U.S. and world news for July 2

USAID formally shut down by Trump Administration

Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a social media post announced that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has formally been shut down. In his announcement, Rubio made the false claim that USAID has done nothing since the cold war. In fact, USAID has saved millions of lives from disease, fed millions of starving people around the world and counteracted efforts by China, Russia and other countries to spread their influence while undermining the U.S. A new study estimates that the end of USAID could result in more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030. Nearly a third of those deaths — more than 4.5 million — would be children younger than five years old.

Trump pauses shipment of munitions to Ukraine

The Trump Administration has paused some shipments of weapons, including air defense missiles, to Ukraine. The action by the Trump Administration to halt the shipments benefits Russia, which has intensified its air attacks on Ukraine, often using hundreds of drones and missiles. White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said the decision to pause the weapons shipments was made “to put America’s interests first” but she did not provide details about that claim.

House takes up Trump megabill

The Senate passed President Trump’s sweeping domestic agenda bill on Tuesday after Vice President JD Vance broke a 50-50 tie. The House now takes up the Senate version and if the House makes changes the bill will need to go back to the Senate. The Senate version increases cuts to Medicaid to an estimated $930 billion. The bill increases spending for the military and border agencies while adding nearly $3.3 trillion to the country’s deficit. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, after being highly critical of the bill as hurting the American people, voted in favor of it, allowing it to pass.

Trump to defund labs studying climate change

Donald Trump has long denied that climate change is real and the Earth is warming. Now, in an effort to eliminate all climate-related research work at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Trump Administration plans to defund the Mauna Loa laboratory in Hawaii. Since the 1950s, scientists at that lab have gathered the most conclusive evidence of human-caused climate change that’s driving sea level rise, supercharging weather and destroying food systems. Trump also plans to kill funding for many other climate labs, including instrument sites comprising the U.S. government’s greenhouse gas monitoring network, which stretches from northern Alaska to the South Pole.

Paramount to pay $16M to settle Trump’s lawsuit against CBS News

CBS News’ parent company Paramount Global says it has agreed to pay $16 million to resolve a lawsuit filed by President Trump over a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris. Trump didn’t like the way the interview was edited. “60 Minutes” was defended on First Amendment grounds. Paramount, which owns CBS, agreed to settle. It says the money will go to Trump’s presidential library. Paramount has been trying for months to complete a multi-billion dollar merger with Skydance Media, but the deal required approval from the Trump administration. Paramount said the lawsuit was “completely separate from, and unrelated to, the Skydance transaction and the FCC approval process.”

Trump says Israel agrees to Gaza ceasefire

In a social media post, Donald Trump says that Israel has agreed to a 60-day ceasefire in its fight with Hamas that has decimated Gaza. However, Hamas did not immediately signal its agreement. In his post, Trump threatened Hamas by saying that if it does not take this deal any future deal will only be worse for it. He also called the deal that’s on the table a “final deal.” Trump said that Qatar and Egypt, which have been involved in negotiations to end the Gaza conflict, were delivering the ceasefire proposal to Hamas.