First Thing: 300 South Koreans detained at Hyundai plant in US to be released, says Seoul

The arrest of workers has strained relations between Seoul and Washington. Plus, the Myanmar scam centers thought to hold 100,000 trafficked people

Good morning.

Approximately 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid in Georgia will be released and flown home, Seoul has said.

Almost 500 workers, including at least 300 South Koreans and at least 23 Mexicans, were arrested at the Hyundai-LG battery plant in the city of Ellabell on Thursday. It was the largest single-site immigration operation in the history of the Department of Homeland Security.

The incident has strained relations between Washington and Seoul. Park Yoon-joo, South Korea’s first vice-foreign minister, reportedly told Allison Hooker, the US secretary of state for political affairs, that it was lamentable the raid took place “at a critical time, when the momentum of trust and cooperation” forged by the leaders of the two countries needed to be maintained.

• What did Donald Trump say about the raid? “I would say that they were illegal aliens and Ice was just doing its job,” he said, potentially fanning the flames.

US treasury secretary denies Trump tariffs are tax on Americans

The treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has denied that Trump’s sweeping trade tariffs are taxes on Americans, despite growing concerns that US companies are passing on their costs to ordinary people.

In an interview on Sunday with the NBC host Kristen Welker, Bessent, brushed aside concerns from leading US companies including John Deere, Nike and Black+Decker, which have all said that tariffs would cost them billions of dollars each year.

The interview followed a ruling by a federal appeals court that found Trump had overstepped his presidential authority in imposing his wide-ranging tariff policy. Welker asked Bessent: “Do you acknowledge that these tariffs are a tax on American consumers?” To which he replied: “No, I don’t.”

• How much will tariff costs US households? Economists expect around $2,400 annually.

Minnesota parents demand gun ban after deadly shooting

Some parents whose children were injured in the recent deadly school shooting in Minnesota are demanding greater gun safety regulation.

As the legislature prepares to debate the state’s response this week, parents have shared the intense suffering their children have endured since two children were killed and 17 others injured while praying at the Annunciation Catholic school in Minneapolis last month.

Malia Kimbrell, whose nine-year old daughter, Vivian St Clair, is recovering from two gunshots in the back and one in the arm, said she would “settle for nothing less” than an immediate ban on semi-automatic rifles and high-capacity magazines. In a powerful testimony, Kimbrell invited lawmakers “to come to my living room and insist that you hold Vivian’s hand while we do her dressing changes each night and she cries the entire time”.

• What is happening in the legislature? Minnesota’s Democratic governor, Tim Walz, is calling a special session on gun legislation and will propose a “very comprehensive” package on gun control.

In other news …

• A fugitive father who had been on the run in rural New Zealand with his three children for nearly four years has been shot dead by police investigating an armed burglary, the authorities said.

• Donald Trump on Sunday said he was giving Hamas a “last warning” and urged the Islamist group to accept a deal to release hostages from Gaza.

• Supertramp co-founder, vocalist and songwriter Rick Davies, has died aged 81.

• Israel’s supreme court has found that the Israeli government has not provided Palestinian prisoners with enough food for basic subsistence.

Stat of the day: Vaccines have saved at least 154m lives globally over the past 50 years, according to the WHO

Vaccines have saved the lives of at least 154 million people around the world over the past 50 years, the majority of whom were babies and children, World Health Organization figures show. Despite this record, Florida plans to become the first US state to drop its school vaccine mandate – a retreat from decades of public policy and research showing vaccines to be safe and effective.

Don’t miss this: Revealed: the huge growth of Myanmar scam centres that may hold 100,000 trafficked people

In a sprawling, heavily guarded complex in Myanmar called KK Park, enslaved workers are forced to take part in online fraud and scamming schemes that generate huge profits. It is not the only such scam center. Thai police recently estimated that up to 100,000 people were held inside such compounds along the countries’ shared border. Data also shows that the number of these compounds has more than doubled in recent years.

Climate check: The climate solution both the right and the left can get behind

For those worried about the breakdown of civilisation – or just want to improve their household’s resilience to disaster – solar is the way to go, Bill McKibben says. The founder of Sun Day, a nationwide celebration of clean energy, argues that it is time for conservatives to get behind the technology, and that despite Republican efforts to demonise renewables, solar fits “perfectly with a rational conservative outlook … it is energy for hyper-individualists”.

Last Thing: Meet the man who crossed 26 miles in a kayak made from mushrooms

One August morning, Sam Shoemaker got into his kayak and began rowing off Catalina Island, aiming to cross the 26 miles of open ocean to San Pedro, just south of Los Angeles. But this was no ordinary kayaking trip: Shoemaker’s vessel was made entirely out of mushrooms. About 12 hours later, the artist and mycologist made it – hoping to promote fungi tech as a more sustainable alternative to the plastics used in boats.

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