作者： root

Federal judge blocks Postal Service from carrying out Trump mail-in ballot order

July 2, 2026 7:21am EDT / Fox News

Judge Emmet Sullivan’s order blocks the postal service from carrying out Trump’s order nationwide

By Anders Hagstrom Fox News

Published July 2, 2026 7:21am EDT

Senate Dem presses postmaster general on proposed mail-in balloting rule

Postmaster General David Steiner indicated that under a proposed rule, if a state declines to provide the federal government with its absentee voter list, USPS would not mail ballots for those states. (Credit: Senate Homeland Security Committee)

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A federal judge blocked the U.S. Postal Service from carrying out an executive order on mail-in ballots on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump had ordered the postal service to transmit ballots for states only if those states first provided a list of mail-in voters, among other requirements. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan blocks the postal service from implementing the order nationwide.

Sullivan argued that the order would violate the settlement agreement in an earlier 2020 lawsuit between the postal service and the NAACP. That agreement allowed the courts to oversee the postal service’s actions relating to the “monitoring and timely delivery of Election Mail.”

People complete their ballots (Photo by REBECCA DROKE/AFP via Getty Images)(REBECCA DROKE/AFP via Getty Images)

“The Proposed Rule violates paragraph 2 of the Agreement because the Postal Service cannot post documents reflecting ‘practices and policies for prioritizing the monitoring and timely delivery of Election Mail’ if its policies provide that it will not accept ‘noncompliant mailing’ and therefore will not deliver mail-in or absentee ballots to some voters, and if it will not mail ballots to any voters in a state where the state ‘declines or fails to certify a list,’” Sullivan wrote in his opinion.

Sullivan’s order comes after an earlier case saw nearly 25 states challenge Trump’s order earlier this year. Those states were successful in blocking the postal service from carrying out the order in their states, but Sullivan’s ruling extends nationwide.

Assistant City Clerk James Blatchford prepares absentee and early vote ballots at Haverhill City Hall to be sent to precincts for Election Day counting, Monday, Nov. 2, 2020, in Haverhill, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

The ruling also comes just a week after an Obama-appointed judge blocked Trump’s effort to curb noncitizens from registering to vote or voting in federal elections.

OBAMA-APPOINTED JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP’S ELECTION ORDER AS SAVE AMERICA ACT FIGHT INTENSIFIES

The lawsuit in that case centered on Trump’s March executive order, Executive Order (EO) 14248, which directed the creation of a federal voter registration list and imposed new restrictions on eligibility for voting by mail as part of the administration’s broader effort to combat voter fraud.

President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Sept. 19, 2025.(Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

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“President Trump is committed to ensuring that Americans have full confidence in the administration of our elections. The President’s executive order lawfully protects our elections, and we are confident that we will ultimately prevail in its implementation,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital last week.

Fox News’ Ashley DiMella contributed to this report.

Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events.

The Iran MOU is a mess. It still might work

2026-07-02T08:00:25.476Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/02/politics/us-iran-mou-analysis

Brett McGurk is a CNN global affairs analyst who served in senior national security positions under Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

The 14-point “Memorandum of Understanding” is among the oddest international agreements in recent memory. Short on detail, its two pages purport to grant significant up-front American concessions to Iran in exchange for opening the Strait of Hormuz, which was already open before the war President Donald Trump started in February and now hopes to end.

The document has come under withering criticism from many Republicans, while being met with a “told you so” flair from Democrats who point to the Obama-era nuclear deal by comparison: a 159-page agreement that placed limits on Iran’s nuclear program.

Meanwhile, Iran has interpreted the MOU to not even require unimpeded access to the Strait of Hormuz — the one issue the Trump administration cited as the reason for the agreement in the first place. Iran has fired drones at commercial ships violating its interpretation of the deal. The US struck targets inside Iran in response — and to uphold its interpretation of the deal.

Nearly everything the US says the deal means — from releasing funds for Iran to buy American soybeans, to sanctions relief only in exchange for Iranian actions — Iran in return says the deal means something different — with no restrictions on where frozen funds are spent, and sanctions relief as a precondition even for further talks.

It gets worse from there. The deal’s first paragraph declares a ceasefire in Lebanon, without any details. Iran read this to require Israel to leave southern Lebanon, where it’s been since 2024 under a prior ceasefire deal. Israel has refused. Then last week, Israel and Lebanon signed a separate agreement requiring Israel to withdraw only after the Lebanese army can displace Hezbollah in these areas.

Iran says that new agreement violates the MOU agreement. The US says it merely incorporates what’s already in the MOU.

To account for this confusion, Vice President JD Vance, the deal’s lead negotiator, has said the “words don’t matter,” whereas Iran cites the MOU as equivalent to a binding treaty.

It’s easy to lampoon such zigzags as borderline diplomatic malpractice. For the first time ever, the President of the United States has signed an agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran and yet nobody seems to agree on what the MOU says or even what it’s supposed to do.

This week in Doha, the US and Iranian teams were supposed to meet to provide some clarity on mutual expectations and perhaps to start the still-dormant nuclear talks, which the MOU envisions leading to a comprehensive deal. But Trump’s negotiators met with Qatari mediators, not with Iranians, and there’s a dispute about whether lower-level talks are happening at all.

Whether those talks happen or not, I would not expect much to come from them. If the MOU seemed incoherent when it was first revealed, it’s only become more so in practice.

Yet, on perhaps the most important test of all — time and optionality — the MOU appears to be working. Henry Kissinger once said, “When statesman want to buy time, they offer to talk.”

That appears to be the case here, for both the United States and Iran. The prolonged stalemate in the strait was harming everyone. The US military blockaded Iranian ports, suffocating Iran’s economy, as Iran held the world’s economy hostage with threats to commercial shipping.

The MOU allowed both sides to pull back, and breathe. Trump gave up the game when he said the alternative to the MOU was a global depression. Iran’s leaders supporting the deal have similarly pointed to the economic benefits for Iran under the deal.

As for which side this bought time will advantage, it’s too early to say. If you had asked me two weeks ago and upon first reading the MOU, it appeared to be a clear Iranian victory. Washington was giving up a lot for almost nothing in return other than an opening of the Strait of Hormuz.

But snapshots in time, particularly in the Middle East, rarely tell the full story — and this story is still unfolding. Some factors are even running in Washington’s favor.

1. Iran is not enriching uranium.Iran’s enrichment capacity has been knocked out and has not restarted. The MOU requires Iran to maintain this status quo, making it nearly impossible to produce a bomb. For now, this most acute threat remains dormant.

2. Iran’s economy is reeling.The International Monetary Fund recently reported that Iran’s economy will contract more than 6%. That’s “the steepest contraction since the 1980s,” and it’s due in part to the recent war. In addition, inflation is projected to average nearly 70%, and the sanctions relief contemplated under the MOU means, at best, only a slow rebound.

3. US economic pressure is easing.Since the MOU was signed, global oil prices have plummeted over 20 percent. That has eased macro-economic pressures and reduced gas prices for Americans as the summer vacation season heats up. Trump confirmed again that this was a primary aim, posting on social media last night: “Gas Prices will soon be back to the Record Low Prices Americans enjoyed at the pump before our very successful ‘excursion’ in Iran.”

4. Iran’s regional “axis” is strained.Iran’s triumphalist reading of the MOU initially gave a shot in the arm to Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies across the region. The recent Lebanon deal with Israel, however, tripped up Tehran’s victory lap, and even in Iraq — where militias joined Iran’s war against the Gulf states — a new government is cracking down and calling for all arms to be under state control.

5. Less reliance on the strait.Iran effectively turned the tables on the US with its closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and it continues to assert sovereignty over future traffic. That’s a serious problem. But its actions have caused counter-reactions, to include new pipelines and ports that bypass the strait altogether. Its recent shots at commercial ships had little impact on global prices.

So, where does that leave us? Nobody can say for certain. My bet would be that this current situation sustains for some time, at least through elections this fall in both Israel and here.

For now, what we do know is that the major fighting has subsided; economic pressure has reduced; and diplomatic channels are open — albeit confused and fledgling.

And for all that, I say one cheer for the MOU. Because in the Middle East, things can always be considerably worse.

U.S. designates Ecuador’s “Chone Killers” gang a terrorist organization

July 2, 2026 / 6:31 AM EDT / CBS/AFP

The United States on Wednesday designated Ecuadorian gang the “Chone Killers” as a foreign terrorist organization, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

The gang “has committed numerous attacks targeting civilians, law enforcement officers, and government officials, including high-profile assassinations of public officials,” Rubio said in a statement, adding that the group was also branded “specially designated global terrorists.”

As a result, the Chone Killers leaders and anyone associated with them can be subject to U.S. sanctions and criminal prosecution.

Ecuador’s foreign ministry welcomed the designation.

“The Government of Ecuador thanks the firm support of the United States for the decision by President Daniel Noboa to maintain an all-out fight against criminal organizations,” the ministry said in a statement posted on X.

The Chone Killers are an offshoot of Los Chineros, a gang the United States previously designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 2020.

The designation freezes any assets the group or its members may have in U.S. jurisdictions.

“The Trump administration, in partnership with Ecuador and President Daniel Noboa, will continue to protect our hemisphere by keeping illicit drugs off our streets and disrupting the revenue streams funding violent narcoterrorists,” he added.

Ecuador has gone from one of South America’s safest countries to a major cocaine trafficking hub, plagued by gangs with ties to Mexican and Colombian cartels. Just last month, eight bodies were found in plastic bags in a narco-trafficking hotspot.

Los Lobos (The Wolves) and Los Choneros (after the city of Chone) are among Ecuador’s main drug trafficking and extortion gangs, with ties to international cartels. In September, Los Lobos was designated a terrorist organization by the United States.

Criminal gang violence continues unabated in Ecuador following the recapture in June 2025 of the country’s biggest drug lord, Adolfo Macías, who leads Los Choneros, after his escape from a maximum-security prison in 2024. In July 2025, the Ecuadoran government extradited Macías to the United States, where he faces multiple drug trafficking and firearms charges.

Noboa, a staunch ally of President Trump, has imposed curfews and deployed the military to several provinces in a U.S.-backed crackdown aimed at stamping out gang activity.

American commandos recently joined Ecuadorian troops in a joint mission aimed at dismantling a suspected criminal hub operated by an alleged narco-terrorist organization along the country’s coast.

In early March, the United States and Ecuador launched joint military operations against “designated terrorist organizations” in the country.

The Trump administration has designated a number of other Latin American gangs and drug cartels as terrorist organizations, including the Mexican Sinaloa cartel and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua.

Last month, Mr. Trump said the U.S. military killed Tren de Aragua’s alleged leader. The president said on Truth Social that U.S. Southern Command carried out a “swift and lethal kinetic strike” to “successfully execute” Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, also known as Niño Guerrero.

contributed to this report.

强风助长火势 法国南部林火烧毁800公顷土地

2026年7月2日 19:28 / 联合早报

法国西南部奥德省星期三（7月1日）林火狂烧，炎热干燥加上强风，使灭火工作困难重重。 （法新社）

（巴黎综合电）法国西南部奥德省（Aude）和邻近的埃罗省（Herault）林火肆虐，烧毁800公顷土地，数百名消防人员星期四（7月2日）全力扑救以控制火势。

由于火场位于山区，没有可供通行的道路，消防员的灭火工作困难重重，当局因此出动洒水飞机协助灭火。

位于西班牙边境附近的奥德省管理部门在社媒X平台上说，强风助长火势，当前的气象条件对灭火不利，当局疏散约200名居民。

目击者称，强风周三晚（1日）把林火烟雾吹至其他地方，甚至连远至马赛机场也闻到烧焦味。截至当晚，火势已烧毁约800公顷土地。

除了这两个省份，南部朗松地区的另一起林火已受到控制。

法国气象部门警告，当地下周可能再次迎来极端高温天气。卫生部门估计，此前的热浪可能已导致全国范围约千人死亡。

强风助长火势 法国南部林火烧毁800公顷土地

2026年7月2日 19:28 / 联合早报

法国西南部奥德省星期三（7月1日）林火狂烧，炎热干燥加上强风，使灭火工作困难重重。 （法新社）

（巴黎综合电）法国西南部奥德省（Aude）和邻近的埃罗省（Herault）林火肆虐，烧毁800公顷土地，数百名消防人员星期四（7月2日）全力扑救以控制火势。

由于火场位于山区，没有可供通行的道路，消防员的灭火工作困难重重，当局因此出动洒水飞机协助灭火。

位于西班牙边境附近的奥德省管理部门在社媒X平台上说，强风助长火势，当前的气象条件对灭火不利，当局疏散约200名居民。

目击者称，强风周三晚（1日）把林火烟雾吹至其他地方，甚至连远至马赛机场也闻到烧焦味。截至当晚，火势已烧毁约800公顷土地。

除了这两个省份，南部朗松地区的另一起林火已受到控制。

法国气象部门警告，当地下周可能再次迎来极端高温天气。卫生部门估计，此前的热浪可能已导致全国范围约千人死亡。

美在台协会处长：台湾应打造无人机“蜂巢”以吓阻冲突

2026年7月2日 14:54 / 联合早报

美国在台协会处长谷立言星期四（7月2日）在台中举行的“领航2026—台中无人载具产业与海外商机论坛”上说，无人机不仅创造新的商机，也有机会提升台湾安全，并巩固印太地区和平稳定。图为台湾雷虎科技一台无人机。 （路透社档案照片）

美国在台协会（AIT）处长谷立言说，无人机产业为美国与台湾带来历史性发展机遇，有望迈向白金时代，并认为台湾应建立由大量无人机组成的“蜂巢”防御体系，以有效吓阻冲突。

综合《联合报》《自由时报》和路透社报道，谷立言星期四（7月2日）在台中举行的“领航2026—台中无人载具产业与海外商机论坛”上说，无人机不仅创造新的商机，也有机会提升台湾安全，并巩固印太地区和平稳定。

他说，台湾拥有优秀人才、完善基础设施和成熟产业生态，具备建立全球竞争优势的条件；美国则拥有庞大的国防需求、系统整合能力及研发资源，能够协助台湾厂商对接民主国家市场。双方可共同打造以“民主阵营”为基础的无人机生产体系，进一步强化自由世界的整体威慑能力。

谷立言并以俄乌战争为例称，无人机显著提升防守方在实力悬殊情况下的作战能力。

他说：“对台湾而言，最有效的吓阻方式，莫过于把台湾打造成为一个由空中、水面和水下无人机组成的‘蜂巢’。”

尽管台湾政府近年来将无人机及其他不对称作战系统列为重点发展项目，但由在野党占多数的立法院今年5月仅通过总统赖清德提出的400亿美元（517亿新元）额外国防预算中的约三分之二，并将资金主要用于采购美国武器。

台湾行政部门随后提出总额2100亿元新台币（85亿新元）的无人机发展计划，拟在2031年底前投入监侦无人机、岸防攻击无人机及小型无人水面载具等项目。

台湾最大在野党国民党本周则提出自己的无人机法案，计划未来六年投入最多2400亿元新台币，每年支出上限为400亿元新台币。不过，与执政当局希望通过特别预算推动不同，国民党主张从年度总预算中编列相关经费。

赖清德星期三（7月1日）在民进党中执会上指出，无人机建设已刻不容缓。他说：“面对地缘政治局势变化及现代战争形态演进，建构不对称作战能力是一项与时间赛跑的国防工程。”

赖清德还重申，不接受北京对台湾的主权主张，强调只有台湾民众有权决定自己的未来。

福建供水金门水质合格率100%

2026年7月2日 15:30 / 联合早报

中国大陆福建向台湾金门累计供水超过5000万吨，水质合格率100%。

《福建日报》星期三（7月1日）引述福建水投集团报道，截至当天，金门供水工程累计供水量突破5000万吨，水质合格率100%。目前，福建向金门供水量已占金门县自来水厂日常供水总量的87%。

据中新社报道，作为供水工程的运营管理方，福建水投集团晋金供水有限公司总经理洪佳兴介绍，福建向金门供水工程2018年8月通水以来，金门民生用水依靠地下水的比例从过去历史最高的68%降至目前的0.3%，有效遏制地下水位持续下降、海水倒灌等突出生态隐患。

福建向金门供水工程2015年10月开工建设，2018年8月正式通水运行。

拥有12座岛屿的金门是台湾距离大陆最近的县，市中心离厦门市仅10公里，离台湾本岛则有210公里。

金门不仅地理位置靠近大陆，文化、语言与习惯都和闽南生活圈相近。

中欧今秋将举行贸易投资磋商机制第二次例会

2026年7月2日 15:36 / 联合早报

中欧今年秋天将举行第二次贸易投资磋商机制会议。图为中国商务部新闻发言人何亚东6月11日在记者会回应记者提问。 （中新社）

中国官方通报，中欧将于今秋举行第二次贸易投资磋商机制会议。

中国商务部新闻发言人何亚东星期四（7月2日）在例行记者会上，介绍中欧贸易投资磋商机制首次会议情况时说，中欧贸易投资磋商机制是中欧在经贸领域新建立的常态化交流机制，双方商定每年举行一至两次部长级会议。

他称，中方已邀请欧盟委员会贸易和经济安全委员谢夫乔维奇于今年秋季访华，举行磋商机制的第二次例会。

何亚东说，首次会议期间，双方重点讨论从三个领域着手，推动贸易向上平衡，而不是向下平衡：一是新兴领域，双方将努力扩大在人工智能（AI）和绿色转型等领域合作；二是潜在领域，双方将深入挖掘服务贸易等领域合作潜力；三是问题领域，双方将通过市场准入磋商，推动彼此关切得到逐步解决。

他指出，双方就中欧经贸关系的新定位达成共识，即稳定、平衡的中欧关键贸易伙伴。这有助于改善广大中欧企业的预期，为中欧乃至全球经济发展注入更多确定性和正能量。

中欧设定10月期限解决贸易分歧 学者：矛盾难解但有望避免贸易战

据中国商务部官网消息，中国商务部部长王文涛星期一（6月29日）在欧盟总部与欧委会贸易和经济安全委员谢夫乔维奇共同主持召开中欧贸易投资磋商机制首次会议并在会后发表联合声明。

双方围绕中欧经贸重要议题，进行了全面、深入、建设性的讨论，确认正式成立中欧贸易投资磋商机制，下设贸易和投资平衡、出口管制、知识产权、世贸组织改革四个工作板块，并设立联合监测机制。

王文涛就欧盟逆变器融资禁令、《网络安全法》修订草案和《工业加速器法案》等问题提出关切，并指欧方相关经贸工具及对华限制措施严重影响中欧正常经贸合作和全球产供链稳定，敦促欧方从中欧经贸关系大局出发，重视中方严正关切，避免经贸摩擦升级。

他表明，中方愿意通过中欧贸易投资磋商机制，加强与欧方对话磋商，妥处分歧摩擦，促进务实合作，推动中欧贸易向上平衡。

国台办不点名批美在台协会处长在台湾问题制造杂音用心险恶

2026年7月2日 12:04 / 联合早报

中国大陆国台办发言人朱凤莲星期四（7月2日）在北京举行的例行记者会上，就近期两岸热点问题回答记者提问。 （中新社）

中国大陆国台办不点名批评，美国在台协会（AIT）处长谷立言在台湾问题上制造杂音用心险恶。

大陆国台办发言人朱凤莲星期四（7月2日）在北京举行的例行记者上应询时说，中美元首会晤达成重要共识，取得丰硕成果。“某些人上蹿下跳”，对美国总统特朗普的涉台表态“阳奉阴违，在台湾问题上制造杂音，对大陆对台政策污蔑抹黑，用心险恶”，中方对此坚决反对。

朱凤莲强调，世界上只有一个中国，“台湾是中国一部分，这是真正的台海现状，任何人、任何势力妄想改变这一现状的企图都不会得逞”。

台湾《联合报》上周刊发谷立言的专访内容，他当时提到台湾多数民众支持“维持现状”，这一共识从蔡英文政府到赖清德政府均保持一致。

谷立言强调，美国之所以持续呼吁北京与台湾民选领袖互动，正是因为台湾社会对维持现状具备高度共识，这是对话的绝佳基础；面对这种高度共识，北京试图在台湾内部制造分裂，并不会得到预期的结果。

针对外界关注美国对台政策及军售议题，谷立言强调，美对台政策并未改变，军售也未暂停。他说：“虽然中国（大陆）就美国军售台湾表达立场，但是美国在做决定时，不考虑中国（大陆）的立场或意见。”

马警方严防黑帮渗透校园 绝不容许招募学生加入犯罪集团

2026年7月2日 15:41 / 联合早报

法迪尔强调，一旦接获有人企图接近学生或在校园招募成员的情报，将立即展开调查及采取执法行动。 （示意图）

吉隆坡总警长法迪尔强调，警方将严厉打击黑帮渗透校园，并将防止犯罪集团接触青少年列为执法重点，绝不容许任何犯罪组织向学生招手。

《东方日报》报道，法迪尔星期四（7月2日）出席增江拉萨第二国小的警民活动时指出，部分犯罪集团会设法接近青少年，尤其是学生，利用各种手段拉拢他们加入犯罪组织。因此，警方将积极展开预防及执法行动，从源头遏止犯罪集团吸收新成员。

法迪尔说，警方已将防范校园黑帮渗透列为优先事项，确保犯罪集团无法进入学校范围或接触学生，以免年轻人在成长阶段误入歧途。

针对有不法分子企图接近学生的问题，警方指出，犯罪集团往往会利用各种方式吸引年轻人加入，并灌输错误价值观，因此警方希望在问题萌芽阶段便及时介入，阻止这些负面元素蔓延。

法迪尔强调，一旦接获有人企图接近学生或在校园招募成员的情报，将立即展开调查及采取执法行动。

警方也呼吁学校、家长及公众提高警觉，若发现可疑人士接触学生或涉及黑帮招募活动，应第一时间向警方投报，共同维护校园安全。