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Did Trump’s aide stipulate a violation of ethics?

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good morning! It’s Daniel de Vis with your daily money.

Dan Scavino has been in the process of selling up to $5 million worth of Trump Media stock after joining President Donald Trump’s administration in January as vice-Chief of Staff.

However, according to a disclosure report obtained by USA Today, Trump’s advisors chose April 1 the day before Trump announced he would make the sale to make the sale.

Here’s why there’s a problem with that timing:

Will Trump’s tax cuts boost the economy?

Trump and his Congressional supporters trumpeted their just-passed tax and spending laws, saying they would abolish economic growth.

The law should actually improve economic outcomes in 2026, predictors say. And then? Probably not that much.

Gamblers How to Lost Through Holes

What happens in Vegas is to stay more at the IRS from now on.

That’s because of the ambiguous provisions Congress recently approved in Trump’s legislative package to reduce the tax credits for gambling losses. The provision is projected to raise $1 billion for the government over the next decade.

Here’s why gamblers are “screaming from the rooftop”:

📰 More Stories You Shouldn’t Overlook 📰

About daily money

Every day, Daily Money will provide you with the best consumer and financial news from USA Today, breaking complex events, providing you with the TLDR version, and explaining how everything from the Fed rate to bankruptcy will affect you.

Daniel de Visé covers USA Today personal finance.

After these Trump actions, forecasting dangerous weather becomes more difficult

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The Department of Defense’s decision to stop providing data to NOAA is just the latest challenge for the agency this year.

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The heartbreaking July 4 flood in Texas served as a reminder of the importance of accurate and timely weather forecasts.

Half a dozen meteorologists say these predictions have been well made, but such tragedy is expected to increase as extreme rainfall events become stronger. Further improvements to forecasting are important, but meteorologists worry that additional cuts planned by the Trump administration will not be able to keep up with the country’s weather and climate research programs.

The latest blow, which was announced by the US Navy, was announced on June 30 that data would no longer be transmitted from aged satellites in the past. The division then extended its deadline until July 31st.

Without these satellite images, hurricane prediction accuracy could be compromised, says current and former scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Polar researchers using images to measure sea ice ranges would instead like to obtain the same data through Japanese government satellites.

In any other year, the satellite snuff may have attracted less attention. But this summer, it exacerbates concerns about the accuracy of weather forecasts amid the cancellation of contracts, staff cuts, and other Trump administration efforts to reduce federal bureaucracy.

“You can’t keep taking the tools out of people and expect the same results,” said Andy Hazelton, a hurricane scientist at the University of Miami. Hazelton was hired as a NOAA scientist last October and was rejected in a wide-ranging agency layoff of the Trump administration.

“If you take away one tool, you won’t suddenly take away your ability to predict a hurricane,” Hazelton said. “But when they start to add up, it becomes more and more of a problem.”

USA Today interviewed more than 12 industry veterans, including half a dozen former NOAA scientists and independent researchers. They fear that hurricanes and other extreme weather events could be more accurate and disrupted efforts to monitor warming climates.

Flash flood deaths in Texas over the Independence Day weekend have not been accused of being poorly predicted, but weather scientists say tragedy represents something that can happen when predictions are less accurate.

  • Hundreds of probation employees were fired, and the incentive package sent hundreds more for early retirement, Create a staffing shortage. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick recently told Congress that he plans to hire more than 100 people to fill the National Weather Service vacancy, but as of July 9, no such work had been posted on usajobs.gov.
  • The contract was cancelled or caught up in a bottleneck due to the new requirement that political appointees should consider large contracts individually. For example, a fleet of autonomous maritime drones called Saildrones, which helped collect data used in hurricane predictions, did not deploy this summer after contractual issues..
  • The launch of a weather balloon exclusive to the office, which was missing. Balloons provide important atmospheric data used in models that help predict hurricane movements, such as balloons in Del Rio, Texas, which warned predictors about possible heavy rains in Texas in early July.
  • Organizers of two conferences for emergency managers and local civil servants have traditionally featured keynote speeches and training by scientists at the National Hurricane Centre.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment on a list of questions related to this year’s development.

The NOAA responded to the question in a brief statement about the National Hurricane Centre, saying, “It is dedicated to its mission and dialogue with our partners will continue and will not change.”

Climate programmes have been reduced or stopped

While floods in Texas highlight well-documented evidence of how warm bays increase the size of rain that falls into the most extreme storms, efforts to document and explain changing climates have been limited by the Trump administration.

The website of the program, which oversaw the writing of the National Climate Assessment mandated by Congress for years, has disappeared without explanation. The project is co-managed by NOAA, NASA and other agencies.

Rebecca Lindsay, a science writer and former editor of Climate.gov, and other NOAA employees, said staff members were verbally told not to use the word “climate” and were told to use “environmental change” instead, but were not sure if they would stay in the direction of the political appointee to avoid trouble from trouble with political appointees or to stay at the direction of the political appointee.

Hundreds of volunteer scientists have been rejected, starting to work with federal agencies to complete their next climate assessment. Existing reports have been moved to the NASA website, but according to emails from the agency, there is no date set for that.

Additionally, Climate.gov, a science website that described climate patterns and research, has closed around 1 million pages of viewing this year and redirected to NOAA’s main climate page, according to previous staff members. Staff housed in the Climate Bureau have been fired.

NOAA was also instructed to review and analyze the purpose and traffic of the public website of the spreadsheet called “OMB Low Hanging Fruit.” A copy of it was provided to USA Today.

The White House proposed cutting NOAA budget by 30% and eliminating the office of marine and atmospheric research.

Some say our reputation is at risk

Industry veterans say the resulting chaos, combined with similar behavior at other institutions, is damaging the nation’s reputation as a global scientific leader.

“We’re in unknown territory,” said Michael Mann, climate scientist, geophysicist and director at the University of Pennsylvania Science, Sustainability and Media Center. “They’re shocked, they’re terrifying. They can’t believe it.”

Countries around the world often look for science leadership in the United States, and now the United States will be “leaved,” Mann said. “China, Europe, Australia and the countries that are trying to lead are aware of this opportunity, and they reach out to American scientists and offer a very attractive position.”

He compared the situation to a runner who tripped out of the gate in a 400-meter race. “You’re going to lose the race,” he said.

Much of the action at NOAA follows recommendations from Project 2025, a report by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington, DC.

It framed a conservative federal overhaul framework and suggested that NOAA science would be politicized and triggered climate change alarms. Some of its authors had previously worked in President Donald Trump’s administration.

Scientists who spoke with USA Today volunteered freely to say that the agency wasn’t perfect and could make improvements. But they say that if hurricane predictions are inaccurate and the country is unable to adapt to changes in temperatures and sea levels that have already made extreme weather events stronger, the current direction will take billions of dollars and risky lives for taxpayers.

Reports that NOAA and the National Weather Service are deteriorating due to staffing shortages have been wary of some members of Congress who raised the issue during the recent Capitol Hill briefing due to budget cuts. Senators from both sides of Aisle raised the issue at a July 9 confirmation hearing for Neil Jacobs, who was nominated for NOAA administrators.

More than a week before the flood, U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen, an Illinois Democrat and only meteorologist, and Rep. Naythaniel Moran, a Texas Republican, said, “We are supporting laws that support co-sponsored laws that require emergency research to capture a better picture of the current state of weather forecasting capabilities across the country.

“Having access to accurate and reliable weather forecasts is extremely important for everyone,” Sorensen said.

USA Today’s national correspondent, Dinah Voyles Pulver, covers climate change, weather, the environment and other news. Contact her at dpulver @usatoday.com or @dinahvp.

Children at Gaza Health Centre killed in Israel’s strikes key rings, Medic says

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Editor’s Note: This story contains graphic images



CNN
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The Israeli strike saw 15 people, including women and children, gathered outside a health centre in the central city of Deal Al Bala in Gazan city on Thursday, according to medical staff and staff at Enclave.

AQSA Martyrs Hospital in Gaza said the eight hospitals killed on the strike are the youngest, two years old, and the oldest child at 14.

Video obtained by CNN showed several children lying motionless, while others appeared to be injured in the screams. Another video showed several children being carried to a cart, bloody, motionless, lying.

Israeli forces said they were targeting Hamas militants who took part in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

“The (Israel Defence Force) is aware of reports of injured individuals in the area. The incident is under review. The IDF will regret harm to an invalid individual and will operate it to minimize the harm as much as possible,” the Israeli military said in a statement to CNN.

The bodies of the two children are lying on the floor of AQSA Martyrs Hospital in Deial Al Bala on Thursday.

The Gaza Health Ministry Director General said he was hit near a medical centre that distributes children’s officials to women.

American aid organization Project Hope said the strike occurred “directly” at one of the health clinics that had been waiting to receive treatment for “malnutrition, infection, chronic illness, and more.”

The organization’s CEO, Rabih Torbay, told CNN that the clinic location was shared with the Israeli military. “It was a Decon Live site,” Torbey said.

“Project Hope’s health clinic is a place where people are refuge in Gaza, with people bringing in small children, women accessing pregnancy and postnatal care, and people receiving treatment for malnutrition,” he said in a statement.

“But this morning, the innocent family was mercilessly attacked as they stood in line waiting for the door to open,” he continued. “What is so horrifying and heartbreaking can’t properly convey how we feel anymore.”

Israel has stepped up its strike and expanded ground operations in some Gaza as Doha negotiators continue to talks to free hostages, establish a temporary ceasefire, and allow more humanitarian entry into the devastated strip.

Officials are mourning the bodies of Manal Abd Lab and her sister Fatima. He was among the 15 people killed in an Israeli strike on Thursday, July 10, 2025, while standing in line at a medical clinic run by Project Hope on the Gaza Strip.

About 3,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza over the past month, according to the Enclave’s Ministry of Health.

Meanwhile, Hamas continues to guerrilla-style attacks on Israeli forces, killing more than 20 soldiers in various parts of the strip over the same period, including five soldiers killed in the northern city of Beithanon this week.

A 20-year-old Israeli man was killed in an attack at the eruption Etzion Junction south of Jerusalem on Thursday, according to Israeli military health services. The IDF said the two Palestinian “terrorists” “combined shooting and stabbing attacks” before being “excluded.” Gush Etzion is a cluster of occupied West Bank settlements.

lindt Dubai Chocolate Bars are available for sale at Kroger, Target and Walmart.

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The original Dubai Chocolate Bar is made with a modification of the Dessert Chocolatier in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The bar’s six pack price is $120.

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As Lindt released its own version of viral dessert, the internet-famous Dubai Chocolate Bar has reached major retailers.

Lindt launched a limited run of Dubai-style chocolate bars at Walmart, Target, Kroger and other retailers on Monday, July 7th. The milk chocolate bar is full of pistachio paste, cadayahu (shred phyllodou), sugar-coated pistachios, and hazelnuts.

Lindt first launched its Dubai-style chocolate bar in December 2024, then releasing it in June. The bar sold out quickly. This is an indicator of the successful success of the bar’s wider launch, the news release said.

Interested in getting one of the chocolate bars? Here’s what you need to know.

Where can I use Lindt Dubai Chocolate Bar?

Lindt Dubai-style chocolate bars are available at major retailers such as Walmart, Target, Walgreens, Kroger, Albertson’s, Meijer, Publix, Stop & Shop, Hannaford, and Hy-Vee. Chocolate bars are also available on the LINDT website.

When is the Lindt Dubai Chocolate Bar available?

Lindt launched its Specialty Chocolate Bar on Monday, July 7th. The bar is available for a limited time, but the last one is the consumables.

According to the Kroger website, the bar will not be available on the chain until July 14th.

How much does Lindt Dubai Chocolate Bar cost?

According to Lindt, a Lindt Dubai-style chocolate bar costs $15. Kroger lists bars in the $15 price range. Prices for other retailers are not listed yet.

What is Bailardobai Chocolate Bar?

The original Dubai Chocolate Bar is called “Can’t Get of It” and is made by modifying the Dessert Chocolatier in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The six-pack bar will cost $120 on the revised dessert chocolatier website, and one bar will cost $20.

When the chocolate bar was released in 2022, Sarah Hamouda, founder of Dessert Chocolatier, wanted to satisfy the cravings of Knafeh (a Middle Eastern dessert made with pastry dough, sweet cheese and syrup) and pistachios, as reported by the BBC.

“Can Can Cnafeh of It” first went viral in 2023. Content creator Maria Vehera posted a Tiktok video showing her trying out a gorgeous chocolate bar. As of July 10th, the video had over 131 million views.

Countless brands have created their own versions, or “Dupée” of viral chocolate bars, including Florida-based Balch ($19 for a bar), New York City-based The Nuts Factory ($50 for two bars), and countless homemade recipes from Etsy.

Some brands have released their own Dubai chocolate-inspired products, including the Shake Shack’s Dubai Chocolate Pistachio Shake, made with pistachio frozen custard, toasted kataifi and dark chocolate shells.

Gretacross is a national trend reporter for USA Today. Story ideas? Please email her gcross@usatoday.com.

Rubio calls AI impersonation a “real threat,” but it is common to technology.

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The former Florida senator said he had asked if he was a target of impersonation and if a senior foreign official had texted him within days of becoming Secretary of State.

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  • Rubio said he warned about a voicemail message in which the senator is pretending to be the Secretary of State and reported it to the FBI and diplomatic security.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that anyone who imitates his voice through artificial intelligence represents a “real threat” that “can happen to anyone,” which is why he generally communicates with foreign leaders through official channels.

“It can happen to anyone, especially if you’re a public figure,” Rubio told reporters on July 10 at the Southeast Asian Parliamentary Association in Malaysia. “This is the reality and a real threat to this AI technology.”

Rubio said he learned about the impersonation last week and immediately reported it to the FBI, diplomatic security and others. The senator called Rubio to ask if he was about to reach the person and provided a voicemail.

“It doesn’t sound like me,” Rubio said.

According to Diplomatic Cable, seen by Reuters on July 8, the fraudster contacted three foreign ministers and two U.S. officials last month. In mid-June, the scammer contacted the minister, the US governor and members of Congress via the signal messaging app and left at least two voicemails. In one example, a text message was sent, and the targeted person invited them to communicate via signal.

The former Republican senator from Florida said the impersonation is part of a “fake” that has become a routine for new technology.

“Within a few days of becoming Secretary of State, I called the State Department and asked them if I had texted them,” Rubio said. “In general, I communicate with my counterparts around the world through official channels for reasons. That’s to avoid this.”

Rubio said anyone with AI software and recordings of someone’s voice will manage their own spoofing.

“I’m sure there are a lot of positive aspects to AI, but this isn’t one of them,” Rubio said.

Skims become “retro”. Is Kim Kardashian in anything?

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It’s not my grandmother’s underwear. Or maybe that’s true.

Skims, the Shapewear brand of Kim Kardashian, has launched a retro collection that can be picked straight from store racks of the 1950s. Or behind mom’s mom’s closet. The brand’s “vintage-inspired” bra (sold for $60) and shapewear ($118) debuted on July 2nd, bringing its old-fashioned silhouette in 2025.

While you can enjoy new items in colours, fits and styles, it’s worth exploring why Skims, a brand known for its futuristic design, thinks vintage.

“We’re looking forward to seeing you in the future,” said Lorynn Divita, an associate professor of apparel design and merchandising at Baylor University. These designs reverse course following the prevalence of bralettes that welcomed “underbooves” without shapes that have surpassed much of the 2010s, she said. But Skims trades structured shapes and their rulebooks with more fabrics.

Skim declined to request comment from USA.

Do you look backwards or meet at that moment?

Skim refers to the past, but it is possible that it has a modern cues with its retro movements. The collection is in discourse that sets the tone of humility in a female way. Cocket Milkmaid dresses are all rage, just like more covered options for workouts this summer. Fashion Upper Echelon is divided into a push of humility, from repulsion against nude at the Met Gala to a total ban on revealing outfits at Cannes. More recently, Lauren Sanchez Bezos has dumped her “sexy” outfit for her neck-height, long-sleeved Sofia Lauren-inspired 1950s wedding dress.

Skims’ retro collection evokes the beauty standards that defined sexiness in mid-20th century America, with large amounts of lips lined up with lip lines. The brand debuted its retro designs in an Instagram post featuring women in playful vignettes. They pos for vintage cameras and tweet old landline codes. Skim’s post can be speculated as a reference to the “pinup girls,” a female icon in mass-produced images that was sold as wall decorations in the mid-20th century. However, this time Skim becomes the person who dresses her.

“This is lingerie for people who don’t have to sit at their desks for eight hours,” Divita said. “This is lingerie for people who don’t have to work in the service industry, and this is not lingerie for people who have to do anything other than lounge and look pretty.

“It definitely feels like a comment about trade culture,” says Lauren Downing Peters, an associate professor of fashion studies at Columbia College Chicago, referring to women who promote traditional femininity and domestic lifestyles.

Women who embody the role of gender in the 1950s may be happy to see this collection come out, she said, as most major brands serve different consumers. These retro clothes leave sex “just under the surface” without displaying the skin. “It reflects the tension between exaggeration and containment,” she said.

For this reason, Skim places retro lines “for girls” rather than men’s gazes, Peters said.

Some of these trends can be attributed to nostalgia for easier and easier times. But the simple outfits and social media that make the past so appealing and appealing lack the context of what America really looked like over 80 years ago, Divita said.

“They forget that the women didn’t have credit cards, they couldn’t get a divorce,” she said. “Their social status wasn’t what they are now. They look back at this fascinating lingerie, which makes people think about all the good things that are relevant at the time.”

More reserved clothing could follow this underwear shift, she added. She said tight tees and athlete crop tops don’t like pointy “bullet bras.” Heavy structured lingerie is once again very popular, and the brand is likely to start selling blouse-style tops and longer hemlines, which explain the more layers below it, Divita noted.

Conversely, some influencers wear skim retro girdles as their only outfit, covering 1950s clothing to make them look only visible to their husbands, says Einavrabinovic Fox, a gender professor at Case Western Reserve University. And the lightweight, breathable fabric that Skim uses in 2025 allows the body to feel more aggressive and flexible with these types of clothing than in the past.

“My question is, how many customers of Skim actually accept it as underwear?” she spoke about today’s era where lingerie as daywear is typical.

And while the pointy bras were not a symbol of the 50s, Skims Marketing highlighted the connection. Think about the look of Madonna’s iconic Jean Paul Gaultier Corn Bra. This popularized the form as a bold statement of women’s power, Rabinovic Fox said.

“A pointy bra doesn’t have to admire anything else,” she said. “It could also be a statement of rebellion.”

Ukrainian intelligence agent was shot dead in Kiev in an obvious assassination

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CNN
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A Ukrainian security services officer was shot dead in Kiev on Thursday morning. Authorities said CNN was an obvious assassination.

A service spokesman told CNN that an SBU official was killed on Kyiv and an investigation into the assassination is underway. The SBU did not release the officer’s identity, apart from saying that the person is an officer.

Silent CCTV footage showing the attack is said to be shared on local telegram channels. CNN cannot independently verify the footage, but the location matches the official photo of the scene released by Kyiv Police.

This clip shows a man walking out of an apartment building in Kiev during the day. He approaches a masked individual who appears to carry a gun and is seen heading towards a nearby car carrying several bags. The attacker appears to be firing a gun, and the man falls to the ground with his bag. Bystanders can be seen fleeing the scene.

The masked attacker then appears to be firing again before escaping the scene.

Kiev police launched a manhunt and said the assailant was “injured.”

CCTV footage shows Ukraine (SBU) officials walking down stairs before they were filmed in Kiev on July 10, 2025.

Police said they are investigating the crime in parallel with other law enforcement agencies. It said the victim was found dead at the scene with a gunshot wound.

SBU is Ukraine’s main security service. In particular, he was responsible for Ukraine’s bold drone attacks on Russian airfields last month.

The Ukrainian drone attack, known as “Operation SpiderWeb,” was a great success for Kyiv and a great embarrassment for Moscow.

SBU operatives smuggled dozens of drones deep in Russia and launched them from near military airfields, surprising Moscow.

Dozens of Russian military aircraft, including strategic bombers and rare surveillance aircraft, have been destroyed or damaged.

Ukrainian security sources previously told CNN that the SBU was behind the assassination of Lt. Gen. Igor Kirilov, which Kiev had hoped for on suspicion of using chemical weapons.

Amanda Anisimova is No.1 to reach the Wimbledon Finals

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World No. 12 Amanda Anishimova disrupts top seed Alina Sabalenka 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the Wimbledon women’s singles semi-finals, heading into her first Grand Slam final.

The game was delayed twice in the first set due to the centre court fans feeling unwell, but both players endured the heat in a match that took two hours and 37 minutes.

Anisimova, a 23-year-old American, will play the other semi-final winners between the fourth Iga Swiatek and No. 35 Belinda Benchic in Saturday’s final. The American women won Wimbledon in 2016 when Serena Williams won.

“This is not realistic right now,” Anishimoba said after the match. “I don’t know how I pulled it out.”

The defeat by Sabalenka denied her spot in the third straight Grand Slam final, and for the third in a row, she was kicked out by the Americans this year in the Grand Slam. She lost to Coco Gough in the French Open Finals and Madison Keys in the Australian Open Finals. Sabalenka was about to become the first woman since Serena Williams a decade ago to reach four consecutive Grand Slam finals.

The last American woman remaining in the draw, Anishimoba broke for the first time in the match after winning 30 loves in the seventh game of the second set, giving Sabalenka a 4-3 advantage.

In the first game of the third set, Anisimova broke again and broke in the next game, then won the next three games and charged to control the match.

The victory will surge Anishimoba to a career-high seventh place in at least the next WTA rankings, but Sabalenka will be number one for the 39th consecutive week despite losses.

Before this year’s Wimbledon, Anishimova’s best performance in the Grand Slam tournament reached the semi-finals of the French Open in 2019 at the age of 17 after upsetting defending champion Simone Halep.

FTC cracks down on deceptive “Made in USA” claims

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Companies that can’t back up may claim that their products are made in the US.

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Research shows that Americans love American-made products. The problem is that the “Made in USA” tag is not always accurate.

The Federal Trade Commission has cracked down on marketing that is false or unfounded about such claims in recent years, forcing some companies to pay millions of dollars to misleading consumers.

That crackdown continues in July, with the FTC being called “Made in the USA” month. On July 8, the agency sent warning letters to four companies, reminding them to comply with labeling requirements. Amazon and Walmart also received letters about third-party sellers that appear to be making deceptive claims.

“Consumers are confident that when they buy something labeled “Made in the Usa,” they are actually supporting American workers and the US economy,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a July press release. “Companies that incorrectly claim that their products are “made in the US” can expect to hear from the FTC. ”

What does “Made in USA” mean?

The FTC says companies must advertise “all or virtually everything” of their US products as “made in America.”

This means that, according to the FTC website, the final assembly or processing will take place in the United States, or all “critical” processing with “all or substantially all” components created and sourced in the United States.

According to Kathleen Benway, a partner at the law firm Alston and Bird and a former staff member of FTC’s Consumer Protection Agency, this is a “flexible measure” that takes into account the amount of production costs of a product and how important foreign input to the form or function of the final product is. She says it can be difficult to determine whether a product is truly made in the US, and is often determined on a case-by-case basis.

Companies that mislabel their products can face heavy fines from FTCs.

In 2023, the instant brand that manufactures Pyrex-Brand kitchens and home products was ordered to pay a $129,416 fine after FTC said it had mistakenly claimed that a Chinese-made product sold on Amazon was “made in the US.”

More recently, in 2024, home product company Williams-Sonoma was charged with a civil penalty of $3.2 million after saying the FTC listed multiple products made in China and other countries as being made in the United States.

Many similar cases have come from agencies completing the Made in USA Labeling rules in August 2021. This allows FTC to impose civil penalties on businesses that are not compliant.

Benway hopes that the FTC will continue to pursue similar cases. Especially because they are consistent with the Trump administration’s efforts to bring more manufacturing back to the US.

“The false or misleading claim that it was made in America has long been the focus of the FTC. So this is not necessarily new. They were Beat police officers for a very long time,” Benway said. But “I am confident that this is a priority for the Ferguson-led FTC.”

Do Americans prefer products made in the US?

The “Made in USA” label is an attractive selling point for consumers.

About three-quarters of US consumers say they prefer American-made products, particularly in the aftermath of supply chain disruptions during the Covid-19 era, according to a May report from Integris, an IT service provider that works with manufacturers across the country.

“There may be some patriotism associated with that, but there is also the perception that the product may be greener because it travels shorter distances from the factory to the shelf or because it is of high quality,” says Phyllis Marcus, vice president of national advertising at BBB National Programs.

The extent to which preferences affect spending is another matter. Almost two-thirds of consumers said factors such as quality and price weighed more factors in their purchase decisions, according to Integris.

Overall, the Commerce Department estimates that as of 2023, about half of what Americans bought was “made in the US.” This includes purchasing from consumers, businesses and governments.

However, Benway warned that it would be difficult for consumers to communicate deceptive marketing from legitimate “US” products.

“To some extent, they are at the mercy of the marketers,” she said. “That’s why it’s important for the FTC to continue enforcement action and provide guidance to businesses.”

One sign that shoppers can be careful about is labels that mark imported “made in the US” products. In that case, Benway said consumers should file a complaint with the FTC.

The Big Beautiful Bill summary reveals the biggest changes for businesses

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President Donald Trump signed the law almost a week ago, the “Big Beautiful Building” – redirecting trillions of dollars from the federal budget to the US economy for at least the next decade.

Formerly known as food stamps, Medicaid and SNAP cuts dominated the debate because of its impact on the lives of millions of Americans. These same cuts are expected to ripple over hospital budgets – potentially shut down some and food producers.

But just like the dollars that stay in the pockets of many taxpayers and add $3.8 trillion to national debt, the industry packed into 870-page laws has a huge sum, creating several winners and losers.

Let’s take a look at some industries that laws elect. Oil, natural gas and coal producers are on the centre stage as green energy initiatives from former President Joe Biden’s administration are kept to a minimum. Maintaining tax cuts for small businesses can help billions or more, but military contractors can expect billions or more in arms spending.

Energy winners and losers

Oil and gas production in the US fell records during the Biden administration. Dozens of new opportunities to lease federal land for energy production will lead to more drilling and mining?

Can’t view the graphics? Click here to see them.

Which energy projects have little changed

Nuclear, Hydroelectric, Geothermal Energy – Sources that the Trump administration supports for credibility will receive increased access to tax credits under the new law. The battery storage project also benefited, maintaining the full tax credit until 2033 and undergoing phase-out by 2036.

What other industries lift from the law

One of the most expensive corporate tax credits often supports small business owners, including those who own or manage real estate such as several limited liability companies in the Trump organization. Some of the other breaks focus on the start of the business, either a financial aid or a future manufacturer.

Contribution: Reuters

Tencent improves testing of creative AI models with new benchmarks

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Tencent has introduced a new benchmark Artifactsbench, which aims to fix current issues in testing creative AI models.

Have you ever asked your AI to build something like a simple web page or chart, but have you ever received something that works but has a low user experience? The buttons may be in the wrong place, the colors may collide, or the animation may feel clunky. It is a general problem and highlights a major challenge in the world of AI development. How do you teach a machine a good taste?

For a long time, we have been testing AI models for their ability to write functionally correct code. These tests can confirm that the code is executed, but it was completely “blinded the visual fidelity and interactive integrity that define the latest user experience.”

This is the exact problem that Artifactsbench designed to solve. It’s not a test, it’s an automated art critic of AI-generated code

Do it right like a human I’ll do it Should

So, how does Tencent’s AI benchmark work? First, AI is given creative tasks from a catalog of over 1,800 challenges, ranging from data visualization and building web apps to creating interactive mini-games.

When AI generates the code, Artifactsbench works. Automatically build and run code in a safe, sandboxed environment.

Capture a series of screenshots over time to see how your application works. This allows you to see animations, changes in state after button clicks, other dynamic user feedback, and more.

Finally, to act as a judge, we hand over all of this evidence to the Multimodal LLM (MLLM), including the original request, AI code, and screenshots.

This MLLM judge not only gives vague opinions, but also uses a detailed per-task checklist to obtain results with 10 different metrics. Scoring includes features, user experience, and even aesthetic quality. This ensures that scoring is fair, consistent and thorough.

The big question is, does this automated judge actually have a good taste? The results suggest that.

When rankings from Artifactsbench compared to Webdev Arena, the gold standard platform where real humans vote for the best AI works, they matched with 94.4% consistency. This is a major leap from the old automated benchmarks, with only about 69.4% consistency being managed.

In addition to this, the framework’s decision was over 90% agreement with professional human developers.

Tencent evaluates the creativity of top AI models with new benchmarks

The leaderboard revealed when Tencent placed more than 30 of the world’s top AI models at a pace. The top commercial models from Google (Gemini-2.5-Pro) and Humanity (Claude 4.0-Sonnet) were the leader, but testing unearthed fascinating insights.

You might think that writing code-specific AI will be the best in these tasks. But the opposition was true. This study found that “the overall capabilities of generalist models often outweigh the capabilities of specialized models.”

The general purpose model, Qwen-2.5-Instruct, actually beat the more specialized siblings, Qwen-2.5-Coder (code-specific model) and QWEN2.5-VL (vision characteristics model).

Researchers believe this is because not only creating good visual applications, but also the need to combine skills, not just for a standalone visual understanding.

“Robust reasoning, the next subtle teaching, and the sense of aesthetics of implicit design,” the researchers emphasized as an example of important skills. These are the balanced, almost human-like types of abilities that the best generalist models are beginning to develop.

Tencent hopes that Artifactsbench’s benchmarks will ensure that they evaluate these qualities and measure future advances in AI not only being functional, but also in the ability of users to create what they want to actually use.

reference: Tencent Hunyuan3D-Polygen: “Art Grade” 3D Asset Model

Want to learn more about AI and big data from industry leaders? Check out the AI ​​& Big Data Expo in Amsterdam, California and London. The comprehensive event will be held in collaboration with other major events, including the Intelligent Automation Conference, Blockx, Digital Transformation Week, and Cyber ​​Security & Cloud Expo.

Check out other upcoming Enterprise Technology events and webinars with TechForge here.

It’s not just humans – chimpanzees also like to follow trends, research show

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CNN
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Chimpanzees living in sanctuaries in Africa have developed “fashion trends” for blades hanging from ear holes and grass and sticks from behind, new research shows.

In 2010, researchers working at the Trust Chimpanzee Reserve at the Chimhunsi Wildlife Orphanage in Zambia observed how female chimpanzees began hanging objects from her ears.

There is no evidence that chimpanzees were dealing with pain and itching using grass or sticks, and when they did it they were “very relaxed,” Van Leewen said.

Action is like “fashion trends or social traditions.”

Female chimpanzee, Imie, has a stick on her ear

Interestingly, chimpanzees from another group of Sanctuary began to demonstrate the same behavior over a decade later.

The group lived about nine miles from the first group, so they were unable to copy it from them, urging Van Lewen to ask if the chimpanzee caregivers had influenced them.

After all, staff in one area of ​​the reserve had developed the habit of cleaning their ears with matchsticks and twigs, but the staff on the other side did not.

Van Lewen believes that the behavior was picked up by chimpanzees from the first local caregiver before being handed over to other members of the group.

Caregivers subsequently also influenced the behavior of the second group. This group was watching a few years later, but the group also developed a practice of inserting rods and grass into the rectum.

“This is a tendency to get viral due to social learning,” he added.

Adult male chimpanzees exhibit the same behavior in forested sanctuaries and introduce rescued apes.

Van Lewen also cited an example of a group of chimpanzees at a Dutch zoo.

Soon, he said all women adopted this walking style. Furthermore, when two new women were brought into the group, the women who quickly adopted the style were quickly integrated, while those who refused to walk in the group style took longer to be accepted.

For Van Leeuwen, these actions, like humans, are to adapt and smooth social relationships.

Grass behavior was observed mostly in leisure time when chimpanzees gathered to play with the groom.

Chimpanzees who live in sanctuaries do not need to worry about competing with predators or other groups. This means that he has more leisure time than his wild counterparts.

“They have time to hang out,” Van Lewens said.

Nevertheless, wild chimpanzees are likely able to develop such behavior, he said, adding that it may not be documented yet.

Next, Van Leeuwens will be studying whether chimpanzees can repeatedly innovate new foraging techniques and whether they can develop cumulative cultures in the same way as humans.

Elody Freyman, a post-doctor affiliate for primate models at the University of Oxford Behavioral Evolution Lab, was not involved in the study, but told CNN that these types of observations are key to advancing understanding of the origins and patterns of transmission of cultural behavior in chimpanzees and other non-Human animals.

“The finding that this study could have had interspecies copies between chimpanzees and their human caregivers is quite heart-blowing,” she said.

“If chimpanzees can copy humans, can they learn and copy other non-human species? That’s an exciting primate moment,” added Freyman.

Trump blocked birthright citizenship after the judge’s ruling

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US District Judge Joseph Laplante said his decision was “not a close call.”

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CONCORD, N.H. — A federal judge has banned President Donald Trump’s administration again from enforcing his executive orders limiting birthright citizenship nationwide after the Supreme Court’s ability to use a national injunction to block his policies.

US District Judge Joseph Laplante of Concord, New Hampshire, ruled on July 10 after immigration rights defenders pleaded with class action status to a lawsuit seeking to represent a baby whose citizenship status is threatened by the implementation of Trump’s instructions.

Laplante agreed that plaintiffs could proceed as rank, allowing them to issue new judicial orders that would block the implementation of Republican presidential policies nationwide.

The question of whether to issue an injunction is “not a close call,” he said.

“It’s just irreparable harm, citizenship,” he said. “It’s the greatest privilege that exists in the world.”

The judge said he would allow the Trump administration to appeal and would maintain his sentence for several days to take a written decision by the end of the day.

The American Civil Liberties Union and others filed the lawsuit hours after the Supreme Court issued a 6-3 ruling in support of a conservative majority on June 27, narrowing down three national injunctions the judge issued on separate assignments to Trump’s instructions.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a non-US citizen living in the United States where the baby could be affected.

Under the Supreme Court ruling, Trump’s executive order will take effect on July 27th.

The plaintiff’s lawyers allegedly attempted to seize an exception in the Supreme Court decision. The decision argued that the judge could continue to block Trump’s policies nationwide in class actions.

Three judges who issued a nationwide injunction discovered that Trump’s orders are likely to violate citizenship language in the 14th amendment to the US Constitution. The amendment states that all “people born or naturalized in the United States or who are subject to their jurisdiction are citizens of the United States and the state in which they live.”

The Justice Department argued that Trump’s orders were constitutional and asked Laplante to find out that plaintiffs cannot sue as rank.

The Supreme Court decision did not address the legal merits of Trump’s orders issued by the Republican president on the first day of January as part of his hard-hitting immigration agenda.

Trump’s orders direct federal agencies to refuse to grant citizenship to US-born children without at least one parent who is also known as the owner of “green cards” or a legal permanent resident.

More than 150,000 newborns would be denied citizenship each year, according to democratically-led states and immigration rights advocates who challenged it.

Sycamore Gap Tree: Some of the illegally fallen trees will be displayed

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CNN
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For over 200 years on the Hadrian wall built in Rome, England, the famous Sycamore tree ruins discovered a new home almost two years after being illegally cut.

In September 2023, the removal of the tree from its location known as the “Sycamore Gap,” a prominent dip on Hadrian’s wall, sparked worldwide rage. The Sycamore Gap is considered one of the most photo shoots in the UK, and became famous by millions when it appeared in Kevin Costner’s 1991 blockbuster film Robin Hood: The Prince of Thieves.

In May, two men committed criminal damage for cutting down a groundbreaking tree.

Now, the section will be permanently displayed at Sill: National Landscape Discovery Center, about two miles (3 km) from where it once stood.

The UK national trust gave the largest portion of the rescued trunk to Northumberland National Park, where the trees are located.

The largest portion of the recovered trunk of the Sycamore Gap Tree is on display to the public
The trunk is surrounded by the wooden canopy of the exhibition.

“Days and months after the trees were cut, the threshold has become a place of celebration and memory. Visitors have left post-it memos, letters, drawings and messages expressing their sadness, love and hope,” the park said in a press release Thursday.

Public consultations took place in the aftermath of cutting over the future of tree trunks. “The resulting exhibit honors the natural shape of the tree, encouraging people to engage in it in a deeply personal way,” Sill said in a press release Thursday.

A park spokesperson told CNN on Thursday that the treepiece, which has been open to the public since Friday, can be “impressed and hugged.”

The trunk is as upright as it once was, surrounded by benches of bends and creeks of trees, forming a giant leaf-shaped canopy.

Several tributes from the local community are carved into the wood.

Artist Charlie Winnie places the words on the branches of the workshop.

“The original tree may disappear in the form we knew it, but its legacy remains. It has been endlessly positive ever since, confirming our belief that people’s nature and place are inseparable and interdependent.”

“This committee was the biggest honor of my career,” says Charlie Winnie, the artist behind the new exhibition, in the release.

“We really hope that by doing something a little, we will allow the people of Northumberland and those who had this tree close to their hearts to handle the losses they still feel since that day in September 2023 when the tree was illegally reduced,” he added.

“This piece looks forward to hope, the trees are regrowing, and the Sycamore gap will always be a magical place,” Winnie continued.

Homeowners will delay maintenance until the economy improves

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Amendments and Clarification: This article has been updated to clarify information regarding the risk of losing the extension or guaranteed replacement costs for the homeowner if the insurance company is not updated about the addition.

In today’s housing market, buying a home can make you feel like you’re crossing the finish line, but homeowners know that it’s just the beginning of a long, expensive and complicated journey.

When a homeowner is at the door, a down payment is spent and the focus is on mortgage payments, it is not uncommon for repairs and upgrades to fall on the roadside. Between rising labor costs, material prices and inflation, maintenance of a secret home is not expensive. According to a survey by Guardian Service, 71% of homeowners have postponed renovations due to economic uncertainty, which will help consumers support insurance coverage.

That’s where home insurance usually comes in. However, one in four homeowners have admitted to skipping filing a home insurance claim because they were worried their home wouldn’t pass the test. It’s even more common fear among younger homeowners, with one in three generations of Z reporting fear of files.

Nearly a third of homeowners said they could wait a year or two before committing to a major upgrade, with 15% saying they were postponing it indefinitely. However, the decision to live on a leaky ceiling or reconcile with other issues in your home can have long-term consequences.

Jon Ruggiero, vice president of sales at Guardian Service, went to the doctor for a home repair and check-up, changed the car’s oil, or the tires were spinning. Without proper maintenance, homeowners can face more expensive problems.

“Your home really doesn’t make a difference. It’s the biggest investment you’ve made in your life. You want to make sure you check in regularly,” Ruggiero said. “If you don’t, you’re more likely to put yourself in a situation where one of those extreme costs is creeping up.”

In addition to risking higher premiums and being dropped by insurance companies, nearly half of homeowners said they were concerned that 2025 maintenance would reduce home safety.

What repairs are postponed by homeowners?

Homeowners prioritize the upgrades they need, with 69% saying they are most likely to invest first in safety or structural improvements.

However, home improvement budgets fell by an average of 42% this year, with two-thirds of homeowners saying they were completely eliminated, the survey found.

Aesthetic upgrades such as repainting and installing new flooring have first gone ahead, with 48% saying they have postponed these projects. Homeowners will most likely delay bathroom and kitchen remodeling in the next place. Less than a quarter of homeowners say they have also postponed window upgrades, electricity or plumbing repairs and roof replacements this year.

Even in summer heat waves and unusually high temperatures, 14% of homeowners said they would delay HVAC replacement.

Delay or DIY?

Homeowners say it’s cheaper to make upgrades.

At 69%, most people say they are waiting for inflation to decrease. Some people are behind in hopes of lower materials and labor costs. Some are looking to see whether potential tax credits or reduced tariffs will make projects cheaper in the future.

Others are not willing to wait. They may not have the money to hire a contractor, but 62% of homeowners surveyed are working on critical repairs. Young people are most likely to DIY, with 3 generation Z and millennial homeowners skipping professional help to save money.

“Gen Z grew up in a world where you can modify YouTube online,” says Ruggiero. “They tend to make themselves experts and try to diy the fixes.”

Anthony Scheirer is a public insurance adjuster known as @insurancecalimguy online, and reminded homeowners that they need to inform their insurance companies if they make significant improvements.

Otherwise, he said the homeowner could lose the extended or guaranteed replacement costs. This is additional cash available if the cost of reconstruction exceeds the limit stated on the declaration page in your insurance policy.

Some projects, such as installing wood stoves, can increase liability and risk. It can affect your overall payments if the insurance company next time the homeowner files a claim, especially when the wood stove files a claim, it remains in the darkness of them until they file a claim if it causes a fire.

“If there’s a situation where you didn’t say improvement to them, you could literally lose hundreds of thousands of dollars because you didn’t make them aware,” Schiller said.

Tips for lower-level home insurance premiums

Some home improvement projects can actually reduce owner premiums.

Almost half of homeowners say they’ll complete the late upgrade if that’s the case, but 71% say they haven’t educated their insurance companies on whether they can cut their monthly payments.

According to the Guardian Service, common projects to lower premiums include storm-resistant windows, new roofs and fire resistance. Ruggiero told USA Today that installing a smart thermostat or central security system is part of the easiest upgrades that homeowners could potentially reduce insurance costs.

However, all policies are different. Ruggier and Scheirer recommend reviewing with qualified experts to see what changes can reduce premiums.

Reach Rachel Barber at rbarber@usatoday.com Follow her at x @rachelbarber_

Trump sends a customs letter to Brazil, Indonesia. What does taco mean?

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  • President Trump delayed the implementation of the tariff increase, originally set on July 9th.
  • This delay revived the debate on the “octopus trade.” This is a term that suggests investors will predict market rebound following Trump’s tariff announcement.
  • Trump has sent letters to leaders in Brazil, Indonesia and many other countries informing them of tariff rates on the country’s goods.

On April 2nd, President Donald Trump announced extensive tariffs in what he called “liberation day.” Shortly afterwards, he paused his climbing rate for 90 days.

That suspension was set to expire on July 9th, but instead of tariffs coming into effect, Trump extended the deadline, sent a series of letters to international leaders, and issued new tariff charges for goods from his country.

The tariffs announced in the letter are currently set to take effect on August 1st, and Trump said the day will not change. Trump’s letter warned that if the recipient raises tariffs, the US would retaliate with its own interest rate hike.

After the initial suspension, the administration predicted that new trade transactions would be achieved quickly, but it has struggled to lock these transactions except for a few countries. The White House rejected the notion that delays were due to challenges.

However, this is not the first time that tariff deadlines have been moved since Trump took office. The recent delay in deadlines has brought tacos back. How did you get here?

What does taco mean?

Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong created “Taco Trade” in May, explaining how some investors predict market rebound amid Trump’s repeated tariff policies.

The acronym refers to “playing cards always kick out chickens.”

Armstrong has announced a sudden tariff on the assumption that Trump will retreat his tariff order, describing the octopus trade as a strategy for many investors to invest in markets that will fall when the market recovers.

Trump fought back at a reporter asking about the term on May 28th, saying, “You ask such a troubling question. It’s called negotiation.”

Which country received the letter announcing upcoming tariff fees?

As of July 10th, the following countries have been sent a letter announcing the new tariff fees. In many cases, tariff rates are the closest to the “mutual” tariff rates announced on the day of release. The White House says more letters will come out over the coming weeks.

Importers pay 10% baseline tariffs on goods from around 180 countries, with delays only applied to higher mutual tariffs targeting a subset of lesser countries.

Donations: Francesca Chambers, Joey Garrison, USA Today

Kinsey Crowley is a Trump Connect reporter for the USA Today Network. Contact her at kcrowley@gannett.com. Follow her on X and Tiktok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky @kinseycrowley.bsky.social.

When you can order, new flavors

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The wait time has ended.

After months of teasing from McDonald’s, the day the snack wraps will return. Customers can order their much-anticipated menu items starting Thursday, July 10th.

The item comes in two flavors.

  • hard: The spicy snack wrap brings heat with the Habanero kicks that fans know and love from the spicy Macrispy sandwich.
  • Farm: The ranch snack wrap offers a satisfying and cool ranch goodness with hints of garlic and onion.

Snack wraps can be used as a Ratocarte or as a combo meal. This includes two snack wraps, medium fries and a drink of your choice. The item costs $2.99.

Customers can order snack wraps after breakfast time. Breakfast hours vary depending on where you are at McDonald’s, but most places usually stop serving breakfast at 10:30am or 11am local time.

When was the snack wrap cancelled?

Snack wrap was the first hit on McDonald’s menu in 2006. Over the next decade, according to the Food Network, it appeared on the menu in several different iterations, but the same main ingredients, chicken meat (grilled or crispy), lettuce, cheese and sauce, appeared in soft flour tortillas.

According to McDonald’s, snack wraps were phased out nationwide in 2016, but “doesn’t leave the hearts of fans.”

“From countless social media posts to full-fledged petitions, they never gave up on their favorite menu items. They’re the ones who have made us return to the menu,” McDonald said.

What are the MacDonald’s snack wraps available?

The snack wrap features one of McDonald’s new MacCrispy strips, according to the chain, topped with finely lettuce and shredded cheese, and wrapped in a soft flour tortilla.

McDonald’s will also add new spicy breakfast items to the menu

In addition to the snack wrap, McDonald’s has announced a series of new options to “spice” their breakfast menu as part of McMuffin’s 50th anniversary ceremony.

Three new spicy breakfast menu items include spicy McMuffins, spicy sausage McMuffins and spicy sausage McMuffins with eggs. According to McDonald’s, the item features English muffins with traditional ingredients such as cheese, eggs, Canadian bacon or sausage, but with buttered English muffins.

According to Fast Food Chain, new breakfast items will fall into the store in eight, with limited time spent at participating locations.

McDonald’s founded the Egg McMuffin in 1975. The breakfast item was the brainchild of Herb Peterson, a McDonald’s franchisee in Santa Barbara, California.

Contributed by: Gretacross, USA Today

Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter for USA Today. You can follow him with X @geuna Alternatively, email him at gdhauari@gannett.com.

The season when you get injured is a mental sacrifice

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Indiana Fever star Kate Linklark has experienced many firsts throughout her illustrious basketball career, from becoming the NCAA’s all-time best scorer in Iowa to setting up her rookie season for the WNBA single-season assist record, but Clark’s sophomore WNBA campaign has unveiled a new first campaign she has never experienced.

Entering the 2025 WNBA season, Clark never missed a college or professional game. She appeared in all the Hawkeyes games during four years of black and gold, playing in all 40 games for the rookie year’s fever, where she won the Rookie of the Year. However, Clark dealt with the injury bug, missing 10 of the first 20 games of Fever of the season, marking her longest missed game of her career.

“It’s obviously hard to sit and watch for a few weeks, so I’m excited to be out there,” Clark told reporters Tuesday. “I’ve never experienced this before, so it was very challenging.”

2025 WNBA All-Star Draft Results: Kate Linklark chooses Fever Teammate

Clark suffered a quad injury when he was defeated 90-88 on May 24th to New York Liberty, missing five games thereafter. Clark returned to the Fever lineup on June 14 with a 102-88 victory over Liberty in Fever, dropping 32 points, nine assists and eight rebounds in his first gameback. Clark then suffered a left gro caliber injury in the fever’s 94-86 victory over Seattle Storm on June 24th. As a result, Clark missed the team’s next five games, including Fever’s Commissioners Cup victory over the Minnesota Links on July 1.

She lost to the Golden State Valkyries in a Fever 80-61 loss on Wednesday, July 9th, with 10 points, six assists and five rebounds in the lost effort.

“It feels good to be there. It’s going to take a little while to get the wind back,” Clark said in the loss. “There’s nothing that can recreate a true game… I was trying to play a shorter stint, but it can be almost difficult to sit on the bench and come to the game. It’s sort of finding a balance. I’m just trying to put my feet under me.”

Clark’s injuries and sporadic availability contribute to the poor shooting. In the last four games, Clark was shot 17-17 from the field, 3-28-3 to 28-3. Clark said he was fighting an injury bug.

“It was tough, honestly. I’m not going to lie to you. It’s hard to prepare for the game, but I know you’re not going to play for them,” Clark said Wednesday. “It’s really hard to stop, stop, stop, stop and go, go, try to make your body as healthy as possible, and just be confident in yourself.”

Heat head coach Stephanie White agreed, “It’s difficult to get injured because you’re injured, and mentally difficult. You’re hard to be there. You’re very competitive and want to help your team. You’re unhappy with the rehabilitation process.

Despite missing a good amount of time this season, Clark still averages 17.4 points, 8.6 assists (the second-best in the league) and 5.0 rebounds in 10 games. She was named WNBA All-Star Captain (via fan vote) and currently ranks third in the WNBA MVP odds behind Minnesota Links’ Nafisa Collier (-500) and Phoenix Mercury’s Alyssa Thomas (+1000). Fever is in a big position to run into the team’s second straight playoff berth as the All-Star break quickly approaches. (After a 2024 All-Star and Olympic break, the fever went 9-5 last season to secure the team’s first postseason appearance since 2016.)

“As I get to the end of the year and the playoffs, I think this will be a moment when I can really be proud of myself for everything I went through and how I dealt with it,” Clark said Tuesday.

The 2025 WNBA All-Star Game is set at Gainbridge Field House on July 19th in Indianapolis.

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EU von del Reyen survives the vote of Parliament brought by the far right

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Brussels
Reuters
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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen survived a vote of no confidence in the European Parliament on Thursday, which was primarily brought about by far-right lawmakers who claimed she and her team would undermine trust in the EU through illegal activities.

As expected, the move didn’t get a two-thirds majority that they needed to pass. Only 175 members of Congress supported the allegations, 360 voted against them and 18 abstained.

Romanian nationalist Gheorghe Piperea, the lead sponsor of the motion, criticised the committee’s refusal to disclose a text message between Von Der Leyen and the chief executive of vaccine maker Pfizer during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Decisions are unclear and discretionary, causing fears of abuse and corruption. The cost of European Union obsessions such as climate change was huge,” Piperea told Parliament on Monday.

During her leadership debate, von der Leyen defended her record in Parliament, rejecting criticism of pandemic management, claiming that her approach ensured equal access to vaccines across the EU.

The denunciation move was unlikely to succeed, but for Von Der Leyen, it was a political headache as her committee tried to negotiate with US President Donald Trump’s administration to prevent a sharp US tariff on EU goods.

It was the first time since 2014 that the committee president had faced such a motion. President Jean Claude Junker then survived the vote.

Sales tax holidays back to schools offered in these 17 states

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While kids aren’t ready to hear about going back to school, many state sales tax holidays can help parents save shopping back to school.

That’s especially important this year, as shoppers say there’s more emphasis on tariffs and economic uncertainty.

In July and August, 17 states take sales tax leave.

Most tax-free shopping days give you a sales tax break for school-related items, such as clothing, shoes, electronics, and supplies. Two states, Ohio and Massachusetts, can extend their sales tax holidays to include more items than schools.

The first state to have a sales tax leave is Mississippi, which will hold a tax-free weekend from July 11th to July 13th.

Shopping back to school has already begun

Early birdback two school shopping has already begun. This year, 26% of school and university shoppers had already begun viewing and purchasing items by early June, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics. This is up from 22% last year to 17% in 2019.

Shoppers often like to buy early to broaden their budgets and get early deals and promotions.

However, three-quarters of those surveyed this year, or 74%, said they were shopping earlier this year, as they feared that tariffs could rise in prices later this season.

Sales tax holidays help consumers save more, Catherine Cullen, vice president of industry and consumer insights at the National Retail Federation, told USA Today.

“Customers and retailers alike enjoy the benefits of sales tax leave,” she said. “These tax-free events help drive customers to stores and increase sales as they may purchase additional items that customers have not been shopping for that day.”

Shoppers worry about inflation and tariffs

According to the NRF, the average K-12 shopper budgeted an average of $875 last year, while those who buy for college students were expected to spend $1,365. According to the NRF survey, 76% of shoppers expect a higher price tag for what they need this year.

A return to school survey by Deloitte estimates that spending on K-12 hopping remains stable at $30.9 billion or about $570 per student. That’s down $16 from last year. But while the overall spending figures remain stable, low-income parents (people making under $50,000) say they plan to spend more than 10% this year.

Another study by CoreSight Research said 68% of shoppers limit the amount they spend on shopping where inflation has returned, while 73% of shoppers expect prices to rise and 64.9% expect product shortages.

“Back to school 2025 is shaped by measured optimism. While consumers are willing to spend more money, economic pressures such as inflation and tariffs are driving them to seek value more aggressively,” Coresight Research analyst Madhav Pitaliya told USA Today.

Does my state have school supply sales tax leave?

According to a report by USA Today with the Federation of Tax Managers, what is the list of states participating and what is the tax exemption? Rules and dates vary by state, so check the state website for the most updated information. In some cases, local taxes may still apply.

If the dollar amount is not listed, the state does not appear to indicate a expenditure limit for that item. Links to most state holiday details are hyperlinked to the names of each state. Generally, most online purchases are also eligible for sale tax leave, but please check the state requirements.

Fives should not charge sales tax year-round: Alaska, Montana, Delaware, Oregon, New Hampshire, according to the Tax Foundation. Some Alaska municipalities are charging sales tax.

July 18th-20th

What is tax-free:

Clothing and shoes: under $100 per item

Computer: Under $750 per item

School supplies: under $50 per item

Book: Under $30 per item

August 2nd-3rd

What is tax-free:

Clothing and shoes: under $100 per item, Clothing accessories: under $50 per item

School supplies

Electronic devices used in schools

Connecticut

August 17th-23rd (always from the third Sunday to the next Saturday of August)

What is tax-free:

Clothing and footwear is less than $100

Florida expanded its return to school sales tax holidays to include the entire month of August.

August 1st – 31st

What is tax-free:

School supplies: under $50 per item

Clothing, Footwear, Accessories: Under $100 per item

Computers and Related Accessories: Under $1,500

Learning AIDS and Jigsaw Puzzles: Under $30

August 1st-2nd

What is tax-free:

Clothing or Footwear: 100 or less per item

Maryland

August 10th-16th (always the second week of August)

What is tax-free:

Clothing, Footwear, Accessories: Under $100 per item

Backpack: The first $40 for purchasing a backpack/book bag is tax-free.

August 9th-10th

Qualified retail items purchased for personal use under $2,500 (not limited to school supplies). There are a few exceptions if taxes still apply, such as meals, cars and boats, gas and electricity, cigarettes, marijuana or alcoholic beverages, and a single item priced above $2,500.

July 11th-13th

What is tax-free:

Clothing and Footwear: Under $100 per item

School supplies: Under $100 per item

Missouri

August 1st-3rd

What is tax-free:

Clothing: Under $100 per item

School supplies: under $50 per item

Computer: $1,500

Computer Software: Under $350

Computer Peripherals: $1,500

Graphic calculator: under $150

July 25th-27th

What is tax-free:

Clothing or Shoes: Under $100 per item

Desktop, laptop, tablet or notebook computer: $1,000

Related Computer Hardware: $500 per item

School supplies: $30 per item

Although New York does not have sales tax holidays, sales tax for human-worn clothing and footwear is less than $110 throughout the year in certain counties, including those covered by New York City.

August 1st-14th

What is tax-free:

Ohio Sales Tax Holidays are not limited to school-related equipment. Tax-free periods include those that are considered tangible personal property of less than $500, except those with a vessel motor, excluding products containing vessels, vehicles, alcohol, tobacco, steam products, and marijuana. Usually, taxable meals are also tax-free if they are under $500.

August 1st-3rd

What is tax-free:

Clothing or Footwear: Under $100 per item.

Pennsylvania does not have sales tax holidays, but does not charge sales tax on clothing or certain footwear year-round.

August 1st-3rd

What is tax-free:

Clothing, shoes, accessories

School supplies

Computers, printers, earphones, headphones

Specific beds and bath items

Diapers

July 25th-27th

What is tax-free:

Clothing and shoes: under $100 per item

School supplies: Under $100 per item

Computers including laptops and tablets: under $1,500 per item

August 8th-10th

What is tax-free:

Clothing and shoes: under $100 per item

Backpack: Under $100 per item

School supplies: Under $100 per item

August 1st-3rd

What is tax-free:

Clothing and shoes: under $100 per item

School supplies: Under $20 per item

August 1st-4th

What is tax-free:

Clothing: Under $125 per item

Laptop or tablet computer: under $500 per item

School Teaching Materials: Under $20 per item

School supplies: under $50 per item

Sports Goods: Under $150 per item

Betty Lin-Fisher is a consumer reporter for USA Today. Contact her at blinfisher @usatoday.com or follow her on X, Facebook, or Instagram @Blinfisher, @Blinfisher.bsky.social.. Sign up for our free daily money newsletter. This includes Friday’s Consumer News.