WORLD NEWS FLASH
UNITED STATES
On Sept. 2, the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division won significant remedies in its monopolization case against Google in online search. In United States et al. v. Google, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia prohibited Google from entering or maintaining exclusive contracts relating to the distribution of Google Search, Chrome, Google Assistant, and the Gemini app; ordered Google to make certain search index and user-interaction data available to rivals and potential rivals; and ordered Google to offer search and search text ads syndication services to enable rivals and potential rivals to compete.
The court’s ruling recognizes the need for remedies that will pry open the market for general search services, which has been frozen in place for over a decade. The ruling also recognizes the need to prevent Google from using the same anticompetitive tactics for its GenAI products as it used to monopolize the search market, and the remedies will reach GenAI technologies and companies.
“This decision marks an important step forward in the Department of Justice’s ongoing fight to protect American consumers. Under President Trump’s leadership, we will continue our legal efforts to hold companies accountable for monopolistic practices,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
“The first Trump administration sued Google to restore competition for millions of Americans subjected to Google’s monopoly abuses. Today, the second Trump administration has won a remedy to do just that,” said Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “We will continue to review the opinion to consider the Department’s options and next steps regarding seeking additional relief. I am immensely proud of the dedicated public servants of the Antitrust Division and their tireless work on this case alongside our state partners.”
Filed in President Trump’s first term, the Justice Department’s case against the Google search monopoly has unified the country. The Department’s original filing in October 2020 was joined by eleven State Attorneys General. Additional states filed a related action as the case progressed, and ultimately, the United States was joined in pursuing the remedies ordered today by 49 states, two territories, and the District of Columbia.
Under the remedies ordered today, Google will be barred from entering or maintaining exclusive contracts relating to the distribution of Google Search, Chrome, Google Assistant, and the Gemini app. Google cannot enter or maintain agreements that (1) condition the licensing of any Google application on the distribution, preloading, or placement of Google Search, Chrome, Google Assistant, or the Gemini app anywhere on a device; (2) condition the receipt of revenue share payments for the placement of one Google application on the placement of another Google application; or (3) condition the receipt of revenue share payments on maintaining Google Search, Chrome, Google Assistant, or the Gemini app on any device, browser, or search access point for more than one year; or (4) prohibit any partner from simultaneously distributing any other GSE, browser, or GenAI product.
In addition, Google will have to make certain search index and user-interaction data available to certain competitors. Google will also be required to offer certain competitors search and search text ads syndication services, which will open up the market by enabling rivals and potential rivals to deliver high-quality search results and ads and compete with Google as they develop their own capacity.
For years, Google accounted for approximately 90 percent of all search queries in the United States, and Google used anticompetitive tactics to maintain and extend its monopolies in search and search advertising. Google entered into a series of exclusionary agreements that collectively locked up the primary avenues through which users access online search, requiring that Google be the preset default general search engine on billions of mobile devices and computers and, in many cases, prohibiting preinstallation of a competitor.
Using its monopoly profits, Google bought preferential treatment for its search engine and created a self-reinforcing cycle of monopolization – shutting out potential competitors, reducing innovation, and taking choice away from American consumers.
The Department of Justice and the states proved that Google broke the law over the course of a bench trial that started in September 2023 and lasted nine weeks. In August 2024, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia released a 277-page opinion, concluding that “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly” in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act. Today’s decision follows a 15-day remedies trial in May 2025.
MASS SHOOTING UPDATE
Information from 9-2-2025
2025 Mass Shooting Stats: (Source: Mass Shooting Tracker, https://www.massshootingtracker.site/data/?year=2025)
- Total Mass Shootings: 348
- Total Dead: 395
- Total Wounded: 1449
- Shootings Per Day: 1.42
- Days Reached in Year 2025 as of noon Sept. 2: 245
ASIA
CLOCK TICKING TO FIND SURVIVORS
In remote eastern Afghanistan, aid workers are continuing to race to assist survivors of Aug. 31’s devastating earthquake as the death toll continues to climb, UN humanitarians said.
The magnitude six quake has already left more than 800 dead and at least 2,000 injured, but the total impact could be in the “hundreds of thousands”, according to the UN’s top aid official in the country, Indrika Ratwatte.
Speaking from Kabul, Mr. Ratwatte said that mud and wooden roof structures were predominant in the affected mountainous provinces.
“When the walls collapse, the roof is what basically falls on individuals, kills them or suffocates them,” he said. “Since this happened in the night, everybody was sleeping,” the senior UN aid official explained, indicating that many more people may be trapped under the debris.
Hundreds of thousands could be impacted, “as in houses destroyed, injured, casualties, livestock lost and any livelihood systems that they had,” Mr. Ratwatte explained.
In the first critical 24 hours after the earthquake hit, access was “very limited,” owing to landslides and rockfalls triggered by the tremors. Some roads were already blocked by previous rockslides caused by recent heavy rainfall.
“This has posed a huge challenge to us as we deploy right now,” Mr. Ratwatte said, stressing that 20 emergency assessment teams have been mobilized alongside 15 mobile teams “which will enhance the humanitarian flights from Kabul to Jalalabad,” capital of the affected Nangarhar province.
The UN Humanitarian Air Service has scheduled additional flights connecting Kabul and Jalalabad for personnel and cargo to scale up the response.
The aid official also said that the UN and others are trying to set up or repair damaged mobile networks as there is “zero connectivity” with some affected communities, “and even to bring in helicopters and land,” another challenge for the de facto authorities.
“It’s not easy to get to these areas and keep shuttling injured individuals,” he said.
Mr. Ratwatte underscored the importance of protection work, “including psychosocial support for individuals who lost family and loved ones”. He also stressed that it was urgent to dispose of bodies and dead livestock to prevent waterborne diseases, “which can happen very, very fast.”
One of the first responders in the affected areas was the Afghan Red Crescent. Joy Singhal, Acting Head of Delegation for Afghanistan of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said that more people could have been saved if road access were easier.
“Our staff and volunteers sometimes have to (walk) for about four to five hours to reach some of those remote villages,” he said. Once they reach their destination “they have to walk back and bring those affected and wounded people into the city center…the two hospitals there are overwhelmed.”
Those staying in remote and mountainous quake-hit areas urgently need tents, tarpaulins and blankets to protect them from the cool weather in the highlands. They also need hot meals and food which is being made available, said Amy Martin, Head of the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, in Afghanistan. Mobile health teams have been sent to some of the affected districts but they are “going to be in short supply,” she noted. “That’s going to be a gap; making sure that we can do that trauma care and that initial first aid, which is critical.”
Afghanistan has long faced what the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator Mr. Ratwatte called “systemic humanitarian challenges.” Half of its population – or some 22.5 million people – need assistance, while food insecurity has been aggravated by recent drought. Sweeping funding cuts to humanitarian programs since the beginning of the year have meant that “hundreds” of aid facilities have had to close.
“The earthquake comes at a time where vulnerable communities are going to be super-exposed to additional stresses,” Mr. Ratwatte said.
Another major challenge is the return in 2025 of 2.4 million Afghan refugees from Iran and Pakistan, whom communities in the country have been “struggling to integrate,” said UN refugee agency (UNHCR) spokesperson Babar Baloch.
“More than half of these are deportations, people who have been put on buses and other forms of transport and left at the borders to go home, and it has already put a further restraint on our ability to support,” Mr. Baloch said.
WORLD
MENTAL HEALTH IN THE SPOTLIGHT
More than a billion people worldwide are living with mental health conditions, according to new data released by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Sept. 2.
Disorders such as anxiety and depression are exacting a heavy toll on individuals, families and economies, yet most countries are failing to provide adequate support.
Mental health problems are widespread across every society and age group and remain the second leading cause of long-term disability. They drive up healthcare costs for families and governments while costing the global economy an estimated $1 trillion each year in lost productivity, UN health experts said.
The findings are detailed in two new reports: World mental health today and the Mental Health Atlas 2024.
Together, they show that while there has been some progress since 2020, the world is still far off track in tackling the scale of the crisis. The reports will help to inform debate at a UN high-level meeting on noncommunicable diseases and mental health, to be held late this month in New York.
“Transforming mental health services is one of the most pressing public health challenges,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“Investing in mental health means investing in people, communities and economies, an investment no country can afford to neglect. Every leader has a responsibility to act urgently and to ensure mental health care is treated not as a privilege, but as a basic right.”
The reports highlight several stark findings:
- Women are disproportionately affected by mental health conditions, with anxiety and depression most common among both sexes.
- Suicide claimed an estimated 727,000 lives in 2021 and is a leading cause of death among young people. On current trends, the world will fall far short of the UN target to reduce suicide deaths by a third by 2030, managing only a 12 percent reduction.
- Median government spending on mental health remains at just two percent of health budgets, unchanged since 2017. While high-income countries spend up to $65 per person on mental health, low-income countries spend as little as four cents.
- The mental health workforce is dangerously thin in many regions. There are just 13 mental health workers for every 100,000 people worldwide.
- Fewer than one in 10 countries has fully moved to community-based care, with most still relying heavily on psychiatric hospitals. Almost half of inpatient admissions are involuntary, and more than one in five patients remain hospitalized for over a year.
Despite these challenges, there have been some positive developments. More countries are integrating mental health into primary healthcare and expanding early intervention programs in schools and communities.
Over 80 percent of countries now include mental health and psychosocial support in emergency response, up from less than 40 percent in 2020. Telehealth services are also becoming more widely available, though access is still uneven.
WHO is urging governments to step up investment and reform, warning that the current pace of progress is too slow to meet global goals. Key priorities include:
- Fairer financing of mental health services
- Stronger legal protection and rights-based legislation
- Greater investment in the mental health workforce
- Accelerated shift towards community-based, person-centered care
