Wednesday, June 3, 2026
Automakers urge EPA to move quickly to rewrite vehicle pollution rules, back two-year delay
Major automakers backed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposal to delay for two years enforcement of a regulation requiring significant cuts in air pollution from vehicles, but want the agency to move quickly to rewrite the rules.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group representing General Motors, Toyota Motor, Volkswagen, Ford, Stellantis and Hyundai, said at a public hearing that the delay is needed and called for "a reasonable, workable path forward" and for the agency to "establish realistic and durable long-term standards."
Environmental groups criticized the delay, saying it would lead to an increase in preventable illness and premature deaths.
The EPA last month estimated that delaying former President Joe Biden's anti-pollution rule would save automakers $1.7 billion. The proposal would delay compliance deadlines for light- and medium-duty vehicles, citing the decline in U.S. sales of electric vehicles, which it said made the more stringent pollution rules unattainable for manufacturers.
The automaker group said the decline in EV sales "has already stranded billions of dollars in investments."
In April 2024, Biden's EPA finalized a rule requiring significant reductions in so-called criteria pollutants emitted from passenger and commercial vehicles from the 2027 through 2032 model years.
Environmental Defense Fund fellow Rishab Jagetia said a two-year delay will result in billions of dollars in health harms, including more serious heart and lung diseases and early deaths. "Vehicle standards save lives," he said.
The Biden rules require a 50% reduction through 2032 for light vehicles and a 58% cut for medium-duty vehicles in the six criteria pollutants: ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and lead.
In 2024, EPA estimated $13 billion in annualized benefits due to reduced emissions of the pollutants that contribute to the formation of soot and smog.
The Trump administration has taken a series of steps to roll back vehicle regulations.
In February, it finalized its repeal of the "endangerment finding" for vehicles, a 2009 determination that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health, which gave the EPA authority to regulate emissions from vehicles.
In December, the Transportation Department proposed significantly reducing the fuel economy requirements from model years 2022 to 2031, requiring 34.5 miles per gallon on average by 2031, down from 50.4 miles per gallon.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/automakers-urge-epa-move-quickly-140113003.html
UAE calls for unified response to Iranian attacks
UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash called for a "firm, unified and cohesive" stance by countries astride the Persian Gulf after what he described as "repeated Iranian aggression" against Kuwait and Bahrain, saying no state should be left to face such attacks alone.
'Iran MPs call for missiles capable of reaching White House'
A group of Iranian lawmakers called for the range of Iran's missiles to be increased to reach the White House, in a letter to Mojtaba Khamenei calling for "revenge for the blood" of Iran's former supreme leader Ali Khamenei and commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
"We will support our military forces and defense industries until the day the range of our missiles reaches the office of Khamenei's killers," the lawmakers said in the statement.
The signatory lawmakers also called for the status of the Strait of Hormuz to become irreversible from its pre-war condition, the rejection of any negotiations over nuclear capabilities, full compensation for the material and moral damages of the war, the withdrawal of US forces from the region and punishment of the "aggressors in such a way that the possibility of repeated attacks is eliminated."
'Iran MP warns of harsher response to any new US attack'
Iran would respond in a proportionate, decisive and harsher way to any repeat of US attacks or hostile action, Yaqoub Rezazadeh, a member of the Iranian parliament's national security committee, said.
'Araghchi says Iran conducting self-defense strikes on US-used sites'
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran's armed forces were carrying out self-defense strikes on sites the United States was permitted to use to attack civilian shipping and violate the ceasefire.
Araghchi said any "hostile" act would be met with an immediate and decisive response.
Bessent: Aim to bring deficit-to-GDP below 4%
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated during his testimony before the Senate Finance Committee on the Treasury budget that a sub-4% deficit-to-GDP ratio is possible by the end of his term.
He underscored that the United States currently faces a spending and growth problem that must be addressed to stabilize the fiscal trajectory.
https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Bessent:-Aim-to-bring-deficit-to-GDP-below-4/66429466
FBI kills man suspected of holding hostages in California
Bakersfield Police Department confirmed in a statement on Wednesday that the man, who was suspected of holding hostages inside a building in California, was shot and killed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) personnel.
"All hostages were located unharmed and received medical evaluation and treatment at the scene," the police department detailed, adding that its own personnel were "not involved in the use of force."
The investigation is still ongoing, with "significant law enforcement presence to remain in the area for the next several hours," with traffic closed, the police mentioned. The standoff started a day earlier and lasted over 12 hours, with officers being called over an alleged bomb threat at the Chase Bank building. During the negotiations phase, two hostages were released.
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