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NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks set more records on Wednesday following a trade deal between the world’s No. 1 and No. 4 economies, one that would lower proposed tariffs on Japanese imports coming to the United States.  The S&P 500 added 0.8% to its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 507 points, or 1.1%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.6% to hit its own record.  Stocks jumped even more in Tokyo, where the Nikkei 225 rallied 3.5% after President Donald Trump announced a trade framework that would place a 15% tax on imports coming from Japan. That’s lower than the 25% rate that Trump had earlier said would kick in on Aug. 1.  Trump has proposed stiff taxes on imports from around the world, which carry the double-edged risk of driving up inflation for U.S. households while his critics claim they could slow down the economy. But many of Trump’s tariffs are currently on pause, giving time to reach deals with other countries that could lower the tax rates. Trump also announced a trade agreement with the Philippines on Tuesday.  So far, the U.S. economy has held up OK. And tariffs already in place may be having less of an effect than expectedt.  “The main lesson about tariffs so far is that passthrough to consumer prices is tracking somewhat lower than in 2019,” according to Goldman Sachs economist David Mericle.  Tariffs are certainly having an effect, to be sure, as big U.S. companies across industries have been showing through their profit updates in recent days.  All told, the S&P 500 rose 49.29 points to 6,358.91. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 507.85 to 45,010.29, and the Nasdaq composite gained 127.33 to 21,020.02.  In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across Asia and Europe following Trump’s announcements of trade deals.  Japan’s market was the big winner, where a series of automakers gave no public reaction as their stock prices rallied. Japanese companies tend to be cautious about their public reactions, and some business officials have privately remarked in off-record comments that they hesitate to say anything because Trump keeps changing his mind.  Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.6%, and France’s CAC 40 gained 1.4% for two of the world’s bigger moves.  In the bond market, Treasury yields ticked higher.  The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.38% from 4.35% late Tuesday.    Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jalen Hurts calls Michael Jordan a friend — the two cigar aficionados were photographed rubbing shoulders over the summer in Greece — so when the retired Chicago Bulls great offers advice, it’s perhaps best to listen. Jordan won six NBA titles, including two separate runs of three straight, so his words of wisdom to Hurts following the Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl victory resonated with the QB. At the top of the list? “He used every word but repeat,” Hurts said with a laugh. One by one, from coach Nick Sirianni to Hurts to general manager Howie Roseman to offensive lineman Jordan Mailata, the Eagles stood firm Wednesday on the first day of training camp that the word “repeat” for the 2024 champions is not part of the vernacular around the complex. “We’re not defending nothing,” Mailata said, later tossing in a profanity for emphasis. “We’re not the defending champs. We’re the 2024 world champs, that’s it.” Hurts, who won Super Bowl MVP honors in the Eagles’ 40-22 thrashing over Kansas City, said he appreciated Jordan’s advice. The best approach in 2025 is for the Eagles to took at the season as a blank canvas, that it’s “purely about resetting,” rather than rambling on about a repeat, which would shift focus to what they accomplished last season. Maybe that’s why Hurts was never photographed wearing the Super Bowl ring in the scores of photos released on social media from last week’s ceremony. While most Eagles players were snapped flashing the gaudy bling, Hurts simply held the box in his photos. Hurts was cryptic when asked if he actually slipped on the ring — which include wings on each side that release from the bezel and feature 145 diamonds, celebrating the Eagles’ 145 points scored in the playoffs. “I’ve moved on to the new year,” Hurts said. “It’s as simple as that.” Hurts did say the ceremony allowed him to appreciate the Super Bowl “one last time.” Only the ones in uniform have truly moved on from the Super Bowl. Super Bowl swag blanketed fans and most of them stopped to pose next to the oversized Super Bowl replica ring that greeted them as they made the walk to the field. Fans in Super Bowl gear crushed beers in the parking lot as they waited for the gates to open for camp. Unlike the diehard revelers, Mailata noted, “I’m not trying to be hung over.” Mailata was talking about the so-called Super Bowl hangover, of course, and how the Eagles are taking steps like banning the word repeat in a bid to … well, win a Super Bowl for the second straight season. The players who talked to the media bulked up on buzzwords such as chemistry and culture, and reiterated the “tough, detailed, together” mantra that inspired them last season. Just in case they forget, those words are also stamped on the ring. “I truly felt like a true champion,” wide receiver A.J. Brown said of the ring ceremony. “I came there only for the ring. I didn’t eat, I didn’t do anything.” Saquon Barkley, who became the ninth 2,000-yard season rusher in NFL history, said it was easy to turn the page after a whirlwind offseason that included a parade, a White House visit and, even for the All-Pro running back, a video game cover. “Howie asked me, what’s better, the confetti or the ring,” Barkley said. How about a new contract? (For the record, Barkley said it was the ring.) Roseman put the Eagles in prime position to repe .. er, win the Super Bowl again with a busy offseason that included making Barkley the highest-paid running back in NFL history, giving him a two-year contract extension and $36 million guaranteed. The Eagles retained All-Pro linebacker Zack Baun before he could test free agency, center Cam Jurgens got a four-year extension and Sirianni earned a multiyear extension, too. It’s all just part of the recipe that add up to the Eagles having the best odds out of the NFC to win the Super Bowl at 7-1, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. With Brandon Graham retired, and Darius Slay and C.J. Gardner-Johnson having moved on, Sirianni said he was ready to get to work in camp and learn about his new roster. “It’s so important at this time to come together as a football team,” Sirianni said. “You do that through suffering together.” Suffering in Philly? What year is this, 1998? The Eagles have played in three of the last eight Super Bowls and won two of them. They are no longer loveable underdogs but a model NFL franchise with yearly championship expectations. So what if the Eagles don’t want to call it a repeat bid inside the locker room? “You’re not looking back, you’re not looking forward,” Sirianni said. Yeah, but take a look around and let it soak in that, for only the second time in franchise history, the Super Bowl champs are indeed here. ___ AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is confirming that former President Barack Obama has been referred to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation.   She did so during the White House Press briefing Wednesday.  The DNI investigated the origins of the 2016 ‘Russia hoax’ against President Donald Trump and found Obama had directed top officials in his administration, including CIA Director John Brennan, to fake intelligence and claim Russia colluded with Trump to win the White House. The discredited Steele Dossier was used to carry out the order.    “We have referred and will continue to refer all of these documents to the Department of Justice and the FBI,” Gabbard said. “The evidence that we have found and that we have released directly point to President Obama leading the manufacturing of this intelligence assessment.”  Her response continued: “There is irrefutable evidence that detail how President Barack Obama and his national security team directed the creation of an intelligence community assessment that they knew was false.”  When asked if she believes Obama committed treason, she said, “That’s a question for Attorney General Pam Bondi.” Gabbard also released additional information and declassified a 2016 report detailing intelligence that showed Russia did not work to get Trump elected. AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson  Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats launched a bid Wednesday to subpoena President Donald Trump’s Justice Department for files in the sex trafficking investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, goading GOP lawmakers to defy Trump and Republican leadership to support the action. Democrats on a subcommittee of the powerful House Committee on Oversight made a motion for the subpoena Wednesday afternoon, just hours before the House was scheduled to end its July work session and depart Washington for a monthlong break. The subcommittee’s Republican chairman, Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana, postponed a vote on the matter until the end of the meeting. While several Republicans on the panel are members of a right-wing faction and have called for the release of the files, it was not clear whether they would vote for the subpoena. During a brief break in the meeting, Higgins told reporters he expected the motion for the subpoena to pass with some changes. “If the Republican Party, if our colleagues on this committee don’t join us in this vote, then what they’re essentially doing is joining President Donald Trump in complicity,” Rep. Summer Lee, the Pennsylvania Democrat who made the motion for the subpoena, told reporters outside the hearing room. The move by Democrats showed how they were doing practically everything in their power to force Republicans to act on the Epstein files. House Speaker Mike Johnson — caught between demands from Trump and clamoring from his own members for the House to act — has resisted calls for action and prepared to send the House home a day early. Johnson told reporters earlier Wednesday there was no need to vote on legislation calling for the release of the Epstein files this week because the Trump administration is “already doing everything within their power to release them.” Yet Democrats have delighted this week in pressing Republicans to support the release of the files. Their efforts halted the GOP’s legislative agenda for the week and turned attention to an issue that Trump has unsuccessfully implored his supporters to forget about. “They’re fleeing our work, our job and sending us back home because they don’t want to vote to release these files. This is something that they ran on. This is something that they talked about: the importance of transparency, holding pedophiles accountable,” Lee said. Democratic leaders are hoping to make the issue about much more than just Epstein, who died in his New York jail cell six years ago while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. “Why haven’t Republicans released the Epstein files to the American people? It’s reasonable to conclude that Republicans are continuing to protect the lifestyles of the rich and the shameless, even if that includes pedophiles,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries at a news conference. “So it’s all connected.” It comes as both parties are gearing up to take their messaging to voters on Trump’s big multitrillion-dollar tax breaks and spending cuts bill. For Republicans, it’s “beautiful” legislation that will spark economic growth; for Democrats, it’s an “ugly” gift mostly to the richest Americans that undermines health care for low-income people. Yet as furor has grown on the right over the Trump administration’s reversal on promises related to Epstein, several Democrats have seized on the opportunity to divide Republicans on the issue. “This goes to a fundamental sense of, ‘Is our government co-opted by rich and powerful people that isn’t looking out for ordinary Americans? Or can we have a government that looks out for ordinary Americans?’” said Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who has put forward a bipartisan bill meant to force release of the files. Republican leaders accuse Democrats of caring about the issue purely for political gain. They point out that the Department of Justice held on to the Epstein investigation through the presidency of Democrat Joe Biden. Trump’s Justice Department is also seeking the release of testimony from secret grand jury proceedings in the Epstein case, though that effort is unlikely to produce new revelations. The House Oversight Committee, with support from Republicans, also advanced Tuesday a subpoena for Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, for a deposition. However, those lawmakers who want Congress to take a stronger role in the Epstein files have cautioned that Maxwell, who is serving a prison sentence for helping Epstein sexually abuse underage girls, may be an unreliable witness. “It’s a good idea, but it’s not enough. It’s not nearly enough,” said Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who has pushed the bipartisan bill to pry the records from the Justice Department. ___ Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

The U.S. Postal Service on Wednesday marked its upcoming 250th anniversary with the release of new commemorative stamps, including an exclusive, modernized version of the nation’s first 5-cent stamp featuring Benjamin Franklin, the first postmaster general. The event was held at the USPS headquarters in Washington and included an appearance by the 76th postmaster general. David Steiner, a former waste management company CEO and a former board member of the shipping giant FedEx, began in his new role last week. “For the United States Postal Service, today is a milestone 250 years in the making,” Steiner said in a statement. “These stamps will serve as a window into our shared history.” The U.S. mail service officially turns 250 years old Saturday. Established by the Second Continental Congress in 1775, the Postal Service was launched nearly a year before the colonies declared their break from British rule. It is seen by historians as crucial to the nation’s independence and to keeping the young country unified. Franklin was chosen as the first postmaster general because he had previously served in the British postal service for North America, including as co-Postmaster General from 1757 until 1774. A book of 20 Franklin stamps is exclusively being sold with a commemorative 32-page booklet titled “Putting a Stamp on the American Experience.” The new Forever stamp features a redesigned, modern interpretation of an 1875 reproduction of the original 5-cent stamp released in 1847. President George Washington was featured on the first 10-cent stamp. The USPS has also released a commemorative sheet of 20 interconnected stamps, dubbed “250 Years of Delivering,” that portray a mail carrier making her rounds throughout a year. The stamps were illustrated by renowned cartoonist Chris Ware. Steiner has lauded the Postal Service for its history and recently voiced support for keeping the USPS as a self-financing, independent agency of the executive branch. Last week, in a video message to employees, Steiner said he opposed the idea of privatizing the Postal Service, contrasting with comments made by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk. “I do not believe the Postal Service should be privatized or that it should become an appropriated part of the federal government,” Steiner said. He said his goal as postmaster was to meet the agency’s “financial and service performance expectations” under the current structure. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com