July 25 2000 UTC Brief

In U.S. news A 5-alarm fire in Queens injured 17 firefighters, two EMS workers, and two civilians on Saturday after flames spread from a two-story wooden apartment building to two others. The FDNY says the injuries are not life-threatening, but several families were displaced and the cause is under investigation. New data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says more than 1 million children lost SNAP food benefits after Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and more than 4 million Americans were removed from the program between July 2025 and March 2026. Sen. Mitch McConnell is still drawing questions about his health nearly six weeks after being hospitalized, following a fall that left him absent from the Senate. His office says he is in a rehabilitation center, but has not said when he will return. In Connecticut, police say an off-duty Bridgeport officer and his passenger were killed when a Jeep struck a motorcycle in Danbury. The driver has been charged with DUI and reckless driving, and is being held on $500,000 bond. A new poll says many Americans think gas prices have risen more than the data shows, a useful reminder that outrage at the pump often outruns the spreadsheet. In Britain The Metropolitan Police are investigating two £250,000 donations to Reform UK made before the 2024 election by Britain Means Business. The inquiry is looking at payments routed through a company controlled by deputy leader Richard Tice. Three swimmers were taken to hospital after getting into difficulty near Clacton Pier in Essex during the latest UK heatwave. Emergency crews, including a helicopter, pulled them ashore after a call just after 4:30 p.m. Overseas At least 35 people were killed when two buses collided in eastern Syria. Details remain limited, but it is being reported as a deadly transport crash in the country’s east. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says the U.S. and Ukraine are moving ahead on joint drone production, including plans for a factory in the United States. The idea is to pair American manufacturing with Ukraine’s battlefield-tested drone technology. In business and tech Nothing has denied reports that it plans to pull back from more than a dozen global markets, but it has confirmed layoffs as part of a wider reorganization. The company says the U.S. is its next major growth chapter. Major publishers, including USA Today, Politico, The Economist, People, and Reuters, are reassessing their relationship with Google as its AI tools use publisher content without sending much traffic back. Reddit is also reviewing a $60 million-a-year deal that lets Google train on user posts, because being the raw material for someone else’s machine is not a fantastic long-term plan.