Thursday morning news: July 31, 2025

Editor's note: The following text is a transcript of a podcast story. To listen to the story, click on the arrow beneath the headline above.

Earthquake, tsunami update »  Fears of a devastating tsunami faded Wednesday for the U.S. and Japan after a powerful earthquake struck near Russia’s far East.

Many warnings expired yesterday .

US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem:

NOEM:  We saw, uh, waves, um, in Alaska and in Hawaii, um, that were minimal, uh, graded is how they talked about them.

Some parts of Hawaii saw waves of about 5 or 6 feet, but nothing like the truly dangerous swells the islands were bracing for.

The tsunami warning gave Japan quite the scare and forced nearly 2 million people to evacuate their homes for higher ground.

That 8.8 magnitude earthquake was one of the strongest ever. This recording captured the violent shaking inside a building near the epicenter on Russia's Kamchatka peninsula:

The quake mainly impacted a sparsely populated area. There were no reports of deaths or serious injuries there.

Tariffs, trade  »  President Trump is announcing a new tariff on goods from India.

TRUMP: India's been a good friend, but India has charged basically more tariffs than almost any other country.

And top White House economist, Kevin Hassett says that frustrates the president.

HASSET: But feels that a 25% tariff will address and remedy the situation in a way that's good for the American people.

But the president says he'll add an additional import tax because India buys Russian oil, helping Moscow's war with Ukraine.

Trump has said he is prepared to start hitting Moscow with secondary sanctions, charging steep tariffs to countries that do business with Russia.

However, the president said talks with Indian officials are still ongoing this week.

Fed leaves rates unchanged  »   The Federal Reserve says it’s still not time to cut interest rates.

POWELL:  In support of our goals today, the Federal Open Market Committee decided to leave our policy interest rate unchanged.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell again said the central bank still feels it needs to allow more time to evaluate the impact of President Trump’s tariffs on inflation.

POWELL:  It's starting to show up in consumer prices, as you know, in the June report. We expect to see more of that. Um, and we know from surveys that companies feel that they have every intention of, of, uh, of putting this through to the consumer. But you know, the truth is they may not be able to, in many cases.

With Wednesday’s announcement, the Fed brushed off President Trump’s repeated calls for a cut, leaving its key short-term rate at about 4.3%.

Two Fed governors dissented in favor of a rate reduction.

Most analysts still expect rate reductions later in the year.

Healthcare tech initiative  »  President Trump Wednesday announced a high‑tech modernization of America’s health data system.

TRUMP:  Instead of filling out the same tedious paperwork at every medical appointment, patients will simply be able to grant their doctors access to their records at the push of a button.

His administration is introducing an initiative called the CMS Digital Health Tech Ecosystem.

TRUMP:  Moving from clipboards and fax machines into a new era of convenience, profitability, and speed, and frankly, better health for people.

Companies including Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon are all developing platforms or tools to access and manage health records.

But critics say the move could expose sensitive health data to privacy breaches, since many third-party apps accessing the data aren’t subject to strict medical privacy laws like HIPAA.

NTSB collision hearing  »  The National Transportation Safety Board has opened a three-day hearing into that January mid-air collision over Washington’s Reagan National Airport.

NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said the goal is, in part, to provide answers to the families of the 67 people killed when a military helicopter flew into the path of a commercial jet.

HOMENDY:  We wish we would have met you in different circumstances, but please know that we are working diligently to make sure we know what occurred, how it occurred, and to prevent it from ever happening again.

She said that at the end of the investigation, the board will hold a public meeting to release the final report, describing the findings and the likely cause of the crash.

Investigators have already determined that the U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter exceeded the permitted 200-foot altitude limit, flying at around 300 feet before impact.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: a win for an Oregon mom who wants to help kids in the foster care system. Plus, using new tools to solve old crimes.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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