Today's INTERNATIONAL story

India rejects Trump threat over Russian oil

What happened
President Donald Trump yesterday said he would "substantially" raise tariffs on India for "buying massive amounts of Russian oil" and "selling it on the open market for big profits," elaborating on his threat last week to impose a penalty on top of a 25% tax for Indian imports. "They don't care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine," he said on social media yesterday.

Who said what
India's foreign ministry called Trump's "targeting" of the country "unjustified and unreasonable," and said New Delhi would "take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security." China, the other top buyer of Moscow's oil, last week also rejected Trump's tariffs-linked demand to cut back on Russian imports.

Despite India's "defiance," its "main refiners paused buying Russian oil last week," Reuters said. But "the unpredictability of the Trump administration" makes negotiating difficult. "Given the wild fluctuations in Trump's policies," the U.S. "may return to high fives and hugs" with India, or even Russia, Sreeram Chaulia of New Delhi's Jindal School of International Affairs told The Associated Press.

What next?
Trump's oil outbursts "reflect his frustration with the pace of trade talks with India" and are mostly about "trying to play hardball in negotiations," the AP said, citing a White House official. Trump has also set a Friday deadline for Russia to halt its bombing of Ukraine or face new sanctions, though President Vladimir Putin has so far "shown no public sign of altering his stance," Reuters said.

Today's NATURE Story

Scientists discover cause of massive sea star die-off

What happened
Researchers said yesterday that a bacteria related to cholera was responsible for the deaths of more than 5 billion sea stars off the Pacific Coast of North America since 2013. The discovery, reported in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, appears to solve a mystery that baffled marine biologists for more than a decade.

Who said what
Entire sea star colonies fell victim to the wasting disease, which starts with "writhing arms" falling off the starfish before skin lesions form and "internal organs ooze out from the inside," leaving "nothing more than a puddle of goo," The Washington Post said. "It’s really quite gruesome," said study co-author Alyssa Gehman, a marine disease ecologist at the Hakai Institute in British Columbia, to The Associated Press.

The disease devastated more than 20 species of sea stars, but the scientists focused their research on the worst-hit, the sunflower sea star, whose numbers have plummeted by more than 90%. They determined the culprit was the Vibrio pectenicida bacteria after four years of experiments. An earlier study had attributed the epidemic to a virus, one of "many false leads and twists and turns" in the quest to isolate the pathogen, the AP said.

What next?
"Now that scientists know the cause," the AP said, they have a "better shot" at successful intervention. The "ultimate goal," said the Post, is to "breed a galaxy of disease-resistant starfish and restore the ecosystems in which they live," primarily through the sea stars eating the kelp-destroying sea urchins that thrived in their absence.

It's not all bad

Volunteers around the world are bringing astronomy to the public by setting up telescopes on busy streets and letting passersby look up at the stars. The #PopScope group holds pop-up astronomy events in the U.S., Canada, Ireland, India and Malawi, and recently celebrated its 500th fête. The project is a "labor of love," #PopScope co-founder Michael O'Shea told Good News Network, and a highlight is the "look of awe on a stranger's face when they see Saturn's rings for the first time."

Under the radar

Missionaries using tech to contact Indigenous people

More uncontacted people live in Brazil's Amazon rainforest than anywhere else in the world. But that isolation has been interrupted in unusual fashion due to the efforts of U.S.-backed Christian evangelical groups to use technological innovations to circumvent the restrictions.

Many missionary groups are active in the Amazon, said Survival International. But since 1987, Brazil has banned them from making contact with the rainforest's isolated Indigenous peoples in order to protect their culture and health.

But a joint investigation by The Guardian and Brazilian newspaper O Globo discovered that "solar-powered devices reciting biblical messages in Portuguese and Spanish" had appeared among members of the isolated and mostly uncontacted Korubo people in the Javari Valley, near the Brazil-Peru border. Government agents tasked with policing these regions say they have also spotted seaplanes and drones in the area.

One of the leading missionary organizations operating in the Javari territory is the New Tribes Mission of Brazil, an offshoot of the New Tribes Mission in the U.S. In 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Brazil's highest court prohibited its missionaries from entering the reserve, which Indigenous representatives had warned could bring about a "genocide."

Although the order remains in effect, Nelly Marubo, head of the Javari Valley regional coordination office, told The Guardian that missionaries "frequently" visited the Korubo base, "arriving directly by aircraft without passing government control posts." Technological outreach like audio Bibles might seem to be inoffensive curiosities, but Marubo said the infiltration of outside religious and cultural beliefs carried a "destructive power" that threatened Indigenous groups.

On this day

August 5, 1981

President Ronald Reagan fired more than 11,000 air traffic controllers who were striking at airports across the country. He also banned the fired workers from being rehired. Reagan's actions resulted in a shortage of air traffic controllers that lasted for years and is still being felt today.

TODAY'S newspaperS

'Netanyahu fumbles it'

"More Israelis question morality of continued war in Gaza Strip," The Wall Street Journal says on Tuesday's front page. "With fate in his hands," The New York Times says, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "fumbles it." Under "increasing domestic, U.S. pressure" to resolve Gaza War, "Netanyahu dismisses attorney general," The Washington Post says. "Texas Democrats stall GOP redistricting push," The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says. For Democrats, it's "Texas scold 'em," the Chicago Sun-Times says. "California races to counter Texas voting map plan," says the Los Angeles Times.

► See the newspaper front pages

Tall tale

Smokey and the bandit

A Florida man accused of stealing Smokey Bear signs from state parks was arrested by Florida Department of Agriculture officers — and Smokey Bear himself. Authorities said the alleged thief was apprehended in the act of taking a sign, with a costumed Smokey Bear mascot assisting in the arrest. The Department of Agriculture said the suspect snatched signs from the Pensacola, Panama City and Orlando areas and sold them on Facebook Marketplace for $1,900 each.

Morning Report was written and edited by Genevieve Bates, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Rafi Schwartz, Peter Weber and Kari Wilkin, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.