House Republicans are pushing Trump's big bill to the brink of passage
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are preparing to vote on President Donald Trump’s $4.5 trillion tax breaks and spending cuts bill early Thursday, up all night as GOP leaders and the president himself worked to persuade skeptical holdouts to drop their opposition and deliver by their Fourth of July deadline.
Final debates began in the predawn hours after another chaotic day, and night, at the Capitol. House Speaker Mike Johnson insisted the House would meet the holiday deadline, with just days to go after the Senate approved the package on the narrowest of margins and Vice President JD Vance breaking a tie vote.
“Our way is to plow through and get it done,” Johnson said, emerging in the middle of the night from a series of closed-door meetings. “We will meet our July 4th deadline.”
The outcome would be milestone for the president and his party, a longshot effort to compile a long list of GOP priorities into what they call his “one big beautiful bill,” an 800-plus page package. With Democrats unified in opposition, the bill will become a defining measure of Trump's return to the White House, with the sweep of Republican control of Congress.
At it core, the package's priority is $4.5 trillion in tax breaks enacted in Trump's first term, in 2017, that would expire if Congress failed to act, along with new ones. This includes allowing workers to deduct tips and overtime pay, and a $6,000 deduction for most older adults earning less than $75,000 a year.
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Liverpool player Diogo Jota and his brother have been killed in a car accident in Spain, police say
MADRID (AP) — Liverpool player Diogo Jota and his brother have died in a car accident in Spain, police said Thursday.
The Spanish Civil Guard confirmed to The Associated Press that Jota and his brother were found dead after their car went off a road near the western city of Zamora. Authorities said the car — a Lamborghini, according to police — was in flames.
Firefighters were called in as the fire spread into the nearby vegetation, authorities said.
Police were investigating the causes of the accident that happened past midnight local time. They said there were no other vehicles involved. The bodies were undergoing forensic analysis.
The 28-year-old Jota and his brother, 25-year-old André Silva, both Portuguese players, were in the car.
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Indonesia rescuers find 31 survivors in ongoing search after ferry sinks near Bali
GILIMANUK, Indonesia (AP) — Rescuers were searching Thursday for 29 people who were missing after a ferry sank and five people died the previous night near Indonesia’s resort island of Bali.
As of Thursday afternoon, 31 people had been rescued from the ferry's 53 passengers and 12 crew members, the National Search and Rescue Agency said in a statement.
“The condition of this ship is fully submerged, so there is a possibility that there are people inside the ferry. But right now we are focusing on the surface of the water first,” Surabaya Search and Rescue head Nanang Sigit said.
The five bodies located by rescuers will be taken to their families in Banyuwangi, Sigit said.
The KMP Tunu Pratama Jaya sank almost half an hour after leaving Ketapang port in the East Java town of Banyuwangi late Wednesday for a trip of about 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) to Bali’s Gilimanuk port, authorities said.
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Closely watched US jobs report likely to show hiring slowed in June
The steady slowdown in U.S. hiring likely continued in June as President Donald Trump’s trade wars, federal hiring freeze and immigration crackdown weighed on the American job market.
When the Labor Department on Thursday releases job numbers for last month, they’re expected to show that businesses, government agencies and nonprofits added 115,000 jobs in June, down from 139,000 in May, according to a survey of forecasters by the data firm FactSet.
The unemployment rate is expected to have ticked up to 4.3%, which would be the highest since October 2021 but still low enough to suggest that most American workers continue to enjoy job security.
The U.S. job market has cooled considerably from red-hot days of 2021-2023 when the economy bounced back with unexpected strength from COVID-19 lockdowns and companies were desperate for workers. So far this year employers have added an average 124,000 jobs a month, down from 168,000 in 2024 and an average 400,000 from 2021 through 2023.
Hiring decelerated after the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate 11 times in 2022 and 2023. But the economy did not collapse, defying widespread predictions that the higher borrowing costs would cause a recession. Companies kept hiring, just at a more modest pace.
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94 Palestinians killed in Gaza, including 45 people waiting for aid, authorities say
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Airstrikes and shootings killed 94 Palestinians in Gaza overnight, including 45 who were attempting to get much-needed humanitarian aid, hospitals and the Health Ministry said Thursday.
Israel’s military did not immediately comment on the strikes.
Five people were killed while outside sites associated with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the newly-created, secretive American organization backed by Israel to feed the Gaza Strip’s population, while 40 others were killed waiting for aid in other locations across the Gaza Strip.
Dozens of people were killed in airstrikes that pounded the Strip Wednesday night and Thursday morning, including 15 people killed in strikes that hit tents in the sprawling Muwasi zone, where many displaced Palestinians are sheltering. A separate strike on a school in Gaza City sheltering displaced people also killed 15 people.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza has passed 57,000, including 223 missing people who have been declared dead, since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its death count but says that more than half of the dead are women and children.
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US contractors say their colleagues are firing live ammo as Palestinians seek food in Gaza
BEERSHEBA, Israel (AP) — American contractors guarding aid distribution sites in Gaza are using live ammunition and stun grenades as hungry Palestinians scramble for food, according to accounts and videos obtained by The Associated Press.
Two U.S. contractors, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were revealing their employers’ internal operations, said they were coming forward because they were disturbed by what they considered dangerous and irresponsible practices. They said the security staff hired were often unqualified, unvetted, heavily armed and seemed to have an open license to do whatever they wished.
They said their colleagues regularly lobbed stun grenades and pepper spray in the direction of the Palestinians. One contractor said bullets were fired in all directions — in the air, into the ground and at times toward the Palestinians, recalling at least one instance where he thought someone had been hit.
"There are innocent people being hurt. Badly. Needlessly,” the contractor said.
He said American staff on the sites monitor those coming to seek food and document anyone considered “suspicious.” He said they share such information with the Israeli military.
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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is denied bail after mixed verdict clears him of top charges in sex crimes case
NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs dropped to his knees and prayed in the courtroom after he was acquitted Wednesday of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put one of hip-hop’s celebrated figures behind bars for life. The rapper was convicted of lesser prostitution-related offenses and denied bail as he awaits sentencing.
His lawyer Marc Agnifilo called the verdict a “great victory” and said the jury “got the situation right — or certainly right enough” as he stood outside Manhattan federal court at a stand of microphones. “Today is a victory of all victories.”
The mixed verdict capped a sordid legal odyssey that shattered Combs’ affable “Puff Daddy” image and derailed his career as a Grammy-winning artist and music executive, fashion entrepreneur, brand ambassador and reality TV star.
“I’ll see you when I get out,” Combs told family members including his mother and children just before leaving the courtroom to return to jail. "We’re going to get through this.”
Combs stands convicted of two counts of a crime — transportation to engage in prostitution — that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. But jurors cleared him of three charges, two of which carried a mandatory 15 years and a maximum of life.
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Bryan Kohberger admits to killing 4 Idaho students but motive remains unclear
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A criminal justice student who avoided a potential death sentence by pleading guilty Wednesday to the brutal stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students carefully planned the attack for months and took multiple steps to cover his tracks, the lead prosecutor said.
Bryan Kohberger, who was a graduate student at nearby Washington State University, pleaded guilty to murder in the killings that terrified the Idaho campus and set off a nationwide search, which ended weeks later when he was arrested in Pennsylvania.
Kohberger remained impassive as he admitted to breaking into a rental home through a kitchen sliding door and killing the four friends who appeared to have no connection with him. Prosecutors did not reveal a motive behind the slayings.
The killings initially baffled law enforcement and unnerved the rural college town of Moscow, which hadn’t seen a murder in five years until Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen were found dead near campus on Nov. 13, 2022. Autopsies showed each was stabbed multiple times.
In the two years since Kohberger’s arrest, his attorneys unsuccessfully attempted to bar prosecutors from seeking the death penalty and challenged DNA evidence, leaving a plea deal their final alternative to spare his life before the start of a trial in August.
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Denmark launches its EU presidency facing war in Ukraine and Trump tariff chaos
AARHUS, Denmark (AP) — Denmark launched its presidency of the European Union on Thursday with a call for Europe to unite to take on war in Ukraine and chaos caused by U.S. President Donald Trump’s global tariff hike which are likely to mark the Nordic country’s six-month term at the helm of the world’s biggest trading bloc.
“We have war on European soil. We face trade wars, and new tariffs, and we have our closest ally, in the United States, turning increasingly inward,” said Danish European Affairs Minister Marie Bjerre. “Europe can no longer be in the shadow of the United States. We need now to stand on our own two feet.”
Prime Minister Mette Fredericksen and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen were in the western city of Aarhus for a day of celebratory events as Denmark started its eighth EU presidency since joining in 1973.
Presidencies rotate between the 27 EU member countries every six months. The nation in charge sets policy priorities and organizes the bloc’s working agenda. It's supposed to act as an “honest broker,” setting aside national interests to foster consensus.
Denmark is entering its term with the motto “A Strong Europe in a Changing World.” Its aim is to help ensure the EU can take responsibility for its own security, boost economic competitiveness and tackle climate change.
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Some education grants in limbo were used for ‘leftwing agenda,’ Trump administration says
The Trump administration has accused states and schools of using federal education grants earmarked for immigrants’ children and low-income students to help fund “a radical leftwing agenda.”
The administration this week withheld more than $6 billion intended for after-school and summer programs, English language instruction, adult literacy and more, saying it would review the grants to ensure they align with President Donald Trump’s priorities. The freeze sent schools and summer camp providers scrambling to determine whether they can still provide programs like day camps this summer or after-hours child care this fall.
On Wednesday, the Office of Management and Budget said an initial review showed schools used some of the money to support immigrants in the country illegally or promote LGBTQ+ inclusion. The administration said it hadn't made any final decisions about whether to withhold or release individual grants.
“Many of these grant programs have been grossly misused to subsidize a radical leftwing agenda,” the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement.
It said New York schools had used money for English language instruction to promote organizations that advocate for immigrants in the country illegally. Washington state used the money to direct immigrants without legal status toward scholarships the Trump administration says were “intended for American students.” Grant funds also were used for a seminar on “queer resistance in the arts,” the office said.
The Associated Press
