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By Sarah Naffa
July 24, 2025
By Sarah Naffa
July 24, 2025
In the news today: Three Republicans voted with Democrats on a House subcommittee to subpoena the Justice Department for Jeffrey Epstein files; Columbia University agrees to pay more than $220M in a deal with the Trump administration; and clashes between Thailand and Cambodia escalate. Also, a chance discovery has revealed a 250-year-old shipwreck.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
POLITICS
House subcommittee votes to subpoena Justice Department for Epstein files
A House subcommittee on Wednesday voted to subpoena the Department of Justice for files in the sex trafficking investigation into Jeffrey Epstein after Democrats successfully goaded GOP lawmakers to defy President Donald Trump and Republican leadership to support the action. Read more.
Why this matters:
The vote showed the intensifying push for disclosures in the Epstein investigation even as House Speaker Mike Johnson — caught between demands from Trump and clamoring from his own members for the House to act — was sending lawmakers home a day early for its August recess. Democrats on a subcommittee of the powerful House Oversight Committee made a motion for the subpoena Wednesday afternoon. Three Republicans on the panel voted with Democrats for the subpoena, sending it through on an 8-2 vote tally.
The House Committee on Oversight also issued a subpoena Wednesday for Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted sex offender and girlfriend of the late Epstein, to testify before committee officials in August.
Columbia University agrees to pay more than $220M in deal with Trump to restore federal funding
Under the agreement, the Ivy League school will pay a $200 million settlement over three years, the university said. It will also pay $21 million to resolve alleged civil rights violations against Jewish employees that occurred following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, the White House said. Read more.
Why this matters:
The school had been threatened with the potential loss of billions of dollars in government support, including more than $400 million in grants canceled earlier this year. The administration pulled the funding because of what it described as the university's failure to squelch antisemitism on campus during the Israel-Hamas war.
Thai and Cambodian forces clash as escalating border dispute leaves at least 11 dead
Thai and Cambodian soldiers clashed in several areas along their border Thursday in a major escalation of their conflict that left at least 11 people dead, mostly civilians. Both nations accused each other of starting the military clashes and have downgraded their diplomatic relations. Read more.
What to know:
Relations between the Southeast Asian neighbors have deteriorated sharply since an armed confrontation in May that killed a Cambodian soldier. Nationalist passions on both sides have further inflamed the situation.
The Sanday Wreck is seen on the shores of Sanday on Orkney, in 2024. (Wessex Archaeology via AP)
Science and local sleuthing identify a 250-year-old shipwreck on a Scottish island When a schoolboy going for a run found the ribs of a wooden ship poking through the dunes of a remote Scottish beach, it sparked a hunt by archaeologists, scientists and local historians to uncover its story. Through a mix of high-tech science and community research, they have an answer. Researchers announced Wednesday that the vessel is very likely the Earl of Chatham, an 18th-century warship that saw action in the American War of Independence before a second life hunting whales in the Arctic — and then a stormy demise.
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Please let us know what you think of this newsletter. You can sign up for more and invite a friend here. For news in real time visit APNews.com. - Sarah
