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By Pavan Mahal

August 1, 2025

Good morning! I'm Pavan, filling in for Sarah Naffa.

In the news today: U.S. President Donald Trump pushes back the start date for tariffs and imposes new ones; why not enough food is reaching people in Gaza even after Israel eased its blockade; and rural Texas county leaders say they were asleep or out of town during the initial hours of the July 4 flood crisis. Also, South Africa is trying to curb rhino poaching by injecting their horns with radioactive material.

Vehicles for export are parked at a port in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

POLITICS

Trump pushes tariffs start date back, injecting a new dose of uncertainty for consumers and businesses

For weeks, President Donald Trump was promising the world economy would change on Friday with his new tariffs in place. It was an ironclad deadline, administration officials assured the public. Read more.

Why this matters:

But when Trump signed the order Thursday night imposing new tariffs on 68 countries and the European Union, the start date of the punishing import taxes was pushed back seven days so that the tariff schedule could be updated. The change — while potentially welcome news to countries that had not yet reached a deal with the U.S. — injected a new dose of uncertainty for consumers and businesses still wondering what’s going to happen and when.

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GAZA

Not enough food is reaching people in Gaza, even after Israel eased its blockade

International outcry over images of emaciated children and increasing reports of hunger-related deaths have pressured Israel to let more aid into the Gaza Strip. This week, Israel paused fighting in parts of Gaza and airdropped food. But aid groups and Palestinians say the changes have only been incremental and are not enough to reverse what food experts say is a “worst-case scenario of famine” unfolding in the war-ravaged territory. Read more.

What to know:

The U.N. says that longstanding restrictions on the entry of aid have created an unpredictable environment, and that while a pause in fighting might allow more aid in, Palestinians are not confident aid will reach them. As desperation mounts, Palestinians are risking their lives to get food, and violence is increasing, say aid workers. Palestinians also say the way aid is being distributed, including being dropped from the sky, is inhumane.
Israel has argued that it is allowing sufficient quantities of goods into Gaza and shifted the blame to the United Nations. “More consistent collection and distribution by U.N. agencies and international organizations = more aid reaching those who need it most in Gaza,” the Israeli military agency in charge of aid coordination, COGAT, said in a statement this week.

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US NEWS

Rural Texas county’s top leaders were asleep and out of town during the initial hours of the flood crisis

Two top leaders in a rural Texas county said Thursday they were asleep and a third was out of town in the initial hours of a catastrophic flood that came barreling through the region, causing widespread destruction and killing more than 130 people earlier this month. Read more.

Why this matters:

Their testimony, which came during a joint House and Senate panel of lawmakers who visited the hard-hit Texas Hill Country, was the first indication of the whereabouts of the trio of men who were charged with preparing for the impending weather and dispatching resources to rescue those affected. It also revealed a lack of on-duty leadership in the key initial moments of the flooding that killed at least 136 people, including 27 youths and counselors at an all-girls camp.

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