Friday morning news: July 25, 2025

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Israel latest » Peace talks in Qatar between Israel and Hamas have broken down once more.

Negotiators from the United States and Israel are leaving Doha, saying the talks have become pointless.

State Dept spokesman Tommy Pigott:

PIGOTT: The question has never been our commitment to a ceasefire. The question has been Hamas's commitment to a ceasefire.

U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said the terror group has shown no interest in peace.

Meanwhile:

SOUND: Gaza aid collection point

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is only getting worse.

At least one Palestinian woman died yesterday near a food distribution site. Israel says it has plenty of aid that's ready for collection, but the international community is not stepping up to distribute it.

Tommy Pigott says the blame does not rest with Israel:

PIGOTT: We have been dedicated to getting those 90 million meals into Gaza in a way where it's not being looted by Hamas. We have been dedicated to getting aid into Gaza. But again, the blame of this lies at the feet of Hamas.

The World Health Organization warns that nearly two million Gaza residents are at risk of starvation.

Russian plane crash » A passenger plane has crashed in eastern Russia, killing all passengers and crew aboard. WORLD’s Benjamin Eicher reports:

SMIRNOV: (Speaking Russian)

BENJAMIN EICHER: Igor Smirnov with Russia’s Emergency Ministry said the plane went down in a dense forest, about nine miles south of the town of Tynda.

At least Forty-seven people were killed. There were no survivors.

The Angara Airlines flight vanished from radar, and search crews found the burning wreckage of the plane on a hillside south of its planned destination in Tynda.

Officials are investigating the cause of the crash. Early media reports pointed to bad weather in the area.

For WORLD, I’m Benjamin Eicher.

Trump visits Federal Reserve » President Trump paid a visit to Federal Reserve headquarters in Washington Thursday, touring ongoing renovations to the building.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell joined him for that tour.

POWELL: Construction expected to be finished in 2027. Um, we're well along as you can see.

But Powell also voiced disagreement with Trump’s accusations of massive cost overruns.

TRUMP:  2.7 is now 3.1.
POWELL: I'm not aware of that.
TRUMP: Yeah, it just came out.
POWELL: Yeah, I, I haven't heard that from anybody at the Fed.

President Trump has sharply criticized the chairman for the Fed’s recent stance of holding off on cutting interest rates to evaluate the effects of Trump’s tariffs.

The president said the two talked about that.

TRUMP: I believe that the chairman is gonna do the right thing. I mean. It may be a little too late as the expression goes, but I believe he is gonna do the right thing.

Trump has said that while he thinks Powell has done a poor job in the role, he has no plans to fire him before the chairman’s term expires next year.

Powell has repeatedly said the president’s pressure will not affect the Fed’s process.

Former Biden aide Klain testifies » Meantime, on Capitol Hill, the House Oversight Committee grilled Ron Klain yesterday. He’s former chief of staff to President Joe Biden. That was part of an ongoing probe surrounding Biden’s mental fitness and cognitive decline while in office.

Other former Biden officials have pleaded the Fifth before the committee, but Klain did not, according to Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna:

KHANNA:  He wa was, uh, fully cooperative. Uh, there are times where he was asked about personal conversations he had with the president, and he was forthcoming.

Biden’s former White House doctor Kevin O’Conner appeared before the panel this month after being subpoenaed, but invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

The panel is investigating whether White House officials covered up Biden’s cognitive decline, and whether anyone other than the president was making presidential decisions.

Hulk Hogan obituary » Wrestling entertainment icon Hulk Hogan has died at the age of 71.

His real name was Terry Bollea. He rose to fame in the 1980s after adopting the Hogan identity, with a larger-than-life persona and the physique to match.

His fame soon transcended the wrestling entertainment business, appearing in Rocky III.

BOLLEA:  I wanted to be rocky. I wanted to be in the movie. And then, you know, as fate would have it, a few years down the road, Stallone was watching Madison Square Garden Wrestling ... And when I got back from Japan, I had a Western Union Telegram urgent call Sylvester Stallone. I went, whoa.

He went on to enjoy a successful on-screen career outside of the ring with movie and TV roles, and even his own Saturday morning cartoon.

Terry Bollea’s family said he had recently undergone neck surgery and was in recovery when he collapsed at home.

The cause of death is believed to be cardiac arrest related to surgical complications.

SONG: (Feels So Good - Mangione)

Chuck Magione obituary » And the jazz music world is saying goodbye to an icon after Chuck Mangione died this week at the age of 84.

SONG: (Feels So Good - Mangione)

Mangione’s smash hit “Feels So Good,” heard there, made him a star in 1977.

He won his first Grammy that year for his album “Bellavia,” which he named in honor of his mother.

He later became a voice actor on the animated TV comedy “King of the Hill.”

Chuck Mangione released more than 30 albums before retiring in 2015.

Planned Parenthood lawsuit » Missouri’s Attorney is suing Planned Parenthood, accusing it of deceiving the public about an abortion drug. WORLD’s Christina Grube has more.

CHRISTINA GRUBE: State Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s lawsuit says the abortion giant has violated a state consumer protection law.

Bailey charges that Planned Parenthood is falsely claiming that chemical abortions are safer than Tylenol.

The Food and Drug Administration claims the abortion drug mifepristone only causes serious adverse events for between roughly 3% to 4.5% (four-and-a-half percent) of women who take it as part of the abortion regimen.

However, a new study suggests the rates of serious reactions such as sepsis, infection, or hemorrhaging could be closer to eleven percent.

Pro-life advocates have said that underreporting complications and assuring women that the drug is safe amounts to medical malpractice.

In May, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. directed the FDA to review the drug’s safety.

Planned Parenthood called the lawsuit meritless.

For WORLD, I’m Christina Grube.

I'm Kent Covington.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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