G7 urges talks to resume for deal on Iran nuclear program

G7 urges talks to resume for deal on Iran nuclear program

By Kanishka Singh and Ismail Shakil WASHINGTON/OTTAWA (Reuters) -Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven nations said on Monday they supported the ceasefire between Israel and Iran and urged for negotiations to resume for a deal to address Iran's nuclear program, according to a joint statement. Since April, Iran and the U.S. have held talks aimed at finding a new diplomatic solution regarding Iran's nuclear program. Tehran says its program is peaceful and Israel and its allies say they want to ensure Iran cannot build a nuclear weapon. "We call for the resumption of negotiations, resulting in a comprehensive, verifiable and durable agreement that addresses Iran's nuclear program," the G7 foreign ministers said. Last week, Trump announced a ceasefire between U.S. ally Israel and its regional rival Iran to halt a war that began on June 13 when Israel attacked Iran. The Israel-Iran conflict had raised alarms in a region already on edge since the start of Israel's war in Gaza in October 2023. Before the ceasefire was announced, Washington struck Iran's nuclear sites and Iran targeted a U.S. base in Qatar in retaliation. The G7 foreign ministers said they urged "all parties to avoid actions that could further destabilize the region." U.S. Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff has said talks between Washington and Tehran were "promising" and that Washington was hopeful for a long-term peace deal. The G7 top diplomats denounced threats against the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Monday, after a hardline Iranian newspaper said IAEA boss Rafael Grossi should be tried and executed as an Israeli agent. On June 12, the U.N. nuclear watchdog's 35-nation Board of Governors declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in almost 20 years. Israel is the only Middle Eastern country believed to have nuclear weapons and said its war against Iran aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons. Iran is a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, while Israel is not. The U.N. nuclear watchdog, which carries out inspections in Iran, says it has "no credible indication" of an active, coordinated weapons program in Iran. (Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington and Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Editing by Chris Reese and Lincoln Feast.)

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June 30, 2025

G7 urges talks to resume for deal on Iran nuclear program

G7 urges talks to resume for deal on Iran nuclear program By Kanishka Singh and Ismail Shakil WASHINGTON/OTTAWA (Reuters) -Foreign minister...

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Trump imposes tougher US policy toward Cuba

Trump imposes tougher US policy toward Cuba

By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump on Monday signed a memorandum imposing a hard-line U.S. policy toward communist-run Cuba and reversing measures put in place by former President Joe Biden, the White House said. The directive will enforce a statutory ban on U.S. tourism to Cuba while supporting an economic embargo of the country, the White House said in a fact sheet. While Americans cannot visit Cuba for leisure, travel has been allowed for activities including educational or humanitarian trips. As one of his first acts after taking office in January, Trump, a harsh Cuba critic, revoked the Biden administration's last-minute decision to remove the country from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. He has also partially restricted the entry of people from Cuba. Under Monday's memorandum, Trump renewed a ban on direct or indirect financial transactions with entities controlled by the Cuban military, such as Grupo de Administracion Empresarial S.A. (GAESA), and its affiliates, with exceptions for transactions that advance U.S. policy goals or support the Cuban people. Biden had revoked a 2017 Trump order that restricted financial transactions with some military and government-linked Cuban entities. The new memorandum "enforces the statutory ban on U.S. tourism to Cuba and ensures compliance through regular audits and mandatory record-keeping of all travel-related transactions for at least five years," the White House fact sheet said. It also supports the economic embargo of Cuba and opposes calls in the United Nations and other international forums for its termination, the fact sheet said. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez posted on social media platform X that "the Presidential Memorandum against Cuba made public today by the US government reinforces the aggression and economic blockade that punishes the entire Cuban people and is the main obstacle to our development." "It is a criminal act and a violation of the human rights of an entire nation. The main obstacle to our development," he said. (Reporting By Steve Holland; additional reporting by Marc Frank in Havana; Editing by Franklin Paul and Chris Reese)

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June 30, 2025

Trump imposes tougher US policy toward Cuba

Trump imposes tougher US policy toward Cuba By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump on Monday signed a memorandum imp...

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Who would win and who would lose in Republicans' 'big, beautiful bill'

Who would win and who would lose in Republicans' 'big, beautiful bill'

Legislation making its waythrough the Senatestands to have wide-ranging effects across the economy — bolstering tax benefits for businesses and higher-income households while threatening health insurance for millions of Americans and putting thousands of clean energy and health care jobs at risk. The bill,which is more than 900 pages longand Republicans have dubbed the "big, beautiful bill," passed a keyprocedural voteover the weekend in the Senate largely along party lines, with all but two Republicans voting to advance it. Follow live coverage here The Senate is debating the measurebefore taking a final vote. If the bill passes the Senate, it will then go back to the House for another vote and ultimately must be signed by President Donald Trump before becoming law. While changes could still be made and its passage isn't certain, here are some of the key winners and losers under the latest version of the bill. The legislation would make permanent trillions of dollars in corporate tax cuts enacted in 2017 during Trump's first term and expand other tax breaks for businesses. That includes permanently lowering the corporate tax rate to 21% from the 35% level before the 2017 tax cuts. The bill would also extend or increase other tax breaks for business investments, like those on new machinery, equipment and research and development, whichbusiness groups have saidwould encourage business investments in the U.S. The bill would also extend through 2033 tax incentives enacted in 2017 for businesses that invest in disadvantaged areas, called Opportunity Zones. The tax cuts would add around $3 trillion over the next decade to the national debt, according to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office. That means the U.S. would have to borrow more money to cover its expenses, requiring it to pay an estimated $600 billion to $700 billion in additionalinterest payments, according to an analysis by the Center for a Responsible Federal Budget. The amount of money Americans pay toward interest on the country's debt is expected to increase sharply in the coming years, totaling $78 trillion over the next 30 years and accounting for 34% of federal revenues,according tothe Congressional Budget Office. Paying for that added interest will fall to future generations, likely in the form of higher taxes and less spending on other programs younger generations could benefit from, like early childhood education, more affordable housing or improved infrastructure. It will also give the U.S. less flexibility to borrow if there is a future crisis, such as a pandemic or war. As U.S. debt has ballooned — with the current ratio of debt to gross domestic product at similar levels to those seen during World War II — it has also increased concern among investors about the country's ability to make its debt and interest payments on time. That means investors are starting to seek a higher interest payments, or yield, in exchange for buying U.S. debt, which could also drive up interest rates for other private loans — with higher mortgage rates or interest on a small business loan. The bill would greatly expand the amount of state and local taxes households are able to deduct from their federal taxes from the current cap of $10,000 to up to $40,000. The biggest beneficiaries from the change would be households making $200,000 to $500,000 a year and those that own property, because they are likelier to pay higher property and income taxes,according to an analysisby the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. It would also disproportionately benefit households in higher-tax states, like New York, New Jersey and California. Wealthy households and business owners would also benefit from a permanent reduction in the estate tax. Under the legislation, heirs of estates valued at less than $15 million would not have to pay a tax on their inheritance. That cap is set to drop to $7 million in 2026. Provisions in the latest version of the bill would cause nearly 12 million low-income people to lose their health insurance over the next decade by cutting around $1 trillion from Medicaid, the health insurance program for poor and disabled people,according to the CBO.The Senate bill includes steeper cuts to Medicaid than an earlier version passed by the House. The cuts would take a particular toll on people in rural areas who are more likely to receive their health insurance through Medicaid than those in urban or suburban areas. Researchers atGeorgetown University foundthat 40% of children in small and rural towns receive their health insurance from Medicaid. The bill could also reduce the number of people who receive their insurance through the Affordable Care Act. The version of the Senate bill released over the weekend also includes cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, by requiring adults ages 18 to 64 without disabilities to work at least 80 hours a month unless they are caring for children under 10. The added requirements could lead to $300 billion in cuts to food stamp spending, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The legislation would carry through on a campaign promise by Trump to exempt income from tips and overtime from federal income taxes. Tipped workers make up about 2.5% of the workforce, and about 12% of hourly workers clock some overtime each year, according to ananalysis by the Yale Budget Lab. Both tax exemptions are structured as deductions that workers would claim when they filed their taxes the following year. The tax exemption would apply only to federal income tax, so workers would still have to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on their income, along with any state or local taxes. As many as 40% of tipped workers already don't make enough money to have to pay federal income tax on any of their earnings, so the benefit would be relatively limited, the Yale Budget Lab found. Less funding for Medicaid and fewer people with health insurance would mean a drop-off in doctor's office visits, prescription refills and medical procedures — and, as a result, fewer workers needed to support those types of services. That could lead to the loss of nearly500,000 health care jobsover the next decade, according to an analysis by George Washington University and the Commonwealth Fund. The Senate bill would also prohibit Medicaid funding for entities that provide abortions, including Planned Parenthood, which could cause cuts backs or the closure of those health care centers. The Senate legislation seeks to mitigate some of that pain for rural health care providers, who care for a disproportionately high number of Medicaid patients, with a $25 billion fund for rural hospitals. Both the House and the Senate bill include wins for the fossil fuel industry, stripping away numerous provisions put in place during President Joe Biden's administration to shift energy consumption away from fossil fuels. Both bills would delay a fee on excess methane pollution by oil and gas companies, roll back Biden-era rules to curb vehicle emissions and include provisions intended to speed the development of new fossil fuel projects. The Senate bill also includes a new tax workaround for oil drillers that would enable many of them to avoid having to pay a corporate alternative minimum tax of 15%. Clean energy companies say the bill could cripple their businesses by stripping away tax subsidies and funding made available during the Biden administration. The Senate bill would go further than the earlier version passed in the House by imposing new tax penalties on wind and solar farm projects started after 2027, unless they met certain requirements. That could jeopardize billions of dollars in investments in clean energy projects — along with the thousands of jobs that would come along with those projects, including in Republican-led states like Georgia and South Carolina. Other provisions would reduce benefits for consumers buying electric vehicles, solar panels and appliances to make their homes more energy efficient.

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June 30, 2025

Who would win and who would lose in Republicans' 'big, beautiful bill'

Who would win and who would lose in Republicans' 'big, beautiful bill' Legislation making its waythrough the Senatestands to hav...

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Why Republican Senator Thom Tillis Is Retiring

Why Republican Senator Thom Tillis Is Retiring

Get on board the Trump train or get out. That's been President Donald Trump's message to Republicans in Congress since his first term. Some of his biggest intraparty critics, like former Rep. Liz Cheney, put up a fight and lost. Others, like former Sen. Mitt Romney, chose not to run for reelection. As Trump picks new fights in his second term with insufficiently loyal Republican lawmakers, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina has become the latest to announce that he plans to leave of his own volition. "Great News!" Trumpreactedon his Truth Social platform after Tillis announced in astatementthat he does not plan to run for reelection in 2026. "In Washington over the last few years, it's become increasingly evident that leaders who are willing to embrace bipartisanship, compromise, and demonstrate independent thinking are becoming an endangered species," Tillis said. "When people see independent thinking on the other side, they cheer. But when those very same people see independent thinking coming from their side, they scorn, ostracize, and even censure them." Tillis, 64, said he hadn't been "excited" about running for another term for some time, and he hadreportedlybeen leaning against running but had given himself until the end of the summer to decide. His decision, however, was apparently made easier after Trump launched a multi-post social-media tirade against the Senator after Tillis voted on Saturday against advancing the President's massive tax-and-spending legislative priority, dubbed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB). TrumpaccusedTillis of grandstanding "in order to get some publicity for himself, for a possible, but very difficult Re-Election." Headdedthat he would be "meeting with" potential candidates to run against Tillis in a primary race. "Tillis is a talker and complainer, NOT A DOER!" Trumpsaid. "It's not a hard choice," Tillis said of his decision to retire from the Senate at the end of his term, saying that he wishes to spend more time with his family instead of "spending another six years navigating the political theatre and partisan gridlock in Washington." Here's what to know. Tillis was born in Jacksonville, Fla., in 1960. His working-class family, including three boys all named Thomas after their father and three girls, moved frequently when he was a child, and he graduated from high school in Nashville, Tenn., in 1978, voted by his peers as "most likely to succeed." He initially joined the Air Force but was honorably discharged before he could go to basic training, after a car accident severely injured his hand. He instead worked various jobs, eventually working his way to a position at accounting and consulting firm PriceWaterhouse (and later IBM after it acquired PriceWaterhouse), while attending night school at several institutions to earn a bachelor's degree. In 1998, Tillis moved with his wife and children to North Carolina, and he entered politics in his hometown of Cornelius in 2002, after pushing for a bike trail and being asked to join the parks and recreation advisory board. In 2003, he was elected a town commissioner, and in 2006, he ran and won the Republican primary for a state General Assembly seat, and he ran unopposed in the general election that year and unopposed in three subsequent reelection bids in 2008, 2010, and 2012. Tillis, who had earned a reputation aspro-businessandmoderate, was elected Speaker of the state House in 2011, after Republicans won control of the chamber for the first time since 1998. In 2014, after helping to shepherd conservative legislation in North Carolina's capital, he set his sights on Washington, D.C., running against and ultimately defeating then-incumbent Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan. He narrowly won reelection in 2020 after Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham was caught in asex scandal. As a Senator, in terms of leadership and ideology, Tillis has been firmly in the middle of the pack in his party, according to the independent government transparency and accountability trackerGovTrack. Among other things, he's known for opposing abortion and advocating for corporate tax cuts. And he's supported every conservative Supreme Court justice nomination before him. But he's also been unafraid to cross party lines on issues includinggun controland immigration. Tillis has also been known to occasionally butt heads with Trump. In 2016, when Trump had become the presumptive GOP nominee for President, Tillis called on Republicans to support Trump. "We have to recognize that more than anything else, we have to unite," hesaidat the time. "At the end of the day, we're all Republicans." He would later criticize Trump's controversial comments on anAccess Hollywoodtape as "indefensible" and said Trump should "apologize to women everywhere," though he continued to back the candidate. In 2017, he supported the appointment of Robert Mueller as a special counsel to investigate Trump and later co-sponsored a bill with Delaware Democrat Sen. Chris Coons to protect Mueller from interference by the President. Pushing back against criticism from other Republicans, hetoldPolitico in 2018 that he wanted to take a stand against "situational ethics" in which politicians change their stances based on who is occupying the White House. "Courage is when you know you're going to do something that's going to anger your base," he said. In 2019, Tilliswrote an op-edin theWashington Postto criticize Trump's declaration of a national emergency to divert funds to border control. "I cannot justify providing the executive with more ways to bypass Congress," Tillis wrote at the time, citing conservatives' past opposition to former President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration. "There is no intellectual honesty in now turning around and arguing that there's an imaginary asterisk attached to executive overreach—that it's acceptable for my party but not thy party." (A few weeks later, however, he backed down andsupportedthe emergency declaration.) Trump went on toendorseTillis ahead of his challenging reelection contest in 2020,sayingthat the Senator "really stepped up to the plate," and Tillis voted against Trump's impeachment that year,sayingit was "motivated by partisan politics and a desire to remove the President from office instead of allowing the American people to decide his fate at the ballot box in November." In 2021, following the Capitol riot, Tillisvoted againstTrump's second impeachment on charges of incitement of insurrection, though he would latercallJan. 6 "a dark day in American history" andsaidthat many involved needed to be held accountable and "go to prison." At the start of Trump's second term, TilliscalledTrump's blanket pardon of Jan. 6 participants "a bad idea." Tillis alsodashedTrump's nomination of Ed Martin to be U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Martin previously made inflammatory comments about the Jan. 6 Capitol riots and hadcome to the rioters' defense. Tillis' opposition effectively killed Martin's nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee, earning the ire of Trump's MAGA base. Tillis drew further criticism from the right when hescrutinizedthe nomination of Pete Hegseth to become Defense Secretary, though he ended upsupportingHegseth's confirmation, which passed on a tiebreaker vote by Vice President J.D. Vance. Tillis and Trump's relationship finally broke over the controversial tax-and-spending package, which is estimated to add trillions of dollars to the national debt and lead to significant Medicaid cuts. "I did my homework on behalf of North Carolinians, and I cannot support this bill in its current form," Tillis said in astatementon June 28. "It would result in tens of billions of dollars in lost funding for North Carolina, including our hospitals and rural communities." After Tillis and fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul voted with Democrats against a procedural advancement of the bill,which narrowly passed, Trump lashed out on social media against the pair. He previously launched a similar campaign against Republican holdout in the HouseThomas Massie. Whereas Massie will likely face a difficult primary challenge supported by Trump that will focus on his opposition to the OBBB, by not running for reelection, Tillis will face no electoral repercussions for remaining outspoken against the bill. Tillis said in his statement announcing his retirement that, over his remaining year-and-a-half remaining in office, he plans on "focusing on producing meaningful results without the distraction of raising money or campaigning for another election. I look forward to having the pure freedom to call the balls and strikes as I see fit and representing the great people of North Carolina to the best of my ability." And he started on Sunday night, when he took to the Senate floor to deliver a scathing rebuke of the OBBB. "What do I tell 663,000 people in two years, or three years, when President Trump breaks his promise by pushing them off of Medicaid because the funding's not there anymore?" hesaid. Tillis compared Trump's campaign promises not to cut Medicaid to Obama'snotorious"if you like your health care plan, you can keep it" unkept promise about the Affordable Care Act. Tillisadded: "Mr. President, we owe it to the American people and I owe it to the people of North Carolina to withhold my affirmative vote until it's demonstrated to me that we've done our homework." Tillis' decision to not run for reelection comes as Democrats seek to challenge Republicans' dominance in Congress in the upcoming midterms. Former Gov. Roy Cooper is expected to present Democrats with the best chance of flipping the seat, though he has not yet officially entered what is expected to be a"blockbuster race." For his part, Tillis has said he still wants Republicans to win in 2026, but on social media heofferedsome advice to Trump about his potential replacement: "Word to the wise, let's avoid minisoldr," he said, using the reported username of former Trump-endorsed North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson, who was embroiled in scandal afterCNN reportedhe'd made lewd and inflammatory comments on a pornography website, including referring to himself as a "perv" and a "Nazi." But Trump could get behind someone much closer to home: His daughter-in-lawLara Trumpis reportedly "seriously considering" entering the race, just days after her husband ErictoldtheFinancial Timesthat he could see himself running for President one day. Contact usatletters@time.com.

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June 30, 2025

Why Republican Senator Thom Tillis Is Retiring

Why Republican Senator Thom Tillis Is Retiring Get on board the Trump train or get out. That's been President Donald Trump's message...

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Justice Department sues Los Angeles to end 'sanctuary' immigration policies

Justice Department sues Los Angeles to end 'sanctuary' immigration policies

WASHINGTON – TheJustice Department filed a lawsuit on June 30against the city of Los Angeles to end policies that restrict cooperation withPresident Donald Trump's enforcement of immigration laws. The lawsuit comes aftersometimes violent protests in Los Angelesearlier in the month against federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, which led Trump to mobilize the National Guard. It is the latest to challenge so-called "sanctuary" policies, in which state or local law enforcement do not collaborate with ICE, which the Trump administration contends are unlawful. The department hasalso sued New Yorkstate and filedcriminal charges against a Wisconsin judgeover immigration enforcement. It alsosued federal judges in Marylandon June 25, for blocking deportation orders. "Sanctuary policies were the driving cause of the violence, chaos, and attacks on law enforcement that Americans recently witnessed in Los Angeles," Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. "Jurisdictions like Los Angeles that flout federal law by prioritizing illegal aliens over American citizens are undermining law enforcement at every level – it ends under President Trump," Bondi added. ICE raids earlier this month in Los Angelessparked several days of proteststhat included people hurling rocks at federal officials and setting fire to cars. Attacks on federal officials are up 500%,according to the Department of Homeland Security. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass didn't immediately reply to a request for comment. But she and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have opposed Trump's tougher immigration enforcement and said the federal mobilization enflamed tensions. "Unmarked cars. Masked men with guns. People being snatched off the street.,"Bass said on social media June 28."This isn't law and order − it's fear and chaos in Los Angeles. And it's deliberate." Protesters have resorted toclanging pots and pans outside a hotelwere ICE agents were staying, to prevent them from sleeping. TheLos Angeles Dodgers baseball teamsaid they denied federal agents access to the stadium's parking lot June 20, although federal officials said there was no enforcement action. But federal officials said they would continue strict enforcement of immigration laws, one of Trump's top domestic priorities. "We will keep enforcing federal immigration law in Los Angeles, whether or not the city's government or residents agree with it," Chad Mizelle, the department's chief of staff,said on social media. "And we will not tolerate any interference with the federal government's duty to enforce the law." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:DOJ sues Los Angeles over 'sanctuary' immigration policies

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June 30, 2025

Justice Department sues Los Angeles to end 'sanctuary' immigration policies

Justice Department sues Los Angeles to end 'sanctuary' immigration policies WASHINGTON – TheJustice Department filed a lawsuit on Ju...

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