the AFP news agency reported.

“Discussions are currently focused on the proposed maps for the deployment of Israeli forces within Gaza,” the source reportedly said.

“Mediators are actively exploring innovative mechanisms to bridge the remaining gaps and maintain momentum in the negotiations,” the source added on condition of anonymity.

Hamas accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who says he wants to see the Palestinian group destroyed, of being the main obstacle.

“Netanyahu is skilled at sabotaging one round of negotiations after another, and is unwilling to reach any agreement,” the group wrote on Telegram.

Netanyahu is under growing pressure to end the war, with military casualties rising and public frustration mounting.

He also faces backlash over the feasibility and ethics of a plan to build a so-called “humanitarian city” from scratch on the ruins of southern Gaza’s Rafah to house 600,000 Palestinians if and when a ceasefire takes hold.

Israel’s security establishment is reported to be unhappy with the plan, which the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said amounts to plans for a “concentration camp”.

Cuomo says he will challenge progressive Zohran Mamdani in general election after being trounced in the Democratic primary.

Andrew Cuomo has said that he will run as an independent in the race for New York City mayor, following a stinging loss to progressive upstart Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic Party primary last month.

The former New York State governor, who resigned in 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations, vowed to continue his mayoral bid in a video posted to social media on Monday.

“As my grandfather used to say, when you get knocked down, learn the lesson and pick yourself back up and get in the game. And that is what I am going to do,” said Cuomo. “The fight to save our city isn’t over.”

Mamdani’s 12-point win over Cuomo in the Democratic primary has electrified progressives and pushed pro-business Democrats, wary of his embrace of progressive economic policies and critical stance towards Israel, to seek an alternative after the bruising primary defeat.

The general election will take place in November, with Mamdani facing off against Cuomo and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who trails in most polls and whose tenure has been marred by a series of corruption scandals. Anti-crime figure Curtis Sliwa will also be in the race as the Republican nominee.

“I welcome everyone to this race, and I am as confident as I have been since three weeks ago on primary night, when we faced Andrew Cuomo and won that race by more than 12 points with the most votes of any Democratic nominee in New York City primary history,” Mamdani said in remarks responding to Cuomo’s entry into the general race.

“And we did so because of the fact that while Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams trip over themselves to make deals in back rooms with billionaires, we are fighting for working New Yorkers.”

Cuomo was once considered the near-prohibitive favourite to win the city’s Democratic primary, the main contest for the mayoralty in the liberal stronghold. But he gradually lost ground to an energetic campaign by Mamdani.

The 33-year-old democratic socialist ran a campaign sharply focused on cost-of-living and affordability issues, promoting policies such as free public buses and the creation of city-run grocery stores that will offer essential goods at more affordable prices.

Polling has shown that many of Mamdani’s populist economic policies, such as raising taxes on the wealthy to invest in social programmes and freezing rental prices in place for low-income tenants, enjoy widespread popularity. But Cuomo and other centrist Democrats have said that they are unrealistic and unworkable.

“My opponent, Mr Mamdani, offers slick slogans, but no real solutions,” Cuomo said in his video.

Cuomo and members of the Democratic Party have also criticised Mamdani’s position on Israel, which he has said is committing “genocide” in Gaza.

That opinion is in line with a growing number of international human rights groups and human rights experts, and comes at a moment of growing disfavour towards Israel among US voters in general and Democratic voters in particular.

After the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced it was issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza, Cuomo, a firm backer of Israel, joined a team of attorneys who said they would defend the Israeli leader.

Mamdani’s primary victory sparked a wave of Islamophobic attacks by supporters of Israel and members of the US right, including President Donald Trump, who has called Mamdani a “communist” and said he could strip him of his citizenship.

The 27-member bloc says Washington’s latest threats against its exports are ‘absolutely unacceptable’.

The European Union has promised to take countermeasures against the United States if the administration of US President Donald Trump introduces 30 percent tariffs on imports from the bloc next month.

After ministers met in Brussels on Monday to discuss the tariff threat Trump issued over the weekend, the EU’s trade representative Maros Sefcovic said such a move by Washington would be “absolutely unacceptable”.

Sefcovic said the 27-nation bloc, which is the US’s largest business partner, wanted to reach an agreement through negotiations.

“I’m absolutely 100 percent sure that a negotiated solution is much better than the tension which we might have after August 1,” he told reporters in Belgium, adding that “we must be prepared for all outcomes”.

Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the foreign minister of Denmark, which currently holds the presidency of the EU, reinforced the same message.

“The EU remains ready to react and that includes robust and proportionate countermeasures if required and there was a strong feeling in the room of unity,” he said.

As part of its preparations, Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani confirmed that the EU had drawn up plans to target US goods worth $24.5bn.

Trump’s latest trade war escalation has alarmed European politicians and businesses operating in Europe.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said such high US duties would “hit the German export industry to the core”.

Meanwhile, the American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union, a group that represents major US companies in the EU, said Trump’s plan could “generate damaging ripple effects across all sectors of the EU and US economies”.

Amid the uncertainty, European stocks fell on Monday, with car and alcohol stocks among those worst affected.

Speaking from the Oval Office of the White House on Monday, Trump said he was still willing to talk with trade partners, including the EU, as he looked to boost the US economy and revitalise domestic manufacturing.

After targeting dozens of countries with so-called “reciprocal tariffs” in April, the US president paused them for 90 days to negotiate individual agreements.

As well as targeting the EU last week, Trump also threatened to bring 25 percent tariffs against Japan and South Korea, 30 percent tariffs against Mexico, and 35 percent tariffs against Canada.

Speaking alongside NATO chief, US president says ‘billions’ dollars worth of weapons will be sent to NATO, which will coordinate distribution.

United States President Donald Trump has confirmed the US will send Ukraine more weapons and has threatened to levy steep tariffs on Russia amid his growing frustration over Russia’s refusal to negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.

Speaking at the White House on Monday during a meeting with NATO chief Mark Rutte, Trump said the US would be sending “billions” of dollars in military equipment, including Patriot air defence systems and other missiles. These weapons, said Trump, will be paid for by NATO members.

“In a nutshell, we’re going to make top-of-the-line weapons, and they’ll be sent to NATO,” said Trump.

He added that if Russian President Vladimir Putin fails to sign a peace deal with Ukraine, he will impose “very severe tariffs” in 50 days, including secondary tariffs of 100 percent.

Trump took office with a promise to end the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours, and Putin’s refusal to ink a peace agreement has increasingly frustrated the US president.

While Russia has agreed to brief pauses in fighting, it has refused to accept an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, saying that the proposal would give Kyiv a chance to remobilise its troops and rearm.

That has strained the close relationship between Putin and Trump, who last week accused the Russian leader of throwing a lot of “b******” at the US.

Rutte commended Trump’s announcement, saying: “It will mean that Ukraine can get its hands on really massive numbers of military equipment, both for air defence, but also missiles, ammunition, etc.

“If I was Vladimir Putin today, and hear you speaking about what you were planning to do in 50 days, and this announcement, I would reconsider whether I should not take negotiations about Ukraine more seriously than I was doing at the moment.”

Trump said he would be pulling Patriot air defence systems from around the world to be sold to NATO countries and distributed by the defence bloc, but he did not say whether the US would also be sending long-range rockets and other offensive weapons.

During the press conference, Trump repeatedly expressed his frustration with Putin.

“My conversations with him are always very pleasant … I go home, I tell the first lady: ‘I spoke to Vladimir today, we had a wonderful conversation’. She said: ‘Oh, really, another city was just hit’.”

Trump said that, unlike his predecessors, he wasn’t “fooled” by Putin but that ultimately, talk doesn’t talk. It’s got to be action … He knows the deal. He knows what a fair deal is.”

Melinda Haring, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, said Trump’s about-face came after months of Putin’s continued onslaught.

“Trump gave Putin six months. He stuck his neck out, and he said that he was going to make peace. And he also felt like Putin was stringing him along. In addition to those reasons, there were people that were close to the president showing him pictures of Ukraine, of the cities and children that are being harmed every single night,” she said.

In Kyiv, Ukrainians are cautiously viewing the announcement as a strong message of support, despite the many unknown details.

“If Patriot batteries really do make their way to Ukraine, then that is going to go a long way to protecting the skies over this country, as it tries to endure almost nightly massive barrages of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones,” said Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands.

The Kremlin responded by noting that the West had long provided weapons and equipment to Ukraine and said dialogue remained important to Moscow.

But within Russian society, the US-NATO announcement was greeted with disappointment, said Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova.

“There were hopes when Donald Trump came into power that the conflict would end. People saw that Trump had some steps to bring peace to Ukraine to help finish this conflict, but now he’s kind of lost his patience,” she said. “Pro-war sources say: ‘You see, we told you that Russia didn’t have to trust Donald Trump because he was not Russia’s friend.’”

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EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič presented EU trade ministers gathered in Brussels for an extraordinary meeting on Monday a list of €72 billion worth of US products to be included in a retaliatory tariff drive, as US pressure ramped up over the weekend with the threat of 30% tariffs on EU imports starting on 1 August.

“We must be prepared for all outcomes, including if necessary, well-considered proportionate measures to restore balance in our transatlantic relationship,” Šefčovič said, adding: “Today the Commission is sharing with the member states the proposal for the second list of goods, accounting of some €72 billion worth of US Imports. They will now have a chance to discuss it.”

The list proposed by the Commission, which has been reduced from €72 billion to €95 billion after consultation of EU industries and member states, still has to be adopted formally by the member states. It targets a wide range of products including US aeroplanes and Bourbon whiskey.

On 12 July, after weeks of negotiations, US President Donald Trump published on Truth Social a letter sent to the Commission threatening to impose 30% tariffs on EU imports if no deal is reached by 1 August.

Last week, negotiations appeared to have entered the final stretch, with the EU having reluctantly agreed to a baseline tariff of 10% on its imports. Sector-specific exemptions were still needing to be negotiated, the EU having managed to secure 0% on aircraft and spirits and some US tariffs just above 10% on agri-products.

“We were very very close to an agreement in principle,” Danish foreign affairs minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen regretted.

The US currently imposes 50% on EU steel and aluminium, 25% on cars and 10% on all EU imports.

According to an EU diplomat, EU retaliation could also include export controls on aluminium scrap, which the US needs.

But while the EU is flexing its muscles, it continues to prioritise negotiation.

“We remain convinced that our transatlantic relationship deserves a negotiated solution, one that leads to renewed stability and cooperation,” Maroš Šefčovič said before announcing he had a call planned with his US counterparts on Monday late afternoon.

On 13 July, the Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a delay in the implementation of an initial retaliatory measure targeting €21 billion worth of American products, which had been suspended until 15 July.

According to the same EU diplomat, a meeting of EU ambassadors had originally decided to postpone it until the end of the year, but Trump’s new announcements have made these countermeasures more urgent. They have therefore been postponed until 1 August.

Anti-coercion instrument

Behind the show of unity displayed on Monday by member states, diplomats are however well aware that complications will arise once a deal with the US is on the table.

“Let’s be realistic we will all have different interpretations,” an official from a member states told Euronews, admitting that once a deal is reached some countries will push for strong retaliation while others will want to avoid escalation, depending on which of their strategic sectors is most hit by the US.

France continues to advocate a hard line toward the US, eager to put all the tools at the EU’s disposal on the table, including the use of the anti-coercion instrument — the “nuclear option” of EU trade defence, adopted in 2023.

“This pressure, deliberately applied by the US president in recent days and weeks, is straining our negotiating capacity and must lead us to show that Europe is a power,” French Trade Minister Laurent Saint-Martin said on arrival at the Council, adding: “Europe is a power when it knows how to demonstrate its ability to respond.”

“The US has escalation dominance,” a second EU diplomat told Euronews.

On Sunday Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen ruled out use of the anti-coercion instrument for the time being.

“The anti-coercion is created for extraordinary situations,” she said, adding: “We are not there yet.”

The tool would allow the EU to withdraw licences and intellectual property rights from foreign companies including US tech giants.

Bitcoin has scaled $120,000 for the first time, a major milestone for the world’s largest cryptocurrency in the run-up to what could be a landmark week.

Starting July 14, “Crypto Week” will see the US House of Representatives debate three industry-friendly bills that are likely to provide cryptocurrencies with the US regulatory framework that crypto insiders have long demanded.

US President Donald Trump has urged policymakers to revamp their rules, away from the plethora of lawsuits brought against crypto firms by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under former President Joe Biden (2021-2025), in favour of the industry.

Expectations of further tailwinds helped propel Bitcoin, up 29 percent so far this year, to a record high of $122,055 on Monday. Bitcoin, the very first cryptocurrency, began trading in January 2009, when it was valued at just $0.004.

The surge has sparked a broader rally across other cryptocurrencies as Ether, the world’s second-most popular token, reached a five-month high of $3,048.2 on Monday.

More generally, the sector’s total market value has swelled to roughly $3.8 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Cryptocurrencies are a form of monetary exchange that allows people to bypass central banks and traditional payment methods.

What is at stake?

US lawmakers will discuss three key pieces of legislation during “Crypto Week”:

• The GENIUS Act aims to clarify when digital assets like crypto tokens are considered securities or commodities, helping startups avoid legal uncertainty by providing clear regulatory rules. The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act has already passed the Senate.
• The Clarity Act would block federal agencies from using court rulings to overextend regulatory power, ensuring that Congress – and not courts – defines how crypto assets are classified and governed.
• The Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act would prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC), arguing it could enable government surveillance of Americans’ financial activity and threaten individual privacy.

This marks a sharp reversal for a sector that once threatened to do its business outside the US, citing a hostile environment and heavy-handed enforcement.

Crypto companies have long accused US financial regulators (like the SEC) of enacting confusing or conflicting rules.

“We expect capital that was previously sidelined due to regulatory uncertainty to re-enter … even if final passage stalls,” Jag Kooner, head of derivatives at Bitfinex crypto exchange, told Reuters.

This week’s decisions could make it easier for companies to launch new digital asset products and to trade in crypto.

Does the proposed legislation have critics?

Democrats are expected to offer amendments to the GENIUS and Clarity Acts.

Critics have argued that the Trump administration is conceding too much ground to the crypto industry.

“I’m concerned that what my Republican colleagues are aiming for is another industry handout,” Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said on July 9 at a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing.

She urged Congress to bar public officials, including Trump, from issuing, backing or profiting from crypto tokens.

Warren also argued that new crypto rules should not “open a back door to destroy” longtime securities laws, or allow volatility in the crypto market to spill over into the traditional financial system.

Finally, she underscored that anti-money laundering rules should apply to the industry. Crypto users are identified by alphanumeric wallet addresses, not their names, allowing bad actors to obscure the source of their illicit funds.

The Biden administration adopted a tough regulatory stance towards cryptocurrencies, aiming to oversee the digital assets as securities subject to the same regulations as stocks and bonds.

What’s Trump’s interest in crypto?

Trump, once a crypto sceptic, became a major promoter during his presidential campaign last year, even becoming the first major-party presidential candidate to accept campaign donations via crypto.

During the 2024 campaign, crypto insiders spent nearly a quarter of a billion dollars, according to Federal Election Commission data, in support of crypto allies – and to try and weed out antagonists.

In March, Trump said he would create a crypto reserve that would include five cryptocurrencies (including Bitcoin), adding he would make the US “the crypto capital of the world”.

Meanwhile, Trump’s family business has launched several cryptocurrency meme coins, flash-in-the-pan assets inspired by internet jokes or cultural references, such as $Trump and $Melania.

Trump has faced criticism over conflicts of interest regarding his family’s ventures. For instance, World Liberty Financial – a crypto group backed by Trump and his sons in 2024 – has earned the president $57m.

Elsewhere, Trump Media & Technology Group filed paperwork with the SEC in July seeking approval to launch its own “Crypto Blue-Chip ETF”, an exchange-traded fund holding Bitcoin and other digital currencies.

How has Bitcoin performed since Trump was re-elected?

If Bitcoin were a country, it would rank in the top 10 by gross domestic product, roughly on par with countries like Brazil ($2.17 trillion) and Canada ($2.14 trillion).

Since Donald Trump’s re-election in November 2024, Bitcoin has surged by 75 percent, rising from about $69,539 at close on Election Day to its current record level. It rallied to above $100,000 for the first time last December.

The cryptocurrency briefly dropped below $90,000 on February 25, amid market jitters triggered by Trump’s announcement of new tariffs on multiple countries and industries worldwide, before recovering after Trump’s “crypto reserve” announcement.

Bitcoin’s rise also arrives amid a wider backdrop of economic uncertainty, notably the global turmoil from Trump’s steep – and on-again, off-again – tariffs imposed on key trading partners worldwide, in addition to ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

“Bitcoin has shown resilience this year, rebounding in line with its macro exposures following tariff announcements,” Citibank analysts wrote in a research paper last week.