U.S.

Two U.S. troops were killed in action and one remains missing in Jordan on Friday while defending against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks, U.S. Central Command announced on X. Another “four American service members were medically evacuated to Jordanian hospitals. They have since been discharged. Other personnel who were evaluated for minor injuries have returned to duty.”

“Out of respect for the families, CENTCOM is withholding additional information, including the identities of the fallen warriors, until 24 hours after the next of kin have been notified,” the command added.

CENTCOM did not say where in Jordan, however, yesterday, CBS News reported that “Iran attacked at least two Jordanian bases this week, resulting in several American service members being injured in the attack after their facility was struck.”

We noted yesterday that data from NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) at 10:59 PM EDT indicated a fire adjacent to the runway near an area where aircraft are parked at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. However, TWZ cannot independently verify what happened at the base and if any equipment was destroyed or damaged and how personnel there were affected. We’ve reached out to CENTCOM for answers.

We reached out to CENTCOM for confirmation.

Video emerged on social media purporting to show attacks on the base.

Muwaffaq Salti, as we have frequently reported, has come under attack numerous times. In March, CNN obtained imagery from Planet Labs showing an AN/TPY-2 radar damaged, or even possibly destroyed, following an Iranian attack there.

The air base has long been a major regional hub for U.S. operations, and is being very actively utilized in the current conflict. It hosts the greatest concentration of U.S. tactical aircraft in the region, and thus is an extremely important target, where, as we pointed out last night, even one ballistic missile landing on an apron could destroy multiple prized aircraft and take the lives of U.S. service members or cause injuries.

Iran also hit Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia yesterday, Axios reporter Barak Ravid stated on X.

In addition, officials in Kuwait yesterday said one of the country’s power and water desalination plants “was attacked as a result of the Iranian aggression…leading to a fire and damage to the plant’s facilities and several electricity generating units.”

“The fire is now under control and repairs are ongoing,” the Kuwait government added.

The two deaths and the injuries came as the conflict between the U.S. and Iran is escalating rapidly, with each side now attacking critical infrastructure and Iran intensifying strikes on U.S. bases across the region.

Amid the fighting, “Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Qaribabadi stated that Tehran has suspended its commitments under the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with Washington as United States attacks continue,” the official Fars News Agency reported.

July 18 (UPI) — Influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate were arrested in Miami Saturday on dozens of new charges stemming from alleged sex crimes in the U.K., including child pornography, British prosecutors said.

Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service said the brothers are awaiting extradition to the U.K. to face 21 original charges — as well as a slew of new accusations.

“We have decided to prosecute Andrew and Tristan Tate for further offences including rape, arranging or facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation and offences relating to indecent images of a child,” said Malcolm McHaffie, head of the Special Crime Division at CPS, in a statement.

Andrew Tate, 39, was charged with 19 counts related to indecent images of a child and extreme pornography. He is also accused of rape, arranging or facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Tristan Tate, 38, was charged with sexual assault, rape and arranging or facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation.

“These charging decisions followed receipt of a further file of evidence from Bedfordshire Police and bring the total number of alleged victims in this case to seven,” McHaffie said.

CPS said the new charges stem from offenses taking place between July 2010 and August 2017.

The Tate brothers, who hold dual British-American citizenship, were first charged in the U.K. last year for alleged rape and human trafficking.

They are former kickboxers with millions of followers on social media.

The brothers have denied all charges against them.

BILLINGS, Mont. — The U.S. Interior Department on Friday canceled a rule meant to protect plants and animals that are determined to be threatened with extinction, the latest step by the Trump administration to dismantle key provisions of the landmark Endangered Species Act at the behest of industry.

Instead of receiving automatic protections, imperiled species will need individualized protection plans once they are added to the threatened species list. That’s a potentially lengthy process in which companies could seek exemptions for oil and gas drilling, mining and other development where those species live.

Opponents said it would make it harder to save wildlife awaiting federal protections and in danger of disappearing, such as monarch butterflies and alligator snapping turtles.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement that the Endangered Species Act had been used for too long “to stop almost any new project in America, driving up costs for families, weakening our competitiveness, and undermining our national security.”

“Success should be measured by species recovery and delisting, not by adding more species to the list,” Burgum added.

A second change finalized Friday requires officials to analyze economic effects when deciding whether habitat is critical to a species’ survival. Critics say it gives corporations an opportunity to put their thumb on the scale so officials will allow development in those areas.

“If you’re exempting certain industries that cause habitat destruction, in many instances you’ll be exempting the main threat to those species,” said Noah Greenwald with the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity.

Officials made similar changes during Trump’s first term, but they were reversed under the Biden administration.

The rules that gave what some consider “blanket protections” to threatened species were first adopted for wildlife in 1975 and for plants in 1977.

Two groups, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Property and Environment Research Center, sued the Biden administration in 2024 after officials restored the blanket protections rule. They argued the rule unfairly imposed the same restrictions on landowners when a species’ status improves from endangered, which is more dire, to threatened.

That removed incentives for landowners to participate in species recovery, said Jonathan Wood, vice president at the Montana-based research center.

Wood said the Trump administration’s approach allows officials to “better reward progress and encourage proactive conservation.”

There have been no species added to the endangered or threatened lists in Trump’s second term. By comparison, more than 20 species were added in Trump’s first term, and about 60 under President Biden.

About 30 species are currently proposed to be listed as threatened. Besides monarchs and alligator snapping turtles, they include California spotted owls and various snakes, fish, clams and insects.

Changes to government policies for endangered plants and wildlife have come faster and extended further in Trump’s second term than in his first.

The administration in March exempted oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said environmentalists’ lawsuits threatened to hobble domestic energy supplies as the U.S. wages war against Iran.

A week before the latest rule change, Interior officials sharply narrowed the definition of what constitutes “harm” to a species. The change would allow development in critical wildlife habitat so long as the animals themselves are not immediately killed or injured.

Officials this week sharply reduced the amount of critical habitat in the Rocky Mountains designated for Canada lynx, forest-dwelling wildcats that are threatened by climate change and other pressures.

Also this week, Burgum said in a visit to Montana that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would turn over more management authority for grizzly bears to states where the bruins live. That’s been a long-standing priority for the Republican governors of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.

The Endangered Species Act is credited with bringing back animals including the California condor, the bald eagle and the American alligator from the brink of extinction.

Burgum noted Friday that 97% of the species that have been given protections still have them. That’s a frustration for Republican lawmakers who say species should be taken off the endangered and threatened lists more quickly once they’ve recovered.

Brown writes for the Associated Press.

July 18 (UPI) — The United States and Iran ramped up attacks on Saturday, while Israel and Lebanon did the same, as the Strait of Hormuz is still shut down.

The U.S. Central Command said in a statement on X that it targeted “surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage and maritime capabilities. U.S. forces employed fighter aircraft, aerial drones, and warships in addition to other assets.

“CENTCOM continues to hold Iran accountable at the Commander in Chief’s direction while fully enforcing a naval blockade against Iranian ports,” it said.

Iran and the United States are enforcing blockades in the strait: Iran is preventing ships from passing, and the United States is blocking Iranian ships and ports. The strait is a vital waterway for oil and gas transport.

Iran’s state media reported Saturday that the country has suffered damage to bridges and roads in the southern part of Iran and that a water desalination plant in Jask was hit. A local official said that about 10,000 people are facing a water shortage.

Iran retaliated by hitting American allies. It heavily attacked Kuwait, including damaging a water desalination plant, vital to the desert country. Kuwait gets 90% of its drinking water from desalination. The attacks created a fire at the plant. An oil facility in Kuwait was struck, which created some injuries and “severe material losses,” Kuwait’s petroleum corporation said.

“The repeated targeting of these vital facilities reveals a systematic hostile approach targeting civilian sites and vital infrastructure that endangers the lives and safety of civilians,” the foreign ministry said.

Jordan’s army said Saturday that it had shot down 10 Iranian missiles with no casualties or damage.

“Air defense systems … intercepted 10 Iranian missiles that had entered Jordanian airspace and were targeting the Kingdom’s territory (which) were intercepted and shot down,” the army said in a statement.

Reza Amiri Moghadam, Iranian ambassador to Pakistan, said, “[The] U.S. interpreted [memorandum of understanding] contrary to its terms and gained control over parts of Strait Hormuz to obtain what it couldn’t in the battlefield,” Moghadam posted on X. “It was obvious that the Iranian side would not accept this arbitrary interpretation which blatantly violated the MOU.”

“Now, the U.S. has started a war contrary to the terms of MOU and international principles destroying the infrastructures,” he said. “The international community is expected to strongly condemn this aggressive and reckless act.”

Meanwhile, Israel has ramped up its attacks on Lebanon.

An Israeli drone hit Nabatieh, Lebanon’s state National News Agency reported. Israeli war planes also hit a neighborhood in Mansouri in the coastal Tyre district just after two more planes carried out airstrikes in a different part of Mansouri, the news agency said.

An Israeli military spokesperson said the military had attacked militants “who posed a threat” in Nabatieh but that the Israeli military was “not aware” of any Israeli attacks in Mansouri on Saturday.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun left Saturday for Washington, D.C., to meet with President Donald Trump. He is expected to meet with U.S. officials and discuss the cease-fire with Israel and ways to boost security and stability with Israel. The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday.

July 17 (UPI) — Taylor Farms announced Friday it is removing all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico from the U.S. market, after federal officials said they traced the cyclosporiasis outbreak that’s caused illness in thousands of people to lettuce supplied to Taco Bell restaurants in five states.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said their investigators found the shredded iceberg lettuce came from Taylor Farms, a supplier that also sells salad kits in grocery stores.

In a statement, the company said it is voluntarily removing all of its Mexico-sourced iceberg lettuce, adding the outbreak is not associated with any of its salad kits.

“While the FDA traceback is indicating a specific independent farm that represents less than 1% of the U.S.’s iceberg lettuce supply as the potential source of the outbreak, we have removed all iceberg lettuce from the region indefinitely,” the company statement said.

The CDC’s website says not to eat “shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia.”

More than 1,600 people have been confirmed ill with the bug.

The agencies did not name a supplier, but two people familiar with the inquiry told The Washington Post that investigators have identified Taylor Farms as the supplier.

“The investigation remains active, and additional states, restaurants, retailers or products may be identified as more information becomes available,” said Emily Hilliard, a spokesperson for the Health and Human Services Department.

“The signal we have gotten is that there is a very high percentage of people who got sick at Taco Bell, and when investigators asked what their menu items were in common, lettuce came up frequently,” one person familiar with the investigation said.

“Based on ongoing conversations with public health officials, and out of an abundance of caution, Taco Bell has taken immediate action to voluntarily remove potentially impacted lettuce from a supplier in select states,” Taco Bell Corp. said in a statement. “The affected ingredient from our supplier is being indefinitely removed from our supply chain nationwide and will be replaced within 24 hours in select states.”

Taylor Farms is a leading global producer of salads and healthy fresh foods, with production facilities across the United States, Canada, Mexico and Western Europe. The company has been linked to several outbreaks.

In November 2024, onions from Taylor Farms were tainted with E.Coli and sold at McDonald’s stores via Quarter Pounders burgers. About 100 people in 14 states were sickened. In December 2015, 19 people in 18 states were sickened with E. Coli after eating tainted celery supplied by the company to grocery stores. In August 2013, salad kits from Taylor Farms grown in Mexico were recalled after more than 360 people in Texas, Iowa and Nebraska became ill with cyclosporiasis. In February 2013, Taylor Farms recalled organic baby spinach products sold in 39 states for potential E. coli contamination, though there were no reports of illness.

The greatest geopolitical and economic challenge facing the United States today is the proliferation of international Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs.) While the United States has the “sweet geopolitical spot in the world’s geography and topographic landmass,” its economic dominance is being challenged by the proliferation of international SWFs. It is true, at present, that the United States has the largest reserve of oil and mineral wealth in the world, yet with SWFs gaining traction in the world economy, the oil reserves and mineral wealth may not matter.

Those countries that have initiated SWFs as part of their economic and geopolitical life are on an upward trajectory. The United States, on the other hand, is on a downward path by not marshalling its vast mineral wealth in a comprehensive and dynamic SWF. If things continue on their present course, those countries utilizing their mineral wealth and excess cash surplus will eventually catch up and overtake the size of the US economy. This is an evolving threat to the national security of the United States and to its very polity.

The most immediate threat to the United States is the race to develop mining facilities on the Moon to harvest and transport the critical element of Helium-3 (He-3.)    He-3 is a critical element for the increasing economic demands of a modern world economy. Whoever can establish mining dominance for this critical element will become the world’s leading economic power in the world, regardless of that nation’s mineral wealth on Earth.

However, with its present economic and political strength, the United States has the means to reverse that trend if its two major political organizations can compromise on the very nature of the framework that establishes a United States SWF; this challenge is not easily dealt with.

This article discusses the legislative gridlock surrounding the creation of a United States SWF and the accelerating international competition that challenges the current United States dominance in space technology.

Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) is currently constructing the SPARC at Devens, Massachusetts. CFS is constructing the SPARC to demonstrate to the world that it has solved the fusion problem. Despite some technological setbacks, CFS is on schedule to make the SPARC operational by the end of 2026, or early 2027. At the same time, CFS is currently constructing a fusion reactor (called a tokamak) in Virginia, which is scheduled to go online in the early 2030s. Critical to the ARC’s development is a shortage of the element He-3. He-3 is ignited by radio frequency and is the sparkplug that begins the plasma process, which is fusion energy, in the ARC tokamak.

The Commercial Landscape: U.S. Private Frontrunners

Terrestrial Helium-3 supply—derived primarily from nuclear stockpile maintenance—is severely capped at 22,000 to 30,000 liters annually. With surging demand for ultra-low-term quantum computer cooling, private aerospace firms are leading the transition to lunar harvesting:

• Interlune: Founded by former Blue Origin executives, the company unveiled a full-scale prototype harvester developed with Vermeer to process one hundred metric tons of regolith per hour. Backed by a $6.9 million NASA contract for its Prospect Moon payload, Interlune secured a historic $300M+ supply agreement with Finnish quantum firm Bluefors. Its first mapping payload is scheduled for an upcoming commercial lunar launch.
• Lunar Helium-3 Mining (LH3M): This firm holds five U.S. patents on a non-invasive, gas-separation architecture designed to extract solar wind volatile gases while bypassing traditional, high-wear mechanical regolith excavation.

The U.S. Sovereign Wealth Fund Gridlock

While Helium-3 is valued at roughly $20 million per kilogram, the asset cannot currently be utilized to seed an American Sovereign Wealth Fund due to severe political domestic gridlock:

• The Legislative Catch-22: The U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act explicitly protects private enterprise, granting corporations exclusive ownership over extracted space resources. To capture this value, Congress would need to enact “space-severance taxes” or equity-for-infrastructure deals—both of which face massive ideological pushbacks in a deeply divided legislature.  It should be noted that American taxpayers have invested some $1.9 trillion (adjusted for inflation) in technology developed by NASA. Since the American people invested this money, they should be entitled to a return on investment.
• The Deficit vs. Surplus Dilemma: Traditional SWFs rely on state-managed resource surpluses (e.g., Norway’s oil). The U.S. operates at a massive structural deficit. Republicans propose seeding a fund via tariffs or fossil-fuel extraction, while Democrats demand funding via corporate wealth taxes or clean-energy equity. These disputes, combined with immediate 2026 midterm election priorities, have stalled the SWF framework completely.

Global Geopolitical Competitors: State-Driven Alternatives

While the U.S. model depends heavily on the private market, international adversaries are leveraging unified state power to establish dominance over lunar resources:

• China (CNSA): China’s Chang’e lunar exploration program is systematically mapping Helium-3 concentrations. Unlike the U.S. focus on near-term quantum cooling, Beijing explicitly views lunar He-3 as a long-term strategic energy priority to fuel Earth-based Deuterium-Helium-3 nuclear fusion reactors.
• The China-Russia Coalition: Beijing and Moscow have formalized a binding industrial partnership to construct an automated nuclear reactor on the Moon’s South Pole by 2035–2036. This autonomous reactor is designed to resolve the “Lunar Night” problem, providing continuous power to massive, automated mining rovers and scientific labs under the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) framework.
• Japan (ispace): In the allied sector, Japanese lunar robotics firm ispace has partnered with European mining tech developers to pioneer its own automated, energy-efficient recovery models for lunar Helium-3.

·        Conclusion

·        The race for Helium-3 represents a critical shift from symbolic space exploration to deep-space industrial supply chains. While U.S. commercial tech is moving quickly, domestic policy gridlock risks ceding permanent, state-backed infrastructure dominance to the China-Russia ILRS coalition.

·        While the concept of using outer space resources to build national wealth is actively discussed by think tanks, Congress has separate, targeted pieces of legislation addressing artificial intelligence revenue, foreign transparency, and space resource exploration rules.

·         

·        The primary draft bills and legislative vehicles currently stalled in committee reveal how Congress is attempting to navigate these frameworks:

The American A.I. Sovereign Wealth Fund Act (S. 4825)

Introduced in June 2026 by Senate Finance Committee member Bernie Sanders (I-VT), this is the most direct legislative attempt to create a federal wealth fund.

• The Mechanism: The bill proposes imposing a specialized excise tax on systemically critical artificial intelligence models and automation infrastructure. The revenue would seed a citizen-owned national wealth fund.
• Why It’s Stalled: It is currently deadlocked in the Senate Finance Committee. The bill faces severe pushback from lawmakers who argue that taxing emerging domestic tech sectors will cause the U.S. to lose the AI race to China, preferring instead to seed a potential fund via tariffs or natural resources.

2. The Sovereign Wealth Fund Transparency Act (S. 1488)

Introduced by Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), this bill tackles the national security and foreign policy side of state-owned investment vehicles.

• The Mechanism: Rather than creating a U.S. fund, this bill forces heavy disclosure requirements, financial auditing, and security screening on foreign sovereign wealth funds operating within U.S. critical infrastructure, high-tech, and aerospace sectors.

Why It’s Stalled: Referred to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, it has remained stagnant due to concerns that over-regulating allied sovereign wealth funds (such as those from Gulf state allies or Singapore) could chill necessary foreign direct investment into U.S. tech startups.

3. Space Resource Extraction & Regulatory Frameworks (CRS / Commerce Committee Review)

There is currently no singular active bill trying to place federal royalties on lunar Helium-3 mining. Instead, the debate is gridlocked during budget reconciliation and agency authorizations within the House and Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committees.

• The Conflict: Congressional research reports on space resource extraction outline a widening gap in regulatory authority. NASA’s Artemis framework pushes heavily for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) via public-private partnerships. However, some factions in Congress are pushing for strict government-owned procurement models to prevent private monopolies over lunar sites, effectively freezing long-term policy development
• Midterm Postponements: Broad commercial space bills have been repeatedly delayed because committee attention is entirely consumed by urgent federal budget reconciliation battles and defense appropriations.development.

Summary of Bill Statuses

Conclusion

Until the two major political organizations can begin to compromise for the good of the American people, the United States will eventually revert to a second-class power.

July 17 (Asia Today) — A senior U.S. lawmaker proposed building as much as 80% of some American naval vessels in South Korea while reserving sensitive technology and final assembly for the United States.

Rep. Ami Bera of California, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee overseeing East Asia and the Pacific, said Thursday that relying exclusively on domestic shipyards was unrealistic because the United States lacks sufficient workers and production capacity.

Bera spoke at a South Korea-U.S. shipbuilding and maritime innovation forum hosted by the Korea Foundation and the RAND research organization in Arlington, Va.

“To say we are going to build everything in the United States is wrong,” Bera said, urging Washington to make greater use of allied manufacturing capacity.

He suggested that South Korean shipyards could produce hulls and other components accounting for 75% to 80% of a vessel, while highly sensitive systems could be manufactured and installed in the United States.

Bera also proposed a distributed construction model under which components would be produced at different locations before being brought to the United States for final assembly.

“If we do not have the workers or construction capacity in the United States, we have to build where ships can be built,” he said.

Bera said combining the capabilities of the United States and its allies would strengthen deterrence and help prevent a military conflict with China.

Technology controls and visas remain obstacles

Bera said President Donald Trump had discussed nuclear-powered submarine construction with South Korea.

Such cooperation would require the two countries to address technology sharing and export control restrictions, he said.

Bera cited the security partnership among the United States, Britain and Australia as a possible model for resolving issues related to joint naval construction.

The partnership, commonly known as AUKUS, includes plans for Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines with American and British assistance.

Bera also called on the United States to facilitate the entry of South Korean engineers and technicians needed to support investments by Korean shipbuilding companies.

He described the detention of more than 300 South Korean workers in Georgia in September as an “embarrassing fiasco” and said the visa problem must be resolved.

The United States has encouraged South Korean companies to invest in American manufacturing while immigration restrictions have complicated the deployment of specialized Korean personnel to construction sites and shipyards.

Expert says U.S. rebuilding could take decades

Shin Jong-gye, a professor emeritus of naval architecture and ocean engineering at Seoul National University, said China’s overall shipbuilding capacity by gross tonnage was more than 230 times that of the United States.

He said China had more than 50 dry docks large enough to accommodate aircraft carriers.

Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia is the only U.S. shipyard capable of designing and building nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.

Shin said the United States must expand both its physical shipyard capacity and its ability to build vessels quickly and efficiently.

South Korea, Japan and China benefit from building commercial and naval vessels within the same industrial ecosystems, allowing them to share technology, workers and supply chains, he said.

The United States lacks a comparable commercial shipbuilding base and therefore cannot obtain the same economies of scale, Shin said.

South Korea, Japan and China together account for more than 95% of global commercial shipbuilding.

Shin said rebuilding an industry requires accumulated experience, technology and repeated construction cycles.

He estimated that rebuilding the U.S. shipbuilding sector independently could take 20 to 30 years, while cooperation with South Korea could significantly shorten the process.

Shin proposed initially building complete ships in South Korea while developing supply chains in the United States. American production could then be expanded gradually.

He said protecting South Korean intellectual property, providing appropriate compensation and resolving visa restrictions for Korean specialists would be essential.

Hanwha, HD Hyundai respond to Navy request

Michael Coulter, president and chief executive officer of Hanwha Defense USA, said protectionism was one of the largest obstacles to industrial cooperation.

He said South Korea and the United States often viewed each other primarily as export markets rather than partners sharing a common industrial base.

Coulter said the U.S. Navy had issued a request for information after consulting the South Korean government and Korean shipbuilders.

The request examined the possible use of a vessel construction manager who would help finalize a ship’s design before construction begins.

South Korean shipyards generally complete designs before starting construction, while U.S. Navy projects often undergo design changes after work has begun, increasing costs and delaying delivery, Coulter said.

The U.S. government has asked Hanwha about options ranging from building combat vessels and supplying motors to constructing hulls in South Korea before installing American technology, he said.

Coulter said, however, that the administration and Congress had not reached a unified position.

He called on the two countries to integrate portions of their industrial bases rather than treat each investment or contract as a conventional export transaction.

Hong Suk-hwan, president and chief executive officer of HD Hyundai USA, proposed a two-track strategy involving investment in U.S. shipyards and partnerships with existing American companies.

Hong said HD Hyundai had built about 5,000 vessels during the past 50 years and could apply its skilled workforce, manufacturing experience and supply network to the United States.

He also proposed a “bridge strategy” in which American workers would train at South Korean shipyards for about three years while ships were being constructed there.

The trained workers could then return to the United States as supervisors and production managers at American shipyards.

U.S. law limits overseas warship construction

Brittany Clayton, a senior operations researcher at RAND, said complicated U.S. defense procurement procedures, unpredictable orders and design changes during construction remained major barriers to cooperation.

The Navy, Defense Department and Congress all play roles in funding and policy decisions, making rapid action difficult, she said.

Clayton said companies needed consistent and predictable demand from the U.S. government before making long-term investments.

She also cited proposed legislation restricting the overseas construction of American combat vessels.

Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, whose district includes the Bath Iron Works shipyard, introduced an amendment to the fiscal 2027 defense authorization bill that would restrict foreign construction of combat ships.

Clayton said distributed construction could provide an alternative, with components built at multiple locations before being integrated and tested in the United States.

She also suggested beginning cooperation with strategic sealift vessels, which contain fewer sensitive military technologies than combat ships.

The Senate Armed Services Committee included language in its fiscal 2027 defense authorization legislation that would permit the acquisition of up to two noncombat vessels from allied shipyards, including bulk fuel carriers and strategic sealift ships.

Trump said Wednesday that his administration was examining shipbuilders in South Korea and other countries and could purchase some vessels built outside the United States.

Kristin Gunness of San Diego State University said the university had signed an agreement with Samsung Heavy Industries to establish a marine engineering and shipbuilding center.

She said the university was also developing exchange programs with Seoul National University and other South Korean institutions.

Shin proposed short-term educational programs involving retired South Korean professors and American universities to train ship designers and production managers.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260717010006342

July 17 (UPI) — The husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was charged Friday for allegedly striking a parked vehicle and fleeing the scene in Napa County, Calif., early July.

Paul Pelosi, 86, was charged with misdemeanor hit-and-run and making an unlawful turn, Napa County officials said.

Officials said Pelosi struck an unoccupied, parked Tesla in Yountville on July 3, causing “significant damage.”

“Pelosi admitted to hitting something, but said he did not know what he had hit, so he kept driving,” a statement from the Napa County Sheriff’s Office said at the time. “He drove until his car became disabled and was no longer able to continue driving.”

Pelosi was not suspected of driving under the influence.

“Mr. Paul Pelosi has personally apologized to the owner of the vehicle and assured them that he would take responsibility for the damage to their vehicle,” a Pelosi family spokesperson told NBC News. “Speaker Pelosi will not be commenting further on this private matter.”

In 2022, Pelosi pleaded guilty to a DUI charge and was sentenced to five days in jail and three years probation.

In the past decade, he has had at least eight driving violations in California, including speeding, running a red light and driving the wrong way down a one-way street, the New York Times reported.

July 17 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Friday told FIFA officials they should pick the United States to host another World Cup, so long as they don’t include Canada or Mexico.

“You should choose the United States of America again,” Trump said during a FIFA World Cup reception at Trump Tower in New York, Politico reported. “This time we will leave Canada and Mexico out.”

The next World Cup, in 2030, will be co-hosted by Morocco, Portugal and Spain, followed by Saudi Arabia in 2034.

FIFA has not yet selected a host for the 2038 tournament.

Trump added FIFA should “pick somebody else for the next one and that will take some of the anger, hatred and steam out of everyone,” Politico reported.

Trump has close ties to FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

The president earlier this month said he spoke with Infantino to ask for a reversal of a red card suspension to U.S. soccer star Folarin Balogun.

After Trump’s call, FIFA followed suit and allowed Balogun to play in the following match against Belgium.

“You made another great decision,” Trump told Infantino of the reversal on Friday. “You’ll never get credit for that.”

It made no difference: the U.S. soccer team was eliminated in a 4-1 loss to Belgium.

The World Cup comes to a close on Sunday. Trump said he would be present for the final match between Spain and Argentina.

July 17 (UPI) — One of the leading democratic contenders for Wisconsin governor on Friday quit the race due to troubling financial issues with her campaign.

Sara Rodriguez, the state’s lieutenant governor, on Monday had admitted her campaign was short hundreds of thousands of dollars because her campaign manager had double-counted donations.

“As we have continued to dig into our financial reports, it has become clear that there are issues that would be an ongoing distraction — not just for this campaign, but for the primary and for Wisconsin,” Rodriguez said in a statement Friday on X. “This race is too important to let that happen.”

Rodriguez, who was leading the race in recent polling, added, “I am deeply hurt and betrayed by what happened.”

Her departure leaves state Rep. Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist, and former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes as the frontrunners in the race.

The democratic nominee will likely face U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is endorsed by President Donald Trump, in the general election.

“Thank you to everyone who believed and showed up for this campaign,” Rodriguez wrote on X. “Let’s keep fighting — together — to protect the Wisconsin we love.”

July 17 (UPI) — The Department of Homeland Security on Friday ramped up the Trump administration’s efforts to address what the president claims are lapses in election security, threatening state officials with prison time if they don’t comply with federal demands.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters in Washington he would apply “maximum pressure” against states that refuse to work with his department.

The Trump administration has focused on noncitizens allegedly casting ballots, which experts say is extremely rare, and the possibility that voting machines can be hacked — although they are, by design, never connected to the internet.

“If the election officials, once we gave them the information they need to secure their elections, and they chose not to, then those individuals can also be held accountable by fines, by penalties, and even, depending on how far it goes, prison time,” Mullin told reporters.

Mullin’s remarks come a day after President Donald Trump, in a primetime address, enumerated a series of debunked claims that the U.S. elections are rigged or have been influenced by foreign governments.

“Our elections were left vulnerable to being rigged and stolen, and the trust of the American people was lost,” Trump said Thursday. “This cannot be allowed to continue.”

Mullin said DHS has found more than 250,000 noncitizens registered to vote in four states — California, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania — and sent letters to their respective secretaries of state seeking answers.

“Before and after the election, we will scrub all election records looking for illegal aliens and those who are ineligible to vote, including those that somehow voted yet they were deceased,” Mullin said. “If you’re illegal and attempted to vote, or you tried to vote illegally for someone else, we will find you and we will charge you.”

In its letters, DHS did not accuse any of the noncitizens of having actually voted.

“We will pursue maximum pressure on this,” Mullin told reporters. “To let you know, we will be proactively looking at early voting, and then after post-election, we will continue to scrub all those that did vote.”

Al Schmidt, the Republican secretary of state in Pennsylvania, said, “All evidence has shown that noncitizen voting is extremely rare across the country,” including in his state.

“In Pennsylvania, every voter must take steps to verify their identity before they cast a ballot, including providing proper identification every time they register to vote, vote by mail, or vote at a new polling place,” Schmidt told The Hill.

In Nevada, Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar, a Democrat, said the administration’s efforts are intended to undermine elections.

“The administration lacks a fundamental understanding of how elections work,” Aguilar said in a statement. “They just want to cause chaos and doubt ahead of the midterms.”

BRASILIA, Brazil, July 17 (UPI) — Brazil’s government has delayed plans to invoke its Reciprocity Law after the United States imposed a 25% tariff on Brazilian exports. It opted instead for a more cautious strategy aimed at avoiding a broader trade conflict.

After meetings between the government’s economic team and the country’s leading industrial groups, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva‘s administration paused previous plans for immediate retaliatory measures.

According to Brazilian media reports, officials are concerned that reciprocal tariffs could trigger a trade war, increase the cost of imported inputs and drive up consumer prices in Brazil.

Industrial associations argued that the production chains of both countries are highly integrated, and that making U.S. imports more expensive would also hurt Brazilian manufacturers, CNN Brasil reported.

The Brazilian government also announced a support program for companies affected by the U.S. tariff.

“We already have mechanisms to protect our companies and our jobs,” Deputy Finance Minister Dario Durigan said. He added that, in coordination with affected industries, the government will strengthen the Brazil Sovereign Plan, which supports businesses “unfairly harmed by the increase in U.S. tariffs,” according to G1.

Analysts say Lula’s administration is expected to exhaust all negotiation channels before escalating the dispute, although they acknowledge that the prospects for direct bilateral negotiations with Washington are limited.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has concluded its Section 301 investigation, determining that Brazil maintains “unfair trade practices.” That finding has left Brazilian diplomats with little room to continue technical negotiations.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira on Thursday rejected Washington’s demands as “excessive and unreasonable.” He said U.S. negotiators had sought concessions that would undermine Brazil’s economic sovereignty in sensitive areas, including the country’s Pix instant payment system and environmental regulations.

Brazil’s manufacturing sector, particularly higher value-added industries, is expected to suffer the greatest impact from the 25% tariffs scheduled to take effect July 22. The measure will affect about 3,000 Brazilian products, representing nearly 18% of Brazil’s exports to the U.S. market, according to O Globo.

To limit the impact on everyday consumer goods in the United States, the Trump administration excluded products such as coffee, oranges and concentrated orange juice, beef and grains from the new tariffs.

With little indication that the White House will soften its position, Brazil has shifted its strategy away from direct bilateral negotiations and toward legal challenges before the World Trade Organization and the gradual use of its Reciprocity Law.

The government’s primary legal strategy will be to challenge the legality of the unilateral tariffs before the World Trade Organization.

Brazil has not ruled out using the Reciprocity Law, which was unanimously approved by Congress. The legislation authorizes Brazil to impose tariffs on the 76% of U.S. products that currently enter the country duty-free and even suspend intellectual property rights.

However, officials said implementation will be delayed while the government evaluates the economic impact of the U.S. measures.

“It is important to emphasize that we have the Reciprocity Law, unanimously approved by the National Congress, and the government will know how to implement it at the appropriate time,” Vice President Geraldo Alckmin said.

He said the law is not intended as retaliation but rather as a measure “that defends the national interest, the interests of Brazilians and the Brazilian economy.”

July 17 (UPI) — Iran early Friday said it struck a U.S. special operations command center in southeastern Syria, escalating the war over the Strait of Hormuz, as the United States attacked bridges and other urban infrastructure in Iran.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps described the strike in a statement as a “surprise attack” conducted in retaliation for the seven soldiers killed early Wednesday in a U.S. attack on Bampur, near Iranshahr in southeastern Iran.

The elite military unit claimed to have destroyed a U.S. radar system and several special-operations helicopters. It claimed to have killed “a large number” of Americans.

State-run media reported Iran also attacked U.S. bases and assets in Kuwait and Bahrain in retaliation for the U.S. attacks hours earlier. Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting claimed the United States destroyed five bridges around Bandar Abbas near the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. Central Command said it had completed a “major wave” of attacks on Iran at 9:40 p.m. EDT Thursday. It said it hit dozens of Iranian military targets, including coastal surveillance and air defense sites, military logistics infrastructure and maritime capabilities.

Though CENTCOM made no mention of civilian infrastructure, President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned that the U.S. military would be ramping up its attacks through the week and would include civilian targets, but explicitly stating, “Next week comes the bridges.”

While the war began in late February, with the Trump administration seeking to dismantle Iran’s nuclear weapons program and encourage regime change, this latest chapter is centered on the vital shipping lane of the Strait of Hormuz.

The Trump administration is seeking to restore freedom of navigation through the chokepoint, while Iran is fighting to maintain the leverage afforded by its ability to restrict passage.

Early Friday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said a tanker had been struck by an unknown projectile, causing minor damage to its port side.

“All crew are safe and accounted for,” it said.

The strike is at least the eighth attack on a commercial ship to attack in the Strait of Hormuz in a little over a week.

Netflix on Thursday reported higher revenues and profit in the second quarter as it sought to assure investors about its growth prospects.

The streaming giant reported revenue of $12.6 billion in the second quarter, up 13% from a year ago. Net income during the period rose 9% to $3.4 billion.

Netflix said it expects revenue to grow 12% in the third quarter, but lowered its 2026 revenue forecast to $51 billion from $51.4 billion.

The results were roughly in line with what analysts had predicted and were driven by recent price increase and growth in advertising revenue. The latter is expected to reach $3 billion this year, the company said.

In a presentation with analysts, Netflix executives touted global expansion plans.

“We’re entertaining an audience approaching a billion people with still lots of room to grow into our addressable market on every measure,” said Spencer Neumann, Netflix’s chief financial officer, in the earnings presentation. “We believe we’ve got lots and lots of runway for solid growth ahead of us.”

Those comments appeared intended to assuage investors who’ve grown concerned that people could be spending less time on the streaming service as rivals like YouTube gain market share.

Netflix’s share of TV viewing time in the U.S. has steadily declined in recent months as rivals have gained market share, according to Nielsen data.

The streamer represented 7.8% of all TV viewing in the U.S. in April — the lowest percentage since May 2025. It was 7.5% in April 2025, Nielsen said.

By comparison, YouTube has seen its share of the streaming audience grow. YouTube’s TV viewing share in April rose to 13.4%, up from 12.4% a year earlier, Nielsen said.

Some investors fear that if viewership is down, subscribers could cancel the service, which would negatively affect the platform’s growing advertising business. It could also undercut Netflix’s ability to raise prices in the U.S. and other countries.

Those worries have caused Netflix’s stock price to plummet 41% in the last year. The stock closed on Thursday at $74.35 a share, up 1%. In after hours trading, the stock fell 8%.

“The engagement elephant continues to rear its head and investors are on edge that an earlier price hike in a seasonally tough period and lighter content slate could have driven more churn than usual,” wrote Morgan Stanley Research analysts in a research note.

On Thursday, Netflix said in a letter to shareholders it has a sophisticated understanding of its consumers and “we know not all hours are equal” and that engagement on its platform is “healthy.”

“The entertainment industry remains dynamic and competitive,” Netflix told shareholders. “We aim to stay ahead by executing against our three areas of focus: delivering more entertainment value, leveraging technology to improve every aspect of our service, and improving monetization.”

The Los Gatos-based company said it plans to allocate more than 5% of its content spend on live programming this year. Live content has been a key driver for subscriptions, accounting for six of the top 10 new member sign-up days over the last five years, the company said.

In the first half of 2026, Netflix said members watched more than 97 billion hours, up 2% from a year ago. Among the most popular shows: the crime thriller “I Will Find You,” which had 87 million views; and the romantic comedy film “Voicemails for Isabelle,” which garnered 71 million views.

Netflix has been adding new types of content to its platform, including video podcasts to help increase engagement with subscribers during the day.

As part of the diversification efforts, the platform has expanded its portfolio of live programming over the years, including adding NFL games and streaming Major League Baseball’s opening day game.

In 2022, Netflix had also faced investor pressure when it reported declining subscribers for the first time in more than a decade. That pushed the company to delve into other areas including advertising, gaming and cracking down on password sharing.

July 16 (UPI) — Thick smoke from Canadian wildfires poured into northeastern quarter of the United States on Thursday after similarly darkening skies across and prompting health warnings across much of the Great Lakes region.

Dangerous levels of smoke were noted across Canada and the northeastern and midwestern United States, sparking memories of the historically severe wildfire smoke outbreak in 2023.

Entire states including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin were under air quality alerts.

By early Thursday, Minneapolis, Duluth, Minn., and Detroit were among the most heavily impacted areas of the country.

Very heavy smoke from large wildfires in northern Minnesota and northwestern Ontario spread over Minnesota from late Wednesday into Thursday morning, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency reported.

Hourly observations of smoke concentrations broke records for the Twin Cities on both days, the agency said.

In Detroit, businesses and attractions closed due to poor air quality.

A planned concert by rocker John Mellencamp at Pine Knob Music Theatre in Clarkston, Mich., was canceled while some workers inside Ford Motor‘s Michigan Assembly plant in Wayne, Mich., were hospitalized amid the smoky haze and intense heat, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Michigan’s statewide air quality alert was extended through Friday before cooler weather was expected to move the smoky pall out of the Great Lakes region.

In Chicago, the city closed all of its public beaches and outdoor pools, while Milwaukee recorded the worst air quality in its history — a record-breaking Air Quality Index measured at over 600, according to the Milwaukee Journal.

Further east, smoke from the Canadian wildfires enveloped New York City, prompting Mayor Zohran Mamdani to urge residents to “take precautions to stay cool and out of harm’s way” while dealing with both the smoke and high temperatures.

“In our city, we pride ourselves on being resilient,” the mayor told reporters early Thursday. “Today is not a day to say, ‘In spite of the air quality, I’m going to do everything I was going to do yesterday.’ This is very serious. We are reaching into a level of air quality that is dangerous for every single New Yorker.”

July 16 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Thursday made sweeping, largely unsupported claims of widespread problems with U.S. elections, many of which have been debunked or overstated, as he called on Congress to pass legislation he says would protect the electoral system but critics describe as voter suppression.

During his roughly 25-minute prime-time speech to the nation, Trump attempted to make his case for measures needed to address the alleged vulnerabilities, stating, “Our elections were left vulnerable to being rigged and stolen, and the trust of the American people was lost.”

“This cannot be allowed to continue,” he said.

The speech was delivered only months before November’s midterm elections, on which Trump has increasing focused, having repeatedly warned that if Republicans lose their slim majority in the House to Democrats, impeachment proceedings and investigations will follow.

Democrats and other critics have accused the president of attempting to sow confusion and distrust ahead of the midterms while pushing the election SAVE American Act, which would require photo identification to vote, documentary proof of citizenship to register and restrict mail voting to certain eligible groups. Opponents say those requirements would disproportionately burden Black and other minority voters and prevent some otherwise eligible citizens from voting.

This is a developing story.

July 16 (UPI) — U.S. Army medics in Europe said Thursday they are testing a new handheld diagnostic tool that can identify traumatic brain injuries in as little as 15 minutes.

Military officials predicted the new i-STAT Alinity device, made by Abbott Laboratories, can revolutionize the way medics can detect and treat such injuries quickly in the battlefield environment.

Rather than traditional methods of assessing brain injury or concussion by making subjective judgements based on questioning patients, the new device can yield objective information by measuring unique biomarkers that are present in the blood of the injured.

Lt. Col. Bradley Dengler, the neurosurgery consultant to the Army Surgeon General and director of the Military Traumatic Brain Injury Initiative at the Uniformed Services University, said the development of the i-STAT Alinity is a game-changer.

“This is probably the single most important advancement in traumatic brain injury care in the last 15 to 20 years,” he said in an Army release. “Historically, we’ve missed a lot of these injuries.”

Abbott Labs received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration to use the device with whole blood two years ago. The company says it allows doctors to help assess patients with suspected concussion at the bedside and obtain “lab-quality” results in 15 minutes.

Prior to that, the tests were only cleared for use with plasma or serum, requiring samples to be sent to a lab for processing and testing.

With that approval, the Army is now integrating the devices into air defense forward units under 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command. These units were judged to be among the most likely to benefit from the devices because they often operate in far-flung locations, hours away from advanced medical facilities and sophisticated brain scanners.

The i-Stat device measures two biomarkers from the brain that may be released into the bloodstream indicating a possible brain injury — ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase L1, or UCH-L1, and glial fibrillary acidic protein, or GFAP.

Dengler said the tests are extremely valuable because if the blood biomarkers are not elevated, there is a 99% chance that there is no bleeding in the brain.

That’s deemed a major improvement over the widely used Military Acute Concussion Evaluation, a 15-minute standardized cognitive assessment involving memory lists and concentration exercises.

July 16 (UPI) — SpaceX on Thursday scrubbed the planned 13th test light of its massive Starship megarocket just seconds before it was set to lift off from the company’s Texas Starbase.

The launch was abruptly canceled just before the “Super Heavy” booster was about to ignite its multiple engines.

“Standing down from today’s flight test attempt,” launch commanders posted on X, without immediately offering a further explanation.

It remained unclear when another launch would be scheduled.

In the build-up to the planned launch, the company says it is aiming to fine-tune the performance of third version of the most powerful rocket ever built with Thursday’s mission — specifically the Super Heavy booster.

During the 12th test flight May 22 it encountered several hiccups, including slight differences in engine startup at separation stage causing the directional flip of the booster to be off by approximately 90 degrees.

The booster was supposed to perform a sustained burn to a controlled landing in the gulf, but the engine failure meant it fell back to Earth instead in a “hard splashdown,” SpaceX said in its launch report.

The Federal Aviation Administration said there were no reports of public injury or damage to public property from the mishap.

In response, SpaceX said in a blog post that “the startup sequence has been modified to be more robust to timing variability and more reliably flip in the desired direction, which is done to increase overall performance.”

Also during Flight 12, the Super Heavy booster encountered problems when attempting its boostback burn in which five of its 33 engines malfunctioned when attempting to re-light. This caused the boostback burn to end early.

“The Super Heavy on this upcoming flight has hardware modifications to improve re-light reliability along with updates to engine alarms and aborts to match the conditions seen in the multi-engine flight environment,” Space X said.

The Starship system has two parts: the Super Heavy booster and the spacecraft itself, also called Starship, or sometimes just “Ship.”

Flight 12 was the first launch of the third version of the system, which is the first capable of deep-space flight. Plans call for Starship to carry Artemis 4 astronauts to the surface of the moon in a mission set for late 2028.

In another notable element of Thursday’s Flight 13, Starship for the first time will carry V3 Starlink satellites to space as the company aims to “greatly expand” its communications network’s capacity and user speeds.

As part of this initial test, Starship is set to deploy 20 satellites which will extend solar arrays and antennas in a bid to connect with the larger Starlink constellation via high-capacity lasers as they will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship.

Those satellites are designed to burn up on reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere approximately 20 minutes after deployment.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday convened leaders from more than 60 countries to take part in the Trump administration’s latest effort to quell what it calls “left-wing” political terrorism, a marquee issue for Republicans heading into the midterm elections.

This focus comes even as studies show that there are very few reported cases of such incidents in the U.S., especially compared to historically higher levels of far-right violence.

With sweeping statements about the “alarming rise” of political violence by the left, Rubio and other U.S. officials painted a dark image of the future if the “communists and Marxists” perpetrating these supposed acts are not defeated. He urged officials in attendance — mostly from European and Latin American countries — to unite to address the issue, which he says has been a “blind spot” in counterterrorism doctrine.

“So many people in positions of power have repeatedly dismissed acts of violence and even terrorism as legitimate forms of political expression, so long as they served a left-wing cause,” Rubio said in opening remarks. “A bomb planted by a neo-Nazi group was ‘a nefarious and murderous act of evil.’ It is, but a bomb planted by a Marxist revolutionary, well, that’s just merely a tragic excess of idealism.”

A report published last year by the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that left-wing terrorism attacks as of July 4, 2025, had surpassed those from the far right for the first time in more than 30 years. However, a closer look at the data reveals that the uptick reflects a very low starting level and a concurrent drop on the far right.

There was an average of 0.6 left-wing incidents annually from 1994 through 2000, compared with an average of 20.6 on the right, the report shows. From 2016 to 2024, there was an average of four per year on the left and 22.7 per year on the right. Those numbers had dropped dramatically on the right as of early July 2025, with only one incident. Meanwhile, there had been five from the left.

But the report’s authors note that right-wing terrorism could easily return to elevated levels and that it is important to fight terrorism on both sides of the political spectrum.

President Trump and his allies have prioritized talking points against the far left ahead of the congressional elections this November. Trump has repeatedly stated that the Democratic Party’s ascendant left are communists who want to “completely destroy the traditional American way of life” and even engage in assassinations.

Vice President JD Vance has similarly called out communism as a political shift that is “something we haven’t seen in the U.S.” House Speaker Mike Johnson has decried “radical candidates” who are “self-described, self-identifying Marxists.”

For Rubio, his worldview on this issue has been largely shaped by his own history: he is the son of Cuban immigrants who arrived in Miami in May 1956, a few years before communist leader Fidel Castro rose to power in Havana. The former Florida senator said Thursday that it was that same government’s sprawling intelligence and ideological network that “helped to build the far left in our country and in our hemisphere.”

Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff and main architect of the administration’s immigration policy, followed Rubio’s remarks, aiming to drive home the immediacy of the perceived threats he saw to American institutions coming from the left, and what response is needed in return.

“If your civilization is your home, you must defend it with the same passion and force as if an enemy intruder is inside your own house where your family lives,” Miller said. “That is the level of dedication and urgency that is required.”

This ideological focus has repeatedly conflated democratic socialism — which often centers on securing universal healthcare, higher taxes on the wealthy and stricter corporate regulation — with communism, under which private ownership is largely eliminated.

It has only intensified in the last year, after the election of democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani to become New York City mayor and several of his proteges who won their New York City congressional primaries last month, beating out incumbents.

One of the ways the administration has started to target left-wing efforts is through sanctions. In November, the State Department designated four antifa or anti-fascist groups in Europe as foreign terrorist organizations. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in his remarks Thursday that targeting these entities’ financial networks is the best way to circumvent their efforts.

“We have spent decades developing the world’s most sophisticated financial counterterrorism capabilities, and now we are mobilizing some of the same tools that we have deployed against terrorists abroad to confront this emerging threat here at home,” he told the conference.

Amiri and Kinnard write for the Associated Press. Amiri reported from New York and Kinnard from Columbia, S.C. AP writer Melissa Goldin in New York contributed to this report.

July 16 (UPI) — U.S. retail spending was weaker than expected while tourists from around the world came to the country for the World Cup.

Retail sales rose 0.2% in June from a revised 1% in May, and up 6.7% from June 2025, the U.S. Census Bureau said Thursday. Expectations from the data firm FactSet were at 0.3%.

The World Cup and Amazon‘s Prime Day helped boost spending, but lower gas prices slowed the rise. Excluding gas sales, June spending rose 0.7% after 0.9% in May.

A measure of retail spending that removes sales of building materials and gasoline rose 0.5% in June, which is down from 0.8% in May, but slightly higher than the expected 0.4% increase, CNN reported. It shows consumer demand continued steadily in June.

Strong economic growth along with rising inflation means that the Federal Reserve is less likely to lower interest rates. For the Fed to cut rates, inflation would need to slow to toward the 2% annual target or signs of a slowing economy, CNN said.

“Despite challenges, consumers are still spending and the labor market shows no signs of cracking,” Ellen Zentner, chief economic strategist at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, wrote Thursday.

“This type of data won’t move the Fed’s needle either way, but it underscores the ongoing resilience of the U.S. economy.”

Another economist said the second half of the year’s economy could slow even more.

“A renewed slowdown in spending, however, beckons over the second half of this year,” Oliver Allen, senior economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, wrote in an analyst note Thursday.

“The lift to cashflow from tax refunds now has faded, leaving consumers far more exposed to the real income shock from the jump in gas prices.”