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WASHINGTON — President Trump has asked the Supreme Court for a fast-tracking ruling that he has broad power acting on his own to impose tariffs on products coming from countries around the world.

Despite losing in the lower courts, Trump and his lawyers have reason to believe they can win in the Supreme Court. The six conservative justices believe in strong presidential power, particularly in the area of foreign policy and national security.

In a three-page appeal filed Wednesday evening, they proposed the court decide by Wednesday to grant review and to hear arguments in early November.

They said the lower court setbacks, unless quickly reversed, “gravely undermine the President’s ability to conduct real-world diplomacy and his ability to protect the national security and economy of the United States.”

They cited Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s warning about the potential for economic disruption if the court does not act soon.

“Delaying a ruling until June 26 could result in a scenario in which $750 billion-$1 trillion have already been collected and unwinding them could cause significant disruption.” he wrote.

Trump and his tariffs ran into three strong arguments in the lower courts.

First, the Constitution says Congress, not the president, has the power “to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises” and a tariff is an import tax.

Second, the 1977 emergency powers law that Trump relies on does not mention tariffs, taxes or duties, and no previous president has used it to impose tariffs.

And third, the Supreme Court has frowned on recent presidents who relied on old laws to justify bold new costly regulations.

So far, however, the so-called “major questions” doctrine has been used to restrict Democratic presidents, not Republicans.

Three years ago, the court’s conservative majority struck down a major climate change regulation proposed by Presidents Obama and Biden that could have transformed the electric power industry on the grounds it was not clearly based on the Clean Air Acts of the 1970s.

Two years ago, the court by the same 6-3 vote struck down Biden’s plan to forgive hundreds of millions of dollars in student loans. Congress had said the Education Department may “waive or modify” monthly loan payments during a national emergency like the Covid 19 pandemic, but it did not say the loans may be forgiven, the court said. Its opinion noted the “staggering” cost could be more than $500 billion.

The impact of Trump’s tariffs figure to be at least five times greater, a federal appeals court said last week in ruling them illegal.

By a 7-4 vote, the federal circuit court cited all three arguments in ruling Trump had exceeded his legal authority.

“We conclude Congress, in enacting the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, did not give the president wide-ranging authority to impose tariffs,” they said.

But the outcome was not a total loss for Trump. The appellate judges put their decision on hold until the Supreme Court rules. That means Trump’s tariffs are likely to remain in effect for many months.

Trump’s lawyers were heartened by the dissent written by Judge Richard Taranto and joined by other others.

He argued that presidents are understood to have extra power when confronted with foreign threats to the nation’s security.

He called the 1977 law “an eyes-open congressional grant of broad emergency authority in this foreign-affairs realm” that said the president may “regulate” the “importation” of dangerous products including drugs coming into this country.

Citing other laws from that era, he said Congress understood that tariffs and duties are a “common tool of import regulation.”

It was on August 8 that Priyanka Gandhi went quite out of her way, calling Israel’s war in Gaza genocide and using international human rights parlance. It was an exercise of raw political courage in Indian politics, when politicians avoid criticizing Tel Aviv out of fear of antagonizing Israel in case, they risk losing the favour of an increasingly strategic partner of New Delhi and Tel Aviv. But the reply was not that of the Indian government but Indian ambassador to Israel Reuven Azar, denouncing her remark as the work of “shameful deception.” His action was a first ever public rebuke of an Indian politician, a flagrant disregard for diplomatic propriety.

This raw intervention by a visiting envoy revealed an uncomfortable reality, India’s political leadership under Narendra Modi. This is increasingly coming to accept the presence of outside players inserting themselves into domestic political debates. By not condemning or even admonishing the outburst by the envoy, the Modi government left room for an embarrassment.

Diplomats are generally expected to practice restraint, especially in nations where political sensitivities are high. Azar’s statement, however, crossed the line into India’s internal affairs, raising questions about whether New Delhi is sacrificing its sovereignty at the altar of strategic partnerships.

The muted response from the government revealed how India-Israel relations have evolved. Once cautious and balanced, New Delhi’s position on the Israel Palestine conflict has undergone a sharp realignment. The Modi government has grown more transactional in its international relations placing more value on arms sales, intelligence sharing, and corporate alliances than on historical conceptions of non-alignment or subaltern solidarity. This realignment of the mind, long articulated as Hindu nationalism as a form of Zionism, has played itself out domestically as well, particularly in Kashmir, where settler-style governance becomes more apparent. Moreover, opposition parties like Congress and Shiv Sena criticized the ambassador’s comments, saying that the government of India could not safeguard its dignity. But the silence of the government was deafening.

It was a syndrome where foreign policy is less about India’s independent voice than using strategic bargains with powerful allies. This was witnessed again when New Delhi abstained from joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in condemning Israeli bombings of Iran, upholding selective usage of values. In putting transactional advantage over regional interests and human rights, India is compromising its credibility.

This compromising of credibility is not hypothetical just in foreign affairs. In the household as well, the Modi government’s autocratic instincts muzzling opponents, bullying critics, and taking minorities off at arm’s length have fashioned a climate where even visiting envoys find themselves empowered to speak truth to power. Reuven Azar’s diatribe thus not only defied diplomatic etiquette but also addressed the frailties of an India so widely seen as rolling over for it on the world stage. If a nation permits its local discourse to be shaped by foreigners free of cost, the distinction between sovereignty and dependence gets erased. The larger problem is that India is willing to offer up national pride as a sacrifice at the altar of materialistic gain. In making defence and economic arrangements, the government has forgotten the symbolic value of diplomatic ego. The scandal related to the Israeli envoy is a betrayal of how India’s rulers, present themselves as world brokers, but simultaneously have let others trample over Indian politics. Laxity in diplomatic lines can be perilous as it opens the door for future intrusions, watering down India’s global brand as also its democratic self. Last but not least, the dressing down Priyanka Gandhi received was more than a personal rebuke. It was an indication of India’s growing dependence on strategic alliances and its failure to protect its sovereignty. To protect both its democratic legacy and diplomatic mantra, New Delhi must reassert limits, impose diplomatic standards, and prioritize principles over deals. Otherwise, these incidents will continue to leave India open to accusations of not being an emerging power but rather a vulnerable one susceptible to foreign interference in its internal affairs.

It’s a summery, late-afternoon Saturday on the backyard lawn of LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, with the kind of warmth and variety of sounds, sights and smells that have defined weekends in many Los Angeles neighborhoods for generations. This one happens to be for a KCRW Summer Nights event headlined by East L.A. soul revivalists the Altons, but the blend of demographics, cultures and backgrounds on display gives it an authentically local feel that could be mistaken for an informal block party in any decade — except perhaps for the screen printer creating band merch and a design of Snoopy humping an ice cube with an expletive about Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

That same blend of history and cultures that has brought Los Angeles together across generations is also what’s given the Altons their signature sound and made them one of the city’s latest breakout stars. When they go on tour and bring their unique blend of soulful “oldies,” modern rock and bilingual R&B around the world, they aren’t just sharing their music but also their culture.

“On any given weekend, you can have some party down the street playing cumbia or music that your parents grew up on, their next door neighbor might have a punk rock show, and another guy down the street that’s just listening to oldies and Art Laboe,” vocalist and guitarist Bryan Ponce explains about the roots of the Altons’ diverse sound stemming from their collective Los Angeles childhoods. “We all grew up on all of this music that we’d hear in our neighborhoods, so all of our influences just came together and came out in our music.”

The Altons members Adriana Flores, Caitlin Moss, Bryan Ponce and Joseph Quinones perform at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes on June 28.

(Brian Feinzimer / For The Times)

For a band that started with modest expectations nearly a decade ago, the Altons now find themselves heading out on international tours and playing to thousands of people at a time — as they will Saturday when they rock the Oldies 2 Souldies show with Los Lonely Boys at the Greek Theatre. And while their rise has been more of a gradual incline than anything particularly stratospheric, they’ve carved their own path without compromise. They’re willing to fuse genres, languages, tempos and sounds as they see fit and based on what they feel will work best for the songs and messages they’re wanting to deliver instead of catering to what may be popular in the moment, a choice that’s made them the face of the “oldies revival” now that millennials and Gen Z are falling back in love with tunes from their grandparents’ day.

“It’s incredible to play a show where a grandmother’s there with her daughter and grandkids, and just have multiple generations of people come together,” vocalist Adriana Flores says. “There’s not a lot of shows that I would even take my dad to, so I think it makes the music even more special and I’d like to be one of the bands shedding the light on what’s been happening in L.A. We’ve been doing it for years and just sharing the types of music we like — which is the retro sound of soul mixed with other elements. We like to show people what’s been happening in L.A. that’s not just Hollywood.”

The Altons’ Adriana Flores and Bryan Ponce perform at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes in late June.

(Brian Feinzimer / For The Times)

That desire to show the “real” L.A. that they know and love is a driving force for the Altons, particularly as they go further and further from home. All of them — Flores and Ponce along with Joseph Quinones on guitar/backup vocals, Chris Manjarrez on bass, Christian “Elyzr” Meraz on keyboards and drummer Caitlin Moss — are proud to represent their East L.A. roots for those who only see the California that gets presented on television. The group eagerly reminisces about a fan they met at a show in France who had never set foot in California but loved the culture so much that he dressed the part of a classic cholo. “He looked like he could have been related to me or went to school with me,” Ponce says with a laugh. “He was bald, he had the Locs on, the Pendleton on and he was screaming our neighborhoods.” They recall the times they’ve felt like cultural ambassadors bringing their hometown heritage to cities like Boston.

But the self-placed weight of representing and sharing their lifelong culture isn’t always all fun and games. Just a matter of weeks before they were walking through the halls of LA Plaza’s museum to see their brand-new exhibition on the importance of East L.A. musicians, they were on tour in the U.K. feeling helpless as they watched the ICE raids and protests flood the city.

Bryan Ponce and Adriana Flores onstage at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes.

(Brian Feinzimer / For The Times)

“You couldn’t really grasp what was going on,” Ponce says. “I would watch videos and see stuff online, but I didn’t really see it until we came home for a couple of days before we left again. [Manjarrez] and I live close to each other, and we started seeing videos of all these places and stores and people in our community. It was just devastating to have to leave again and see that they’re getting even closer to your house and seeing it happening on your street. You’re trying to go and play music to entertain people, but you’re also trying to find a balance. It’s like ‘Are we going to speak on what’s going on?’ Because some people thought that L.A. was burning down, and that’s not really the case.”

“Watching the community go through something so heartbreaking while being away was really difficult,” Flores adds. “It was really tough seeing our community being targeted, but I’d like to believe that music and being creative and spreading joy is a form of resistance. I hope that people can come to our shows and escape. Even though this is way bigger than us, we have to use our platform to be vocal about what’s going on. It’s scary times, but another scary time was the ‘60s when the whole civil rights movement was happening, and some of the best music came out of that because people were finding that outlet and creating.”

Jessica Morgan-Helliwell, 26, and her Louise Church, 48, are ‘Bakery Tourists’- trying posh treats at artisan bakeries from Australia to Prague and Marrakech

A mother and daughter duo have embarked on a sweet adventure, scouring the globe for the ultimate pastry experience as self-proclaimed ‘Bakery Tourists’.

From Australia to Prague and Marrakech, Jessica Morgan-Helliwell, 26, and Louise Church, 48, been indulging in artisan bakeries’ posh treats for the past two years.

Their shared passion for pastries and bakes drives them to visit at least one new artisan bakery every weekend, meticulously planning their trips abroad around these culinary hotspots. Under the social media handle @loveeatdrinktravel, they share their discoveries with the world.

Among their standout finds are the cherry bomb pastry at Prague’s Artic Bakehouse and the almond croissant cookie at Brooki Bakehouse in Brisbane. However, despite exploring renowned bakeries in London, Marrakech, and beyond, Jess and Louise confess that their all-time favourite spot lies just eight miles from home.

Their crowning jewel is the hot cross bun croissant at Little Valley Bakery in Swansea, South Wales. “They had croissants with the iconic hot cross bun cross on top, and a buttery raisin filling – and it did actually taste like a hot cross bun. It was really unique,” Louise raved.

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Jess echoed her sentiments: “It had buttery spiced frangipane, flaky croissant layers, and that iconic hot cross bun cross.”

Jess attributed their pastry obsession to their long-standing love affair with baked goods. This passion has taken them on an extraordinary journey, uncovering hidden gems in their own backyard and around the world.

We’ve got Italian heritage – my great-great grandparents are from Italy, so we love trying Italian bakes and food. “We go to all kinds of different places and try new things along the way,” Jess said.

“We look at social media a lot for inspiration – I think that can be a really good way of finding new places to go. We always have an eye on the local area as well – we’ve got a lot of bakeries that have opened close to us recently.

“If we’re going abroad, we always have a look to see what’s about. We’ve just got back from Prague, and social media was a big part of looking into where to go. We’ve been doing social media content creating for about two years now, and going to all the local restaurants.

“We found that we were always looking for new places to go, so we thought we’d start documenting it ourselves – that’s where @loveeatdrinktravel came from.”

Bakery enthusiasts Jess and Louise are always in search of establishments that innovate on beloved classics, stressing that presentation is nearly as crucial as flavour.

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Louise added: “We’re constantly looking for places to go – we never sit still! We love adventuring, so we’re always planning where we’re going on our next trip. We always try and go somewhere new on the weekends if we can.

“We’re planning our next trip abroad in a few weeks, to Marrakech, so we’re already looking at places to try there. We go to London a lot – London is about three hours from where we live in South Wales, so we plan our trips around where we want to try.”

Louise’s prime pick is a classic almond croissant, whereas Jess swears by a tangier treat, having hailed a recent raspberry croissant as “one of the best things I’ve ever tasted.”

Louise noted: “On social media, people tend to love the pastry and bakery finds more than anything else at the minute. I think a lot of people are interested in unique bakes as well – something different from the norm and aesthetically pleasing. I think people eat with their eyes, so it’s good to find somewhere the pastries look really tasty.”

Sharing about their local gems, Louise revealed: “There’s a local bakery to us – Little Valley Bakery – and around Easter time, they were doing hot cross bun croissants. They had croissants with the iconic hot cross bun cross on top, and a buttery raisin filling – and it did actually taste like a hot cross bun. It was really unique.”

Despite their adventures, several of Jess and Louise’s cherished bakeries, including Little Valley Bakery and Refinery in Swansea, are conveniently located nearby, leading them to plan a new TikTok series featuring the families behind some of their favourite haunts.

“A lot of Italian families moved to South Wales during the war and started cafes that do homemade cannolis and traditional pastries – so we want to try as many as we can find and talk to the families about what it’s been like to be in the cafe business for so long,” Louise.

However, after two years of globetrotting and content creation, Jess and Louise agree that the highlight of their journey is the chance to spend quality time together, all while indulging in scrumptious sweet treats.

“We absolutely love doing it – and it’s a great way of spending time together as well,” Jess shared. “We go to all kinds of different places and try new things along the way – I think it’s really nice.”

At least 123.2 million people, or one in 67 individuals worldwide, remain forcibly displaced, according to a report released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today.

The number of displaced people has increased by seven million people, or 6 percent, compared with the end of 2023. This continues a 13-year trend which has seen a year-on-year increase in the number of displaced people globally.

However, the UNHCR estimated that forced displacement fell in the first four months of this year, to 122.1 million by the end of April 2025.

“We are living in a time of intense volatility in international relations, with modern warfare creating a fragile, harrowing landscape marked by acute human suffering. We must redouble our efforts to search for peace and find long-lasting solutions for refugees and others forced to flee their homes,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

Of the 123.2 million total forcibly displaced, 73.5 million are internally displaced within their own countries due to conflict or other crises. This is an increase of 6.3 million compared with 2023. Internally displaced people (IDPs) account for 60 percent of the majority of those who have been forced to flee globally.

In Gaza, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) estimates that about 90 percent of the population, or more than two million people, have been displaced by Israel’s continuing assault.

As of 2024, the number of refugees stood at 42.7 million, a decrease of 613,600 from the previous year. Of this number, 31 million are under the UNHCR’s mandate, 5.9 million are Palestinian refugees under the mandate of UNRWA, and another 5.9 million need international protection.

According to the UNHCR, the lower number of refugees in 2024 reflects lower estimates of Afghan and Syrian refugees and updated reporting on Ukrainian refugees. However, the number of Sudanese refugees increased by nearly 600,000 to 2.1 million.

The number of asylum seekers – people seeking protection in another country due to persecution or fear of harm in their home country – waiting for a decision stood at 8.4 million, an increase of 22 percent from the previous year.

This puts the number of displaced people globally at one in 67 people.

How have forcibly displaced people’s numbers changed over the years?

In 1951, the UN established the Refugee Convention to protect the rights of refugees in Europe in the aftermath of World War II. In 1967, the convention was expanded to address displacement across the rest of the world.

When the Refugee Convention was born, there were 2.1 million refugees. By 1980, the number of refugees recorded by the UN surpassed 10 million for the first time. Wars in Afghanistan and Ethiopia during the 1980s caused the number of refugees to double to 20 million by 1990.

The number of refugees remained fairly consistent over the next two decades.

However, the invasion of Afghanistan by the United States in 2001 and that of Iraq in 2003, together with the civil wars in South Sudan and Syria, resulted in refugee numbers exceeding 30 million by the end of 2021.

The war in Ukraine, which started in 2022, led to one of the fastest-growing refugee crises since World War II, with 5.7 million people forced to flee Ukraine in less than a year. By the end of 2023, six million Ukrainians remained forcibly displaced.

The number of IDPs has doubled in the past 10 years, with a steep incline since 2020. Conflict in Sudan between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has triggered the world’s largest displacement crisis, with a total of 14.3 million Sudanese remaining displaced at the end of 2024. This was 3.5 million more people than 12 months prior.

Where are people displaced from?

In 2024, more than one-third of all forcibly displaced people globally were Sudanese (14.3 million), Syrian (13.5 million), Afghan (10.3 million) or Ukrainian (8.8 million).

IDP and refugee returns

In 2024, 1.6 million refugees returned to their home country.

“However, many of these refugees returned to Afghanistan, Syria, South Sudan or Ukraine, despite the fragile situations in each,” Matthew Saltmarsh, UNHCR’s media head, said. “Returns to places in conflict or instability are far from ideal and often unsustainable.”

In 2024, 8.2 million IDPs returned to their area of origin.

The UNHCR estimates that nine in 10 refugees and IDPs returned to just eight countries, which included Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Lebanon, Myanmar, South Sudan, Syria and Ukraine.

“Large IDP returns during the year were also registered in several countries that simultaneously saw significant new displacements, such as the DRC (2.4 million), Myanmar (378,000),  Syria (514,000) or Ukraine (782,000),” Saltmarsh said.

“Even amid the devastating cuts, we have seen some rays of hope over the last six months,” Grandi said. “Nearly two million Syrians have been able to return home after over a decade uprooted. The country remains fragile, and people need our help to rebuild their lives again.”

Just 40 countries representing 3.5 percent of the world’s population respect all civil liberties, a new study has found, warning that “democracy and human rights are under attack worldwide in a way we have not seen for decades.”

The Atlas of Civil Society report published by the German relief organisation Brot fur die Welt (Bread for the World) on Monday said only 284 million people living in “open” countries – including Austria, Estonia, the Scandinavian countries, New Zealand and Jamaica – enjoy protection of unrestricted civil rights and liberties.

The nongovernmental organisation defines a country as “open” if it allows people to form associations “without legal or practical barriers, demonstrate in public spaces, receive information and are allowed to disseminate it”.

Forty-two countries making up 11.1 percent of the world’s population are listed in a second category in which civil rights are classified as “impaired”. These include Germany, Slovakia, Argentina and the United States.

In these countries, the rights to freedom of assembly and expression are largely respected, but there are recorded violations.

‘Restricted, suppressed or closed’

“In contrast, 85 percent of the world’s population lives in countries where civil society is restricted, suppressed, or closed. This affects almost seven billion people,” the report found.

“Their governments severely restrict civil liberties and harass, arrest, or kill critical voices. This applies to 115 of 197 countries,” it added.

Several European countries appear in the “restricted” category, including Greece, the United Kingdom, Hungary and Ukraine.

Civil society is considered “oppressed” in 51 countries, including Algeria, Mexico and Turkey. In these countries, governments monitor, imprison or kill critics, and exercise censorship, according to the data.

Finally, Russia and 28 other countries are classified as “closed” and
characterised by an “atmosphere of fear”. Criticism of the government
or regime in these countries is severely punished.

Brot fur die Welt drew on data collected by the Civicus network of civil society organisations worldwide for its annual report covering 197 countries and territories.

Nine countries improved their freedom of expression ratings last year, including Jamaica, Japan, Slovenia, Trinidad and Tobago, Botswana, Fiji, Liberia, Poland and Bangladesh.

However, nine countries were downgraded from the previous year, including Georgia, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Peru, Ethiopia, Eswatini, the Netherlands, Mongolia and the Palestinian territory.

Dagmar Pruin, president of Brot fur die Welt, warned that “the rule of law, the separation of powers and protection against state arbitrariness are under threat or no longer exist in more and more countries.”