WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump suggested on Tuesday that the government efficiency department, previously led by billionaire Elon Musk, should be tasked to review the subsidies paid to the Tesla CEO’s companies to save money, reigniting a war of words between the world’s most powerful person and its richest.
In their latest spat, Trump even threatened to deport Musk to his native South Africa.
The remarks came after Musk, a Republican mega donor, renewed his criticism of the sweeping tax-cut and spending bill and vowed to unseat lawmakers who supported it despite campaigning on limiting government spending.
Tesla shares fell more than six per cent before the market opened as the feud could add fresh hurdles for the business empire of Musk, whose main source of wealth, the electric automaker, is betting on the success of robo-taxis being tested in Texas.
Richest man threatens to go after lawmakers who backed the measure; president threatens to deport Tesla CEO to South Africa
The US Transportation Department regulates vehicle design and will play a key role in deciding if Tesla can mass-produce robotaxis without pedals and steering wheels, while Musk’s rocket firm SpaceX has about $22 billion in federal contracts.
“Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa,” Trump said in a Truth Social post, referring to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“No more rocket launches, satellites, or electric car production, and our country would save a fortune. Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? Big money to be saved!!!”
In response, Musk said on his own social media platform X: “I am literally saying cut it all. Now.”
Trump said Musk was upset because he lost the EV mandate in the recent tax and spending bill and warned the Tesla CEO “could lose a lot more than that”.
Trump had last month threatened to cut Musk’s government contracts when their relationship erupted into an all-out social media brawl over the tax-cut bill, which non-partisan analysts estimate would add about $3 trillion to US debt.
After weeks of relative silence, Musk rejoined the debate on Saturday as the Senate took up the package, calling it “utterly insane and destructive” in a post on X.
On Monday, Musk said lawmakers who campaigned on cutting spending but backed the bill “should hang their heads in shame!” “And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth,” Musk said.
He also called again for a new political party, saying the bill’s massive spending indicated “that we live in a one-party country the Porky Pig Party!!”
The criticism marked a dramatic shift after the billionaire spent nearly $300 million on Trump’s re-election campaign and led the administration’s controversial DOGE initiative.
Early afternoon was a busy time in the al-Baqa cafe, on the waterfront in Gaza City. Under the wooden slatted roof, seated at plastic chairs and tables, were dozens of Palestinians seeking respite from the relentless 20-month war that has devastated much of the bustling, vibrant town.
On one side was the Mediterranean, blue and calm to the horizon. On the other, battered apartment blocks, wrecked hotels and the close-packed tents of displaced families.
Founded almost 40 years ago, the family-run al-Baqa was for many in Gaza City a reminder of better, more peaceful times. It had long been a place to escape the claustrophobic strictures of life in the crowded territory, to talk freely, laugh and dream.
Among those sipping coffee, tea and soft drinks in the cafe was a young artist – Amna al-Salmi – and her friend Ismail Abu Hatab, a 32-year-old photographer and film-maker. Others included another journalist and at least one family with young children, including a four-year-old child, and a mother and her two daughters.
Then, at about 3pm, the peaceful scene at the al-Baqa cafe was transformed. Witnesses described a huge roaring explosion, flames, a plume of ash-grey smoke rising fast into the air. No one needed to ask what had happened.
In recent days, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has escalated its offensive across all of Gaza but focused much of its firepower on the territory’s north, where Hamas remain relatively entrenched despite multiple military assaults.
Tanks have advanced into neighbourhoods to the east of Gaza City, so-called “evacuation orders” have forced thousands from makeshift shelters and airstrikes have killed dozens.
When the dust and smoke cleared at the al-Baqa cafe, scenes of carnage were revealed.
People and emergency services gathered at the scene at al-Baqa cafe. Photograph: Seham Tantesh/The Guardian
“I stepped outside briefly to get something to eat, and when I returned – just as I was close – a missile struck,” said Abu al-Nour, 60.
“Shrapnel flew everywhere, and the place filled with smoke and the smell of cordite. I couldn’t see anything. I ran toward the cafe and found it destroyed. I went inside and saw bodies lying on the ground. All the cafe workers were killed.”
Adam, 21, was working nearby, renting out chairs and tables on the small promenade.
“When I reached the site, the scenes were beyond anything imaginable. I knew all the workers at the place. It was full of customers of all ages,” he told the Guardian.
Other witnesses described seeing a dead child, an elderly man with both legs severed and many others with serious injuries.
All said they had been surprised by the extent of the damage, which wrecked the entire cafe, warping concrete columns and scattering debris. A deck of cards and a giant stuffed toy animal could be seen amid the wreckage.
Even hours later, the air “smelled of blood”, one witness said.
Many expressed surprise that the cafe could be targeted at all. A 55-year-old sports teacher who lives nearby described the cafe as the “nicest in Gaza” and a place that “should have been the safest of anywhere” in the Palestinian territory.
An IDF spokesperson said the attack was under review, adding that the Israeli military had “struck several Hamas terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip” and that “prior to the strike, steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians using aerial surveillance”.
In a separate statement on Tuesday, the IDF said Israel’s air force had attacked more than 140 “terror targets” in Gaza over the previous day, including “terrorists, anti-tank missile launch posts, weapons storage facilities and other terrorist infrastructure”.
Medical and other officials said that between 24 and 36 Palestinians were killed in the attack on the cafe, with dozens more injured.
Israeli airstrike on popular Gaza beachside cafe leaves at least 30 dead – video report
Among the dead was 35-year-old Nour al-Huda al-Husari, who had gone with her two daughters “to get some fresh air and try to lift their spirits”.
“When I heard there had been a strike, I tried to call … I kept calling, but there was no answer,” said Mohammed al-Husari, her husband.
“Then about an hour and a half after the strike I heard she had been killed. My first thought was: what happened to my daughters? I felt like I was dreaming … I couldn’t believe it.”
The couple’s eight-year-old had been hurled many metres by the blast but was found standing stunned and alone, completely unharmed. But her older sister, aged 12, was badly hurt, suffering a skull fracture and internal bleeding, and could die.
“The hospital was completely full of the wounded and the dead – because the cafe was crowded with women, children and the young. It was not a suspicious or military place,” Husari said.
“If it had been, my wife would never have gone … she was always careful not to go anywhere risky or questionable, out of fear that something might happen nearby. The truth is there is no safe place in Gaza.”
Fatalities included Salmi, the artist, who was involved in initiatives to bring art by Palestinians in Gaza to a wider international audience and to support the most needy among the displaced in the territory.
A Palestinian man checks an area near the cafe that was damaged. Photograph: Jehad Alshrafi/AP
Abu Hateb was also killed. The film-maker was badly injured early in the war and in an interview last year described how his work “haunted” him, bringing insomnia and depression.
“I have seen many martyrs, their meals still in front of them, unable to finish eating because they were killed. I think about that moment they must have felt just before death,” he said.
In addition to casualties from airstrikes, hundreds have died in recent weeks while seeking aid.
Those with savings or salaries can buy enough to survive on in local markets and even pay for drinks or a snack at venues where they can also use reliable wifi. The vast majority of the 2.3 million population suffer acutely, with growing malnutrition and a continuing threat of famine.
The war in Gaza was triggered by a surprise attack launched by Hamas militants into Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250, of whom 50 are still held by the militant Islamist organisation.
The ensuing Israeli offensive has so far killed 56,500, mostly civilians, and reduced much of the Palestinian territory to ruins.
Israel has agreed to the “necessary conditions” to finalise a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, US President Donald Trump has said.
During the proposed 60-day ceasefire, “we will work with all parties to end the War”, Trump said in a post on Truth Social, without detailing what the conditions are.
“The Qataris and Egyptians, who have worked very hard to help bring Peace, will deliver this final proposal. I hope… that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE,” Trump wrote.
Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza after Hamas’s 7 October, 2023 attack on Israel, in which around 1,200 people were killed. At least 56,647 have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
ADEN, Yemen, July 1 (Xinhua) — Yemen’s Houthi group on Tuesday claimed responsibility for launching a ballistic missile targeting Ben Gurion Airport in central Israel.
In a televised statement broadcast by the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV, the group’s military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said they had “carried out a special military operation targeting Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv using a hypersonic ballistic missile of the Palestine-2 type.”
According to Sarea, the missile strike “successfully achieved its goal” by forcing “millions of settlers into shelters and disrupting airport operations.”
Sarea also claimed that a wave of one-way unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks targeted what he described as “three sensitive sites” in Eilat, Tel Aviv, and Ashkelon.
The Houthi spokesperson reiterated the group’s position that it would continue military operations “in support of the Palestinian people” until Israel halts its military actions in Gaza.
In a statement released earlier in the day, the Israeli military said Houthi forces fired a missile toward Israel, triggering air raid sirens in central and southern parts of the country before it was intercepted. No injuries were reported.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed on Tuesday to retaliate against Yemen’s Houthi forces after the missile attack.
Since November 2023, the Houthi group has launched multiple missile and drone attacks against Israel, asserting these actions are in solidarity with Palestinians in the besieged enclave. The group, which controls much of northern Yemen, has aligned itself politically and militarily with the Palestinian people during the ongoing hostilities between Israel and Hamas.
In response to the attacks, Israel has conducted airstrikes on key infrastructure in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, targeting energy facilities and military sites. These retaliatory strikes have resulted in significant casualties and material damage, according to local Yemeni officials. ■
“As humanitarian assistance and basic services dwindle, people in Gaza have been increasingly deprived of the means for their survival,” UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters at the UN Headquarters in New York.
It has been 17 weeks since any fuel has entered Gaza, according to Mr. Dujarric – a critical shortage that forced the Al-Shifa Medical Complex to suspend its kidney dialysis services and restrict its intensive care unit services to just a few hours per day.
Other hospitals, including Al-Aqsa in Deir al-Balah, have also come under attack, with the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting a strike on a tent sheltering displaced civilians in its courtyard.
Over the past 48 hours, five school buildings sheltering displaced families were also hit, reportedly causing deaths and injuries, while a new evacuation order issued on Sudan displaced 1,500 families from northern Gaza.
Living in terror
Olga Cherevko, an official at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), described conditions for families in Gaza as “living in terror.”
“The only thing that is on their minds right now is a ceasefire and peace at last,” she said.
Ms. Cherevko called for Israel to open all border crossings and allow a steady and sufficient flow humanitarian aid.
“The thing that needs to happen for us…to address the emergency on the ground, is to reopen additional crossings, to allow supplies to enter through multiple corridors and remove the constraints that are in place for us to deliver supplies to people in need,” she said.
She warned that unless conditions change quickly, essential services will continue to shut down — and the broader humanitarian response could stall entirely.
“If the situation doesn’t change very, very urgently, more such services will continue shutting down,” Ms. Cherevko said.
“And if the situation doesn’t change going forward, the entire humanitarian operation could grind to a halt.”
The text of the following statement was released by the G7 Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America and the High Representative of the European Union.
Begin Text:
We the G7 Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, and the High Representative of the European Union, met in The Hague on June 25, 2025, where we discussed recent events in the Middle East.
We reiterate our support for the ceasefire between Israel and Iran announced by U.S. President Trump, and urge all parties to avoid actions that could further destabilize the region.
We appreciate Qatar’s important role in facilitating the ceasefire and express our full solidarity to Qatar and Iraq following the recent strikes by Iran and its proxies and partners against their territory. We welcome all efforts in the region towards stabilization and de-escalation.
We reaffirm that the Islamic Republic of Iran can never have nuclear weapons, and urge Iran to refrain from reconstituting its unjustified enrichment activities. We call for the resumption of negotiations, resulting in a comprehensive, verifiable and durable agreement that addresses Iran’s nuclear program.
In order to have a sustainable and credible resolution, we call on Iran to urgently resume full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as required by its safeguards obligations and to provide the IAEA with verifiable information about all nuclear material in Iran, including by providing access to IAEA inspectors. We condemn calls in Iran for the arrest and execution of IAEA Director General Grossi.
We underscore the centrality of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as the cornerstone of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime. It is essential that Iran remains party to and fully implements its obligations under the Treaty.
We reiterate our commitment to peace and stability in the Middle East. In this context, we reaffirm that Israel has a right to defend itself. We reiterate our support for the security of Israel.
The Trump administration has raised the possibility of stripping Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic mayoral candidate for New York, of his US citizenship as part of a crackdown against foreign-born citizens convicted of certain offences.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, appeared to pave the way for an investigation into Mamdani’s status after Andy Ogles, a rightwing Republican congressman for Tennessee, called for his citizenship to be revoked on the grounds that he may have concealed his support for “terrorism” during the naturalization process.
Mamdani, 33, who was born in Uganda to ethnic Indian parents, became a US citizen in 2018 and has attracted widespread media attention – and controversy – over his vocal support for Palestinian rights.
Controversy over his immigration status follows a chorus of Islamophobic attacks on his Muslim faith following his apparent victory in last week’s New York mayoral primary, when he finished first in a field that included Andrew Cuomo, the former New York state governor and favored candidate of the Democratic establishment.
It also comes after the Trump administration instructed attorneys to prioritize denaturalizing foreign-born US citizens who had committed specified crimes. A justice department memo instructs lawyers to institute proceedings against naturalized citizens who ares suspected of having “illegally procured” naturalization or having done so by “concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation”.
Ogles wrote to Pam Bondi, the attorney general calling for an investigation into Mamdani after his Democratic mayoral primary victory on the grounds that “he may have procured US citizenship through willful misrepresentation or concealment of material support for terrorism.”
As evidence, he cited a rap song by Mamdani, entitled my love to the Holy Land five, in which he called members of a foundation convicted of supporting Hamas “my guys”. He also referred to Mamdani’s refusal to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada”.
In an accompanying post on X, Ogles wrote: “Zohran ‘little muhammad’ Mamdani is an antisemitic, socialist, communist who will destroy the great City of New York. He needs to be deported.”
Asked about Ogles’s call, Leavitt said: “I have not seen those claims, but surely if they are true, it’s something that should be investigated.”
The justice department has confirmed receiving Ogles’s letter but has not commented further.
Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator for Connecticut who has become one of the Trump administration’s most effective critics, called the demand to denaturalize Mamdani “racist bullshit”.
“Trump will stop at nothing to protect billionaires and price gouging corporations, even racist bullshit like this,” he wrote.
“Zohran won because he ran a campaign laser focused on putting power back in the hands of working people. And that’s a threat to the Mar-a-Lago crowd.”
Mamdani, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, has had his social media posts and previous political activism fiercely scrutinized since last week’s election victory, which was accompanied by promises of leftwing populist policies for New York if he is eventually elected mayor.
Amid a chorus of rightwing vitriol, Donald Trump has called him “a pure communist” and has threatened to cut off funds to New York if Mamdani becomes mayor and “doesn’t behave himself”.
At a news conference at the official unveiling of a new detention centre for immigrants in Florida’s Everglades, Trump reiterated his communist remark and referred to allegations that Mamdani had obtained his citizenship “illegally”.
“We don’t need a communist in this country, but if we have one, I’m going to be watching over him very carefully on behalf of the nation. We send him money, we send him all the things that he needs to run a government,” Trump said.
“We’re going to be watching that very carefully. A lot of people are saying, he’s here illegally. We’re going to look at everything, but ideally, he’s going to turn out to be much less than a communist. Right now he’s a communist, that’s not a socialist.”
