August 8 2025
New Census?; Fewer DOJ Environmental Cases; OpenAI Launches GPT-5; Gaza Takeover; India Halts US Arms Buying
Trump Orders New Mid-Decade Census, Vows to Exclude Non-Citizens
Report: Trump DOJ Files Far Fewer Environmental Cases Than Predecessors
OpenAI Launches GPT-5, Touting Major Leap in AI Capability
Defying International Pressure, Netanyahu Pledges Full Israeli Takeover of Gaza
India Halts US Arms Purchases in Response to New Trump Tariffs
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1. Trump Orders New Mid-Decade Census, Vows to Exclude Non-Citizens
President Donald Trump on Thursday said he was ordering a “new and highly accurate CENSUS,” saying it will be based on the “information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024.” “People who are in our country illegally will NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS,” he wrote in the Truth Social post announcing the move. The census is a constitutionally mandated count of every person in the United States every 10 years, which was last conducted in 2020.A full census has never been conducted mid-decade in this manner, nor has one ever excluded noncitizens from the count. Censuses are immensely important in American governance; each count determines how many House seats every state gets through a process called apportionment, and the results of the census help direct billions of dollars in federal, state and local funding. Trump has been trying to include a citizenship question on the census since his first term, though the Supreme Court struck the effort down on procedural grounds in 2019. Apportionment numbers have also historically included people residing in the United States regardless of their immigration status. A 2020 Pew Research Center report indicated removing noncitizens could cost multiple states House seats, including California
Politico
2. Report: Trump DOJ Files Far Fewer Environmental Cases Than Predecessors
The Trump administration has filed far fewer civil cases accusing companies of violating environmental rules than its predecessors, an analysis of federal data shows. In the first full six months of Mr. Trump’s second term, the Justice Department filed 11 civil lawsuits against major polluters for breaking bedrock environmental laws, compared with 30 of these cases in President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s first full six months in office, according to the analysis by the Environmental Integrity Project, an advocacy group. In addition, the Trump administration reached 18 settlements in civil cases against major polluters, compared with 53 settlements in the same period under Mr. Biden, the analysis found. Such settlements often require companies to pay millions of dollars in penalties.
NYT
3. OpenAI Launches GPT-5, Touting Major Leap in AI Capability
OpenAI is rolling out a more powerful and long-awaited new artificial intelligence model called GPT-5, vying to stay ahead of increased competition from rivals in the US and China. GPT-5, unveiled during a livestreamed event on Thursday, is designed to be more capable of coding and creative writing as well as reasoning through complex queries. In a briefing with reporters this week, OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman called it a “major upgrade” from the company’s prior AI models. For “the first time,” he said, “it really feels like talking to an expert in any topic.” OpenAI will make GPT-5 widely available to all free users and many of its paid ChatGPT subscribers starting on Thursday, with education and enterprise customers slated to get access the following week. Paid customers will have higher usage limits with the tool.
Bloomberg
4. Defying International Pressure, Netanyahu Pledges Full Israeli Takeover of Gaza
TEL AVIV—Israel’s security cabinet approved a plan for the military to take control of Gaza City after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to take over the entire enclave, a gamble that defies international pressure to end the war and lacks broad domestic support. Netanyahu said Israel doesn’t plan to hold on to Gaza and would transfer control of the territory to “Arab forces that will govern it properly.” Israel would keep what he called a security perimeter around the enclave, he said in an interview with Fox News on Thursday. The decision comes after a monthslong operation in Gaza that failed to advance Israel’s aims of freeing the hostages still held in Gaza or pressuring Hamas to surrender. The prospect of a full takeover of Gaza has drawn opposition at home and abroad, including from the chief of Israel’s military.
WSJ
5. India Halts US Arms Purchases in Response to New Trump Tariffs
NEW DELHI, Aug 8 (Reuters) - New Delhi has put on hold its plans to procure new U.S. weapons and aircraft, according to three Indian officials familiar with the matter, in India's first concrete sign of discontent after tariffs imposed on its exports by President Donald Trump dragged ties to their lowest level in decades. India had been planning to send Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to Washington in the coming weeks for an announcement on some of the purchases, but that trip has been cancelled, two of the people said. Trump on Aug. 6 imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods as punishment for Delhi's purchases of Russian oil, which he said meant the country was funding Russia's invasion of Ukraine. That raised the total duty on Indian exports to 50% - among the highest of any U.S. trading partner. The president has a history of rapidly reversing himself on tariffs and India has said it remains actively engaged in discussions with Washington. One of the people said the defence purchases could go ahead once India had clarity on tariffs and the direction of bilateral ties, but "just not as soon as they were expected to."
Reuters
August 8, 1945: President Truman ratifies United Nations Charter
The collapse of the international rules-based order
The system of laws that has governed the world since WW2 is gone, leaving anarchy
Greg Loving
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Sources
- https://apple.news/Ac5CXBgRZSkGfmSibaDd3xg
- https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/climate/pollution-civil-cases-epa-trump.html
- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-07/openai-launches-more-powerful-gpt-5-model-aimed-at-better-coding
- https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/netanyahu-says-israel-will-take-over-the-entire-gaza-strip-0919a494?st=eqU4xP&reflink=article_copyURL_share
- https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/india-pauses-plans-buy-us-arms-after-trumps-tariffs-2025-08-08/
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