The last surviving Native American World War II D-Day veteran, Charles Shay, passed away on Wednesday at his French residence. He patched up US soldiers in Normandy’s beaches in 1944 while serving as an army medic. He was given three Bronze Stars and three Silver Stars. He was 101.
Published On 3 Dec 2025
President Trump has proposed a proposal to ease regulations governing car manufacturers’ ability to regulate pollution from gasoline-powered vehicles and trucks.
On Wednesday, the plan was revealed. The 2031 model year’s fuel economy requirements, which establish guidelines for how far new cars must travel on a gallon (3. 8 litres) of gasoline, would be significantly reduced if finalized next year.
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According to officials, the regulations will give Americans more access to the full line of gasoline vehicles they need and can afford. According to the administration, the new standards will set the average mileage for light-duty vehicles in the fleet for the model year 2031 set at roughly 34.5 miles (65. 5 km/gallon). That frees up car manufacturers to produce more profitable vehicles, such as sports utility vehicles.
The Trump administration’s latest move is to reverse policies that promoted cleaner-running vehicles, including electric vehicles (EVs), from the era of former Democratic President Joe Biden. The US has the highest level of greenhouse gas emissions emissions, followed by burning gasoline in vehicles.
Top executives from the three largest US automakers, who have praised the planned changes, were present for Trump’s announcement at a White House event. The Biden-era rules have been challenging to adhere to, according to the auto industry.
Trump has repealed fines for automakers who do not adhere to federal mileage standards, as well as repealing consumer credits worth up to $7,500 for purchases of electric vehicles since taking office in January.
The planned rollback was “a win for customers and common sense,” according to Ford CEO Jim Farley in a statement.
We applaud President Trump’s efforts to align market realities with fuel economy standards as America’s largest auto producer. While still giving customers choice and affordability, Farley claimed that we can make real progress in carbon emissions and energy efficiency.
Antonio Filosa, the automaker’s CEO, expressed gratitude for the administration’s efforts to “realign” the standards “with real-world market conditions.”
Environmentalists decried the choice.
The Center for Biological Diversity’s Safe Climate Transport Campaign director, Dan Becker, claimed that Trump is “in one stroke worsening three of our nation’s most perplexing issues: the need for oil, high gas prices, and global warming.”
According to Katherine Garcia, director of the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All program, “Gutting the]petrol-mileage program will make American families burn more cash and cars burn more gas.”
She said, “This rollback would move the auto industry backwards, keeping polluting cars on our roads for years to come, and putting a health risk on millions of Americans, especially children and the elderly,” in danger.
According to the Trump administration, major carmakers will reduce their technology costs by more than $35 billion through 2031 as a result of a general rollback of standards for fuel economy.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), General Motors would save $8.7 billion between 2027 and 2031, while Stellantis, owned by Ford and Chrysler, would each save more than $5 billion. Hyundai would save $4.6bn, Subaru $3.8bn, and Toyota $2.3bn, it said.
However, according to the NHTSA, fuel costs for drivers are expected to rise, and US drivers are projected to spend up to $85 billion more through 2050.
Trump has repeatedly pledged to end what he falsely calls an “EV mandate,” incorrectly referring to Biden’s goal of having half of all new car sales by 2030. In the US in 2024, EV sales accounted for roughly 8% of new vehicle sales, according to Cox Automotive.
Although California and other states have passed laws mandating that all new passenger vehicles sold in the state be zero-emission by 2035, no federal policy has ever required auto companies to sell EVs. Trump and congressional Republicans earlier this year blocked the California law.
Soon after taking office, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy urged his organization to revers the corporate average fuel economy requirements that are currently in place. He claimed in June that the calculations that were made under Biden included using electric vehicles. EVs don’t use gasoline. The traffic safety agency was given the authority to change the requirements after the June rule revision.
By 2031, automakers would be required to travel an average of 50 miles (81 kilometers) per gallon of gasoline, compared to the current average of about 39 miles (63 kilometers) per gallon.
Additionally, the Biden administration increased the fuel economy requirements for light-duty vehicles from 2027 to 2031 by 2 percent annually, and for SUVs and other light trucks from 2029 to 2031. It called for stringent tailpipe regulations to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles at the same time.
According to the NHTSA’s calculations for 2024, 14 billion gallons of gasoline would have been saved from burning by 2050.
Cars could produce 22, 111 more tonnes of carbon dioxide annually than they could before, according to the Biden-era regulations, if they were to be abandoned in 2035. Additionally, there will be an additional 90 tons of deadly soot particles and more than 4,870 tons of volatile organic carbons entering the air in the upcoming years.
Since the energy crisis of the 1970s, mileage regulations have been in place, and automakers have gradually increased their vehicles’ average efficiency.
In an effort to update outdated laws, India introduces simplified labor codes.
India, the second-largest country in the world, is making the biggest labor changes in a long time. The government has consolidated numerous laws into four less complex codes.
It claims that investors will be drawn to the overhaul. After US President Donald Trump imposes 50% tariffs on Indian goods, this will be crucial.
Minimum wages, equal pay, and expanded social security are among the reforms. Unions disagree, saying that the laws only strengthen employer control and accuse the government of “deceptive fraud.”
Will the changes, by streamlining the rules, increase India’s global competitiveness? Or could they increase productivity and risk for workers?
Presenter: Adrian Finighan,  .
Guests:
Harshil Sharma, a Labour economist with a focus on welfare and reforms,
Surbhi Kesar, senior economics lecturer at SOAS University of London
Published On 3 Dec 2025
The US-chaired ceasefire monitoring committee’s session in Naqoura brought together civil representatives from Lebanon and Israel, marking the first direct exchanges between the two nations in more than 40 years.
Nawaf Salam, the leader of Lebanon, stated on Wednesday that Beirut is willing to engage in negotiations that go beyond security concerns and that normalization is dependent on a peace process.
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According to Salam, these discussions are merely aimed at “the cessation of hostilities,” the release of Lebanese hostages, and “the complete Israeli withdrawal” from Lebanese territory.
Salam claimed that Lebanon had no intention of striking a separate peace agreement with Israel despite its continued support for the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which demands a full normalization of relations with Israel in exchange for its complete withdrawal from the 1967 occupied territory.
He claimed that the presence of civilian envoys could “defuse tensions,” noting recent Israeli airstrikes as a sure sign of rising escalation.
Along the Blue Line, the border between Israel and Lebanon, the committee met for roughly three hours.
The committee hoped to “nurture peace” along the long-volatile border, according to a statement released afterward that praised the addition of civilian envoys as an “important step” in “lasting civilian as well as military dialogue.
The committee’s role should go beyond just overseeing the 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, as has been urged by the United States for months. The most recent meeting comes amid growing concerns that Israeli airstrikes may have continued into the capital of Lebanon.
Despite the ceasefire’s stipulation that it withdraw entirely, Israel has continued to launch regular air strikes in Lebanon, frequently claiming that it is attacking Hezbollah members and facilities. It has also kept troops in five areas in the south.
In an online press release, Shosh Bedrosian, a spokesman for the Israeli government, described Wednesday’s meeting as “historical development.”
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to change the face of the Middle East led to this direct meeting between Israel and Lebanon,” Netanyahu said. There are unique opportunities to make peace with our neighbors, Bedrosian said, as the prime minister has stated.
In the afternoon session, Lebanon’s presidential office announced Morgan Ortagus and Simon Karam, a lawyer and former US ambassador to Washington in the early 1990s, would represent Beirut.
According to a statement, the president, prime minister, and parliament speaker discussed his appointment after consultations.
Some Lebanoni political actors criticized the inclusion of Karam, who saw the move as a concession. Salman defended the decision, claiming that it had national support and was politically sound.
He claimed that Netanyahu had overstated the appointment’s significance and that Beirut had not yet engaged in peace talks.
After the Lebanese presidency made the announcement, Netanyahu had previously referred to Karam’s participation as “the first attempt to lay the groundwork for relations and economic cooperation between Israel and Lebanon.”
Netanyahu’s office claimed that Israel had invited the deputy head of its foreign policy division to the meeting, citing the ongoing US-mediated dialogue.
Salam said Lebanon is open to expanding the committee’s scope to include direct investigation into Israeli allegations that Hezbollah is re-arming and to monitor Lebanese army counterterrorism efforts.
When he inquired whether there might be French or US troops stationed there, he said, “of course.”
Political and diplomatic pressure is mounting on Hezbollah to disarm. After Israel launched attacks on Israel in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where more than 70, 000 people have been killed by Israel’s genocidal war, the group is being pressured to hand over its weapons by Israel and the United States.
Hezbollah has rejected calls for disarmament, citing them as part of a joint US-Israeli effort to stifle Lebanon. Naim Qassem, the head of Hezbollah, suggested that the Lebanese state had failed to protect the country’s southern from Israeli bombardment.
Qassem asserts that the organization has the right to react to the assassination of its top military officer by an Israeli airstrike last week in southern Beirut. The Lebanese organization has repeatedly criticized any “trap” negotiations with Israel.
According to Salam, “We have received Israeli messages suggesting a possible escalation, but without specific dates,” in response to Israeli calls for Hezbollah to cease operations.
He reaffirmed that Hezbollah must give up its weapons, calling it “one of the essential components” for its participation in state-building. He claimed that the government has “regained the decision over war and peace” and that Israel’s arsenal has not “deterred Israel and has not protected Lebanon.”
According to her attorney, Geslaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in the United States for her involvement in a alleged sex trafficking ring led by billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein, intends to file a petition for her release.
The plan was made public on Wednesday, but it did not specify the legal arguments Maxwell would use in her petition. She was instructed to pursue her early release without the assistance of an attorney, it continued.
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The letter also urged against making public documents about Maxwell’s case because they might contain “untested and unproven allegations.”
If Maxwell’s petition for release were to be made public, it stated that “it would lead to undue prejudice such that it would make it impossible for a fair retrial.”
The late Epstein’s crimes and those who may have been aware of them are being investigated more seriously by the petition.
Particularly, Donald Trump, the president of the United States, has been questioned about how his administration handled the case’s files, which may contain information about Epstein’s powerful associates.
Trump has also been under pressure to address his personal feelings toward Epstein.
The billionaire financier committed suicide in August 2019 while he was incarcerated in a New York City jail.
Numerous women have come forward to say they have witnessed Epstein’s crimes. Many people want more accountability from Epstein’s political and business contacts.
Epstein’s death and his powerful social circle have also fueled conspiracy theories about possible cover-ups and unnamed accomplices.
Those who spread the conspiracy theories included members of Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) base, including officials like Kash Patel.
Prior to taking office, Patel, who is currently the FBI’s director, discussed the possibility that Epstein might have used a “client list” or “black book” to extort his contacts.
Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi later refuted those conspiracy theories by claiming there were no client lists or grounds to pursue additional defendants in a July memo.
Trump’s MAGA base was irritated by that memo, which also drew new attention to the president’s ties to Epstein.
Trump has made an effort to stop that speculation, but the president has already denied being close to the financier.
The Trump administration sent a Justice Department official to interview Maxwell over the course of two days in response to pressure to release all of the government’s Epstein-related files.
Maxwell claimed in a later transcript that she had never witnessed Trump in “any inappropriate setting.”
Maxwell was moved from a Florida prison to a Texas facility with lower security shortly after the July interview.
Criticism has claimed that the Trump administration has avoided disclosing the relevant files despite promises to be transparent in its handling of the Epstein case.
Trump changed his mind about the subject by signing a law that requires the Department of Justice to release all unclassified materials related to Epstein in a “searchable and downloadable format” within 30 days.
Additionally, rumors are growing about whether Trump will pardon Maxwell or commute her sentence.
A whistleblower reported that Maxwell was working on a “Commutation Application” to be sent to the Trump administration in November, according to House Democrats.
A presidential pardon or commutation was opposed in a petition filed by Jamie Raskin, the top Democratic member on the House Judiciary Committee, a few weeks later.
Every Member should back this Resolution in order for President Donald Trump to send a clear and unambiguous message to him before he again mocks the pardon system, he said.
America opposes giving the unrepentant, unremorseful liar and criminal who was a key player in a vicious billion-dollar international child sex trafficking ring a get-out-of-jail card.