LINE from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh.
The White House says U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officers are still conducting vehicle stops. Yours Press Secretary Caroline Levitt. The President and the Secretary of Homeland Security are on the same page that vehicle stops are a necessary tool that ICE agents need in order to continue their deportation
campaign of the worst of the worst illegal alien criminals from our country. Levitt says the H.S. has issued verbal guidance to field offices nationwide. This week the department said it would pause non-urgeoned vehicle stops following two deadly shootings in less than a week in Maine and in Texas. In both cases, the ICE officers were not wearing body cameras.
Today Levitt said more than half of all ICE field offices now have body camps and the remainder are expected to have them within 60 days. She says the rollout has been slower than the administration's hope. She attributed that to the previous week's long DHS shutdown which she blamed on the Democrats.
“A key Republican senator says he will not vote to advance Todd Blanch's nomination to serve”
as attorney general until Blanch meets with victims of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
North Carolina's Tom Tillis May the statement during the second day of hearings on Blanch's
nomination. Here's NPR's Ryan Lucas. Epstein survivors say they have been trying to meet with Blanch for months, but to no avail. Now Senator Tom Tillis, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee that will vote on Blanch's nomination, says Blanch needs to meet with Epstein survivors to get his support.
I expect that meeting to occur before I'm willing to vote out of this committee. And I'm trying to get to yes, but this is a very important part of getting to yes. Tillis gave Blanch two weeks to make it happen with Democrats united in opposition. Blanch needs the support of every committee Republican to advance his nomination to the full Senate. Ryan Lucas and Pierre News, Washington.
A year after catastrophic flooding in the Texas Hill Country prompted lawmakers to overhaul the state's flood preparedness laws residents are again watching rivers rise.
“The latest floods are blamed for at least one death according to Governor Greg Abbott.”
The Texas newsroom plays Gany has a latest last summer Governor Greg Abbott and lawmakers promised changes that would better prepare communities before the next disaster struck. That disaster struck this week when more than 20 inches of rain fell in areas across South Central Texas. One of those laws helped place weather alert sirens along the Guadalupe River, which
were activated Thursday during the downpour in rising waters. Other legislation put tighter regulations on overnight camps. Senator Charles Perry says he got text from parents saying that their children were evacuated as a result of the measure. One of the parents actually texted me and said the kids are safer today because of that
bill. The Texas Hill Country floods last year killed more than 100 people over the 4th of July weekend. That's place Gany reporting. It's NPR News.
“In China, several big artificial intelligence companies have suspended their AI companionship”
features. This comes as Beijing introduces new regulations on AI chatbots. Some Hong Kong, Yang Kamensin Brimby, has more. The new regulations state that AI tools should not quote "induce emotional dependence or addiction."
The news has been met by shock from online users as companies pulled a plug on what, for many, had become virtual relationships. Regulators further suggest they want to prevent subversion of state power and prevent AI tools from damaging real life into personal relationships.
The AI industry is valued at more than $117 billion US dollars with more than 6,000 companies
working on AI-related tech. The move comes as Beijing battles with demographic challenges, including a declining population. In 2025, China's birthright hit a record low of just 5.63 per 1,000 people. The NPR News, I'm Yang Kamens and Brimby in Hong Kong. Two more US economic reports that today show a marginal 2/10 of a percent increase in retail sales
in June weighed down by lower gasoline prices, however, core retail sales rose 5/10 of a percent. But analysts say consumers are still spending more even with inflation, well above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. Meanwhile, in housing, the finance giant Freddie Mac reports today that the average mortgage
rate on a 30-year loan has risen to 6.55 percent from 649 last week. I'm Lakshmi Singh and PR News.
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