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Category: Nation & World

  • Seattle mayor defends ousting police chief after festival shooting

    Seattle mayor defends ousting police chief after festival shooting

    SEATTLE — Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson on Friday defended her decision to oust the city’s police chief as the “right decision at the right time,” but she declined to explain why.

    The leadership change came as police continue searching for people involved in a fatal, gang-related shootout at a food festival near the Space Needle last weekend. A 15-year-old was arrested at the scene and has been charged with assault, but charging documents say the gun he was seen firing wasn’t involved in the deaths of two bystanders.

    Wilson and then-Police Chief Shon Barnes faced criticism for being slow to release key information about the shootout on Sunday, including whether suspects remained at large.

    Barnes, who was the city’s second Black police chief, has been credited with boosting the recruitment of officers and helping reduce crime downtown. A number of Black community organizations, a major business group, and several City Council members issued statements criticizing Wilson’s decision to replace him Thursday.

    At a news conference Friday with Andre Sayles, a Seattle deputy chief the mayor named as interim chief, Wilson credited Barnes for his service and said that as mayor she had a clearer window into the operations at the Seattle Police Department than her critics.

    The lack of communication about a mass shooting at a major public event in Seattle was not the only reason she asked Barnes to resign, she said.

    “There were multiple factors,” Wilson said. “The events of Sunday played into it.”

    Sayles told the news conference the department would boost police staffing at public festivals for the remainder of the summer. He also said he believed investigators are close to finding and arresting additional suspects in the shootout.

    The gunfire erupted in the waning hours of the Bite of Seattle, an annual three-day festival that draws hundreds of food and retail vendors and performers. Three people, including a suspect, were killed, and four people were wounded. One of the people injured was a 2-year-old boy.

  • Colorado residents are ratting out neighbors over water use during drought

    Colorado residents are ratting out neighbors over water use during drought

    In Denver these days, it’s the brown lawns vs. the green.

    As Colorado dries up in a historic drought, scofflaws violating water restrictions have sparked tension throughout the state’s largest metropolitan area, turning residential streets into checkerboards of virtue and vice. The emerald green lawns of cheaters now abut the crispy brown grass of the rule-followers — defiance that’s visible for all to see.

    With record hot temperatures following a winter of little snow, the city’s utility had asked that residents cut usage levels by 20% this summer, and mandated that customers only water their lawns twice a week.

    Denverites have so far failed to meet the moment — with only about a 5% reduction by mid-July. And there’s little relief in the forecast, with the furnacelike heat dome that descended on the central United States expected to last through the week.

    More than 4,000 people have reported their neighbors for cheating on the restrictions this summer, the utility said, leading to one story in the Denver Post with thousands of comments, most along the lines of “Snitches get stitches.”

    “Our yard would look so much better if everyone else’s grass was also dead,” said Keifer Hunniford, a tech executive who lives in a quiet neighborhood of mid-century homes on the east side of the city.

    Hunniford, 58, has spent the summer averting his eyes from the big burnt patch in the middle of his yard — it’s too depressing. Meanwhile, his neighbors’ sprinklers whirl on and off many days.

    At a briefing for the state’s drought task force, Russ Schumacher last week outlined the grim circumstances, and said that the time period from October through June was the hottest and fourth driest on record.

    More than 90% of the state remains in a drought condition, according to Schumacher, the state climatologist and director of the Colorado Climate Center. Reservoirs are drying up and the Colorado River, which supplies water to states throughout the Southwest, is at an all-time low at some measuring locations, he said.

    The precipitation numbers “continued to go further and further into a deficit,” Schumacher said.

    Todd Hartman, a spokesperson for Denver Water, said the utility is “quite a way off from our goal” of a 20% reduction in water use. By this point in the season, he said, they had hoped for customers to have used 12,400 acre-feet less of water than normal. Instead, they’ve used 2,900 acre-feet less, which he described as only a “slight improvement.”

    The utility has contacted 3,400 customers to “educate” them on watering restrictions after the more than 4,000 complaints on the new tip line. The first offense results in a warning, the second a $250 fine, and the third a $500 fine, with fines escalating to $1,000 for repeated violations.

    So far, they’ve issued three formal citations that could result in fines.

    Hartman said while they’ve seen “strong conservation efforts” from schools, parks, and multifamily housing units, single-family homeowners remain the worst offenders. The utility hopes to avoid cutting watering restrictions further to just one day a week, which would have a “devastating impact” on landscapes.

    On social media, residents have complained about golf courses that still seem to have pristine greens, and have blamed rapid residential growth and new data centers for straining the water supply. Homeowners associations around the area have added to the confusion by dinging residents for having unsightly lawns, even as the drought has worsened, Schumacher said.

    In Superior, a town about 20 miles from Denver that does not have water restrictions, James Shima, 57, an electrical engineer, said he received a warning email and then a certified letter from his homeowners association in June when he held off on watering due to the statewide drought declaration.

    He was given 30 days to address the problem or face escalation of the violation process, he said.

    “I am now forced to water my lawn two times a day, seven days a week, for two hours during the peak of summer,” he said. His most recent water bill was $300, Shima said.

    Rachel Stanton, the president of the Rock Creek homeowners association, responded in an email that the HOA had “moderated expectations for lawn maintenance in light of conservation concerns” beginning in May.

    “No one is expected to have a lush green lawn right now, but they are expected to do enough maintenance to keep their lawns alive,” Stanton said. She dismissed Shima’s concerns as “a nonstory in which the ‘HOA as villain’ trope does not apply.”

    When Hunniford and his family moved into the neighborhood 12 years ago, it was easy to keep the grass surrounding his two-story mid-century home looking good. Now, it’s almost impossible.

    “Over time we’ve got sick of the stupidity on putting water on this green stuff we don’t really use, and we’ve let ours die,” he said.

    The grass has withered away to bare dirt in some spots. He considered spray painting the remaining brown spears green with turf paint, but his wife said no.

    From his house, Hunniford can look down his street and see some lawns that are dead, some lawns that are green, some that have been replanted with drought-sensitive plants, and his neighbor Pam’s new bright green synthetic turf across the street.

    The brown lawn folks believe the green lawn folks are cheating.

    “There are the known offenders,” Hunniford said. “One of them was watering this morning, and it’s an off day.”

    The brown lawn vs. green lawn debate is one more example of how divided American society has become, he said, and the drought has only added to his malaise and sense of the country in decline. He and his wife, a personal coach, are considering retiring in Mexico.

    Across the street, Pamela Keith, 61, a retired Department of Veterans Affairs counselor, has ripped up her sod and installed $13,000 in synthetic turf, a project that she embraced as a way to preserve the legacy of her mother, Eleanor, who died in 2006 and was an avid gardener.

    Her roses and tulips are long gone, and Keith didn’t even plant any annuals this year as the drought worsened. But she’s managed to save the vegetable garden, including tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, and her mother’s collard greens that still come back every year.

    “We’ve got to keep up with the neighborhood name: Park Forest,” she said, adding that she does worry about her neighbors’ automatic sprinklers frequently running.

    On the days they are allowed to water, she and her husband, Sean, try to beat the other outside “because it’s so enjoyable.”

    But Keith is harboring a secret. For weeks now, she’s been watering her back lawn over the restriction limit, hoping to keep a little grass alive until July 25, when she threw a celebration in honor of her husband, who recently returned after two years on the road as a travel nurse. There was R&B music, and barbecue, and a big-screen TV playing summer movies. She called it “An Evening Under the Stars.”

    She’ll cut back, she said, now that the party’s over.

  • ‘Iran War Participation Trophy’ mocking Trump arrives in New York

    ‘Iran War Participation Trophy’ mocking Trump arrives in New York

    NEW YORK — First D.C., then Manhattan.

    The satirical art group responsible for about a dozen public pieces mocking President Donald Trump in the nation’s capital over the past 20 months has now landed in New York.

    The anonymous artists who call themselves the Secret Handshake left their mark in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday morning, placing a 10-foot-tall trophy, spray-painted gold and emblazoned with a #1 on its side, in Foley Square.

    A large plaque below the “Iran War Participation Trophy” reads: “We hereby award President Donald J. Trump this participation trophy for his enthusiastic involvement in the Iran War. While some concern themselves with military strategy, diplomacy, or measurable outcomes, President Trump demonstrated the courage to participate regardless of the final score.”

    The war in Iran, which began Feb. 28, has resulted in the deaths of 18 U.S. service members and wounded more than 600.

    Walking to catch the subway, Maren Stange, 79, stopped and chuckled as she bent to read the rest of the trophy inscription: “President Trump joins the ranks of children everywhere who received recognition for simply showing up.”

    Stange, who said she had never heard of the Secret Handshake, wasn’t sure the statue would change anything. “It’s funny and it’s smart,” she said. “But what’s it going to do?”

    The installation, which was first displayed in Washington this month, invites anyone to contribute their own participation trophies to the project.

    Arranged around the plinth were more than three dozen mock trophies and awards. One seemed to mock Trump’s electoral history: “Lost Arizona,” read a baby blue Honorable Mention ribbon, dangling from the neck of a tennis trophy.

    A trophy of a martial arts figure, leg raised in a kick, bore the printed message “Most Swollen Cankles” attached to its white base. One small gold chess award was labeled “Smallest Hands Award.”

    “It’s just kind of trolling Donald Trump,” said DJ Hairston, 37, an attorney headed to the nearby criminal court. “It’s definitely funny. Because that’s what this is — this is a participation war. It’s all stupid. It’s all a farce. And this is what Donald Trump wants. He wants a big gold trophy in the middle of Manhattan.”

    Michael Chrzynowski, 46, and his mother, Candace Goudey, 69, stopped to examine the trophy and the trophy spawn.

    “It’s cathartic. They’re mocking him,” Goudey said. “And then you turn around and read, ‘The true administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good government,’” a message engraved in stone across the street, above the entranceway of the New York County Supreme Court building.

    It felt, she said, like that sense of justice was lacking from the Trump administration.

    “These untalented ‘artists’ should stick to their ugly ‘art’ and refrain from weighing in on foreign policy — which they clearly know nothing about, given the fact that the United States Military achieved all of its objectives during Operation Epic Fury,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in an email when the trophy first appeared in Washington on July 13.

    The Secret Handshake, whose members have declined in phone interviews with the Washington Post to provide any identifying information, has previously placed installations at locations across D.C.

    Earlier works by the group include a statue of Trump and Jeffrey Epstein holding hands, a mock tribute to Trump from the world’s authoritarian leaders, and a reproduction of the desk of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) with a pile of fake excrement on it that ridiculed the Jan. 6, 2021, rioters who sought to overturn the 2020 election.

    Many of the previous installations were at prominent spots on the National Mall, including directly in view of the Capitol’s west side. Those received a National Park Service permit for temporary display.

    In Foley Square, some lawyers with briefcases, heading to one of the courthouses nearby, did a double take when they spotted the trophy, then kept walking.

    “That’s a first,” said a New York court officer, who declined to give his name. “Who put that there? The Secret Handshake? I’ve never heard of them.” He shook his head and began walking to work. “Listen, he’s no worse than any other president, I tell you that much.”

    A man in a red T-shirt bearing the message “Peace of Mind” squinted at the trophy, read the plaque, raised his hands and flipped the bird — two of them — which he said was directed at the president.

    Welcome to New York.

  • Dominican Republic’s zoo offers home for confiscated animals as seizures of exotic species soar

    Dominican Republic’s zoo offers home for confiscated animals as seizures of exotic species soar

    SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — The only zoo in the Dominican Republic is providing a safe haven for confiscated illegal and smuggled animals as a government crackdown aimed at protecting exotic species gathers pace.

    Tucked inside a green oasis in the middle of the capital, Santo Domingo, are crocodiles, flamingos, and even tigers that officials have confiscated from people accused of illegally keeping them. The numbers are growing and threaten to overload the country’s lone zoo.

    “It’s a burden,” said Alfonso Ferreira, deputy director of the city’s National Zoological Park. “People have a predisposition to owning wild animals.”

    Dominican authorities seized 188 animals last year, compared with 30 in 2023, as the government tries to tackle the illegal ownership of certain species. It has also launched educational campaigns to raise awareness about their plight.

    So far this year, officials have confiscated more than 8,900 species, although a majority of those were crickets and young fish to feed animals including seahorses.

    Commonly, flamingos are the most rescued animals, said Nelson García Marcano, head of the Caribbean nation’s Department of Wildlife Regulation and Control.

    Flamingos, which are protected, are often illegally taken from their natural habitat and sold to hotels, which use them as garden ornaments, he said. It’s a trend that individual homeowners have started to follow.

    “People like to copy what they find attractive and beautiful,” said Garcia Marcano, who decried the practice, noting people sometimes amputate a bird’s wings. “It’s a migratory animal,” he said. “It’s an animal that should be free.”

    Nursing animals back to health

    On a recent hot morning, the Associated Press visited a flock of rescued flamingos that sought shade in a private section inside the zoo.

    They had recently been confiscated by authorities, and it showed. Their typically bright coral feathers were white, as if they had been bleached. Ferreira explained that their captors usually feed them white bread instead of the algae and tiny crustaceans their bodies require.

    To reduce the number of flamingos featured at hotels across the Dominican Republic, García Marcano said they have suggested that staff embrace species including the purple gallinule, a cranelike bird with iridescent feathers.

    At the zoo, the rescued flamingos receive carrots and bird feed and are rehabilitated for several months before some are released back into their natural habitat.

    Nearby, several crocodiles sat without blinking in individual cages filled with greenish water. They, too, had been snatched from their natural habitat and kept as pets.

    Encompassing 309 acres, the zoo is big enough that a small train ferries visitors to exhibits, but resources are stretched. Territorial animals such as crocodiles must be isolated, which requires more cages and, in turn, more funding.

    Veterinarians run multiple tests on the rescued animals to determine their health. Many will require a strict diet because their owners would often have fed them the wrong food, weakening an animal’s immune system and causing physical deterioration.

    “Before, we only received parakeets and parrots,” said veterinarian Tatiana Carreño Pinto. “Now we have a much wider range of species arriving at the park.”

    ‘It’s like cat and mouse’

    The zoo also is preparing to take in exotic animals confiscated in neighboring Puerto Rico as part of a deal reached last year, including caimans that have been seized from suspected drug traffickers.

    Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, is struggling with an overload of exotic species, with nearly 100 animals seized over the July 4 weekend alone. They included 80 boa constrictors, eight native boas, four reticulated pythons, three caimans, and four troupials — Venezuela’s state bird.

    An official with the Rangers Corps of Puerto Rico’s Department of Natural and Environmental Resources did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

    In the Dominican Republic, officials continue to try to save species that once roamed free.

    A project was launched last year to save an endemic parrot, which is under threat and commonly kept as a pet. The government has erected large billboards warning against trade in the parrots. García Marcano said officials are receiving a growing number of calls about this practice as people spot them along roads while traveling.

    The zoo, once again, steps in to help feed and rehabilitate the seized parrots.

    “Operations have been carried out, arrests have been made,” García Marcano said. “It’s like cat and mouse. You have to maintain constant vigilance.”

  • 60,000 migrants crossed into Spanish territory of Ceuta, but most soon left voluntarily

    60,000 migrants crossed into Spanish territory of Ceuta, but most soon left voluntarily

    CEUTA, Spain — About 60,000 migrants crossed from Morocco into Spain’s tiny Ceuta territory in 24 hours, Ceuta’s president said Friday, a figure that is equivalent to 70% of the population of the city in North Africa. At least 57 migrants died on the journey.

    But most of the people who made the crossing soon returned voluntarily, the Spanish government said, after the sudden arrival of so many migrants triggered chaos and a humanitarian crisis.

    Some migrants swam several miles through the sea and faced down authorities who tried to turn them back with water cannons, tear gas, and warning shots. Those who died included some who drowned or were killed in a stampede to cross a breakwater barrier near a border checkpoint.

    Spain deployed its armed forces and additional police to restore order in Ceuta, which sits on the Strait of Gibraltar at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea and has been a Spanish possession since 1580. On the Moroccan side of the border, security forces clashed with migrants. The chaos also had ripple effects abroad, with Italy and France pledging to tighten their controls on people arriving from Spain.

    “The situation that Ceuta is going through is absolutely unsustainable,” Ceuta President Juan Jesús Vivas told journalists.

    Meanwhile, migrants from Morocco also attempted to cross into Melilla, Spain’s other territory at the tip of North Africa, where they clashed with police.

    Spanish prime minister condemns border breach

    Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited Ceuta on Friday and condemned the border breach, which he described as “a violation of Spain’s territorial integrity.”

    Sánchez blamed human smugglers for the crisis, saying they “deceive so many young people and ultimately lead many of them to their deaths,” whether in the ocean or in the city.

    The Spanish Interior Ministry released its own figures shortly after Vivas spoke, estimating that some 50,000 people had crossed from Morocco since Thursday. It added that 48,300 had already returned to Morocco by Friday evening, with hundreds more going back by the hour.

    Rachid Sbihi, who leads a local workers association representing Civil Guard officers, described the situation as a “serious humanitarian crisis,” saying thousands of migrants, including unaccompanied children, were left sleeping in parks and on sidewalks, while others roamed the streets aimlessly.

    “It’s chaotic,” Sbihi said.

    The Moroccan Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the migrant figures released by the Spanish authorities.

    European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the images from Ceuta “are unacceptable.”

    “We cannot allow anyone to come to our Union without abiding by our rules,” she said Friday in an online statement. “Dangerous crossings must stop immediately. Smuggling networks must be dismantled. And returns must be swift, as our rules allow.”

    Dozens died in the chaos

    Some of the 57 people who died had drowned, Sbihi said, but some were killed in a stampede to cross the breakwater fence at Tarajal Beach, an urban beach near a border checkpoint with Morocco. The waters near the border fence were littered with buoys, shoes, and other abandoned belongings.

    Many young Moroccans who crossed into Ceuta told the Associated Press that they had hoped to find better work opportunities in Spain but were returning given the mayhem in Ceuta.

    “There’s nothing at home. I’d have to work 12-hour shifts for a meager wage. That’s why I came here,” said 21-year-old Abdulah Buji, who hails from the city of Tetouan. “But I haven’t found any opportunities here either, so I have to go back.”

    Moroccan police used water cannons and fired warning shots into the air to prevent migrants from crossing into Ceuta, according to rights groups in Morocco.

    Morocco’s ambassador to Spain said the situation in Ceuta had unfolded against Morocco’s wishes.

    “We have always prioritized legal, orderly, and safe migration for all,” Karima Benyaich said. She did not comment on what prompted the migrants to cross into Ceuta.

    To reach Ceuta, on the northern African coast, migrants often swim from the Moroccan town of Fnideq, covering about 3 miles to reach Spanish territory. Others attempt the crossing from the nearby town of Belyounech, where the distance is shorter.

    Border surge linked to Supreme Court ruling

    The authorities in Ceuta and Madrid have linked the border surge to a recent decision by the Spanish Supreme Court, which ruled that migrants arriving by sea could not be summarily deported, unlike those who cross by land or climb the border fence.

    Sánchez said migrant smugglers misinterpreted the ruling.

    The interpretation of the Supreme Court’s ruling “spread like wildfire over the past few hours through the networks of human trafficking organizations,” triggering the surge, Sánchez said.

    Spain has bucked anti-immigration trend

    Sánchez has bucked the anti-migration trend that has gained ground across Europe and in the U.S.

    Earlier this year, his government moved to give residency and work permits to hundreds of thousands of migrants already living in the country without permission.

    Sánchez, a Socialist, argued that it would be good for the economy and the demographics of an aging Spain. Migrants who entered irregularly after Jan. 1 this year were not included.

    His critics have jumped at the opportunity to attack his policy, saying it encouraged more migrants to come.

    “Sánchez allows Spain to be invaded through Ceuta,” Spanish conservative politician Isabel Díaz Ayuso wrote on X.

    The U.S. expressed its support for “the people of Spain, and all Europeans, against this egregious violation of their sovereignty and human rights.”

    In a post on X, the U.S. State Department added that “this unacceptable incident is the direct result of the Spanish Government’s deliberate efforts to enable and facilitate mass illegal migration into Europe.”

    Sánchez on Friday defended his migration policy and distanced it from the events in Ceuta.

    In the tumult, Italy temporarily suspended its open-border Schengen agreement with Spain, reimposing border controls for air and sea. The Interior Ministry said the decision amounted to a “closure” of the borders, but experts said it was merely a resumption of border controls. The agreement allows travelers to fly between the two countries without presenting passports.

    French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said France would also strengthen border checks with Spain.

    The crisis in Ceuta “has nothing to do with the regularization of migrants adopted by the Government of Spain, as is being falsely claimed by some,” the Spanish government said in a statement late Thursday after Italy’s announcement.

    Pressure grows on second Spanish territory in Africa

    Migrants from Morocco also attempted to cross into Melilla, the other Spanish territory at the tip of North Africa.

    There was widespread chaos in Bni Nsar, the Moroccan town bordering the Spanish territory, where migrants clashed with police, throwing rocks and setting police vehicles ablaze, according to local media and rights groups. They reported injuries among security forces and the arrest of dozens of people attempting to cross.

    Like Ceuta, Melilla is a self-governing Spanish city. Many Moroccans consider both cities to be occupied territory.

  • Big oil companies reap billions off the Iran war

    Big oil companies reap billions off the Iran war

    Oil companies have delighted Wall Street this week by reporting multibillion-dollar windfalls in their earnings statements, with ExxonMobil and Chevron on Friday reporting a combined $26.5 billion in profits during the second quarter of the year.

    But the immense profit stemming in large part from the war in Iran, and coming at the expense of motorists struggling to pay for a tank of gas, is fast making the companies a ripe political target.

    The oil majors are largely sitting on those unanticipated billions, according to an industry analysis by the research firm Wood MacKenzie.

    They are reluctant to reinvest the profits in expanded drilling that could eventually increase the world’s fuel supply, the firm found, as an abrupt end to the war could push prices for crude down considerably before the firms are able to recoup the cost of new rigs.

    With gas prices averaging more than $4 per gallon nationwide, and midterms in the not-too-distant future, lawmakers eager to assign blame for voter frustrations are taking aim.

    Exxon and Chevron early Friday posted their blockbuster earnings for the quarter that ended last month.

    Chevron disclosed $12 billion in earnings, reflecting a $9.6-billion jump over the same quarter last year and the firm’s biggest profit since 2020. Chevron CEO Mike Wirth attributed it in a statement to “disciplined investment and strong execution that drove record U.S. upstream production, record crude throughput in our U.S. refineries, and exceptional reliability across key assets.”

    ExxonMobil said Friday its earnings were $14.5 billion, more than double what the company reported for the same quarter last year. CEO Darren Woods said the quarter “was shaped by disruption, but defined by execution,” for the company.

    The disclosures followed Shell’s earnings report Thursday showing the company doubled its quarterly profits between this year and last.

    The staggering earnings are part of a bigger $425 billion annual windfall that Wood MacKenzie estimates is coming to the broader industry if prices for a barrel of crude average $90 for the year, which many analysts project they will.

    That was roughly the cost of oil on Friday morning. It has soared as high as $120 since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in late February, leading to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas is shipped.

    “Oil companies know they are going to be in for political criticism,” said Bob McNally, founder of the research firm Rapidan Energy Group. “This is like one of those classic movies from the 1960s that keeps coming back around. We all know there is going to be a lot of theater when oil prices are going up.”

    The companies declined to answer questions about their profits at a time of high gas prices.

    Asked about the windfalls oil companies are reporting this week, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers shifted attention from the firms to Iran. She said, “Oil and gas prices will plummet back to preconflict levels” as the U.S. military neutralizes Iran’s ability to disrupt the flow of crude.

    President Donald Trump had previously put the companies on notice that the Justice Department would be investigating potential price gouging. The threat has populist appeal but could prove challenging to carry out. Industry officials said privately they have seen no evidence an actual investigation is happening.

    Dustin Meyer, senior vice president of policy, economics, and regulatory affairs at the American Petroleum Institute, said government scrutiny would not be a matter of concern.

    “These markets are transparent,” Meyer said. “It is not the first time government has looked at them. Every single time they do, they find the same thing. Not only is there no gouging, but gouging is impossible for an oil market this size with this many participants.”

    Democrats in Congress, though, have seized on high prices at the pump in the run-up to a hotly contested midterm election that will determine which party controls both the House and Senate.

    As the likelihood of windfall profits came into focus last month, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) wrote a letter to oil executives demanding details of how they may have profited from the war or lobbied the White House to execute it in ways that benefit them.

    Woods told CNBC Friday that Exxon tries “to make sure not just the U.S. administration but frankly administrations all around the world … understand our perspective of what we see and how things are playing out, so they have the best information to make policy decisions.”

    “We very much stick in our lane with respect to here is what we see, here is how we think it could potentially play out, and make sure policymakers have our best thinking when they are putting together their decisions and the approach they want to take,” Woods said.

    Rep. Brad Sherman, a California Democrat, is among those pushing for more government intervention.

    He said motorists “need to fill their gas tank today, and they either need to be paying a lower price, or second best, they need to be getting a rebate check from the government.” He has proposed legislation that would impose a windfall tax on U.S. oil companies until the war with Iran is over, the strait is reopened, and U.S. benchmark crude oil prices drop below $75 per barrel.

    In the past, the industry has tended to argue that such levies would take away cash it needs to invest in expanded drilling that could effectively help lower prices. But the companies are not making those investments right now, amid concerns the war will have ended and oil prices will have dropped too low to make the rigs profitable by the time they are finally operating months — or even years — from now.

    And even if the firms were investing, Sherman said, drivers would still be suffering.

    “When we’re paying these outrageous prices at the pump, nobody’s saying, ‘Oh, that’s great! The oil companies are going to invest this in additional oil production,’” he said.

    For the moment, at least, his proposal is more a political tool than a viable policy plan in this Congress, which is controlled by Republicans staunchly opposed to a windfall profit tax.

    But if prices remain high, analysts say, sentiments could shift, and the government may be more inclined to step in to try to bring relief to consumers, including by limiting exports of U.S. oil.

    Regulators and lawmakers have already mostly exhausted their options for bringing down prices without dramatic market interventions. Government petroleum reserves have been depleted and sanctions on countries like Venezuela and Russia have been lifted to bring more fuel into the market.

    “There are not many tools left in the tool kit to bring down prices,” said Denton Cinquegrana, chief oil analyst at Dow Jones Energy. “But the general public who has to buy gasoline certainly does not want to hear that, especially amid an affordability crisis that has taken over this country.”

    Windfall profit taxes have a fraught track record in the U.S., according to Tyler Priest, an associate professor of history at the University of Iowa.

    The last one enacted in 1980 after the oil shocks of the 1970s generated far less revenue than lawmakers projected and was ultimately repealed after economists concluded it discouraged some domestic production while adding significant complexity to the tax code.

    Democrats have structured their latest proposals differently, focusing the tax only on profits above a historical benchmark and steering the revenue generated toward consumers. But experts are conflicted on its potential effectiveness. Priest noted that the plans are narrowly targeted at large oil companies, but more than 70% of U.S. oil comes from smaller producers.

    Shon Hiatt, an energy scholar at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, said a windfall profit tax imposed in Britain in 2022 was followed by a sharp decline in production there.

    “The incentives to take risk and invest in production are drastically reduced,” he said, which can ultimately lead to “lower production, and in some cases, scarcity.”

    Others argue the decline predated the tax and was caused by a number of factors, including aging oil fields and a shift toward renewables.

    Even if such policy proposals stall in the U.S., lawmaker attacks are only likely to intensify in the coming months. Analysts are already projecting the companies will post a fresh round of windfall profits in the next reporting period.

    It falls days before the election.

  • Quake survivors in southwestern Japan sleep in cars in sweltering heat as death toll rises to 34

    Quake survivors in southwestern Japan sleep in cars in sweltering heat as death toll rises to 34

    YATSUSHIRO, Japan — Thousands of survivors of a powerful earthquake in southwestern Japan spent Friday in crowded shelters or sleeping in cars as they faced shortages of water and fuel and punishing summer temperatures that stoked fears of heat-related illness.

    The death toll rose to 34, the Kumamoto prefectural government said, as rescuers raced to find those still missing after the quake triggered a mall explosion, toppled a factory chimney, and flattened homes.

    Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stressed that authorities must secure water supplies by doing “whatever it takes” and called for close coordination with the military and other relevant agencies. The earthquake left thousands of homes without power, but electricity was fully restored by Friday evening. The local power company also said there were no immediate reports of remaining outages.

    The magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu on Tuesday. As search operations entered a fourth day, it wasn’t known how many people remained missing.

    More than 1,500 buildings were damaged, including 179 that were destroyed, according to preliminary assessments by Kumamoto officials.

    Officials said one more death and its connection to the quake is under investigation. At least 96 people were injured, including six seriously.

    Debris collected at severely damaged century-old inn

    In Yatsushiro City, another hard-hit area in southern Kumamoto, Kinparo, a 116-year old Japanese inn was severely damaged, with its roofed main entrance collapsed to the ground, white walls cracked, and rooftiles fallen.

    On Friday, three days after the quake, workers were removing parts of the gate, which is part of the registered historic property that needs to be restored.

    Started in 1910, the three-story ryokan with traditional architecture and hot baths have attracted many fans from the region and across Japan.

    “The damage is tremendous and it would require significant repairs, and I can’t even think if or how I can do that,” inn owner Keisuke Matsumoto said. “But it’s a valuable family inn that has been handed down for generations since my great-great grandfather built it, so I do hope to preserve it.”

    Inside, his mother, Misao Matsumoto, said she was not injured in the quake but “I’m mentally discouraged. It’s very painful to see parts of what I’ve lived with and enjoyed for decades crumble to that state.” But she said experts of historic buildings will come in to discuss the reconstruction, so “I have to hang in there.”

    Across the street from the Kinparo inn, a fish cake shop owner unable to resume his business due to the water cutoff was giving away tube-shaped fish cakes while they are still edible.

    Signs for the “chikuwa” fish cake hang from the ceiling. “I just wanted to cheer up this neighborhood,” said shop owner Shinichiro Katayama. He says he cannot clean or check whether his fish cake machine is intact until the water supply resumes. “I don’t even know if the machine still works. When water supply is back that would be my first step toward a recovery.”

    Thousands are without water as heat soars

    Kumamoto authorities said nearly 80,000 homes remained without water. More than 9,000 people were staying in shelters, where power sources were being added to provide air-conditioning.

    Fuel has also become scarce as power outages disabled gas stations and quake damage disrupted deliveries from other regions. Many have resorted to sleeping in their cars for privacy, but with the fuel shortage, they struggle to keep the air-conditioning running in sweltering temperatures.

    Japan’s weather agency and the Ministry of the Environment issued an extreme heat alert for Kumamoto city Friday as temperatures peaked at 97 F.

    Hirokazu Sato, who lost his home in the earthquake, said he and his wife and three children would remain in their car until they can move into temporary housing.

    “I don’t know how soon I’d be able to move in,” said Sato. “We need to have the air-conditioning on throughout the day and night, which uses up gas.”

    Kumamoto is also a major industrial hub, and there are concerns that the quake could possibly disrupt semiconductor and auto-parts supply chains for months to come.

    Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, a global chip giant that operates a lab in Kumamoto, said all personnel were safe and operations were gradually resuming after postquake inspections found the structure was sound, although detailed inspections and impact assessments were still underway.

    Searches continue, with number of missing unknown

    Japanese officials had described Friday afternoon as a crucial point for rescue efforts as some experts say survival chances decline after the first three days.

    With search dogs, rescuers continued looking for survivors across the Kumamoto area, including at the collapsed Aeon Mall in the town of Kashima, one of the hardest-hit sites. The complex was bustling with thousands of people when the quake happened.

    The company said about 3,000 shoppers were evacuated to a parking lot before an explosion happened in another part of the mall, where some staff remained working. The mall’s second floor collapsed, trapping people. Seven of the 11 found were confirmed dead, but officials did not say if anyone else is missing.

    A search operation had ended at a Nippon Paper Industries factory in the Yatsushiro city where a chimney collapsed in the quake, officials said. Of the 11 people dug out there, nine were confirmed dead.

    Smaller-scale searches continued Friday at the sites of collapsed houses in badly hit towns in southern Kumamoto. Authorities haven’t supplied a firm figure for how many people are missing.

  • Airports, nursing homes and schools brace for disruption without Haitian workers

    Airports, nursing homes and schools brace for disruption without Haitian workers

    The Department of Homeland Security alerted employers this week that it had officially ended humanitarian protections for 350,000 Haitian immigrants, triggering mass layoffs that threaten to disrupt summer travel and destabilize an array of essential institutions and industries up and down the East Coast and across the Midwest.

    Nursing homes terminated hundreds of workers, including nursing assistants, dietary aides and housekeepers, industry and union leaders said. At airports including those in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Boston, contractors terminated scores of Haitian workers, including janitors, cabin cleaners and wheelchair attendants, according to union leaders at Service Employees International Union 32BJ.

    At Florida schools, landscapers, bus drivers and other staff were fired. And in New York City, dozens of security guards were terminated only to be rehired because of confusion around their eligibility to continue working, union officials said.

    The tumult comes about a month after the U.S. Supreme Court granted the Trump administration permission to cancel the humanitarian program, known as temporary protected status (TPS), potentially stripping permission to live and work in the United States from as many as 1.3 million immigrants from Haiti, Syria and a dozen other countries.

    The high court said the program for Haitians, one of the largest groups affected, could end on Monday. But attorneys for Haitian TPS holders said the protections should remain in effect until a lower court that had blocked the Trump administration from ending the program formally recognizes the Supreme Court decision.

    In response to a question about the status of TPS for Haitians, a DHS spokesperson said in a statement that “activist lower court judges are openly defying the Supreme Court on this, but the end result will be the same. Haitians with TPS cannot and will not be able to stay.”

    Earlier this week, DHS informed employers that it considered the “Haiti TPS designation … terminated, effective” immediately, and businesses have been laying workers off ever since.

    The DHS spokesperson added that “Temporary Protected Status is exactly that -temporary.” “For too long, TPS has been allowed to function as a de facto amnesty program despite Congress never intending it to be permanent,” the spokesperson said.

    Geoffrey Pipoly, who represented the Haitians at the Supreme Court, accused the administration of sowing confusion instead of winding down TPS provisions in an orderly way.

    “What we’ve seen from [the administration’s] behavior in the past month … is that they are trying to create conditions that are just not worth it for employers to keep people employed,” Pipoly said.

    Food service, retail, warehousing, health care and long-term elder care are expected to be pummeled in some cities where many Haitian TPS holders have lived legally for more than a decade. The Obama administration first granted TPS to Haitians in 2010, after a major earthquake destabilized the country, killing hundreds of thousands of people.

    “We do think the Supreme Court decision is going to decimate industries that people really count on because they’re largely serviced by immigrants. That’s true of airports,” said Roxana Rivera, assistant to the president at SEIU 32BJ, which represents cleaners, security guards and airport personnel on the East Coast. “It’s going to be much more difficult to fill these essential jobs.”

    As the firings rippled through cities such as Miami and New York and smaller cities such as Columbus, Ohio and Allentown, Pennsylvania, newly unemployed Haitians frantically lined up care for their children, downsized into single-room rentals and sheltered in place, fearing a new wave of immigration enforcement focused on their community, advocates said.

    On Monday evening, Haitian workers at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport burst into tears as they were asked to turn in their badges. Marlene, 47, a single mother who has worked as an airport janitor for 12 years, said she has been sick to her stomach.

    “I am panicking. I can’t eat. I can’t sleep,” said Marlene, who spoke on the condition that she be identified by first name only. “My kid is wondering if he goes to school, will I be there when he comes home?”

    The Broward County Aviation Department, which operates the airport, did not respond to questions about the status of impacted employees. But the department said 132 Haitian TPS holders worked there as of Monday, and that contractors who employ them have “‘uninterrupted service’ clauses to ensure continuity of operations.”

    Helene O’Brien, the Florida director of SEIU 32BJ, said the union has lost at least 140 other workers, mostly janitors, due to previous Trump immigration policies.

    Some TPS holders from Haiti are seeking new protections, including under asylum law, while others are holding out hope for litigation or legislation that could change the fate of the program — though experts say that is unlikely.

    White House Homeland Security Adviser Stephen Miller has said that Haitians who lose status should be deported: “It’d be crazy for us to say that Haitians couldn’t live in Haiti. It’s their country,” he told reporters last month.

    Opponents of the terminations say Haiti is not safe and warn that the expulsion of 200,000 working Haitian TPS holders from the labor force will lead to declines in economic activity and tax revenue in local economies.

    Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) told CBS News this week that Haitians helped revive the city of Springfield, where Trump falsely accused Haitian immigrants of eating cats and dogs during the 2024 presidential campaign. DeWine called the decision to end TPS a “mistake.”

    “These are people who have helped Springfield really come back,” DeWine said. “The Haitians … came there because there were jobs that were not being filled by other people.”

    In the days leading up to the cancellation, powerful business groups pushed the administration to delay implementation of the Supreme Court ruling and establish a pathway for workers to regain legal status. The National Restaurant Association and the Florida Health Care Association were among several trade groups that sent letters to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin warning of looming operational disruptions.

    “Many affected employees are long-serving, legally authorized workers who are central to restaurant operations,” the National Restaurant Association said in a letter to Mullin. “Their departure could remove a substantial share of the local hospitality workforce overnight.”

    This month, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) introduced legislation to restore TPS for Haitians, warning the nation would otherwise face “a health care disaster.”

    Some nursing homes have cut ties with scores of employees in recent days, while others have downsized. One facility in Staten Island, New York, raised its sign-on bonus from $2,000 to $6,000 to attract workers, while others shut down building wings and took beds offline. Still others explored recruiting replacement workers from high schools, said Katie Sloan, president of LeadingAge, an association of nonprofit aging service providers.

    “To lose that many employees in one fell swoop is incredibly disruptive,” Sloan said. “And it’s destructive to the residents who have been close to these caregivers for years.”

    Augustine, 30, is among those who stand to lose protective status. She and her mother fled Port-au-Prince after the 2010 earthquake destroyed their home.

    Now Augustine — who spoke on the condition that she be identified only by first name — is a caregiver at Cabrini of Westchester, a 304-bed nursing home overlooking the Hudson River in Dobbs Ferry, New York. Most mornings, she is the first person to greet nine residents, waking them, bathing them, brushing their teeth and helping some eat breakfast and use the bathroom. Most of their families don’t visit regularly, she said; one calls her “my daughter.”

    When she contemplates leaving her job, Augustine — whose shifts were canceled this week in anticipation of her work permit expiring — worries about these residents. But she said she would rather leave on her own terms than have immigration agents knocking on her door, so she and her mother have decided to begin packing as soon as the loss of her work permit is clear.

    Asked if she had any parting words, Augustine said: “Thank you, America.”

    In Florida, where nearly half of Haitian TPS holders reside, the Palm Beach County School District laid off nearly 20 Haitian workers, including bus drivers, janitors and cafeteria workers, school district and union officials said. “All School District employees must be legally authorized to work in the United States,” Steven King, a Palm Beach County School District spokesperson, said in a statement.

    Afifa Khaliq, president of the SEIU Florida Public Services Union, which represents those workers, said she has been having conversations “that you would never want to have with a parent,” telling them to “make a plan so that your children can at least stay in safe environments while you may have to go back to Haiti.”

    One 58-year-old Haitian woman with TPS in West Palm Beach, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she fears being targeted by ICE, was fired from two full-time jobs this week. A single mother, she worked as both as a certified nursing assistant in a senior living facility and at a separate job in medical records, to pay for her two kids’ college tuition.

    “I can’t plan ahead for this news. We live paycheck-to-paycheck,” said the woman, who has been in the United States since the 2010 earthquake.

    “There is nowhere to go in Haiti,” she said, adding: “There are gangs living in my house in Port-au-Prince.”

  • Pressure rises on Infantino and FIFA’s World Cup investor plan as adviser resigns and Asia opposes

    Pressure rises on Infantino and FIFA’s World Cup investor plan as adviser resigns and Asia opposes

    GENEVA — Pressure on FIFA President Gianni Infantino and his divisive plan to sell World Cup profits to private equity grew Friday as his senior adviser who sat on a White House panel resigned and Asia’s soccer body joined Europe and North America in opposing it.

    An expanding crisis for soccer’s governing body reached into Infantino’s longtime inner circle when his pick to represent FIFA on the White House Task Force for the World Cup walked away calling the Joshua Kushner-backed $20 billion commercial subsidiary plan “a bad deal for football.”

    Carlos Cordeiro is a former Goldman Sachs banker and officially Infantino’s Senior Adviser yet revealed he was not involved in the secretive investment plan that has rocked the sport since media reports revealed it Tuesday.

    “I cannot stand by while FIFA considers selling a stake in the World Cup,” Cordeiro said in a statement formally resigning, just hours after FIFA insisted in a statement: “Nobody is selling football.”

    Cordeiro’s exit — and call for other senior staff to speak out — intensified scrutiny on Infantino one day after European soccer body UEFA threatened to boycott all FIFA games and events until the plan is dropped. North America’s CONCACAF also rejected Infantino’s offer of one-off $20 million payments to each member federation by a mid-September deadline.

    Cordeiro often joined Infantino on working visits to meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in recent years, and took part in meetings of the administration’s World Cup task force led by Andrew Guiliani.

    “Let me be clear. I had no involvement in this proposal, and I oppose it unequivocally,” said Cordeiro, the former U.S. Soccer Federation president.

    Asia joins Europe and North America

    On another seismic day in soccer politics, Asia’s soccer body that has been a key ally in Infantino’s 11-year presidency opposed the investor plan and said FIFA must urgently review its management style

    The Asian Football Confederation said it “stands in solidarity” with UEFA and CONCACAF, the first two continental bodies to oppose Infantino whose combined 90 FIFA member countries near a majority of the 211 global total.

    “Football should never have been placed in such a position,” said the Asian soccer body, which counts 46 of FIFA’s 211 members

    Infantino has proposed spinning off FIFA’s commercial businesses — including World Cups and Club World Cups for men and women — into a $20 billion subsidiary with 20% owned by private investors.

    The “anchor investor,” described by FIFA, is a New York-based investment firm created by Joshua Kushner, the younger brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

    “(T)he proposed (FIFA Forward Enterprise) cannot realistically achieve the necessary broad consensus and unity required to move forward” and must be reconsidered, the AFC said.

    The statement did not name Infantino yet criticized FIFA for problems beyond the content of the private equity plan plus failing to consult about the secretive proposal.

    “Rather, it has exposed fundamental weaknesses in FIFA’s consultation and decision-making processes that must now be addressed,” said the AFC, whose longtime president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa narrowly lost the FIFA presidential election to Infantino in 2016.

    “Accordingly, the AFC calls upon FIFA to undertake an urgent review of its governance and decision-making framework,” said the organization based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

    Infantino’s job at risk?

    Infantino had seemed — 11 days ago after the World Cup final in East Rutherford, New Jersey — to have a clear path to being reelected unopposed for a fourth and final term in office through 2031.

    FIFA had briefed during the tournament that Infantino had letters of support from about 200 members, despite a furor over letting United States forward Folarin Balogun play against Belgium even though he received a red card in his previous game. Trump acknowledged asking Infantino to review Balogun’s mandatory one-game ban.

    FIFA has set a Nov. 18 deadline for potential candidates to declare in a presidential vote of the 211 members scheduled next March in Rabat, Morocco.

    FIFA blames the media

    The Asian statement came hours after FIFA blamed the media and doubled down on pursuing the project which now seems to have a majority of the 211 in opposition.

    “Our planned consultation process was disrupted by incorrect media reports,” FIFA said in a statement early Friday. “We will proceed with this consultation process to ensure that each (member) has the ability to express its vote based on facts.”

    The next FIFA event that would be targeted by the threatened European boycott is within weeks — the Women’s Under-20 World Cup hosted by Poland from Sept. 5. The four British federations comprise FIFA’s only bidder to host the 2035 Women’s World Cup. That decision is due Nov. 23.

  • The Trump administration is ending a Medicare drug subsidy program. Here’s how it could affect costs

    The Trump administration is ending a Medicare drug subsidy program. Here’s how it could affect costs

    NEW YORK — Millions of older adults on Medicare prescription drug coverage could face steeper monthly costs in 2027, after the Trump administration concludes a temporary subsidy program that has helped offset premiums for the past two years.

    The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services this week announced it would wrap up the program, which was initially implemented by the Biden administration in 2024 to lower patients’ Medicare Part D prescription drug costs in response to effects of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.

    While federal officials insist the financial impact on Medicare beneficiaries will be minimal, the decision opens the Republican-led administration to potential political consequences in a high-stakes midterm election year. Voters have identified cost of living as a top concern, and many older adults, who tend to vote in high numbers, are on fixed incomes where every dollar counts. The roughly 25 million Americans with Medicare Part D plans will find out about their 2027 rates in the fall, when they are casting ballots in November’s elections.

    Democrats slammed CMS’s move as part of a pattern of federal attacks on healthcare affordability, alongside federal Medicaid cuts and the expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies that had reduced premium costs for working-age Americans in that program.

    “The Trump administration is actively raising prescription drug costs for 25 million seniors,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote on X in response to the news, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. “Heartless, cruel, and completely by choice.”

    CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz on Tuesday said ending the subsidy program would prevent billions of taxpayer dollars from being funneled to insurance companies. It cost the agency an estimated $3.6 billion in 2026.

    He said most Medicare beneficiaries would see less than a $10-per-month increase, and some would even see lower premiums than beforehand.

    “Every Medicare beneficiary still has access to low-cost plans, and we will continue to lower prescription drug prices for every American patient, from more MFN deals to our policy giving seniors access to GLP-1s for $50 a month,” he wrote on social media.

    The federal government also negotiates directly with pharmaceutical companies to lower the prices of some of the most expensive drugs in Medicare, through a program created by Congress in 2022.

    This week’s decision has no impact on the out-of-pocket cap that limits the amount that older adults with standalone Medicare drug coverage spend on their prescription drugs over the course of a year. That was set at $2,100 in 2026 and is projected to rise to $2,400 for 2027.

    Part D beneficiaries paid an average of $36 a month this year for their prescription drug premiums with the subsidies in place, according to the healthcare research nonprofit KFF. The subsidies offset the average premium by $16 in 2026, according to the federal Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC).

    It’s not yet known how many Americans the change will effect, or how much more they’ll pay. Older Americans have the opportunity to shop for plans each year, and prices vary widely between them. CMS has said it will release information about next year’s premiums in September.

    Juliette Cubanski, vice president and director of the program on Medicare policy at KFF, said the price increases may be marginal for some consumers but impactful for others when combined with higher prices in other areas, like groceries, gas, and housing.

    “What’s going to matter most for consumers is how much more or less they have to pay at the end of a month, and how much they have left after the bills are paid,” she said. “This could just make it more challenging for some people to make that math work.”