分类： 未分类

Trump releases previously classified UFO files

2026-05-08 4:11 PM UTC / Reuters

By Andrew Hay

May 8, 2026 4:11 PM UTC Updated 1 hour ago

[1/5]A football-shaped body reported by the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in 2024 is seen as part of a series of documents of unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP) released by the U.S. Defense Department on May 8, 2026. Department of Defense/Handout via REUTERS

• Summary

• Files include Apollo mission photos and transcripts of unidentified phenomena
• Move praised by UFO disclosure advocates, more releases expected in 30 days
• Critics, including Marjorie Taylor Greene, call release a distraction from Trump woes

May 8 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday released dozens of previously classified files on alleged UFO ‌sightings and alien life to provide what they called “unprecedented transparency” to the American people.

The disclosure of the long-sought documents and photos of “unidentified anomalous phenomena” will be followed by future releases as more materials are declassified, the U.S. Defense Department said in a statement.

The Reuters Iran Briefing newsletter keeps you informed with the latest developments and analysis of the Iran war. Sign up here.

Advertisement · Scroll to continue

Trump was the latest U.S. president to release reports on UFOs that date ​back to the 1940s and were first disclosed in the late 1970s. Experts said the batch of around 160 files released ​on Friday contained new videos of known sightings but gave no conclusive evidence of extraterrestrial life.

The files include ⁠a 1947 report of “flying discs” as well as a photo of “unidentified phenomena” taken from the moon’s surface during the Apollo 12 lunar mission in 1969 ​and a transcript of the Apollo 17 crew describing unidentified objects seen from the moon in 1972.

‘BRIGHT PARTICLES’ DURING APOLLO 17

Apollo 17 mission ​pilot Ronald Evans reported “a few very bright particles or fragments or something that go drifting by as we maneuver,” based on the transcript.

Advertisement · Scroll to continue

“Roger. Understand,” mission control replied.

“These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation – and it’s time the American people see it for themselves,” Hegseth said in a statement.

The records release is ​likely to fuel fresh debate over government secrecy and the possible existence of life in the cosmos.

“Whereas previous Administrations have failed to be ​transparent on this subject, with these new Documents and Videos, the people can decide for themselves, “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?” Trump said in a statement. “Have ‌fun and ⁠enjoy!”

The move was welcomed by U.S. Representatives Tim Burchett and Anna Paulina Luna, both proponents of declassifying UFO files. Luna said an additional tranche of material was expected in around 30 days.

“The files show that UAP are not simply a matter of speculation or public curiosity,” Harvard University astrophysicist Avi Loeb said in an email to Reuters. “The government has collected records.”

The images from Apollo 12 and 17 were fascinating but could be ​the result of asteroid impacts on ​the lunar surface, Loeb said. ⁠He added that more interesting material was likely still to come but would take longer to declassify.

DISTRACTION FROM POLITICAL PROBLEMS?

Some critics cast the UFO disclosures as a distraction from Trump’s political woes, including the ​unpopular U.S. military campaign against Iran and public pressure to release further files tied to convicted sex offender ​Jeffrey Epstein.

“I really don’t ⁠care about the UFO files. I just don’t. I’m so sick of the ‘look at the shiny object’ propaganda,” former Republican U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on X.

UAP investigator Mick West said the administration of former President Joe Biden disclosed much of the same information as Friday’s release. West, who ⁠produces software ​to analyze UAP videos, said the files provided no new evidence on the possible ​existence of alien life.

“They’re evidence of us not being able to identify a small white dot that’s a long distance away,” said the Sacramento, California-based analyst, adding that shapes ​in UAP videos were often camera lens diffraction from bright light.

Reporting by Andrew Hay in New Mexico; Editing by Jesse Mesner-Hage and Rod Nickel

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

How the Republicans pulling ahead in the redistricting war affects the midterms

2026-05-08T17:40:56.160Z / CNN

Analysis by

Aaron Blake

PUBLISHED May 8, 2026, 1:40 PM ET

“Vote Here” signage is posted outside a polling location in Arlington, Virginia, on April 21, during a special election in which Virginia voters approved a referendum to redistrict the state’s congressional map.

Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Two weeks ago, after Virginia voters approved a new heavily Democratic congressional map, it was looking like President Donald Trump’s bare-knuckle gerrymandering push had fizzled – and might even backfire.

Two weeks, it turns out, is a long time in politics.

A pair of court rulings – one from the US Supreme Court and now one from the Virginia Supreme Court Friday – have sharply recast the 2026 redistricting battles in the GOP’s favor.

That doesn’t mean it’ll be enough to save the GOP’s House majority in 2026, and the impact this year could be more muted than a lot of people appreciate.

But the redistricting battle has now clearly benefitted Republicans. And it will probably help them even more in years to come.

A pair of GOP wins

The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday struck down a map passed after Democrats spent tens of millions of dollars to promote the referendum enacting it. The court ruled Democrats in the state legislature didn’t follow the correct procedure in setting up the constitutional amendment allowing the vote last fall.

That means Democrats won’t get a map that likely would have gained them four seats. They’ll instead have to try to flip seats on a map that currently features six Democrats and five Republicans.

That news comes after the US Supreme Court delivered an even more significant ruling last week – one with not just immediate partisan implications but also long-term implications, including for racial politics in America.

The US Supreme Court is seen on April 7.

Rahmat Gul/AP

In Louisiana v. Callais, the court further gutted the Voting Rights Act and made it easier for Republicans to disassemble the majority-minority districts that are about all Democrats today have in the Deep South.

The GOP has quickly set about doing that. Tennessee has already carved up a majority-Black district based in Memphis to give Republicans a 9-0 map, and Louisiana is expected to soon eliminate one or both of its majority-Black districts. Alabama has petitioned to lift a court order that requires it to keep a second majority-minority district.

The GOP’s edge is not as big as people think

Applying these changes to the CNN redistricting tracker, it’s looking like Republicans will have drawn as many as 15, 16 or 17 new winnable districts for themselves for this year’s midterms, while Democrats will have drawn five – all of them in California. (Utah also added a Democratic-leaning district, but it was because of a court ruling.)

That’s certainly a much better scenario for Republicans than two weeks ago.

Rather than Democrats having to flip the three Republican seats they needed to break Speaker Mike Johnson’s razor-thin majority, they could now effectively have to flip more than 10.

But that might actually oversell the hurdle that’s been created for 2026. That’s because some of the districts drawn by Republicans are far from guaranteed to go their way, especially in a good year for Democrats.

Ohio’s new map, for instance, could gain Republicans two seats, but it could also gain them none. And while Republicans intend their Texas map to gain them five seats, and their Florida map four, some of these districts will be quite difficult to win in a good Democratic year, particularly with Trump’s sharp decline in approval with Latino voters.

Even in Virginia, Democrats could still flip one or more seats on the current map in 2026, meaning the ruling isn’t necessarily a loss of four seats.

“If the current map holds in Virginia, we will at minimum flip two seats,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told CNN on Friday. “And we’re exploring other options given how unpopular the policies of the Republican party have been.”

Before the Virginia Supreme Court ruled Friday, the Cook Political Report’s Amy Walter estimated that actual net benefit for Republicans in 2026 was likely to be closer to four or five seats, even if the Virginia map was struck down.

The GOP might not be able to save its majority

Even if the GOP forces Democrats to flip double-digits worth of seats rather than three, that’s looking quite doable for the blue team.

That’s because Trump is a historically unpopular president. Presidents with low approval ratings don’t just lose 12 seats; they often lose a multiple of that.

President Donald Trump speaks with workers who have been painting the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC, on May 7.

Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images

Trump in 2018 lost more than 40 House seats. Barack Obama in 2010 lost more than 60. George W. Bush in 2006 lost about 30.

And Trump is worse off right now than all of those examples except Bush.

The universe of competitive seats is smaller these days, meaning a huge wave election would seem less likely than in these previous midterm elections. But it would still be surprising if the Democrats couldn’t win enough to flip the majority.

It will likely benefit Republicans for years to come

At the same time, it’s overly reductive to just look at how this will play out in 2026. That’s because all of this – and especially the US Supreme Court ruling – will reverberate for years to come.

And that’s where the GOP’s real likely gains could come in.

For one, even if these districts might not be red enough to go Republican in a good Democratic year in 2026, they’ll still favor Republicans in general. And they could well flip red in a better environment for Republicans – be that in 2028 or 2030.

For two, the GOP can continue to pull apart majority-minority districts in the South in the coming cycles, including in states like Georgia where the US Supreme Court’s ruling came too late for the 2026 election.

We still don’t know quite how far they can go in doing that; much depends on upcoming court cases interpreting the Supreme Court’s ruling, and Democrats will be able to fight back some. But one study before the case was decided suggested Republicans could gain well more than a dozen seats with a very favorable ruling.

And for three, there’s just the emerging reality of a constant redistricting war.

That reality: To the extent redistricting is now just a never-ending race to the bottom for partisan gain, where states draw new maps whenever it suits them, that likely benefits Republicans. They simply control more of the process.

Democrats could gain some power back by scrapping redistricting commissions in states they control and eliminating other state restrictions on partisan gerrymandering.

But Republicans are just in a better spot in state governments. The states where they hold the “trifecta” of both state legislative chambers and the governor’s mansion account for more seats.

And the US Supreme Court has now handed them a key weapon in a redistricting war that looks like it’s here to stay.

Trump administration ramps up denaturalization campaign, targeting U.S. citizens accused of crimes, fraud, terrorism

May 8, 2026 / 2:00 PM EDT / CBS News

By Camilo Montoya-Galvez

Camilo Montoya-Galvez Immigration Correspondent

Camilo Montoya-Galvez is the Immigration Correspondent at CBS News, where his reporting is featured across multiple programs and platforms, including national broadcast shows, CBS News 24/7, CBSNews.com and the organization’s social media accounts.

Read Full Bio

Camilo Montoya-Galvez

The Trump administration on Friday announced a major expansion of its denaturalization campaign targeting foreign-born American citizens accused of fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship.

The Justice Department unveiled denaturalization cases in federal courts across the country against roughly a dozen U.S. citizens born overseas. Officials said they had committed serious crimes or immigration fraud, or had ties to terrorism.

The announcement represents a dramatic increase in the federal government’s use of denaturalization, a lengthy and complicated legal procedure that has rarely been invoked by prior administrations. Between 1990 and 2017, for example, the U.S. government filed just over 300 denaturalization cases — or an average of 11 per year.

The group of naturalized U.S. citizens whose citizenship the Justice Department is now seeking to revoke includes immigrants from Bolivia, China, Colombia, Gambia, India, Iraq, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Somalia and Uzbekistan.

Among those targeted by the denaturalization crackdown are a Colombian-born Catholic priest convicted of sexually assaulting a minor; a man born in Morocco with alleged ties to al Qaeda; a Somali immigrant who pleaded guilty to providing material support to al Shabaab, a U.S.-designated terrorist group; and a former Gambian police officer allegedly involved in war crimes.

The group also includes individuals who allegedly used false identities to apply for immigration benefits and a man who allegedly entered into sham marriages to commit immigration fraud.

In a separate announcement Friday, the Justice Department said it was also seeking to denaturalize Manuel Rocha, a former American diplomat who admitted to being a Cuban spy as part of a high-profile criminal case.

The denaturalization process involves Justice Department lawyers filing civil or criminal cases in federal courts and trying to convince judges that someone’s citizenship should be terminated. U.S. law allows denaturalization to occur when the government proves that a naturalized citizen obtained their citizenship illegally or through fraud, such as by concealing information on their immigration applications.

Those whose citizenship is revoked lose all the legal benefits that come with being an American citizen and return to their previous legal status, typically as permanent residents, who are deportable based on certain criminal conduct and other grounds.

In an interview with CBS News earlier this week, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche previewed the administration’s denaturalization push, saying he believes there are “a lot of individuals who are citizens who shouldn’t be.”

Asked about concerns among some of the roughly 24 million naturalized citizens in the U.S., Blanche said only “a very small percentage” should be worried about the administration’s denaturalization efforts. Those who did not illegally obtain their citizenship, he said, don’t “have anything to worry about.”

“We should disincentivize people from committing fraud when they’re going to become a citizen of this great country,” Blanche said. “It is a drastic consequence of committing a fraud to get citizenship, just like it is a drastic action to commit fraud to get citizenship.”

US says it will revert to higher tariffs on EU goods if Brussels misses July 4 deadline

2026-05-08 16:29 UTC / Reuters

By Andrea Shalal

May 8, 2026 4:29 PM UTC Updated 3 hours ago

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the day he attends a working lunch with EU ministers responsible for trade, in Brussels, Belgium, November 24, 2025. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/File Photo

• Summary

• Trump had threatened to raise tariffs on EU vehicles to 25%
• US trade chief Greer says EU officials’ ‘minds are focused’
• Brussels has been slow to keep up its end of 2025 trade deal, ​Greer says

WASHINGTON, May 8 (Reuters) – The U.S. will revert to higher tariffs on European ‌Union goods if Brussels fails to implement trade deal commitments before a July 4 deadline, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Friday.

Greer, speaking on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria” program, said he spoke with trade officials ​from different European countries and the EU during a visit to Europe this week ​and believed “their minds are focused” on making the needed changes.

Get a daily digest of breaking business news straight to your inbox with the Reuters Business newsletter. Sign up here.

Advertisement · Scroll to continue

“They have told me ⁠they’re committed to compliance. We hope that’s the case, but we’re watching very closely. And if ​it’s not the case, then the U.S. will go back to its other tariff structure for ​the EU,” he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would give the EU until July 4 to keep its side of a trade deal reached in Scotland last July before he raises tariffs on EU goods, including ​cars, to “much higher levels.” Trump had earlier threatened to increase tariffs on EU cars and trucks ​to 25% from the previously agreed 15%, starting this week.

Trump’s comments defused tensions with the EU over the ‌trade issue, ⁠but the two sides remain at odds over the war in the Middle East and the U.S. president’s irritation that NATO allies have refused to directly engage in the conflict.

Advertisement · Scroll to continue

Various developments, including Trump’s demand to acquire Greenland and a U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the tariffs that prompted the trade negotiations ​in the first place, ​had slowed the European ⁠Parliament’s implementation of the deal.

Greer said the EU had pledged last year to reduce all of its industrial tariffs to zero for the U.S., ​provide duty-free access on certain agricultural goods, and revise a variety of ​non-tariff barriers ⁠and burdensome regulations.

“We haven’t seen any of those things come to fruition,” he said. “Seven, eight months later, the EU has not actually implemented any single part of their trade deal obligations,” he said, adding that ⁠Washington ​had kept its part of the bargain by adjusting its ​tariffs.

“So at some point you have to say, well, if the EU is not in compliance, we’ll wait to be ​in compliance until they are as well.”

Reporting by Andrea Shalal and David Lawder; Editing by Paul Simao

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Trump announces Russia-Ukraine prisoner swap as part of 3-day ceasefire

May 8, 2026 / 2:24 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington — President Trump on Friday announced Russia and Ukraine will swap 1,000 prisoners as a part of a three-day ceasefire for the observation of Victory Day in Russia this weekend.

Russia and Ukraine previously announced separate ceasefires on different days, so the timeline isn’t entirely clear. Mr. Trump said the temporary ceasefire will suspend all kinetic activity Saturday through Monday, although Russia and Ukraine have yet to confirm.

Taking to Truth Social, the U.S. president said he requested the temporary ceasefire, and appreciates Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreeing to it.

“Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard fought War,” he said of a war that’s over four years old. “Talks are continuing on ending this Major Conflict, the biggest since World War II, and we are getting closer and closer every day.”

Earlier this week, Zelenskyy announced a ceasefire for May 5-6, while Russia last week suggested a ceasefire for May 8-9.

Mr. Trump’s announcement comes as top U.S. officials met this week with Ukrainian representatives in Miami, and after a call Mr. Trump and Putin had last week.

Trump blockade squeezing Iran so hard regime may be dumping oil into Gulf, experts say

2026-05-08 15:42:28 EDT / Fox News

Satellite images show a 45-square-kilometer slick near Kharg Island as Iran’s export system buckles under U.S. pressure

By Efrat Lachter Fox News

Published May 8, 2026 3:42pm EDT

Video

US and Iran trade fire in Strait of Hormuz as tensions escalate with ongoing blockade

Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino lead coverage on escalating U.S.-Iran tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, with new U.S. airstrikes against tankers trying to breach Iran’s blockade. President Trump dismissed previous Iranian attacks as a “love tap” while Secretary of State Marco Rubio affirmed strong U.S. retaliation for threats against Americans. Michael Allen, former NSC senior director, highlighted the U.S. economic stranglehold, noting over 70 tankers were blocked.

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

Satellite imagery revealed a massive suspected oil slick spreading near Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export terminal, in what experts say could be evidence that Tehran’s oil infrastructure is buckling under mounting U.S. pressure.

The slick, seen in Copernicus Sentinel satellite images between Wednesday and Friday, covered roughly 45 square kilometers west of the island, according to analysts cited by Reuters.

The incident is emerging as a potential sign that Trump’s maritime pressure campaign is achieving one of its central objectives: overwhelming Iran’s export system to the point where Tehran can no longer move or store crude fast enough to sustain normal production.

US ECONOMIC CHOKEHOLD ON IRAN REACHES PEAK LEVERAGE AS COLLAPSE RISKS EMERGE

The suspected spill near Iran’s main oil hub is raising concerns that mounting U.S. pressure is overwhelming Tehran’s ability to store or export crude, potentially forcing risky workarounds with environmental consequences in the Gulf.

The slick, seen in Copernicus Sentinel satellite images between Wednesday and Friday, covered roughly 45 square kilometers west of the island, according to analysts cited by Reuters.(Reuters)

“At this stage I see two plausible explanations, and they’re not mutually exclusive,” Miad Maleki, an Iran sanctions and energy expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.

“One is operational: they simply didn’t ramp down extraction fast enough relative to their true onshore capacity and over-counted on empty tankers slipping through the blockade,” he said.

“Now they’ve effectively over-delivered crude into the export system, with more oil at or near the terminals than they can actually load, and the ‘solution’ is to push some of that excess into the water.”

Maleki said another possible explanation is mechanical failure tied to Iran’s use of aging tankers as floating storage or sanctions-busting carriers.

TRUMP CLAIMS IRAN ‘STARVING FOR CASH,’ ‘COLLAPSING FINANCIALLY’ AFTER EXTENDING CEASEFIRE

A suspected oil spill covering dozens of square kilometers of sea near Iran’s main oil hub of Kharg Island has been seen on satellite imagery this week.(European Union/Copernicus Sentinel-2 via Reuters)

“They’ve dragged older, marginal tonnage into service as floating storage or sanctions-busting carriers, and some of those retired or poorly maintained hulls are now leaking,” he said.

“Either way, the common denominator is the same — storage and evacuation capacity are out of sync with upstream output, and the Gulf is paying the price for that mismatch.”

The incident comes as the Trump administration continues pressing its “Economic Fury” campaign against Iran, combining sanctions enforcement with a growing U.S. naval presence around the Strait of Hormuz aimed at restricting Iran’s oil exports.

Before the conflict, Iran exported roughly 1.5 million barrels of oil per day, much of it to China. Analysts say the blockade and the threat of sanctions on shipping companies and financial institutions have made it increasingly difficult for Tehran to move crude out of Kharg Island.

Reuters reported the slick appeared as a “grey and white” plume west of the 8-kilometer-long island.

Leon Moreland, a researcher at the Conflict and Environment Observatory, told Reuters the slick was “visually consistent with oil,” while Louis Goddard, co-founder of consultancy Data Desk, said it could be the largest spill since the start of the U.S.-Israel war against Iran roughly 70 days ago.

Kharg Island handles roughly 90% of Iran’s oil exports and has become a critical choke point in the Trump administration’s effort to cut off the regime’s main source of revenue during the ongoing war.

Energy analysts say Iran is now facing a dangerous dilemma. If Iran cannot export oil or find additional storage capacity, it may be forced either to shut down wells, risking long-term damage to oil fields, or dispose of excess crude in ways that could trigger environmental fallout across the Gulf.

US STRIKE ON KEY IRAN OIL HUB WOULD FIT TRUMP’S ‘ENERGY DOMINANCE DOCTRINE,’ SAYS EXPERT

A cargo ship sails in the Persian Gulf toward the Strait of Hormuz on April 22, 2026.(AP Photo)

“They’ve already reduced extraction. In a true blockade scenario, the constraint isn’t production at the wellhead, it’s the inability to load tankers at export terminals,” Maleki said.

“Once onshore storage nears capacity, output has to be cut to match remaining headroom or wells get shut in,” he added. “In Iran’s case, that’s roughly 13 days.”

The environmental implications are also raising alarm across the Gulf.

Windward, a maritime risk intelligence firm, estimated the slick was moving southeast at roughly 2 kilometers per hour and warned it could reach Qatar’s exclusive economic zone within days and potentially drift toward the United Arab Emirates within two weeks.

The Gulf’s desalination infrastructure, relied upon by millions across the region, remains especially vulnerable to major oil contamination events.

The spill also is unfolding amid heightened military tensions in the Gulf. The war has trapped hundreds of vessels in the region and caused one of the largest disruptions to global crude and liquefied natural gas supplies in recent years.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

An oil tanker is seen near the terminal at Kharg Island, Iran, as U.S. officials and analysts consider whether seizing the island could significantly impact Iran’s oil exports.(Ali Mohammadi/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Iranian authorities have not publicly commented on the suspected spill or its possible causes.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Iran mission to the U.N. for comment.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Efrat Lachter is a foreign correspondent for Fox News Digital covering international affairs and the United Nations. Follow her on X @efratlachter. Stories can be sent to efrat.lachter@fox.com.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6394974725112

‘The hill just got a little steeper’: Dems reel after Virginia Supreme Court voids redistricting referendum ahead of midterms

2026-05-08 1:28 PM EDT / CNN Politics

‘The hill just got a little steeper’: Dems reel after Virginia Supreme Court voids redistricting referendum ahead of midterms

By Dana Bash, CNN

Published 1:28 PM EDT, Fri May 8, 2026

‘The hill just got a little steeper’: Dems reel after Virginia Supreme Court voids redistricting referendum ahead of midterms

Inside Politics

Dana Bash and the “Inside Politics” panel react to the Virginia Supreme Court blocking a voter-approved referendum to redraw the state’s congressional maps in Democrats’ favor ahead of the midterm elections. Edward-Isaac Dovere tells Bash it’s a “real stinging defeat” for Democrats. “They thought that they would be getting this advantage,” he adds.

3:14 • Source: CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/08/politics/video/inside-politics-virginia-supreme-court-ruling-redistricting-maps

What the Trump administration’s latest tariff blow means for businesses

May 8, 2026 / 3:09 PM EDT / CBS News

By Megan Cerullo Reporter, MoneyWatch
Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News 24/7 to discuss her reporting.

Read Full Bio

A U.S. trade court’s ruling against a Trump administration tariff could further constrain the White House’s ability to impose import levies, according to legal and trade experts.

The Court of International Trade (CIT)sided with 24 states and businesses thatfiled a lawsuit challenging the legality of a 10% global tariff imposed by President Trump in February under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. In a ruling by the three-judge panel, the court found that the temporary tariffs were “unlawful” and harmful to businesses.

The blow to Mr. Trump’s trade policies follows a February Supreme Court ruling that struck down U.S. tariffs imposed last year under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA.

The U.S. government owes importers an estimated $175 billion in tariff refunds, plus interest, because of the ruling. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has since launched a portal where importers can submit refund claims.

White House spokesman Kush Desai defended Mr. Trump’s use of tariffs. “President Trump has lawfully used the tariff authorities granted to him by Congress to address our balance of payments crisis,” Desai said in a statement to CBS News. “The Trump administration is reviewing legal options and maintains confidence in ultimately prevailing.”

Trump administration officials have said tariffs are an important tool for ensuring fair trade relations with U.S. economic partners, defending critical U.S. industries and raising federal revenue.

Here’s what to know about the latest court ruling rolling back the Trump administration’s tariffs.

What’s the status of Trump’s 10% global tariff?

The CIT ruling applies to a narrow subset of the plaintiffs — two businesses and the state of Washington — that sued the Trump administration over the Sec. 122 tariffs, Ernst & Young trade policy expert Blake Harden explained.

The ruling leaves the average effective U.S. tariff rate on imports at 7.2%, according to Capital Economics.

“Given the narrow nature of the CIT’s ruling and the fact that Section 122 tariffs are due to expire at the end of July anyway, none of this has any immediate implication for the U.S. tariff rate,” Stephen Brown, chief North America economist at the investment advisory firm, said in a research note.

What does it mean for businesses?

The narrow scope of the court’s ruling means most U.S. businesses still owe the 10% tariff on most imported goods.

“They have to keep doing what they’ve been doing. If I am a business today, for practical purposes, nothing changes today compared to yesterday,” Harden said, noting that she expects the Trump administration to appeal the ruling “very swiftly.”

Fox Rothschild trade attorney Lizbeth Levinson said that, because the ruling does not universally strike down the Section 122 tariff, more businesses could sue to avoid paying the tariffs and potentially seek refunds.

“They could come forward, depending on how much they’ve paid in duties, if it’s economical for them to try to get their money back,” she told CBS News.

U.S. importers should still track any Section 122 duties they pay in case they are eventually entitled to tariff refunds, Harden advised. “They want to be prepared in case they do wind up with the ability to file for refunds.”

What could Trump do next?

Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 only allows the president to impose a temporary 10% duty for 150 days. Harden said the trade measure was intended as a stopgap rather than a permanent substitute for the White House’s illegal IEEPA duties.

The Trump administration in March announced investigations into foreign nations’ trade practices under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to unilaterally retaliate against countries engaging in unfair trade practices.

The law also requires the federal government to first investigate a country’s trade practices before it can impose tariffs and other trade restrictions.

“This decision reinforces that 301 is the tool they are most likely to rely upon and have the best chance at a durable tariff regime,” Harden said. “I think 301 is the name of the game for them moving forward.”

Still, the trade court’s latest ruling could open the door to legal challenges to Section 301 tariffs. Said Brown in his report: The decision “once again highlights the judicial pushback that the administration is likely to face when it tries to follow through with tariffs under its more recent Section 301 investigations against 60 countries. … That raises the risk that the Trump administration will eventually fail in its efforts to fully replace the lost revenue from IEEPA tariffs.”

Edited by Alain Sherter

伊朗媒体：武装部队与美船只再发生“零星冲突”

2026年5月8日 23:14 / 联合早报

美国中央司令部于5月6日发布的照片显示，一架F/A-18E“超级大黄蜂”战斗机于4月27日降落在尼米兹级航空母舰“乔治·H·W·布什”号（CVN 77）上。 （法新社）

伊朗媒体报道称，尽管已达成停火协议，但伊朗再次在霍尔木兹海峡与美国海军发生“零星冲突”。

法尔斯通讯社星期五（5月8）报道称：“过去一个小时里，伊朗武装部队与美国船只在霍尔木兹海峡发生零星冲突。”

另据美国军方说，美军向两艘试图违反美国对伊朗港口封锁的伊朗籍油轮开火，使其丧失航行能力。

美国中央司令部在社交媒体X网站上发布消息称，从航空母舰从“布什”号（USS George H.W. Bush）起飞的一架美国海军F/A-18“超级大黄蜂”战斗机“向两艘油轮的烟囱发射精确制导武器，阻止了这些不服从封锁的船只进入伊朗”。中央司令部指这两艘油轮试图进入位于阿曼湾的伊朗港口。该消息还附有对这两艘船只进行打击的视频。

社媒上与未成年少女不当互动 伯恩茅斯希门尼斯被调查

2026年5月8日 23:21 / 联合早报

伯恩茅斯的21岁西班牙球员希门尼斯（右）因在社交媒体上与未成年少女不当互动，而被球会调查与停赛。 （路透社）

英超球队伯恩茅斯（Bournemouth）在社交媒体上出现据称涉及后卫亚力克斯·希门尼斯（Alex Jimenez）与未成年少女聊天的信息后，已将其停赛。这名21岁的西班牙球员将无缘星期六（5月9日）对阵富勒姆（Fulham）的英超联赛。

伯恩茅斯星期五（8日）确认，此事目前正在调查中，并表明该球员不会进入比赛日大名单。

此前，社交媒体上流传的截图显示，这名后卫曾与一名未成年少女聊天。两人互发信息，希门尼斯随后还从车内发送了一张自拍照，并配上带有性暗示的文字说明。

在相关内容曝光后，伯恩茅斯迅速发布官方声明回应此事，确认球会已经注意到社交媒体上流传的相关内容，并已展开调查。

声明写道：“伯恩茅斯足球俱乐部已注意到社交媒体上有关右后卫亚力克斯·希门尼斯的帖子。俱乐部了解此事的严重性，目前正在进行调查。因此，亚历克斯将不会进入明天对阵富勒姆的英超比赛名单，俱乐部目前也不会对此事发表进一步评论。”