Quote:Iran completely rejected President Trump’s 15-point peace plan on Wednesday — and put forth its own maximalist demands to end the war.

After the president claimed that Iran agreed to major components of his peace plan, including giving up their nuclear weapon ambition, Tehran told mediators that Trump’s plan was unacceptable, according to state media.

Iranian lawmakers have instead presented their own deal that would see the Islamic republic rule over the Strait of Hormuz and ensure its safety, along with that of its terror proxies abroad.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has consolidated power within the remains of Tehran’s regime, vowed to keep the war going until the US closed all American bases in the Gulf and provided reparations for its attacks on Iran.

Along with a full American withdrawal, Iran’s leader insisted they should have full control over the Strait of Hormuz, the key shipping route that has cut off access to 20% of the world’s oil supply.

The change would allow Iran to collect fees from the ships that travel through the passage, similar to what Egypt does with the Suez Canal.

The new source of revenue for Iran would be compounded with an end to all sanctions on the Islamic republic, according to Tehran’s demands.

Iran also demands a permanent end to the war, as well as Israel’s fight with the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist group in Lebanon.

While the regime made no mention of its nuclear program in the demands, it said Iran should be allowed to keep its missile program with no negotiations to limit it.

The demands fly in the face of Trump’s 15-point peace plan, with a US official calling it “ridiculous” and “unrealistic,” according to the WSJ.

Iran’s demands directly clash with several of Trump’s proposals, the bulk of which were made public by Israel’s Channel 12.

Quote:Iran said Wednesday it had fired cruise missiles in the direction of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, hours after Tehran’s military dismissed any talk of an agreement to end the war with the US.

The semiofficial Fars News Agency, which has close ties with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), claimed that the missile attack had “forc[ed] the American naval fleet to change position.”

There was no immediate response from US Central Command (CENTCOM), which has taken to social media in the past to refute Iranian claims to have struck the Lincoln and other US assets.

The carrier has been based in the Arabian Sea in support of Operation Epic Fury, which will mark the conclusion of its fourth week Friday.

In the Oval Office on Tuesday, President Trump told reporters that Iran had “shot 100 missiles at one of our aircraft carriers, one of the biggest ships in the world, actually.

“Out of 101 missiles, every single one of them was knocked down.”

The missile launches followed a top spokesman for Iran’s military vowing that Tehran will “never come to terms” with Washington after the US transmitted a 15-point peace plan via Pakistani intermediaries.

“Someone like us will never come to terms with someone like you. Not now, not ever,” Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari said in a video shared by Fars.

“The strategic power you used to talk about has turned into a strategic failure,” he added. “The one claiming to be a global superpower would have already gotten out of this mess if it could. Don’t dress up your defeat as an agreement. Your era of empty promises has come to an end.”

The 15 US demands on Iran include, according to the Wall Street Journal, dismantling nuclear facilities and capabilities as well as forgoing the pursuit of atomic weapons; handing over all enriched uranium to international authorities; limiting its missile program to self-defense uses; keeping the Strait of Hormuz open; and cutting off funding for terrorist proxies.

Quote:Iran is reportedly planning to charge ships for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz as its blockade of the waterway has pushed oil above $100 a barrel in a historic global energy supply disruption.

Tehran officials are drafting legislation that would slap tolls on tankers passing through the strait in an attempt to solidify Iranian control over the vital maritime route, which transports 20% of the world’s oil supply, an Iranian lawmaker told Fars, a state-backed news agency.

A draft has been prepared and lawmakers are hoping to finish a proposed bill by next week so it is ready to present to parliament, according to the report.

Investors are hoping that the US-Israeli war with Iran will be short-lived so oil prices can normalize – though analysts have warned that attacks on Middle East energy infrastructure and halts on production from some oil fields could keep prices elevated even if the war ends soon.

President Trump announced during a Cabinet meeting Thursday that Iran has let 10 oil tankers move through the strait this week as a “present” to the US.
But oil futures were sharply up Thursday – with Brent crude soaring more than 5% to roughly $108 a barrel – and stocks moved lower after mixed messaging on peace talks from the US and Iran.

Trump said Thursday that the US has “very substantial talks going on with respect to Iran,” after tweeting earlier in the day that Tehran’s negotiators “better get serious soon, before it is too late.”

Iranian leaders have reportedly rejected a 15-point peace plan from the Trump administration, and they have repeatedly denied having discussions with US officials.

The peace plan was delivered via Pakistan, which has acted as a mediator, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said during the Thursday Cabinet meeting.

He added that the US has had “multiple reach-outs from the region and others who want to play a role in ending this conflict peacefully.”

Quote:Iran hit Israel with seven missiles, including some equipped with cluster bombs, early Thursday — leaving at least nine people injured in the latest strike to make it through the Jewish state’s air defenses.

Seven salvos of ballistic missiles were detected over Israel and the West Bank Thursday morning, with the second rocket hitting the central city of Kafr Qasim and wounding five people, The Times of Israel reported.

Wild video of the impact shows people and animals fleeing the streets seconds before the bomb hits a parked vehicle, sending the car flying in a violent flip that litters shrapnel and debris everywhere.

Similar images emerged elsewhere in the city, where a bomb landed right in front of a parked vehicle, damaging the car as it sent concrete soaring into the sky.

Another bomb landed in Ganei Tikva, destroying several cars and causing a large fire that covered the road in black smoke.

Two people were wounded in Tel Aviv after a ballistic missile carrying cluster munitions dropped bomblets over a wide area, with images showing a destroyed storefront in the city.

Cluster bomblets were also reported hitting a shopping center in Haifa and elsewhere in northern Israel, where the shrapnel from the explosion left a person injured, officials said.

The bombs additionally hit two homes in the illegal West Bank settlements, with the residents spared after taking shelter in their safe rooms, according to the Samaria Regional Council.

Iran has fired more than 400 ballistic missiles at the Jewish state since the start of the war, with the Israel Defense Forces maintaining that its interception rate is still 92% for attacks on populated areas and key infrastructure.

Despite the interceptions, at least eight missiles have hit highly populated areas during the war, causing extensive damage and killing at least 15 people and leaving hundreds more wounded.

Quote:Yemen’s Houthi rebels said Thursday that they are ready to stand with Iran against the US and Israel, threatening to open a new front along the Red Sea that serves as a key global trade route.

The Iran-backed terror group said that it would be ready to enter the fight at a moment’s notice following Tehran’s warning that the war could spread to the Bab al-Mandab Strait if the US launches a ground invasion.

“We stand fully militarily ready with all options,” a Houthi leader told Reuters, suggesting the rebel group was in direct coordination with Iran.
“Until now Iran is doing well and is defeating the enemy every day and the battle is going in its direction. If anything contrary to this happens then we can assess,” he added.

The Houthis involvement in the war directly threatens the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a 20-mile wide passage located southwest of Yemen, where the rebel group is based.

The Houthis have previously waged war along the passage that connects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden as a show of solidarity during the Israel-Hamas war.

The rebel attacks sowed chaos and disruptions at the key trade route between Europe and and Asia where $1 trillion worth of goods pass through every year.
Any attacks along the strait would further risk shipments coming out of Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest exporter of oil, which has been redirecting its barrels through the Red Sea following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran issued a direct threat to take the Bab al-Mandab Strait on Wednesday if the US were to escalate the war by invading the Kharg Island.

Quote:Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose country has been fighting a war against Russia for years, said Kyiv has evidence that Moscow is supplying Iran with intelligence support.

"Report by Chief of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine Oleh Ivashchenko. First, we have irrefutable evidence that the Russians continue to provide intelligence to the Iranian regime. Russia is using its own signals intelligence and electronic intelligence capabilities, as well as part of the data obtained through cooperation with partners in the Middle East," part of a post on Zelenskyy's X account notes.

"There is growing evidence that the Russians continue to provide the Iranian regime with intelligence support," Zelenskyy noted in part of another post. "By helping the Iranian regime stay afloat and strike more accurately, Russia is effectively prolonging the war. There must be a response."
The U.S. and Israel launched a war against Iran over three weeks ago.

U.S. President Donald Trump indicated in a Monday Truth Social post that the U.S. is engaging in talks with Iran.

In the all-caps post on Monday morning, the president said in the last two days the U.S. and Iran had engaged in discussions about resolving the conflict. He said the talks would continue during the week and that he had ordered the War Department to postpone attacks against energy infrastructure in Iran for five days.

Iran's Foreign Ministry denied that it is engaging in discussions with America, according to state media, indicating there was "no dialogue" with Tehran and D.C., The Wall Street Journal has reported.

"Yes, there are initiatives from regional countries to reduce tensions, and our response to all of them is clear: we are not the party that started this war, and all these requests should be referred to Washington," the ministry indicated, according to state broadcaster IRIB, the Journal reported.

Quote:President Trump on Thursday vehemently denied reports he is “desperate” to end the war against Iran, insisting he has unfinished business as he extends the timeframe for talks.

“I’m the opposite of desperate. I don’t care,” he said in his cabinet meeting.

Peace negotiations between Washington and Tehran are ongoing, with intermediary countries acting as messengers as the war enters its fourth week.

With the talks “going very well,” Trump extended his original five-day deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz by another five days to Monday, April 6th, to give negotiators more time. The previous deadline was Friday.

“Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well,” the president announced in a post on Truth Social.

Trump was visibly annoyed by a Wall Street Journal article that reported he wants a speedy end to the conflict, blasting it as “fake news.”

He said if he were desperate, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth would be the first to know because he would order US military out of the region.

“I read a story today that I’m desperate to make a deal. I’m not. If I was desperate, he’d be the first to know. Pete, let’s get the hell out of there,” Trump said.

But, the president pointed out, what he really wants to do is to finish the job.

“We have other targets we want to hit before we leave,” he noted.

The president was chatty during Thursday’s cabinet meeting, giving real-time updates on the situation with Iran, blasting NATO for its lack of loyalty, and pointing to work he’s done domestically to make America safer.

He also revealed the answer to a mystery that has plagued Washington the past two days — what was that gift he received from Iran.

It was 10 “big boats” of oil in a show of goodwill from Tehran.

Quote:The US and Israel have removed Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf from their hit list after mediators said that peace talks would be dead without them, according to multiple reports.

Ghalibaf and Araghchi were in Israel’s crosshairs when mediators from Pakistan, Turkey, and Egypt warned the US that their deaths would likely sink any hopes of a diplomatic end to the war.

“The Israelis had their coordinates and wanted to take them out, we told the US if they are also eliminated then there is no one else to talk to, hence the U.S. asked the Israelis to back off,” a Pakistani source told Reuters.

Ghalibaf and Araghchi are expected to enjoy only 10 days of reprieve as the US pushes for a peace deal, The Wall Street Journal first reported.

The IDF has declined to comment on whether the Iranians officials have been temporarily removed as targets.

Ghalibaf remains one of the most powerful leaders of the Iranian regime following the deaths of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his long-time rival Ali Larijani, with the parliament speaker believed to be the top official speaking with the Trump administration.

Both Ghalibaf and Araghchi have repeatedly denied being in direct talks with Washington, with Iran recently bashing Trump’s 15-point peace proposal.

Pakistan, Turkey, and Egypt are currently working to set up a meeting between Iranian and US negotiators in Islamabad.

Despite the alleged halt on attacks against Ghalibaf and Araghchi, IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin vowed that the Jewish state will continue hunting Iran’s top leaders following the strike that killed  IRGC Navy chief Alireza Tangsiri overnight.

Quote:WASHINGTON — President Trump ended two days of guessing Thursday by saying that Iran had gifted him 10 “big boats” of oil in a show of goodwill.

“They said, ‘To show you the fact that we’re real and solid and we’re there, we’re going to let you have eight boats of oil — eight boats, eight big boats of oil.’ … and I didn’t think much about it,” Trump said at a cabinet meeting.

“And then I watched the news, and they said … ‘There are eight boats that are going right up the middle of the Hormuz Strait, eight big tankers are going loaded up with oil right through,'” he went on.

“And I said, ‘Well, I guess they were right, and they were real, and I think they were Pakistani-flagged.’

“And I said, ‘Well, I guess we’re dealing with the right people.’ And actually, they then apologized for something they said,” the president continued. “And they said, ‘We’re going to send two more boats,’ and it ended up being 10 boats.”

Trump set off a frenzy of speculation Tuesday when he told reporters that he had received “a very big present, worth a tremendous amount of money” from Iran, which officials refused to identify, citing the sensitivity of ongoing peace talks.

After his big reveal Thursday, the president jokingly told special envoy Steve Witkoff, who was seated nearby: “I hope I haven’t screwed up your negotiations.”

Pakistan is serving as a mediator in the four-week-old conflict and Trump used the anecdote to bolster his claim that Iran is privately “begging” for peace after 27 days of heavy bombardment — despite public statements from Tehran to the contrary.

“We estimated it would take approximately four to six weeks to achieve our mission. And we’re way ahead of schedule,” Trump claimed separately.

“The reason they want to make a deal is they have been just beat to s–t.”

US officials transmitted a 15-point peace proposal to Iran earlier this week, which included demands that the theocracy shut down its nuclear program.

Quote:U.S. Senator John Fetterman condemned what he described as calls for the deaths of U.S. service members after video circulated online showing a speaker at a Philadelphia protest praising militant groups hostile to the United States and cheering American military casualties. The Pennsylvania Democrat wrote on X:

“Here in Philadelphia. Truly appalling. These a******* chanting for the death of our service members. Where’s the Dem outrage and condemnation?”

The comments came after a video shared on X showed a speaker saying that every attack on a U.S. military base and every American soldier killed should be celebrated, while praising Hamas, Hezbollah and other armed groups described as “resistance forces.”

While demonstrations against U.S. military action are a longstanding feature of American political life, explicit praise for attacks on U.S. troops remains a red line for many lawmakers across the political spectrum. Fetterman, who has a history of siding more with Republicans on issues of defense and security, is no exception.

The post he responded to was shared by the X account End Wokeness, which circulated video footage filmed by Philadelphia‑based activist Frankie Scales. The video showed a masked speaker at a Philadelphia protest praising militant groups opposed to Israel and the United States. In the clip, the speaker said:

“Until we have done everything in our power to bring the United States to its knees, let us not lose sight of the enemy. For every U.S. military base that crumbles, and for every U S. soldier who returns home in the casket, we cheer. Hamas, Hezbollah, Ansar Allah, all of the resistance forces we celebrate, these popular voices on the ground, spend every waking moment in direct confrontation with Zionism, and they rely on a strong Iranian state to maintain their fighting capacity.”

The video circulated widely on social media, drawing condemnation from conservative commentators, whose criticism echoed Fetterman’s remarks.

Quote:A brother and sister have been indicted after authorities say one of them planted a potentially deadly explosive device outside MacDill Air Force Base in Florida — then fled to China, while their mother is now in ICE custody after allegedly telling investigators her son confessed to the plot.

The FBI said Alen Zheng, who is believed to have planted the device, is currently in China. He is facing charges of attempted damage to government property by fire or explosion, unlawful making of a destructive device and possession of an unregistered destructive device, which carry a potential sentence of up to 40 years in prison.

FBI Tampa also arrested his sister, Ann Mary Zheng, who is charged with accessory after the fact and tampering with evidence, facing up to 30 years in prison.

She is accused of hiding or damaging a 2010 Mercedes-Benz to prevent its use in legal proceedings, court documents show.

Prosecutors allege that on March 11, the day after the bomb was planted, the siblings attempted to cover their tracks by selling the vehicle to car dealer CarMax. Despite being vacuumed and cleaned, investigators later discovered trace explosive residue inside the vehicle.

The indictments were unsealed Thursday morning, and U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida Greg Kehoe detailed the timeline of the shocking incident during a news conference Thursday afternoon.

On March 10, Alen Zheng allegedly planted an improvised explosive device (IED) in a secluded location outside the base's visitor center.

Minutes later, officials claim he placed a cryptic 911 call stating a bomb had been planted, but refused to provide the exact location.

The device, which officials noted was potentially "very deadly," failed to detonate.

On March 16, an Air Force airman discovered the device outside the MacDill visitor center, six days after it was planted.

To preserve evidence, the device was secured and flown via a borrowed Pasco County Sheriff's Office helicopter to an FBI explosives lab in Huntsville, Alabama, according to authorities.

"Anytime somebody puts an IED together — and I spent a lot of time in Iraq and I saw a lot of IEDs — there always is a level of professionalism," Kehoe said Thursday. "And quite a bit of professionalism when they end up being deadly. … [The explosive] certainly could have caused significant damage to people that were in the range."

Investigators quickly traced the 911 call's digital footprint to a burner phone Zheng purchased at Best Buy, corroborating the purchase with store security footage, officials said.

A subsequent search of his home uncovered IED components consistent with the bomb found at the base.

The siblings fled to the People's Republic of China on March 12, just two days after the incident, according to authorities. Ann Mary was apprehended after returning to the U.S. via a Detroit airport on March 17.

Quote:The Pentagon is reportedly considering a plan to send an additional 10,000 troops to the Middle East amid the war with Iran.

The potential deployment would likely include infantry and armored vehicles and would be on top of the 5,000 Marines and sailors and roughly 2,000 members of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division who have already been dispatched to the region, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“All announcements regarding troop deployments will come from the Department of War,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told the outlet. “
As we have said, President Trump always has all military options at his disposal.”

The reinforcements would provide President Trump with an even wider range of military operations, including potentially putting troops on the ground, as his administration pushes for a peace deal with Iran.

It’s unclear exactly where the 10,000 troops would be deployed, but they would likely be “within striking distance of Iran and Kharg Island,” according to the Journal.

The White House did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment. The Pentagon declined to comment.

The Trump administration has discussed using ground forces on Iranian shores to secure the Strait of Hormuz and Kharg Island, Reuters reported last week.

The possibility of using US troops to secure Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium has also been discussed, according to the outlet.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned Wednesday that Trump is “prepared to unleash hell” on Iran if it won’t “come to a deal.”

“President Trump does not bluff and he is prepared to unleash hell,” Leavitt told reporters. “Iran should not miscalculate again. Their last miscalculation cost them their senior leadership, their navy, their air force and their air defense system.”

The Iranian regime has thus far responded with hostility – at least publicly – to a 15-point peace plan presented by the US through Pakistan.

Quote:Israel is now focused on “dismantling Hezbollah” as part of its wider campaign against Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, declaring that the military effort remains “in full swing” despite reports to the contrary.

Speaking by videoconference to ministry directors and northern local authority heads, Netanyahu said Israel had removed most of Hezbollah’s rocket threat and neutralized the group’s planned ground invasion force, creating a “security buffer” beyond the Lebanese border.

Israel intends to expand that zone to further distance anti-tank missile threats from northern communities, he said, pledging additional funding for rebuilding and support in the Galilee.

The IDF has “fundamentally changed” the situation in the region, the prime minister said. “Israel is stronger than ever, and Iran is weaker than ever.”

Quote:Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Thursday that the country’s military had eliminated Admiral Alireza Tangsiri of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), identifying him as the top official blocking the Strait of Hormuz.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later issued his own statement, apparently confirming Katz’s claim and suggesting that the targeting and elimination of the IRGC terrorist was the product of “cooperation between us and our ally, the United States.”

Tangsiri was the head of the IRGC’s naval units and had repeatedly threatened a full blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime passageway for commercial shipping. Iran’s threats against random commercial vessels in the strait have enabled a dramatic increase in the global price of petroleum products, particularly endangering supplies in east Asia. The governments of South Korea and China, in particular, have loudly objected to any disruption in commercial traffic in the Strait and discouraged actions that interfere with regular economic activity in their countries.

The IRGC admiral is the latest among dozens of senior Iranian military and civilian officials killed since President Donald Trump announced “Operation Epic Fury,” a military engagement to disable Iran’s ability to fund and execute terrorist activity around the world. On the first day of the operation, February 28, Trump announced the elimination of the country’s longtime “supreme leader,” Ali Khamenei, leaving Iran without clear leadership. Iranian officials announced that they had chosen Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, as the next supreme leader, but the younger Khamenei has not made any public appearance or live public statements, fueling speculation that he is either severely wounded or otherwise incapacitated.

“The man who was directly responsible for the terrorist operation of mining and blocking the Strait of Hormuz to shipping was blown up and eliminated,” Israeli Defense Minister Katz announced on Thursday, describing his death as the result of a “precise” operation that also included actions against other senior IRGC leaders. The IRGC is the most powerful arm of the Iranian military and a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.

“The IDF will hunt you down and eliminate you one by one,” Katz warned the Iranian regime leadership. “We will continue to operate in Iran with full force to achieve the objectives of the war.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu separately repeated on Friday that Israeli forces had eliminated Tangsiri, explaining, “this individual has a great deal of blood on his hands, and he was also responsible for leading the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.” He described the strike as “yet another example of the cooperation between us and our ally, the United States, in pursuit of our shared war objectives.”

The Iranian government has not, at press time, confirmed Tangsiri’s elimination. The admiral was a regular official cited in state media for much of the past year, however, particularly on the issue of the Strait of Hormuz. As recently as Wednesday, shortly before Katz announced his purported death, Tangsiri issued belligerent comments announcing that the IRGC had blocked the passage of a container ship and that it would continue to prevent the normal transit of commerce through the maritime byway.

“Any vessel’s passage through this waterway requires full coordination with Iran’s maritime sovereignty,” Tangsiri said on Wednesday, according to Iran’s state-run Mehr News Agency. Tangsiri similarly announced on March 11 that any ship attempting to travel through the Strait of Hormuz must have Iranian permission to do so.

Tangsiri was also the official chosen to announce on March 18 that Iran would be targeting civilian oil facilities “linked to the U.S.” in the Middle East, demanding that “citizens and workers” avoid these locations. The announcement arrived weeks after Iran launched a massive missile and drone campaign in response to “Operation Epic Fury” primarily targeting neighboring Arab Muslim states. Iran has bombed more than a dozen countries since February 28, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Jordan, Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Turkey. Several strikes have targeted fossil fuel facilities, including Qatar’s most valuable liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility, raising global alarm regarding production of these fuels.

The Iranian naval chief had begun threatening ships in the Strait of Hormuz before “Operation Epic Fury” began. On February 17, Tangsiri told state media that the IRGC had imposed “full 24-hour intelligence dominance” in the strait – meaning that Iran was spying on every vessel transiting the body of water.

Quote:Uganda’s military chief tweeted on Wednesday that his country is willing to go to war on Israel’s side.

“We want the war in the Middle East to end now. The world is tired of it. But any talk of destroying or defeating Israel will bring us into the war. On the side of Israel!” wrote Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the chief of the Uganda People’s Defence Force and the son of the country’s President Yoweri Museveni.

The tweet went viral, generating more than 1.3 million engagements on the social media platform as of Thursday morning.

Elaborating on his stance the following day, Kainerugaba tweeted, “We stand with Israel because we are Christians. Saved by the Holy Son of God … Jesus Christ the only One who can forgive sins. The Bible says ‘Blessed are you Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord? He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword.’ (Deuteronomy 33:29).”

In a separate tweet, he said, “Israel stood with us when we were nobodys in the 1980s and 1990s. Why wouldn’t we defend her now that our GDP is $100 billion? One of the largest in Africa.”

Last month, Kainerugaba revealed that his country was planning to erect a statue of IDF Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, the older brother of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was killed in action in Uganda during a counter-terrorism operation that rescued more than 100 hostages on July 4, 1976.

The statue is expected to be erected at Entebbe Airport, where Yonatan Netanyahu fell in battle, according to Kainerugaba.

On Thursday morning, the general posted a “sneak peek” image of the statue “soon” to be unveiled.

Quote:British police arrested two men on Wednesday in connection with an arson attack on four ambulances belonging to a Jewish charity, which authorities are investigating as an antisemitic hate crime.

The Metropolitan Police said the two men, aged 45 and 47, were arrested in London on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life and both men have been taken to a police station in the city for questioning.

Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said the arrests marked “an important breakthrough in the investigation.”
But she noted that surveillance camera footage of the incident suggests three people were involved.

Police have not declared the incident to be a terror attack, but are investigating a claim of responsibility by a group with potential links to Iran.

The blaze early on Monday morning in Golders Green, a London neighborhood with a large Jewish population, consumed four ambulances belonging to the volunteer organization Hatzola Northwest. Oxygen cylinders on the vehicles exploded, breaking windows in an adjacent apartment block.

Also shattered was the community’s shaky sense of security, already strained by wars in the Middle East and what many say is soaring hatred of Jews.

The UK has accused Iran of using criminal proxies to conduct attacks on European soil targeting opposition media outlets and the Jewish community.

Britain’s MI5 domestic intelligence service says more than 20 “potentially lethal” Iran-backed plots were disrupted in the year to October.

Police are probing a claim of responsibility posted on social media by a group calling itself Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, which translates as the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right.

Quote:Iranians on temporarily visas will be restricted from re-entering Australia under controversial new powers.

The Albanese government will from Thursday restrict anyone with a visitor visa (subclass 600) linked to an Iranian passport and who is outside of Australia from re-entering the country, more than four weeks after the United States’ and Israel’s surprise attack on Iran.

Visa-holders are typically allowed to remain in Australia for up to 12 months, usually for tourism, business, or to visit family.

However, under the new rules, which will remain in effect for six months, only spouses, de facto partners, or a dependent child of an Australia citizen or permanent visa holder, or a parent of a child under 18 already in Australia, will be allowed entry.

The government claims the changes will bolster the integrity of Australia’s migration system and in the national interest.

It warned the war against Iran increased the risk temporary visa holders may be unlikely or unable to depart Australia when their visa expired, and that the new measures would afford government time to assess cases, while still allowing “flexibility in limited cases”.

“There are many visitor visas which were issued before the conflict in Iran which may not have been issued if they were applied for now,” Home Affairs Minister Tony burke said.

“Decisions about permanent stays in Australia should be deliberate decisions of the government, not a random consequence of who had booked a holiday.

“The Australian government is closely monitoring global developments and will adjust settings as required to ensure Australia’s migration system remains orderly, fair and sustainable.”

Under the changes, a person issued an active Permitted Travel Certificate – including people who may have already departed for Australia – or holding another time of visa may be allowed entry.

Quote:U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine are being tied to Kyiv ceding the eastern Donbas region to Russia as part of a potential peace deal, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Reuters in an interview published Thursday.

"The Americans are prepared to finalize these guarantees at a high level once Ukraine is ready to withdraw from Donbas," Zelenskyy said, describing a proposal he warned could undermine both Ukraine’s defenses and broader European security.

But a U.S. official, speaking on background, told Fox News Digital the claim is false.

Zelenskyy's comments point to growing pressure from President Donald Trump to reach a swift end to the war, now in its fourth year following Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Zelenskyy suggested the administration’s approach is influenced in part by competing global crises, including the ongoing conflict involving Iran.

"The Middle East definitely has an impact on President Trump," Zelenskyy said. "President Trump, unfortunately, in my opinion, still chooses a strategy of putting more pressure on the Ukrainian side."

Talks between the United States, Russia and Ukraine have taken place in Abu Dhabi and Geneva in 2026, but key issues remain unresolved, including how Ukraine’s future security would be guaranteed and who would fund its long-term defense.

Zelenskyy warned that abandoning Donbas would hand Russia heavily fortified Ukrainian defensive lines, weakening Kyiv’s position and potentially enabling future aggression.

"I would very much like the American side to understand that the eastern part of our country is part of our security guarantees," he said.

Quote:Ukrainian troops are now combat-testing exoskeletons that can fit into a suitcase and help them run up to 12 mph on the battlefield.

The 7th Air Assault Corps of the Armed Forces of Ukraine revealed its soldiers have already started training with the performance technology — which helps with movement — on the front lines in Pokrovsk as its war with Russia rages on.

The military released footage of the soldiers donning the wearable tech machinery to help them heave and load shells into a howitzer artillery weapon.
Wearing the exoskeletons tech will dramatically reduce the physical work of hauling ammunition by roughly 30%, the military claimed.

“Every day, gunners endure a lot of physical work. They carry 15-30 shells of 50kg (110 lbs) each every day,” Colonel Vitaly Serduk, the chief of missile troops and artillery management, said.

Preliminary testing had already found troops using the technology were less tired, could load artillery more speedily and could “retain airability for a longer time.”

The exoskeletons being trialed by the Ukrainian military are apparently equipped with artificial intelligence that adapts to whatever load the soldier is carrying at the time.

They fold down to fit the size of a suitcase.

The 7th Air Assault Corp boasted that the tech was the first of its kind to be tested on Ukrainian troops.

“The implementation of such means is a continuation of the philosophy of the techno-paratrooper component of our corps. We facilitate human overreach with technological solutions,” Serduk said.

Quote:Kyiv is doing a little spring cleaning.

Despite a brutal winter and record-breaking Russian drone assaults, Ukraine now has a leg up in the war as it managed to fend off Moscow’s latest “meat assaults,” mowing down more than 6,000 Kremlin troops in just four days thanks to their military innovations.

Ukraine’s technological advancements were made clear last Thursday when a unit of 500 Russian infantrymen, equipped with dozens of armored vehicles, were blown away near the village of Shandryholove, the defending Ukrainian 3rd Army Corps said in a statement.

Without even deploying any soldiers to the frontlines, Ukraine took out the advancing unit with mines, mortars, artillery fire and unmanned aircraft, with First Person View drones deployed to hunt down the retreating survivors, Kyiv said.

The battle, confirmed by the Kyiv Post and the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank, signaled just one of Russia’s latest struggles to try and take the Donetsk fortress belt, which has successfully staved off Moscow’s invasion for years.

Ukraine’s ability to fight back the Russian offensive has been attributed to its rapid, war-time innovations, with its drone and anti-drone technology evolving to be among the best in the world.

“Their level of innovation is out of this world,” Space Force Lieutenant General Steven Whitney told Congress on Tuesday.

Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander in chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, touted that more than 6,000 Russian fighters were killed between March 17 and 20.

“The enemy tried to break through the defensive formations of our troops in several strategic directions at once. Fierce battles unfolded along the entire line of combat engagement,” Syrskyis said in a statement.

“Despite the enormous pressure and the involvement of significant reserves, the Russian command was unable to fulfill the assigned tasks,” he added.

“In total, the enemy conducted 619 assault actions during these four days.”

Quote:Representative Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican and retired Air Force brigadier general, publicly criticized President Donald Trump’s approach to Russia and Ukraine late Wednesday, warning that U.S. efforts to end the war must not come at the cost of rewarding Russian aggression.

Why It Matters

The comments underscore divisions within the Republican Party over Ukraine as the Trump administration presses for a negotiated end to the war. With Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying the U.S. is tying future security guarantees to Kyiv giving up territory in eastern Ukraine, Bacon’s remarks highlight concerns that a rapid peace deal could weaken U.S. credibility and embolden Moscow.

Ukraine has relied heavily on Western military and diplomatic support since Russia’s full‑scale invasion in 2022, and any shift in U.S. policy could reshape the balance of the conflict.

What To Know

Moscow has long insisted that full control of Donbas is a core war aim, with President Vladimir Putin demanding that Ukraine withdraw from the remaining parts of the strategically important region still under Kyiv’s control. Russia claimed to annex the region after its 2022 invasion, moves that the West has rejected as illegal under international law.

Zelensky said Wednesday that the U.S. will provide security guarantees for Ukraine only if Kyiv gives up the country's eastern Donbas region to Russia.

"The Americans are prepared to finalize these guarantees at a high level once Ukraine is ready to withdraw from Donbas,” he told Reuters.

A U.S. official denied Zelensky's claims on Thursday, telling Newsweek that the U.S. has not tied security guarantees for Ukraine post-war to Kyiv giving up the Donbas region.

Bacon posted on X late Wednesday: “President Trump wants to appease President Putin. Most Americans reject it. We reject Putin.”

The post came just hours after Bacon reposted a message from Meaghan Mobbs, a national security commentator and former Trump administration official, who warned against territorial concessions in pursuit of peace.

“This is not just terrible for Ukraine, it is bad for America,” Mobbs wrote. “History shows that trading land for promises of peace has a long record of making conflicts worse, not better.”

Mobbs linked to the Reuters interview in which Zelensky warned that such a move would leave Ukraine vulnerable to renewed Russian attacks and undermine Europe’s security.

The Ukrainian president also suggested that Washington was placing greater pressure on Kyiv than on Moscow as it seeks to bring the war to a swift conclusion, noting that the Trump administration is juggling multiple global crises, including conflict in the Middle East.

Bacon, who is not seeking reelection, has been one of the most outspoken Republican critics of Trump’s stance on Ukraine. In a 2025 appearance on CBS’ 60 Minutes, he warned that Trump appeared to be echoing Kremlin talking points by suggesting Ukraine bore responsibility for the war or by downplaying the need for Western security guarantees.

Quote:President Donald Trump said his Cabinet meeting on Thursday that he wants to keep the National Guard in the nation's capital after deeming the deployment a great success that has kept the city clean and mostly crime-free.

"They love doing it," Trump said of the Guard troops, saying they view the deployments "like training," then said: "I never want to take them out of D.C. I mean, maybe someone later on will do it, but I never want to."

Newsweek reached out to the White House by email on Thursday for comment. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser's office said it had no comment.

Why It Matters

Trump deployed National Guard troops to Los Angeles in June last year following violent protests, then to Washington in August after alleging the city had fallen into "lawlessness."

Thousands of Guard members were assigned to patrol duties, infrastructure protection and city “beautification,” with Trump repeatedly describing the mission as a success and arguing that it drastically reduced crime and disorder in the city.

Tensions flared after the fatal shooting of West Virginia National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom, 20, which prompted Trump to extend the mission, saying the shooting justified the continued and strengthened presence of the Guard.

By early 2026, the Guard presence had been prolonged through the end of the year, despite legal challenges and opposition from D.C. officials.

What To Know

Trump during his Cabinet meeting extolled on the other deployments around the country, including those in Memphis, Tennessee and New Orleans, which saw drops in crime rates during the National Guard deployments, saying that he could deploy the Guard to other cities.

"You have a safe city," Trump said as he then listed similar successes in other cities where the Guard was deployed, including Memphis and New Orleans, adding: "We could do that for Chicago, we could do that for New York, we could do it for L.A."

"They open the doors for people, they carry bags, they pick up paper when they see paper on the ground," Trump said. "I looked at D.C. last night...I drove through and I said, 'take me this way, take me that way'—the city is clean, the fences are down, you don't have homeless all over your parks. I mean, we had parks, you didn't have room for anything else other than homeless. It's all clean and nice, and it'll be even more beautiful a year from now."

Leadership in cities with Guard deployments have at times disputed Trump's statements, such as when Memphis Mayor Paul Young said Trump's claim that the city supported the deployment was an "overstatement," and he disagreed on how effectively the deployment would "drive down crime."

Bowser initially resisted the D.C. deployment, calling it "un-American" to have "American soldiers and airmen policing American citizens on American soil," but by September had ordered local law enforcement in the city to coordinate with federal law enforcement.

Quote:President Donald Trump said Thursday he would sign an emergency order directing the Homeland Security secretary to immediately pay Transportation Security Administration employees as Congress struggles to resolve a budget impasse that has snarled airports and left workers without pay.

Trump announced the decision in a Truth Social post, saying the move was aimed at quickly ending what he described as “chaos at the airports.”

“It is not an easy thing to do, but I am going to do it!” the president wrote.

Newsweek reached out to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by email on Thursday for comment.

Why It Matters

DHS has remained under a funding freeze that emerged from a prolonged political standoff in Congress, driven primarily by Democratic opposition to continued funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) without reforms. Senate Democrats refused to pass DHS appropriations unless the budget was rewritten to address concerns over immigration enforcement practices, particularly after federal agents fatally shot U.S. citizens during enforcement operations earlier in 2026.

As the funding lapse dragged on, growing operational disruptions have plagued DHS agencies, especially at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). TSA officers—classified as essential workers—were required to continue reporting to work without pay, and by mid‑March, thousands missed their first full paycheck.

Negotiations to end the funding freeze have repeatedly stalled as the Senate failed multiple times to advance DHS funding bills due to the lack of bipartisan agreement. Democrats continued to insist on ICE reforms as a condition for restoring funding, while Republicans and the White House pushed for reopening DHS without those restrictions.

What To Know

Trump used his post to once again criticize and blame the Democrats for the funding shortfall, accusing the party of being "on the side of criminal illegal aliens, and not the American people."

"They are refusing to fund Immigration Enforcement unless the Republicans agree to their Open Border Policies, which will never, ever happen again," Trump wrote, adding, "Because the Democrats have recklessly created a true National Crisis, I am using my authorities under the Law to protect our Great Country, as I always will do!"

The president concluded in his post, "I want to thank our hardworking TSA Agents and also, ICE, for the incredible help they have given us at the Airports. I will not allow the Radical Left Democrats to hold our Country hostage any longer."

Trump made no clarification on the timeline for these payments, or whether they will include payment for the missed paychecks, or where the funding will come from.

Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, a Republican, earlier this week accused Trump of refusing to back a plan to pay TSA agents and end the partial shutdown, saying that the president had ordered "no deals with the Democrats" after Kennedy and Texas Senator Ted Cruz put together a plan to accept Democrat proposals on DHS funding, excluding ICE.

Quote:A blaze near Newark Liberty International Airport on Thursday afternoon prompted heightened concern around one of the nation’s busiest travel hubs.

Officials said the brush fire, which broke out at 635 Delancy St., Newark, New Jersey, was still burning as of mid‑afternoon, a Newark Fire Department spokesperson told Newsweek. While airport operations were not immediately disrupted, the proximity of the flames to the airfield raised alarms, especially in light of recent security scares at the airport. Photos and video footage captured thick plumes of smoke rising near the airport, and authorities continued monitoring conditions as crews worked to prevent the fire from spreading.

A Port Authority of New York and New Jersey spokesperson told Newsweek the fire did not occur on Port Authority property.

"Fire near Newark EWR airport just 15 minutes ago," one social media account posted on X with a video of the thick, black smoke seen from the airport.

"Radar picking up the brush fire in Newark," WABC-TV chief meteorologist Lee Goldberg posted on X.

"@EWRairport @CoryBooker @united I am currently in Terminal C. Is there any word what is happening?" one social media user asked with a video of the smoke.

Brush Fire Spotted Near Newark International Airport

There have been numerous reports of a brush fire reported near the airport. The blaze was not on airport property, but people at the airport and flyers landing there spotted the smoke. Firefighters are still responding, the Newark Fire Department spokesperson told Newsweek, and an update will be shared when available.

"Pretty big fire in sight while landing at #Newark #EWR," one social media user shared with images from the flight.

What Are TSA Wait Times Right Now at Newark International Airport?

The reports of a fire near the airport arrive amid a partial government shutdown that has left tens of thousands of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers working without pay, triggering staffing shortages that have snarled airport security nationwide as spring travel ramps up. As call-outs and resignations mount, some airports have closed screening lanes or consolidated checkpoints, leading to hourslong waits for passengers, missed flights and mounting pressure on airlines.

As of around 3:41 p.m. Eastern time Thursday, TSA wait times at Newark Liberty International Airport were only around 30 minutes, according to a website that tracks wait times around the country.

Quote:The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating after a close call Tuesday night between a United Airlines passenger plane and a Black Hawk helicopter at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California.

United Airlines flight 589 was on its final approach to John Wayne Airport when a Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopter crossed in front of its flight path at about 8:40 p.m., according to the FAA.

A United Airlines spokesperson told Fox News that the Boeing 737-800's pilots were advised by air traffic control to "watch for a military helicopter flying near the airport."

"They saw the helicopter and also received a traffic alert, which they responded to by leveling the aircraft," the spokesperson said. "The United flight then landed safely."

"Leveling" an aircraft refers to slowing or stopping descent and holding a constant altitude to increase vertical separation.

The airline confirmed 162 passengers and six crew members were on board the plane and did not report any injuries.

Air traffic control audio obtained by the New York Post indicated the United flight got close enough to the Black Hawk to set off an anti-collision warning, or "resolution advisory," from its traffic avoidance system.

The alert suggests a potential crash was only seconds away.

"United 589, just want to clarify here, did you get, uh … just a traffic call reference to the helicopter or did they restrict your altitude or anything," the controller reportedly asked the United flight.

"We had a resolution advisory for United 589, RA," a pilot replied.

"We’re gonna be addressing that because that was not good," the controller said.

The U.S. Army did not immediately respond to additional inquiries about the incident from Fox News Digital.

Quote:In her last act as secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem helped strike a new deal that would allow the Trump administration to deport immigrants from other countries to Costa Rica, the Central American nation confirmed Thursday.

Noem, now in her new role as Shield of the Americas envoy with the U.S. State Department, signed the deal permitting the so-called third-country removal of illegal immigrants who are unable to return to their home country.

Costa Rican Public Security Minister Mario Zamora Cordero said in a video message Thursday that the country was "prepared to see the flow of people." The agreement gives Costa Rica the power to accept or reject proposed transfers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Noem visited Costa Rica on Monday, as she moved to the envoy position following President Donald Trump's firing of her from DHS last month.

What Does the New Deal With Costa Rica Mean?

The new deal allows the United States to send some immigrants awaiting deportation to Costa Rica when their home countries will not accept them or have poor diplomatic relations with the U.S., making repatriation difficult.

According to the Costa Rican government, the agreement is non-binding and allows the U.S. to send non-Costa Rican deportees to the country at its discretion.

Immigrants will then be processed under Costa Rica's immigration laws under a special status. Officials said efforts will be made not to return immigrants to their home country should they face persecution.

“We are very proud to have partners like President (Rodrigo Chaves) and Costa Rica, who are working to ensure that people who are in our country illegally have the opportunity to return to their countries of origin,” Noem said on Monday.

What Are Third-Country Agreements?

Countries including Russia, China, Venezuela, and Afghanistan are just some of those the U.S. has been unable to repatriate immigrants to, meaning they are often stuck in ICE detention.

Over the past 14 months, the Trump administration has struck multiple deals with countries in Eastern Europe, Africa, and Latin America, at times in exchange for other benefits. Some agreements have seen legal challenges over conditions that the roughly 300 immigrants deported under the program have faced.

Last year, Costa Rica received around 200 immigrants from the U.S., and it was criticized for the conditions they faced. Officials have promised better conditions for new arrivals. The United Nations' International Organization for Migration will work with the local government on housing deportees, although it was not made clear where they would be held.

“This will ensure they remain in the best possible conditions while in Costa Rica and guarantee their safe return to their countries of origin,” Zamora said.

Quote:A Honduran national who has been deported four times has been charged with murder after a man was shoved onto subway tracks in New York City and died from his injuries days later.

Richard Williams, an 83-year-old Manhattan resident, died days after the March 8 incident, police said. Police arrested 34-year-old Brooklyn resident Bairon Hernandez two days later.

Why It Matters

Authorities announced that Hernandez's charges had been upgraded on Thursday, following Williams' death. Hernandez was initially facing attempted murder, assault and other charges, but those charges have been upgraded to murder, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said.

Hernandez is a Honduran national who has been deported four times since he first entered the United States illegally in 2008, according to the Department of Homeland Security. He entered the country illegally a fifth time at an unknown date and location, the agency said.

Hernandez's criminal history includes 15 prior charges of simple assault, domestic violence, obstruction of police, possession of a weapon, drug possession and aggravated assault, DHS said.

What To Know

Police said Williams was standing on the Lexington Avenue-63 Street subway platform when a man he did not know shoved him from behind, causing him to fall onto the tracks.

The suspect also pushed a 30-year-old man onto the tracks before fleeing on foot. Both victims were taken to the hospital to receive treatment for their injuries.

Hernandez was arrested after authorities asked for the public’s help in identifying the attacker, who was captured on video after the incident.

Quote:A mystery missile was reportedly launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Thursday, according to local reports.

Newsweek reached out to the Pentagon for comment via email.

What We Know About Cape Canaveral Missile Launch

The launch was reported by Florida Today and The Orlando Sentinel.

The Sentinel reported that the U.S. Coast Guard and the Department of Homeland Security issued navigational warnings earlier in the week, similar to those issued for earlier hypersonic missile tests launched from Cape Canaveral. But there had been no public announcement of the launch, and more details remained slim Thursday afternoon.

The most recent of those launches was in April 2025, the Sentinel reported.

Photographer Jerry Pike wrote on X that the Department of Defense conducted “what appeared to be another successful test of the Dark Eagle Long Range Hypersonic Weapon from Cape Canaveral this afternoon.”

However, the Pentagon had not confirmed the type of missile launched.

What Is 'Dark Eagle' Missile?

In April 2025, the military test-launched the “Dark Eagle” long-range hypersonic missile, also known as the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW).

The Dark Eagle is a ground-launched missile attached with a maneuverable hypersonic glide body as its warhead, the Congressional Research Service said in its report on Thursday. The missile has a reported range of 1,725 miles with a top speed of over 3,800 miles per hour, Newsweek previously reported.

A Congressional Research Service report on the missile reads, “The LRHW system provides the Army a strategic attack weapon system to defeat Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) capabilities, suppress adversary long-range fires, and engage other high payoff/time critical targets. The Army is working closely with the Navy in the development of the LRHW. LRHW is comprised of the Common Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB), and the Navy 34.5-inch booster.”

Quote:Former special counsel Jack Smith sought more than two years’ worth of phone records for now-FBI Director Kash Patel while Smith was investigating President Donald Trump, according to a tranche of documents released Tuesday by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

Two subpoenas showed Smith’s team asked Verizon for Patel’s phone records dating from October 2020 through February 2023. Patel first announced the subpoenas' existence in February, calling them "outrageous and deeply alarming" at the time.

Patel worked in the first Trump administration from 2019 through January 2021, before becoming an outspoken pro-Trump firebrand as a private citizen, meaning the subpoenas stretched back into his time as a government official.

The subpoenas were accompanied by one-year, court-authorized gag orders, meaning Verizon was ordered by the court not to alert Patel of their existence. It is common for prosecutors to subpoena phone records, also known as toll records, as part of investigations. The records would not include contents of messages but would show with whom Patel communicated and when.

Grassley released the documents ahead of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing examining Arctic Frost, the FBI investigation that led to Smith prosecuting Trump over the 2020 election. Patel was also a known witness in a separate FBI probe into Trump’s handling of classified documents, and it is unclear which of the investigations the subpoenas pertained to.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, voiced at the start of the hearing what many Republicans have said about the Biden DOJ’s efforts to investigate Trump, noting how the expansive probes targeted hundreds of Republican individuals and entities.

"If Watergate taught us anything, it is that even a single abuse of power carried out by a handful of individuals can shake the foundations of our republic," Cruz said. "But what we confront today, the Biden administration's Arctic Frost scheme is not a single act. It is a modern Watergate, trading a break-in at one office for a digital sweep into approximately 100,000 private communications. More than a dozen senators and thousands of individuals lives."

Smith, who became special counsel in November 2022 and resigned when Trump took office, has since appeared before Congress for public and closed-door testimony and repeatedly defended his work as by-the-book and apolitical.

Quote:Senate Democrats blocked an amendment to Trump-backed voter ID legislation that would have done something they publicly support and require photo identification to vote in federal elections.

Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have shown interest in photo voter ID, which has grown in popularity among voters across the country.

"Democrats support voter ID," Schumer said on a press call earlier this month. "In fact, we included it, and it is included, in our Freedom to Vote legislation several years ago."

Several others have also come out in support of a voter ID bill in recent weeks.

When asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins whether he would support a clean voter ID bill, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said, "Yes."

"And New Jersey has voter ID laws," Booker said. "I’ve got to show my driver’s license."

Still, Democrats blocked an amendment to the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act from Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, meant to put them on record for that position.

Schumer said ahead of the vote that "Republicans are once again wasting time on voter suppression."

"Let's let's be very clear what this amendment is," Schumer said. "It's a wolf in sheep's clothing, and it's a giant cover-up to what their bill really does, which is dramatic voter suppression, kicking 20 million or more people off the rolls without their knowledge or consent."

Senate Republicans argued that if Democrats truly support voter ID, they should back the amendment.

"That is one on which the Democrats have said — Sen. Schumer himself — that ‘we are not opposed to photo ID,’" Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said. "Well, let’s test that proposition. Let’s actually have a vote on it and see where the Democrats are."

Republicans have been engaged in a floor push on the SAVE America Act for the past 10 days, debating the legislation in a bid to shift the narrative from the GOP being unable to advance the bill out of the Senate to Democrats being the ones blocking it.

Senate Democrats have argued that while they support identification to vote, the SAVE America Act goes far beyond that requirement. Schumer and others have likened the broader bill to Jim Crow-era segregationist laws in the Deep South, saying it would disenfranchise voters, particularly minority communities and low-income Americans.

However, requiring identification is already the practice in 36 states. Of those, 23 require photo ID, while 13 accept another form of identification, such as a bank statement. Nine of those states have Democratic senators.

According to a widely cited Pew Research poll from last year, 71% of Democratic voters support showing government-issued photo ID to vote.

"I know there are a lot of issues in the SAVE America Act, but this particular one focused on photo ID as something that can be easily implemented, which is already being implemented around the country," Husted said of his amendment.

Quote:A veteran law enforcement expert is raising serious questions about the investigation into the disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie after her daughter revealed alarming new details about the night she vanished.

The concerns follow an emotional, three-part interview, "Today" show anchor Savannah Guthrie’s first since her mother disappeared, in which she described signs of a possible struggle, early fears of kidnapping and her belief that ransom notes sent to the family were real.

Randy Sutton, a retired Las Vegas police lieutenant who has been on the ground in Tucson since the early days of the investigation, told Fox News Digital those details and how they were handled early on could have had a significant impact on the trajectory of the case.

Guthrie says doors were propped open

Guthrie described a troubling scene inside her mother’s home, pointing to multiple factors she believes indicate foul play.

She said doors were open, including one that had been "propped open," there was blood on the front doorstep and the home’s Ring camera had been yanked off.

Sutton said the "propped open" door is a critical detail.

"That’s an interesting piece of evidence that we had not heard before," he said, noting there has been no public indication of forced entry.

He emphasized that investigators are dealing with multiple areas within the home, including entry points, the bedroom and locations where blood was found, making it a complex case.

At the same time, Sutton pushed back on speculation that the scene itself may have been staged.

"The question is, was the scene staged? … I don’t believe there’s anything that points to the scene being staged," he said.

Quote:WASHINGTON — King Charles III will travel to the US for a state visit late next month, a source familiar with the plans tells The Post.

While details are still being finalized, the British monarch’s itinerary includes a state dinner at the White House as well as a day trip to New York City.
Charles will visit the 9/11 Memorial in Lower Mahattan on his travel to the Big Apple, according to sources, with other stops possible.

The king is also expected to address a joint meeting of Congress, according to Punchbowl News, as part of the three-day trip, which that was first reported by Page Six.

In preparation for the royal occasion, House Republican leadership announced Monday the chamber will be in session the week of April 27 — altering the initial schedule.

Charles’ late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, made the last state visit by a member of the British Royal Family to the US in 2007, during which she marked the 400th anniversary of the settling of Jamestown, Va. and attended the Kentucky Derby.

The late queen also paid a state visit during celebrations of America’s bicentennial in 1976, while King Charles will visit ahead of the 250th birthday of the United States.

President Trump traveled to the UK in September 2025, taking Charles up on his offer of an unprecedented second state visit.

The commander in chief was previously received by Queen Elizabeth II in June 2019.

Trump is a longtime admirer of the royal family and described the current king last week to reporters as a “great guy” who would be “coming in very soon.”

However, the president has been fiercely critical of the British government headed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer over its reluctance to join the American and Israeli war against Iran, leading at least one prominent politician to suggest the royal visit should be postponed.

“If it was to go ahead, it would go ahead against a backdrop of a war, and that, I think, is quite difficult,” Labour Member of Parliament Emily Thornberry told BBC Radio 4 last week, “and the last thing that we want to do is to have Their Majesties embarrassed.”

Quote:BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s pro-Russian government has launched criminal charges against a prominent investigative journalist whom it accuses of conducting spying activities in coordination with a foreign country, a minister said on Thursday.

The journalist, Szabolcs Panyi, focuses on national security and intelligence reporting and has published extensive reports detailing Russian influence operations in Hungary as well as the relationship between Moscow and Hungary’s foreign minister.

Panyi denies the allegations, and an outlet he writes for has accused Hungary’s government of “resorting to authoritarian tactics” to discredit the journalist and his findings.

In a secret recording made without Panyi’s knowledge and released in an edited format in Hungary’s government-tied media this week, Panyi can be heard speaking to a source about confirming a phone number used by Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó as part of an investigation into Szijjártó’s communications with his Russian counterpart.

The Washington Post, citing several current and former European security officials, reported on the weekend that Szijjártó regularly conferred with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during breaks in EU council meetings to provide him with “direct reports on what was discussed” and possible solutions
Szijjártó has dismissed the report while acknowledging that he confers with Lavrov before and after EU foreign minister meetings about their agenda and decisions.

In a news conference on Thursday, Gergely Gulyás, the chief of staff to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, said Hungary’s justice minister had filed charges against Panyi on suspicion of espionage. Gulyás said Panyi had “spied against his own country in cooperation with a foreign state,” and that his role as a journalist was a “cover activity.”

Gulyás added it was “legally debatable” whether the journalist’s activities amounted to treason.

Quote:Workers were taken aback after discovering a 1,300-year-old fragment from a Viking ship during a drainage excavation project in the Netherlands.

The employees had been replacing a sewer system in Wijk bij Duurstede when they discovered a wooden beam protruding from the pavement, Jam Press reported.

While it initially appeared to be an ordinary piece of timber, volunteer and amateur archaeologist Danny van Basten recognized the significance of the artifact and flagged the find to experts.

Specialists from maritime foundation Stichting Beheer Vikingschip and Museum Dorestad arrived to inspect the piece, which measured 10 feet in length and sported cut notches, shaping marks and other worked surfaces indicative of shipbuilding methods.

The features suggested it could be part of a ship’s frame, according to shipbuilder Kees Sterrenburg.

Based on its orientation and nearby pottery shards, experts deduced that the beam dated back to the Carolingian period (circa 700 to 800 A.D.) — a watershed epoch defined by fledgling medieval trade routes and the expansion of Northern European power, Arkeonews.net reported.

During this period, Frankish king Charlemagne and his successors exerted their influence over Western and Central Europe, notably conquering Gaul, Germany and Italy.

The era also saw rivers like the Rhine serve as important arteries for commerce with Dorestad — the ancient hub on which Wijk bij Duurstede sits — becoming a riverine trading mecca that linked ancient France with Scandinavian and North Sea trade routes.

According to researchers, the beam could also be linked to the uptick in Viking activity, as during that time, Norse sea raiders traded with and sometimes raided Carolingian communities.

Another possibility is that the framework could be part of a cog ship — a medieval trading vessel — which suggested it could have been from much later, circa 1,300 A.D.

To nail down the timber’s provenance, the beam will need to be cleaned and its rings analyzed so they can gauge its exact age, per municipal archaeologist and investigation leader Anne de Hoop.

Quote:Wild video shows a raging bull knocking out a Peruvian festival goer with a brutal flying headbutt.

The bull was one of many racing through the streets of the San José fair’s annual “Running of the Bulls” event Monday inspired by the traditional stampedes in Pamplona, Spain.

As other onlookers managed to get out of its way, the bull suddenly took flight — slamming headfirst into Cesar del Rio Ganoza, who was knocked out cold, Peruvian broadcaster Latina Noticias reported.

As other onlookers screamed in horror, several men ran out into the street to aid him and carry him to safety out of shot, video shared on X showed.

Luckily, Ganoza, who is thought to be in his 50s, appeared to escape without serious injury, later sharing a picture of his bandaged face and nose as he recovered in a hospital.

Fellow reveler Gianluca Monterosso Encomenderos, 25, was injured during the stampede and needed 20 stitches in his arm.

Bullfighting and bull runs remain popular in Peru – despite animal rights campaigns to ban the sport.

Quote:This puts the “white” in “Great White.”

Move over “Cocaine Bear.” Brazilian scientists have discovered traces of nose candy, caffeine and painkillers in sharks swimming in waters around the Bahamas.

These “blow-fish” aren’t getting hooked on purpose — it’s the fallout from an uptick in marine pollutants, per an a-jaw-calyptic study published in the journal Environmental Pollution.

“Pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs are increasingly recognized as contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in marine environments, particularly in areas undergoing rapid urbanization and tourism-driven development,” the researchers wrote while describing the troubling shark-otics trend.

To see whether these marine marauders were under the influence, the team had reportedly analyzed blood samples from 85 specimens around Eleuthera, one of the Bahamas’ most remote islands. The subjects were drug-tested for both legal and illegal substances.

Of the samples, a shocking 28 sharks spanning three species tested positive for drugs, the most common of which was caffeine. This was followed by acetaminophen and diclofenac, the active ingredients in the popular painkillers Tylenol and Voltaren.

Meanwhile, two of the animals tested positive for cocaine, which researchers attributed to them chomping on drug packets that fell into the water.

“They bite things to investigate and end up exposed,” study author Natascha Wosnick of the Federal University of Paraná in Brazil, told Science News.

This reportedly marked the first time cocaine had been detected in sharks in the Bahamas — trace amounts had previously been found in sharks in Brazil — and the first instance of the critters testing positive for caffeine anywhere on Earth.

Researchers noted that the drug-addled predators had been taken from popular tourist and dive spots, suggesting that they’d been exposed to wastewater from boats and urban developments, which may have been polluted with the aforementioned substances.

Quote:French police said they arrested a suspect early Saturday who allegedly tried to ignite a homemade explosive device outside a Bank of America building in Paris.

The incident has now prompted a counterterrorism investigation and raised questions about recruitment via social media apps after the suspect told police he was recruited on Snapchat, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

The arrest occurred around 3:30 a.m. local time on Rue de la Boétie after officers intercepted a person placing a five-liter container believed to contain fuel and an ignition device that included approximately 1.5 pounds of explosive powder, the report said.

Authorities said a second individual fled the scene, while the arrested suspect claimed to be a minor of Senegalese nationality. Officials said they were still verifying the person’s identity.

The Context

Laurent Nuñez, France’s interior minister, on Saturday praised the rapid police response and referenced the broader international context of threats against U.S.- and Israeli-linked assets since the outbreak of the Iran war that began late last month, highlighting the government’s emphasis on vigilance.

Earlier this week, Nuñez said French authorities have increased personal protection of some figures from the Iranian opposition and stepped-up security around sites that could be a target, including sites linked to U.S. interests and to the Jewish community, the Associated Press reported.

What To Know

Police detained the suspect as he allegedly attempted to ignite the device with a lighter in front of a Bank of America building on Rue de la Boétie, near the Champs-Élysées in Paris’ 8th arrondissement, according to police sources cited by AFP.

Initial assessments indicated the ignition component contained about 1.5 pounds of explosive powder and the container held a little over a gallon of liquid believed to be fuel. The device was taken by authorities for further forensic analysis, RFI reported.

The suspect told police he was recruited via Snapchat and offered money to carry out the attack, with reported amounts varying between €300 ($346) and €600 (about $692), according to multiple outlets, citing police sources.

A second person fled the scene, and one account said the accomplice appeared to step back to take a photo or video during the device placement, reports said.

France’s National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office said it opened an investigation into attempted damage by fire or dangerous means in connection with a terrorist enterprise, manufacturing incendiary or explosive devices, and terrorist criminal conspiracy, and confirmed the suspect was in custody, according to AFP.

A Bank of America spokesperson said the company was aware of the situation and is in communication with French authorities, the outlet reported.

Quote:Three Chinese ships, including two owned by China’s biggest shipping company, were turned away from the Strait of Hormuz on Friday after attempting to exit the Persian Gulf, ship-tracking data showed.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, said later in a statement that the strait was shut, directly contradicting an earlier claim by President Donald Trump that Tehran had agreed to let some ships through.

The CSCL Indian Ocean and the CSCL Arctic Ocean, two Hong Kong-flagged container ships belonging to a unit of China’s COSCO Shipping, had identified themselves as Chinese-owned and -crewed while sailing toward the waters between Larak and Qeshm islands, where Iran has been running an unofficial “toll booth” for pre-approved ships.

Both ships made abrupt U-turns near the passage at approximately 3:20 a.m. and 3:50 a.m. universal coordinated time, according to the ship-tracking service MarineTraffic, which captured signals transmitted by the vessels’ automatic identification system, or AIS.

It was COSCO’s first attempt to send ships through the strait since the company resumed bookings for Middle East-bound containers this week, “indicating that safe passage could not be guaranteed,” MarineTraffic said.

“This marks the first attempted crossing by a major container carrier since the start of the conflict,” it said. COSCO, the world’s fourth-largest shipping line, handles about 10 percent of the world’s seaborne freight.

A third ship, the Marshall Islands-flagged, Hong Kong-owned bulk carrier Lotus Rising, also turned back from the strait in the early hours of Friday while broadcasting its destination as “China owner,” its AIS data showed.

All three vessels remain in the gulf, west of Hormuz, where COSCO has at least six crude oil tankers stuck in the waters, according to Bloomberg.

Shanghai-based COSCO could not be reached for comment after hours.

Quote:About 1,500 Iranians were intercepted at the border during the Biden Administration, but it’s the unknown number who got through that is alarming officials — who told The Post “sleeper cells” are a grave potential threat to the nation.

“We have no idea how many people got around obviously. The numbers are deeply concerning,” said Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who previously served as US ambassador to Japan during the first Trump administration.

About half of the intercepted Iranians were released into the country, Hagerty said, apparently referencing a Fox News report last year that 1,504 Iranians were arrested at the border between 2021 and 2024, with 700 released into the country pending court cases.

The US has long listed Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism.

The number of Iranians intercepted at the border grew to 1,650 between 2022 and 2025, according to Customs and Border Patrol data cited by the nonpartisan Niskanen Center. Many flew through Sao Paolo, Brazil, a “hub” for passport fraud.

Hagerty’s comments came after the feds sent out a security alert warning of a possible effort by Iran to direct “prepositioned sleeper assets,” even as much of its top leadership has been wiped out through relentless US and Israeli air attacks.

The caution raised fears that Iran, which has continued to hammer its Gulf neighbors and whose retaliation has led to the deaths of at least 13 American service members, could find a way to strike on the home front.

President Trump acknowledged the concerns March 11.

“A lot of people came in through Biden with his stupid open border, but we know where most of them are: We’ve got our eye on all of them, I think,” he said.

Homeland security concerns rose even higher when a deranged Lebanese American man slammed a car packed with explosives into a synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan, and an ISIS-linked gunman opened fire at Old Dominion University in Virginia, killing an ROTC instructor.

FBI Director Kash Patel and CIA Director John Ratcliffe also met with Republican senators in the Capitol this month to discuss expiring federal surveillance authority, as security fears at home intensify.

Quote:Exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi warned a crowd at CPAC Saturday not to leave any faction of Iran’s current regime in power.

“You cannot reform a snake. Venom is in its DNA,” Pahlavi, 65, told cheering supporters at the annual conservative gathering held in Grapevine, Texas this year.

The son of the shah of Iran, who was overthrown during the 1979 revolution that brought the Islamic Republic to power, Pahlavi said the people of Iran “will never agree to swap one tyrant for another.”

He spoke as the joint US-Israeli war on Iran — that launched with a Feb. 28 strike that took out former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dozens of the country’s top leaders — entered its fifth week.

President Trump, who extended a deadline for Tehran to re-open the Strait of Hormuz or risk massive bombing of its power plants, has said negotiations are underway with the Iranians on finding a way to end the conflict.

At the outset of the war, Trump urged Iranians to “take over your government.”

He has also ridiculed Iran’s new hardline supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamanei, who has not been seen in public since coming to power after his father’s killing — with the president labeling him a “lightweight.”

Trump has also said that he wants a hand in picking Tehran’s next leader. The State Department has placed a $10 million bounty on the younger Khamenei and other senior regime officials.

Pahlavi, who lives in the US, told the enthusiastic CPAC crowd that “another anti-American tyrant will not serve American interests either.” He said if such a faction of the repressive regime were to linger it would “buy time” and “pretend to negotiate” before returning to its “jihadist ways of threatening America.”

“Life can never go back to normal,” he said.

There is a sea of blood between the people and the regime. After all the massacres, after all they have sacrificed, they will never agree to swap one tyrant for another.”

Quote:Please, sir, can he have some more?

Russian President Vladimir Putin is going hat-in-hand to wealthy oligarchs, asking them to donate cold hard cash to boost the country’s depleted economy during its war in Ukraine.

Putin made the embarrassing request before a large group of Russia’s financial elite on Thursday — and promised to keep the war going until victory is reached despite the economic strain it’s caused, sources familiar with the meeting told the Financial Times.

It’s the latest shakedown by Putin to get Russia’s wealthiest to foot the bill for the war in Ukraine, now in its fifth year — but the first time he’s appealed to business magnates directly.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied reports that the donations would be spent on the war, although he told Russian news outlets the idea was discussed and Putin “welcomed the initiative.”

“One of the participants of the meeting indeed said that he finds it necessary to set aside a certain very large sum of money for the state. This was his family decision,” Peskov said, according to Interfax.

The unnamed tycoon “argued that the vast majority of participants in the meeting started their businesses in the 1990s, and got their start with some or other connection to the state. So many consider it their burden to make such contributions,” he added.

Putin asking directly for funds essentially guarantees that the businessmen, who are largely supporters of the military campaign in Ukraine, will fork over money to his government, according to the Financial Times.

At least two businessmen told Putin they would be happy to donate, including billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, who pledged more than $1.2 billion, sources told the outlet.

Russia’s economy defense budget soared 42% last year as the ruble value plummeted.

Quote:

A wave of Russian drone strikes brought “pure terror” to Ukraine overnight into Saturday, destroying a maternity hospital and leaving four dead and more than a dozen others wounded.

Moscow launched over 270 drones at targets across Ukraine and pounded civilian infrastructure primarily in the city of Odesa, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.

Odesa, a southern port city, was swarmed by over 60 drones, and a child was among those injured in the strikes, Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky said.

“There was no military purpose whatsoever – this was pure terror against ordinary civilian life. … Each such strike proves that Russia does not want to end the war,” Zelensky said about the conflict that has now raged for over four years.

The roof of the maternity hospital was blown apart by the blast, along with connecting structures between two floors and multiple wards.

Medics were able to save 22 newborn babies, including twins on ventillator support along with 32 other patients who were evacuated from the Odesa hospital into a shelter, the hospital’s chief doctor Ihor Shpak said.

Two were killed, and at least 13 wounded in the strikes on Odesa, military administration chief Sergiy Lysak said.

Images posted by Zelensky on Telegram show Ukrainian firefighters trying to extinguish blazes in bombed-out residential buildings surrounded by rubble and debris from broken windows.

A Russian strike on Ukrainian gas production facilities killed a 55-year-old energy worker, energy company Naftogaz said.

A 28-year-old man was also killed in a Russian strike on a residential building in the city of Kryvyi Rih.

Quote:The three Baltic NATO nations have issued an "urgent" warning to the alliance following repeated drone incursions into their airspace in recent days.

Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia said on Friday the breaches "highlight the urgent need to continue enhancing our preparedness and investing in defense capabilities."

It comes after Latvia and Estonia said earlier this week Ukrainian drones strayed into their airspace from Russia amid the ongoing war.

Latvian officials said the wreckage of a drone had been found near its borders with Russia and Belarus. Separately, Estonian authorities said a drone hit the chimney of a power plant near its border with Moscow. No injuries were reported.

Why It Matters

Repeated incursions by Russian drones and fighter jets into NATO airspace have increased fears of Moscow's war spreading beyond Ukraine's borders.

Under the alliance's founding treaty, its members are collectively obliged to treat attacks on any member state as an assault on the whole alliance. This acts a key part of its deterrence to adversary nations.

What To Know

Following this week's drone incursions, the Baltic defense ministers praised NATO's Air Policing mission, which aims to maintain the security of the alliance's airspace. But they said the incidents highlighted the "importance to further strengthen multi-layered air defense."

"While NATO's mission Eastern Sentry has clearly demonstrated its value, NATO's efforts to strengthen air defense, including countering drones, must be accelerated," the ministers said in a joint statement.

"Allies must urgently reinforce the capabilities required for effective detection and interception. The current presence of NATO aircraft and air defense systems in the Baltic states must be maintained and further strengthened to counter all air threats, including unmanned aerial vehicles."

They added the Baltic nations are investing at least 5 percent of their GDP on defense, prioritizing the procurement of air defense capabilities, and the development of anti-drone systems and acoustic sensors.

On Wednesday, Egils Leščinskis, Latvia's deputy chief of the Joint Staff, said the Ukrainian drone "most likely veered off course or was affected by electromagnetic warfare measures protecting some technically important objects." The defense ministers said an investigation into the incident was ongoing.

Meanwhile on Thursday, debris from a Russian drone used to attack Ukraine landed in NATO nation Romania, the country's ministry of national defense said.

Two F-16 fighter jets took off from the 86th Air Base in Borcea at 00.16 a.m. local time to monitor the situation, it said.

The ministry added one drone was diverted by Ukrainian air defenses and entered Romanian airspace, before crashing about 1.2 miles from the town of Parches in an uninhabited area.

Separately, fellow NATO nation Poland announced on Tuesday it had launched an air operation aimed at preventing Russian drone incursions in its airspace.

Poland's Operational Command of the Armed Forces wrote on X it had "activated the necessary forces and resources" to tackle the Shahed-type drones, including fighter jets and helicopters.

Quote:Multiple drones crossed into NATO member Finland, officials said on Sunday, the latest in a spate of uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) incidents hitting the alliance's eastern flank.

One drone landed north of the southeastern Finnish city of Kouvola, while another landed east of the area, according to Helsinki's Defense Ministry.

The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania—all NATO members—said in recent days that several Ukrainian drones had careened into their territory during intensified attacks on Russian oil and gas facilities perched on the Baltic Sea.

Kouvola sits roughly 45 miles west of Russian territory. Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Moscow's fuel export sites in the country's western Leningrad region, which borders Finland, including the major port of Ust-Luga.

Leningrad Governor Alexander Drozdenko said early on Sunday 36 Ukrainian drones had been intercepted over the region and emergency services were putting at a fire at Ust Luga.

Finnish officials have not said where the drones came from, nor who launched the UAVs.

Ukraine's military had not commented at the time of writing on Sunday, but Kyiv has vowed to continue targeting Moscow's oil and gas facilities that provide vital funds for its war effort.

"Drones have strayed into Finnish territory. We are taking the matter very seriously," Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen said in a statement on Sunday.

Authorities described the drones as small, flying low and traveling slowly. Helsinki said the country would release more information as investigations progress.

Ukrainian drones sparked a blaze at the Ust-Luga port on Wednesday, from which Russia ships out crude oil and liquefied natural gas out to the Baltic. The site also handles general cargo and other exports propping up Russia's economy.

During the Ukrainian drone attack earlier this week, one drone hit the chimney of a power plant in eastern Estonia. Another crashed and exploded in neighboring Latvia.

Kyiv said it had attacked the Ust-Luga port area in August 2025.

Ukraine's military separately said it had struck an oil terminal at Primorsk, about 30 miles from Finnish soil, and another refinery east of Moscow early on March 23. A fire broke at Primorsk, which sees roughly 60 million tons of oil each year, Kyiv said.

Quote:The Tucson Police Department in Arizona has said it arrested former Pima County Sheriff’s deputy Travis Reynolds, 22, on one count of kidnapping tied to alleged on-duty misconduct in the department confirmed to Fox News Digital.

The Context

The arrest of a former deputy on a kidnapping charge comes as Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos faces a no-confidence vote and mounting scrutiny over the department’s handling of a separate case—the search for 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, missing mother of Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie.

What To Know

The Tucson Police Department confirmed to Fox News Digital that Reynolds was taken into custody and charged with kidnapping, adding that the investigation remains active and declining to release more details.

Reynolds was fired by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department—which has been investigating Guthrie’s disappearance—following his arrest, the outlet reported.

The department reportedly declined to comment to Fox News digital on whether Reynolds had any role in Guthrie’s case before he was terminated.

According to an interim complaint reported by Tucson news outlet KOLD, Reynolds allegedly commented on a female detainee’s appearance, shared a vape pen with her while she remained handcuffed, and suggested going to a hotel to have sex.

The complaint alleges that Reynolds showed the detainee sexually explicit videos, and also says he instructed the alleged victim to expose herself before taking her into the jail, according to KOLD. It also reported that jail surveillance video corroborated parts of the incident account.

Reynolds' defense attorney said he has no prior criminal history and is a lifelong Arizona resident, per Fox News Digital.

Newsweek contacted the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and Tucson Police Department for comment via email early on Sunday.

Quote:Nearly two months after Nancy Guthrie vanished from her Tucson, Arizona-area home, a former Pima County sheriff is accusing current Sheriff Chris Nanos of mishandling the crime scene—as Nanos simultaneously faces a no-confidence vote, a recall effort, and scrutiny over his disciplinary past.

Newsweek reached out to Nanos via an email to the sheriff's department on Saturday for comment.

The Context

Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, was last seen at her home outside Tucson, Arizona, on January 31 and reported missing on February 1. Authorities believe the 84-year-old was kidnapped, and that drops of her blood were found on her front porch.

Last month, the FBI released surveillance footage from a doorbell camera, showing a masked man, whom they called a suspect, outside Guthrie's front door on the night she disappeared. But since then, investigators have not identified a suspect or provided the public with information about any significant breakthroughs in the case.

What To Know

In a Friday episode of NewsNation's Brian Entin Investigates, Dr. Richard Carmona—a former U.S. surgeon general and former Pima County sheriff—told senior national correspondent Brian Entin that Nanos made a fundamental error by personally announcing the reopening of the crime scene at Nancy Guthrie's Catalina Foothills home.

"That's not something a sheriff does," Carmona said. "It's the lead detective that's out there that says, we can open this area now because we have made this determination that all of the evidence necessary has been photographed, bagged, tagged, and so on."

Carmona also pointed to a February incident in which a Domino's delivery driver—fulfilling an order placed by a viewer for an independent journalist at the scene—walked across Guthrie's front lawn and up to the front door during an active investigation. Deputies on scene did not intervene.

"If you're going to court and you're making a case, a defense attorney says, 'That crime scene was corrupted—you had people delivering pizzas,'" Carmona said. "'How do we know this is real evidence?'"

He was unsparing on the question of reconstituting the scene after the fact. "Once it has been corrupted, that's the end of it," he said. "You have not maintained the integrity of that space."

Carmona added: "The public has to have trust in its law enforcement agency. You cannot lead without trust. And when you have a sheriff that has to keep correcting himself and changing his story every day, the public loses faith in you."

Separately, the Pima County Deputies Organization (PCDO), which represents more than 300 sheriff's department members, unanimously passed a no-confidence vote against Nanos on March 24, calling for his immediate resignation.

The vote followed reporting by The Arizona Republic that Nanos had resigned from the El Paso Police Department in 1982— two years earlier than listed on his public resume—to avoid termination over disciplinary issues including excessive force, insubordination and off-duty gambling. The sheriff's department attributed the discrepancy to "clerical errors."

On Tuesday, the Pima County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to compel Nanos to answer questions under oath, citing a territorial-era state law that could allow for his removal if he fails to comply.

Quote:The FBI responded to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport after an American Airlines flight was diverted on Sunday, authorities confirmed to Newsweek.

The diversion was prompted by a "disruptive customer," a spokesperson for the airline said in an emailed statement, adding that customers were deplaned as law enforcement responded to the aircraft.

Personnel from the Michigan FBI were also on the scene, a spokesperson from the agency confirmed, adding there is "no current threat to the public at this time."

More information on the nature of the disturbance was not immediately available and no arrests or charges were announced by authorities.

The Context

The diversion affected passengers traveling on a major corridor between New York and Chicago and prompted a federal law enforcement response at one of the nation’s busiest Midwestern hubs during the peak spring break travel season.

The incident occurred amid heightened scrutiny at U.S. airports following the deadly crash at LaGuardia Airport in New York last week and ongoing issues with security wait times for travelers amid a pay stoppage for Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents amid a partial government shutdown.

What To Know

American Airlines Flight 2819 departed New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport at 8:59 a.m. Eastern and landed at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus at 11:08 a.m., flight-tracking data showed. It was bound for O'Hare International Airport.

The FBI and Wayne County Airport Authority Police met the aircraft on the tarmac and isolated it per airport procedure.

Once deplaned, passengers waited in the terminal while authorities completed and later cleared a search of the aircraft out of an abundance of caution, officials said.

An American Airlines spokesperson said the diversion was due to a “disruptive customer” but did not immediately release additional details about what occurred on board.

The FBI’s Detroit field office said there was “no current threat to the public,” and local officials indicated airport operations continued while the investigation proceeded.

Quote:Part 1 of a five-part Fox News Digital series investigation follows the money that created the "Revolutionary Base" for a transnational network of organizations allegedly waging cognitive warfare on U.S. citizens on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.

As far-left American activists flood Cuba to support its flailing communist regime, U.S. officials have opened a sprawling investigation into an anti-America, pro-China nonprofit network forged during a wedding celebration in late February 2017, off Runaway Bay on Jamaica’s northern coast.

There, beneath a canopy of palm trees, an elite cadre of activists, intellectuals, celebrities, political organizers and comrades in a global Marxist-Leninist-Maoist movement assembled to celebrate the "Revolutionary Love" of two luminaries, both 62 at the time: Neville Roy Singham, an American-born tech tycoon living in Shanghai, and Jodie Evans, a red-haired veteran activist and co-founder of CodePink Women for Peace.

Like the opening scene of "The Godfather," where powerful families consolidate power, the wedding celebration was about much more than the union of two people.

Over four days of dancing, lectures and late-night conversations in venues from the Flavor Beach Bar to Sharkey’s Seafood, celebrating the bond of "Roy and Jodie," alliances were formed that would shape protests, unrest and political agitation over the next decade, from the fiery 2020 scenes in Minneapolis to demonstrations today supporting the regimes in Cuba and Iran.

That weekend, Vijay Prashad, an academic described in the official wedding itinerary as a "Marxist intellectual," spoke on a panel, "The Future of the Left." Medea Benjamin, Evans’ friend and CodePink co-founder, danced barefoot at the wedding in a bright Indian outfit.

Mao’s Blueprint for the ‘People’s War’

According to sources, the wedding attendees invoked the teachings of Mao Zedong, the 20th century Chinese Communist Party leader who ruled China with an iron fist, inspired by Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, and they discussed how to mobilize the masses to wage a Maoist "People’s War."

"The revolutionary war is a war of the masses," Mao said in 1934.

Many were themselves relics of the Cold War, growing up before the Soviet Union was dismantled in 1989.

A monthslong Fox News Digital investigation pinpoints the Jamaica wedding as a starting point for launching a network of organizations that is today waging a new "People’s War" on America, aligned with the Chinese Communist Party’s geopolitical ambitions to eclipse the U.S. as a superpower through economic programs like the "Belt and Road" initiative, realizing the vision of China’s ideological godfather, Mao, through trade partnerships, economic deals and pro-China propaganda.

National security experts call it cognitive warfare.

Over almost a decade, Fox News Digital has learned, Singham and Evans have activated a global network that now numbers an estimated 2,000 hard-left organizations that parrot anti-U.S. propaganda supporting autocratic regimes leading China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela and Gaza. Within activist circles, far-left critics refer to leftists who align with authoritarian regimes as "tankies." Many groups and leaders from Singham's network, including Evans and Benjamin, are part of the pro-communist convoy now in Cuba.

Fox News Digital has established a documented $278 million that flowed from Singham into organizations that "sow discord" in the U.S., as House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith put it recently at a hearing on foreign malign influence in the nonprofit industry.

According to the data, Singham created a base from which the U.S. is now one of the world’s most prolific exporters of radical pro-China communist ideology. Singham and Evans didn't respond to requests for comment.

Quote:he wealthy Marxist businessman behind a sprawling far-left network is collaborating with the Chinese Communist Party to denigrate the Allied actions in World War II in an effort to upend the U.S.-led international system and to advance Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s “new world order.”

China-based businessman Neville Roy Singham leads and funds a global financial and activist network that operates inside the U.S. and many other countries, and while he rarely grabs the spotlight for himself in public speeches, he did so in November through the release of a report that denigrates U.S. and Allied Power contributions to WWII.

Singham directly admitted during a CCP-backed forum in Shanghai in November that he had written the 174-page report to combat the U.S.-backed “international rules-based order” — which he called a “lie” — and to help the CCP and its longtime strongman Xi achieve a “new world order” more favorable to China.

Singham: “Fascism was defeated not by Anglo-American capital but by socialist leadership and mass heroism”
The wealthy communist activist summed up the crux of his WWII argument thusly: “As we commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory in the World Anti-Fascist War (WAFW), the Western powers spin their familiar tale: U.S. industrial might and British resolve saved the world from fascism. This is a lie. The truth burns in the numbers: while the Western powers calculated their economic advantage, the Soviet and Chinese peoples paid in blood. Fascism was defeated not by Anglo-American capital but by socialist leadership and mass heroism – a brilliant strategy from Moscow and Yan’an, unbreakable resilience from workers and peasants who refused to surrender, and a sacrifice that saved humanity from slavery.”

To back up Singham’s revisionist historical efforts — which he dubbed “restorationist” — he sought to excuse Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s alliance with Nazi dictator Adolph Hitler which carved up swaths of Eastern Europe, to claim that Hitler and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill were morally equivalent.

Singham ignored the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, signed August 23, 1939, a non-aggression treaty between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that secretly divided Eastern Europe into spheres of influence. That deal facilitated the German invasion of Poland less than a month later on September 1, 1939, and a subsequent Soviet invasion of Poland on September 17, enabling both powers to seize surrounding territory.

Just the News has previously reported on how numerous far-left radical activist groups have leadership links or financial ties to the funding network backed by Singham, who himself is linked to the CCP and whom some in his network call “Comrade” — and who has also been scrutinized by Republican congressional investigators.

Singham did not respond to a request for comment sent by Just the News through his wife Jodie Evans, the co-founder of Code Pink.

Singham excuses Stalin over “necessary” alliance with Hitler
Singham also sought to excuse Stalin’s non-aggression treaty with Hitler, despite the fact that the Hitler-Stalin Pact allowed the Nazis and the Soviets to divide up large swaths of Eastern Europe between themselves.

History.com noted that “the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact contained a secret protocol specifying the spheres of influence in Eastern Europe both parties would accept after Hitler conquered Poland” and that “the Soviet Union would acquire the eastern half of Poland, along with Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.”

Singham wrote that “facing isolation, Stalin signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in August 1939 — not from choice but from necessity created by Western collusion with Hitler.” This is a common trope from Soviet apologists.

Historian Roger Moorhouse wrote in his book, The Devils’ Alliance: Hitler’s Pact with Stalin, 1939-1941, that the Hitler-Stalin Pact “was in force for less than two years, ending with Hitler’s attack on Stalin’s Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 — but it was nonetheless one of the salient events of World War II.”

“This aspect of Soviet belligerence is more than just a curiosity. Postwar writing on the Nazi-Soviet Pact such that there is long tended to parrot the Kremlin’s postwar exculpatory line that Stalin was merely buying time by signing the pact, fending Hitler off while he could prepare Soviet defenses to meet an expected attack. This interpretation, still hawked by communist apologists to this day, does not tally with the evidence, however,” the historian wrote. “As this book shows, Stalin was much more proactive and anti-Western in signing the pact than has conventionally been appreciated. His motivations were complex, of course, but on one level at least, he was seeking to exploit Nazi aggression to his own ends, to speed the fall of the West and capitalism’s long-awaited collapse. An unwilling or passive ‘neutral,’ he was not.”

Xi’s “new world order” requires “restorationist” anti-Western view of WWII
Singham made it clear last November when introducing his anti-American report that changing how the world views the history of WWII was key to the CCP’s and Xi’s efforts to change the globe’s power dynamics and to end American dominance, as he labeled the modern West as fascist.

Quote:Far-left “Squad” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) violated federal election and House ethics rules by misusing nearly $19,000 in campaign cash last year on a shrink who specializes in controversial ketamine therapy, a bombshell new complaint claims.

DC-based National Legal and Policy Center filed a joint complaint Friday with the Federal Elections Commission and the Office of Congressional Conduct, demanding both enforcement agencies probe Ocasio-Cortez, her congressional campaign committee and its treasurer, Frank Llewellyn.

The government watchdog group want authorities to determine whether the money paid to Boston-based Dr. Brian Boyle was fraudulently documented in official filings as “leadership training and consulting.”

The complaint was filed in response to an exclusive Post story last week that revealed the suspicious shrink spending.

“There is reason to believe that AOC’s use of campaign funds to pay for a psychiatrist who has no experience in ‘leadership training’ was not for a ‘bona fide campaign or political purpose,’ but rather for personal psychiatric therapy for AOC or her campaign staff,” the group’s counsel Paul Kamenar, wrote in the complaint.

Using congressional campaign funds for personal use is prohibited by law, and violators face fines and up to five years in prison. They could also be forced to reimburse their campaign fund out of pocket for any misspent money.

The NLPC requested the commission “impose appropriate penalties and disciplinary sanctions against AOC.”

The group also asked the Office of Congressional Conduct, or OCC, to refer the matter to the House Ethics Committee, which unlike the OCC, can issue subpoenas to witnesses and impose disciplinary action against the socialist lawmaker.

AOC has previously talked about her own mental health, claiming she was in therapy following the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, when she said lawmakers effectively “served in war.”

Quote:President Donald Trump said “Cuba is next” during a speech at an investment forum in Miami on Friday, raising fresh concerns about potential U.S. action against the island nation.

The remark came as Trump highlighted what he described as successful military operations in Venezuela and Iran, though he offered no clear details on what his statement meant in practice.

Newsweek contacted the White House via an online form and Cuba's defense department by email on Saturday for comment.

Why It Matters

Trump’s comments signal a possible escalation in U.S. foreign policy toward Cuba at a time of heightened global tensions. The administration has already taken aggressive steps in several other countries, and even vague suggestions of military involvement could increase instability in the region and strain diplomatic efforts currently underway.

What to Know

Speaking in Miami, as reported by Reuters and Al Jazeera, Trump praised the strength of the U.S. military and suggested it may need to be used despite earlier hopes it would not. He then added that Cuba could be next, before quickly downplaying the remark. He did not outline any specific plan for the country.

Trump told the audience he had built a powerful military that he hoped would not need to be used, but added that “sometimes you have to use it,” before stating that Cuba is next and then urging listeners to “pretend I didn’t say that.”

Trump has repeatedly argued that Cuba’s government is close to collapse amid a deepening economic crisis. The country has been struggling with severe fuel shortages and economic disruption, in part due to the loss of oil shipments from Venezuela following the removal of former leader Nicolás Maduro.

At the same time, the Trump administration has opened talks with Cuban officials in recent weeks. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has confirmed negotiations are taking place in an effort to avoid a potential confrontation.

Earlier this month, Trump also suggested Cuba could face a “friendly takeover,” before adding that it might not be friendly, underscoring the ambiguity surrounding U.S. intentions.

Díaz-Canel, meanwhile, has acknowledged ongoing discussions with Washington, emphasizing efforts to prevent escalation as Cuba faces mounting economic pressure.

Quote:WASHINGTON — A security scare at Palm Beach International Airport Sunday prompted the Air Force to scramble F-16 fighter jets and deploy flares — hours before Air Force One was slated to fly President Trump back to DC.

Authorities imposed a ground stop at the airport as they rushed to confront the civilian aircraft.

The White House said that the security scare took place after authorities lost communication with a general aviation plane.

“The civilian aircraft violated the Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) at approximately 1:15 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The aircraft was safely escorted out of the area by NORAD aircraft,” the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service explained in a statement shared by the North American Aerospace Defense Command — which controls the airspace over the US and Canada.

“The flares were used to draw attention from or communicate with the pilot. Flares are employed with the highest regard for safety, burn out quickly and completely, and pose no danger to people on the ground.”

The White House and Secret Service said that neither Air Force One nor Trump was in danger.

“A general aviation aircraft was briefly out of communication with the air traffic control tower at Palm Beach International Airport, but contact was ultimately established and the ground stop was lifted,” a White House official told The Post.

“There was no drone incursion or concern regarding Air Force One, which is not slated to take off until this evening.”The president was at Trump International Golf Course during the time of the security incident at Palm Beach International Airport.

Initial reports suggested that some sort of drone incursion at the airport triggered the ground stop, with footage showing a Delta pilot informing passengers of the security scare.

The pilot claimed that “they had to scramble some helicopters to go and investigate” the situation.

A Secret Service spokesperson said that the helicopter seen taking off was likely not related to the security scare.

“While airspace violations are relatively common, particularly outside of Washington, DC, that helicopter referenced in the tweet was actually authorized for that specific area and was not related to a drone or Temporary Flight Restriction, TFR, violation,” the spokesperson said.

When asked for comment about the ordeal, the Federal Aviation Administration told The Post that “Operations are normal after the FAA slowed traffic at Palm Beach International Airport due to volume,” but declined to give an on-the-record explanation about the ground stop.

Quote:Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has submitted her government's resignation after her left-wing coalition fell short of securing enough seats to form a government in Tuesday's election.

Her move will kick off negotiations on Wednesday to determine ⁠whether ⁠the next government will be formed by Frederiksen ‌or another party leader.

Frederiksen's Social Democrats party won the most votes and secured only 38 seats in the country's 179-seat parliament, marking the party's worst result since 1903. The left-leaning "red bloc" won a total of 84 seats, six short of the 90 needed for a majority. Meanwhile, the right-leaning "blue bloc" won 77 seats.

Frederiksen has been a firm opponent of President Donald Trump following his calls to take control of Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark. Approval ratings for Frederiksen's former government surged in response to Trump's actions, and the timing of the snap election was seen as a way for it to capitalize on the swell of support.

Frederiksen is viewed favorably by the EU for her stance on Greenland and efforts to increase Denmark's defence spending considering the security threat posed by Russia. In January, she warned that if President Donald Trump could enact a takeover of Greenland, that would in essence end NATO.

But domestically, some of her left-wing supporters in Denmark were frustrated with her tough immigration policy and others had concerns about his position on economic issues.

Support for the anti-immigration Danish People's Party, led by Morten Messerschmidt, surged to 9.1 percent, up nearly 7 percentage points compared with the last election.

Quote:European Union (EU) lawmakers recently approved measures enabling member states to deport rejected asylum-seekers to offshore “return hubs,” the Associated Press reported on Sunday.

The move aligns closely with tactics praised by right-wing parties and echoing enforcement approaches associated with the Trump's administration's mass deportation efforts of illegal immigrants.

Newsweek reached out to the European Union by email Sunday for comment.

Why It Matters

Countries including Russia, China, Venezuela, and Afghanistan are just some of those the U.S. has been unable to repatriate immigrants to, meaning they are often stuck in ICE detention.

Over the past 14 months, the Trump administration has struck multiple deals with countries in Eastern Europe, Africa, and Latin America, at times in exchange for other benefits. Some agreements have seen legal challenges over conditions that the roughly 300 immigrants deported under the program have faced.

The union's plan marked a significant shift in Europe’s migration enforcement, enabling deportations to facilities outside the EU and expanding detention and entry-ban powers at a time when only about one in five people ordered to leave are actually returned.

Human rights organizations warned the hubs risked becoming “legal black holes” beyond effective EU oversight and compared the package to “ICE-style” enforcement seen in the U.S., intensifying a transatlantic debate over deterrence versus protection in asylum systems.

What To Know

Members of the European Parliament (MEP) voted 389-206, with 32 abstentions, to ease the creation of detention facilities outside EU territory and increase penalties and entry bans for migrants who refuse to leave, while authorizing returns to third countries under bilateral deals, according to AP.

Any EU nation can now negotiate on its own or in small coalitions to deport migrants to facilities yet to be built outside the 27-nation bloc.

The vote came as part of the EU’s broader Pact on Migration and Asylum, with new rules set to take effect June 12, and as far-right and conservative parties pushed for higher return rates and tougher border enforcement.

The European Parliament’s version backed detention for up to 24 months for people awaiting return and endorsed tougher, potentially indefinite entry bans in some cases, while positioning the regulation as a cornerstone of efforts to increase returns, according to Agence France-Presse.

Quote:A man who crashed his pickup truck into a Detroit‑area synagogue earlier this month carried out the attack after being inspired by Hezbollah, the Iran‑backed militant group, the FBI said Monday.

Ayman Ghazali recorded a video before the attack at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township in which he said he wanted to “kill as many of them as I possibly can,” according to Jennifer Runyan, the FBI’s special agent in charge in Detroit.

It was a “Hezbollah-inspired act of terrorism purposely targeting the Jewish community and the largest Jewish temple in Michigan," she said.

Ghazali, 41, of Dearborn Heights, sat in the synagogue parking lot for several hours before driving his pickup through closed doors and into a hallway near an early childhood education area, striking a security guard. He then exchanged gunfire with another guard before fatally shooting himself, the FBI said.

When Did the Synagogue Attack at Temple Israel Take Place?

The attack occurred on March 12.

Ghazali, armed with a rifle, allegedly rammed a vehicle into Temple Israel, one of the nation’s largest Reform Jewish synagogues. At least one security guard exchanged gunfire with him. Ghazali was later found dead inside his vehicle.

No members of the synagogue’s staff, teachers or the roughly 150 children enrolled in its early childhood education center were injured, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said at a news conference at the time. One security officer was struck by the vehicle and briefly knocked unconscious but did not suffer life‑threatening injuries.

Ghazali's vehicle, a Ford F-150, which was loaded with fireworks and jugs of gasoline, caught on fire during the attack. Thirty law enforcement officers were also treated for smoke inhalation.

The attack drew widespread condemnation.

"This is heartbreaking. Michigan's Jewish community should be able to live and practice their faith in peace. Antisemitism and violence have no place in Michigan. I am hoping for everyone's safety. Thank you to law enforcement for their swift action," Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, wrote to X in its aftermath.

Quote:Turkey said on Monday that NATO air and missile defense systems intercepted a ballistic munition launched from Iran that entered or approached Turkish airspace, the latest sign that the widening Iran war is increasingly drawing in countries far from the main theaters of fighting.

The interception follows several similar incidents reported by Ankara since the conflict escalated, highlighting how Iran’s expanding missile operations—and NATO’s defensive response—are testing the alliance’s southern flank even as leaders try to prevent the war from spilling into a direct confrontation between Iran and NATO members.

Why It Matters

Turkey’s geographic position makes it especially vulnerable to spillover from the Iran war. As a NATO member bordering Syria and Iraq and hosting key U.S. and allied military facilities, Turkey sits beneath missile and drone flight paths used by Iran in retaliatory strikes across the region.

Although Turkish officials have stopped short of declaring the incidents deliberate attacks, each interception raises the risk of escalation, whether through miscalculation, technical failure, or misinterpretation of intent. NATO has sought to make clear that defending allied airspace does not automatically mean the alliance is entering the war, but the repeated involvement of NATO assets underscores how narrow that line has become.

For Ankara, the incidents also carry domestic and diplomatic implications. Turkey has tried to maintain a balancing role since the Iran war began, condemning attacks that threaten regional stability while keeping channels open with Tehran. At the same time, the government has emphasized that any violation of Turkish airspace will be met with force, a message aimed at deterrence rather than escalation.

What to Know

Turkey’s Defense Ministry said a ballistic missile determined to have been launched from Iran was detected entering or heading toward Turkish airspace and was neutralized by NATO air and missile defense assets deployed in the Eastern Mediterranean. The ministry said no casualties were reported and stressed that all necessary measures would be taken “decisively and without hesitation” against any threat to Turkey’s territory or airspace.

The statement closely mirrors language Turkey has used repeatedly since the war began, reflecting what officials describe as a heightened but controlled security posture. NATO officials later confirmed that allied defenses had been involved and said the alliance stood firmly with Turkey, while U.S. officials emphasized that the incident did not automatically trigger NATO’s collective defense clause.

The interception was not the first. On March 4, Turkey reported that NATO defenses intercepted a ballistic missile launched from Iran after it passed through Iraqi and Syrian airspace and approached Turkish airspace. Turkish officials said at the time that the intended target was unclear and that debris found in southern Turkey came from the interceptor rather than the incoming missile. No casualties were reported.

A second incident was reported on March 9, when Turkish authorities said another Iranian-launched missile was intercepted over southeastern Turkey. Ankara again issued warnings that it reserved the right to respond to any hostile act, while calling on all parties to avoid steps that could widen the conflict.

Quote:A force of 3,500 US sailors and Marines arrived in the Middle East aboard the USS Tripoli — as Tehran warned that American forces will be killed if President Trump orders a ground invasion of Iran.

The flagship for the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group and 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit arrived over the weekend with troops in tow, US Central Command said Saturday.

Along with the troops, the amphibious warship brought transport and strike fighter aircraft, as well as assault and tactical assets, with the Pentagon allegedly preparing for weeks of boots-on-the-ground operations in Iran.

As the war in Iran continues to escalate, thousands of Marines are being prepped to deploy to the Middle East, sources told The Washington Post.

The troop movement would fall short of a full-scale invasion, with roughly 10,000 American troops being considered for deployment to boost the already significant military presence in the Gulf region.

Trump has not publicly acknowledged the Pentagon’s proposal or whether he would approve any portion of the plans.

The president has repeatedly suggested US troops could be deployed to secure Iran’s nuclear facilities and the Strait of Hormuz, a critical trade route currently under Tehran’s control.

The White House has said Trump has been given “maximum optionality” on how to proceed in Iran, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio maintaining that the US can meet its objectives “without any ground troops.”

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that any deployment of ground forces would be a clear escalation of the war and met with widespread retaliation.

Quote:President Trump has said the US could take Iran’s oil – as he mulls over a daring operation to seize one of the Islamic Republic’s energy strongholds.

The commander-in-chief suggested the approach could be similar to when Venezuelan tyrant Nicolás Maduro was deposed, which saw the US take control of oil exports.

“To be honest with you, my favourite thing is to take the oil in Iran, but some stupid people back in the US say: ‘Why are you doing that?’ But they’re stupid people,” he told the Financial Times Sunday.

Oil prices continued to climb Monday – with the price of Brent crude reaching $116 per barrel, the highest since March 19.

President Trump also didn’t rule out an operation which would see US forces seize Kharg Island – a critical terminal where around 90 per cent of Iran’s oil exports are processed.

“Maybe we [will] take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options,” he said.

“It would also mean we had to be there [on the island] for a while.”

Trump claimed the US could take Kharg Island “very easily,” claiming: “I don’t think they have any defense.”

Earlier this month, the president boasted how US airstrikes had obliterated every military target on the island, one-third the size of Manhattan.

Iran has beefed up its defenses of Kharg Island by planting anti-armor mines surrounding it and on the shoreline, sources told CNN last week.

The regime has also moved troops as it braces itself for a potential US ground invasion.

An Israeli source previously warned a ground invasion would lead to American casualties.

“The hope is that they won’t take that risk and will instead fire at the oil fields, but there is no way to know,” they told the Jerusalem Post.

Quote:Spain has closed its airspace to US planes involved in attacks on Iran, a step beyond its ‌previous denial of use of jointly-operated military bases, Defence Minister Margarita Robles said on Monday.

“We don’t authorize either the use of military bases or the use of airspace for actions related to the war in Iran,” she told reporters ⁠in Madrid.
Spanish newspaper El Pais had first reported the news on Monday, citing military sources.

The closure of the airspace forces military planes to bypass NATO member Spain en route to their targets in the Middle East, but it does not include emergency situations, El Pais added.

“This decision is part of the decision already made by the Spanish government not to participate in or contribute ‌to ⁠a war which was initiated unilaterally and against international law,” Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo said during an interview with radio Cadena Ser when asked if the decision to close Spain’s airspace could ⁠worsen relations with the United States.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has been one of the most vocal opponents of the US and ⁠Israeli attacks on Iran, describing them as reckless and illegal.

President Donald Trump has threatened to cut trade with Madrid for ⁠denying the US use of Spain’s bases in the war.

Quote:President Trump said Monday that a deal with Iran was “probably” close to winding down the conflict — but warned the US would obliterate the regime’s power plants, oil wells, and its main export hub, Kharg Island, if negotiations fell through.

Trump noted, however, that a deal was “probably” close.

“The United States of America is in serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘Open for Business,’ we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island.”

Kharg Island is Iran’s main export hub.

Trump said the US purposefully hadn’t touched the sites after having previously given an April 6 deadline to Iran.

“This will be in retribution for our many soldiers, and others, that Iran has butchered and killed over the old Regime’s 47 year ‘Reign of Terror’,” he said.

The renewed threat came just hours after Trump said late Sunday that the US was negotiating “directly and indirectly” with Iran.

He flagged the possibility, too, of taking Iran’s oil — a move that would require seizing Kharg Island, the terminal through which nearly all of Iran’s oil exports pass.

“Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t,” Trump told the Financial Times, noting that any US presence “would also mean we had to be in there for a while.”

“We have a lot of options,” he said, boasting that the US could “easily” take the island.

Quote:President Trump is considering a military operation to send US soldiers inside Iran to extract nearly 1,000 pounds of uranium from Iran, officials said.

Trump is open to the idea of sending the troops into Iran for days or longer to complete the mission, but the president is considering the risks to American soldiers, US officials familiar with the plan told the Wall Street Journal.

As he weighs the dangers of the operation, Trump has encouraged his advisers to pressure Iran to agree to give up its atomic material as a condition for ending the war, according to the outlet.’

The president and at least some members of his administration believe it would be possible for ground forces to seize Iran’s enriched uranium stockpiles in a way that would not extend the war, which officials hope would be completed by mid-April, the WSJ reported.

Iran’s uranium stockpiles are believed to be housed in Iran’s underground facilities in Isfahan and Natanz, according to International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi. 

Isfahan, located 270 miles south of Tehran, is believed to be where the majority of Tehran’s 60% enriched uranium is located, with Natanz likely holding additional caches of uranium in its fortified Pickaxe Mountain facility. 

Little is known about that nuclear facility, with Israeli outlets reporting that it could be about 330 feet below the mountain base, more than 30 feet deeper into the ground than Iran’s Fordow fuel enrichment plant.

Quote:WASHINGTON — President Trump on Monday put Iran and the speaker of the Islamic Republic’s parliament on notice after Tehran attacked Israel’s biggest oil refinery and told The Post his response is coming “shortly.”

Iran escalated its attack on infrastructure by striking a water and electrical plant in Kuwait, and an oil refinery was set ablaze in the northern Israeli city of Haifa after the Iranian missile attack. Asked for his response on the strike, he told The Post: “You’ll see shortly.”

As Trump brings more military might to the region that could inflict catastrophic damage on Iran, he encouraged what’s left of Iran’s regime to make a deal before it’s too late and said he would hit them where it really hurt: their energy infrastructure.

He exclusively told The Post that the US will find out whether the speaker is willing to work with Americans –soon.

“We’re gonna find out,” Trump told The Post when asked about Iran’s Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. “I’ll let you know that in about a week.”

Ghalibaf issued his own warning in response, writing on social media that attacking Iran’s infrastructure would be a “big mistake.”

“The enemy promotes its desires as news while threatening our nation at same time. Big Mistake. If they hit one,they’ll take several back. God willing, the people of Iran,under the leadership of the Supreme Leader,will make the enemy regret the aggression and reclaim their rights,” he wrote.

The president described a dramatic shake-up inside Iran, claiming the old guard has effectively been wiped out and replaced by a new group he said has so far been easier to work with.

“There has been total regime change because the regimes of the past are gone and we’re dealing with a whole new set of people,” Trump said. “And thus far, they’ve been much more reasonable.”

Pressed on whether these are new figures compared to past US adversaries in Tehran, Trump didn’t mince words.

Quote:President Trump shared jaw-dropping video footage Monday of a massive explosion in Iran reportedly caused by a US airstrike on a large ammunition depot in Isfahan. 

A “high volume” of 2,000-pound bunker buster bombs was used in the strike posted by Trump on Truth Social, a US official told the Wall Street Journal.

The footage that caught the president’s eye is one of several videos of fiery blasts that have taken place in Isfahan, the country’s third-most populous city and the location of the majority of Tehran’s 60% enriched uranium as well as a sprawling “missile city”.

One purported video showed a mushroom cloud forming over the target of one of the airstrikes and the sky turning red-orange from the column of flame.

The explosions were so powerful they could be seen from the Meteosat 12 weather satellite, according to the OSINTtechnical X account.
US Central Command did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth and ⁠Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will hold a press conference related to Operation Epic Fury on Tuesday morning, the Pentagon announced as the strikes on Isfahan were taking place.

Iran’s uranium stockpiles in Isfahan, located 270 miles south of Tehran, are believed to be housed in facilities deep underground, according to International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi. 

The US military bombed a nuclear research center in Isfahan last June during Operation Midnight Hammer.

The city is also home to the Isfahan Missile Complex, Iran’s largest missile assembly and production site, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), a global security nonprofit. 

One of several so-called “missile cities” in Iran, the Isfahan complex was built with help from North Korea and China in the late 1980s, according to NTI, and handles the assembly and storage of ballistic missiles, as well as the manufacturing of the rocket propellants and components.

US and Israeli aircraft have repeatedly targeted Iran’s underground missile cities throughout the war, waiting for the regime to deploy missile launchers from the sites before striking, the Journal reported earlier this month.

Some experts believe much of Iran’s missile arsenal is now entombed in the subterranean bases as a result of US and Israeli airstrikes.

Quote:President Donald Trump on Monday reposted a clip on Truth Social from a 1987 interview with journalist Barbara Walters in which he argued that the United States should seize Iranian oil installations in response to attacks, resurfacing remarks he made long before entering politics as the U.S.–Israel war with Iran enters a more volatile phase.

The clip, originally aired on ABC’s 20/20, shows a 41‑year‑old Trump criticizing what he described as American weakness and suggesting that if Iran attacked the U.S., Washington should “grab one of their big oil installations” and keep it to recoup losses.

Trump’s decision to amplify the video now comes as oil infrastructure, shipping routes, and the possibility of expanded U.S. involvement are central to the current conflict.

Why It Matters

The timing of Trump’s repost is significant. It arrives amid heightened concern inside Washington and among U.S. allies about whether the conflict could widen beyond air and naval operations, particularly as fighting around the Strait of Hormuz continues to disrupt global energy markets.

By resurfacing an interview in which he openly advocated seizing Iranian oil assets, Trump is reinforcing a message he has repeated in recent days—that economic leverage and control of energy infrastructure are central to how he views pressure on Tehran. The post also risks inflaming tensions at a moment when some Republican lawmakers have publicly expressed unease about escalation and have warned against any move that could draw U.S. ground forces into the war.

What To Know

In the 1987 interview, conducted during the Iran‑Iraq War and years after the Iranian hostage crisis, Trump told Walters the U.S. should respond forcefully to Iranian aggression. When pressed on how such a move would work, including whether it could mean war, Trump argued weakness itself invited conflict and said the U.S. should seize and hold oil installations to offset losses.

Trump reposted the clip on Monday after it had circulated widely on social media, presenting it as evidence that his thinking on Iran has remained consistent over time. The resurfaced remarks dovetail with comments he has made over the past several days, in which he again floated the idea of taking Iranian oil assets as part of a broader strategy to pressure Tehran.

Those more recent comments have centered on Kharg Island, Iran’s primary oil export hub located in the Persian Gulf. In interviews and public remarks over the weekend, Trump suggested seizing or controlling the island was among the options available, while insisting no final decision had been made.

Kharg Island sits at the heart of Iran’s energy infrastructure, handling the vast majority of the country’s crude exports. Any attempt to seize or neutralize the facility would represent a major escalation, likely requiring a sustained military presence to secure and operate the site, and would carry significant economic and geopolitical consequences. Analysts have warned such a move could provoke wider retaliation and further destabilize shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, through which a significant share of the world’s oil supply passes.

Trump’s repost also lands amid visible Republican infighting over the direction of the war. Several GOP lawmakers have said they oppose deploying U.S. ground troops into Iran and have complained the White House has not clearly articulated its endgame. Others have raised constitutional concerns about Congress’s role in authorizing extended military operations. Against that backdrop, reviving language about “taking” oil assets risks deepening skepticism within Trump’s own party.

At the same time, the White House has continued to project confidence, arguing that military pressure and economic leverage can be applied without committing to a full‑scale ground war. Administration officials have emphasized all options remain on the table, while insisting no decision has been made to send American troops into direct ground combat inside Iran.

Quote:WASHINGTON — Shocking leaked audio showed a lefty Democratic hopeful for Michigan Senate telling campaign staffers he wanted to avoid taking a position on the death of late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei because many voters were distraught over it.

Abdul El-Sayed warned staffers that “there are a lot of people in Dearborn who are sad” about Khamenei’s death, so he’d pivot straight to the “pedophile president” instead.

“I’m just gonna go straight to pedophilia, frankly,” El-Sayed told staffers about how he’d navigate questions on Khamenei’s death, per leaked audio from a March 1 campaign strategy session obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

“I’ll just be like, ‘Pedophile president decides that he doesn’t like the front page news, so he decides to take us into another war.'”

Khamenei, who had been one of the world’s longest-serving dictators at the time, had been killed by Israeli strikes a day earlier, something Iran later confirmed.

As an ayatollah, Khamenei was also a religious leader under Shia Islam. Iran has the biggest population of Shiite Muslims in the world. Khamenei became an ayatollah overnight in 1989 despite lacking the religious prerequisites after ascending to the role of supreme leader.

Dearborn, Michigan, has the largest per capita concentration of Arab-Americans and Muslims of any city in the US. It is also predominantly Shiite Muslim, despite Sunni Islam being the far larger branch of that religion globally.

Despite typically being a Democratic stronghold, President Trump won a plurality there in 2024, amid a revolt against former Vice President Kamala Harris over the Israel-Hamas war.

“I also want to remind you guys that there are a lot of people in Dearborn who are sad today,” El-Sayed explained to his team, per the leaked discussion. “So, like, I just don’t want to comment on Khamenei at all. Like, I don’t think it’s worth even touching that.”

“We have the moral high ground here,” he went on, noting that reporters will “try and bait us into saying, ‘Yeah, but isn’t it justified now that they took [Khamenei] out, right? And I just think, for us, we’ve got to be, like, ‘no.'”

The progressive Senate hopeful also suggested that his campaign could pivot from questions on Khamenei to attack the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Someone on his team was apprehensive about him pivoting to Israel.

Quote:Joe Kent, the former head of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) who resigned from the Trump administration earlier this month over the Iran war, posted a video message on X on Monday urging Americans to contact the White House and their members of Congress to oppose sending U.S. ground troops into the conflict.

In the post, Kent included phone numbers for the White House comment line and the congressional switchboard, calling it a “call to action” and urging people to “respectfully” tell elected officials they do not support American boots on the ground in Iran.

His message comes as the White House faces mounting pressure—from critics and some allies—to clarify whether the escalating conflict could expand beyond air and naval operations.

Why It Matters

Late last month, the United States and Israel targeted key military targets in Iran and killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other government leaders. Iran responded by launching missiles and drones targeting Israel and several Gulf Arab states that host U.S. armed forces.

Kent’s appeal underscores growing unease within the Republican Party about the direction of the war, particularly as discussions turn toward the possibility of deploying ground forces. The Trump administration has repeatedly said no decision has been made to send U.S. troops into Iran, but officials are weighing scenarios that could involve American forces securing critical infrastructure.

As a former senior counterterrorism official and military veteran, Kent’s public break with the administration—and his direct appeal to voters—adds weight to a broader debate inside the GOP about escalation, war powers, and the political risks of another prolonged Middle East conflict.

The call also reflects a tension between President Donald Trump’s “America First” campaign rhetoric and the realities of an expanding war, a gap that critics say could erode support among parts of his conservative base if ground combat becomes part of the mission.

What to Know

In his video, Kent warned that Trump would face “immense pressure” in the coming days to commit U.S. ground troops to Iran. He described such a move as a “catastrophic escalation” that would lead to more bloodshed and further entrench the war.

He urged Americans to make clear they oppose sending troops into Iran by using the numbers he listed. “This is how we the people can have our voices heard,” he said, adding that while prayer was important, citizens also needed to “work towards peace.”

Kent resigned earlier this month as director of the NCTC, saying he could not “in good conscience” support the war. In his resignation letter, he argued Iran posed no imminent threat to the U.S. and said the conflict had been launched under pressure from Israel and its allies. The letter drew sharp rebukes from the White House, with Trump calling Kent “very weak on security” and dismissing his assessment of the threat posed by Iran.

Kent’s departure quickly became a flashpoint inside conservative media, with some praising him for taking a stand and others accusing him of undermining the administration during wartime. Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard publicly defended the president’s authority to determine what constitutes an imminent threat, pushing back on Kent’s claims.

Quote:The American University of Beirut said it will shift to remote operations on Monday and Tuesday following Iranian threats against US-affiliated universities in the region.

AUB President Fadlo Khuri said in a statement on Sunday that while there was no evidence of a direct threat to the university or its medical centers, classes and exams would be held online “out of an abundance of caution.” Only essential personnel will be allowed on campus.

Khuri reaffirmed the university’s commitment to “peaceful self-determination and nonviolence,” urging that educational and healthcare institutions be spared from regional conflict.

The American University of Madaba (Jordan) and the American University of Sharjah (UAE) also switched to remote learning.

Quote:The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has called for the U.S. to pull all of its troops from the European country after reports suggested U.S. President Donald Trump is considering withdrawing American soldiers from the country.

AfD co-leader, Tino Chrupalla, told a party gathering in east Germany on Saturday that the country should chase an "independent" foreign policy, starting with the removal of American soldiers.

Just under 40,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Germany, close to half the total number in Europe.

The country hosts the major Ramstein air base, home to NATO's air and space forces, vital for coordinating activities like air defense operations. German bases are also a springboard for U.S. missions in the Middle East.

AfD has long called for foreign soldiers to leave Germany, and the party's manifesto demands the withdrawal of all nuclear weapons from German soil.

The U.S. keeps roughly 100 B-61 nuclear gravity bombs in bases across Europe, including in western Germany. These are tactical nuclear weapons, less destructive than the long-range missiles launched from U.S. silos, submarines and bombers that can level cities.

Trump and his administration have long weighed up whether to dramatically scale back the U.S. military footprint in Europe, originally part of Washington's pivot to the Indo-Pacific and the threat of China.

Europe has at once tried to quickly boost their military spending while keeping the U.S. invested in protecting the continent, including with troops based in countries like Germany.

Trump is still debating whether to transfer troops out of Germany, British newspaper The Telegraph reported Friday, citing sources close to the president.

But despite conflicting messages from the administration, the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act—signed into law back in December—blocked the U.S. government taking U.S. troop numbers in Europe below 76,000 for more than 45 days.

Meanwhile, the Iran war, now in its fifth week, has drawn more than 50,000 U.S. soldiers to the Middle East, with thousands of Marines and elite paratroopers expected to arrive in the region with extra ships, aircraft and weapons in the coming weeks.

Trump's next steps aren't clear, but the White House has kept ground operations on Iranian territory firmly on the table as Iran maintains its chokehold on the vital Strait of Hormuz trade route and wreaked havoc with global fuel prices.

Quote:WASHINGTON — Most Transportation Security Administration employees received back pay on Monday from the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, but it may be a while before airport security lines return to normal.

DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis confirmed Monday that TSA workers have received at least two missed paychecks as the shutdown hit a record-breaking 44th day.

“A small population might see a slight delay due to a variety of reasons, including financial institution processing times or issues with their direct deposit,” Bis added.

“We are working aggressively with USDA’s National Finance Center to complete processing for the half paycheck they are owed from pay period 3 as soon as possible.”

According to DHS, more than 500 TSA agents working without pay during the more than 40-day shutdown ended up quitting. Thousands more called out of work.

A local federal union rep told MS NOW that the pay “will significantly bring down the wait times” at US airports and bring “a majority” of the employees back to the job.

According to multiple TSA agents at LaGuardia Airport on Monday, the backpay has started to come in and more showed up this morning than last week — but numbers aren’t back to 100% yet.

“We’re being told regular paychecks starting next week. I hope so. I really need it to be over soon,” one male TSA agent told the Post.
Another female agent pointed out, though, that she had yet to see a paycheck. “I’m calling about that all day. I haven’t seen anything,” she said.

“It’s the news screwing everything up!” one TSA supervisor claimed. “We got enough people [transportation security officers] here now, but people are watching the news and they’re coming way too early.”

Quote:TALAHASSEE, Fla. (CBS12) — A bill to rename Palm Beach International Airport as “Donald J. Trump International Airport” was signed by Governor Ron DeSantis and will take effect July 1.

The change also includes a new airport identifier, “DJT,” and directs the appropriate federal agencies to update all references to the new name.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it will coordinate with organizations such as the International Air Transport Association to pursue adoption of the new airport code.

The agency emphasized that airport name changes are a local matter and do not require FAA approval, but it must still complete administrative steps, including updating navigational charts and databases. The renaming follows action at both the state and federal levels, where lawmakers advanced similar proposals recognizing President Donald J. Trump’s ties to Palm Beach County.

Hearing the news, President Trump's son, Eric Trump, took to X announcing that PBIA was renamed to "President Donald Trump International Airport."

"Proud to have played a small role in making this happen," Eric Trump said. He gave special thanks to Meg Weinberger, a Republican running for State House District 94, as well as Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida Attorney General James Uthemeier and the Florida House.

See also: Timeline of Tiger Woods' most consequential public moments; from controversy to comebacks

U.S. Representative Brian Mast (FL-21) introduced companion federal legislation to codify the name change at the national level and ensure coordination across aviation agencies. He said the designation reflects Trump’s longstanding connection to the area and his broader legacy.

“President Donald J. Trump’s impact on our nation will transcend our time—a historic legacy of dedication and commitment toward the American people,” Mast said. “He’s called Palm Beach County ‘home’ for many years, and this designation reflects our gratitude for his public service and leadership.”

Palm Beach International Airport, a major economic driver in the region that serves millions of travelers each year, has been the focus of increased legislative attention in Florida. Earlier this year, the Florida House approved the renaming proposal in an 81–30 vote, aligning with similar legislation in the state Senate.

State funding — including $2.75 million outlined in the Senate budget — has been allocated for signage, branding updates, and operational changes needed to implement the new name by the July 1 effective date.

Following the renaming, the Florida Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell stating:

“Life keeps getting more expensive for working families and seniors in Florida, which is why Democrats spent this legislative session fighting for an affordability agenda to lower costs and put more money back in your pocket. Instead of working across the aisle with us to advance those bills, Republican leaders decided to prioritize wasting five million of your taxpayer dollars on renaming an airport after the President. Your money is being misused to celebrate the man who caused gas prices to rise to over four dollars a gallon, grocery costs to shoot up, and health care prices to spike. Republicans are out of touch when it comes to the real issues impacting Floridians. The people of Florida did not ask for this. It’s clear Tallahassee Republicans care more about political stunts than they care about your wallet.”

Quote:Teens across the nation are wreaking havoc by holding “takeovers” — wild and often violent gatherings which are overwhelming local police forces.

People chasing internet notoriety organize the meetups online, which spread like wildfire, prompting mobs of hundreds to turn up unannounced at public spaces like shopping malls, city streets, parking lots and businesses and taking them over.

The planned events have spread across the country from Florida to Virginia to Chicago and Washington DC, with videos posted from one fueling the next, according to law enforcement sources.

On Saturday eight juveniles were arrested in Brandon, Florida, after hundreds of kids “overwhelmed” a trampoline park and refused to get off its equipment, even after it was forced to closed to deal with the takeover. All those arrested were charged with trespassing.

Other takeovers have turned violent. In February five people aged between 15 and 18 were shot shortly after cops broke up a takeover attended by some 130 revelers at Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Cops said they’d determined one of the organizers had also been behind another takeover two weeks earlier, which was largely organized through Instagram.

A teen takeover in Henrico County, Virginia, resulted in a mall closing early and some patrons locked in stores, as well as a “very large fight,” per local police. After that chaos, authorities the next county over took action to thwart a takeover planned at Chesterfield Towne Center mall’s parking lot.

“It’s a national trend in which people use social media to let others know about gathering to occupy an area, with or without cars,” Lt. Col. Frank Carpenter, chief of the Chesterfield County Police Department, told The Post. “They put out fliers on social media.

“It’s almost like they want to have free nights to do whatever they want, like in ‘Grand Theft Auto’ or ‘The Purge,’ ” he said, latterly referencing a dystopian horror movie where all crime is deemed permissible for 12 hours.

Quote:Internal emails from a senior White House official show he suggested federal immigration agents responding to protests in Los Angeles last summer should have used immediate physical force to disperse demonstrators.

Joseph Mazzara, then-acting general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), wrote in a June 11 email discussing the response to the Los Angeles protests that troops and agents deployed in the city should have immediately used physical force to disperse crowds.

“They should have, when they brought the [troops] in, just started hitting the rioters and arresting everyone that couldn’t get away from them,” Mazzara wrote in an email obtained by the nonprofit watchdog group American Oversight through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). “No one likes being hit by a stick, and people tend to run when that starts happening in earnest.”

Newsweek has contacted the DHS and the White House for via email comment.

Why It Matters

Last summer, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) carried out widespread operations in Los Angeles, triggering public backlash and large-scale protests that, in some cases, escalated into unrest. In response, the National Guard and other personnel were deployed to support crowd control and security efforts. California Governor Gavin Newsom criticized the federal response and sued President Donald Trump's administration over the deployment of the National Guard.

What To Know

The email chain shows Homeland Security attorneys discussing a June 9 lawsuit filed by Newsom challenging Trump’s deployment of thousands of California National Guard troops to Los Angeles. Under the subject line “California DOD [Department of Defense] Lawsuit,” officials coordinated legal filings defending the deployment and included a draft declaration from a Los Angeles ICE field office director in support of the action.

In a June 11 message, Mazzara referenced reports of protesters attempting to breach a security line at a federal building, writing that he was “floored” by the “battering ram incident” and described it as “wild.”

Mazzara later became deputy commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). He is among a group of 10 staff members who accompanied former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to the U.S. Department of State after she was removed from her position at the helm of the DHS and reassigned as a special envoy for the Shield of the Americas initiative, Politico reported.

Mazzara is a married father of six and a Marine combat veteran, according to the DHS website. He graduated from Christendom College and Scalia Law, and clerked for Judges Edith Jones, Brantley Starr, and Stephen Vaden. He previously served as Special Counsel to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

After the U.S. Supreme Court raised concerns about the Trump administration’s legal rationale for using military personnel in domestic law enforcement, Trump moved to begin withdrawing National Guard troops from Los Angeles and other Democrat led-cities.

Quote:The mayor of Rhode Island’s capital city is calling for a mural reportedly backed by Elon Musk to honor Iryna Zarutska —the Ukrainian woman whose brutal murder while riding a North Carolina train prompted calls for harsher punishment for career criminals — to be taken down.

The mural, located on the exterior of The Dark Lady, an LGBTQ+ club in downtown Providence, remains incomplete, WJAR-TV reported.

The office of Mayor Brett Smiley told the news outlet that he wants the artwork taken down.

“The murder of the individual depicted in this mural was a devastating tragedy, but the misguided, isolating intent of those funding murals like the one across the county is divisive and does not represent Providence,” Smiley said in a statement.

He said he continues to “encourage our community to support local artists whose work brings us closer together rather than divide us.”

Artist Ian Gaudreau, who began the work last week, told the news outlet that he never intended for the tribute to be political.

Upon learning of a project to memorialize Zarutska, Musk said he would donate $1 million in a September 2025 post on X.

Zarutska, a 23-year-old refugee who fled her country after the Russian invasion, was brutally stabbed to death in an unprovoked attack while riding the Lynx Blue Line light rail in Charlotte, NC, last year.

The suspect, Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, is charged with violence against a railroad carrier and mass transportation system resulting in death, which is a capital offense under federal law.

Quote:SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The University of Southern California canceled a gubernatorial debate planned for Tuesday after candidates of color who would have been excluded accused the school of discrimination.

Republicans Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco, and Democrats Tom Steyer, Katie Porter, Eric Swalwell and Matt Mahan, who are all white, were slated to participate in the debate hosted by the University of Southern California’s Dornsife Center for the Political Future and KABC-TV. But four established Democratic candidates of color, Antonio Villaraigosa, Xavier Becerra, Betty Yee and Tony Thurmond, didn’t meet the criteria to participate.

No clear front-runner has emerged in the crowded race ahead of the June 2 primary. Ballots will go out in early May.

The university has defended a formula used to select the participants and denied allegations of bias. A public policy professor independently developed the criteria based on candidates’ polling and fundraising, the university said in a statement Friday.
A group of 50 public policy and social science scholars from across the country defended the professor in a letter to the university’s president on Monday.

Quote:Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, is facing an ethics complaint filed by a conservative organization alleging her campaign improperly used $19,000 in funds for a psychiatrist.

Newsweek reached out to Ocasio-Cortez’s office for comment via email.

Why It Matters

Ocasio-Cortez is a prominent member of Congress. She’s viewed as one of the most progressive members of the House of Representatives and has been floated as a potential candidate in either the 2028 presidential race or as a challenger to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, also a Democrat.

The complaint has drawn scrutiny from her Republican critics on social media.

What To Know

The complaint was filed by the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) on March 27, with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

It alleges the funds “ostensibly for ‘leadership training and consulting'” were “expended instead for personal psychiatric services provided to AOC or members of her campaign staff.”

“Accordingly, those expenses were also misreported by the campaign committee with the FEC. NLPC requests that the FEC and [Office of Congressional Conduct] immediately investigate the facts and circumstances of these payments and impose appropriate penalties and disciplinary sanctions against AOC,” the complaint reads.

NLPC Counsel Paul Kamenar told the conservative news outlet One America News Network that “is not a legitimate campaign expense.”

“If Representative Ocasio-Cortez needs psychiatric care, she should pay for it with her own money—not with donations from supporters who thought they were contributing to her political campaign,” he said.

The complaint points to disbursements made to Dr. Brian Boyle in Brookline, Massachusetts, for “leadership training and consulting” in March, May and October 2025.

Details about what those trainings consisted of remained unclear.

Boyle specializes in Spravato, ketamine and TMS therapy, according to Psychology Today. However, it's not known whether any of those therapies were used during the training with Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign.

The complaint alleges he does not advertise “leadership training,” and there is reason to believe the services “were for therapeutic treatment of AOC or her campaign staff as his patients,” which would “constitute personal use.”

Ocasio-Cortez has not responded publicly to the complaint.

Quote:Attorneys for U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell sent a cease-and-desist letter to FBI Director Kash Patel on Monday, demanding he immediately halt any effort to release records from a decade-old investigation involving the California Democrat and a suspected Chinese operative. The probe produced no criminal charges.

Newsweek reached out to the FBI via email on Monday for comment.

Why It Matters

The Justice Department has a longstanding policy against publicly disclosing records from investigations that do not result in charges. Swalwell's legal team argues Patel's actions would violate that policy and federal law—and that the effort is politically motivated.

Swalwell is running for governor of California, and his attorneys contend the files' release is designed to damage his campaign rather than serve any legitimate law enforcement purpose.

What To Know

The investigation dates back to Christine Fang's contact with Swalwell's congressional campaign beginning in 2012, when she also participated in fundraising for his 2014 race.

Federal investigators briefed Swalwell and Congress about Fang in 2015, at which point Swalwell says he severed all contact with her. He was never accused of any wrongdoing, and a House Ethics Committee investigation opened in 2021 was closed two years later without any action taken.

The Washington Post first reported that Patel had directed agents to review and redact the files in preparation for release. An FBI spokesperson previously told the Post that the bureau "prepares documents for numerous different reasons" but did not directly address the Swalwell matter.

A Yearslong Target

Monday's cease-and-desist is the latest chapter in a multiyear effort by Republican leaders to use the Fang investigation against Swalwell. In March 2021, then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy tried to have Swalwell removed from the House Intelligence Committee over his contact with Fang, citing the same interactions now at the center of Patel's file review. McCarthy's resolution was voted down in the then-Democratic-led House. He later said, "If you got the briefing I got from the FBI, you wouldn't have Swalwell on any committee."

Democrats pushed back at the time, with then-Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff noting that Republican leaders—including then-Speaker John Boehner and then-Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes—were briefed on the Fang situation when it arose and "expressed no opposition to his continued service" on the panel.

In January 2023, McCarthy again moved to block Swalwell's reappointment to the Intelligence Committee after Republicans reclaimed the House majority, this time succeeding. Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had formally nominated Swalwell for the seat, arguing there was "no precedent or justification" for rejecting him. Swalwell contended it was not the speaker's place to remove members from committees based on "fabricated stories or political revenge."

Patel, who listed Swalwell among dozens of perceived Trump adversaries in his 2023 book Government Gangsters, now oversees the FBI files at the center of the latest dispute.

Quote:Asked in 1975 whether it bothered her that she was frequently called upon to be “sexy”, the actor Valerie Perrine said: “It’s not something I mind like being bitten by a mosquito.” On the contrary, she often revelled in it, considering herself “the 1970s version of Mae West”.

Perrine, who has died aged 82 after suffering from Parkinson’s disease, was blissfully unselfconscious, entirely untrained and claimed never even to have read a script before making her screen debut as the porn star Montana Wildhack, who is abducted by aliens in the 1972 film of Kurt Vonnegut’s book Slaughterhouse-Five. “There’s nothing so mysterious about acting,” said Perrine. “You’re either good at it or you’re not. I happen to be good at it.”

Despite the emphasis on sexuality and nudity in her early roles, such as the television play Steambath (1973), she was too witty and skilful a performer to be mistaken for eye candy. She received an Oscar nomination, as well as the Cannes film festival’s best actress prize, for her impressively raw work in Lenny (also 1974) as the stripper Honey, wife of the provocative stand-up Lenny Bruce (Dustin Hoffman), who must navigate her husband’s whims and demands while dealing with her own emotional tumult. The film’s director, Bob Fosse, told her she was “the best actress I’ve ever worked with”.

In the blockbuster Superman (1978), Perrine, whose surname rhymed with “divine”, was exactly that as Eve Teschmacher, sparky moll to the arch-villain Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman), who continually patronises and underestimates her. She eventually comes to the rescue of Superman when he is drowning after Luthor has hung a chunk of Kryptonite around his neck. Eve sneaks a kiss on the wilted superhero’s lips before saving him, then asks plaintively: “Why is it I can’t get it on with the good guys?” Not having learned her lesson, she helps Luthor break out of prison in Superman II (1981).

Perrine played the ex-wife of a rodeo rider (Robert Redford) in The Electric Horseman (1979), but considered her prospects ruined after appearing in the notorious flop Can’t Stop the Music (1980), an oddly straitlaced showcase for the gay-coded pop group Village People. She played a retired model who is shown in the opening credits doodling a moustache on one of her own advertising campaigns on the side of a bus.

Quote:Actor James Tolkan, known for his role as the Hill Valley High principal in “Back to the Future” and the no-nonsense commanding officer in “Top Gun” has died. He was 94.

Tolkan died Thursday in Lake Placid, N.Y., where he lived, his booking agent, John Alcantar, told the Associated Press on Saturday.

In “Back to the Future,” Tolkan portrayed Vice Principal Gerald Strickland, who surveyed the school’s halls with a whistle around his neck and a tardy slip burning a hole in his pocket.

“You got a real attitude problem, McFly,” Tolkan’s character snaps at Michael J. Fox’s character, Marty McFly, in the cult classic 1985 film. “You’re a slacker. You remind me of your father when he went here. He was a slacker, too.”

The line became one of Tolkan’s most famous, and mega-fans would flock to Comic-Cons around the country to ask the star to call them a slacker, requests he typically obliged.

The actor had a number of film and television gigs through the 1960s and ’70s, but he was doing David Mement’s Broadway play “Glengarry Glen Ross” when he got the offer to play Strickland in “Back to the Future.”

“I always said, ‘I’m never going to Hollywood until they send for me,’ ” he told T.C. Restani during a 2015 interview. “And I said, OK, this is my chance. And of course, nobody realized that it was going to be such an important picture. But it was. It was one of those marvelous events where all the planets were aligned and ‘Back to the Future’ became this shooting star of a movie.”

Quote:A huge shipment of 12 tonnes of KitKat - over 400,000 chocolate bars - was stolen last week in Europe while being transported by truck between production and distribution facilities.

The Swiss food giant Nestlé reported that 12 tonnes of KitKat chocolate bars were stolen in Europe, warning that this could lead to shortages in stores just before Easter.

“A truck carrying 413,793 units of our new chocolate range was stolen during its transit in Europe,” KitKat, a Nestlé brand, said in a statement to AFP. The load, weighing approximately 12 tonnes, disappeared last week while travelling between production and distribution sites, the company said.

With one week to go until Easter, the brand warned that “this theft could lead to a shortage of KitKat on shelves”.

Before being stolen, the truck had left central Italy and was heading towards Poland, with the intention of distributing the bars in the countries it passed through.

KitKat did not specify exactly where the goods had disappeared but said that “the vehicle and its contents remain untraceable”. “Investigations are continuing in close collaboration with local authorities and supply chain partners,” it said.

It warned that the missing chocolate bars “could enter unofficial sales channels on European markets”. The brand said it was possible to trace the stolen products by scanning the barcodes on each bar.

“In the event of a match, the scanner will receive clear instructions on how to alert KitKat, which will then pass on this evidence appropriately,” it said.

Quote:ROME, March 30 (Reuters) - Three paintings by French masters Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cezanne and Henri Matisse, reportedly worth an estimated $10 million in total, ‌have been stolen from a museum in northern Italy, police said on Monday.

The theft took place at the Fondazione Magnani Rocca, on the outskirts of the city of Parma, during ⁠the night of March 22-23, the Carabinieri police said in a statement.

Thieves broke into the building's main entrance and took Cezanne's "Tasse et Plat de Cerises" (Cup and plate of cherries), Renoir's "Les Poissons" (The fish) and Matisse's "Odalisque sur la Terrasse" (Odalisque on the terrace), the police added.

Italian public broadcaster Rai reported the stolen ‌works ⁠were worth 9 million euros ($10.34 million), a figure that was not confirmed by the Carabinieri.

THEFT TOOK LESS THAN THREE MINUTES

The museum, home to a private collection compiled ⁠by the late music critic and musicologist Luigi Magnani, said separately that the theft took less than three ⁠minutes.

The Fondazione Magnani Rocca's collection also includes works by Titian, Francisco Goya, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, ⁠Claude Monet, Peter Paul Rubens and Giorgio Morandi, according to its website.
($1 = 0.8701 euros)

Quote:Beijing renewed grievances with Washington on Friday over what it described as systemic bias against Chinese scientists, following the reported suicide of a postdoctoral researcher living in the United States.

During the Chinese Foreign Ministry's regular press conference, spokesperson Lin Jian responded to a query about the researcher, who state media said had died one day after being interrogated by U.S. law enforcement.

“We are deeply saddened by this tragedy and have made solemn representations to the United States,” Lin said. He added that Chinese diplomatic missions had been in contact with the family of the deceased and were assisting with follow‑up arrangements.

The official did not disclose further details about the individual or the U.S. agency said to have questioned them.

China's Embassy in the U.S. told Newsweek it was not yet familiar with the case.

"For some time now, the U.S. side has broadened the concept of 'national security' for political purposes, subjecting Chinese students and scholars to unwarranted questioning and harassment," he stated. "Such actions infringe upon the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of Chinese citizens, undermine the normal atmosphere of people‑to‑people exchanges between China and the United States, and have created a serious chilling effect.”

Lin demanded that the U.S. carry out an investigation into the case and stop discriminatory law enforcement targeting Chinese scholars and students.

Newsweek reached out by email to the U.S. Justice and State Departments with requests for comment.

Chinese officials have repeatedly accused Washington of anti-Chinese prejudice since President Donald Trump’s first term, particularly after the Justice Department launched the China Initiative in 2018.

The program aimed to counter economic espionage and intellectual property theft linked to China. However, public court records and subsequent reviews by journalists and advocacy groups found many cases instead centered on alleged failures to disclose foreign affiliations or funding on grant applications rather than spying on behalf of Beijing.

Trump administration officials defended the initiative as necessary to protect U.S. research and national security, arguing that Beijing was exploiting academic openness to access advanced technology. Yet advocacy groups and critics in academia said that the initiative fueled racial profiling and damaged the U.S.'s reputation as a destination for scientific talent.

The initiative was wound down by former President Joe Biden in 2022. An effort by congressional Republicans to revive it stalled after stiff opposition from Asian American advocacy groups and their allies.

Quote:A bipartisan U.S. Senate delegation has drawn a protest from Beijing after it arrived in Taiwan to press lawmakers to boost defense spending amid a widening military gap across the Taiwan Strait.

“Taiwan firmly opposes official interactions between the U.S. and the Taiwan region and has lodged serious representations with the U.S. side,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said during Monday’s regular press briefing.

While the U.S., like most countries, switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing, Washington maintains robust unofficial ties with Taipei and supplies it with arms under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act. A special defense budget requested by President Lai Ching-te, however, has for months been in a state of limbo in Taiwan’s opposition-controlled legislature, which favors closer ties with Beijing and has raised concerns over oversight and spending details.

China considers self-ruled Taiwan part of its territory and a core interest, and routinely condemns U.S. arms sales to the island. The issue is expected to feature in upcoming talks between President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing.

In December, the Trump administration approved a record $11-billion arms package for Taiwan. Continued delays in passing the special budget could complicate follow-on acquisitions, including additional HIMARS rocket systems and other capabilities that would strengthen the island's defense capabilities.

Newsweek has reached out to Taiwan’s de facto embassy in Washington and to the Taiwanese opposition party Kuomintang for comment.

“The U.S. should adhere to the One China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiqués, handle the Taiwan question with prudence, stop all forms of official interactions with the Taiwan region, and stop sending any wrong signals to Taiwan independence forces,” Mao said, adding that Beijing would take all necessary measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The U.S. has for decades followed a “one China” policy, acknowledging—but not endorsing—Beijing’s claim over Taiwan. The three joint communiqués, issued as Washington and Beijing normalized relations in the late 1970s and early 1980s, include a U.S. commitment to gradually reducing arms sales to Taiwan, without setting a timeline.

On the first day of their two-day visit to Taiwan, the senators stressed “peace through strength” during an event at Taiwan’s Presidential Office, urging the Legislative Yuan to pass the defense budget and reaffirming U.S. support, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency.

“I’d like to personally endorse the special defense budget and tell you that, back in Washington, D.C., my colleagues are watching—this is important,” said Utah Republican John Curtis, who co-led the delegation with New Hampshire's Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat. “We want to make sure that as we invest in this part of the world, you are also investing, and that we’re in this together.”

Joining them were Republican Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Jacky Rosen, a Nevada Democrat.

Quote:The Donald Trump administration announced Monday that it was reopening the United States Embassy in Venezuela, calling it a "key milestone."

After seven years of working through Bogota in neighboring Colombia, the U.S. State Department said the embassy in Caracas would resume its work.

The embassy was closed during the first Trump administration in 2019, amid a decline in relations between the two countries.

"The resumption of operations at U.S. Embassy Caracas is a key milestone in implementing the President’s three‑phase plan for Venezuela and will strengthen our ability to engage directly with Venezuela’s interim government, civil society, and the private sector," the State Department said in a statement.

In January, the U.S. military captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife. The interim Venezuelan government led by acting President Delcy Rodríguez signaled interest in restoring ties with the U.S. For several years, the U.S. had also warned Americans against traveling to Venezuela, amid ongoing unrest under Maduro's leadership.

US Embassy in Venezuela Reopens: What To Know

The short announcement Monday marked a significant moment for U.S.-Venezuelan relations, following the resumption of some American flights to the country earlier in March and the two governments saying diplomatic relations were back on.

The U.S. Embassy in Caracas had been closed since March 2019, with the U.S. State Department's work carried out through the Venezuela Affairs Unit (VAU) based out of Colombia.

The building itself is said to be in need of repair, including tackling a mold issue. The department said Ambassador Laura F. Dogu was leading efforts to "restore the chancery building" so that it was ready for staff to get back to work.

On March 19, the U.S. announced that it had lowered its travel warning for Venezuela to a Level 3: reconsider travel. American travelers were still being warned of risks of crime and kidnapping, but the level marked a step down from an outright ban on heading to Venezuela.

It was not immediately clear what impact the embassy reopening would have on immigration to the U.S., with the Trump administration taking a far tougher stance on Venezuelan immigrants than the Joe Biden administration did.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has moved to pull two key policies, including Temporary Protected Status, that was used by Venezuelan immigrants seeking to stay in the U.S., and another known as CHNV, or Humanitarian Parole, that allowed immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to apply for legal status in their home country, then fly to the U.S. The latter was ended shortly after Trump's return to office.

Venezuela also remains on the partial travel ban list, preventing certain visas from being issued.

Quote:A Russian oil tanker carrying approximately 730,000 barrels of crude is on course to reach Cuba by Tuesday, after President Donald Trump said he has "no problem" with the delivery — even as his administration maintains an aggressive blockade of the island and Trump himself warned just days earlier that "Cuba is next."

Newsweek reached out to Cuba's defense department by email on Sunday for comment.

Why It Matters

Trump's oil blockade against Cuba — among the most aggressive economic pressure campaigns by any U.S. administration in recent history — has produced widespread civilian suffering, including island-wide blackouts, crippled hospitals, and gutted public transportation. The tanker's arrival would provide temporary relief, but Trump cast doubt on its long-term impact, calling Cuba "finished" under the leadership of President Miguel Díaz-Canel.

What To Know

Tracking data shows the tanker was positioned off the eastern tip of Cuba on Sunday night, with an expected arrival in the port city of Matanzas by Tuesday. Cuban state media journalists reported the vessel was expected to dock, though Cuban officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump confirmed the tanker would be permitted to proceed during remarks to reporters aboard Air Force One Sunday evening, affirming a New York Times report on the matter. He said he had no objection regardless of the ship's origin and dismissed suggestions the move would benefit Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The tanker's passage marks a notable, if narrow, carve-out within a blockade that has been among the most aggressive economic pressure campaigns by any U.S. administration in recent history. Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have framed the blockade as a tool to force regime change in Havana — though the humanitarian toll has drawn widespread criticism.

The delivery also arrives just days after Trump told an investment forum in Miami on Friday that "Cuba is next," referencing it alongside what he described as successful military operations in Venezuela and Iran. He quickly walked back the remark, telling the audience to "pretend I didn't say that" but offered no clarification on what action, if any, he was contemplating. Earlier this month, Trump also suggested Cuba could face a "friendly takeover," before adding it might not be friendly.

At the same time, the Trump administration has opened diplomatic talks with Cuban officials in recent weeks. Díaz-Canel has confirmed negotiations are ongoing in an effort to avoid confrontation.

Cuba has been grappling with severe fuel shortages and economic disruption, compounded by the loss of oil shipments from Venezuela following the removal of former leader Nicolás Maduro in January.

Quote:The grandson of the Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro has said most of the island's residents "want to be capitalist, not communist," and called for a deal between President Donald Trump and officials in Havana.

Cuba has for months been squeezed by an American ban on Venezuelan oil imports to the island, which has quickly spiraled into an energy crisis where blackouts and food shortages are common, and healthcare and transportation judder to a halt.

Sandro Castro, who has shot to fame as a controversial social media star, said life in Cuba was "so hard," adding: "there are many people here who want to do capitalism with sovereignty."

Castro does not hold any official positions in Cuba's government.

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• Italy
  
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Quote:More key European allies are restricting U.S. military access as the Trump administration presses ahead with its war against Iran, with both France and Spain moving to block U.S.-linked aircraft from using their airspace or bases.

France has refused overflight for planes carrying U.S. military supplies to Israel, according to President Donald Trump, marking a rare disruption to routine military coordination between Washington and key European allies.

Their refusals carry operational weight because U.S. bases in Europe are "essential" for supporting Middle East operations, acting as critical staging and transit hubs for military aircraft.

The move marks the latest sign of growing friction between the United States and European allies as President Donald Trump ramps up pressure on NATO partners to support operations tied to the war with Iran.

According to a Tuesday Reuters report, Italy denied permission for U.S. military aircraft to land at the Sigonella Air Base in Sicily before heading to the Middle East, saying Washington had not sought prior authorization from Rome.

An Italian government statement pushed back on reports of a rupture, saying: "With reference to media reports regarding the use of military bases, the government reiterates that Italy acts in full compliance with existing international agreements and with the policy guidelines set out by the government to parliament."

"Relations with the United States, in particular, are solid and based on full and loyal cooperation," the statement added.

A senior U.S. official reinforced Italy’s claim, telling Fox News Digital, "This is false. Italy is currently supportive in providing access, basing and overflight for U.S. forces."

Spain on Monday said it had closed its airspace to U.S. planes involved in strikes, going further than its earlier refusal to allow the use of jointly operated bases. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has been among the most vocal critics of the U.S. and Israeli campaign.

In remarks before parliament Tuesday, Spain’s defense minister said the government had "prohibited the use of the bases of Rota and Morón" and did not grant flight authorizations "to support operations in Iran."

The minister stressed the decision was limited specifically to operations linked to Iran and did not signal a broader break with NATO or the United States.

John Hemmings, director of the National Security Centre at the Henry Jackson Society, a London-based foreign policy think tank, told Fox News Digital the decision reflects deeper tensions.

"If one looks at Spain’s refusal to allow U.S. overflight over its airspace or U.S. bases," Hemmings said, "one could argue it’s a U.S.-Spanish issue. The prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, a socialist, has no love lost for the MAGA movement. But Italy’s refusal comes after Poland’s refusal to allow a U.S. Patriot anti-missile battery to be redeployed and looks like the U.S. wheels are wobbling — if not coming off."

Quote:Austria has denied the United States permission to use its airspace for military operations related to the war with Iran, citing the country’s long‑standing policy of neutrality.

A spokesperson for Austria's defense ministry told Newsweek on Thursday: "For reasons of neutrality, Austria refuses overflights and the transit of troops if these would serve to provide military support to a party to any conflicts. If it is known that a military aircraft or military vehicle is directly or indirectly involved in a conflict, overflight or transit will be denied in consultation with the ministry of foreign affairs."

The move places Austria among a growing number of European countries restricting U.S. military access as Washington and Israel continue their campaign against Iran.

Why It Matters

Austria’s decision underscores mounting diplomatic friction between the U.S. and several European partners as the Middle East conflict deepens. While Austria is not a NATO member, its central geographic position in Europe makes its airspace strategically significant for military transit between Western Europe and the Middle East.

The refusal follows steps similar to those taken by Spain and Italy, which have also restricted U.S. military access to airspace or bases during the conflict—moves that have drawn criticism from the White House and raised questions about alliance cohesion. Spain’s decision last week to bar U.S. military aircraft from its airspace was seen as a particularly sharp break given its NATO membership.

Austria’s action further expands the list of European states limiting cooperation, reinforcing a broader pattern of hesitation among U.S. allies over involvement—direct or indirect—in the war with Iran.

What To Know

According to ORF Radio, Austria’s Defense Ministry confirmed that it has rejected U.S. requests to use Austrian airspace for military operations connected to the conflict, invoking national neutrality laws enshrined after World War II. A ministry spokesperson said there had been several requests from Washington but did not specify how many. Each request was refused because Austrian law prohibits providing military support to any party engaged in an active armed conflict, the spokesperson said.

Austria’s move comes as tensions have escalated between Washington and other European governments over airspace access. Earlier this week, U.S. President Donald Trump publicly criticized France after it declined to allow aircraft carrying U.S. military supplies to Israel to transit French airspace.

Trump accused Paris of being “very unhelpful” and warned that the United States would “remember” the decision, framing it as part of a broader lack of European support for the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran. French officials later pushed back, saying France had not imposed a blanket closure but was reviewing military overflight requests individually in line with its long‑standing policy and international law.

Austria’s move comes as airspace access across Europe and the Middle East has become increasingly contested amid the escalating conflict, forcing military planners to seek longer, more complex transit routes for flights.

Is Austria in NATO?

Austria is not a member of NATO and has maintained a constitutionally enshrined policy of military neutrality since 1955, a status adopted after the Allied occupation following World War II ended. While Austria cooperates with NATO on limited security matters and participates in some European Union defense initiatives, it is legally barred from joining military alliances or providing direct military support to countries engaged in active conflicts.

That neutrality was central to the government’s decision to deny U.S. military overflight requests linked to the war with Iran. Austrian officials emphasized that the refusal does not amount to a blanket ban on all U.S. military flights through Austrian airspace but applies specifically to operations directly connected to active combat, in line with Austria’s neutrality law.

Quote:China has leveled fresh criticism of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran following a string of strikes on nuclear facilities, saying the attacks breach international legal norms and risk undermining the global nonproliferation regime.

"The attacks deal a heavy blow to the authority of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, undermine the international efforts to uphold the nuclear nonproliferation regime, and could bring serious consequences to regional peace, security and stability," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular briefing on Tuesday.

The comments come as U.S. and Israeli forces continue targeting Iranian military and nuclear-linked infrastructure. While the campaign has degraded parts of Iran's capabilities, it has also hit civilian infrastructure and caused significant casualties. Iran says more than 2,000 people have been killed.

Late last week saw attacks on the nuclear power facility in Bushehr, a yellowcake production site in Yazd province, and a heavy water facility in Khondab, according to statements from the International Atomic Energy Agency. The agency said only the Bushehr site involved radioactive material and that no off-site release was detected, but renewed calls for restraint to avoid a nuclear incident.

Newsweek has contacted the White House and the Israeli and Iranian foreign ministries for comment.

"Attacks against peaceful nuclear facilities under the safeguards and monitoring of the International Atomic Energy Agency violate the purpose and principles of the U.N. Charter, international law and the Statute of the IAEA," Mao said, adding, "China firmly opposes such attacks and advocates the peaceful settlement of the Iranian nuclear issue through political and diplomatic means."

Her remarks come weeks ahead of a scheduled meeting on the Non-Proliferation Treaty, where member states are set to review compliance and the broader state of the regime. Mao said China was prepared to work with all parties to pursue a diplomatic resolution to the Iran nuclear issue and safeguard the nonproliferation framework.

The conflict has also fueled debate inside Iran over its continued participation in the treaty. Ebrahim Rezaei, a spokesperson for the parliament's national security commission, wrote on X that remaining in the NPT would be "meaningless" because it hadn't benefited the country.

"The United States has withdrawn from 60 international organizations and conventions, and now if we want to exit the NPT, we will probably face surprise and opposition from the West," he added.

Quote:China and Pakistan have put forward a five-point proposal to end the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, now in its fifth week.

The roadmap was unveiled by China's Foreign Ministry late Tuesday following talks between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Pakistani counterpart Mohammad Ishaq Dar in Beijing.

Pakistan maintains close ties with both Washington and Tehran and has in recent days positioned itself as an intermediary, saying it conveyed to Iran a U.S. peace plan.

China and its Pakistani ally have opposed the U.S.-Israeli strikes since they began on February 28 while also condemning Iran’s retaliatory actions in the Gulf, including attacks affecting shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, where traffic has slowed sharply.

Both countries have also engaged Iran on maritime access, with a slight uptick in transits involving vessels linked to China and Pakistan in recent days, according to shipping reports.

Newsweek reached out to the U.S. State Department and Iran’s Foreign Ministry for comment.

The joint statement called for the following steps to bring the war to a close.

1. Immediate Ceasefire

All sides should halt hostilities and make “utmost efforts” to prevent further escalation. Humanitarian assistance should be allowed into affected areas.

2. Launch Negotiations

Dialogue and diplomacy are the only viable path to ending the conflict. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iran and Gulf states should be respected, and parties should refrain from the use or threat of force during talks.

3. Protect Civilian Infrastructure

All sides should cease strikes on civilian targets and critical infrastructure, including energy facilities, desalination plants and safeguarded nuclear sites, in line with international humanitarian law.

4. Ensure Maritime Security

Countries should safeguard vessels and crews in the Strait of Hormuz and restore the safe passage of commercial shipping as soon as possible.

5. Uphold the UN Framework

Any resolution should be pursued through multilateral channels and anchored in the U.N. Charter and international law to support a broader and durable settlement.

Neither the U.S. nor Iran had publicly responded to the proposal as of time of writing.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated that Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons, and said it must halt support for militant groups and curb missile development that could threaten regional neighbors.
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Quote:Iran hit a tanker off the coast of Qatar and Kuwait International Airport early Wednesday as Tehran remained unrelenting in its attacks on its Gulf Arab neighbors, while acknowledging for the first time that Washington had been in direct contact about a possible ceasefire.

Israel sounded warnings of incoming fire from both Yemen and Iran, while launching its own attacks in Lebanon that killed at least five people.

An airstrike on Tehran appeared to have hit the former US Embassy compound, which has been controlled by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard since the 1979 hostage crisis. Witnesses said buildings outside the massive compound had their windows blown out and that it appears the strike happened inside the walled facility.

With no sign of the war abating and more than 3,000 lives already lost, US President Donald Trump suggested it could be over within two weeks even as he moved to bring thousands more troops to the region.

No signs of Iran relinquishing grip on Strait of Hormuz shipping

Trump has been under growing pressure to end the war as Iran’s grip on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and its attacks on regional energy infrastructure have sent gas prices skyrocketing to their highest level since 2022 and caused broad stock market fluctuations.

Iran throttled ship traffic through the strait, which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, after it was attacked by the US and Israel on Feb. 28. In peacetime, a fifth of the world’s oil transits the strait and the spot price of Brent crude, the international standard, is up more than 40% since the start of the war, trading at more than $104 a barrel.

The US has presented Iran with a 15-point plan aimed at bringing about a ceasefire, which includes a demand for the strait to be reopened. Iran’s own five-point response includes it retaining sovereignty over the waterway, and Trump on Tuesday suggested that the war could be brought to an end even with Iran still controlling the strait.

The US “will not have anything to do with” what happens in the Strait of Hormuz, instead telling reporters that the responsibility for keeping the vital waterway open would belong with countries that rely on it.

Quote:Ships attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz will need secret codes and to pay up to $2 million in Chinese yuan or cryptocurrencies to avoid being attacked by Iran, according to a new report.

After Iran’s lawmakers approved a bill to impose fees on the safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz this week, new guidelines have been set for tankers and cargo ships to buy their way through with a company linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, sources familiar with the deal told Bloomberg.

Once the IRGC has the ship’s files on hand, the vessel would need to fly the flag of a non-enemy nation and transmit a secret, high frequency code to alert the Iranian navy so that it may guide the ship through the strait.

The rules effectively gives Tehran full control over the Strait of Hormuz, a key trade route that oversees the transport of 20% of the world’s oil supply.

Before ships can make the journey through the critical trade route, they must provide full information of their vessel’s ownership, flag, cargo, destination, crew and data from its Automated Identification System — which records a ship’s transit history.

The information is passed on to the IRGC’s navy for background checks to ensure the ships have no links to the US or Israel, according to Bloomberg.

If the background check is passed, the parties then negotiate the price of passage, with oil tankers seeing the starting price at around $1 per barrel of crude, which must be paid in yuan or stable cryptocurrencies.

Quote:Iran has unleashed several new executions — with many more expected to come — over fears of another citizen-led uprising as the embattled regime fights for survival in its war against the US and Israel.

At least four members from the anti-regime organization, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, were executed in the last 48 hours, according to The National Council of Resistance of Iran.

Mohammad Mohaddessin, NCRI’s Foreign Affairs Committee chair, said the four executions were a message from the theocratic, and highly repressive, regime in an effort to “intimidate” and “exert control,” the Daily Mail reported.

“The execution of four PMOI members, amid an external war is a clear admission by the regime that it views the Iranian people and the organized Resistance as its principal enemy and an existential threat,” Mohaddessin said in a briefing Wednesday.

“Why were they executed now? Because the regime leadership is extremely concerned about the domestic situation and the possibility of another uprising,” he added.

Some of the 2,000 members of the PMOI’s Resistance Unit who were detained as part of a January uprising are also expected to be executed this week, the NCRI confirmed.

“Beyond the four already executed, the death sentences of 15 others have been confirmed by the Supreme Court and await implementation,” the NCRi chair stressed.

“Many other political prisoners are likely to receive death sentences as well.”

The warning of the imminent massacre of activists follows the slaughter of tens of thousands anti-regime protesters who took to the streets of Tehran in January over the country’s faltering economy — a movement that quickly swelled into calls for regime change.

Quote:The fanatical Iranian regime is turning children as young as 12 into cannon fodder as part of a desperate war recruitment drive, human rights groups have warned.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced the campaign, called “Homeland Defending Combatants for Iran,” as the US and Israel pummel the rogue nation, Human Rights Watch reported.

The advertising poster for the push, published by Iran’s Defa Press News Agency, features two fresh-faced children, a boy and a girl, smiling in front of a man in a military uniform.

Rahim Nadali, an official from the IRGC’s 27th Mohammad Rasulullah Division, said in a televised interview on state TV that kids want to stand up against the “global bully,” referring to the US, Agence France-Presse reported.

“For the Basij checkpoints that you see across cities now, we have had many young people and teenagers demanding to be present in them,” he said.

“Given the ages that were making demands, we have set the [minimum] age at 12. Meaning now there are kids of 12 and 13 who want to be present in this space.”

The tasks include staffing checkpoints, gathering security data and operational patrols, the AFP reported. Other tasks include cooking, providing medical care and dealing with damaged homes.

Amnesty International said it had confirmed photos showing children wielding weapons such as AK-pattern assault rifles and standing alongside IRGC and other forces at checkpoints and on patrols.

The recruitment of child soldiers is a grave violation of international law, the rights group said.

“The Iranian authorities are shamelessly encouraging children as young as 12 to join an IRGC-run military campaign, putting them in grave danger and violating international law, which prohibits the recruitment and use of children in the military,” Erika Guevara-Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns at Amnesty International, said.

Quote:Iran’s president has sent a propaganda letter to Americans claiming his country harbors no enmity to ordinary US citizens, according to state-owned outlets.

Despite years of conflict and state-sponsored terrorism, President Masoud Pezeshkian insisted that the idea that Iran was an enemy of the American people was “neither ⁠consistent with historical reality nor ⁠with present-day observable facts.”

“The Iranian people harbor no enmity toward other nations, including the people of America, Europe or neighboring countries,” he said.

“Even in the face of repeated foreign interventions and pressures throughout their proud history, Iranians have consistently drawn a clear distinction between governments and the peoples they govern,” Pezeshkian added.

Pezeshkian’s comments appeared directly at repeated claims that Iran’s enriched uranium was weeks away from reaching weapons-grade levels, which could be used to produce a handful of atomic weapons.

He also called for the US to end its war in Iran, warning that the Islamic republic would outlast any form of American aggression.

“Today, the world stands at a crossroads. Continuing along the path of confrontation is more costly and futile than ever before,” he said.

“The choice between confrontation and engagement is both real and consequential; its outcome will shape the future for generations to come,” he added.

“Throughout its millennia of proud history, Iran has outlasted many aggressors. All that remains of them are tarnished names in history, while Iran endures — resilient, dignified, and proud.”

Pezeshkian did not make mention of President Trump’s claim that Tehran had begged him for a cease-fire on Wednesday, with the Iranian president claiming the US was dragged into the war against its will by its Israeli allies.

“Is it not also the case that America has entered this aggression as a proxy for Israel, influenced and manipulated by that regime?” Pezeshkian asked.

Pezeshkian’s message came with a patronizing tone as he backed the stance of his boss, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has yet to be seen in public since surviving the airstrikes that killed his father on Feb. 28.

Quote:Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued his latest threat vowing to support anti-American and anti-Israel terrorist cells in the Middle East — with the Islamic regime chief still ruling from the shadows.

Khamenei, who has not been since he was injured during the initial strikes of the war, rebuked one of President Trump’s war goals seeking to end Iran’s role as a sponsor of terror groups in the region.

“I firmly declare that the consistent policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in continuing the path of the late Imam and martyred leader, is based on continuing to support the resistance against the Zionist-American enemy,” Khamenei said in a statement read by state television.

The supreme leader has been submitting orders via state media anchors since he ascended to power last month.

Khamenei — the son of the longtime supreme leader, who was killed on the first day of the war — is believed to be “probably gay” and may have been badly injured in the strikes that killed his father and most of his family, according to US intelligence.

The extent of his injuries, however, is unclear.

Reports suggested that he suffered a fractured foot and numerous other minor injuries and lacerations.

But due to his lingering absence from the public, Trump and others have questioned whether he’s even alive.

Ali Bahreini, Iran’s representative to the United Nations office in Geneva, has insisted Khamenei was in “full health” and remained hidden due to security reasons. 

Khamenei’s latest statement was directed at Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terror group currently fighting Israel in southern Lebanon.

Quote:ISIS has urged Muslims to set fire to churches and synagogues across the US and Europe this weekend in a sickening Easter threat.

The Islamist terror group issued the callous call, made in response to Israel’s closing of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, in the latest edition of its weekly propaganda outlet, al-Naba, released on Thursday.

“In the face of the tragedy of the closure of the blessed al-Aqsa Mosque, it is incumbent upon Muslims everywhere—those who yearn to come to the aid of the site of their Prophet’s Night Journey—to rise up and set fire to the Jewish synagogues scattered across America, Europe, Russia, India, and elsewhere,” ISIS declared, in a translation of al-Naba.

“The same applies to the synagogues in Tunisia, Morocco, the UAE, and Syria; their locations are well-known, and their details have been published,” the tirade continued.

It called for similar attacks on churches.

The twisted propaganda paper also called for attacks on “Jewish gatherings” around the world, ordering its supporters to “emulate the actions of the ‘Sydney Heroes,'” a disturbing reference to 2025’s Hannukkah terror attacks in Australia that left 16 dead, including one of the gunmen, and 40 wounded.

ISIS also claimed to have caused 60 casualties in “15 operations” over the past week.

Israeli authorities closed al-Aqsa mosque—the third-holiest site in Islam—in late February, citing the “security situation” amid the Israeli-US warn in Iran.

Authorities have also banned mass gatherings at other religious sites such as the Western Wall and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.

Muslims call the hilltop that houses al-Aqsa the Noble Sanctuary, while Jewish people refer to it as the Temple Mount.

Palestinian authorities have hit out at the closures to Muslims, as Jewish groups have called for access to the shuttered site to hold Passover rituals in April.

Quote:President Trump warned Iran to make a deal now “before it is too late” on Thursday after US airstrikes took out Iran’s tallest bridge.

Trump shared footage of the newly built span connecting Tehran and Karaj being blown to bits and threatened “much more” destruction if Tehran doesn’t meet the US’ demands for a cease-fire.

The 446-foot tall bridge could be seen in the dramatic video collapsing in a plume of smoke following the strike.

“The biggest bridge in Iran comes tumbling down, never to be used again — Much more to follow!” the president wrote on Truth Social.

“IT IS TIME FOR IRAN TO MAKE A DEAL BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE, AND THERE IS NOTHING LEFT OF WHAT STILL COULD BECOME A GREAT COUNTRY!” he added.

Quote:A coalition of 40 nations on Thursday huddled on how to meet President Trump’s demand to reclaim the Strait of Hormuz — and opened the door to military escorts if Iran eases off ambushing commercial ships.

“This meeting showed clearly the determination of the international community to secure freedom of navigation and re-open the Strait of Hormuz,” the British government said in a readout of the virtual international gathering. “Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz is a direct threat to global prosperity.”

Trump has asked European and Gulf partners to take a more immediate role in ensuring passage through the strait — even threatening to exit the NATO alliance over their lack of help. Key allies have pushed back, arguing that deeper involvement in Iran must wait until the danger subsides.

“This is not our war. We will not be drawn into the conflict,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Wednesday, stressing that the priority remains “diplomatic and political measures” to restore safe transit.

But the UK signaled a shift on Thursday, announcing it would convene military planners from various nations to hammer out ways to keep the strait secure — once the most intense fighting of the war comes to a close.

“Iran is trying to hold the global economy hostage in the Strait of Hormuz. They must not prevail,” the British government said. “To that effect, partners today called for the immediate and unconditional reopening of the Strait and respect for the fundamental principles of freedom of navigation and the law of the sea.”

The countries also discussed further sanctions on Iran to “bear down on Iran if the Strait remains closed,” as well as unspecified “joint arrangements to support greater market and operational confidence.”

“Today, we looked at diplomatic, economic, and security measures to restore safe passage, alongside working with the shipping industry,” EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas posted to X. “This waterway is a global public good. Iran cannot be allowed to charge countries a bounty to let ships pass.”

Quote:US Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George is retiring “effective immediately,” a Pentagon official announced Thursday amid reports War Secretary Pete Hegseth asked the high-ranking military officer to step down.

“The Department of War is grateful for General George’s decades of service to our nation,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell wrote on X.

“We wish him well in his retirement,” he added.

George, 61, was nominated by former President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate for the Army chief of staff post in 2023. The Army chief of staff typically serves a four-year term.

Hegseth reportedly wanted someone in the role who would implement the vision he and President Trump have for the Army, according to CBS News.
“We are grateful for his service, but it was time for a leadership change in the Army,” a senior War Department official told the outlet.

George’s departure is the latest shakeup at the Pentagon under Hegseth.

Hegseth, a former Fox News host,  previously ousted Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff C.Q. Brown, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti and Navy Chief of Staff Jon Harrison.

He also axed three key War Department aides — Pentagon senior adviser Dan Caldwell, former deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick and former chief of staff to the deputy secretary of war Colin Carroll – earlier this year after a bureaucratic turf war, The Post previously reported.

George’s ouster also comes after Hegseth overruled the Army and lifted the suspension of two helicopter crews involved in a flyover stunt outside Kid Rock’s Tennessee home.

“No punishment. No Investigation. Carry on, patriots,” Hegseth wrote on X Tuesday, following an earlier report that several crew members had been suspended after Kid Rock’s post about the stunt went viral.

Hegseth’s decision to ask George to retire was not related to the helicopter incident, a source told CBS News.

Quote:The U.S. has deployed a new, cheap attack drone for the first time in combat—and it's a copy of the weapon Iran has used to menace American allies in the Gulf for more than a month.

The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) chief, Admiral Brad Cooper, has hailed the Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System—often referred to by the snappy acronym LUCAS—as "indispensable" to U.S. forces in the Middle East.

Western militaries, including the U.S., have watched on as both Ukrainian and Russian forces in Eastern Europe deploy lots of inexpensive unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), fundamentally changing how modern wars are fought.

Indeed, Ukraine has dispatched experts to the Middle East to help the U.S. and its allies take down Shaheds, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday was already showing results.

It's very difficult for traditional air defenses, which are designed to take out sophisticated threats like fast-traveling missiles with interceptors costing millions of dollars, to knock overwhelming swarms of throwaway drones from the sky.

Russia is infamous for using Iranian-designed Shahed drones, while footage of the triangle-shaped weapons zooming into Ukrainian high-rises has become a familiar sight online. Ukraine's residents quickly came to dread the low buzzing sound that heralds an approaching Shahed drone.

But until now, using lots of disposable drones has been mostly theoretical for U.S. troops. The first combat use of LUCAS, however, is a marked shift to using these new tactics in real-life missions.

What Is LUCAS?

LUCAS, made by Arizona-based SpektreWorks, is a one-way attack drone, sometimes called a loitering munition or "kamikaze" UAV.

CENTCOM has described the drone as having an "extensive range," thought to be about 650 kilometers (400 miles).

It costs in the region of $35,000, a fraction of the cost of precision missiles in the U.S.'s arsenal, such as the Tomahawk cruise missiles. Those come with an eyewatering price tag upward of $2 million apiece.

LUCAS is filled with up to 18 kilograms of explosives that detonate when the drone hits its target. It packs a lighter punch than missiles, and it is more effective against targets like power grids or government buildings, rather than heavily defended military targets. More sophisticated, costly missiles would still be needed to hit these difficult, fortified areas.

Physically, it looks very similar to the various versions Iran has produced of its Shahed drone. Its manufacturer explicitly said the drone was reverse-engineered with a wingspan matching Iran's Shahed-136.

"There are plenty of differences though, but as so often happens in drones, they are hidden under the skin, reflecting the very different environments where they are built and used," U.K.-based drone expert Steve Wright told Newsweek.

While the U.S. has a vast network of defense companies sustained by lots of funding, Iran has mastered working in isolation, cherry-picking technologies it can grab from elsewhere across the world, Wright said.

"Because of this, the LUCAS drone is constructed using mass production techniques similar to building cars and manned aircraft," and it is linked up to the rest of the U.S. military's catalog of systems and equipment, Wright said.

Quote:An American journalist was kidnapped Tuesday in Baghdad, prompting Iraqi security forces to launch a manhunt for her captors, Iraqi officials said.

The journalist was identified as freelance reporter Shelly Kittleson by Al‑Monitor, a Middle East news outlet to which she has contributed. In a statement, the publication said it was “deeply alarmed” by her abduction and called for her “safe and immediate release.”

Iraq’s Interior Ministry said in a statement that a foreign journalist had been kidnapped but did not identify the person. Two Iraqi security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly, confirmed that the victim is a woman with U.S. citizenship.

The officials said the kidnapping involved two vehicles. According to their account, the journalist was abducted from central Baghdad on Saadoun Street, a commercial area near several hotels. After the abduction, the kidnappers transferred her from the first vehicle into a second car.

Security forces pursued the kidnappers as they traveled southwest of Baghdad toward Babil province, the officials said. One of the vehicles used in the kidnapping crashed near the town of Al‑Haswa in Babil province while being chased by authorities. That vehicle was apprehended, but the journalist was no longer inside.

The Interior Ministry said security forces launched an operation to track down the kidnappers, “acting on precise intelligence and through intensive field operations,” after intercepting a vehicle linked to the abduction that overturned during the pursuit.

One suspect was arrested and one of the vehicles used in the kidnapping was seized, the ministry said, but other suspects remain at large.

The two Iraqi security officials said an alert was circulated to checkpoints across the region, enabling security forces to track and pursue the kidnappers as they fled Baghdad.

In its statement, Al‑Monitor said it stands by Kittleson’s reporting and urged Iraqi authorities to ensure her swift release.

“We call for her safe and immediate release,” the outlet said. “We stand by her vital reporting from the region and call for her swift return to continue her important work.”

Quote:The United Arab Emirates is reportedly preparing to help the US fight Iran and open the Strait of Hormuz by force after being repeatedly struck by Iranian drones and missiles since the war began, Arab officials said.

The UAE is lobbying the United Nations Security Council to pass a resolution that would authorize a military operation to end Iran’s grip on the critical trade route, officials told the Wall Street Journal.

The operation would see the UAE become the first Persian Gulf country to join the war against Iran, with Abu Dhabi calling on European and Asian military powers to join the coalition to open the strait.

Along with opening the Strait of Hormuz, the UAE is also calling for the US to occupy strategic islands near the oil-critical Strait of Hormuz, including Abu Musa, which Abu Dhabi claims but is currently held by Iran, officials said.

Bahrain, a close US ally in the region that hosts America’s Fifth Fleet, is sponsoring the UN resolutions, with a vote expected on Thursday, according to the WSJ.

Russia and China, allies of Iran who sit on the UN’s Security Council, would veto the resolution.

Nations in the Gulf, Europe and Asia have all called for the Strait of Hormuz to be opened as it serves as a key pipeline for 20% of the world’s oil supply.

Iran effectively closed the Strait to anyone it deems its enemies after the US and Israel waged war on the Islamic Republic.

Quote:French President Emmanuel Macron delivered one of Europe’s sharpest public rebukes of President Donald Trump since the Iran war began, accusing him of shifting objectives, weakening NATO, and fueling global instability. His remarks landed as markets reeled from Trump’s televised address, which offered no clear path to ending the conflict or reopening the Strait of Hormuz, now under a de facto Iranian blockade.

What To Know

• Macron said Trump’s changing positions weaken U.S. credibility and strain NATO.
  
• European governments are scrambling to manage the economic fallout of a war they were not consulted on.
  
• Britain held a virtual meeting with dozens of nations, excluding the United States, to discuss reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
  
• The UN Security Council is preparing to vote on a Bahrain‑drafted resolution allowing force to reopen the waterway.
  
• Britain will host military planners from about 30 countries next week to discuss securing the strait.
  
• Trump threatened to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages” but offered no exit strategy.
  
• Stocks recovered from early losses and oil prices eased slightly after reports of talks between Iran and Oman on monitoring marine traffic.
  
• Iranian officials rejected Trump’s remarks and vowed not to accept a cycle of war and temporary cease-fires.
  
• Iran continues launching missiles and drones, with intercepts reported by Israel and UAE forces.
  
• Iranian authorities detained human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, continuing a pattern of arrests.
  
• Death tolls continue to rise across Iran, Lebanon, Gulf nations, Israel, and the United States.
  

Quote:President Trump mercilessly trolled French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife on Wednesday — as he ramped up his attacks on NATO allies for not joining the war against Iran.

The commander-in-chief mocked his counterpart’s marriage to Brigitte Macron after the French first lady was caught on camera slapping her husband in now viral footage.

“I call up France, Macron – whose wife treats him extremely badly,” Trump joked during a private lunch at the White House on Wednesday as he detailed asking NATO for help.

“Still recovering from the right to the jaw,” he added, referring to the infamous shove.

“And I said, ‘Emmanuel, we’d love to have some help in the Gulf even though we’re setting records on knocking out bad people and knocking out ballistic missiles. We’d love to have some help. If you could, could you please send ships immediately’.”

Trump then mimicked a French accent as he recalled Macron’s answer, saying: “‘No no no, we cannot do that, Donald. We can do that after the war is won’.”

The president’s dig came after he insisted that he was “absolutely” considering withdrawing the US from the NATO military alliance after scores of European leaders barred the United States from using military bases for the monthlong Iran conflict and balked at requests for naval support to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

At one point, he blasted the transatlantic alliance as a “paper ⁠tiger.”

Quote:Action led by President Donald Trump has contributed to what "looks like Putin’s dream plan," a key NATO ally's leader has warned.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote in a post on X on Thursday: "The threat of NATO’s break-up, easing sanctions on Russia, a massive energy crisis in Europe, halting aid for Ukraine and blocking the loan for Kyiv by Orbán - it all looks like Putin’s dream plan."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has for years complained about NATO's eastward expansion, and in his explanation for invading Ukraine, named Kyiv possibly nearing membership as a major red line.

President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both suggested this week that the U.S. will review its role in NATO after the war in Iran ends. Last month the U.S. lifted sanctions on Russian oil in a bid to curb energy price rises as a result of the war. Meanwhile Hungary leader Viktor Orbán, a Trump ally, blocked Europe sending more aid and loans to Ukraine.

Asked about Tusk's remarks and whether the sanctions would be reimposed, a U.S. State Department spokesperson referred Newsweek to Secretary Rubio's comments and said the "United States does not preview sanctions actions."

Quote:Russia views NATO as a hostile alliance, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said, after President Donald Trump suggested the U.S. could end its membership.

Peskov, who was responding to questions about Trump's speech on the Iran War as well as the future of the military alliance, also said Russian President Vladimir Putin was talking to regional leaders about trying to end the Middle East conflict.

"The president is continuing these ⁠contacts, and if our services are somehow required, we are, of course, ready to make our contribution to ensuring that the military situation transitions to a peaceful course as soon as ‌possible," he told reporters.

Why It Matters

Peskov's comments come a day after Trump suggested to British newspaper The Telegraph that he could potentially try to leave the alliance, saying removing the U.S. from the treaty was “beyond reconsideration”.

He added: "I was never swayed by NATO. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way.”

The interview was the latest criticism in a growing rhetoric of dissatisfaction with NATO from the Trump administration during the Iran War. Relations were already strained over the president's push to acquire Greenland at the start of the year, but have grown worse after European leaders pushed back on Trump's calls for help reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

The internationally important waterway for global oil has been effectively under blockade by Tehran during the conflict.

In a statement to Newsweek on Wednesday after Trump's threats to leave the alliance, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said, "President Trump has made his disappointment with NATO and other allies clear, and as the President has emphasized, 'the United States will remember.'"

What To Know

After Putin's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, NATO declared Russia its “most significant and direct threat”. More recently, Russia has been accused by NATO countries of hybrid warfare following unauthorized drone incursions over critical infrastructure, such as airports, nuclear power plants and military bases.

But its standing as a united front has taken a hit in recent months after remarks from Donald Trump, and other members of his administration, over what future role the U.S. would have in NATO.

On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. may "reexamine" its role after several European countries limited U.S. military access to bases and airspace for strikes on Iran.

Spain had closed its airspace to all U.S. military flights during the war, while Italy denied U.S. bombers access to an air base and France drew Trump's criticism for closing its airspace to planes carrying weapons to Israel.

Quote:Secretary of State Marco Rubio questioned the value of NATO Tuesday night after European allies blocked the US military from using their bases and airspace to launch attacks on Iran.

Rubio, who recalled that as a senator he was “one of the strongest defenders” of NATO, told Fox News host Sean Hannity that membership in the transatlantic alliance would be “reexamined” after the Iran war.

“If now we have reached a point where the NATO alliance means we can’t use those bases to defend America’s interests, then NATO is a one way street,” the top US diplomat lamented.

“If NATO is simply about us having troops in Europe to defend Europe, but when we need them to allow us to use their military bases, their answer is no –  then why are we in NATO?”

Rubio said the decision over whether the US remains in NATO will ultimately be made by President Trump, a longtime critic of the alliance.

“So I think there’s no doubt, unfortunately, after this conflict is concluded, we are going to have to reexamine that relationship,” Rubio said.

During a cabinet meeting last week, Trump described the war against Tehran as a loyalty “test” and ripped Europeans for failing to step up.

“They weren’t there,” he said of the NATO allies. “So if there’s ever a big one … I don’t think they’re going to be there.”

Trump has also blasted European countries for failing to help the US reopen the Strait of Hormuz amid Iranian attacks on shipping vessels in the critical waterway.

The president has signaled that the responsibility for ensuring the safe passage of ships in the Strait of Hormuz may soon fall solely on Europe.

“You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!”

Quote:WASHINGTON — President Trump said Wednesday that he’s “absolutely” considering withdrawing the United States from the NATO military alliance — and that “I’ll be discussing my disgust with NATO” during a primetime address about the Iran war.

“Oh, absolutely without question. Wouldn’t you do that if you were me?” Trump told Reuters reporter Steve Holland in an interview, when asked if he was weighing leaving the transatlantic alliance.

Trump made the remark after telling The Telegraph that NATO’s future is “beyond reconsideration” after European leaders barred US use of military bases for the monthlong Iran conflict and balked at US requests for naval support to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

“I was never swayed ⁠by NATO. I always knew they were a paper ⁠tiger, and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin knows that too, by the way,” he said.

NATO for generations has been a cornerstone of US foreign policy, committing the US, Canada and most major nations in Europe to collective defense against external threats.

In both of his terms, Trump pressured fellow NATO members to increase military spending. Last year, he shifted the responsibility of footing the bill for US weapons sent to Ukraine — which is not a NATO member — onto the allies so that Kyiv could continue resisting Russian advances.

Withdrawing the US from NATO would face significant bipartisan blowback, but unilateral presidential withdrawal from treaties has become the norm, and Trump has axed others, including pacts on climate change and arms control.

Former President Joe Biden in 2023 signed legislation coauthored by then-Sen. Marco Rubio — now Trump’s secretary of state — that bars any president from withdrawing from NATO without congressional consent. It’s conceivable Trump would argue the prohibition unconstitutionally restricts his ability to lead the military and conduct diplomacy — a case his team has made against other legislation in the past.

The Senate ratified the treaty establishing NATO in 1949 at the start of the Cold War, and the alliance has endured as a counter to Moscow’s post-Soviet reassertion of influence in Eastern Europe.

Members of NATO include the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Poland and Turkey. The alliance expanded to Russia’s frontier with the addition of Poland in 1999 and the three Baltic nations — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — in 2004.

Quote:Two senators, including Republican Mitch McConnell, issued a warning to President Donald Trump on Wednesday after he suggested the United States could withdraw from NATO.

In a joint statement, McConnell and Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, said the bloc was the most "successful military alliance in history," in an apparent rebuttal to Trump's ongoing disparagement of the organization.

“Alliance disputes are as old as the alliance itself. Americans are safer when NATO is strong and united," the senators wrote. "It is in our interest for all allies to tend this unity with care."

McConnell is the chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, while Coons is the ranking member.

Why It Matters

McConnell and Trump have long had an on-again, off-again relationship, with the senator having helped deliver key wins for the president in his first term while also being openly critical of some of Trump's actions—particularly in the wake of the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. When it comes to NATO and wider world affairs, McConnell has remained a staunch interventionist, which clashes with Trump's overall message of "America first."

What To Know

The message from McConnell and Coons came Wednesday after Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio floated the idea, once more, of the U.S. withdrawing from NATO.

“The only time NATO has gone to war has been in response to an attack on America," the pair said in the bloc's defense. "NATO troops fought and died in Afghanistan and Iraq alongside American forces. The United States must not take this sacrifice–nor our allies’ commitment to make it again–lightly."

The U.S.-Israeli bombardment of Iran, now well into its fifth week, has strained relations between Washington and its European allies in NATO, drawing criticism even from Trump's right-wing political ally, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Trump is a longtime critic of NATO, although European pledges to drastically increase defense spending and lean less on the U.S. in June 2025 appeared to ease concerns that he could pull America from the alliance.

Transatlantic relations dipped again when the U.S. insisted it would take control of Greenland, a semi-autonomous part of NATO member Denmark, despite a horrified reaction from European officials.

NATO leaders have repeatedly said the alliance is not involved in the Iran war, with many of its members distancing themselves from the conflict that began when U.S. and Israeli forces attacked Iran on February 28. Trump has said that the U.S. will remember the lack of involvement from fellow NATO members.

Quote:A senior Trump administration source has denied sensational claims Pam Bondi was fired for tipping off Rep. Eric Swalwell about FBI plans to release files tied to his links to a Chinese spy.

The source told The Post that while President Trump personally likes Bondi, he had grown dissatisfied with her performance and had been weighing her removal for some time.

“The president has been considering this change for a long time,” the source said.

The denial follows a Daily Mail report that Bondi was dismissed after a series of internal clashes, including suspicions she alerted Swalwell to FBI activity involving documents related to his past association with suspected Chinese intelligence operative Christine Fang, also known as “Fang Fang.”

The outlet claimed Bondi ”begged” Trump to reconsider her dismissal.

However, Micah Beasley, a spokesperson for Swalwell’s campaign for California governor, denied that the congressman was given any insight into the release of FBI records.

“We had no heads-up by anyone in the administration. None,” Beasley wrote in an email to The Post.

“These stories would be laughable if not so outrageous. An administration that is now at 33% approval is looking to blame anyone but the right people — themselves.”

Bondi’s ouster follows months of friction within the administration. Her tenure had been under scrutiny over the Justice Department’s handling of records tied to serial pedophile and financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche will serve as acting attorney general while Trump considers a permanent replacement.

The firing marks the second cabinet-level departure in recent weeks after Trump dismissed Kristi Noem, who was secretary of Homeland Security.

Last week, Noem’s husband, Byron, outed for living a double life as a cross-dresser with a fetish for grotesquely oversized breasts.

Swalwell’s past ties to Fang have been a source of concern for years, as she assisted the congressman’s 2014 congressional campaign with fundraising and helped place an intern in his office before federal authorities intervened.

Quote:Governors in Florida and Mississippi signed into law measures that require officials to verify the citizenship of voters, just as similar legislation being pushed by President Donald Trump has stalled in Congress.

The law signed Wednesday by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was immediately challenged in court by civil rights organizations that said it will make it harder for Floridians to vote.

The citizenship provision of the law goes into effect Jan. 1. It requires voters to provide a birth certificate, passport or naturalization certificate as proof of citizenship if their eligibility to vote is challenged by government officials through cross-referencing voter registration applications with motor vehicle records.

“Many eligible voters do not have these documents and cannot obtain them for a variety of reasons — including because they were born without a birth certificate in the segregated South, because their documents were destroyed in a hurricane, or because they cannot afford the hundreds of dollars it costs to replace them,” the civil rights groups said in a lawsuit filed in federal court in South Florida.

The voting legislation being pushed aggressively by Trump in Congress would mandate that people provide documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, such as a U.S. passport, citizen naturalization certificate or a combination of a birth certificate and government-issued photo identification. It passed the House but was stalled in the Senate before lawmakers took a spring recess.

Under the Florida law, credit cards, student IDs and retirement community identifications can no longer be used as IDs when voting, and the citizenship status of a driver must be reflected on driver’s licenses starting in July 2027.

DeSantis said the law improves the security and transparency of Florida’s election system.

“In Florida, we will always stand up for election integrity,” the Republican governor said.

Quote:A 13-year-old girl who vanished under suspicious circumstances in Arizona more than 30 years ago has now been found alive, authorities said.

Christina Marie Plante was only recently located after a sudden breakthrough in the case — decades after she disappeared without a trace from the tiny town of Star Valley, north-east of Phoenix, the Gila County Sheriff’s Office revealed Wednesday.

Authorities haven’t released any details on what led to her being found, but noted that advances in technology helped develop new leads.

It also wasn’t clear where she was located or when.

The blue-eyed, blonde vanished after she set off to see her horse in a stable near her home back in May 1994.

Missing person flyers blasted about town noted she was last spotted wearing a white t-shirt, multicolored shorts and black tennis shoes.

The pre-teen’s disappearance was described at the time as “suspicious” and authorities warned she was “endangered.”

“Christina was entered into national missing children databases, and missing person flyers were distributed locally, statewide and in other parts of the country,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

“Over the years, the case remained open and active, with investigators periodically re-examining evidence and pursuing new information as it became available.”

“After 32 years, Christina Marie Plante has been located alive,” the statement added.

Investigators have since confirmed Plante’s identity.

Quote:Work b**ch — But maybe not at a gas pump.

Pop icon Britney Spears, fresh off her DUI arrest, was seen at a gas station Wednesday afternoon smoking a cigarette.

In pictures obtained by The Post, Spears is seen sitting in the passenger seat of a $230K Jeep-style black SUV with her leg propped on the dashboard while smoking a cigarette, as her car is parked right in front of a pump while someone else fills up the tank.

The photos show a window rolled just slightly down, with smoke drifting inside the vehicle.

Smoking is prohibited at California gas stations near fuel pumps or tanks due to fire hazards. The California Code of Regulations prohibits smoking where flammable liquids are dispensed, with local ordinances often enforcing a 25-foot no-smoking zone. Violations are typically treated as infractions resulting in fines.

This is the second appearance for Spears following her infamous DUI arrest in Thousand Oaks last month.

The pop star, was seen in Malibu, Calif. on March 22, according to a photo posted by social media fan page BritneysVault. In the photo, Spears wears a long brown coat as she stands in line to order from Starbucks in the Malibu Country Mart.

The 44-year-old was arrested for driving under the influence in Ventura County in early March, following a series of calls to police describing the singer as a danger on the road. Spears is scheduled to appear at the Ventura County Superior Court on May 4.

Quote:Tiger Woods’ recent DUI arrest has shaken the golf world, and one of the game’s legends is calling on the 15-time major winner to make some serious changes.

Nick Faldo, the golfer-turned-broadcaster, spoke with reporters on a Thursday call, according to the Independent, and said Woods has to now take “responsibility” for the car crash in Florida last week.

“There are two sides to this right now. There’s one side, let’s care for Tiger, and then there’s got to be a responsibility and accountability side as well.,” he said.

“This is a serious thing and issue he’s done. The PGA Tour statement was so predictably weak. And you know how they show that, the Tour will look after him as they always have done.

“There has to be some accountability, forget about golf and everything.”

Woods, 50, was arrested in Jupiter Island last week after his Land Rover flipped over and clipped a Ford F-150 landscaping truck that was parked.

The golf icon, according to police bodycam footage, told officers that he ” ooked down at my phone and boom.” The video also revealed that Woods talked with President Donald Trump after the crash. He also\ told officers he was “hoping to” compete in April’s Masters, which he will not be.

Earlier this week, he pleaded not guilty to charges of driving under the influence with property damage and refusing a lawful test. Woods allegedly told officers during his arrest that he had taken “a few pills” the morning of the crash.

Hours after his plea, Woods revealed he was stepping away from golf to focus on his personal life.

“I know and understand the seriousness of the situation I find myself in today,” he wrote in a statement shared on social media Tuesday. “I am stepping away for a period of time to seek treatment and focus on my health. This is necessary in order for me to prioritize my well-being and work toward lasting recovery.

“I’m committed to taking the time needed to return in a healthier, stronger, and more focused place, both personally and professionally. I appreciate your understanding and support, and ask for privacy for my family, loved ones and myself at this time.”

Quote:A man accused of attacking the car of the duo behind “Gown and Out in Beverly Hills” has been arrested after the reality TV stars described the road-rage incident as one the most frightening of their lives.

The suspect, Kevin Hernandez, was taken into custody Wednesday on the 500 block of Melrose Avenue in connection with the wild confrontation, according to the LAPD. He was booked on felony vandalism charges.

The run-in occurred Sunday morning at the intersection of Melrose Avenue and Vine Street in Hollywood, where Pol Atteu and Patrik Simpson were stopped at a red light when driver abruptly pulled in front of their Mercedes-Benz and blocked their path.

Video they took of the incident shows the suspect exiting his SUV and approaching the couple’s vehicle before repeatedly striking the driver-side door and window.

“We’re grateful to law enforcement for taking swift action in this road-rage attack and for ensuring our safety by granting the order of protection,” Simpson told The Post.

“What happened that morning was extremely threatening and violent, and in the moment I truly feared for my life. No one should have to experience that kind of aggression simply driving through the streets of Hollywood.”

Atteu and Simpson said they were “trapped” and unable to escape as the suspect lashed out. They maintained they had no prior interaction with the driver and did nothing to provoke the incident. It remains unclear what set the suspect off.

Quote:The last-place Wizards can’t even do Aprils Fools’ Day right.

The team played a gag on a fan during its tilt with the 76ers on Wednesday night, and when nobody found the bit funny, Washington officials actually issued an apology on Thursday morning.

“We missed the mark,” the Wizards admitted.

The skit went down during a break in the action at Capital One Arena in D.C.

A man was blindfolded, and told by an in-arena emcee that if he drained a half-court shot, he’d win $10,000.

The guy didn’t even hit the backboard after letting the ball fly from his hands, but everyone on the court — including multiple mascots — raced in to pretend as if he sunk it.

The fan was then presented a check, but it was immediately ripped away when it was revealed he had actually missed.

People were quick to hit social media and criticize the Wizards for it all, and eventually, a mea culpa was released.

Quote:An alleged drug trafficker who amassed enough fentanyl “to kill millions” was indicted on Long Island Thursday, the district attorney announced while revealing the jaw-dropping $360,000 cache.

Phillip Gonzalez, 42, was indicted on charges including operating as a major drug trafficker and sent back to jail Thursday following a 10-day sting in late February sparked by one of his purported clients’ fatal overdoses, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.

Suffolk County police originally responded to reports of two overdoses at a home in East Patchogue on Feb. 17.

One victim who died at the scene had a contact for their dealer on their phone, the district attorney’s office said.

From there, they traced the phone number back to Gonzalez, a resident of Selden. An undercover detective arranged a meet-up where Gonzelez allegedly sold him “a quantity of powder cocaine,” according to the release.

The cops repeated the same process and bought another batch of cocaine from Gonzalez just four days later, prosecutors said.

The police department executed a search warrant at Gonzalez’s rental home in Selden on Feb. 26. There, they allegedly recovered 4.5 kilograms of fentanyl — enough to wipe out more than 2 million people, which is more than all of Suffolk County, the district attorney warned.

Authorities also seized 2.5 kilograms of Xylazine, more commonly known as “Tranq,” which is illegal for sale or purchase when mixed with illicit drugs.

Other parts of the illicit potluck include 1.5 kilograms of crystal meth, 223 grams of the cocktail drug Tusi, 40,820 milligrams of ketamine, 234 grams of cocaine, and five boxes containing hundreds of vials with fentanyl and more Tusi, the release said.

The vials of fentanyl and Tusi matched those recovered at the scene in East Patchogue, according to the district attorney’s office.

The entire cache had a street value of over $360,000, prosecutors estimated.

Gonzalez faces anywhere from 15 years to life in prison on more than 25 drug-related charges. He is set to appear in court on April 6.

Quote:WASHINGTON — President Trump marked the one-year anniversary of his “Liberation Day” reciprocal tariff announcement with new levies on pharmaceuticals and steel.

Trump signed orders imposing tariffs of up to 100% on foreign-made drugs and requiring steel to be tariffed at its US market value, rather than the lower cost of making it abroad, closing what officials called a loophole.

The pharmaceutical order is unlikely to affect most popular medicines because the rate drops to 0% for the 13 large companies that have already pledged to both offer federal health programs “most favored nations” pricing and to onshore production to the US.

Smaller drugmakers can reduce their tariff rate to 20% if they partner with US manufacturers and to 0% if they align pricing with rates in other western countries within 180 days.

“Basically, for smaller companies, what they do is they use contract manufacturers,” an official told reporters.

“The big contract manufacturers are building huge factories here, and so they expect to take care of the smaller companies by saying, ‘Look, we’ll build for you your smaller drug.'”

The metals-focused order seeks to both strengthen and clarify enforcement of Trump’s 50% tariff rate on steel, aluminum and copper.

Assessing steel at US market rates prevents undervaluing based on overseas production costs.

“It’s now going to be proper, and fair, as opposed to… people try to get around our tariffs and sort of short-changing us,” the official said.

“That creates a model [where] we will build blast furnaces and electric arc furnaces in America. 25-30 years ago, we had 40 blast furnaces in America. Now we’re down to 10 and we were becoming subservient to others,” he said.

“China just announced an export license regime, so they are thinking of weaponizing steel. We don’t buy consequential massive steel from China. However, the rest of the world does.”

The metals order also clarifies the tariffs on items partially made of aluminum, copper and steel, eliminating the need for complicated computations.

Products whose weight is comprised more than 15% of the metals will be subject to a 25% tariff. Items with a negligible amount won’t face the tariff.

Trump announced the new actions on the anniversary of his Rose Garden event unveiling a 10% baseline tariff on most countries as well as sky-high proposed tariffs on countries with which the US had trade deficits.

Quote:Top congressional Democrats, party campaign arms and allied groups are suing President Donald Trump and his administration over a sweeping order he signed this week that would increase federal involvement in elections.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) along with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic Governors Association and the Democratic National Committee, filed the lawsuit Thursday.

The lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Washington, DC, seeks to block Trump’s executive order signed Tuesday targeting mail-in voting and voter eligibility, as Senate Republicans continue debating the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act.

“The American people are fed up with Republicans’ price-spiking, health care-gutting agenda and are ready to vote them out,” Schumer, Jeffries and the committee chairs said in a joint statement. “That’s why Donald Trump is desperately trying to rig our elections by making it harder to vote for seniors, Americans with disabilities, members of the military, rural communities and other working families who rely on vote-by-mail. This move is blatantly unconstitutional, and we will fight against it.”

“We are taking action to challenge Trump’s executive order to protect the right to vote and ensure every eligible American can make their voice heard at the ballot box,” they added.

Trump has warned Republicans that if they cannot pass the SAVE America Act — which is unlikely given unified Democratic opposition in the Senate — the GOP could face major losses in the upcoming midterm elections.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson fired back, “Only Democrat politicians and operatives would be upset about lawful efforts to secure American elections and ensure only eligible American citizens are casting ballots.”

“President Trump campaigned on securing our elections and the American people sent him back to the White House to get the job done,” she said.

The executive order, signed earlier this week, reflects Trump taking matters into his own hands amid the political reality in Congress.

The order would create federal “citizenship lists” of US citizens using government databases, require those lists to be shared with states before elections, and give the US Postal Service (USPS) authority over mail-in voting logistics. It would also require voters to be enrolled with USPS to receive mail ballots.

Quote:Nassau’s fiscal watchdog is demanding County Executive Bruce Blakeman replenish nearly $14 million quietly pulled out of opioid settlement funds — and threatening to tank his next budget.

Nassau Interim Finance Authority chairman Richard Kessel blasted Blakeman and his Republican administration in a charged letter for transferring millions in interest earnings from the county’s Opioid Litigation Settlement Fund into its general fund — where it can now be spent on anything.

The intended purpose of the settlement is meant to fund opioid treatment, prevention and education.

“While sitting on the settlement funds in the face of this public health crisis is bad enough, it is unconscionable for your administration to transfer the interest in a backroom maneuver to prop up the County’s budget,” the Friday letter, obtained by The Post, read.

The transfer substantially drains the resources available for opioid treatment and recovery — especially as inflation has eroded the value of the fund, Kessel warned.

Internal finance data provided by county Dems and reviewed by NIFA showed roughly $13.7 million in interest has been transferred from the opioid fund by Blakeman, who is running for governor, to Nassau’s general account since 2024.

“You have been entrusted by the residents of the County to utilize these monies for the sole purpose of assisting efforts to provide interventions, recovery services, education, support and assistance to those who suffer from an opioid addiction and to their families,” Kessel continued.”

Quote:Disgraced San Francisco city boss Sheryl Davis arrived in court Thursday to be arraigned on a slew of bombshell corruption charges.

Pictures show Davis in a black jacket warding off cameras and holding a purse. She was accompanied by her attorney Tony Brass and two other unidentified people.

Davis, former head of the city’s Human Rights Commission, was arrested Monday alongside her boyfriend James Spingola on charges of multiple felony counts of misappropriating public funds and conflicts of interest.

They are accused of diverting millions in funds meant to uplift the black community after the death of George Floyd. She was in charge of the Dream Keeper Initiative — a $120 million plan to assist black residents.

Instead, Davis allegedly engaged in a “pervasive pattern of self-dealing,” according to prosecutors. The funds went to personal projects and parties — including upgraded flights, wine tastings for black college students, concerts and more at VIP events in Beverly Hills, Martha’s Vineyard, and New York City.

She also spent money allegedly on PR firms to promote her book and brand.

About $3 million went toward Spingola’s nonprofit despite netting low scores from city evaluators.

“Ms. Davis was funneling city money to Collective Impact, while also steering how Collective Impact spent its funds, both for HRC use and for her personal benefit,” prosecutors had said, referring to the nonprofit by name.

The relationship between the two was apparently not disclosed.

Davis has been charged with 17 felonies and two misdemeanors, while Spingola faces four felony counts.

Quote:A 66-year-old psychiatrist at the center of a series of federal raids targeting health care fraud flaunted his life of luxury online why allegedly bilking millions of dollars from taxpayers.

Gladwin Gill, and his wife, Amelou, were both arrested during operation “Never Say Die” for allegedly submitting $5.2 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare for hospice services that were not medically necessary or ever provided, according to authorities.

On social media, Gill flaunted his high-end lifestyle — posting photos alongside celebrities like Mario Lopez, George Clooney, President George W. Bush and Salt Bae.

In one post, the psychiatrist can be seen posing next to sports agent and philanthropist Leigh Steinberg during a Super Bowl party in 2022, grinning ear to ear on the red carpet.

Coincidentally, that same year federal authorities were supposedly looking into Gill for alleged health care fraud and even executed a search warrant, according to First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli.

“Nothing happened with these cases,” Essayli said. “Nothing’s happened with fraud under the prior administration, and you’ll have to ask them why, but presumably, it just wasn’t a priority.”

It seems the feds weren’t the only ones suspicious of the Gills.

Multiple comments on social media called out Gill for being a “lowlife,” and even accused the doctor of stealing money.

Quote:The moped-riding goons who shot a 7-month-old Brooklyn girl to death in her stroller were aiming for her dad, law enforcement sources said.

Little Kaori Patterson’s father, Jamari Patterson, 22, was apparently targeted in the brazen Wednesday afternoon hit over a social media beef with a crew from a rival housing project, investigators now believe,  the sources said.

The gunmen missed Patterson but struck the helpless tot in the head with the bullet, which then grazed her 2-year-old brother’s back before the thugs sped off and crashed their moped two blocks away.

Alleged shooter Amuri Greene, 21, ended up in the hospital, where he was identified as a person of interest in the baby’s death — with NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch saying Thursday he would face murder charges.

Greene remained hospitalized Thursday and has not been charged.

Tisch said a “massive NYPD manhunt” had been launched to track down the driver of the moped, who fled the scene and is on the lam.

Quote:A Venezuelan migrant stabbed a Queens man and tried to slit his throat on a “remote” Long Island beach made infamous by alleged serial killer Rex Heuermann, prosecutors charged this week.

Ruben Guanipa Ramirez drove an acquaintance to Gilgo Beach and allegedly tried to kill him during a life-or-death struggle after the pair played pool and also stopped by Jones Beach last month, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.

The same beach is where Heuermann, a Manhattan architect and Massapequa Park resident, allegedly dumped the bodies of seven sex workers after viciously murdering them over two decades. He’s expected to plead guilty to the slayings this month, according to law enforcement sources.

Suffolk District Attorney Raymond Tierney said in a statement Tuesday that evidence recovered against Ramirez “raises serious questions about what he intended that night.”

Ramirez, 26, initially picked up the victim from his Queens home in his 2024 Lexus NX250 so the two could drive to Sport Billiard Pool Hall in Baldwin together and then swing by Jones Beach, prosecutors said.

They then went to Gilgo Beach, where Ramirez, a Venezuelan national, allegedly turned violent.

As the pair was walking back to the car, Ramirez came up behind the victim and stuffed his mouth with a black cloth while knifing him on the left side, according to the district attorney’s office.

He then tried to slit his throat and cut him across the neck, but the man fought back, prosecutors alleged.

The victim was able to wrestle the knife away from Ramirez and suffered defensive wounds to his hands in the process.

The injured man then hopped in the Lexus and zoomed off to a pal’s home in Queens, where he called 911, according to prosecutors.

Quote:Real fear is growing that Los Angeles’ once-thriving TV/film industry is taking a “Detroit-style” decline with Hollywood jobs evaporating over the last few years.

A staggering 30% drop in film and TV employment since 2022 has experts warning that the city is following the path of the Motor City where the auto industry used to boom, according to the U.S. Labor Department, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Recent stats show that as of March 2026, jobs in the motion picture and sound recording industries have dropped from where they were at their peak in July 2022 of more than 455 thousand jobs to 344,000.

At a March congressional hearing, California Democrat Sen. Adam Schiff met with others who work in the industry to gain support for a bill that would create a federal film tax incentive for movies to be made in the U.S.

During the hearing, Schiff noted that LA County has lost 42,000 entertainment jobs in the last two years.

“These are great jobs and we want to keep them here at home,” Schiff said. “It’s not rocket science how we do that. It’s largely drafted. It needs to be bipartisan. We are working to gather bipartisan support for this.” 

Actor of the hit series “The Pitt,” Noah Wyle talked about the decline in jobs and how hard it has been on those working in the industry, saying the incentives are vital.

“It’s hard on families. It’s hard to fracture your industry that way,” Wyle said. “It’s vital to support these incentives. They are an investment in our city’s most precious commodity — they are an investment in its people.”

The loss of jobs has been particularly bad for crew members who work behind the scenes, according to the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE).

“Since 2022, employment for below-the-line workers is down 45 million hours, according to the union. Over the same period, the U.S.’s share of global production dropped from 52 percent to 38 percent. Most major studio tentpoles — the kind that bring bucks — now shoot in the U.K.”

Quote:Alberta separatists have claimed they have enough signatures to trigger a referendum on whether the province should get independence from Canada.

Alberta, home to Canada's oil sands and a longstanding grievance over energy policies, has frequently expressed dissatisfaction with the federal government, especially over issues like carbon taxes, pipeline regulations and equalization payments.

In May 2025, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she would hold a referendum if a petition calling for one was successful. Activists were given a deadline of early May to collect 177,000 signatures to spark a referendum request under Alberta's Citizen Initiative framework.

Posting on X Tuesday, Alberta independence group Rise of Alberta said: "The 177,000 signature threshold has now been passed, officially clearing the requirement for an Alberta independence referendum on October 19th. This is a historic moment for Alberta and signature collection is still continuing."

Elections Alberta told Newsweek it was unable to confirm the signature count at this time.

Why It Matters

The petition receiving the necessary signatures to move forward is a major step for the separatist movement and indicates some support for the measure. However, overall public support for the measure remains low, according to polling, so it is unlikely to move forward.

What To Know

Smith lowered the threshold for citizens to trigger referendums last year.

"Should Ottawa, for whatever reason, continue to attack our province as they have done over the last decade, ultimately that will be for Albertans to decide," she said during a livestream address in May, adding, "I will accept their judgement."

However, the separatist movement seems unlikely to succeed. An early April 2025 poll carried out by the Angus Reid Institute found that only three in 10 Albertans would vote to leave the Canadian federation. A March poll from Leger had similar findings.

In February, Jeffrey Rath, the leader of separatist group the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP) said in an interview with Canadian Television: "the Trump administration shows Albertans far more respect than is shown to Albertans by the government in Ottawa."

While there are no plans in place to align more with the U.S., if Alberta's separatist movement is successful, some separatist leaders have indicated goodwill towards the Trump administration.

Quote:A former Special Forces commando made millions of dollars carrying out assassinations for the United Arab Emirates, new court documents claim.

Abram Golan, a mercenary allegedly behind a botched plot to kill a member of Yemen’s House of Representatives, has been named a defendant by Anssaf Ali Mayo, who barely escaped death at Golan’s hands, the papers allege.

In August 2015, Golan, along with former Navy SEAL Issac Gilmore, started Spear Operations group in Rancho Santa Fe in San Diego.

The two pitched and reached an agreement with the UAE to carry out “targeted assassinations” on the empire’s behalf, the lawsuit claims.

In return, Spear would allegedly be paid $1.5 million a month plus bonuses for successful killings.

The deal was allegedly brokered over lunch at an Italian restaurant in the officers’ club of a UAE military base in Abu Dubai by Mohammed Dahlan, a former security chief for the Palestinian Authority.

“There was a targeted assassination program in Yemen. I was running it. We did it. It was sanctioned by the UAE within the coalition,” Golan allegedly said, according to the papers.

Once the deal with the UAE was reached, the two recruited former members of the military, a key point in their pitch to the UAE, including Dale Comstock, a former member of US Army Special Forces, who was paid $40,000 a month plus bonuses to run the killing team.

The group was assembled by the December. They allegedly loaded on to a chartered jet at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey and flew to Yemen with body armor and specialized tools to prepare explosives.

They also allegedly packed a few weeks’ worth of military “meals ready to eat,” and three cases of Basil Hayden’s since it would be impossible to get any alcohol in Yemen.

Per the lawsuit, their main target was Mayo, who was at the top of the list to eliminate because he was a member of the al-Islah party, Yemen’s second-largest political group, which is linked to the UAE’s enemy the Muslim Brotherhood.

Quote:A new database of Chinese newspapers tracks the intensity of Communist Party propaganda used to support "ethnic harmony" in what critics say amounts to suppression of minority cultures.

One standout example is "铸牢中华民族共同体意识" ("forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation"), a party slogan championed by President Xi Jinping and now synonymous with assimilation efforts.

The phrase is all too familiar to Soyonbo Borjigin, a journalist from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, who recently launched a platform that tracks party propaganda efforts by scraping a database of nearly 700,000 articles from 20 provincial papers and two national ones since 2023.

Before leaving China for the United States, Borjigin and his colleagues at the Inner Mongolia Daily were put through a 30-day re-education program.

"During one session, the instructor asked us to reflect on the character 铸 ("to forge" or "to cast") and what it meant. The answer they gave us was that it was a metaphor for ethnic fusion, like molten steel being cast into a single mold," he told Newsweek. "The implication was clear: distinct ethnic identities were to be melted down and recast into one."

Later, when Borjigin traveled to the eastern city of Nanjing, he noticed the slogan was absent from day-to-day life. "That confirmed what PropagandaScope's data now shows at scale: this campaign is disproportionately concentrated in minority regions," Borjigin said.

Compared with the national People's Daily, this slogan was amplified more than 15 times by the Xinjiang Daily, the party newspaper in the far western region of Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uyghurs. The Tibet Daily and Inner Mongolia Daily saw their amplification increase by 9.5 and 8 times, respectively.

China recognizes 56 ethnic groups, including the Han, which comprise more than 90 percent of the country’s population of about 1.4 billion. For decades, many minority groups were accorded a greater degree of cultural autonomy. However, since the 2010s, Beijing has stepped up these Sinicization efforts as Xi sought greater control over ethnic policy.

Resistance has been met with crackdowns, as seen in Inner Mongolia in 2020, when thousands were detained after protesting the rollout of a Mandarin-only education policy.

On March 12, China passed the Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress during the annual session of China’s rubber-stamp parliament. The law aims to “fully promote and popularize” Mandarin, the national language. Children across China are to be instructed in Mandarin from preschool through secondary education, whereas before they were permitted to study in their native tongues, such as Tibetan or Uyghur, a language widely spoken in Xinjiang.

Local governments are called on to build “inter-embedded” communities, encouraging mixed residence among ethnic groups and weaving these goals into urban planning, housing policy, employment, and social services. The law also provides for punishment for parents deemed to instill in their children ideas considered harmful to “ethnic unity,” a broadly worded term rights groups say has frequently been used against minorities who resist Chinese Communist Party policies.

Human Rights Watch Associate Asia Director Maya Wang said the law cemented existing "deeply abusive" practices and mobilized China's bureaucracy toward the goal of cultural assimilation.

Chinese officials dispute that the law is being used to suppress minorities.

Quote:China has converted scores of obsolete fighter jets into drones and positioned many at forward air bases opposite Taiwan, raising concerns they could be used to help overwhelm the island’s defenses in a conflict.

Decades-old Shenyang J-6 aircraft are visible across at least six air bases near the Taiwan Strait—five in Fujian province and one in neighboring Guangdong—according to satellite imagery published by the Washington-based aerospace think tank the Mitchell Institute.

China’s investments in drones, missile forces and fifth-generation aircraft such as the J-20 have widened the air power gap with Taiwan, prompting Taipei to increase spending on layered air defenses and longer-range strike capabilities in recent years.

The People’s Liberation Army has also stepped up pressure on Taipei through large-scale exercises and near-daily sorties across the median line of the Taiwan Strait.

Newsweek reached out to the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Taiwan’s Defense Ministry with requests for comment.

The supersonic, twin-engine J-6—derived from the Soviet MiG-19—entered service in the early 1960s. The last airframes were retired from active service in 2010, though the venerable fighter has continued to be used for training.

China is known to have begun converting these aircraft into unmanned platforms around 2013, and the fighters-turned-drones, dubbed J-6Ws, were on display during last year's Changchun Air Show in Jilin Province. Out of an estimated more than 500 converted airframes, at least 200 are now positioned at bases near the Taiwan Strait, Reuters cited Mitchell Institute analyst Michael Dahm as saying.

Less sophisticated than purpose-built unmanned systems, the J-6 drones could still pose a threat if launched en masse as part of a broader saturation attack, analysts warn.

"Large numbers of these coming across the Strait in conjunction with other strike aircraft or cruise missiles could help in overwhelming Taiwanese—and potentially U.S. and Japanese defenses," Tom Shugart, founder of Archer Strategic Consulting and adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told Newsweek.

Satellite imagery indicates the aircraft are deployed at air bases in Fuzhou, Hui’an, Longtian, Yixu and Liancheng in Fujian province, as well as Xingning in Guangdong.

There is no obvious reason for the J-6s to be forward-deployed alongside more advanced platforms, wrote Moriki Aita, a research fellow at Japan’s National Institute for Defense Studies, in a recent report. "Rather, it suggests that they may be assigned different missions."

"Assuming that an unmanned J-6 is designed for one-way suicide attack operations, it could serve as a means of directly attacking air defense radar sites, surface-to-air missile batteries, airfield facilities, or critical infrastructure," he wrote. "This concept would impose a significant burden on air defense systems, forcing repeated engagements while enabling a portion of these platforms to penetrate even robust defenses."

Quote:The Philippines has reached an agreement with Iran on safe passage for its vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, a move the United States treaty ally says is vital to its energy supply.

In a phone call on Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi and Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro reached a "positive understanding on the safety of our seafarers and the security of our energy supply,” Lazaro said on X. "Grateful for the warm spirit of cooperation."

Newsweek reached out to the U.S. State Department and the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs for comment.

Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-quarter of the world’s seaborne oil passes, was down 94 percent compared to peacetime, according to Kpler data, as the conflict and the threat of Iranian strikes deterred commercial shipping. Tehran has pledged safe passage only for ships from countries it deems “non-hostile.”

The disruption has unsettled energy markets and tightened supply for Asian economies heavily reliant on the route. The Philippines is particularly exposed: it sources nearly all of its oil imports via the strait, and officials say reserves cover less than two months of demand. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. last week declared a national energy emergency, with the government rolling out conservation measures, including a four-day workweek for public-sector employees.

Araghchi assured Lazaro that Iran would “allow the safe, unhindered, and expeditious passage through the Strait of Hormuz of Philippine-flagged vessels, energy shipments, and all Filipino seafarers,” the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “These assurances will help sustain the steady flow of critical oil and fertilizer supplies to the Philippines.”

Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining strong bilateral ties and pursuing “lasting peace” through diplomacy, the statement added.

Quote:A powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck offshore in the Molucca Sea near Indonesia late Wednesday, prompting a tsunami warning for parts of the region, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

The quake occurred at a shallow depth and was centered west‑northwest of the city of Ternate, an area along the seismically active Pacific “Ring of Fire,” the USGS said. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said hazardous tsunami waves were possible along coastlines within about 620 miles of the epicenter, including parts of Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia. Authorities urged coastal residents to monitor official alerts as damage assessments continued and warned that tsunami impacts can vary widely depending on local geography.

Several population centers in eastern Indonesia lie close to the epicenter in the Molucca Sea and are monitored for strong shaking and possible tsunami impacts. The nearest major city is Ternate, the largest urban center in North Maluku province, with a population of more than 200,000 on a small island west of Halmahera.

Farther south, Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi and home to more than 400,000 people, has several low‑lying coastal districts identified by local authorities as tsunami‑prone. Regional monitoring agencies also watch coastal areas of the southern Philippines, particularly parts of Mindanao, and sections of eastern Malaysia, where shorelines could be affected by tsunami waves generated by strong offshore earthquakes, depending on their size and direction.

Quote:Hima-liars.

Mount Everest guides have allegedly been secretly lacing tourists’ food to trigger costly helicopter rescues as part of a $20 million insurance scam, according to a new investigation.

Police in Nepal have charged 32 individuals with organized crime and fraud charges related to the plot, which involves trekking company owners, helicopter operators, and hospital executives, the Kathmandu Post reported.

Guides with the trekking agencies allegedly poisoned tourists by putting baking soda in their food to trigger severe gastrointestinal distress that mimicked altitude sickness or food poisoning, investigators said.

Once ill, the visitors were allegedly pressured into agreeing to costly emergency helicopter evacuations, with operators using forged medical and flight documents to bill international travel insurers for the cost, according to authorities in the Himalayan country.

Those ill-gotten gains were then allegedly split among the guides, helicopter companies, trekking agencies, and the hospitals where the tourists were taken for fake treatments.

The investigation began in January when six executives from three prominent mountain rescue firms were arrested.

The groups allegedly fraudulently obtained at least $19.69 million in insurance payouts, according to police.

One company is accused of faking 171 of its 1,248 claimed rescues, leading to more than $10 million in illegitimate payouts.

A second company allegedly fabricated 75 of its 471 claimed rescues, fraudulently claiming $8 million, while a third is accused of making 71 false claims worth more than $1 million.

Prosecutors are seeking total fines of $11.3 million.

“The court is … giving high priority to this high-profile corruption case,” a court spokesperson said.

This is not the first tourism scandal of its kind to hit Nepal’s tourism industry, which supports over 1 million jobs, directly or indirectly, in the country.

In recent years, several major international insurers have halted coverage for trekking tourists in Nepal due to escalating fraud incidents.

In 2018, the Nepalese government claimed to have eliminated all “intermediaries” involved in arranging emergency evacuation for tourists, making operators legally responsible for their clients throughout the trip.

Quote:Iran’s reign of terror lives on.

The Islamic Republic executed two more people Saturday, as the regime unleashed a new wave of killings over fears of another citizen uprising in the streets of Tehran.

Political prisoners Abolhassan Montazer, a 66-year-old architect, and Vahid Baniamerian, a 33-year-old with a master’s in management, were hanged.

They were convicted of being members of the banned opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran — and came just days after four other members of the group were executed.

“Driven by profound weakness and reeling from its weakening grasp on power following recent nationwide uprisings, the clerical establishment is desperately using the gallows to physically eliminate its organized opposition and terrorize a restless society,” the group said in a statement Saturday.

The executions were the “culmination of a grossly flawed judicial process devoid of any legal legitimacy” the group urged, adding that the tactics included forced confessions and the regime’s state-run media unleashing a barrage of fabricated allegations against the two men in an attempt to justify the political executions.

Montazer and Baniamerian were ⁠arrested in January 2024 and sentenced to death after being charged with “armed rebellion” and labeled by the state media as a “terrorist team of the enemy.”

The opposition group remains defiant in the face of the regime.

“These brutal executions will not silence the opposition. Instead, they will only intensify the resolve of Iran’s rebellious youth to overthrow the regime,” it said.

In addition, 18-year-old musician Amirhossein Hatami, who was arrested in January in Tehran during the nationwide protests, was also hanged Thursday.

State media has confirmed 12 executions in Iran so far this year, though Iranian human rights group Hengaw reported evidence of 160 hangings since January.

The executions come on the back of tens of thousands of deaths at the hands of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps after it tried to silence dissent when anti-regime protesters took to the streets of Tehran in January over the country’s faltering economy.

More than 7,000 killings of protestors have been confirmed by the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, though thousands more are still under investigation.

Quote:Iran boasted Saturday that a new air defense system — credited with shooting down two US planes — will allow it to “definitely achieve full control” over its airspace as American and Israel forces continued to hammer the country.

Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya joint military command made the bold claim on state media, Reuters reported.

The besieged Islamic Republic could have used a Third Khordad missile system, a mobile medium-range surface-to-air defense system, to shoot down the F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet, The New York Times reported.

Other experts suspect that Iran used passive infrared detection systems to track and target the US aircraft – meaning it tracked the F-15E without emitting radar signals that US jets are equipped to detect and evade, according to ABC News.

That $31 million plane is believed to have gone down in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province in the southwestern part of Iran, near the Iraqi border. The pilots were forced to bail, and while one was rescued after the Friday incident, the second has yet to be found.

An A-10 Thunderbolt II “Warthog” attack aircraft was hit during a subsequent rescue mission for the missing pilot, but crashed after reaching Kuwaiti airspace, with the pilot safely ejecting.

These were the first confirmed losses of US aircraft in Iran since the start of the war on Feb. 28. The US military hit more than 12,300 targets in the conflict so far.

US officials have claimed the sustained bombing campaign has degraded Tehran’s missile and drone capabilities by more than 90%.

With the F-15E’s weapons systems officer missing, armed Iranian nomads have joined the hunt as officials are offering reportedly a $60,000 bounty while calling on civilians to join in the manhunt.

Quote:The search for an American crew member missing behind enemy lines in a rural stretch of Iran continued Saturday — as the US raced to find them before armed Bakhtiari tribesman tribesmen eager to collect a bounty offered by the regime.

The status of the missing co-pilot remained unknown late Saturday.

The White House has not publicly commented on the incident since White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Trump had been briefed.
US Central Command did not return a request for comment.

The pilot and co-pilot were forced to bail out of the F-15E Strike Eagle, a two-seater plane, after it was shot down Friday over Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, near Iraq.

The search for the missing American unfolded as Trump — who stayed in Washington for the Easter weekend — warned Iran it would face “hell” if it didn’t reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping by the president’s deadline.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has claimed it shot down the high performance fighter, and the Iranian government dangled a $60,000 reward for the crew member’s capture – while urging local villagers to find them first.

“If you capture the enemy pilot or pilots alive and hand them over to the police, you will receive a precious prize,” said an announcer on a local TV station. The directive came after an earlier instruction to shoot the pilot if they were found, according to Turkiye Today.

Villagers and Bakhtiari tribesman were seen in footage posted to social media fanning out across the region’s dry, mountainous terrain hunting for the missing crew member.

“The people of the province, especially tribesmen and villagers, have taken up personal weapons to patrol and search across the province’s mountains and plains, ready to fight enemy forces if encountered,” according to the Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated with the Iranian regime.

“Don’t worry, we will find them, God willing,” says one armed tribesman in a video from Iranian social media.

The tribesmen also reportedly shot at at two US Black Hawk helicopters, who had joined the search for the missing crew member, with hunting rifles, according to the Telegraph.

The downed F-15E Strike Eagle was taking part in the US-Israel air campaign against Iran which began Feb. 28.

Quote:US forces have successfully rescued and extracted the missing crew member of an American fighter jet that was shot down over Iran following “one of the most daring search-and-rescue operations” in the country’s history, President Trump announced early Sunday.

“WE GOT HIM! My fellow Americans, over the past several hours, the United States Military pulled off one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. History, for one of our incredible Crew Member Officers, who also happens to be a highly respected Colonel, and who I am thrilled to let you know is now SAFE and SOUND!” Trump posted on Truth Social just after midnight.

The Air Force officer — a weapons specialist who has not yet been publicly identified — was one of two aboard an F-15E Strike Eagle shot down on Friday. Both had ejected over southwestern Iran, triggering a massive high-risk rescue mission.

The weapons officer was injured during the ejection, but was still able to walk, a US official told Axios.

“He sustained injuries, but he will be just fine,” Trump said.

The crew member was recovered in a dangerous Saturday night operation following intense fighting near the crash site, as US forces carried out a complex operation deep inside Iranian territory.

No rescuers were injured during the massive, multi-domain operation involving hundreds of special operations troops, dozens of warplanes and helicopters and advanced intelligence capabilities spanning cyber and space, officials briefed on the operation told the New York Times.

“The fact that we were able to pull off both of these operations, without a SINGLE American killed, or even wounded, just proves once again, that we have achieved overwhelming Air Dominance and Superiority over the Iranian skies,” Trump added in his post.

A senior military official told the outlet that the mission was one of the most challenging and complex in the history of US special operations.

The airman evaded capture for up to a day in mountainous terrain, using survival training to move away from the wreckage and hide on elevated ground while signaling for rescue. He had little more than a pistol as Iranian forces scoured the area and mobilized civilians to hunt him down, the Times reported.

“This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour, but was never truly alone because his Commander in Chief, Secretary of War, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and fellow Warfighters were monitoring his location 24 hours a day, and diligently planning for his rescue,” Trump added.

The airman and the rescue team safely evacuated Iran and flew to Kuwait, where the injured airman could be treated, according to the Times.

The operation unfolded amid reported airstrikes and clashes in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, where local officials said multiple people were killed or wounded, as US special operations forces and Air Force pararescue teams engaged in a fierce firefight with Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Basij fighters searching for the downed crew member.

Quote:President Trump warned Iran Saturday it had two days left to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping or face “Hell.”

“Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out – 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them,” Trump posted.

“Glory be to GOD!” he concluded in his message.

Trump’s reiteration of his Easter Monday deadline comes as the US continues its frantic search to locate a pilot whose F-15 was downed over Iran, following the successful rescue of a co-pilot.

Iran has continued to fire missile attacks against Israel and US Gulf allies.

He had previously announced the extension and 10-day deadline on March 26. Commercial traffic through the Strait, which handles 20% of the world’s shipped oil supply, has dramatically slowed after oil tankers have been hit multiple times and Iran has threatened US and Israeli carriers.

Trump’s demand that Iran open the Strait came after a second Turkish ship made it through the Strait, the country’s transportation minister Saturday.

“This was possible due to our initiatives and also because these ships were using Iranian ports or were carrying cargo to or from Iran,” Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu told CNN Türk. The first Turkish vessel made it through March 13th after receiving permission from Iran.

Iran has been claiming sovereignty over the Strait and demanding tolls – worrying US policymakers who fear the regime could exploit the situation to get new revenue to cling to power.

Traffic through the Strait has dropped 90%, CNBC reported.

A container ship owned by a French company made it through, the Financial Times reported Friday, as have three Oman-linked tankers and a Japanese-owned tanker carrying liquified natural gas.

A senior leader of the Houthis, an Iran-backed proxy group, has threatened to shut another vital waterway – the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, if any US Gulf allies join the campaign against Iran.

“The option of closing the Bab el-Mandeb Strait is a Yemeni option that can be implemented should the aggression against Iran and Lebanon escalate savagely, or if any Gulf state becomes directly involved in military operations in support of the [Zionist] entity or the United States,” Houthi Deputy Information Minister Mohammed Mansour told AL-Monitor.

Quote:She’s a bombshell.

The glam grandniece of slain Iranian terror mastermind Gen. Qasem Soleimani frequented several US hotspots and lived a lavish life in LA before being scooped up by ICE Friday.

Sarinasadat Hosseiny, 25, and her mother, Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, were arrested after the State Department terminated their permanent resident status and had their green cards revoked due to her ties the terrorist Iranian regime, the agency announced Saturday.

The 25-year-old terror scion’s social media showed she’s enjoyed a luxurious, vacation-centric lifestyle while living in the country her mother referred to as the “Great Satan.”

Hosseiny shared photos of her jetsetting on private planes, sunbathing on yachts, and dancing at music festivals while showing no signs of gainful employment.

Instagram posts show that Hosseiny has recently traveled to Miami where she posed with drinks; to Alaska, where she still managed to take snaps in a bikini; and Las Vegas, where she attended an F-1 race.

Other posts show Hosseiny donning skin tight dresses, barely-there bikinis, and skirts well north of the knee.

In one photo taken from the floor, she wears fishnets and a skirt that does not cover butt — an outfit that would certainly not fly in Iran.

Hosseiny was first admitted to the US on a student visa in 2015 and was given a green card by the Biden administration in 2023.

Both Afshar and Hosseiny were arrested in Los Angeles, with the State Department citing the mother’s “unflinching support for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps,” which is a designated terror organization.

Quote:The daughter of a powerful Iranian regime insider who was forced out of Emory University after a firestorm of backlash is set to be booted from the United States completely.

Dr. Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, whose father is a top official in Tehran, was removed from her post at the prestigious Atlanta school following mounting outrage over her family’s ties to the regime, as first reported by the Post.

She worked as an assistant professor at Emory University’s prestigious Winship Cancer Institute in Atlanta.

The controversy surrounding Ardeshir-Larijani sparked backlash from critics who questioned how someone so closely linked to Iran’s ruling elite had secured a position at a leading American research institution.

The controversy quickly drew the attention of lawmakers, including Rep. Buddy Carter, who in a formal letter demanded her removal and argued US institutions must not serve as a “safe harbor” for individuals tied to hostile regimes, according to his office.

Carter also warned that her continued presence posed a national security risk.

The pressure campaign ultimately succeeded, but the fallout didn’t stop there.

Ardeshir-Larijani’s legal status in the US was terminated earlier this month, part of a broader effort targeting foreign nationals with ties to Iran’s leadership and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which the US designates as a terrorist organization, the US State Department confirmed.

She and her husband, Seyed Kalantar Motamedi, are no longer in the country and have been barred from reentry.

Officials said both were removed as part of a hardline crackdown on individuals linked to anti-American regimes.

The case underscores a widening crackdown on foreign nationals with ties to Iran’s ruling elite, even those embedded in elite American institutions, with officials emphasizing that the US will not allow individuals who support or are connected to anti-American terrorist regimes to remain in the country.

The Winship Cancer Institute is one of the university’s flagship medical research centers, known for cutting-edge cancer treatment and academic prestige.

Her exit highlights the increasing sensitivity around foreign ties in American academia, particularly when linked to governments viewed as adversarial to the U.S. It also underscores the reputational risks universities face when employing individuals connected to controversial regimes — even when those individuals are accomplished professionals in their own right.

Separately, on Saturday, authorities arrested Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter, Sarinasadat Hosseiny, relatives of slain Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, in Los Angeles.

Quote:French President Emmanuel Macron and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung agreed Friday to work together to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz and ease global economic uncertainties caused by the war in the Middle East.

Their summit in Seoul came as US President Donald Trump slammed allies for not supporting the US and Israeli war against Iran.

Macron was making his first visit to South Korea since taking office in 2017, as part of an Asian tour that already has taken him to Japan.

Macron told Lee at the start of the meeting that the two countries can play a role in helping to stabilize the situation in the Middle East, including Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, which has unleashed shock on global energy markets.

At a joint televised briefing afterward, Macron underscored the need for France and South Korea to cooperate to help reopen the strait and deescalate Middle East animosities, while Lee said the two affirmed “their resolves to cooperate to secure the safe shipping route in the Strait of Hormuz.”

The two leaders did not take questions and did not elaborate on how they would help reopen the strait — the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil usually passes.

“We need to clearly define, at the international level, the conditions for a process to ease the crisis and conflict in the Middle East,” Macron said. “We need to ensure that the Strait of Hormuz is reopened.”

Lee said he and Macron agreed to expand cooperation in technology, energy and other areas. South Korean and French officials also signed agreements to cooperate on nuclear fuel supply chains, jointly invest in an offshore wind project in southern South Korea and to collaborate on critical minerals.

South Korea has moved to increase output at its nuclear reactors to mitigate the energy crunch and Lee has also called for a faster transition to renewable energy, saying the war has exposed the country’s heavy reliance on fossil fuel imports.

Macron’s Asia trip comes as Trump has ramped up his frustration with allies.

In a speech Wednesday, Trump said Americans “don’t need” the strait but the countries who do “must grab it and cherish it.”

In an earlier Easter event at the White House, Trump called for his allies in Asia and China to get involved in reopening the waterway.

“Let South Korea, you know, we only have 45,000 soldiers in harm’s way over there, right next to a nuclear force — let South Korea do it,” Trump said. “Let Japan do it. They get 90% of their oil from the strait. Let China do it.”

The United States stations about 28,000 troops in South Korea, not the 45,000 stated by Trump.

Quote:Hasta la vista, baby.

Ukraine reportedly pulled off a record 7,000 missions in a month using land robots to fend against Russian forces, as the war-torn country continues to beef up its use of cyborgs on the battlefield.

“The frontline is more like Terminator,” a drone operator with Ukraine’s 25th airborne brigade, named Bambi, told The Guardian. “A land robot arrives at your position and there is nothing you can do about it.

“You can shoot a person in the chest and they stop firing. If you shoot a ground robot it doesn’t feel pain.”

When Kyiv first deployed robots to the frontlines in 2024, they came in limited shapes and sizes. Now a variety of killer droids can fire shots, lay mines and launch grenades at the enemy — among other tasks that led to the record-breaking mission count in January.

More than a hundred Russian troops even surrendered to the tin men that same month, according to Ukrainian Minister of Defense Mykhailo Fedorov.

“This winter, more than 100 occupiers laid down their arms thanks to the work of unmanned units,” he proudly wrote on X.

In the past two years, the use of robots shot up exponentially — with production increasing nearly sixfold in 2025, the fastest growing sector in Ukraine’s defense technology sector.

The bots had an estimated market size of $252 million last year, according to a study by Kyiv School of Economics published this week.

They don’t just fight. Since December, they’ve been bringing provisions to Ukrainian soldiers in the critical region of Donetsk, which has seen some of the most intense fighting since Russia’s invasion.

“One rolled up to the entrance of our dugout. I felt like a caveman gazing at alien technology,” marveled Bambi. “It looked so futuristic.”

Quote:A Russian military plane crash in annexed Crimea has killed six crew and 23 passengers, Russian news agencies reported in the early hours of Wednesday, citing the Defense Ministry.

The An-26 military transport plane was carrying out a scheduled flight over the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, the reports said.

The military lost contact with the plane around 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

The Soviet-designed military transport turboprop aircraft crashed into a cliff, sources at the scene told state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said a total of seven crew members and 23 passengers were on board. It wasn’t immediately clear from official statements if one crew member has survived.

The Investigative Committee said it has launched a criminal probe in connection with flight regulations and a search is underway in a mountainous forested area in the Bakhchisarai district.

The Interfax news agency cited the Defense Ministry as saying a suspected technical malfunction may have caused the crash and that there was no “damaging interference” with the aircraft.

Accidents involving Russian military planes have been frequent since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine.

In December, an An-22 military transport plane crashed in Russia’s Ivanovo region, killing seven crew. In October, a MiG-31 fighter jet crashed in the Lipetsk region, while a Tu-22M3 bomber crashed in the Siberian region of Irkutsk in April 2025.

In October 2022, a Su-34 bomber crashed into a residential area of Yeysk, a Russian city on the Azov sea, sparking a massive fire and killing 15 people.

Quote:Russia is conducting a rolling aerial attack on Ukraine since Thursday evening, Ukraine’s air force said on Friday, adding that a large number of enemy drones were in Ukrainian airspace.

The bombardment is the second time this week Russia has followed a overnight drone barrage ⁠with heavy daytime attacks, a new tactic as Moscow probes ways to penetrate Ukraine’s air defenses.

“We can see that the enemy is using new routes, new drones which they are constantly modernising, and new tactics,” air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said on state television.

He added that Russia had launched more than 400 long-range drones in the past 24 hours, as well as ten ballistic missiles that primarily targeted areas near the frontline.

Ihnat said the bombardment was similar to an attack on Tuesday, ‌which ⁠killed at least four people, when an overnight barrage of over 300 drones was followed by another of similar size in the middle of the day.

Large-scale Russian bombardments cause disruption across Ukraine, as many government institutions, public transport services and businesses close ⁠during the attack, which can last many hours.

“The enemy is exerting (pressure) on our population, paralysing the work of certain public institutions, as well as learning institutions,” Ihnat said.

⁠In the eastern region of Kharkiv, one person was killed and 25 others injured by missile, bomb and drone attacks over the past 24 hours, ⁠governor Oleh Synehubov said on social media.

That included four ballistic missiles that struck the regional capital, also called Kharkiv, overnight. Authorities only reported one injury from that strike.

Quote:Russia escalated its attacks on Ukrainian civilians overnight — killing at least 16 people and injuring 94 more with drones and missiles, despite pleas from Kyiv for an Easter ceasefire.

In one of the most brutal blitzes of the overnight campaign, a Russian drone struck a market in the city of Nikopol in the Dnipro region Saturday morning, killing at least five people and injuring 27 others.

A 14-year-old girl was among those critically wounded, while victims were hospitalized with shrapnel wounds, mine-explosive injuries and burns, according to Oleksandr Hanzha, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast governor.

Criminal proceedings for war crimes were initiated for the attack, Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General said. Since Russian strongman Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion more than four years ago, the office has documented more than 210,000 such cases.

Images of the wreckage show market stalls ripped to pieces and the roof collapsed, as fires tore through the shops, with meat and other produce spread on the floor among the charred structure.

“Shops were mutilated,” Hanzha slammed on Telegram.

In separate attacks in the Dnipro region, a five-month-old baby was among three people injured as flames from drones and aerial bomb strikes ripped through residential neighborhoods.

In Russia, two key Baltic oil export hubs were damaged after a series of Ukrainian drone attacks, forcing refineries to find ‌more expensive rail transport routes to other export terminals.

A Ukrainian drone and missile attack on southern Russia also killed at least one ‌person and injured four others.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced greater security co-operation with Turkey after meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul Saturday, — as Kyiv seeks ‌to leverage its wartime defense capabilities against Iranian drones.

Quote:Democrat Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon has bashed the Trump administration over its handling of Epstein files, but documents released last month reveal his own son arranged a business meeting with the convicted pedo.

Seven years after Epstein was released from a Florida prison after pleading guilty to solicitation of prostitution from a minor, Adam Wyden, who founded his own private investment fund, ADW Capital, in 2010, was introduced to the disgraced financier through mutual friend Jonathan Farkas.

“Adam my friend jeffery Epstein who manages 5 billion said to call his office he wants to see your record and would consider investing with you,” Farkas wrote on April 27, 2016.

A message from a redacted email address also helped arrange the meeting, according to a trove of emails released by the Justice Department.

The men decided to huddle the following day at Epstein’s Upper East Side townhouse at 10 a.m., according to the documents.

Wyden gushed in a follow-up message to Epstein after the meeting about his “passion and dedication for my business” while seeking to reel him in as a client.

“I live and breathe this business and take my returns, integrity and reputation quite seriously,” he wrote in the April 2016 message.

He also called them “like minded individuals” and said he ‘would very much look forward to having you join us at the fund.” There are no indications Wyden knew about any illegal Epstein activity or that Epstein became a client.

When contacted by The Post, Adam Wyden, 41, said, “No comment — I’m not interested,” and hung up.

Jonathan Farkas turns up separately in an embarrassing 2017 email exchange asking Epstein to tell him whether a woman he was seeing was “a hooker.”

Farkas’ wife Somers is serving currently as the US ambassador to Malta.

Sen. Wyden has made Epstein an issue for the past four years. The top Democrat on the Finance Committee, Wyden in a July floor speech called to “follow the money” to track the “ultra rich well-connected sex trafficker serial rapist.” He wants Treasury to hand over “a big Epstein file that’s full of actionable information” on Epstein’s financial transactions that the agency is holding back.

“I don’t speak to my kids about their business activities,” Sen. Wyden told The Post. “My investigation began four years ago and continues unchanged. I want transparency and accountability across the board.”

“For months Ron Wyden has been telling lies about President Trump, and now we know it’s because he is desperate to cover up that following Epstein’s money leads right back to his family,” said Republican National Committee Spokesperson Nick Poche. He called on Wyden to “come clean right now about how much his family gained financially from Jeffrey Epstein and his connections.”

Quote:An email between Jeffrey Epstein and a billionaire shrink pal runs through options for avoiding trouble with the law — including steps such as wearing disguises or undergoing plastic surgery, documents released by the Department of Justice show.

A May 1, 2009, email from his longtime friend and confidante, Gramercy Park psychiatrist Dr. Henry Jarecki, titled “What If I Get Caught,” contains a long list of items essential to escape law enforcement.

The email, fired off by an assistant, purportedly was sent because the doctor — who made his money trading commodities — was interested in writing a book on the topic.

“Dr. Jarecki asked me to send you the following notes, along with the statement, ‘I’m thinking of writing a new book, and I need a co-author,'” it reads.

At that time, Epstein was nearing the end of his 13-month Florida prison sentence for solicitation of prostitution as part of his 2008 non-prosecution “sweetheart deal.”

The note lays out a 7-point plan to live on the lam, starting with items like “don’t use credit cards” and “computer security” for “trouble avoidance” — and ends with mentions of going “in hiding” or “overseas.”

One of the more eyebrow-raising sections in the email is titled “post-trouble,” and lists “disguises,” “plastic surgeon” and “documents generation: birth certificate, driver’s license.”

It also states, “gather evidence on veracity and character of victim(s) and prosecution witnesses (private detectives and internet).”

Another point lists the importance of “multiple passports.”

Epstein is known to have used a fake Austrian passport to travel to the United Kingdom, France and Saudi Arabia between 1982 and 1983, according to the FBI. The passport, featuring Epstein’s photo and the name “Marius Robert Fortelni,” was found in a locked safe when the feds raided his Upper East Side mansion in 2019, alongside “piles of cash” and “dozens of diamonds.”

That was another point listed in the 2009 email from Jarecki – “have a stash of cash ready: how much is enough?”

The last section in the two-page email, titled “flight,” mentions extradition laws in Germany, Israel and Brazil, suggesting the sex predator may have considered escaping to one of these far-flung countries.

Quote:President Donald Trump has launched another attack on the New York Times – after the paper had to run an embarrassing correction after misidentifying NATO in its print edition headline.

“The Failing New York Times, whose lack of credibility, and their constant Fake News attacks on your favorite President, ME, has caused its circulation to absolutely PLUMMET, referred to our severely weakened and extremely unreliable “partner,”NATO, as the North American Treaty Organization,” Trump posted on Truth Social Saturday morning.

“The correct name is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization – A very interesting mistake! The hiring and educational standards have gone way down at the NYT. Bring back, “ALL THE NEWS THAT’S FIT TO PRINT” and, Make America Great Again! President DJT,” he concluded.

The Times addressed the error Friday when it wrote that it had “misstated the full name of the body. It is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, not the North American Treaty Organization.”

The goof comes at a difficult time for NATO. Trump has hammered the mutual defense treaty organization after multiple member nations declined to join the US-Israel attack on Iran and refused his requests to use their own militaries to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

NATO chief Mark Rutte heads to Washington next week to meet with Trump to discuss the standoff.

Quote:President Trump directed Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Friday to pay “each and every employee” impacted by the “Democrat-led DHS shutdown.”

Trump instructed Mullin, in coordination with Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, to use “funds that have a reasonable and logical nexus to the functions of DHS” to provide compensation to department workers that have gone without pay since Feb. 14.

The president issued the order in a memo titled “Liberating the Department of Homeland Security From the Democrat-Caused Shutdown.”

“More than 35,000 employees, including Coast Guard civilians, Federal Emergency Management Agency employees helping to prepare the Nation for disaster response, and cybersecurity professionals at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, have gone without a paycheck for nearly 2 months because of congressional Democrats,” the memo states.

“As a result, thousands of DHS employees who are performing their critical public safety responsibilities are struggling to make ends meet and provide for their families,” it continues. “This callous treatment of DHS employees must end in order to ensure that America is not susceptible to security threats and maintains readiness to respond to emergencies.”

Trump argued the circumstances of the shutdown now “constitute an emergency situation compromising the Nation’s security,” necessitating Friday’s order.

Mullin, who just completed his second week as DHS chief, said he was “grateful for the leadership” of Trump and accused Democratic lawmakers of holding “every employee here at DHS hostage” for “political theater,” in a video posted on X.

“You’re literally putting the homeland at risk,” the DHS secretary fumed on Day 49 of the shutdown. “You’re putting my yard, your yard, your loved ones’ yard at risk.”

The president previously flexed his executive power to pay TSA agents and relieve congestion at airports across the country.

Trump’s latest order comes the same week he announced a breakthrough in negotiations to reopen DHS that will see House Republicans back a Senate plan to fund the entire department except for parts of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.

Quote:The Trump administration plans to slash nearly $400 million in federal funding for homeless programs while taking aim at Los Angeles’ under-fire homeless-services agency for its “abysmal record.”

The White House’s budget proposal, released Friday, said that the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority has failed in its job to house homeless people.

“LAHSA has an abysmal record of reducing what is the highest number of street homeless individuals in the United States, and an independent audit issued in March 2025 found that the authority failed to accurately track billions of Federal and local dollars,” the proposal stated.

The administration plans to cut $393 million in federal homeless assistance while eliminating Continuum of Care, a program funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“Nonprofits serving the homeless should focus on the poorest and most vulnerable individuals,” the budget proposal said. “However, investigations across the Nation have uncovered fraud and corruption among the existing network of homeless service providers.”
LAHSA has been a target of criticism from local lawmakers in recent years. LA Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez argued for the city to break away from the agency last month, describing the city’s relationship with LAHSA as a “merry-go-round from hell.”

Socialist LA Mayoral candidate Nithya Raman, who chairs the LA Council committee overseeing LAHSA, doesn’t agree that the city should break away from the agency entirely. She has [suggested] that there should be an audit of the city’s homeless spending.

“We need to be able to say who is responsible,” Raman said previously.

LASHA believes any lost funding will only damage its mission.

“Cutting this funding or destabilizing the Continuum of Care program would directly result in more tents on our streets, not fewer,” Gita O’Neill, the agency’s interim chief executive, told the Los Angeles Times.

“If anything, we need additional funding to cover rising costs, not fewer, to maintain our current momentum,” the agency added.

LA pours more than $1 billion a year into homelessness programs, though the city remains one of the most maligned over the crisis. Many have accused the city of misspending the funds, and its a constant target of criticism for its failures to quiet the concerns.

Quote:“Breakfast Club” host Charlamagne tha God said Tuesday he saw ICE agents picking up the slack of TSA agents so efficiently and friendly that he suspected there was a government “psy-op” at play.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order over the weekend to pay Transportation Security Administration officers who had been impacted by the recent government shutdown.

Though complications from hundreds of TSA agents quitting or calling out of work are likely to continue, the effects of the resumed paychecks could be seen almost immediately.

While some TSA agents have begun to receive pay, ICE agents are still filling the gap, as Charlamagne and his co-hosts discussed.

“When I flew out of LaGuardia Friday, I ain’t see no TSA agents. ICE was doing everything,” Charlamagne recalled.

“And how was it? How was your experience?” co-host DJ Envy asked.

“I mean, they were great to be honest with you,” Charlamagne said.

“Like to be honest, I’m just like, they were, and for that particular terminal I was flying out of LaGuardia, I forgot what terminal it was, but yeah, they were being extra nice like Chick-fil-A workers.”

Chick-fil-A, founded and operated by Christians, is broadly known for having friendly and professional staff to the point it has become something of a meme for being the gold standard of good customer service.

Charlamagne, has not been shy about condemning ICE agents and the DHS in recent months, to the point where he said there will be de-MAGA-ification like the government crackdown against Nazi collaborators and ideology after World War II.

He struggled to believe that this same agency he had condemned in the past turned out to be professional in-person.

Quote:Gov. Gavin Newsom is hoping to to boost California’s tarnished image on the national stage — so he’s throwing millions in taxpayer money at a high-powered New York public relations firm to do it for him.

The governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development awarded PR powerhouse Edelman a contract worth up to $19 million to burnish the Golden State’s reputation, KCRA reported.
Edelman — which also does work on behalf of mega-companies like Dove, Starbucks, eBay and Heineken — will be tasked with combating “negative narratives amplified online and in partisan media” about California while promoting the state’s economy and tourism.

The company, considered one of the largest PR firms in the nation, also has offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The contract begins on April 6 and will run through then end of the year, which nearly coincides with end of the governor’s term in early 2027.

The Office of Business and Economic Development, known as GO-Biz, posted the request for proposals last month, stipulating that small businesses be considered first for the contract.

A spokesman for GO-Biz told KCRA that Edelman included several small businesses in its proposal.

The state agency previously told the outlet that the campaign wouldn’t be about Newsom himself, but California.

“The campaign will tell the California story, not the Gavin Newsom story,” the agency said. “The effort is about California’s success, not about politics.”

A Newsom spokesperson previously told the Los Angeles Times that California’s business climate has been “falsely and maliciously maligned for years,” and that the “state has a right to tell the true story.”

“California is a great place to live, work, invest and visit,” the rep said. “Setting the record straight will benefit every business, worker and resident of this state.”

News of the contract drew ample criticism.

“Gavin Newsom is giving 19 million California taxpayer dollars to a New York PR firm to promote California in a better light to the nation. Which does not at all sound like Gavin Newsom is making a presidential campaign ad for himself,” Kevin Dalton, who ran for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, wrote on X.

Quote:The Providence, Rhode Island artist commissioned to paint a mural of slain Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska said he feels his freedom of expression has been curtailed after left-wing backlash to the project caused it to be shut down.

“So, we installed the mural, and, as it started to evolve, the gay community spoke loudly about their displeasure that Elon Musk donated to the project, and that has reached a fever pitch, and the result is that the business owners have decided to remove the mural,” Ian Gaudreau, who was working on the project before its abrupt cancellation, told Fox News Digital

“I’m saddened by the fact that the mayor has called for the work to be removed before I was allowed to finish speaking,” he said. “I think that it is stifling my freedom of expression, my freedom of speech, and it’s unfortunate.”

On Aug. 22, Zarutska was stabbed to death in a random and unprovoked attack on a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina. Shocking surveillance video of the incident showed suspect Decarlos Brown Jr. allegedly stab Zarutska in the neck before calmly walking away as she bled out.

The incident sparked a fierce political debate about criminal justice, as Brown had cycled through the criminal justice system for more than a decade, racking up 14 arrests and previously spending five years in prison.

Musk contributed $1 million to help fund a nationwide campaign of public murals depicting Zarutska.

Gaudreau explained that he wasn’t taking sides politically when he took the job painting the mural.

“I think that some people are not able to view the work for what it is — for the work that I have done — because they’re allowing their disdain for Elon to cloud their judgment of the work as itself, because the work as itself is a response to the entire conversation,” he said.

He said he was incorporating symbolism into his work that was itself a critique of the political flashpoint caused by Zarutska’s death that he thinks overshadowed her memory.

“And in the painting, she sort of shines through that, despite this strangling effort. And that’s what I want to symbolize here, is that Iryna was a human being with a mother and father who are still with us and are still grieving.”

Quote:An anti-cop member of the independent commission overseeing Oakland’s police is back at the center of a growing political firestorm after being elevated in a vote critics are calling a violation of the law.

Oakland’s Police Commission voted on March 26 to advance Omar Farmer from an alternate to a full member without listing the action on a public agenda, triggering a formal legal challenge alleging a violation of California’s open-meeting law.

The commission is expected to retake the vote on Thursday, according to Rajni Mandal, an Oakland physician who filed a formal demand to “cure and correct” what appears to be a violation of the Brown Act, the law governing California’s public meeting laws.
Oakland Report was the first to document the improper vote.

Farmer has been rejected twice by the Oakland City Council for inclusion in the commission, whose volunteers members are appointed.

“The Police Commission needs people who, number one, put public safety and all of Oakland first,” Mandal said. “Number two, we need people who actually can lead without bias and political influence.”

Farmer has aligned with the Anti Police-Terror Project, which has called for defunding the police and investing in community-based alternatives. That stance has made him a target of critics who argue the commission is out of step with residents demanding more police presence.

A recent survey found that 92.1% of Oakland’s black respondents identified crime and public safety as a concern — the highest level recorded for any issue among any demographic group surveyed.

Councilmember Ken Houston called the third attempt to keep Farmer on the commission “disrespectful” and akin to an abusive relationship, where city officials and woke public safety advocates keep butting heads despite Farmer twice being rejected.

Quote:They’re in a rat race to clean up their city — and have resorted to pill pushing.

Washington, DC is trying to crack down on its overpopulation of vermin by giving them birth control.

DC Health plans to place edible fertility control bait in problem areas, starting with the hot-spot neighborhood of Adams Morgan.

It will also employ the use of lethal bait.

“We’re gonna get the rat population down and then we’re gonna come back in three weeks to see if any of those babies survived and get them too,” DC Health Director Ayanna Bennett told News4.

Bennett also warned their program will not be effective if residents continue to litter, a habit Mayor Muriel Bowser hopes her constituents will kick to the curb.

“But, they cannot stay down if they find anything to eat. So that means everybody cannot be throwing food on the ground. The mayor doesn’t like it and it’s helping the rats. We don’t want your trash to be outside of the bin, if at all possible,” Bennett continued.

Residents seem to be content with the birth control initiative.

“Yes, fantastic! If it’s good enough for humans, then then it’s good enough for rats, I think. Like, why not? Get rid of them,” one told the outlet.

“Anything that they can do to help limit the rats I would probably be in favor of,” another added.

“I’ve never heard of it. I trust that the science is real. But if it is, the less rats in D.C. is a good thing.”

Quote:Embattled Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has been called out by a local resident over an incident at the local airport, where TSA agents allegedly stopped him at the security checkpoint with a loaded, undeclared firearm in his carry-on bag.

And the hits keep coming, with a recent independent investigation into bullying and retaliation allegations against the sheriff finding that the “preponderance of the evidence” shows he abused his office for political gain during a close race in 2024 against former PCSD Lt. Heather Lappin.

Amid that contentious race, a woman named Cory Stephens complained to the county board of supervisors at a public meeting on Nov. 12, 2024 that the sheriff did not face the same consequences a regular citizen would have.

“If a private citizen had encountered that at the airport, the consequences would have been greater,” Stephens, a longtime Tucson resident and president of the Conservative Coalition of America, told Fox News Digital over the phone Friday.

Nanos’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the incident, which did not result in any charges.

Stephens said she found the incident alarming after hearing about it in local circles and was disappointed it received little attention in the media, so she brought it up during public comment at a board of supervisors hearing.

Nanos is facing heightened scrutiny amid the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, mother of “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie. While the complicated case remains unsolved, the sheriff’s critics have seized on other issues — including lawsuits against him from his own current and former deputies and an allegation that he lied about past disciplinary problems under oath.

“We as citizens want answers,” Stephens said. “The safety of our community is at stake.”

An incident report obtained by Fox News Digital from Nov. 6, 2024, shows a TSA X-ray technician saw the weapon in the sheriff’s bag and flagged an officer.

“As a law enforcement officer, he should know the TSA rules, how to declare a weapon, secure it and follow the same rules as everyone else,” Stephens said.

Airport police found five rounds in the magazine and another in the chamber.

The sheriff missed his flight, stowed the firearm in his vehicle and flew out later.

James Gagliano, a retired FBI agent and Fox News contributor, said he found the whole incident surprising because as a law enforcement officer, the sheriff could’ve taken measures to fly with it legally.

“You declare yourself as a law enforcement officer ahead of time,” he said.

The protocol requires confirmation between the TSA and the individual’s agency, but typically allows active-duty personnel to fly with their weapons, he said.

Quote:The parents of the suspects connected to the foiled explosive attack outside MacDill Air Force Base in Florida last month are illegal immigrants, the Department of Homeland Security announced, adding that the case underscores the dangers of birthright citizenship.

ICE agents took the parents, identified as Qiu Qin Zou and Jia Zhang Zheng, into custody on March 18, days after their son, Alen Zheng, allegedly planted an explosive device outside the base.

Officials said the parents illegally entered the United States and applied for asylum in 1993, but an immigration judge denied those claims and ordered both Zheng and Zou removed from the US in 1998.

The Board of Immigration Appeals denied multiple attempts by the pair to reopen their case, but they remained in the US for decades despite the removal order.

The arrests add a new dimension to the case, as the Trump administration argues it underscores national security risks tied to birthright citizenship, an issue now before the Supreme Court.

Their children — Alen Zheng and his sister, Ann Mary Zheng — were both born in the US and are citizens.

Federal authorities allege Alen Zheng planted an improvised explosive device outside the MacDill Air Force Base visitor center in Tampa on March 10, while his sister later helped cover up the crime.

Prosecutors said Ann Mary Zheng “assisted after the fact” and tampered with evidence to hinder her brother’s arrest.

Federal investigators believe Alen Zheng fled to China and remains there. His sister was arrested after returning to the US through Detroit.

The explosive device, described by officials as potentially “very deadly,” failed to detonate and was discovered six days later by an Air Force airman.

Investigators later linked the device to materials recovered from Zheng’s home and a burner phone used to place a cryptic 911 call warning about the bomb.

DHS officials said the case highlights broader concerns about immigration enforcement and citizenship laws, as the Supreme Court weighs the scope of birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment.

“Automatically granting citizenship to children of illegal aliens born in the US … poses a major national security risk,” DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement. “This incident underscores the severe national security threat that illegal immigration and birthright citizenship pose to the United States.”

Quote:The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently lodged a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer pleading with Texas authorities not to release an illegal immigrant accused of fatally slitting his wife’s throat with a pocketknife in Dallas.

Francisco Mendez-Marin, a 24-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico, was arrested March 18 by the Carrolton Police Department and is charged with felony homicide after he allegedly killed his wife, 20-year-old Karla Rangel, during a domestic dispute.

The couple had been married for less than a month, FOX 4 Dallas reported.

When police arrived at the scene, Mendez-Marin had blood on his clothes and a bloody pocketknife on him, officials said.

Body camera footage shows Mendez-Marin telling officers, “I didn’t do anything bad” and “I was obligated to do it” in Spanish, according to the arrest affidavit.

“This depraved animal murdered his own wife just one month after they were married by brutally slitting her throat with a pocketknife,” DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis wrote in a statement.

“This illegal alien should have never been allowed into our country to commit this heinous murder.”

“ICE requested authorities in Dallas to not release this cold-blooded killer onto the streets,” she continued.

“Thankfully, Dallas politicians cooperate with ICE, so together we can ensure this murderer is NEVER loose in American communities.”

Mendez-Marin is currently in Dallas County Sheriff’s Office custody and being held in the Dallas County Jail, according to DHS.

Quote:An illegal migrant convicted of kidnapping and raping four women in San Francisco after pretending to be their ride-share driver will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Orlando Vilchez Lazo is facing 100 years to life behind bars for a string of felonies including kidnapping, kidnapping with intent to commit rape, rape by force or fear, and sexual penetration with a foreign object from the sickening attacks between 2013 and 2018, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced Friday.

“Justice has finally been served,” Jenkins said. “Mr. Vilchez Lazo is now being held accountable for these heinous crimes.”

The 44-year-old Peruvian national, who was arrested in July 2018, preyed on his victims by placing Uber and Lyft stickers on his car and waiting outside bars and nightclubs — targeting young women who mistook him for their actual ride.

Vilchez Lazo committed the first reported sexual assault in 2013, when he picked up a 21-year-old college student from a bar, drove her to an isolated area and raped her, according to the DA’s office.

The second victim, 22, was leaving a nightclub with her friend in February 2018 when their ride-share driver canceled on them, prosecutors said. Vilchez Lazo then pulled up and offered to drive them instead.

Both women got into the car, but about a block away from the club, Vilchez Lazo told the victim’s friend to get out and buy water — and then he sped off to “violently rape” the woman, prosecutors said.

In May 2018, another 22-year-old was attacked after Vilchez Lazo falsely claimed to be her driver. Prosecutors said he stole her phone and threatened her with a metal object when she screamed for help.

The final reported incident occurred in June 2018, when a 21-year-old woman got in his car as he shouted “Uber, Uber,” leading her to believe he was her ride.

He placed a sharp object to her neck and slashed her on different places around her body during the rape, according to prosecutors.

Vilchez Lazo was finally arrested about a month later by an undercover surveillance team that matched his car to the victims’ descriptions.

Vilchez Lazo never worked for Uber, the company said. He did work for Lyft, but lied about his immigration status to get the job, according to the company.

Quote:A Walmart employee was fatally stabbed during a late-night shift in a seemingly random attack, and the man told police he believed he was killing a “demon” that had been stalking him.

Officers were dispatched at about 10:58 p.m. Tuesday to reports of a man stabbing a female employee inside the Walmart Supercenter on U.S. 65, the Conway Police Department said.

Officers arrived within roughly a minute and encountered the suspect, later identified as 37-year-old Zeddrick Ross, still armed with a knife.

Police said officers issued multiple commands for the man to drop the weapon, but he refused and advanced toward an officer. One officer fired a single shot that missed the suspect, and a second officer deployed a Taser.

The victim, identified by police as 32-year-old Jordanne Drinkwater, was given emergency aid by officers and medical personnel but died at the scene.

Ross was then taken into custody and was booked into the Faulkner County Detention Center. Police said that no one else was injured.

Investigators said Ross was not employed by Walmart, did not know Drinkwater and had no known interaction with her prior to the attack, in what police described as an apparently random act of violence. The investigation remains ongoing.

According to the police affidavit, reviewed by Fox News Digital, Ross told a detective he had been pursued by what he described as a “demon” and armed himself with a knife for protection.

Ross said he believed he was confronting that figure when he stabbed Drinkwater multiple times, later telling investigators he realized she did not resemble the person he thought had been following him.

The affidavit revealed that Ross told police he had stolen the knife earlier and had gone to the store intending to obtain another weapon. An officer who discharged a firearm during the encounter has been placed on administrative leave, a routine step following an officer-involved shooting, the department said.

According to records from the Independence County District Court, reviewed by Fox News Digital, Ross’ criminal history includes a 2020 theft misdemeanor charge and conviction and a 2022 obstructing governmental operations in Faulkner County District Court conviction. In 2022, he was sentenced to one year of probation.

Quote:Tow-truck drivers are taking advantage of shaken drivers involved in car crashes by convincing them to hand over their cars before charging them thousands of dollars to retrieve their vehicles.

A Southern California woman fell victim to the scheme, forking over $3,000 to get her car out of a tow yard after police said she was scammed by a driver, ABC7 reported.

Brittany Williams said she got into a wreck, but before she was able to contact the police or her car insurance provide, a tow-truck driver arrived at the scene.

The driver claimed he was contacted by cops and then talked her into giving up her car.

“He was like, ‘Listen, let me help you, let him help you,'” she told ABC7. “He started giving me this story about how he can give me an estimate — there’s going to be no charge, accidents like this happen. This is why he’s here. The police contacted him.”
After Williams signed a receipt and let him take her car away, she discovered the driver was not sent by police. When she called the driver, the line was disconnected.

She managed to track the car down at a tow yard, heading there with cops to recover it. Because she signed the receipt, she was responsible for the $3,000 bill to get it back.

An investigation is underway to find the driver.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office has warned Southern California drivers of “tow truck bandits” as recently as last summer.

“If you’re in an accident, some tow truck drivers may try to take advantage of your situation. These ‘tow truck bandits’ monitor radio traffic and rush to crash scenes, posing as helpful tow truck operators,” the DA said.

“But once they tow your car, they demand outrageous fees or refuse to return your vehicle until you pay inflated charges. This is fraud — and it’s illegal.”

Quote:More than a dozen people were injured when a car plowed through a crowd gathered for a cultural parade and festival in New Iberia, Louisiana Saturday, according to cops and local reports.

At least 15 people were wounded, including some in critical condition, after a drunk driver barreled through parade-goers at the Lao New Year Festival at around 2:30 p.m., according to the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office and News15.

Several pedestrians were directly struck by the car and two of the victims were airlifted to the hospital, Acadian Ambulance said on X.

Officers took the driver, 57-year-old Todd Landry, into custody following the terrifying crash, which happened near the corner of Savannakhet Street and Melancon Road, Louisiana State Police said.

Landry, of Jeanerette, showed signs of impairment and blew a blood-alcohol level of 0.137% — well above the legal limit of 0.08%, according to state police.

He was arrested and booked into the Iberia Parish jail on charges of driving while impaired, careless operation, open container and 18 counts of first-degree negligent injuring, cops said.

The crash is not believed to have been an intentional act, the sheriff’s office added.

The parade was part of an annual three-day festival held in Lanexang Village each Easter weekend to celebrate the Lao New Year. The event — the largest of its kind in the US — has been held since the 1980s when it began as a small block party catering to the area’s growing Lao community, according to NOLA.

Quote:It was complete chaos in sub-zero misery after a man and his family were left stranded in freezing, minus 10-degree conditions for two full days after their flight turned into a logistical disaster, reported the BBC.

Jon Shipman, along with his clan from Liverpool, England, had boarded a flight from London to Houston, Texas, to visit friends, when the routine trip spiraled into a nightmare.

Three hours into the March 31 flight, passengers were hit with a chilling announcement: the plane would make an emergency landing in St. John’s Newfoundland, Canada, due to a “grave medical emergency.”

After landing, they were trapped on the plane for three hours.

Then came the next blow: a “technical issue” meant the plane couldn’t continue.

Peeved passengers were dumped into local hotels — with no luggage and only the clothes on their backs. Temperatures in St. John’s on March 31 were freezing, reaching a high of 24 degrees Fahrenheit and a low of 12 degrees, according to WeatherUnderground.

“Furious is an understatement,” Shipman told BBC Radio Merseyside, and said “we just sat around waiting for news, and had to speak to the local airport staff for updates.”

When they were told to return to the airport, they traipsed back, only to be told that they would be flown back to London.

But, unbelievably, as they boarded, the flight was canceled — again.

“It’s ridiculous,” Shipman fumed. “It’s just so poor from British Airways … everyone was frustrated.

“Most of the frustration was due to lack of information. Just be open and explain what’s happening, you know, we’re not soft, we understand there was a medical emergency, we understand there was a technical issue.

“But then to keep fobbing us off.”

After two days, they got back on the plane and flew to their US destination.

In the end, British Airways apologized and offered each passenger a $669 voucher, adding that all expenses for lodging and meals would be covered.

Quote:KitKat is asking for the public’s help after thieves made off with 12 tons of the company’s chocolate — prompting the launch of a new tracking tool to help locate the missing shipment.

The brand, owned by Nestlé, announced the theft in a March 28 statement.

The company said 413,793 bars vanished after leaving a factory in central Italy en route to Poland, where they were set for distribution across Europe.

“We’ve always encouraged people to have a break with KitKat, but it seems thieves have taken the message too literally and made a break with more than 12 tons of our chocolate,” a KitKat spokesperson said at the time.

The spokesperson added that while the company does “appreciate the criminals’ exceptional taste,” the cargo theft highlights a growing issue affecting businesses of all sizes.

“With more sophisticated schemes being deployed on a regular basis, we have chosen to go public with our own experience in the hope that it raises awareness of an increasingly common criminal trend,” the statement added.

On Wednesday — which also happened to be April Fools’ Day — the company launched a tool for customers to check if their KitKat bars are linked to the theft.

“Someone really stole 12 tons of KitKats. And we really want to know where they’ve gone,” the company said in an X post.

“So, we’ve created a Stolen KitKat Tracker that lets you check if your KitKat is from the missing batch.”

Some social media users questioned whether the announcement was a marketing stunt tied to April Fools’ Day.

“Is this all for marketing?” one person asked.

KitKat acknowledged the skepticism while reiterating the theft is real and under investigation.

“Sadly, it’s true!” KitKat responded. “An actual truckload of KitKats from a new range went missing during transit last week. We’re on the case with the authorities for this.”

“I really, really hope the stolen KitKat tracker is a real thing and not an April Fools’ joke,” another X user said.

Quote:A priceless ancient golden helmet from Romania stolen last year from a museum in the Netherlands has been recovered, Dutch authorities announced Thursday.

Under the guard of heavily armed, balaclava-clad police, prosecutors unveiled the 2,500-year-old Cotofenesti helmet, one of Romania’s most revered national treasures from the Dacia civilization, during a news conference in the eastern Dutch city of Assen.

“We are incredibly pleased,” Corien Fahner of the prosecution service told reporters. “It has been a roller-coaster. Especially for Romania, but also for employees of the Drents Museum.”

Two of three missing armbands were also recovered as part of a deal prosecutors reached with three men arrested for the heist shortly after it occurred.

Their trial will begin later in April.

Fahner said the search for the remaining armband would continue.

The helmet did not return unscathed.

“The helmet is slightly dented, but there will be no permanent damage,” Drents Museum director Robert van Langh said during the news conference. “The armbands are in perfect condition.”

Thieves used a homemade firework bomb and sledgehammer to break into the museum.

Grainy security video distributed by police after the raid appeared to show three people opening a museum door with a large crowbar, followed by an explosion.

The theft put a strain on relations between the Netherlands and Romania.

Romanian Justice Minister Radu Marinescu last year called the incident a “crime against our state” and said recovering the artifacts “is an absolute priority.”

Quote:More than 200 years after being sunk by Adm. Horatio Nelson and the British fleet, a Danish warship has been discovered on the seabed of Copenhagen Harbor by marine archaeologists.

Working in thick sediment and almost zero visibility 49 feet beneath the waves, divers are working against the clock to unearth the 19th-century wreck of the Dannebroge before it becomes a construction site in a new housing district being built off the Danish coast.

Denmark’s Viking Ship Museum, which is leading the monthslong underwater excavations, announced its findings on Thursday, 225 years to the day since the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801.

“It’s a big part of the Danish national feeling,” said Morten Johansen, the museum’s head of maritime archaeology.

A great deal has been written about the battle “by very enthusiastic spectators, but we actually don’t know how it was to be onboard a ship being shot to pieces by English warships and some of that story we can probably learn from seeing the wreck,” Johansen said.

In the Battle of Copenhagen, Nelson and the British fleet attacked and defeated Denmark’s navy as it formed a protective blockade outside the harbor.

Thousands were killed and wounded during the brutal hourslong naval clash, considered one of Nelson’s “great battles.” The intention was to force Denmark out of an alliance of Northern European powers, including Russia, Prussia and Sweden.

At the center of the fighting was the Danish flagship, the Dannebroge, commanded by Commodore Olfert Fischer.

The 157-foot Dannebroge was Nelson’s main target. Cannon fire tore through its upper deck before incendiary shells sparked a fire aboard.

“(It was) a nightmare to be on board one of these ships,” Johansen said. “When a cannonball hits a ship, it’s not the cannonball that does the most damage to the crew, it’s wooden splinters flying everywhere, very much like grenade debris.”

The battle also is believed to have inspired the phrase “to turn a blind eye.” After deciding to ignore a superior’s signal, Nelson, who had lost sight in his right eye, reportedly remarked: “I have only one eye, I have a right to be blind sometimes.”

Quote:A high-powered American CEO was killed in a horrific tourist transport crash in Nicaragua while vacationing with her husband and their three young children — one of whom suffered critical injuries.

Kasey Grelle, 41, who co-founded the St. Louis-based marketing consulting firm Aux Insights, was killed March 23 when an open-air tourist transport truck carrying her family and other passengers crashed inside the Rancho Santana resort in Tola, Nicaragua, heartbroken relatives said.

Her 11-year-old son Julian was critically injured and airlifted to a St. Louis hospital, according to a family fundraiser that was posted on GoFundMe.

He suffered head trauma, skull fractures and spine fractures as well as a collapsed lung, according to the GoFundMe page.

Grelle is survived by her husband, Dave, and their three young children — Julian, 11; Kit, 9; and Des, 6.

“We are devastated to announce the tragic passing of my sister, Kasey Grelle,” Grelle’s brother, Andy Joyce, wrote on Facebook in an April 1 post.

“Kasey was on a family vacation in Nicaragua and on a tour put on by the resort she was staying at with her kids, Kit and Julian, when the driver lost control and rolled the vehicle, killing Kasey and severely injuring Julian.”

Joyce remembered his sister as “one of the most brilliant, driven and selfless people I have ever met and she was relentless in everything she did, especially when it came to helping her people.”

Quote:As the US lifts sanctions, Venezuelans are remaining optimistic for the future, but are still fighting corruption, repression of free speech and hyperinflation.

A bag of flour in Caracas, the capital, now costs approximately six months salary, while arrests of those who celebrate the removal of ex-president Nicolas Maduro are still common, residents told The Post.

The US removed sanctions on current leader Delcy Rodriguez — the former Vice President who assumed power after the US seized Maduro in January on drug charges — on Wednesday, the first step in paving the way for aid and investment in the country.
On Monday, US diplomats also reopened the US embassy in Caracas, which had been closed since 2019.

“What it means is that Delcy is preparing to travel to the US, and they needed to lift personal sanctions against her,” said Daniel DiMartino, a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, noting Rodriguez is the only member of the Maduro cabinet whose sanctions were removed.

“It’s a first step towards normalization, and a move to a transition to democracy because if there is no transition, foreign investment is just going to go down the drain.”

Venezuelans interviewed by The Post said they were cautious about hoping any real change would happen quickly.

“Lifting the sanctions is a positive move,” said a 49-year-old high school chemistry teacher in Caracas. He did not want to be identified because he had been jailed for 18 months for opposing the Maduro regime and says he is currently under surveillance by authorities.

“We are all very grateful to Donald Trump for getting rid of Maduro, but it’s the same Maduro organism that’s still in charge,” said the teacher. “They are an organism of corruption, and they are responsible for the suffering of the people. They are all like Judas for the Venezuelan people,” he said, referencing the biblical traitor.

Still, the teacher sees the positives from this week.

Quote:He’s Bill de Bogotá.

Aging hipster former Mayor Bill de Blasio recently gallivanted down to Colombia with his terminally online new girlfriend and an alleged Chinese Community Party-linked lefty group to denounce American imperialism, The Post has learned.

The under-the-radar trip in January saw de Blasio join an “emergency” conference — Nuestra América — to defend democracy and peace in the Americas after the controversial US capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro that month.

The ex-Hizzoner’s far-left trek drew disbelief and derision from many New York City political insiders, particularly because de Blasio jetted off along with Code Pink — an anti-war group bedeviled by accusations of ties to Beijing, sources said.

“It’s not that Bill de Blasio does not know Code Pink is a CCP front group, it’s that he is so desperate for relevance and validation that he does not care,” a Democratic operative scoffed.

“It’s really bottom-barrel stuff that he has to pal around with a bunch of anti-American nuts no one actually takes seriously.”

The leftist summit was organized by Progressive International, an umbrella group that aspires to “eradicate capitalism everywhere” and includes Code Pink as one of its member organizations.

Code Pink, founded as an anti-war group in 2002 ahead of the eventual US invasion of Iraq, is infamous for its colorful, disruptive protest stunts — such as members showing up clad in KKK costumes to antagonize President Trump’s first-term Attorney General Jeff Sessions in 2017.

But the group has increasingly been under fire as socialist billionaire Neville Roy Singham, who married its co-founder Jodie Evans, became its benefactor.

The China-loving Singham’s cash helps fund what a 2023 New York Times exposé cast as a extensive pro-Beijing propaganda apparatus stretching into American nonprofits.

Quote:At least one person was killed and several injured on Friday ahead of a soccer derby match at the Alejandro Villanueva Stadium in the Peruvian capital, said club Alianza Lima, a day before it faces off against Universitario.

The club offered condolences and solidarity for the casualties, which media said included 60 injured during a “flag‑waving event” at the stadium, popularly known as Matute.

“We are fully and transparently collaborating with the competent authorities,” the club added in its statement, vowing “total transparency” in helping to clarify the facts of an incident whose cause was not immediately clear.

Alianza Lima ruled out any structural failures at the stadium, as did a fire official.

“Based on what has been assessed, no structure has been affected,” fire official Marco Pajuelo told news channel Canal N, saying an initial inspection showed no one had fallen into a pit. “There hasn’t been any debris.”

Saturday’s match would proceed as planned, the Peruvian Professional Soccer League said.

“We will continue to work closely with the clubs and authorities to promote safe environments both inside and outside the stadiums,” it added in a statement.

Quote:Drop Site News, a nonprofit outlet published by Nika Soon-Shiong, the nepo baby daughter of billionaire LA Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, is taking heat for pushing Iranian propaganda.

The outlet, founded by journalists Ryan Grim and Jeremy Scahill, posted unverified claims that the U.S. was allegedly attempting to kill one of its own after a fighter pilot was lost in Iranian terrain over the weekend.

“Iranian state-linked Tasnim News, citing a military source, claims U.S. forces are bombing areas in southwest Iran where a missing pilot may be located, alleging Washington has ‘lost hope’ of recovery and is attempting to kill him,” a tweet from the website read.

There is no verified information that the U.S. intentionally bombed its own pilot.

Numerous reports suggest U.S. forces used airstrikes to destroy their own damaged, abandoned equipment and to provide air support against pursuing Iranian forces during a daring, complex, and high-stakes rescue mission.

“Anybody who reads our Twitter feed knows that we regularly report official and semi-official statements from governments and outlets linked to them, including the U.S., Israel, and Iran. In this case, as we always do, we clearly identified the claim as coming from ‘Iranian state-linked’ media,” Grim told The Post.

“Our readers have enough sense not to believe everything every government says, but they do want to know what they’re saying. Other readers not interested in knowing what governments adversarial to the U.S. are saying have endless options to choose from, but we’re not one of them,” he continued.

Nika made headlines for claiming her family blocked the LA Times from endorsing Kamala Harris in 2024 to protest the war in Gaza, although her father stated she holds no formal role.

Critics have lashed out at the Washington-based “non-aligned and anti-establishment” media site for its outlandish claims, accusing it of promoting propaganda from the Iranian regime.

Quote:Conspiracy theorist and ex-National Counterterrorism Center boss Joe Kent has been called out for promoting wild Iranian propaganda that suggested the United States was actually trying to kill a downed American airman — just hours before he was dramatically rescued.

Kent, who abruptly resigned from his Trump administration position last month in protest over Iran, got into a war of words with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Monday after the former counterterror honcho was called out for peddling the false claims.

He had shared an article from Iranian state media over the weekend that claimed the US was actively bombing the same area where the missing airman was believed to be.

The pro-regime outlet was reporting that the Trump administration had “lost hope” of finding the American soldier and was now trying to kill him before he could be captured by Iranian forces.

Kent shared the post before President Trump revealed hours later that the crewman had finally been rescued in a daring operation behind enemy lines.

Tapper, for his part, was quick to ridicule Kent “nonsense” post — arguing his theory hadn’t aged well.

“Former National Counterterrorism Center director Joe Kent sharing Iranian state-linked outlet nonsense claiming, falsely, that the US was trying to kill the then-lost US pilot,” Tapper posted on X.

“Aged rather poorly, I think it’s fair to say.”

A defensive Kent quickly fired back, accusing Tapper and other media outlets of trying to “promote this foolish war & attack anyone who points out how this war isn’t in our nation’s interest.”

“Read independent media, Iranian media & US media – always question those cheering on wars & always pray for our troops,” he added.

Quote:WASHINGTON — A House Democrat vowed to furnish articles of impeachment against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, whom she bashed as the “chief enabler” of President Trump’s “insane military action against Iran.”

Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), the first Iranian-American Democrat elected to Congress, raged against Trump for his jaw-dropping threats to Iran, including to end the country “in one night,” and called impeaching Hegseth a necessary step to prevent a catastrophe.

“I am introducing Articles of Impeachment against Pete Hegseth for repeatedly violating his oath of office and his duty to the Constitution,” Ansari said in a statement.

“Only Congress has the power to declare war, not a rogue president or his lackeys,” she added. “Hegseth’s reckless endangerment of US servicemembers and repeated war crimes, including bombing a girls’ school in Minab, Iran and willfully targeting civilian infrastructure, are grounds for impeachment.”

Ansari, 34, is the youngest female member of Congress and has been an outspoken critic of the Iran war.

Trump had ramped up his threats against Iran over the weekend, telling the regime on Easter Sunday to “Open the F—in’ Strait, you crazy b—–ds, or you’ll be living in Hell.” The president further vowed to target energy and bridge infrastructure if Iran declines to meet his 8 p.m. ET deadline Tuesday to cut a deal.

Reacting to those threats from Trump, Ansari called for his cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove him from office.

Her singling out of Hegseth comes weeks after Trump revealed last month that his secretary of war was the “first” to call for war against Iran.

Hegseth’s team brushed off the impeachment push, with Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson telling The Post that “this is just another Democrat trying to make headlines.”

“Secretary Hegseth will continue to protect the homeland and unleash epic fury on Iran’s radical regime. This is just another charade in an attempt to distract the American people from the major successes we have had here at the Department of War,” Wilson added.

While Ansari’s impeachment push is all but certain to crash and burn in the GOP-led Congress, it illustrates how Hegseth is emerging as a top target within the cabinet for Democrats following the firings of former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and former Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Quote:President Trump on Tuesday denied Tucker Carlson’s bombastic reporting that he was considering nuclear war on Iran, blasting the controversial commentator in a phone call with The Post.

“Tucker’s a low IQ person that has absolutely no idea what’s going on,” the president said. “He calls me all the time; I don’t respond to his calls. I don’t deal with him. I like dealing with smart people, not fools.”

Carlson in a Monday night post to X claimed that President Trump’s expletive-laden Easter morning Truth Social post that the US would soon bomb Iran’s power plants and bridges was “the first step toward nuclear war.”

“Christians need to understand where Trump is taking us,” Carlson wrote.

In Trump’s Sunday morning missive, he warned Iran to “open the F—–’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.”

Carlson called the language on Easter — a holy Christian holiday — “vile on every level.”

“How dare you speak that way on Easter morning to the country?” Carlson said in his podcast. “Who do you think you are? You’re tweeting out the f-word on Easter morning.”

Carlson in his podcast likened the US president to the antichrist, suggesting Trump is setting in motion nuclear war to provoke armageddon.

“Is it just a conventional escalation ladder in a badly thought out war … [or] could it be something bigger? Is it possible what you’re watching is a very stealthy yet incredibly effective attack on what, from a Christian perspective, is the true faith: belief in Jesus?” he said.

“Is it possible that the president sees this in bigger terms? Sees this as the fulfillment of something? An elevation of some higher office beyond president of the United States?”

As part of his evidence, he claimed that Trump infamously did not put his hand on the Bible when swearing into office in January 2025 because he rejects God’s authority.

“… Maybe he didn’t put his hand on the Bible because he affirmatively rejects what’s inside that book, and what’s inside that book are limits on human behavior,” he said. “Because if there’s one theme that spans all 66 books in the Christian Bible, it’s that you are not God and you cannot assume his powers.”

Hyping up his nuclear hypothesis, Carlson further urged White House and military staffers to resign if Trump directs them to launch a nuclear bomb on Iran.

Quote:Four relatives in Israel were killed when an Iranian missile slammed into a residential building overnight, in an incident that could have been deadlier if its bomb wasn’t a dud, officials said.

The Israeli military partly intercepted the missile on route to an oil refinery in the northern city of Haifa late Sunday, but the missile’s warhead survived and crashed into a residential complex, the New York Times reported.

The impact caused portions of the building to collapse, leading to an 18-hour search mission for survivors, including an 82-year-old man and a baby who were rescued by first responders removing stones and concrete blocks with their bare hands, said Erez Geller, the director for the Magen David Adom ambulance service.

“Part of the building remained intact, and part had collapsed into a hollow,” Geller told the Times. “It looked like there had been an earthquake.”

The four dead victims were identified as Dima Gershovitz, 42, his wife, Lucille Jane, 35, his father, Vladimir Gershovitz, 73, and his mother, Lena Gershovitz, 70, according to Israeli media.

Gershovitz, an engineer, had just brought his father home after an extended stay at a Haifa hospital just hours before the missile hit their home and buried them underneath the rubble, Ynet reported.

The search and rescue operation was complicated by the fact that the missile’s warhead did not explode upon impact, but Geller noted that the bomb’s failure spared the lives of the survivors.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his condolences to the families of the dead as he stressed the importance for residents to adhere to siren warnings when a missile attack is detected.

Those who were caught in Sunday’s strike in Haifa were inside the residential building and not at the nearest bomb shelter with their neighbors, officials said.

“The most important thing, however, which came up again in this conversation, is one simple rule, an ironclad rule,” Netanyahu said. “For those who follow the instructions of the Home Front Command and remain in a protected area, the chances of getting hurt are virtually non-existent.”

Quote:Published April 7, 2026 | Updated April 7, 2026, 1:56 p.m. ET
The US unleashed targeted strikes on Iran’s critical Kharg Island on Tuesday — as President Trump chillingly declared that “a whole civilization will die tonight.”

Roughly 50 strikes were carried out on military targets on the Islamic Republic’s oil-critical stronghold, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing senior US officials.

Targets struck included bunkers, a radar station and ammunition storage — while stopping short of targeting key energy infrastructure such as oil tanker landing docks, Fox News reported, citing a senior US official.

Kharg Island, which is one-third the size of Manhattan and located in the Persian Gulf, controls roughly 90% of Iranian crude oil exports.

It has been rumored as a potential place for the US to deploy boots on the ground, as planners have said the military could secure the island, critical to Iran’s economy, to use as a bargaining chip in negotiations.

When asked about the Kharg Island strikes early Tuesday, Trump told The Post he “can’t comment on that.”

Moments later, he took to Truth Social to warn Iran that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if the regime does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz by 8 p.m. ET Tuesday.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?” he said.

“We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!”

Separately, Vice President JD Vance insisted the targeted strikes on Kharg Island didn’t signal a change in strategy.

“My understanding, having talked to [Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine] about this is, is that we were going to strike some military targets on Kharg Island. I believe we have done so,” he said during a press conference in Budapest.

“I don’t think the news about Kharg Island represents a change in strategy, or represents any change for the president of the United States. He continues to say the deadline is 8 o’clock.”

Quote:WASHINGTON — President Trump dismissed the notion that he employed the “Madman Theory” to negotiate a cease-fire with Iran, claiming that he was poised to order civilization-destroying strikes.

Asked about the “madman” concept by The Post, Trump offered a counter-assessment that the US military is strong and he was willing to use it.

“I think that we have a phenomenal military that I rebuilt during my first term and I used in my second term, and I was willing to use it. I was willing to do it,” Trump said in a phone interview Wednesday.

“I think we have just a phenomenal group of people, just phenomenal. And we have a phenomenal, unparalleled in history military. And you see that, you know, we only use 8% of our military to do this.”

The president sparked widespread panic Tuesday with his jaw-dropping ultimatum to Iran that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Tehran failed to cut a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by 8 o’clock ET that evening.

Prior to his fiery threat, Trump voiced concerns that Iran was “not being serious.”

Shortly before the deadline, Iran agreed to a conditional reopening of the strait in exchange for a two-week cease-fire, during which time in-person talks are expected in Pakistan to work on a final deal.

The terrifying threat prompted Democrats to clamor for Trump’s cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to boot him out of office or for Congress to initiate impeachment proceedings. But allies of the president saw the seemingly maniacal negotiating style as critical to his success.

“President Trump’s unpredictability has led to wins with the Abraham Accords, North Korea, Venezuela, and eventually Iran — not to mention the countless wars he’s deterred altogether,” the president’s former senior adviser, Jason Miller, told The Post.

“[It] will prove him to be the greatest negotiator we’ve ever had in the Oval Office.”

Ahead of the cease-fire, even some supporters of the president worried he might overplay his hand; one second-term former official expressed concern that the gambit might appear too “desperate.”

Quote:Iran is again blocking ships from passing through the Strait of Hormuz just hours after agreeing to reopen the waterway, blaming the reversal on Israel striking Lebanon — despite President Trump making clear Beirut was never part of the cease-fire agreement.

“Due to Israeli strikes in #Lebanon, oil tankers will not be permitted to pass through the Strait of #Hormuz,” the Iranian embassy in Mumbai posted to X on Wednesday, citing Iran’s Fars News Agency.

But Trump on Wednesday told PBS News Hour that “everyone knows” Israel’s fight with Hezbollah in Lebanon is a “separate skirmish” not included in the cease-fire deal with Iran.

“They were not included in the deal,” the president said. That’ll get taken care of too. It’s all right.”

Hezbollah is an Iranian proxy group — one of several the US is demanding that Iran stop offering support.

Iran’s finger-pointing came as Tehran attempts to extract payment from ships that want to pass through the strait without coming under Iranian attack, despite promising to reopen the strait for two weeks. Tolls were reportedly as high as $2 million per ship.

Iran’s claims that it has closed the Strait of Hormuz in response to Israel’s bombing of Lebanon is “completely unacceptable,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday.

“Again, this is a case of what they’re saying publicly is different privately,” she said. “We have seen an uptick of traffic in the Strait today, and I will reiterate the president’s expectation and demand that the Strait is reopened immediately, quickly and safely.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Iran threatened to “destroy” any ships that attempt to cross the strait without Tehran’s go-ahead as it attempts to set up a toll system to charge vessels to safely sail through the strait.

Quote:WASHINGTON — Iran’s battered navy has reportedly warned foreign ships on Wednesday that they will be “destroyed” if they attempt to cross the Strait of Hormuz without permission from Tehran.

“You must receive permission from Iranian Sepah navy for passing through the strait. If any vessel tries to transit without permission, will be destroyed,” an Iranian official was heard saying in audio shared with the Wall Street Journal by a crew member.

The threat comes despite President Trump announcing late Tuesday that Iran agreed to the “COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz,” through which over a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil flows annually.

The opening of the strait was a key condition of the Iran war cease-fire agreement. Fuel prices have surged worldwide in the wake of Iran’s closure of the crucial chokepoint.

Tehran had used missiles and drones to wreak havoc on the strait in retaliation against the joint US-Israeli strikes on its country to exact a toll on the global economy.

The cease-fire Trump unveiled Tuesday lasts for two weeks as the two sides negotiate a longer-term solution to end the war that began on Feb. 28.

A senior Iranian official involved in the talks said the strait could be reopened in a “limited” way under Iran’s control on Thursday or Friday — and that “coordinating with Iranian military will be mandatory for all ships.”

“If an understanding on a framework for talks is reached, the strait could be opened, limited, under Iran’s control,” the official told Reuters. “Coordinating with Iranian military will be mandatory for all ships.

“Still, the cease-fire is fragile; however, we prefer lasting peace but Iran has no fear to return to war if the US wants to go the same way,” the official warned.

In a press conference Wednesday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth insisted the strait was open and “commerce will flow.”

“What has been agreed to, what’s been stated, is the strait is open. Our military is watching, sure, their military is watching, but commerce will flow,” he told reporters.

He added that the military would be “hanging around” in the Middle East to ensure Iran complies with the cease-fire.

Quote:One of the major points in the two-week ceasefire agreement was that Iran would allow the resumption of shipping through Hormuz, easing a disruption in the flow of oil and gas which has sent prices soaring around the world.

The United States said on Wednesday that Iran must open the Strait of Hormuz "immediately, quickly and safely" after reports that the strategic waterway was shut despite a US-Iran ceasefire.

Any closure "is completely unacceptable," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

"I will reiterate the president's expectation and demand that the Strait of Hormuz is reopened immediately quickly and safely."

One of the major points in the two-week ceasefire agreement was that Iran would allow the resumption of shipping through Hormuz, easing a disruption in the flow of oil and gas which has sent prices soaring around the world.

Leavitt also said that President Donald Trump wants to see the waterway accessible to tankers without any limitations, including tolls.

"The immediate priority of the president is the reopening of the strait without any limitations, whether in the form of tolls or otherwise," Leavitt said.

Leavitt's comments come after Iranian state media reported on Wednesday that Tehran had closed the Strait of Hormuz in response to attacks by Israel on Lebanon.

The move comes on the same day a two-week ceasefire between Tehran and Washington came into force, ending more than a month of fighting.

The Fars news agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said that while two oil tankers passed through the strait with permission from Iran earlier on Wednesday, traffic has now been stopped.

Both US President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the ceasefire agreement did not include Lebanon, claims denied by mediator Pakistan.

"Aggression towards Lebanon is aggression towards Iran," General Seyed Majid Mousavi, aerospace commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, wrote in a post on X.

Quote:Israel has rarely struck central Beirut since the outbreak of the latest Israel-Hezbollah war on 2 March but has regularly struck southern and eastern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs.

The Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon is not covered by a temporary ceasefire deal between Washington and Tehran, US public broadcaster PBS quoted President Donald Trump as saying on Wednesday.

"They were not included in the deal," Trump said, according to a social media post by PBS News Hour correspondent Liz Landers.

He added that it was "because of Hezbollah," the Iran-backed group.

"That'll get taken care of too," he reportedly said, adding: "That's a separate skirmish."

Trump's comments come as Israeli air strikes hit several dense commercial and residential areas in central Beirut on Wednesday afternoon without warning, hours after a two-week ceasefire was announced between the United States and Iran.

Israel has also said the agreement does not extend to its war with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, although mediator Pakistan said it does.

Israel's military called it the largest coordinated strike in the current war, striking more than 100 Hezbollah targets within 10 minutes in Beirut, southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa valley.

Black smoke towered over several parts of the seaside capital. Booms interrupted the honking of traffic on what had been a blue-sky afternoon. Ambulances raced toward open flames. At least one apartment building was struck. Emergency responders searched charred vehicles.

It was not immediately clear how many people were killed or wounded, but several strikes were in busy commercial locations, causing panic in the streets.

Israel's military said it had targeted missile launchers, command centres and intelligence infrastructure and accused Hezbollah of using civilians as human shields.

"The State of Lebanon and its civilians must refuse Hezbollah's entrenchment in civilian areas and its weapons build-up capabilities," the military said in a statement.

Israel has rarely struck central Beirut since the outbreak of the latest Israel-Hezbollah war on 2 March but has regularly struck southern and eastern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs.

Before the wave of new strikes, a Hezbollah official told the Associated Press news agency that the group was giving a chance for mediators to secure a ceasefire in Lebanon, but "we have not announced our adherence to the ceasefire since the Israelis are not adhering to it."

Quote:US forces struck more than 13,000 targets in Iran, including most of the regime’s weapons factories and every attack drone production facility, as part of the “decisive military victory” achieved during Operation Epic Fury, according to the Pentagon. 

War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Dan Caine provided the detailed breakdown of the damage inflicted on the Iranian regime’s ability to project power during a briefing Wednesday, a day after President Trump announced a two-week cease-fire in the war that he hopes will lead to a lasting peace.

Operation Epic Fury: By the numbers

• Scale of campaign
  
• 13,000+ targets struck, Including 4,000+ dynamic targets identified and hit in real time
  
• 10,000+ flight missions, including 62 bomber runs (18 round-trip missions from the US)
  
• 50,000+ U.S. personnel involved (CENTCOM, EUCOM, stateside)
  
• 6 million+ meals consumed; 950,000+ gallons of coffee; 2 million energy drinks; “A lot of nicotine”
  
• Air defense and missile targets “wiped out”
  
• 80% of Iran’s air defense systems destroyed
  
• 1,500+ air defense targets struck
  
• 450+ ballistic missile storage facilities hit
  
• 800 drone storage sites destroyed
  
• 1,700 incoming missiles and drones intercepted
  
• Navy “mostly at the bottom of the Arabian Gulf”
  
• 90%+ of Iran’s regular navy sunk
  
• 150 ships destroyed, including “all of the major surface combatants”
  
• ~50% of IRGC small attack boats eliminated
  
• 700+ strikes on naval mine targets; 95% of naval mines destroyed
  
• Command and control and logistical networks “devastated”
  
• 2,000+ command and control nodes destroyed
  
• Industrial base “shattered”
  
• 90% of weapons factories struck
  
• All Shaheed “one-way attack drone” factories hit
  
• All drone guidance system facilities hit
  
• 80%+ of missile production and solid rocket motor facilities destroyed
  
• 20+ naval production facilities damaged or destroyed
  
• ~80% of nuclear industrial base hit
  

Quote:WASHINGTON — President Trump on Wednesday threatened to impose massive 50% tariffs on countries sending military firepower to Iran, putting Russia and China on notice.

“A Country supplying Military Weapons to Iran will be immediately tariffed, on any and all goods sold to the United States of America, 50%, effective immediately. There will be no exclusions or exemptions!” Trump wrote in a signed Truth Social post.

Beijing and Moscow in the past have both helped Iran build military capacity — supplying missiles, air defense systems and technology intended to bolster Tehran and complicate matters for Washington.

Russia and China, however, have been restrained in their support amid the US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

Still, Trump’s tariff threat comes weeks after the Supreme Court took a sledgehammer to his favorite tool to impose customized tariffs — the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Trump has since turned to other tariff authorities to re-up many of the duties he imposed under the IEEPA, but it’s not entirely clear what law he’d be using to fulfill his Wednesday threat. The alternative tariff authorities Trump used have been much more cumbersome than the IEEPA and make it difficult to impose customized rates.

Meanwhile, Trump also insisted Wednesday that the US was discussing tariff and sanctions relief with Iran amid news of the two-week cease-fire.

“The United States will work closely with Iran, which we have determined has gone through what will be a very productive Regime Change!” he said on Truth Social.

“There will be no enrichment of Uranium, and the United States will, working with Iran, dig up and remove all of the deeply buried (B-2 Bombers) Nuclear ‘Dust.’ Nothing has been touched from the date of attack.”

“We are, and will be, talking Tariff and Sanctions relief with Iran,” he added.

It comes after Trump pulled back from the brink of a threatened full-blown assault on the Islamic Republic — just two hours before a deadline he set for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Quote:WASHINGTON — President Trump is sending a team led by Vice President JD Vance to Pakistan to negotiate an end to the US-Israeli war with Iran following the cease-fire announced Tuesday.

Special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner also will participate in the weekend talks in Islamabad.

“The first round of those talks will take place on Saturday morning local time,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a briefing.

“Vice President Vance has played a very significant and a key role in this since the very beginning. Of course he’s the president’s right-hand man,” Leavitt said.

“He’s been involved in all of these discussions, and as I just announced, he’ll be leading this new phase of negotiations in Islamabad later this week.”

Trump told The Post hours earlier that Vance might not attend due to security concerns.

“We’ll have Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, JD — maybe JD, I don’t know. There’s a question of safety, security,” Trump said in a phone interview.

Trump said the in-person talks would happen “very soon, actually — it’s going to take place very soon.”

Iran’s participation in the talks is in flux, as is the fragile cease-fire itself, which ended 39 days of fighting.

Iran told regional mediators it won’t attend talks without a cease-fire in Lebanon and has conditioned the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz on Israel ending its attacks on Hezbollah, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Israel has agreed to stop firing on Iran, but said its ground operations in Lebanon would not be halted.

Quote:In a televised speech, Netanyahu also hit back at opposition leaders who chastised him for agreeing to the truce before Israel achieved its objectives in the war.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel remains prepared to confront Iran if necessary, despite a truce reached between Tehran and Washington.

"Let me be clear: We still have objectives to complete and we will achieve them, either through agreement or through renewed fighting," Netanyahu said in a televised statement.

"We are prepared to return to combat at any moment required. Our finger remains on the trigger. This is not the end of the campaign, but a step along the way to achieving all our objectives."

"Iran enters this pause battered, weaker than ever."

Netanyahu also hit back at opposition leaders who chastised him for agreeing to the truce before Israel achieved its objectives in the war.

"As you know, last night a temporary two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran came into effect, in full coordination with Israel," Netanyahu said in a televised statement.

"No, we were not surprised at the last moment," he said.

Israel's main opposition figure Yair Lapid called the truce a "diplomatic disaster" for Israel, saying Netanyahu had failed to achieve the country's goals.

Netanyahu had set the elimination or at least severe degradation of Iran's nuclear programme as a central goal of the war, describing it as an "existential threat" to Israel.

He had also called to degrade Iran's ballistic missile capabilities, weaken or potentially topple the Iranian regime and curb Tehran's regional influence by targeting its network of allied groups.

In his televised statement, Netanyahu spoke about the war's achievements.

"We destroyed not only existing missiles, but also the factories that produce them. Iran is now firing what remains in its stockpile and that stockpile is steadily dwindling," he said.

"We have severely damaged Iran's nuclear programme, destroying critical infrastructure and centrifuge facilities," he said, adding that Israel would ensure that the enriched uranium is removed from Iran.

"We have crippled the financial and weapons production networks of the Revolutionary Guards," he said, adding that the campaign had also hit Iran's steel plants, petrochemical complexes and transport infrastructure.

"We have dealt a severe blow to the regime’s apparatus of repression. We have eliminated thousands of its operatives and demonstrated that we can reach them anywhere," the premier said.

Quote:President Trump is reportedly weighing a plan to punish NATO allies that refused to assist the US in the war with Iran.

Under the proposed plan, the Trump administration would pull US troops out of NATO countries that were unhelpful with Operation Epic Fury, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing Trump administration officials.

The plan is one of several being considered by the White House to punish members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, according to the outlet.

Trump has recently threatened to reassess US membership in NATO over the alliance’s lack of assistance with the Iran war and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

“NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN,” Trump posted on Truth Social Wednesday night. “REMEMBER GREENLAND, THAT BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE!!! President DJT”

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte met with Trump at the White House on Wednesday amid the tension.

The White House did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

Quote:Secretary of War Pete Hegseth issued an ultimatum to Iran Wednesday, urging the nation to give up its enriched uranium — or President Trump will launch another “Operation Midnight Hammer” to seize it.

While the two-week cease-fire deal between the US and Iran does not address the nearly 1,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium in Tehran’s possession, Hegseth told reporters on Wednesday that the US will secure the atomic material no matter what.

“We’ll get it. We’ll take it, we’ll take it out,” Hegseth said of the enriched uranium, vowing to complete one of President Trump’s main goals of the war.

“Or if we have to do something else ourselves, like we did Midnight Hammer or something like that, we reserve that opportunity,” he added, referencing the US-Israeli joint airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities last year.

“But what’s clear… is they’ll never have a nuclear weapon or the capability to get a path to one.”

Along with threatening another series of airstrikes against Iran, Hegseth suggested that the US could send Special Operations troops into Iran to seize the uranium.

“If we have to, we can do it by any means necessary,” he said.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Iran’s uranium stockpile is the president’s “red line.”

“This is on the top of the priority list for the president and his negotiating team as they head into these next round of discussions,” she told reporters.

“This is a red line that the president is not going to back away from, and he’s committed to ensuring that takes place. We hope it will be through diplomacy.”

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which serves as the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, said Iran had about 970 pounds of highly enriched uranium before last year’s 12-Day War.

The uranium stockpiles are believed to be housed in Iran’s underground facilities in Isfahan and Natanz, according to IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi.

Quote:Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore torched the US as the “bad guys” in the war with Iran – while hailing the Middle Eastern nation as one of the world’s “greatest civilizations” in a deranged online tirade.

The documentarian unleashed the frenzied rant on Tuesday, calling President Trump a “terrorist” for threatening a “holocaust” after the commander in chief warned Iran that its “whole civilization” would be wiped out if the nation failed to cut a ceasefire deal to open the Strait of Hormuz and end the six-week conflict.

He also accused the US of “meddling” in Iran’s internal affairs for the past seven decades.

“Our leaders and our media are stupid enough to keep asking questions like ‘why do they hate us?’ Hate us?! They don’t hate US! WE HATE THEM!” Moore raged on his Substack.

“We’re the bad guys! If you didn’t realize that under previous presidents at least Donald Trump has ripped off the mask and shown you who we really are!”
The Oscar winner’s outburst came before Trump revealed he agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran.

Moore then blasted the US as the “only nation sick and violent enough” to use nuclear weapons, while bizarrely praising Tehran for building a diverse global power, advancing human rights, and leading the world on multiple fronts.

“Iran is the cradle of one of the greatest civilizations this planet has ever seen,” the “Fahrenheit 9/11” filmmaker wrote.

“While our ancestors in Europe were still figuring out how to build a hut, the Persians had already written the world’s first declaration of human rights, built a multicultural empire that treated conquered peoples with dignity, and were doing math and medicine that we wouldn’t catch up to for a thousand years.

“These are the people who gave us algebra, medicine, and the theme song to Game of Thrones. Despite harsh government crackdowns and censorship today, Iran still produces some of the world’s greatest filmmakers. America has been meddling with and attacking Iran since 1953.”

Quote:Iranians who have fled the rogue theocratic nation said lasting peace can only be achieved by overthrowing the brutal regime, which they slammed as a “cancer.”

As Iran and the US enter a fragile, two-week cease-fire, Iranian dissidents abroad feel a mix of hope and anxiousness as they pray that the 40 days of war has weakened the Islamic Republic enough to be finally toppled by its people.

Shiva Mix, an Iranian who moved to Minnesota in 2000, touted the war in Iran as a way to deal with the “cancer” that is the Islamic regime, likening it to a painful, but necessary treatment.

”No one wants to get diagnosed with cancer. They don’t want that. But [the] Islamic Republic — we got diagnosed with cancer, and … it’s killing us,” Mix told MPR News.

Reza Pahlavi, Iran’s exiled crown prince who has repeatedly called for its people to revolt against Tehran, said in an address to the country on Wednesday that news of the cease-fire was disheartening.

Despite President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s insistence that a new regime was now running Iran, there has been no indications that the Islamic Republic plans to stray from the practices of its slain predecessors.

Pahlavi, however, said the strategic killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dozens of his top officials can pave the way for the end of the regime.

“The blows struck against the Islamic Republic in just 40 days are unprecedented, and irreparable for this regime,” Pahlavi said. “The elimination of Ali Khamenei, the killer of tens of thousands of brave Iranians, is in itself a historic achievement for our nation.

“The Islamic Republic is more isolated and despised in the region and the world today than ever before,” he added, describing Tehran’s willingness to enter into a cease-fire as a form of the regime’s “complete surrender.”

Maryam Rajavi, the president of the US-based National Council of Resistance of Iran opposition group, said lasting peace “can only be achieved through the overthrow of the terrorist and warmongering dictatorship.”

Quote:Iran’s chief justice demanded all executions of “enemy agents” be sped up in a jarring video leaked the same day the US secured a temporary cease-fire with war-torn Tehran.

Chief Justice Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, a hardliner within the repressive Islamic Republic, implored the state judiciary to rush cases against “agents and affiliates of the enemy” — which includes protesters facing the death penalty.

“In cases where issuing rulings such as asset confiscation and the death penalty is warranted for enemy agents, the process should be expedited,” Mohseni-Ejei said, according to a video and translation posted by the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center on Tuesday.
“More verdicts must be issued against the enemy’s affiliates.”

State media has already confirmed 14 executions by the brutal regime this year, though the Norwegian-based Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reported evidence of as many as 160 hangings since January.

Those executed were convicted of intangible charges like “waging war against God” and “corruption on Earth.”

The notoriously conservative Mohseni-Ejei was handpicked in 2021 to lead Iran’s supreme court by slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. An acolyte of the Islamic Republic, he frequently calls for the harshest punishments — either torture or death — for protesters who have revolted against the regime.

The conservative justice is one of the few regime leaders who survived devastating airstrikes on Feb. 28, which wiped out Ali Khamenei and dozens of his top military leaders — and launched the Iran war.

Mohseni-Ejei also accused President Trump and Israel of fomenting nationwide anti-regime protests in January — which coincided with the slaughter of thousands of demonstrators by Khamenei’s henchmen.

The killings of more than 7,000 protestors have been confirmed by the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, though thousands more are still under investigation.

Quote:The Estonian city of Narva is on Europe's eastern border, right next to Russia. Recently there have been online rumors that some locals want to secede from Estonia and join Russia. What's really happening?

Looking at an ordinary map of Estonia, Narva is simply another city on the eastern borders of the European Union. But the city of around 52,000 is more significant than that. Narva, in Estonia's Russian-speaking east, is becoming a flash point for debates about European security, identity and the future of the bloc.

Part of the reason for this are calls for the city's secession from Estonia, a member of the EU, on social media and platforms like Telegram. These calls advocate for a so-called "People's Republic of Narva" and even include a flag and a coat of arms, ideas that remind observers of pro-Russian propaganda about Crimea in Ukraine.

Estonian intelligence services have described the rumors as provocative, and many locals dismiss them as nonsense.

Are there secessionists in Narva?

In Narva itself, life goes on as usual. The shop facades are an interesting mix of Soviet-era styles and contemporary European logos but the streets are not crowded today. A cold wind from Finland blows across the Narva River. On the other side of the waterway is the Russian city of Ivangorod.

Narva still has distinct ties to Russia. Only about 2% of its residents speak Estonian at home. Most speak Russian, and a third of the population holds a Russian passport.

The Russian border is open but can only be crossed during the day, on foot. Cars and buses cannot currently cross the bridge, which is undergoing maintenance until the end of the year. This decision to ban vehicles was made by Russian authorities.

For many of Narva's inhabitants, crossing the bridge, and the border, is a regular part of daily life. Some go shopping, others visit relatives. The fact that ethnic Russians make up the majority in a city bordering Russia has led observers to draw parallels to Donbas and Crimea in Ukraine, and Transnistria, which is near Ukraine and Moldova. Each of those places are home to locals who do want to join up with Russia.

Important EU connections

But Narva also has strong ties to Europe. It's often described as the city where Europe begins, and many locals are proud of this label.

In September, Europe's largest rare-earth magnet factory opened in Narva. It was funded by the EU and will produce magnets for electric vehicles, wind turbines and microelectronics. Up until now, most of these magnets have been imported from China so the Narva factory is an important step toward strategic autonomy for the EU.

For all these sorts of reasons, Narva Mayor Katri Raik isn't too worried about any alleged separatist tendencies.

"The people of Narva are worried about their city's image," she said. "Such reports give us negative publicity and nobody wants that. Our people love their city and simply don't have time to invent these kinds of stories."

Quote:Since the start of the war against Ukraine, many Russians living in exile have been unable to return home for security reasons. Three of them told DW how they cope with the loss of loved ones far from their families.

Pyotr Trofimov (name changed) had only been in Germany for three weeks when he received the news that his father had passed away in St. Petersburg. Had it not been for Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he would have still been in Moscow and not in the Bavarian city of Bayreuth.

Various estimates suggest that between 650,000 and 1 million people left Russia after the full-scale war in Ukraine began in early 2022. Not all of them planned to stay abroad long-term, and even fewer could have imagined that returning home would eventually become dangerous. That meant that some had to face the death of a loved one without the option of saying goodbye in person.

Trofimov is one of them. Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he was a Ph.D. student at Moscow State University and was planning to look for a job abroad after graduating in 2024. The war, however, changed his plans, and so he found himself in postgraduate studies at the University of Bayreuth.

"It was a spontaneous decision made after the war began," Trofimov explained.

He added that he was afraid of what was to come next and assumed that the move to Europe would help him build a more stable career.

Loss begins with immigration

When Trofimov learned about his father's death, not even a month had passed since his move to Germany. He was still trying to find a place to live and deal with the bureaucracy that comes with moving abroad.

"If the circumstances had been different, I would have simply traveled from Moscow to St. Petersburg. It's not a difficult task," he told DW.

Yet his spontaneous move turned it into a far more difficult one: a return journey would have cost him a few thousand euros as direct flights between Russia and Germany were halted after the war in Ukraine broke out.

Quote:About 80,000 ethnic Hungarians live in western Ukraine. Many feel torn between Viktor Orban's anti-Ukrainian campaign and the conflict between the two countries. What does the future hold for this minority?

At first glance, the Ukrainian village of Velyka Dobron looks completely normal on this bright, sunny spring day, with well-kept homes lining its main street. On closer inspection, however, many of these houses seem abandoned. There is hardly anyone around, and almost no working-age men can be seen.

Velyka Dobron lies in the far west of Ukraine, just 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) from the Hungarian border, and almost everyone here is ethnic Hungarian. The village's Hungarian name is Nagydobrony.

Sandor Rati, 63, stands in front of a local grocery store, chatting with a neighbor. There are deep furrows across his forehead. He owns a carpentry workshop, which he runs all by himself.

"The mood here is pretty bad," Rati told DW. Many villagers have left and live abroad, and he hasn't been able to find any tradespeople to work with him at the workshop.

A few weeks ago, his only son was drafted into the Ukrainian army, Rati said. A serious blow, as Rati depended on the 38-year-old's help for health reasons.

His son is currently undergoing military training. "Hopefully he can serve somewhere near here and doesn't have to go to the front line," Rati said.

When asked about the anti-Ukrainian rhetoric of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban ahead of the parliamentary election and tensions between both countries, Rati just shook his head. Orban has done a lot for Hungarians in Ukraine, he said.

"But the fact that they're antagonizing Ukraine won't end well for Hungarians living in Ukraine, because they'll be angry with us here."

Orban pushes nationalist, anti-Ukrainian rhetoric

Orban's nationalist, pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian rhetoric has also zeroed in on Ukraine's multiethnic Transcarpathia region. His government claims Hungarians are being deprived of their minority rights by the Ukrainian state. It is claimed that Ukrainian nationalists carry out attacks on Hungarian facilities, and also said that more ethnic Hungarians are being recruited and sent to the front line than Ukrainians.

Ahead of the Hungarian parliamentary election on April 12, Orban's propaganda apparatus is flooding social media platforms with these and other unsubstantiated accusations.

The reality on the ground, however, is quite different. Hardly anyone in [Velyka Dobron?] complains about the lack of minority rights. There is no evidence of Ukrainian nationalists attacking the Hungarian minority. And unlike some places in Romania or Serbia, you don't see vandalized bilingual place or street name signs in Ukraine.

That said, many ethnic Hungarians in this part of Ukraine are afraid to speak out. This is very much the case in Velyka Dobron, where most people on the street say they would rather not get caught up in this tense moment, accusing journalists of distorting everything that is being said.

Quote:NATO nation Estonia has doubled down on longstanding pledges to defend its territory if Russian troops set foot on alliance soil.

"When the 'green men' cross our border, we shoot at them," Jonatan Vseviov, a top official in Tallinn's foreign ministry, told Germany's Welt newspaper. "It's simple."

Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment via email.

The term "green men" was coined shortly after Russian troops, dressed in green uniforms, were spotted in Crimea in 2014 as Russian President Vladimir Putin moved to annex the peninsula from Ukraine.

Russia initially denied the soldiers, armed with Russian weapons and heard speaking with Russian accents, were its own troops and said they had joined local "self-defense groups." Russian President Vladimir Putin then claimed roughly two weeks later that the "recent events in Crimea" had showcased Russia's military prowess.

NATO countries on the eastern flank are generally more worried about the prospect of an attack by the Kremlin than alliance members further away from the Russian border, and have fervently backed Kyiv in its war effort against Moscow since February 2022.

Some NATO officials and public intelligence assessments have suggested Moscow may try to take territory from a Baltic state in a small-scale land grab to test how NATO responds, particularly if a future peace settlement is reached in Ukraine. Russia has dismissed suggestions it has plans to invade other European countries as "nonsense."

Estonia, which spent decades under Soviet rule, has stormed ahead with defense spending to beef up its armed forces and is expected to dedicate more than 5 percent of its GDP to the military this year, while other countries in NATO wrestle with reaching the alliance's much lower target.

NATO members have agreed to spend 3.5 percent of their GDP on military kit by 2035, plus an additional 1.5 percent on related costs like making sure roads and bridges can bear the weight of tank convoys.

But the Baltic states—Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania—are already building bunkers and laying obstacles designed to stop Russian military vehicles near the border, as well as issuing pamphlets on how the public should react in wartime.

"We are not a big country, but we are preparing," Vseviov said. "We will do everything in our power to keep the allies on our side to defend every inch of Estonian territory."

"It's also about making it clear to the other side: If you come, we'll shoot, and if you shoot with big weapons, then you'll hit all of us, including our allies," Vseviov said.

NATO members are collectively obliged to treat attacks on any member country as an assault on the whole alliance. This is meant to deter any adversary nations from attacking a part of NATO because it would have to face a response from all the alliance's 32 members.

Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago, Ukrainian and Russian drones have violated the airspace of at least six NATO nations, including Estonia.

Russian drones and missiles entering NATO airspace have not been treated as attacks on the alliance so far.

Tallinn has accused Russian fighter jets of breaching its airspace on at least three occasions in the past year, most recently in March.

Quote:WASHINGTON — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Tuesday revealed that the Department of Justice is currently probing thousands of cases of fraudsters bilking taxpayer-funded federal programs — with more than $1 trillion potentially vulnerable per year.

In his first press conference since being elevated to the role of acting AG, Blanche touted recent prosecutions that had resulted in guilty pleas — including a half-billion dollars “in health care and COVID fraud” — as the DOJ is handling more than 8,000 fraud cases.

A South Florida insurance brokerage firm pleaded guilty to an Affordable Care Act enrollment scheme totaling more than $160 million, and a California man pleaded guilty to submitting $270 million in fraudulent claims through California’s Medicaid program for costly prescription drugs, among others.

But those investigations “represent a fraction of the fraud ripping off our country every day,” Blanche noted, “with over a trillion dollars at stake every single year threatened by increasingly sophisticated and opportunistic fraudsters.”

The acting attorney general announced that DOJ had established a National Fraud Enforcement Division for the purpose of handling the thousands of other cases — and that prosecutors would work closely with Vice President JD Vance’s task force coordinating an interagency response.

“Because of this administration’s leadership, fraudsters, scammers, tax cheats or anyone who lies to get rich off the generosity of the American people should be on notice,” Blanche said.

Unless he is confirmed, he will serve in the role for the next 210 days after President Trump removed Pam Bondi from the attorney general position last Thursday.

Before her firing, the president had criticized Bondi’s failure to bring prosecutions against some of his political foes such as New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey — but Blanche denied that as the reason for his predecessor’s ouster.

“Pam Bondi is a trusted friend of President Trump’s and will remain so,” he told reporters at the news conference Tuesday. “Nobody has any idea why the attorney general is no longer the attorney general and I’m the acting attorney general — except for President Trump.”

But Bondi’s handling of the DOJ’s responses related to its investigation and prosecution of the deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein also stoked tensions with the White House, according to sources.

The Trump administration through various agencies has been investigating fraud of taxpayer-funded programs in Democratic-controlled states — with Vance and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz yanking $259.5 million in federal funds from Minnesota in February.

Quote:A New York City mental health nurse has been fired after she filmed herself harassing a group of Israeli men in Times Square — repeatedly calling them “baby-killers” and “terrorists” in a hate-filled antisemitic rant that only ended when a performer dressed as Spider-Man intervened.

Jennifer Koonings, who worked at the Manhattan-based Inspire Mental Health Services, shared multiple videos on Instagram of the moment she unleashed the wave of vitriol over the weekend as she tried to bait the group of unassuming men in the packed tourist hotspot.

“You guys killed babies in Palestine … Slaughtered babies,” Koonings shouted in one clip posted to her 141,000 Instagram followers.

“We don’t want you here, terrorists.”

Eventually, a panhandler dressed as Spider-Man had to step in to urge Koonings to back off.

“You don’t need to harass people,” Spidey told Koonings and several other women who were shouting hate along with her. “You don’t know anything about them.”

“They’re baby-killers,” Koonings raged to the imitation web-slinger. “They’re f–king Israelis.”

Koonings and her crazed crew even turned their hate on Spider-Man, telling him to “shut the f–k up” as he urged calm.

In a second clip that seemingly preceded the ordeal, Koonings — who has a history of anti-Israel political activism — recorded herself asking the men where they were from.

Quote:The deranged homeless man accused of savagely butchering Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee, on a Charlotte light rail train has been found “incapable to proceed” on state murder charges.

According to a motion filed April 7, Decarlos Brown Jr. was evaluated Dec. 29 at Central Regional Hospital, and the subsequent report determined he was not competent to stand trial, according to WBTV. His attorney has asked the court to delay his competency hearing by 180 days.

The results were previously sealed in state court and were only revealed as the motion was filed.

Prosecutors did not object to the requested 180-day delay of Brown’s Rule 24 hearing, which was previously scheduled for April 30, which will determine whether he is fit to proceed with a potential death penalty trial.

Brown is also facing federal charges — and will remain in custody on that case, his lawyer Daniel Roberts said.

A judge must now determine whether to accept the report’s findings, and the case against him will likely be delayed until his capacity is determined to be “restored” by the court, the station reported.

In the motion filed by Brown’s public defender, he claimed the court-required capacity hearing cannot take place with the accused killer in federal custody, and that the court also can’t order to have his capacity restored.

If a judge agrees Brown is incompetent to stand trial, state law mandates the charges be dismissed. However, if the judge issues the ruling without prejudice, state murder charges could be refiled if he ever regains his capacity to be tried.

A similar situation happened in the Tar Heel State in 2020 when murder charges were dismissed without prejudice against Buford James Penley after he was determined to be incompetent by multiple psychologists, including one who worked for the DA’s office.

Under North Carolina law, a defendant is deemed capable to proceed to trial if they can understand the nature and object of the proceedings, comprehend his or her situation in reference to the proceedings, and assist in his or her defense in a rational or reasonable manner.

Brown has been in federal custody in Chicago since a grand jury indicted him on Oct. 22 for violence against a railroad carrier and mass transportation system causing death. He faces state charges of first-degree murder.

Quote:Perry, 54, had openly struggled for decades with addictions, but had appeared to colleagues to be beating his demons when he died in 2023.

A dealer dubbed the "Ketamine Queen" who sold the drugs that killed "Friends" star Matthew Perry was jailed for 15 years by a California court on Wednesday.

Jasveen Sangha, 42, was one of five people charged over the death of the Canadian-American actor, who was found unresponsive in the hot tub of his luxury Los Angeles home in 2023.

Sangha, who is a dual citizen of the United States and Britain, has been in federal custody since August 2024.

Perry, 54, had openly struggled for decades with addictions, but had appeared to colleagues to be beating his demons when he died.

His death set off waves of grief among generations of "Friends" fans and sparked a police probe that uncovered a ring of suppliers and enablers, including medical doctors who were callously profiting from the pain of a man they should have been helping.

Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who admitted four counts of distribution of ketamine in the weeks before Perry's death, was ordered to serve 30 months in jail when he was sentenced last year.

Another doctor, Mark Chavez, was ordered to be confined at home and told to do hundreds of hours of community service.

Plasencia bought ketamine off Chavez and sold it to the American-Canadian actor at hugely inflated prices.

"I wonder how much this moron will pay," Plasencia wrote in one text message.

Prosecutors said addict Perry was paying over $2,000 per vial of ketamine; his dealers paid a fraction of that.

Sangha worked with a middleman, Erik Fleming, to sell 51 vials of ketamine to Perry's live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa.

Iwamasa repeatedly injected Perry with the ketamine that she had supplied, including on October 28, 2023, when he administered at least three shots of Sangha's drugs, which killed the actor.

When Sangha heard news reports about Perry's sudden death, she tried to cover her tracks.

"Delete all our messages," she instructed Fleming.

When investigators raided Sangha's home in North Hollywood, they found methamphetamine, ketamine, ecstasy, cocaine, and counterfeit Xanax pills, as well as a money counting machine, a scale, and devices to detect wireless signals and hidden cameras.

Quote:The hulking Manhattan architect who led a double life as the so-called Gilgo Beach killer admitted Wednesday to strangling and dismembering eight sex workers — bringing long-awaited closure in a case that has haunted Long Island for decades.

Rex Heuermann, the 6-foot-4 schlub from Massapequa Park, smirked as he repeatedly muttered “strangulation” while answering how he murdered each of his victims — prompting gasps from the victims’ families and tears from his daughter in the packed Riverhead courtroom.

He pleaded guilty to butchering Amber Lynn Costello, 27; Megan Waterman, 22; Melissa Barthelemy, 24; and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, who were famously known as the “Gilgo Four” — as well as Valerie Mack, 24; Jessica Taylor, 20; and Sandra Costilla, 28, the first victim killed in 1993.

The father of two also copped to killing Karen Vergata, 34, whose 1996 murder had not previously been linked to him.

Heuermann, 62, also confessed that he dismembered some of the women and tied them up in burlap, bringing his daughter, Victoria, to tears inside the Riverhead courtroom.

Long Island’s most notorious serial killer appeared calm and even glib as he rattled off the horrors — at times appearing to hold back a smirk in the courtroom.

“He will serve three consecutive life sentences with no chance of parole,” prosecutors said.

The gruesome confession brings an end to a heartbreaking saga that has haunted Long Island for three decades.

Heuermann was arrested in 2023 after a then 13-year cold case was reinvigorated by Suffolk County Police Commissioner and former NYPD Chief Rodney Harrison.

Investigators found that he kept meticulous notes of his slayings in a secret, typo-ridden document on his computer, with chilling reminders like, “remove head and hands” and “wash body inside and all cavities.”

Heuermann lawyer Michael Brown said his client’s decision to finally admit to the murders came after two devastating rulings by Judge Timothy Mazzei — allowing all of the DNA evidence to be used and refusing to try the crimes separately at trial.

Quote:“Back to the Future” star Michael J. Fox reassured fans that he was alive and well after CNN published a misleading article about his death.

“Michael is doing great,” his rep told TMZ Wednesday. “He was at PaleyFest yesterday. He was on stage and was giving interviews.”

Additionally, a CNN spokesperson apologized after a video titled “Remembering the life of actor Michael J. Fox” was published.

“The package was published in error; we have removed it from our platforms and send our apologies to Michael J. Fox and his family,” the rep told the outlet.

A rep for Fox, 64, wasn’t immediately available to Page Six for comment.

On Tuesday, the actor stopped by the PaleyFest LA hosted at the Dolby Theatre to join the Apple TV+ series “Shrinking” for their Season 3 wrap party.

The “Spin City” alum joined Jason Segel and Harrison Ford as a guest star in the forthcoming season, which was released in January and concludes on Wednesday.

In recent years, Fox has taken a step back from larger on-camera roles after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991.

At the time, he was only 29 years old, and he waited until 1998 to announce his condition.

Parkinson’s disease is defined as “a progressive movement disorder of the nervous system,” which ultimately leads “to symptoms that include problems with movement, tremor, stiffness, and impaired balance,” according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Quote:The “walls are closing in” on Nancy Guthrie’s kidnapper after Savannah Guthrie’s return to “Today” as her “national platform” will help keep all eyes on the case, according to an FBI expert.

“Every day that passes the pressure builds. Keeping a secret like this is exhausting. … and that gets harder with every morning that Savannah Guthrie sits behind that anchor desk,” former FBI agent Jason Pack exclusively told Page Six.

“Most criminals in cases like this count on the media moving on,” he continued. “They count on the family fading from public view. They count on people forgetting. This case is different. Savannah has a national platform and she shows up on it every single day. Every time a viewer sees her face, they think about her mother.”

Pack believes the more attention the case receives, the more “pressure on the people responsible goes up.”

“Add a reward of more than one million dollars and the full weight of FBI resources and you have a situation where the walls are not just closing, but they are closing from every direction at once,” he said.

Pack went on to urge Nancy’s neighbors to check their cameras — and contact authorities with any information on her disappearance.

“At some point, someone is going to have the courage to make that call,” he said. “One phone call from someone who decides the reward money matters more than their silence is all it takes to bring law enforcement directly to their front door.”

On Monday, two months after her mom was reported missing, Savannah returned to “Today.”

“Good morning, welcome to ‘Today’ on this morning. We are so glad you started the week with us and it is good to be home,” she told viewers cheerily.

Later on, co-host Craig Melvin brought her outside to greet their fans, gushing, “We are back at 8:30 on this beautiful Monday morning, and it’s a special Monday morning for us and for this crowd as well, because we are welcoming back our North Star. Come on out here! Come right out!”

Quote:The federal government plans to automatically register eligible men for the military draft beginning in December, according to a proposed rule published last week.

The Selective Service System (SSS), the government agency that maintains the database of draft-eligible Americans, submitted the “automatic registration” rule change to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on March 30.

Congress approved automatic registration for the draft last December as part of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, must-pass legislation that authorizes funding for military personnel and operations.

Under federal law, most males between 18 and 25 years old are already required to register with the Selective Service System in case a military draft is authorized.

Quote:Prince Harry was reportedly “reluctant” to leave the royal family, but wasn’t given much choice by his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, after she issued a harsh ultimatum to him.

Hugo Vickers, a writer who’s a longtime friend of the royal family, recounts Prince Harry’s mounting frustrations with his family before his and his wife Meghan Markle’s resignations as royals in his new book, “Queen Elizabeth II.”

When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex fled London to Canada in 2019, Harry was “keen to discuss a way forward with the Queen” upon his return, Vickers writes. Though, things didn’t go as planned for the prince.

“He wanted a half-in, half-out arrangement, whereby he would be self-financing but could still work for the Royal Family. In the new year of 2020, the three Private Secretaries, Sir Edward Young, Sir Clive Alderton and Simon Case, went into summit mode on the Sandringham estate and drafted their proposal,” Vickers writes.

“Prince Harry went to Sandringham for the meeting and was told it was either all in or all out. He returned to Canada — reluctantly out.”

In January 2020, the Sussexes announced they would be departing their official roles as working royals and moved to live in California full-time three months later, leaving their Frogmore Cottage home gifted to them by the Queen behind.

After Prince Harry released his bombshell-loaded memoir, “Spare,” in 2023, he and Markle were requested to officially vacate the cottage.

Prior to Queen Elizabeth’s death, the couple made one last trip to London in June 2022 to bring their children Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4, to spend time with their great-grandmother to fulfill her final wishes.

As Page Six previously reported on Tuesday, royal biographer Robert Hardman shared Queen Elizabeth’s last wishes for all of her great-grandchildren in his forthcoming biography, “Elizabeth II: In Private. In Public. The Inside Story.”

Quote:Queen Elizabeth II had one final wish to see all of her great-grandchildren — including her grandson Prince Harry’s two children with Meghan Markle — in the months leading up to her September 2022 death.

“The Queen wanted all the great-grandchildren to come up to Balmoral at some point over that summer, even if the Sussexes might not be able to make it,” royal biographer Robert Hardman writes in his forthcoming biography, “Elizabeth II: In Private. In Public. The Inside Story.”

“She wanted to make sure that they all had a really happy memory of her,” a friend of the family claims in the book, per an excerpt published by the Daily Mail on Monday.

The biographer includes mention of Prince Harry and Markle, who share children Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4, as its worth noting the ex-pats were reportedly not on great terms with the rest of the royals at that time.

As many may recall, a notorious rift grew among the royal family in 2020 after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle decided to resign from their positions as royals and moved to the US.

The divide between Prince Harry, his brother Prince William, and his father, now-King Charles II, was worsened after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made bombshell claims in their 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview that Harry’s family had concerns over their son Prince Archie’s skin color.

Despite the debacle, the family made their way to London for one final trip where the queen was able to meet the young princess, who was named after the monarch, in June 2022 — nearly a year after the couple welcomed their daughter.

Harry, Markle and their two children were reported to have spent some time with the Queen at Windsor Castle in the hours just before Lilibet’s first birthday.

At the time, Page Six reported that the royal family celebrated the birthday girl with a private birthday party the following day.

Quote:Even the vice president gets sent to voicemail.

Vice President JD Vance pulled out his cellphone at a rally for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, promising rally goers a special surprise.

That surprise was President Trump.

But, in an awkward moment, Vance got the president’s voicemail.

With his phone on speaker, an automated voice was heard saying: “I’m sorry, the person you were trying to reach has a voicemail box that is full.”
Vance quickly hung up and dialed again, this time getting the president on the phone.

But with a catch.

“Hey JD, can you give me a second,” Trump told him.

But Trump finally addressed the cheering crowd, endorsing Orban for re-election: “I love Hungary and I love that Victor, I’ll tell you, he’s a fantastic man. We’ve had a tremendous relationship.”

“Boy that sounds like a big crowd and my kind of people,” the president noted of the rally.

The president is fond of Orban, who’s been a longtime supporter and frequent visitor to Mar-a-Lago.

Vance is on a two-day trip to Hungary to boost Orban’s bid for re-election as his Fidesz party trails badly in the polls.

The general election is on Sunday and Vance projected confidence, telling reporters: “Viktor Orban is, of course, going to win.”

Quote:President Trump lashed out at four right-wing critics of the Iran war Thursday, describing them as “NUT JOBS” and “losers” who will say anything for attention.

“I know why Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones have all been fighting me for years, especially by the fact that they think it is wonderful for Iran, the Number One State Sponsor of Terror, to have a Nuclear Weapon — Because they have one thing in common, Low IQs,” Trump wrote in a lengthy Truth Social post.

“They’re stupid people, they know it, their families know it, and everyone else knows it, too!” the president raged. “Look at their past, look at their record. They don’t have what it takes, and they never did!

“They’ve all been thrown off Television, lost their Shows, and aren’t even invited on TV because nobody cares about them, they’re NUT JOBS, TROUBLEMAKERS, and will say anything necessary for some ‘free’ and cheap publicity.”

Trump argued the criticism he’s received from the quartet stems from a desire for “clicks” for their “Third Rate Podcasts.”

“But nobody’s talking about them, and their views are the opposite of MAGA — Or I wouldn’t have won the Presidential Election in a LANDSLIDE.” he continued, noting that recent polling showed MAGA voters giving him a “100% Approval Rating.”

“MAGA agrees with me … not Hand Flailing Fools like Tucker Carlson, who couldn’t even finish College, he was a broken man when he got fired from Fox, and he’s never been the same — Perhaps he should see a good psychiatrist!” the president fumed.  “Or Megyn Kelly, who nastily asked me the now famous, ‘Only Rosie O’Donnell,’ question, or ‘Crazy’ Candace Owens, who accuses the Highly Respected First Lady of France of being a man, when she is not, and will hopefully win lots of money in the ongoing lawsuit.”

Trump argued Brigitte Macron “is a far more beautiful woman than Candace, in fact, it’s not even close!”

Turning his ire to “Bankrupt Alex Jones,” Trump argued the “Infowars” host “says some of the dumbest things, and lost his entire fortune, as he should have, for his horrendous attack on the families of the Sandy Hook shooting victims, ridiculously claiming it was a hoax.”[/b]

Quote:The Trump administration’s plan to implement automatic registration for the military draft is drawing pushback from a coalition of anti-war groups who argue the effort will increase the likelihood of conflict and violate the privacy of US citizens and residents.

The Selective Service System (SSS) intends to register “every male citizen of the United States” between the ages of 18 and 25, beginning in December, to a list of those eligible to serve in the military, rather than wait for them to self-register.

Congress approved the automatic registration mandate last year, prompting more than 40 anti-war, religious, feminist and civil liberties organizations to demand that lawmakers end the registration initiative and repeal the draft.

“You see the diversity of groups that are involved here,” Edward Hasbrouck, one of the organizers of the anti-draft coalition, told The Post — touting a list of backers that includes CODEPINK, the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity and numerous Quaker, Mennonite and Christian organizations.

“I think it’s interesting, in Congress, even though support for continuing draft registration or expanding it or trying to salvage it from failure has been bipartisan, the opposition has also been bipartisan,” he said.

Hasbrouck, who was prosecuted by the late Robert Mueller in the 1980s for publicly refusing to register for the draft and served a six-month prison stint, argued that automatic registration would not produce an accurate picture of potential draftees but rather a tool for “weaponization.”

“In order to attempt to register people automatically, the Selective Service System will be given unprecedented authority to access databases of any other federal agency that it thinks might help identify or locate potential draftees,” Hasbrouck claimed. 

Hasbrouck expressed concern over the potential for “gender witch hunts” as SSS will have to determine every 18-year-old’s sex as assigned at birth.

He also feared illegal immigrants, who are required to register for the draft, could be targeted. 

“How exactly are they supposed to come up with a list of the names and addresses of every undocumented 18 through 26 year old man in the US?” Hasbrouck argued. “Obviously, no federal agency has that today, but again, SSS has a mandate that could easily be used and weaponized to go and try and compile – with whatever tools it can come up with – information about immigrants.

“This is a really dangerous data grab with very few of the kinds of guardrails that normally apply.”

Quote:President Trump lashed out at Iran’s handling of the Strait of Hormuz since the two-week cease-fire went into force, claiming, “That is not the agreement we have!”

“Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday.

The vital waterway, through which 20% of the world’s oil passes daily, has effectively been closed since the US and Israel launched their first attacks on Iran as part of Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28.

Only nine ships passed through the strait over the last 24 hours, according to data from the Hormuz Strait Monitor — way down from the daily average of 60 vessels.

Just three oil tankers, all under US sanctions, have passed through since the two-week provisional cease-fire was declared on Wednesday, NBC News reported.

One of the tankers was hauling one million barrels of oil, another hadn’t been loaded, and no data was provided for the third tanker.

Tehran agreed to reopen the Strait under the 10-point ceasefire plan, which Washington described as “workable,” but Iranian officials have claimed they plan to charge vessels $2 million to pass through, the New York Times reported.

They said the money would be used to rebuild infrastructure damaged by the US and Israel.

Trump warned Iran to stop charging vessels if it is doing so.

Quote:WASHINGTON — President Trump told The Post on Friday that US warships are being reloaded with “the best ammunition” to resume strikes on Iran if peace talks in Pakistan fail.

Trump spoke shortly after Vice President JD Vance boarded Air Force Two en route to Islamabad, where he will be joined by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to negotiate a final peace after a two-week cease-fire was reached on Tuesday.

“We’re going to find out in about 24 hours. We’re going to know soon,” Trump said in a phone interview when asked if he thought the talks would be successful.

“We have a reset going. We’re loading up the ships with the best ammunition, the best weapons ever made — even better than what we did previously, and we blew them apart,” he said.

“But we’re loading up the ships. We’re loading up the ships with the best weapons ever made, even at a higher level than we used to do a complete decimation.

“And if we don’t have a deal, we will be using them, and we will be using them very effectively.”

Iran is expected to be represented in the Pakistani capital by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who insisted in pre-war talks that Iran had an inalienable right to enrich uranium, and the speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

“You’re dealing against people that we don’t know whether or not they tell the truth,” Trump told The Post.

“To our face, they’re getting rid of all nuclear weapons, everything’s gone. And then they go out to the press and say, ‘No, we’d like to enrich.’ So we’ll find out.”

Top White House economist Kevin Hassett told Fox Business in an interview Friday that “we’re very, very hopeful” about the negotiations.

“We’ve got the A team going to Pakistan to negotiate with the Iranians. And we also have backup plans if necessary,” he said.

The talks are expected to focus on US demands that Iran hand over an estimated 1,000 pounds of deeply buried enriched uranium and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping.

Retired four-star Army general Jack Keane said Friday the US is prepared militarily to take control of the strait from Iran, and Trump won’t accept a bad deal.

“I know our forces can open up that strait and protect the ships going through it,” Keane told Fox News. “People are hand-wringing about a drone here and a missile there … They don’t understand the plan and the details of the plan.

“The United States military can secure defined space that’s moving through the straits — put an absolute air cap and air bubble around all of that and make certain that anything that tries to penetrate it is going to be defeated.”

Quote:The Iranian women’s soccer team arrived back from the Asia Cup on March 19, facing war and an uncertain future over acts of perceived dissidence during their trip.

Since then, the regime — perhaps distracted by the decimation of their army, navy, drone capabilities and nuclear program by US forces — has largely left them alone, although sources warn they will be on a tight leash.

“It seems they are ok,” a source who had spoken with most of the team this week told The Post.

“Now that there is a cease-fire, they said they are going to training, going to coffee shops. They are also posting online, although they are being very careful about what they say.”

One defector said the bloodthirsty regime — which has been executing athletes who disobey them, even since the war began on Feb. 28 — will observe and put pressure on the squad and their families.

“I don’t think anyone believes that their lives are back to normal,” said Zohreh Abdollahkhani, a former member of the Iranian ice climbing team, who defected and established Human Rights for Sport, an Oslo-based nonprofit.

“We can anticipate that every sort of communication is monitored and that male members of their families are being pressured. That is what has happened in the past, and it’s likely happening now.”

The Iranian women’s team trip to the Asian Football Federation’s Cup in Australia got off to a controversial start when members did not sing their national anthem at their opening match against South Korea March 2. The refusal was widely seen as an act of solidarity with victims of government repression and led the Iranian state broadcaster to initially brand the athletes, known as the Lionesses, as “wartime traitors” to the country.

Quote:Israel continued to batter Lebanon with “non-stop” missiles Friday, killing at least 14, as Hezbollah terrorists warned they have become only “more determined’’ to fight — ahead of planned peace talks next week.

At least 13 of the dead Friday were identified as security personnel for a government building in the southern city of Nabatieh, which was targeted in an Israeli air strike, said Lebanon President Joseph Aoun.

Another person was killed in a strike on the southern town of Hannawiya.

The attacks were “non-stop” through the morning, Al Jazeera said, citing a reporter on the ground.

Homes and residential areas were destroyed in the town of Hanine and Aita al-Shaab, with additional attacks on al-Majadel in the Tyre district.

The overall recent death toll — which Lebanon claimed has climbed to more than 1,950 — has only further invigorated the Lebanon-based Hezbollah’s vow of retaliation.

“The sacrifices make us more determined to liberate our land,” the terror group’s chief, Naim Qassem, said, while claiming the Jewish state’s attacks were failing, the Financial Times reported.

“[Israel] has been unable to carry out the ground invasion it repeatedly announced,” Qassem said. “It has repeatedly changed its objectives.”

Hezbollah on Friday responded by firing rockets into northern Israel, with a concentrated attack at the Ashdod naval base.

The terror group said its attack was in response to the “violation of the cease-fire and its repeated attacks on Beirut, and after the Resistance adhered to the cease-fire while the enemy did not.”

Hezbollah had previously paused attacks on Israel amid the cease-fire deal between Iran, Israel and the US, but resumed after Israel reignited its own crusade in Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said attacks against Lebanon would not stop until the safety of Israel is assured, emphasizing that the cease-fire with Iran does not include Hezbollah.

Quote:A US delegation led by Vice President JD Vance arrived in Pakistan on Saturday for high-level talks with Iranian representatives, the first such meeting since the war began more than a month ago that will test whether they can shore up a fragile cease-fire and pave the way for peace.

The cease-fire brokered by Pakistan still faces hurdles in the talks beginning Saturday, as Israel and Hezbollah militants have traded fire along the border of southern Lebanon and Iran has set conditions before negotiations can begin.

The Iranian delegation arrived early Saturday in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who said on X that discussions will only take place if there is an Israeli cease-fire in Lebanon and the release of blocked Iranian assets.

President Trump has posted repeatedly about the negotiations on social media, saying Iranian officials “have no cards.”

He accused them of using the Strait of Hormuz, a key artery for global energy supplies, for extortion.

Trump wrote, “The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate!”

The normally bustling streets of Islamabad were deserted Saturday morning as security forces sealed roads ahead of the talks. Pakistani authorities urged residents to stay inside, leading the city to look like it was under curfew.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Friday that the conflict was entering a “difficult phase” as the sides try to shift from a temporary pause in fighting to a more lasting settlement, adding that they were at a “make-or-break” moment.

Vance is leading a negotiation with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Before his departure from Washington on Friday, Vance said he believed the negotiations with Iran will be “positive.”

But he added, “If they’re going to try and play us, then they’re going to find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.”

Israel and Lebanon will have direct negotiations

Negotiations between Israel and Lebanon are expected to begin Tuesday in the US capital, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s office said Friday.

Beirut is keen to hold direct talks to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah, but under a cease-fire similar to the one with Iran.

Israel wants the Lebanese government to assume responsibility for disarming Hezbollah, much like was envisaged in a November 2024 cease-fire.

But it is unclear whether Lebanon’s army can establish a monopoly on arms or confiscate weapons from the militant group, which has resisted efforts to curb its strength for decades.

Israel’s insistence that the cease-fire in Iran does not include a pause in its fighting with Hezbollah has threatened to sink the deal. The militant group joined the war in support of its backer, Iran.

The day the truce was announced, Israel pounded Beirut with airstrikes, killing more than 300 people, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. It was the deadliest day in the country since the war began Feb. 28.

Quote:China’s move to sink a U.N. draft resolution aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz this week may appear at odds with its own interests given its exposure to the oil crisis, but the decision lines up with Beijing’s strategic priorities, analysts said.

China and Russia, both permanent members of the Security Council, vetoed the Bahrain-sponsored resolution just one day before the United States and Iran announced a 14-day ceasefire, reportedly negotiated with the help of Beijing.

That deal is already under strain but in it Tehran agreed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most critical energy chokepoint. The 21-mile-wide waterway has become emblematic of the nearly six-week conflict and of Iran’s leverage over the global economy despite the damage inflicted on its military by the U.S. and Israel.

The Chinese and Russian ambassadors, while expressing support for reopening the strait, argued that the resolution failed to address what they described as the root cause of the crisis: the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, launched on February 28, that triggered the war and the ensuing disruption.

"Disregard for the root causes of the crisis in the Middle East, namely the illegal and reckless acts by the US and Israel targeting Iran, is not possible and not acceptable," Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said in his remarks.

Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., blasted both countries, saying they had tolerated a regime that is "holding the global economy at gunpoint."

The failed resolution demanded that Iran refrain from further attacks on merchant vessels and called on concerned governments to deploy forces in a coordinated effort to safeguard shipping. On its face, that would appear to benefit China—the world’s largest energy importer, which gets roughly 40 percent of its oil imports and about 30 percent of its liquefied natural gas from the Middle East.

China is better positioned than some of its neighbors to weather a limited energy shock because of its large strategic reserves and heavy investment in renewable energy. But with the strait disrupted for nearly six weeks, Beijing’s concern is growing—and a prolonged war lasting months poses an even greater risk.

In his Security Council remarks, Chinese Ambassador Fu Cong warned that even after revisions responding to earlier Chinese and Russian objections, the draft still risked escalating the conflict rather than containing it.

"[The resolution] contains one-sided condemnation and pressure, characterizing the situation as a threat to international peace and security, as well as the use of armed escorts," Fu said. "Such language is highly susceptible to misinterpretation or even abuse. At a time when the United States is openly threatening the very survival of civilization, the current hostilities imposed on Iran is very likely to further escalate."

Andrea Ghiselli, assistant professor of international relations at Beijing's Fudan University, and Courtney Fung, assistant professor of international relations at the University of Hong Kong, for the Lowy Institute think tank, wrote: "China’s economy is in no position to weather a global recession with ease. Persistently weak domestic demand means that exports remain essential for absorbing industrial output, sustaining economic growth, and supporting employment. A decline in external demand, combined with disruptions in access to key industrial and agricultural inputs, could therefore undermine a critical pillar of the economy."

A prolonged war could also further delay U.S. President Donald Trump’s highly anticipated visit to Beijing for talks with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, now planned for mid-May and a high priority for Beijing, which sees it as a chance to stabilize ties with Washington, build on modest concessions reached in their last meeting, and buy time to prepare for possible future American sanctions.

Quote:NATO member Poland has intercepted a Russian spy plane flying over the Baltic Sea for the second time this week, the country's deputy prime minister said.

Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said that a pair of Polish F-16 fighter jets were deployed on Thursday after a Russian Il-20 surveillance-reconnaissance aircraft was detected.

"The provocative actions of the Russian Federation are testing our air defense systems," Kosiniak-Kamysz said.

Poland's Operational Command of the Armed Forces confirmed the interception, saying that the Russian aircraft was conducting a flight in international airspace with its transponder, which is used for identification, turned off, and without a submitted flight plan.

It comes after a similar incident in which an Il-20 aircraft was intercepted by Poland on Wednesday.

Why It Matters

The Russian reconnaissance missions this week highlight the persistent tensions on NATO's eastern flank and the alliance's rapid air policing posture.

Poland, like other eastern NATO members, has faced repeated airspace incursions from Russian drones and military aircraft in recent years.

As part of NATO's founding treaty, its members are collectively obliged to treat attacks on any member country as an assault on the whole alliance.

What To Know

Poland's Operational Command announced on Thursday that a Russian Il-20 aircraft had been detected in international airspace over the Baltic Sea on Wednesday, but Polish airspace was not breached.

It added that a pair of Polish F-16 fighter jets were deployed and carried out a successful interception and visual identification of the aircraft.

"Interceptions of aircraft do not constitute a demonstration of force, but are one of the basic tools for ensuring real control over a state's airspace," the command said.

"Their purpose is the rapid identification of objects that do not respond to calls from air traffic services, move without the required flight plan, or violate applicable rules."

It added: "Thanks to the interception procedure, it is possible to immediately determine the nature of the flight, assess potential threats, and—if necessary—take corrective actions, such as changing course or directing the aircraft to land. These actions help limit the risk of incidents and ensure the safety of both civil aviation and critical infrastructure."

Regarding Thursday's incident, it said: "This type of provocative action by the Russian Federation does not go unanswered – we are vigilant, we respond, and we remain in constant readiness to protect Polish airspace."

Poland regularly scrambles military aircraft when Moscow launches missile and drone attacks on Ukraine.

NATO deploys rotations of fighter jets to protect Polish airspace after around 20 Russian drones crossed into the country in September.

Quote:The United Kingdom has thwarted a Russian submarine operation targeting critical undersea cables in its waters, the country's defense minister has announced.

Why It Matters

The incident comes amid continuing concerns over the threat posed by Russia toward NATO allies, which include accusations that Moscow has been engaged in hybrid activities to test the alliance’s resolve, such as GPS jamming and flying drones into its airspace.

Undersea cables are critical for all digital communications, and underpin global banking systems and trade.

What To Know

British warships and aircraft identified a Russian attack submarine entering international waters in the Arctic a number of weeks ago, before tracking it around the clock, the British government said.

The submarine was determined to be a decoy aimed at distracting the U.K. from other Russian naval units conducting "nefarious activity over critical undersea infrastructure."

The UK and its allies then launched a campaign to ensure the Russian naval units knew they were being monitored, and the submarines have since retreated to Russia.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: "I am determined to protect the British people from paying the price for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's aggression in their household bills. That is why we will not shy away from taking action and exposing Russia's destabilizing activity that seeks to test our resolve."

Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey said on Thursday that three Russian submarines were tracked for more than a month as part of the operation. The Russian submarines included an Akula-class nuclear-powered vessel and two deep-sea vessels from Moscow's Main Directorate of Deep Sea Research, also known as Gugi.

The Royal Navy deployed the Type 23 frigate HMS St Albans, a tanker named RFA Tidespring, and Merlin helicopters. Meanwhile, the Royal Air Force deployed a maritime reconnaissance RAF P8 aircraft to monitor the submarine 24/7, the government said.

The operation saw British ships cover thousands of miles, and the Royal Navy and RAF also deployed sonobuoys to track the submarines. Healey said that around 500 U.K. personnel were involved, along with other allied nations including Norway.

"A Royal Navy warship and Royal Air Force P-8 aircraft alongside allies ensured that the Russian submarines were monitored 24/7," Healey said.

"The Akula submarine subsequently retreated home, having been closely tracked throughout and we continued to monitor the two Gugi submarines in and around wider U.K. waters.

"Our armed forces left them in no doubt that they were being monitored, that their movements were not covert, as President Putin planned, and that their attempted secret operation had been exposed. Those Gugi submarines have now left U.K. waters and headed back north."

Quote:British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday pointed fingers at President Trump and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin for volatile energy bills hitting London, saying he was “fed up” with global conflicts wreaking havoc on global oil prices.

“I’m fed up with the fact that families across the country see their bills go up and down on energy businesses bills go up and down on energy because of the actions of Putin or Trump across the world,” Starmer told ITV News on Thursday.

The British prime minister has repeatedly criticized Trump, blaming him for global turmoil driven by the Iran war hammering households with sky-high energy costs — even as his own response remains limited.

In the interview, he doubled down on his stance that the UK would not follow Trump into conflict, reiterating that “our bases will not be and are not being used for wider offensive and particularly for offensive on civilians”.

“From the get-go, we’ve been monitoring this situation. So I’m pretty clear in my own mind about what we’ve agreed and what the use of the bases are,” he said. “I’ve been saying we are not going to be dragged into this war because I say there must be a lawful basis.”

“That matters if you’re going to commit our service personnel to risk their lives,” he added.

Starmer’s ire comes ahead of King Charles III’s state visit to the United States later this month – a visit Trump is looking forward to but is seen in the UK as a politically awkward moment for the king, who will be caught in the middle of the two men’s political feud.

The prime minister, who is visiting the Middle East this week, first drew Trump’s ire in February when he denied the US request to use a British base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean for the war on Iran.

Beyond calls for “de-escalation” and diplomatic talks, critics say the prime minister has offered little to quell tensions.

His government has focused on international coordination and long-term resilience — including closer ties with Europe and securing shipping routes — rather than intervention.

Quote:Slam the brakes.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani conceded he won’t be able to deliver his promise of free buses this year — making a U-turn on one of the cornerstones of his campaign.

Hizzoner admitted he’s instead his turning his focus on restarting a pared-down fare-free bus pilot program, Politico first reported Wednesday — confirming New Yorkers will have to wait for the citywide no-cost transport he promised on the campaign trail.

Still, the mayor insisted he was still “absolutely committed to making buses fast and free” — eventually.

“We’re encouraged by the conversations we’re having with the governor and legislative leaders to take action on that in 2026 as a first step,” he said.

“Both legislative houses included language within their one-house budget proposals in support of bringing back a free bus pilot program. That is something that we are encouraged by, and it continues to be part of budget negotiations.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul and Albany lawmakers are deep within state budget negotiations, where a free bus pilot is part of talks, state Sen. Michael Gianaris confirmed to The Post on Wednesday.

Gianaris and then-Queens Assemblyman Mamdani had teamed up in 2023 to launch a small pilot of free buses as part of that year’s budget.

The Queens-based pilot was a success, prompting Mamdani the next year to pitch an expansion to the other four boroughs.

But Mamdani effectively killed expanding his pet project after a standoff with Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx), who yanked the initiative from the financial plan when the young lawmaker challenged him over an affordable housing issue, sources said.

Mamdani went on to mount a darkhorse run for mayor in 2025, in part by touting the Queens pilot program and arguing the MTA should expand free buses citywide.

Gianaris said the revived proposal would make three bus lines in each borough free and cost $45 million.

The prospect has received a mixed-to-chilly reception in Albany, with Hochul pooh-poohing it even before Mamdani was elected mayor.

Quote:Staffers for Eric Swalwell — a Democratic favorite in the California governor’s race — are reportedly fleeing as a disturbing claims emerged he sexually assaulted a young former staffer.

At least four people have “abruptly” quit the East Bay congressman’s flailing campaign as a disturbing claim emerged that he sexually assaulted a young female staffer in 2019, including when she was too intoxicated to consent, Politico reported.

That includes Courtni Pugh, a top advisor in charge of Swalwell’s organized labor strategy, and multiple other staffers.

The campaign departures come alongside a troubling report in the San Francisco Chronicle alleging that the East Bay rep had nonconsensual sexual contact with a former staffer who worked for roughly two years at Swalwell’s district office in Castro Valley starting in 2019, when she was 21 years old.

Swalwell, who was 38 at the time, sent her explicit Snapchat messages that included snaps of his genitals and “a video of himself sitting on an airplane, rubbing his penis through his pants,” according to the Chronicle.

The unnamed woman alleged that in September 2019, she went for drinks with Swalwell and become heavily intoxicated, remembering nothing for the rest of the evening but waking up the next morning in Swalwell’s hotel room with the feeling that she’d had vaginal intercourse.

The woman recalled another incident in April 2024, when she claimed Swalwell sexually assaulted her after a charity gala in New York.

She said she became intoxicated after drinking with Swalwell following the event, but recalled pushing him away and telling him “no.” She told the Chronicle she woke up the next morning with “no doubt” in her mind that the congressman had forcibly had sex with her.

Quote:House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries was slammed Friday for calling on Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) to end his California gubernatorial campaign — but not resign from Congress amid shocking sexual misconduct allegations.

“Following the incredibly disturbing sexual assault accusations against Congressman Eric Swalwell, we call for a swift investigation into these incidents and for the Congressman to immediately end his campaign to be California’s next Governor,” read a statement issued by Jeffries and House Democratic leadership. 

“This is unacceptable of anyone – certainly not an elected official – and must be taken seriously,” the statement continued – stopping short of demanding that Swalwell step down.

A former congressional staffer accused Swalwell, who had been the Democratic front-runner in the Golden State governor’s race, of sexually assaulting her on two occasions when she was too intoxicated to consent.

CNN also reported that several other women alleged sexual misconduct ranging from unwanted touching to unsolicited nude pictures by Swalwell.
Jeffries’ statement was met with outrage on social media.

“What an unprincipled, meaningless statement,” former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer wrote on X. “If they thought Swalwell did wrong, they should call on him to resign.”

“If Democrats say [Swalwell] is too toxic to run for office, how is he not too toxic to currently occupy his office?” Mike Davis, the founder of judicial advocacy group Article III Project, wondered.

In a post directed at Jeffries, conservative podcaster Graham Allen fumed, “YOU ARE A COWARD.”

“MAKE HIM RESIGN…” Allen demanded.

Brett Tolman, a former US attorney and the head of nonprofit group Right On Crime, described the Democratic leader’s statement as “downright comical.”

“Get out of the Governor race but you can stay in congress #SortaMeToo,” Tolman quipped.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) called on Swalwell to resign and argued Democrats should do the same.

“Idk in what parallel universe we are living in that elected members of congress begin to [choose] politics and party BS over basic human dignity,” Luna wrote on X. “I have called for Republican members to do the same when they are caught doing corrupt and morally bankrupt crap.

Quote:JEFFERSON VALLEY, N.Y. — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent touted the Trump administration’s tax deductions for tipped wages and overtime pay Friday, revealing that nearly 30 million Americans have taken advantage of the new policy.

The so-called “No Tax on Tips” and “No Tax on Overtime” deductions were part of President Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which also slashed taxes on vehicle loan interest, raised standard and state and local tax deductions and included significant new tax relief for businesses and seniors.

Bessent, addressing small business owners in the Hudson Valley with Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), said 5.7 million taxpayers had filed for “No Tax on Tips.”

Another 23 million filed for “No Tax on Overtime,” according to the Treasury secretary, who described the new overtime rule as “the biggest one.”

The latest figures – an increase from the 24.6 million Bessent said were utilizing the two new deductions last month – were revealed ahead of next week’s April 15 tax filing deadline.

At the event, several members of the local community, both Democrats and Republicans, praised Trump’s tax cuts and Lawler’s push to raise the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap.

Raj Aman, who runs a bar attached to a golf course in Yorktown, N.Y., said “No Tax on Tips” has encouraged more people to jump into the workforce.

“Three years ago, I couldn’t get any servers or bartenders,” Aman explained. “This year, we have people calling us that said, ‘Do you have a job opening?’ And we’ve already, for the start of the season of the golf course, we’ve already interviewed over 85 people from zero.”

“So basically, everybody wants their tips not being taxed,” Aman said. “They’re making a lot more money than they would ever imagine.”

Quote:WASHINGTON — The US Court of International Trade pressed Justice Department lawyers during oral arguments on Friday on a legal challenge to President Trump’s 10% global tariffs.

The lawsuit, brought by 24 mostly Democratic-led states like Oregon as well as small businesses, opposes the new levies imposed after the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s so-called “reciprocal” duties.

The plaintiffs alleged that the revised tariffs were implemented under a different law than the one at issue in the high court’s Feb. 20 decision: the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Invoking Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, Trump on Feb. 24 authorized 10% import tariffs for up to 150 days to address “large and serious United States balance-of-payments deficits” and halt depreciation of the US dollar.

The president has indicated he would hike the import tax to as high as 15%.

The three-judge panel declined to issue an immediate ruling, but a decision favoring the plaintiffs would likely prompt an immediate appeal by the Department of Justice, potentially returning the case to the Supreme Court.

The IEEPA-related decision has prompted an additional legal battle over more than $170 billion in refunds the Trump administration may owe to importers affected by the trade duties.

Much of Friday’s trade court hearing centered on the Trump administration’s and the plaintiffs’ definitions of “balance-of-payments deficit.”

“The IEEPA case was very different,” said Judge Timothy Stanceu, an appointee of former President George W. Bush.

“The IEEPA case turned on whether or not IEEPA authorized the president to impose tariffs. This case has nothing like that,” Stanceu told DOJ attorney Brett Shumate, who works in the Civil Division.

“This case has a statute that expressly allows the imposition of tariffs or quotas. So we’re in a whole different universe now. This one turns on balance of payments deficits, a term that was not involved in” the other case.

The other two judges — Chief Judge Mark Barnett and Judge Claire R. Kelly. both appointees of former President Barack Obama — also grilled the Trump administration’s lawyers over their stance on broadly interpreting the statute.

Quote:Former VP Kamala Harris on Friday teased her plans for the 2028 presidential election in an on-stage interview with the Rev. Al Sharpton in New York City, where she blasted President Trump as a “liar.”

“I might. I’m thinking about it,” the Democrat replied when Sharpton asked her if she was going to run for president again.

The room burst into applause at her response.
“I’ll keep you posted,” Harris added.

Harris was speaking at Sharpton’s National Action Network, a conference of black voters considered a must-stop for any potential Democratic presidential contender.

Several other prominent Democrats mulling White House bids also spoke at the conference, including Govs. JB Pritzker of Illinois and Wes Moore of Maryland.

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg all but declared he’s running for president in 2028 during his conversation with Sharpton on Friday.

Sharpton noted when Buttigieg ran for president in 2020, the two men had lunch together at Sylvia’s Restaurant in Harlem. “Just so my calendar is clear. Should I be reserving a table at Sylvia’s?,” he asked. “Are you gonna run again?”

“You save me a seat. I’ll be there,” Buttigieg responded.

Harris, the nation’s first black vice president, was a fan favorite at the conference. At one point during her speech, a person yelled, “run again.”

The audience burst into applause, and those in the room shouted repeatedly, “Run again.”

Harris just smiled in response but played coy on her future plans.

She was badly beaten by Trump in the 2024 presidential election, not winning a single battleground state. Trump is not expected to be on the ballot in 2028, but is expected to name his successor to the powerful MAGA movement.

Harris was fired up in her appearance, kicking things off by attacking Trump for both his domestic and foreign policy.

Quote:California has a new third rail in politics: Don’t mess with Dolly!

During a nearly three-hour hearing Tuesday, state Senators Sasha Renée Peréz (D-Pasadena) and Shannon Grove (R-Fresno) ripped into California State Librarian Greg Lucas and a department-linked nonprofit for burning more than $1 million in taxpayer money designed to support country music icon Dolly Parton’s child literacy program.

In March The Post reported on a hearing that focused on roughly $650,000 in unaccounted-for spending tied to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

New documents and testimony this week show the problems go much further — with potential self-dealing, basic accounting errors and thin documentation on how taxpayer money was spent.

Peréz quickly zeroed in on the lack of answers Tuesday, demanding more accountability on where the money went as there is still “a real lack of information.”

“Mr. Lucas, moving forward, I just want to highlight that it’s my expectation that the State Library, when they are overseeing a nonprofit, that they are providing tighter oversight and accountability around these issues,” she said.

The State Library also failed to send the Dollywood Foundation a required $61 million-plus within 45 days as required, and lawmakers still don’t have clear numbers on how many books the library and its now-defunct nonprofit actually delivered to kids.

In 2022, the state launched a $68.2 million child literacy effort and the Strong Reader Partnership, a nonprofit, was set up by the State Library to help run it. But after a slow rollout, lawmakers stepped in to claw back the money and ordered the bulk of the funds to be redirected to the Dollywood Foundation.

But even after that shift, the state-created nonprofit spent about $1.1 million in funds — with roughly $1 million going to just three firms.

The most glaring issue involves Sage Strategies, which was paid $326,250.99 for consulting work. The firm’s CEO, Sonya Harris, also served as the Strong Reader Partnership’s executive director.

While the contract with Strong Reader Partnership explicitly forbade the nonprofit from lobbying on legislation, Peréz and Grove noted during Tuesday’s committee hearing that email records show Harris and her nonprifit lobbied against a bill that removed control of the book project’s money from the organization’s control.

“Just frankly, you guys failed,” Grove said.

Quote:WASHINGTON — The Trump administration revealed designs for a new 250-foot triumphal arch just outside Washington, D.C., on Friday, as the US prepares for celebrations this summer to mark its 250th birthday.

The neoclassical monument will feature a winged Lady Liberty statue atop its stone structure and bear the golden inscription, “One Nation Under God,” echoing the concluding words from the Pledge of Allegiance.

Golden lions will also sit at its entrance facing east, along with two enormous gilded eagles on either side of Lady Liberty.

It resembles France’s historic Arc de Triomphe, which is 164 feet high, and would sit just across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial, which is around 100 feet tall.

The site at Memorial Circle in Arlington, Va., is near the nation’s national cemetery for military veterans. The Custis family mansion, Arlington House, sits up the hill to the west of the circle.

Some vets have sued to stop construction of the project, arguing the arch — which President Trump has boasted will be “the biggest one of all” — could obstruct views of the graves of America’s fallen heroes.

Harrison Design, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, filed the renderings with the US Interior Department and the Commission of Fine Arts on Friday.

Architect Nicolas Leo Charbonneau, a partner at Harrison Design, has been working on the project.

“He’s an extremely talented classical architect,” a source familiar with the project previously told The Post. “His business is mainly in sacred architecture, but he’s truly a classical architect not just some guy who’s copying and pasting columns.”

Weeks before Trump took office in January 2025, architecture critic Catesby Leigh published an article calling for a Roman-style arch to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the source noted.

Quote:WASHINGTON — The State Department reached a landmark legal settlement with conservative media outlets to not “censor” their constitutionally protected speech — as was documented during the Biden administration.

A consent decree, signed off by a judge and filed Wednesday in a Texas federal court, will force the State Department to no longer throttle online engagement or seek to “fact check” American media for exercising their First Amendment rights, with exceptions for “obscenity, incitement to imminent violence or speech integral to criminal conduct.”

The decree will remain in effect until Jan. 31, 2036, and also mandate trainings for State employees and grantees to make them aware of their free speech-protection obligations.

The New Civil Liberties Alliance brought the suit in December 2023 against the Biden administration on behalf of The Daily Wire, The Federalist and other journalists who had their views suppressed on the COVID-19 pandemic, elections, voting issues, abortion, sexuality and transgenderism.

Daily Wire founder Ben Shapiro, for example, had a June 2023 Facebook reel flagged, in which he mocked former President Joe Biden stumbling over his words before mistakenly spluttering: “We can only re-elect Donald Trump.”

A Federalist writer also had an article flagged for reporting on internal emails that showed then-National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci had privately said over-the-counter masks at drug stores aren’t “effective” in keeping COVID at bay.

An opinion piece by the conservative author Dennis Prager published by the Daily Wire that criticized the political left’s stances during the pandemic was flagged as well.

The suit alleged that, under the Biden administration, the State Department had both funded and promoted the development of technologies by private companies that were later used by social media companies or outside-of-government entities to suppress speech online.

Quote:Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said he agreed with Melania Trump that there should be a hearing for the victims of Jeffrey Epstein.

“Yes, I’ve always planned on having hearings with the victims,” he said on Fox News on Friday.

“There are some victims who are willing to come in. Most victims aren’t, and I completely understand that. But we’ve always planned on having a hearing with Epstein victims once the depositions have been completed. So we have still got some more high-profile men that are coming in. Then I agree with the First Lady. We will have hearings.”

One Democratic Congressman went even further, saying Melania Trump herself should testify.

“Melania Trump must testify as to what she knows about other who men raped or abused the survivors,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said.

Reactions poured in after the first lady’s stunning statement on Thursday distancing herself from the dead, billionaire pedophile and his sex trafficking network.

Several victims of Epstein spoke up, as did author Michael Wolff, who exchanged numerous emails with Epstein and is now locked in a legal battle with the first lady over some of his allegations against her.

“I am not Epstein’s victim,” Melania Trump declared. “I have never had any knowledge of Epstein’s abuse of his victims.  I was never involved in any capacity—I was not a participant, was never on Epstein’s plane, and never visited his private island.”

The first lady also called on Congress to hold a hearing for his victims.

“Give these victims their opportunity to testify under oath in front of Congress, with the power of sworn testimony,” she said. “Each and every woman should have her day to tell her story in public, if she wishes, and then her testimony should be permanently entered into the Congressional Record.”
Many Democrats applauded her call to action, echoing her desire for a public hearing.

And Republican Rep. Nancy Mace (S.C.), who has criticized the president for not moving faster to release information on the case, praised Melania Trump for standing up for the victims.

“As a survivor, this isn’t political, it’s personal and when the First Lady of the United States stands up and demands justice for Epstein’s victims, it is truly momentous. These women deserve to be heard. Today, they were,” she said.

Quote:China accused Japan of accelerating "remilitarization" after reports said Tokyo plans to lift restrictions on exporting lethal weapons to certain countries.

"China is seriously concerned about this," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said during a Tuesday press conference, calling the move a "fundamental shift" in Japan’s postwar weapons-export policy that violates its constitution.

Since taking office in October, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has sought to accelerate a security buildup driven largely by China’s rapid military expansion and pressure on Taiwan as well as North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs.

Her government approved a record defense budget equal to 2 percent of Japan's GDP two years ahead of schedule and confirmed plans to stand up anti-air missiles on an island just 70 miles off Taiwan's east coast. These moves, coupled with controversial comments by Takaichi on what might constitute military intervention in a Taiwan scenario, have fueled tensions between Beijing and the U.S. treaty ally.

Newsweek reached out to Takaichi's office by email with a request for comment.

Takaichi's government has presented plans to relax curbs on military exports the first time in nearly six decades by the end of April, in effect greenlighting lethal weapons transfers to partner countries.

Weapons systems, to be approved case by case, would also proceed without prior notification to Japan's parliament, local media reported. The National Diet would instead be informed afterward, according to government plans presented during a top-level meeting of the Liberal Democratic Party's Research Commission on Security on Tuesday.

The plans "seriously violate" Japan's postwar constitution and international safeguards put in place after World War II to prevent a return to militarism, Mao said.

The spokesperson told reporters these revisions would undermine safeguards designed to prevent the resurgence of Japanese militarism.

Mao accused Japanese right-wing forces of pushing security policy in an "offensive and expansionist direction" and urged the international community to remain "highly vigilant." She called on Tokyo to reflect on its wartime history and avoid "going further down the wrong path."

The revisions to Japan's 1967 Three Principles on Transfer of Defense Equipment and Technology are expected to face pushback from opposition parties, though Takaichi's ruling Liberal Democratic Party holds a commanding majority in the lower house, all but precluding a legislative block.

Quote:Indonesian authorities have recovered what is believed to be a Chinese underwater drone in the Lombok Strait, a key shipping lane and strategic chokepoint east of Bali.

It was discovered by a local fisherman on Monday morning about 10 miles north of the tourist island of Gili Trawangan, according to local news outlet Suara NTB. Photos shared with the media show North Lombok police securing a cylindrical device measuring about 12 feet long and a little over 2 feet in diameter, equipped with rear fins and what appear to be sensors.

Chinese characters and the CSIC (China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation) logo were visible on the hull. CSIC, now folded into China State Shipbuilding Corporation, is the world’s largest shipbuilding conglomerate and a key pillar of China’s maritime industrial power.

Newsweek reached out to the Chinese Embassy in Indonesia and to CSIC via email for comment.

Chinese unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), including autonomous underwater vehicles, have expanded rapidly in recent years, driven in large part by Beijing’s military-civil fusion—a strategy where civilian enterprises share technology and resources with the People’s Liberation Army. This has raised concerns among China’s neighbors that these drones, and China’s growing fleet of oceanographic survey vessels, have been gathering sensitive data within their exclusive economic zones.

"As soon as the information was received, we moved quickly to secure and process the crime scene with the Gegana Team," Agus Purwanta, chief of the North Lombok police, said in a statement shared by Suara NTB. He said the initial inspection turned up no signs of radioactivity or explosive material.

The matter is being handled in coordination with multiple agencies to assess different possibilities, including territorial sovereignty and security implications, Purwanta said, adding that the object would be transported to nearby Mataram Naval Base for further examination.

The official called on the public to avoid speculation and to immediately report any suspicious objects.

"Good to see China’s annual tradition of sending unmanned underwater vehicles to be dredged up by Indonesian fishermen is alive and well," Ryan Fedasiuk, a China technology analyst and fellow with the American Enterprise Institute think tank, wrote on X. He said the UUV appeared to belong to CSIC's Haishen family of deep-sea submersibles.

Fishermen in Southeast Asia have for years been stumbling across UUVs in regional waters, including in Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The prospect of a CSIC-made submersible gathering data in the Lombok Strait raises questions about the capabilities China is developing and how such systems might be used in the event of a conflict in the region.

The closely watched Lombok Strait offers a deep-water passage for submarines and supertankers, linking the Java Sea with the Indian Ocean. It is considered a key alternative route if the Strait of Malacca were to be disrupted, including in a potential conflict scenario involving the United States.

In the Philippines, officials have also reported incidents involving suspected foreign underwater drones in recent years, underscoring broader regional concerns about surveillance activity and maritime security.

Quote:Goldin Finance 117—the long-delayed skyscraper in China designed to be 596 meters (around 1,955 feet) tall—is nearing its completion 18 years after its construction began, according to state media reports.

Located in Tianjin, Goldin Finance 117 is the world’s tallest unoccupied building, according to Guinness World Records.

Workers reportedly began installing a 7.6-tonne diamond-shaped crown on top of the building in late March, according to reports from state media. The hoisting of the steel structure at the top of the tower was considered a major milestone since the building's construction resumed last April, according to Xinhua, China’s state news agency.

The report said leasing for the main tower has been mostly completed, with 17 companies enlisted, including seven state-owned enterprises and 10 private firms.

Also known as the China 117 Tower, Goldin Finance 117 is a supertall skyscraper; these are buildings standing 300 meters (984 feet) or higher, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.

Construction on the 128-story skyscraper began on August 18, 2008. It was designed to be "a remarkable piece of engineering," featuring a complex system of "mega columns" and trusses that anchor the building against strong winds and seismic activity, as noted by Guinness World Records.

The skyscraper reached a height of 595.5 meters (around 1,953 feet) in September 2015, making it the world's fifth tallest building at the time.

However, work on the building was suspended in December that year after the building's owner, Hong Kong-based developer Goldin Properties, ran into financial troubles in the aftermath of the Chinese stock market crash in June 2015, according to Guinness World Records.

Quote:A heartbreaking twist has emerged after the daughter of a billionaire building tycoon was tragically killed during her gap year holiday in Vietnam.

British backpacker Orla Wates was thrown off the back of a motorbike after the driver lost control while travelling along the notorious Ha Giang Loop in the north of the country.

The 19-year-old reportedly fell onto the road and was hit by an oncoming truck.

She was taken to a hospital but later died from the devastating extent of her injuries.

Her father, Andy Wates, is the director of the multi-billion-dollar building firm Wates, a more than 100-year-old company that has offices across the United Kingdom.

The teenager was exploring the world before she planned to start studying anthropology at Durham University.

In a touching detail, her parents decided to donate her organs to other critically ill patients at the Vietnamese hospital, with Wates describing his daughter as “beautiful, independent and very funny, with a sharp wit.”

“She loved to look good and lived life to the full,” he told local publication, Viet Nam News.

Orla’s mother, Henrietta Wates, said her family have found comfort in knowing their daughter is “living on” after her organs were used to save lives.

“At this extremely difficult time for our family, we chose to donate Orla’s organs, as we believe that if there were a way to give opportunity to others, this is what Orla would have wanted,” she told the outlet.

“Knowing that she is living on through them brings us great comfort.”

Orla’s liver, two kidneys and two corneas were transplanted to patients at the hospital.

A spokesperson from the Viet Duc Friendship Hospital praised the family’s “compassionate decision.”

“In the face of profound grief, her family made a deeply compassionate decision that transcended nationality and race – to donate her organs, giving others a chance at life,” they said.

“One journey has come to an end, but her life continues quietly and resiliently in others who have been given a second chance.”

In recognition of her parents’ act, Vietnam’s Minister of Health wrote a letter expressing condolences and sincere gratitude for their remarkable gesture.

Quote:A maniac reportedly attacked a US war plane with a hatchet at a major civilian airport in Ireland Saturday, causing extensive damage at a controversial stopover site for American military.

He snuck into restricted space at Shannon Airport in County Clare, where the US Air Force’s $75 million C130 Hercules military transport aircraft was parked, local outlet The Journal reported.

The lunatic — in his 40s but yet to be identified — climbed onto the wing of the plane and started hacking away at the wing and the fuselage, causing extensive damage, according to GB News.

The shocking attack caused the airport to close for just under 30 minutes, before police from the Garda Síochána arrested the man.

The C-130 Hercules is a transport aircraft that is used in a wide range of military situations.

One of the models was shot down in Iran and crashed in Kuwait on April 5 during a rescue mission for the pilots of the downed F-15E.

Shannon Airport has been the site of regularly held demonstrations demanding the Irish government inspect US military planes for weapons destined for Israel, the outlet reported.

US military aircraft have used the airport as a refueling and transit stopover since the Iraq War era — a practice that has long infuriated Irish anti-war activists who argue it violates Ireland’s constitutional neutrality.

Quote:Israeli authorities arrested a 22-year-old Haifa resident for his involvement in an Iranian-backed plot to assassinate a high-ranking Israeli official, with the intended target believed to be former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, reports say.

Ami Gaydarov, 22, was arrested last month on suspicion that he was working with an Iranian agent to gather intelligence and build a bomb for use in a terror plot against a high-ranking Israeli official. Gaydarov was unaware of the target's identity. A gag order on his arrest was recently lifted, allowing Israeli media outlets to report on the case.

Authorities said Gaydarov first made contact with his Iranian handler in August 2025 and was paid roughly $23,000 — most of it in cryptocurrency — to carry out tasks in preparation for the assassination plot.

Gaydarov allegedly rented an apartment in the city's downtown area to serve as a laboratory for the bombs.

"To facilitate the contacts with his handlers, Gaidarov purchased dedicated phones and rented an apartment in Haifa where he produced the explosive substance, while documenting his activities in videos and photos that were sent to his handler as proof of compliance," the Israeli police force said.

In connection with the plot, Israeli authorities have also arrested three other suspects, including Sergey Leibman and Edward Shovtiuk. The fourth suspect has not been named. Authorities said indictments for the four suspects should occur in the "coming days."

The terror plot was uncovered as part of Israel's "Operation Roaring Lion," a major military campaign launched against Iran on February 28, coinciding with the start of the war with Iran.

The arrest of the four men comes as Israeli authorities have won more than 40 indictments against more than 60 defendants working on behalf of the Iranian government. Just two months ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered that the citizenship of Israelis convicted of espionage for Iran be stripped of their citizenship.

Quote:Israel said it wiped out the Hezbollah chief’s top secretary in targeted strikes on Lebanon overnight — as it ramped up attacks Thursday despite the risk of throwing President Trump’s Iran war cease-fire into turmoil.

Ali Youssef Kharshi, the secretary and nephew of Hezbollah honcho Naim Qassem, was killed in Beirut amid the fresh wave of bombings, the Israel Defense Forces said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also confirmed the strike while vowing such attacks on Iran-backed Hezbollah proxies across Lebanon would continue with “force, precision and determination.”

“In Beirut, we eliminated Ali Youssef Kharshi, the personal secretary of Hezbollah terror organization Secretary-General Naim Qassem and one of the people closest to him,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

“At the same time, overnight, the IDF struck a series of terror infrastructures in southern Lebanon: crossings used to transfer thousands of weapons, rockets, and launchers, as well as weapons depots, launchers, and Hezbollah headquarters.”

“Our message is clear: Whoever acts against Israeli civilians — will be struck,” he added.

The fresh onslaught came after Israel launched its largest-ever blitz on Lebanon on Wednesday, striking 100 targets in 10 minutes and killing more than 250 people, according to Lebanese officials.

The airstrikes unfolded just hours after Trump unveiled the cease-fire with Iran and amid a disagreement over whether it included a pause in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israel, as well as Trump, have insisted Lebanon is excluded from the truce — despite Iran arguing it was explicitly part of the deal.

Quote:WASHINGTON — Spain moved to reopen its embassy in Tehran on Thursday after criticisms from President Trump of NATO nations that have opposed his war against Iran.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said he’d instructed his country’s ambassador to Iran to return to the embassy post “to join in this effort for peace from every possible quarter, including from the Iranian capital itself,” Reuters reported.

The move comes as the US and Iran reached a two-week cease-fire in the conflict that has been tested by subsequent Israeli strikes on Lebanon.

“Yesterday we saw how Israel, flouting the cease-fire and in violation of international law, dropped hundreds of ‌bombs ⁠on Lebanon,” Albares also said Thursday.

Vice President JD Vance told reporters Wednesday that Israel had agreed “to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful” — but fresh strikes in Beirut on Thursday took out Ali Youssef Kharshi, the secretary and nephew of Hezbollah honcho Naim Qassem.

Spain has been a staunch opponent of the US-Israeli military actions against Iran — and declined to let American forces use any of its bases in the Middle East.

France and the UK have also discouraged the US from conducting strikes on Iran at any of their regional bases.

Trump has criticized the NATO allies for not helping to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — a critical chokepoint in the Persian Gulf for commercial shipping that Iran shut down at the start of the war — and is rumored to be considering a plan to punish the nations for declining to assist the US in the war with Iran.

The plan would pull US troops out of NATO countries that hampered or failed to help in Operation Epic Fury, Trump administration officials told the Wall Street Journal.

Quote:China is preparing to deliver new air defense systems to Iran in the next few weeks, according to a report citing sources with knowledge of US intelligence.

The move would be “provocative,” according to CNN, considering China played a major role in brokering the fragile cease-fire deal between Iran and the US earlier this week.

Beijing is working to route shipments through third countries to hide the backroom trade — which involves shoulder-fired anti-air missile systems known as MANPADs, multiple US intelligence sources told CNN.

The weapons — which use heat-seeking guidance to lock onto an aircraft’s engine or exhaust — posed a major threat to the US military during the six-week war, with one nearly taking out a F/A-18 Super Hornet last week.

The F-15 fighter jet that was shot down over Iran last week was targeted by a “handheld shoulder missile, [a] heat-seeking missile,” Trump said Monday, though it’s not clear whether it had been provided by China.

Chinese companies have also continued to sell sanctioned technology to Iran that would help the country build weapons and enhance its navigation systems, the sources alleged.

China, however, denied the claims, with a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington telling CNN, “China has never provided weapons to any party to the conflict; the information in question is untrue.”

“As a responsible major country, China consistently fulfills its international obligations. We urge the U.S. side to refrain from making baseless allegations, maliciously drawing connections, and engaging in sensationalism; we hope that relevant parties will do more to help de-escalate tensions,” the spokesperson said.

The trade wouldn’t be the first time China was accused of supplying Iran with weapons in the recent war.

Quote:President Trump threatened “big problems” for China Saturday if they deliver air defense systems to Tehran while the US is locked in a war with Iran.

“If China does that, China is gonna have big problems, OK?” Trump told reporters outside the White House.

US intelligence sources have said that the People’s Republic was planning to send shoulder-fired anti-air missile systems known as MANPADs to Tehran through third parties over the next few weeks in an attempt to hide the shady weapons transfer, according to CNN.

The munitions use heat-seeking guidance to lock onto an aircraft’s engine or exhaust, and were a major obstacle during the six-week war in Iran — with one nearly taking out an F/A-18 Super Hornet last week.

The American F-15 fighter jet shot down by Iran on April 3 was hit by a “handheld shoulder missile, [a] heat-seeking missile,” according to Trump.

China has denied the reports, with its embassy telling The Times of Israel that claims they are planning to arm Tehran with defense weapons are “entirely fabricated.”

“As a responsible major country, China always abides by international law and its international obligations, and never provides weapons to any party to the conflict,” the Chinese embassy said in a statement.

“China firmly rejects the circulation of speculative, misleading, and false information targeting China.”

Beijing has been accused of aiding the Islamic Republic in intelligence during the Iran war, with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claiming that the two countries — along with Russia — are engaged in “close cooperation.”

“Russia and China are our strategy partners, and we have had close cooperation in the past, which is still continues [sic], and that includes military cooperation as well,” Araghchi told MS Now.

Quote:Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is badly disfigured and has lost a leg, three people close to his inner circle told Reuters.

Khamenei, 56, was severely wounded in the Feb. 28 airstrike that killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the war.

These mark the first detailed accounts to emerge about his condition in the six weeks since.

The younger Khamenei — who’s rumored to be gay and impotent — looks so bad that he’s only taking meetings on the phone, according to sources.

He is also believed to have lost a leg, a source familiar with US intelligence said, while recovering from the devastating attack on his father’s compound in central Tehran that also wiped dozens of top regime military leaders.

Mjotaba Khamenei, 56, is still “mentally sharp,” according to the people who spoke on the condition of anonymity, putting to bed the mystery about who’s been in charge of Iran since Ali Khamenei was blown up.

The new leader has been meeting with senior Islamic Republic regime officials by audio conferencing. He’s also been part of the decision making on negotiating ‌with Washington to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war, two of the sources said.

Since he rose to power following his father’s assassination, the younger Khamenei has only issued two written statements — no one has so much as heard his voice or seen him, leaving many Iranians to speculate whether he was even alive.

The wife of Khamenei was among other members of his family also killed in the Israeli strike.

There have been no official statements from the regime on the extent of Khamenei’s injuries, but a newsreader on state television recently described him as a “janbaz,” a term used for disabled war veterans.

The latest accounts of his condition confirm what White House officials had suspected for weeks.

“Iran has plenty of cameras and voice recorders. Why a written statement? I think you know why,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told reporters at a briefing March 13.

“The new so-called not-so-supreme leader is wounded and likely disfigured.”

Images of the supreme leader could be released within a month or two — and he might even appear in public then if his health and security situation allow, one of the people close to Khamenei’s circle said.

Quote:Lebanon’s prime minister canceled a planned upcoming trip to Washington amid threats from Iran and Israeli strikes that continue to batter his country.

“In light of the current internal circumstances … I have decided to postpone my trip to the United Nations and the United States,” Prime Minister Nawaf Salam posted on X Saturday.

Salam was expected to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the first bilateral visit from a senior Lebanese official to the US since President Trump returned to office, Axios reported.

His announcement comes after Tehran warned Lebanon of “security risks” should they sideline Hezbollah in their upcoming direct talks with Israel, which are set to be held in Washington.

“Mr. Nawaf Salam must know that ignoring the unparalleled role of the resistance and the heroic Hezbollah will expose Lebanon to irreparable security risks,” an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said, according to the Times of Israel.

Pro-Hezbollah protesters demonstrated in Beirut Saturday, burning portraits of Salam and denouncing him as a “Zionist” while carrying the terrorist group’s flag.

Israel has continued to pound Hezbollah inside Lebanon despite Iran’s insistence that a cease-fire between the terrorist group and the Jewish state be reached as a necessary precondition for peace talks with the US.

At least 14 were killed in Israeli strikes across Lebanon Friday, with the overall death toll climbing to 1,950, according to Lebanese officials.

Separate from Salam’s canceled visit, ambassadors from Lebanon and Israel are set to meet in Washington Tuesday to discuss a peace deal between the two countries, though Jewish state has ruled out any cease-fire with Hezbollah as part of the talks.

It is unclear if Salam’s announcement will have any impact on those fragile talks.

Quote:A vile nurse who was fired after she went on an unhinged antisemitic rant in Times Square once traveled to Iran and bashed the US as the “most criminal, evil entity on the planet.”

Clad in a headscarf, Jennifer Koonings rambled about New York City’s potholes while praising the “beauty” of Iran in the July 17, 2025 clip posted to the X account of the Sobh Festival, which is organized by the Iranian state media.

Koonings, 35, made the trip nearly a month after the United States bombed Iranian nuclear sites in Isfahan and Fordow.

The nurse went on to trash her home country while glossing over the horrific crimes of the Iranian regime, which killed at least 35,000 of its own protesting citizens in January.

“Living in the United States we’re constantly inundated with negative messaging and propaganda about places like Iran and how evil they are… I live in New York City and the roads are terrible, we have potholes… we have crumbling bridges, crumbling infrastructure, no public services,” she said in the footage.

Koonings was fired from Manhattan-based Inspire Mental Health Services this week, after she posted multiple hateful videos to Instagram of her screaming antisemitic invective at strangers in Times Square that she believed to be Israeli.

“Baby killers! Baby killers!” she screamed at a group of at least three men sitting beneath the statue of composer George M. Cohan in Times Square.

Koonings has claimed she was fired in 2024 from her gig as a sexual assault forensic examiner at Mount Sinai Hospital, after she made social media posts denying heinous rapes and sexual assaults by Hamas during the terror group’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Mount Sinai did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.

She claimed the New York District Attorney’s office had her canned because, they said, they were unable to use her as an expert witness in cases due to her beliefs.

Quote:Secretary of State Marco Rubio has yanked the green cards of three more Iranian nationals tied to Tehran who were living it up in the US – a week after the arrest of the niece and grandniece of the late Iranian terror mastermind, Gen. Qasem Soleimani.

ICE agents nabbed Seyed Eissa Hashemi, his psychology professor wife, Maryam Tahmasebi, and their son this week as federal officials plan to remove them from the US, citing their connections to a notorious figure from the Iran hostage crisis, the State Department announced Saturday.

Eissa Hashemi, 43, is the son of Masoumeh Ebtekar, known as “Screaming Mary” for her role as the twisted propaganda mouthpiece for terrorists who stormed the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979. The Post reported last week that Hashemi has been living the good life in Los Angeles.

Ebtekar “crafted propaganda falsely showing the humane treatment of the hostages, arranging staged interviews in which the American hostages were pressured to describe their treatment in positive terms – even as they were being held in solitary confinement, blindfolded and starved, and subjected to physical and psychological terror, including beatings and mock executions,” according to the State Department.

The mouthpiece married a hostage taker and took on senior roles with the post-1979 Islamic regime, current members of which were engaged in talks with the US in Pakistan Saturday to bring an end to the Iran war.

Hashemi is currently an adjunct associate professor teaching at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.

He graduated from the University of Tehran in 2006 then reportedly moved to the US in 2010 and pursued his PhD in organizational leadership from The Chicago School.

Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, 47, the niece of the terror mastermind and former Quds Force leader Soleimani, was being held in an ICE detention center in Texas following her arrest at her California home April 3.

Soleimani’s grandnice, Sarinasadat Hosseiny, 25, had been flaunting her luxe LA lifestyle and glam outfitson her social media accounts.

Quote:US Navy ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz for the first time since the start of the war — as Iran threatened to attack any US vessels that entered the strait.

“Several” American military vessels crossed the channel Saturday in a move that “was not coordinated with Iran,” Israeli journalist Barak Ravid reported, citing intelligence officials.

At least two were US Navy guided-missile destroyers, according to reports.

President Trump seemingly confirmed the opening of the passage in a Truth Social post that claimed Iran was “LOSING, and LOSING BIG!”

“We’re now starting the process of clearing out the Strait of Hormuz as a favor to Countries all over the World, including China, Japan, South Korea, France, Germany, and many others. Incredibly, they don’t have the Courage or Will to do this work themselves,” Trump wrote.

“Very interestingly, however, empty Oil carrying ships from many Nations are all heading to the United States of America to LOAD UP with Oil. Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

Trump reiterated the sentiment in a follow-up post, saying: “The United States has completely destroyed Iran’s Military, including their entire Navy and Air Force, and everything else. Their Leadership is DEAD! The Strait of Hormuz will soon be open, and the empty ships are rushing to the United States to ‘load up.'”

The assertion serves as a massive message to Iran as it continues to demand sovereignty over the strait as a condition to end the war.

Tehran justified its threat to target the ships, saying the US was moving a destroyer toward Iran in a “possible cease-fire violation,” according to a report.

The fast-moving developments unfolded as US and Iranian officials met for negotiations Saturday in Pakistan.

Iranian officials reportedly warned Pakistani mediators that “if the vessel continues to move, it will be targeted within 30 minutes, and the Iranian-American negotiations will suffer,” a Foreign Ministry spokesperson told Khabar Network, according to Fars News Agency.

Quote:US Navy destroyers began clearing a “new passage” through the Strait of Hormuz Saturday –marking the first time American ships crossed the channel since the start of the war.

The USS Frank E. Peterson and USS Michael Murphy set off on the mission to establish an open route so that minesweepers could later clear sea mines laid by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, as Vice President Vance and other delegates embarked on peace talks in Pakistan.

“Today, we began the process of establishing a new passage and we will share this safe pathway with the maritime industry soon to encourage the free flow of commerce,” Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of the US Central Command, said.

The two guided-missile destroyers were only establishing the route for minesweepers — and sending a message to Iran that the US will reopen the vital trade corridor by any means.

The broader mission will involve underwater drones and additional US forces in the coming days, according to Cooper.

Iran responded to the voyage by issuing a violent threat, claiming the US was moving the ships toward Iran in a “possible cease-fire violation,” according to a report.

The fast-moving developments unfolded as US and Iranian officials met for negotiations Saturday in Pakistan.

Iranian officials reportedly warned Pakistani mediators that “if the vessel continues to move, it will be targeted within 30 minutes, and the Iranian-American negotiations will suffer,” a Foreign Ministry spokesperson told Khabar Network, according to Fars News Agency.

According to the official, Iranian armed forces immediately reacted to the armed destroyer that was moving from the port of Fujairah to the Strait of Hormuz.

Quote:A temporary weekend truce between Russia and Ukraine for Orthodox Easter quickly unraveled Saturday, with both sides accusing each other of attacks.

Russia claimed Ukraine struck a gas station in the city of Lgov in the border region of Kursk, injuring three people including a one-year-old child who was hit in the head by shrapnel, and the child’s mother.

“This cowardly strike by the enemy took place shortly after 4 p.m. — after the declared Easter ceasefire had already gone into effect,” slammed Alexander Khinshtein, the governor of Russia’s Kursk region, on Telegram.

“It serves as stark proof that these Ukrainian subhumans hold nothing sacred.”

Ukraine has not released an immediate statement about the claims, but Kyiv also slammed Moscow for breaching the Easter truce — something Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had been pushing for.

Russia violated the ceasefire more than 400 times, firing drones and artillery, Ukraine’s General Staff claimed.

Combat also occurred along the frontlines.

“The cease-fire is not being observed by the Russian side,” said Serhii Kolesnychenko, a communications officer for Ukraine’s 148th Separate Artillery Brigade.

A similar truce also unraveled during Easter last year, when both sides accused the other of hundreds of violations.

Earlier in the day, Zelensky had expressed hope that the weekend truce would lead to a more permanent peace.

“Easter should be a time of silence and safety. A ceasefire on Easter could also become the beginning of real movement toward peace – our side has made the corresponding proposal,” Zelensky wrote on X Saturday morning, before the cease-fire was shattered.

Russian strongman Vladimir Putin agreed Thursday to the 32-hour truce proposed by Zelensky a week earlier – and meant to last from 4 p.m. local time Saturday to midnight on Sunday — halting the four-year war temporarily.

Quote:Fox News has learned Vice President JD Vance’s new anti-fraud task force has identified nearly $6.3 billion in government contracts that are going to potentially fraudulent businesses, marking a major milestone in the Trump administration's mission to slash wasteful spending contributing to the national debt.

The task force and General Services Administration are beginning to send out letters to nearly 400 businesses with government contracts that they believe could be fraudulent, as first reported by the Daily Caller. The businesses will have 30 days to prove to the task force that they have a physical address and are legitimate.

A Vance spokesperson told Fox News the task force "will leave no stone unturned in the hunt for fraud."

"If fraudsters are robbing hardworking Americans of their tax dollars and services, we will find them," the spokesperson said.

The announcement comes less than a month after President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing the team, led by Vance as chairman.

The unit's mission is to target what the administration described as widespread exploitation of the American safety net by "illegal aliens, criminals, foreign gangs, bureaucrats," and non-governmental organizations.

The executive order argued certain states have embraced loopholes, allowing people to self-certify for benefits, including housing, food and medical care, while refusing to implement basic fraud controls.

The order specifically highlights Minnesota as a primary example of "staggering fraud and waste," citing an alleged $250 million scam by nonprofit Feeding Our Future, rampant Medicaid fraud, and a massive childcare fraud ring involving Somali immigrants accused of funneling stolen taxpayer funds to an African terror group.

The administration noted Minnesota and 20 other states previously sued the federal government to block basic eligibility reviews for food stamp enrollees.

Along with Vance, task force participants include Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson and Homeland Security advisor Stephen Miller.

Quote:In December 2020, a birth tourism ring was busted on Long Island that proves, according to many conservatives, that this is a pressing issue that needs to be addressed by the current administration’s push for immigration enforcement. Prosecutors on the case revealed that over 100 pregnant women from Turkey came to the U.S. to give birth to babies to ensure they were granted U.S. citizenship.

Along with ensuring their children had citizenship, the women also took full advantage of the Medicaid system, pilfering millions of taxpayer dollars in the process. An employee in Smithtown is the one who helped blow the lid off the scheme by noticing an odd pattern of birth certificates. There were five babies from one household at the same time.

This led to an investigation that exposed an international fraud scheme, an alleged birth tourism ring that had been operating in Long Island for almost three years. Eastern District Acting U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme stated that “The defendants fraudulently facilitated the births in the United States of approximately 119 Turkish children, and those children now hold birthright U.S. citizenship.”

According to a report from CBS News, the 14th Amendment grants citizenship to any child born on U.S. soil; however, officials say in this case, the leaders of the ring in Turkey actually advertised their intent, saying, “If you believe your baby should be born in the USA and become an American citizen, you are in the right place.”

The part of this that is believed to be illegal are the lies told in order to obtain travel visas and fraudulent Medicaid claims for babies and mothers who stayed at seven birth houses located across Suffolk County. Prosecutors say these women paid up to $10,000 each for accommodations and free health care provided by U.S. taxpayers.

“They are doing it on the backs of taxpayers. They’re milking the Medicaid system,” Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini went on to say. The report then said that a total of six people were arrested and subsequently charged with money laundering and $2 million in Medicaid fraud. At the time, President Donald Trump, then serving his first term, was made aware of the threat posed by birth tourism and took action.

“It is estimated that over 30,000 childbirths occurred in the United States last year alone in connection with this practice,” Christopher Lau of the Department of Homeland Security explained. Prosecutors working the case said the arrests aren’t about stopping immigration, but those who are trying to play the system. “The desire to have a child born in the United States is understandable, but the methods and means employed by these criminals are both unlawful and completely unacceptable,” DuCharme told the media.

Quote:A Columbia University psychiatry professor allegedly romanced a frail, retired Wall Streeter — then swindled him of $1.3 million so she could buy a home in Greece, his family claimed in a lawsuit.

Frank Watrous Hamilton III, then 72, was “vulnerable” after suffering a 2018 stroke “which had a debilitating effect on his mental and physical health,” his son said in Manhattan Supreme Court papers.

It’s unclear how he met Maria Karayiorgou, a professor emerita of psychiatry at the Ivy, but Hamilton’s son alleged the “accomplished psychiatrist” should have realized the Florida resident “was a frail, vulnerable, and disoriented, elderly man,” before launching into an intimate relationship when they met in 2021 or 2022.

“Dr. Karayiorgou was embedding herself into Hamilton’s life to take advantage of Hamilton’s impaired state, earn his trust, and manipulate him, with the goal being to take his assets for her benefit,” the family alleged in the lawsuit.

Hamilton, a father of two, had a nearly 50-year career on Wall Street and served as an executive at the financial services firm Promontory Interfinancial Network, which later became known as IntraFi.

The alleged age-gap honey trap saw Karayiorgou, then 57, flying from New York to Florida to spend Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, Easter, and both of their birthdays with her love interest, the family claimed.

During several of these social gatherings, Hamilton referred to Karayiorgou as his fiancée or wife, according to the allegations.

While she whispered sweet nothings, the alleged golddigger had her sights set on a house in Athens, Greece, persistently requesting, pressuring and guilt-tripping Hamilton into footing the bill, the family contended.

After just a few months of love-bombing, Hamilton wired her $100,000 on April 4, 2022 and then $1.2 million on May 18, 2022 for the $1.3 million pad in Athens, Greece, they claimed in legal papers.

Quote:DNA evidence has linked two of the teenagers charged in the shooting death of a University of Massachusetts student who was working as a congressional intern in Washington, DC, last summer, prosecutors alleged

Government attorneys told Washington, DC, Superior Court Judge Danya Dayson during a Friday status hearing that testing on shell casings recovered at the scene produced an “overwhelming statistical match” to Jailen Lucas, and that DNA also ties Kelvin Thomas to the shooting.

The two suspects, who were both 17 at the time of the shooting, are charged as adults with first-degree murder while armed in the killing of Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, 21, of Granby, Massachusetts.

Two rounds of DNA testing have been completed, prosecutors said, and additional expert testimony is expected at trial on DNA analysis, ballistics and fingerprint evidence.

Tarpinian-Jachym, a rising senior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, was shot June 30, near the intersection of 7th and M Street NW in Washington.

He was spending the summer in Washington as a congressional intern for Rep. Ron Estes, a Republican from Kansas.

Two rounds of DNA testing have been completed, prosecutors said, and additional expert testimony is expected at trial on DNA analysis, ballistics and fingerprint evidence.

Tarpinian-Jachym, a rising senior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, was shot June 30, near the intersection of 7th and M Street NW in Washington.

Quote:Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., was forced to make an emergency landing Friday after experiencing in-flight engine failure while piloting a plane.

According to Sheehy’s chief of staff, Mike Berg, the senator was conducting a routine flight training exercise that he completes twice a year.

“This afternoon, Sen. Sheehy was engaged in a routine flight training exercise which he completes twice a year,” Berg said in a statement. “The aircraft experienced a mechanical engine failure.”

Berg said Sheehy and his co-pilot made an emergency landing in a field.

“Neither pilot was injured,” he added.

The plane landed in a field in Ennis, Montana, according to KBZK.

The outlet reported that Sheehy is an FAA-certified commercial pilot and certified flight instructor.

Reached for comment, Sheehy’s office referred Fox News Digital to Berg’s statement.

Quote:The Department of Homeland Security has told all furloughed employees to return to work despite the ongoing partial government shutdown, according to a notice sent to employees ‌on Friday.

The recall notice said that all currently furloughed employees are to return to duty on their next regularly scheduled workday, which for most will be Monday.

The notice mentioned an April 3 memo published by the White House in which President Trump signed an emergency order to pay every DHS ⁠employee the equivalent compensation and benefits lost during the partial shutdown of the agency.

A Trump administration official separately confirmed that DHS has told all employees to return to work and that Trump’s directive from last week orders that they be paid.

A partial government shutdown has been ongoing for nearly two months. Most DHS employees are deemed “essential,” which means that they are required to work during a shutdown. DHS has 270,000 employees.

Lawmakers in Congress are yet to agree to ‌a ⁠fiscal 2026 funding measure for DHS.

Democrats have been critical of Trump’s immigration crackdown, especially his use of agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is part of DHS.

Trump’s crackdown has been condemned by rights groups who say it violates due process and free speech and ⁠also creates an unsafe environment, particularly for minorities.

Trump has defended his actions by saying they aim to improve domestic security and curb illegal immigration.

There was particular scrutiny of ICE after federal agents ⁠fatally shot two US citizens earlier this year in Minnesota.

Quote:President Trump attended UFC 327 Saturday night and was met with cheers from the Miami MMA crowd as he entered the arena.

Trump entered the Kaseya Center just after 9 p.m. and greeted high-profile attendees, including UFC announcer and podcaster Joe Rogan, as he made his way to his seat.

The commander in chief attended the UFC match as peace with Iran talks dragged on for over 17 hours in Pakistan in a bid to end the six-week war that has rocked the Middle East.

Quote:A U.S. appeals court on Friday declared unconstitutional a nearly 158-year-old federal ban on home distilling, calling it an unnecessary and improper means for Congress to exercise its power to tax.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of ‌Appeals in New Orleans ruled in favor of the nonprofit Hobby Distillers Association and four of its 1,300 members.

They argued that people should be free to distill spirits at home, whether as a hobby or for personal consumption including, in one instance, to create an apple-pie-vodka recipe.

The ban was part of a law passed during ⁠Reconstruction in July 1868, in part to thwart liquor tax evasion, and subjected violators to up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Writing for a three-judge panel, Circuit Judge Edith Hollan Jones said the ban actually reduced tax revenue by preventing distilling in the first place, unlike laws that regulated the manufacture and labeling of distilled spirits on which the government could collect taxes.

She also said that under the government’s logic, Congress could criminalize virtually any in-home activity that might escape notice from tax collectors, including remote work and ‌home-based ⁠businesses.

“Without any limiting principle, the government’s theory would violate this court’s obligation to read the Constitution carefully to avoid creating a general federal authority akin to the police power,” Jones wrote.

The U.S. Department of Justice had no immediate comment.

Another defendant, the Treasury Department’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and ⁠Trade Bureau, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Devin Watkins, a lawyer representing the Hobby Distillers Association, in an interview called the ruling an important decision about the limits of federal power.

Andrew ⁠Grossman, who argued the nonprofit’s appeal, called the decision “an important victory for individual liberty” that lets the plaintiffs “pursue their passion to distill fine beverages in their homes.”

“I look forward ⁠to sampling their output,” he said.

Quote:The New York State Board of Elections lacks key safeguards to prevent voter fraud and refuses to remedy the situation ahead of November’s midterm races, an election integrity watchdog says.

The nonpartisan Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections sent the agency a letter late last year documenting violations it believes the agency committed that could potentially affect voting results throughout the Democratic-controlled state.

RITE is now joining forces with Rep. Claudia Tenney, an upstate Republican, to demand the BOE turn over records and data that could potentially identify additional flaws in the state’s voter registration system after the board refused to correct most of the alleged violations.

“Your lack of a response is troubling and disregards the need to ensure public trust that New York is maintaining accurate voter rolls as required by federal law,” they wrote in a letter to the board this week obtained by Fox News Digital.

Both warned they’ll take the board to court to enforce compliance with federal election laws if it refuses to meet their May deadline.

The state’s 26 congressional races are up for grabs this November. Although most races won’t be competitive or decided in the primaries, Democrats expected to pour plenty of money into trying to unseat Republican Rep. Mike Lawler. His seat representing Hudson Valley is considered among the most competitive nationwide.

Dems are also expected to spend great resources trying to protect vulnerable seats held by Democratic Reps. including Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen in Nassau County.

RITE alleges state voter registration forms have two errors that violate the Help America Vote Act.

Quote:A woke Virginia prosecutor whose radical ideology will take center stage at an upcoming congressional hearing once called deporting illegal immigrants “a perversion of justice.”

Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, who is under fire for letting a pair of admitted migrant murderers walk away with just five years in prison this month, made the comments when he was running for office in 2019.

He took office on a campaign of reducing some criminal penalties and reducing cash bail. A line on Descano’s website at the time, which is still igniting controversy, said: “If two people commit the same crime, but only one’s punishment includes deportation, that’s a perversion of justice and not a reflection of the values of Fairfax County.”

Critics bashed the comments as the twisted byproduct of four years of open border policies under the Biden Administration

“Deportation isn’t a perversion of justice; it is justice,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) told The Post.

“Democrats like Steve Descano are doing everything they can to carry on Joe Biden’s legacy of lawlessness.

“Republicans should explore every possible avenue to hold Soros-backed district attorneys accountable for giving criminal illegal aliens a free pass to wreak havoc on American citizens,” she added, referring to lefty Democratic kingmaker George Soros.

Descano’s campaign received from two Soros funded groups, the Justice and Public Safety PAC and the New Virginia Majority PAC, received $628,000 and $114,000, according to state records.

House Republicans are bringing Descano in to testify for a hearing set for May 14 titled: “Fairfax County, Virginia: The Dangerous Consequences of Sanctuary Policies.”

Quote:A criminal slashed three elderly people with a machete — while calling himself “Lucifer” — in an unprovoked attack and was fatally shot by cops at Grand Central Terminal Saturday morning, police said.

An 85-year-old man suffered a deep cut across his head, and a 65-year-old man suffered cuts on his head on the 4, 5, 6 subway platform at the iconic station at 9:50 a.m., police said. A 70-year-old woman was slashed in the shoulder, cops said.

Blood-soaked white gauze was wrapped around one victim’s head, photos from the scene show. The slasher was also seen being carried away on a gurney.
Two NYPD detectives, who were working overtime to provide transit security, confronted the 44-year-old, identified as Anthony Griffin, and told him to drop the machete.

“From the top of the stairs, they observed the individual on the platform, and they immediately ordered him to drop the knife,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference at the scene. “The individual was armed with a large knife described as a machete and was behaving erratically, repeatedly stating that he was Lucifer.”

Griffin refused to comply “with at least 20 orders to drop the knife,” she said.

Officers also “attempted to deescalate” and offer assistance, saying “We are going to get you help,” Tisch told reporters.

But Griffin advanced toward them with the blade extended, she said.

“One officer discharged his firearm striking the perpetrator twice,” Tisch said.

The victims were taken to local hospitals in stable condition, cops said.

Quote:The NYPD detectives who stopped a lunatic who attacked three people at Grand Central Terminal with a machete on Saturday were working overtime as a part of a crime-fighting initiative.

But sources say department-wide OT cuts are eating into extra subway shifts.

The NYPD disputed this. “The NYPD authorizes 5,000 hours of overtime a day in the subway system,” said a spokesperson. “That has been the case for more than a year, since January 2025. It has not been cut by even a single hour since then.”

But a longtime cop told The Post department-wide OT “has been getting cut back for the last year and a half. They’re minimum-manning a lot of these subway stations because there’s a certain [overtime] cap that they don’t want you to go over,” the source said. “If you go over that cap, [NYPD brass] will bury the commanding officer.”

The NYPD began cracking down on overtime under ex-Mayor Eric Adams, seeing a $1.1 billion drop-off last fiscal year compared to fiscal 2024. Cuts have gotten deeper under soft-on-crime Mayor Mamdani, who campaigned on eliminating the NYPD’s OT budget.

New rules that went into effect on Jan. 1 slashed the number of overtime hours cops can work in half, The Post has reported. And detectives are now limited to 40 hours of total OT a month.

As for extra transit details, sources told The Post that detectives are now limited to “no more than two transit details” a month. They used to be able to work four to six OT shifts underground.

Quote:Rep. Eric Swalwell’s attorney claimed a Democrat conspiracy was behind sexual misconduct allegations against his client.

Most senior Californian Democrats have pulled their endorsement of the 45-year-old congressman, including LA mayor Karen Bass, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Adam Schiff.

Speaking on behalf of Swalwell, attorney Elias Dabaie told CNN he suspected the reason they pulled their support was coordinated to bury Swalwell and consolidate the vote around one Democrat, potentially Rep. Katie Porter.

“The notion that all these people pulled their support — I suspect that there are political machinations behind the scenes explaining why the Democratic Party has decided to try to consolidate the vote in order to make sure that a Democratic candidate makes it past the primary,” he said.

”So I’m not surprised.”

Dabaie also said he was unsure when Swalwell would return to the campaign trail.

“That’s not clear,” Swalwell attorney Elias Dabaie told CNN Friday night. “He’s taking time with his family right now, and that’s a decision for him to make.”

The candidate cancelled his next campaign event scheduled for Thursday in Palm Springs after the allegations drew extensive backlash from other Democrats. He’s called the allegations, which originate “false.”

Dabaie echoed Swalwell’s sentiment in the interview.

“Let me start by telling you that we take these allegations very seriously,” he said.

“The Congressman categorically denies any misconduct took place, and we intend to vindicate his rights in court.”

He noted that Swalwell did “take accountability for potential lapses in judgment, but again, categorically denies any wrongdoing.”

Quote:The Manhattan district attorney's office announced Saturday it has opened an investigation into Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell over an alleged 2024 sexual assault, as more than a dozen of his own staffers broke ranks to publicly support his accusers—and prominent Democrats continue to abandon his campaign for California governor.

Swalwell has denied all allegations, with his attorney, Elias Dabaie, saying in an email to Newsweek on Friday the accusations are "baseless" and appear to be "a coordinated effort to undermine his candidacy."

Why It Matters

The DA's announcement marks a significant legal escalation in an already catastrophic stretch for Swalwell's political future. With mail ballots set to go out next month ahead of California's June 2 primary, the allegations have thrown the state's wide-open gubernatorial race into chaos at a critical moment.

Swalwell had been among the leading Democrats vying to succeed outgoing California Governor Gavin Newsom—and one of the frontrunners in a crowded field whose collapse could have broader implications for the party's chances in November.

What To Know

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday that a former staffer accused Swalwell of sexually assaulting her twice—once in 2019 while she worked for him, and again in 2024 following a charity gala in New York—saying she was too intoxicated to consent in both instances. She told the paper she did not go to the police because she feared she would not be believed. The Chronicle reviewed text messages related to the alleged 2024 incident and spoke to people she had confided in.

CNN separately reported the same woman's allegations, along with additional claims from several other women that Swalwell sent them inappropriate sexual messages.

The Manhattan DA's office confirmed Saturday it was investigating the alleged 2024 New York incident and urged anyone with knowledge to contact its special victims division.

More than a dozen unnamed staffers from Swalwell's congressional office and campaign released an unsigned statement Saturday, first reported by Politico, expressing support for the accusers and distancing themselves from the congressman.

"As leaders of teams working for Eric Swalwell, we're horrified by the recent reporting in the San Francisco Chronicle and by CNN," the statement read. "We stand with our former colleague, and the other women who have come forward. The behavior detailed in these reports is abhorrent, beneath the dignity of those serving in public office and betrays the trust of all Californians." The staffers clarified that colleagues remaining during a transition period should not be seen as endorsing Swalwell, citing a responsibility to junior staff who cannot immediately forfeit their income and benefits.

At least four senior campaign aides departed Friday. Swalwell also suspended fundraising through ActBlue; a platform spokesperson confirmed the campaign itself deactivated the page. On Tuesday—just days before the allegations surfaced—Swalwell told reporters at a Sacramento campaign event that he had never had a sexual relationship with a staff member or intern.

Dabaie said in an email to Newsweek on Friday: "We learned from press outlets that there are multiple allegations made against the Congressman. We believe those allegations are baseless and continue to seek the truth. We also want to understand why these allegations would suddenly arise on the eve of an election against the frontrunner in what appears to be a coordinated effort to undermine his candidacy."

Quote:Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell — a frontrunner in the California governor’s race — has been accused of violating immigration and employment law to keep his illegal live-in Brazilian nanny in the country, according to a pair of recently filed complaints.

When his South American babysitter’s temporary work authorization was about to expire in 2022, he and wife Brittany Swalwell lied to the feds to keep Amanda Barbosa working for them, a new complaint filed Tuesday with the Department of Labor claimed.

Another complaint, filed to the Department of Homeland security in February and previously unreported, accuses Swalwell of paying the nanny under the table with campaign funds for a period of two years when she didn’t hold valid work authorization.

“Barbosa appears in numerous social media photos with the Swalwell family throughout 2023 and 2024, indicating continued close association and ongoing childcare responsibilities despite the absence of known lawful work authorization,” the complaint to DHS, dated Feb. 16, alleged.

The embattled California gubernatorial hopeful first hired Barbosa, 33, in the fall of 2021 to look after his three children.

Barbosa had come to the US from Rio de Janeiro in January 2021 on an au pair visa. She was paid $3,914 in campaign funds that year, according to an analysis of Federal Election Commission data by The Post.

She continued working for the Golden State politician as a live-in nanny the next year, receiving $46,930 in campaign funds in 2022, FEC records show.

With her au pair visa coming to an end in December 2022, Swalwell began the process of sponsoring her for a green card, according to a permanent labor certification application reviewed by The Post.

While that drawn out process played out, she enrolled at community college, according to her LinkedIn, and under student visa rules, wasn’t allowed to work off campus.

But that doesn’t appear to have stopped Swalwell, whose other international fumbles have included the infamous Fang Fang affair.

Social media photos from her since-deleted Facebook account show Barbosa caring for the kids at a variety of family events over the next two years, even being so bold as posting photos at the annual White House picnic in 2023 and 2024, where she’s holding up the youngest child, then two, in her arms while sporting a blue sundress.

In another snap, on Halloween in 2024, she’s taking the kids trick or treating while wearing a Brazil soccer shirt.

Her LinkedIn page, also deleted since the allegations, said she worked as a private childcare provider continuously from 2021 to present, according to a screenshot included in the complaints.

Quote:A North Carolina maniac was arrested Friday after allegedly stabbing a US Marine to death during a massive caught-on-camera street brawl that put local cops under heavy scrutiny, authorities said.

Davy Spencer, 47, was slapped with charges of second-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill after fatally knifing 21-year-old Daniel Montano when a large fight erupted in downtown Wilmington around 2 a.m. last Sunday, according to the Wilmington Police Department.

Montano, a lance corporal stationed at Camp Lejeune about 70 miles away, was one of two stabbed.

The department came under fire for its response to the deadly melee after disturbing footage surfaced online showing the slain Marine hunched over in a pool of blood as cops tried to break up the fight.

The viral clip showed multiple men brawling in the street as Wilmington cops arrived and pepper-sprayed them – but seconds later, the camera cuts to the sidewalk, where a dying Montano is seen slumped over desperately pointing to his neck as officers rush over to help.

As cops fumbled to find a way to help him, a bystander rushed in, tore off his shirt, wrapped it around the victim’s neck, and applied pressure in a frantic attempt to stop the bleeding.
Montano, along with the other stabbing victim, was rushed to a local hospital, but he later succumbed to his injuries.

The service member, a California native, was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines Regiment at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, according to his devastated sister Evelyn.

“He was not only dedicated to his country, but also deeply loved by his family,” she wrote on a fundraiser page set up to help their family cover funeral and memorial costs.

“To us, he was more than a Marine – he was a son, a brother, and someone who brought so much light into our lives.”

Quote:The latest propaganda campaign from a radical New York City-based pro-North Korea nonprofit bizarrely pitches the Hermit Kingdom as a utopia where housing is free.

“Is your rent due? Not in North Korea,” Nodutdol’s April 1 Instagram post boasts to its 42,000 followers, alongside an idyllic picture of children happily playing in the snow in front of a modern, residential apartment building that looks strikingly American-style.

Nodutdol, a Midtown-based group whose name means stepping stone in Korean, has worked to radicalize American leftists into supporting North Korea through their mutual hatred of “US imperialism.”

The social media post goes on to slam US capitalism for “manufacturing a housing crisis at home.”

“Things don’t have to be this way, and socialist countries are proof of that,” it says before showing images of 163,000 recently built housing units in capital Pyongyang and rural areas across the country.

But in reality, housing in the land of dictator Kim Jong Un is built by the state and allocated based on job, status and loyalty to the regime — with organizations like Human Rights Watch finding that “the North Korean government systematically violates…the right to adequate standard of living.”

While military and party officials — including Ri Chun Hi, the country’s most prolific state propaganda anchor, known as “the pink lady,” who received a luxury home in 2022 — are granted preferential housing, ordinary people typically get the bottom of the barrel, with decrepit homes that often lack electricity.

Construction tends to be rushed for political optics, leaving people living in unfinished or unsafe buildings, and deadly apartment collapses have occasionally made the news despite tight media control — such as the 2014 collapse of a 23-story building in Pyongyang, which killed more than 160 people.

The propaganda campaign seemed too much even for some of Nodutdol’s supporters.

Quote:A former Northern California sheriff lieutenant and the owner of a fireworks company have been arrested and charged with murder following last year’s horrific explosion at an illegal fireworks factory in Yolo county that killed seven people.

During a press conference, Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig announced that on April 3, a grand jury indicted a total of eight people on a host of charges including five people who were charged with second degree murder, in connection with the massive explosion in rural Esparto last July.

The people who were arrested included former Yolo County Sheriff Lt. Sam Machado, his wife Tammy Machado and the founder and CEO of the illegal fireworks company Devastating Pyrotechnics Kenneth Chee, from the Bay Area.

Chee was arrested in Florida while he was at Disneyworld with his family, the Sacramento Bee reported.

The former Lt. and Chee, along with three other people face seven murder charges each, one for each of the victims who were killed in the deadly explosion, authorities said.

The operations manager for the fireworks company, Jack Lee, was arrested as well, in connection to the blast that leveled the building and forced evacuations in the area, per local reports at the time.

Thursday’s multiple arrests around the country was the culmination of a massive year-long investigation that spanned across the state and country, the DA explained.

Yolo County Deputy District Attorney Clara Nabity said that the “grand jury alleged a decade-long conspiracy which turned the property of a former sheriff’s Lt. (Machado) into the Northern California hub for an illegal enterprise that imports and sells illegal explosives on the black market.”

“This is not a case just about fireworks,” Nabity said. “They are devices that have so much more explosive fireworks than the law allows that they can’t be considered fireworks. “

She added, “They are explosives, but they were designed and packaged for consumer sales under private levels.”

Nabity said the indictment also alleges that Machado used “his role as a trusted lieutenant to help shield the conspiracy as it expanded.”

Quote:A shooting broke out inside a New Jersey Chick-fil-A on Saturday night, leaving multiple people injured as police continue to investigate, according to a report.

The horror unfolded just before 9 p.m. at the fast food chain’s Route 22 location in Union, which Union County Police has since been locked down, with some workers reportedly still inside as cops probe the scene, WABC reported.

It’s unclear how many people were shot, whether there are any casualties or what sparked the shooting.

Quote:A naked 9-year-old French boy was rescued after his twisted dad allegedly locked him in a van for nearly two years – with the horror uncovered when a neighbor reported chilling sounds coming from the vehicle.

French cops on Monday found the child curled in a “fetal position” under a blanket on a pile of trash near human waste after a neighbor reported “sounds of a child” coming from the van parked near their home in Hagenbach, close to the Swiss and German borders, according to local prosecutor Nicolas Heitz.

Heitz said the unidentified boy, now hospitalized, was severely malnourished and unable to walk after being kept seated since November 2024, when his father allegedly locked him away.

Authorities arrested the deranged father, who bizarrely claimed he imprisoned the child inside his utility van to “protect him,” claiming his partner wanted to send the then-7-year-old to a psychiatric hospital.

The boy – who was a good student with no history of psychiatric issues – told investigators he had “big difficulties” with his father’s partner and believed his dad “had no choice” but to lock him away, the Mulhouse Public prosecutor said.

The child also said he hadn’t taken a shower since 2024.

The father, who was not identified, has been hit with preliminary kidnapping charges and other offenses and remains in police custody.

The man’s partner claimed she had no knowledge the boy was trapped in the van, but was cuffed and slapped with preliminary charges, including failing to help a minor in danger, Heitz said.

Quote:Archaeologists have uncovered ancient skeletons beneath a school site in France — all buried in an unusual seated position.

The discovery was announced by Inrap, France’s national institution for preventive archaeology, in a press release in March.

The skeletons were found on the grounds of the Josephine Baker school complex in Dijon, roughly 195 miles southeast of Paris.

The campus serves students from preschool through elementary school.

The graves date to the Gallic period in France, a time when Celtic tribes known as the Gauls lived in the region.

The Gallic period lasted from the fifth century B.C. to 50 B.C., when Julius Caesar conquered the area.

Inrap first found similar Gallic burials at the site in 2024.

While excavators found 13 graves two years ago, they discovered “five to six” new graves during the most recent excavation — three of which formed a second, parallel line.

Pictures of the site show archaeologists working as sections of ground are carefully excavated into circular pits, with skeletons positioned inside.

Inrap said the new graves were “seated at the bottom of the pit, [their] backs against the eastern wall, facing west,” according to a translated release.

“Their arms rest along the torso, with hands near the pelvis or femurs,” the release described.

“Their legs are tightly flexed, often asymmetrically.”

Adding to the mystery, archaeologists found no personal items or grave offerings, other than a black stone armband dated to the third century B.C.

Archaeologists have released few details about the site, but noted that the graves found in 2024 showed “signs of unhealed violence.”

Quote:Conservationists are celebrating the birth of giant otter triplets at a UK zoo – bringing fresh hope that one of the world’s most endangered species can be saved from extinction.

The adorable trio of pups is the first of their kind to be born at Chester Zoo in several years as part of an international conservation effort to boost numbers.

Their arrival to first-time parents Bonita and Manu is being heralded as a rare boost for the endangered marine animals, with fewer than 5,000 thought to survive in the wild in South America.

The youngsters have remained tucked away in their cosy holt with mum feeding them regularly until they more than tripled in size and were able to enjoy their first swimming lessons.

Following their first health check-up with the zoo’s veterinary team, it has now revealed the sex of the pups to be two males and a female, with names yet to be chosen.

Rachael Boatwright, assistant team manager of carnivores at the zoo, said: “The arrival of these three giant otter pups is a hugely special moment and marks the first time the species has been born here in seven years.

“The pups recently had their very first health check-up at eight weeks old, where they were weighed and had their heart, teeth, and overall condition assessed by the zoo’s vets.

“We’re delighted to confirm that all three are healthy and thriving – and that we have two males and one female pup.

Quote:North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea Wednesday in its second launch event in two days, South Korea’s military said, hours after a senior North Korean official released crude insults against Seoul’s hopes for warmer relations.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles lifted off from North Korea’s eastern coastal Wonsan area and flew about 150 miles each in a direction toward the North’s eastern waters. It said South Korea maintains a readiness to repel any provocations by North Korea under a solid military alliance with the United States.

Seoul later said North Korea fired an additional ballistic missile toward its eastern waters without giving further details.

The South Korean military said it had also detected the launch of an unidentified projectile around North Korea’s capital region Tuesday. It said South Korean and US intelligence authorities were analyzing details of Tuesday’s launch.

South Korean media reported the previous projectile, also likely a ballistic missile, disappeared from South Korean military radars after displaying an abnormal development in the initial launch stage. This indicated the launch ended in a failure, according to the reports.

The back-to-back launches came after North Korea made it clear that it has no intentions of improving ties with South Korea, whose liberal government has steadfastly expressed its hopes to restore long-dormant dialogue.

On Tuesday night, Jang Kum Chol, first vice minister at Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry, said South Korea would always remain the North’s “most hostile enemy state.” He derided South Korea as “world-startling fools” engaged in wishful thinking over a recent statement by Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

After South Korean President Lee Jae Myung expressed regret over alleged civilian drone flights into North Korea, Kim Yo Jong late Monday praised him for what she called honesty and courage, but reiterated a threat to retaliate if such flights recur.

Quote:TAIPEI, April 10 (Reuters) – Taiwanese officials are tracking what they view as a worrying rise in Chinese naval activity and military pressure against the island, even as Beijing presses a message of peace and cooperation in meetings with Taiwan’s opposition leader.

China’s tactics are all the more unnerving for the Taipei government, given the ‌opposition continues to stymie a defense spending rise that Washington has pushed for. The buildup also comes at a time when the US is focused on the conflict in the Middle East and President Donald Trump is readying for a May meeting with China’s Xi Jinping.

“China is continuously and persistently expanding its military capabilities, and the military threat it poses to us is becoming increasingly severe,” Taiwan Defense Minister Wellington Koo told lawmakers on Thursday amid anger among the ruling party over the decision by members of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) to skip talks on stalled defense spending.

Taiwan has to show its determination to defend itself to the US and other like-minded partners, he added.

“But the most frightening scenario is — if all of our international allies were to question whether ⁠we have such resolve, what would we face? I cannot imagine it.”

China views Taiwan as one of its provinces and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims and says only the island’s people can decide their future.

Two Taiwanese security officials told Reuters that China has deployed nearly 100 naval and coast guard vessels in and around the South and East China Seas this week. One official said China usually deploys around 50-60 ships in the region, so the increase in the past weeks was “very rare,” especially because this time of year is not usually busy for Chinese naval drills.

A second highlighted the timing of the increased presence, coming with Washington focused on Iran, and as Taiwan’s opposition leader visits China.

Meeting KMT chairwoman Cheng Li-wun in Beijing on Friday, Xi said people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait want peace and cooperation, but added China will “absolutely not tolerate” independence for Taiwan.

The KMT says there is “no connection whatsoever” between Cheng’s trip and government defense spending plans.

A ‘NEW NORMAL’ FROM CHINA?

China’s defense ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

The number of vessels was corroborated ‌by separate intelligence ⁠reports reviewed by Reuters, which showed a notable increase in Chinese vessels over the last few weeks, from nearly 70 at the end of March to nearly 100 this week.

Quote:Iran has said it has no plans for further peace talks with the US, after a marathon summit with Vice President JD Vance collapsed on Saturday with no agreement reached.

“No plan has yet been announced for the time, place, or next round of negotiations,” Iranian state news agency Nour reported on Saturday, citing the country’s Supreme National Security Council.

The Iranian regime will also keep its stranglehold over the Strait of Hormuz, the vital chokepoint in the Persian Gulf through which flows a fifth of the world’s oil supplies, according to state media.

“Iran is not in a hurry, and until the US agrees to a reasonable deal, there will be no change in the situation of the Strait of Hormuz,” the Fars News Agency reported, quoting an unnamed Iranian official.

It comes after a grueling 21 hours of talks in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, between US and Iranian delegations ended Sunday morning local time with no agreement reached.

Vance told a press conference that Iran’s refusal to abandon its nuclear program had been the main sticking point.

The veep called the failure to reach a deal “bad news” for Iran, while Iran’s former Vice President, Ataollah Mohajerani, said it was “worse news … for the United States,” speaking to Fars.

“We leave here with a very simple proposal, a method of understanding that is our final and best offer. We’ll see if the Iranians accept it,” Vance told reporters as he prepared to board Air Force Two and return to the US.

None of the American delegation — which included special envoy Steve Witkoff and the President’s son-in-law Jared Kushner — remained behind in Islamabad.

Iranian state media blamed “US overreach and ambitions” for blocking “a common framework and agreement” to bring about an end to the conflict, which started on Feb. 28.

Quote:French President Emmanuel Macron has called on his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian to use the negotiations in Islamabad to achieve sustainable de-escalation, and to restore freedom and security of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz as soon as possible.
According to Ukrinform, Macron wrote this on the social network X.

“I held discussions with Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian. I urged him to seize the opportunity presented by the talks launched in Islamabad to pave the way for a lasting de-escalation and a demanding agreement that provides solid guarantees for security in the region, involving all the countries concerned,” the French President said.

Macron also stressed that Iran must “swiftly restore freedom and security of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” adding that France is “ready to contribute” to this effort.

The French President added that he insisted on “the importance of full respect for the ceasefire, including in Lebanon.” He emphasized that France fully supports the actions of the Lebanese authorities, “who alone are legitimate to exercise the sovereignty of the state and decide the destiny of Lebanon.”

Quote:The US State Department will host talks between Israel and Lebanon next week, a State Department official said Thursday, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier authorised his cabinet to begin direct negotiations with Lebanon “as soon as possible”. Read our liveblog to see how the day's events unfolded.

Yesterday's key developments:

• French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday that he urged his US and Iranian counterparts, Donald Trump and Masoud Pezeshkian, to include Lebanon in the ceasefire reached with Iran.
  
• Pezeshkian said that a Lebanon ceasefire was one of the key conditions of the Islamic Republic's 10-point plan for securing an end to the Middle East war, the ISNA news agency reported Wednesday.
  
• US Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday said Tehran's ‌negotiators ⁠thought ‌the US-Iran ceasefire agreed ⁠to on Tuesday included Lebanon, ‌but the US had ‌in fact not agreed to that.
  

Quote:As peace talks between America and Iran fell apart over the weekend, President Trump has called for the US military to take control of the Strait of Hormuz and clear the water of Tehran’s mines.

The strait, which oversees 20% of the world’s oil transports, has remained closed since the war began on Feb. 28, with Iran filling the passage with deadly, underwater mines.

To clear the waters, the US will tap its own navy and that of allied nations to deploy minesweepers and clear the Strait of Hormuz to resume global trade, Trump said Sunday.

“We have minesweepers there now,” Trump told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”

“We have highly sophisticated underwater minesweepers, which are the latest and the greatest, but we’re also bringing in more traditional minesweepers,” he added.

“I understand the UK and a couple of other countries are sending minesweepers. A lot of countries don’t have minesweepers.”

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said operations to clear the Strait of Hormuz began on Saturday after two American destroyers passed through the waters for the first time since the war began.

The US Navy will be deploying “underwater drones” to locate Iran’s mines and take them out “in the coming days,” CENTCOM added.

The US military has several underwater UAVs capable of traversing the strait, including the 1,7000 pound Knifefish drone, developed by General Dynamics.

“The Knifefish UUV provides the mine warfare commander with enhanced mine-hunting capability by detecting, classifying and identifying both buried mines and mines in high clutter environments,” according to the company.

Quote:WASHINGTON — President Trump announced that the US will begin a sweeping blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, vowing to fight back against Iran’s “WORLD EXTORTION” and ensure that no one paying tolls to the regime will get through the critical oil chokepoint.

Trump claimed that the negotiations with Iran that concluded Saturday without a deal “went well,” but faulted the Islamic Republic for refusing to budge on its nuclear program, which he described as “the only point that really mattered.”

“Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump declared on Truth Social Sunday.

“At some point, we will reach an ‘ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO IN, ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO OUT’ basis, but Iran has not allowed that to happen by merely saying, ‘There may be a mine out there somewhere,’ that nobody knows about but them.”

“THIS IS WORLD EXTORTION, and Leaders of Countries, especially the United States of America, will never be extorted.”

“No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas.”

Over a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil supply once traversed through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has used drones and missiles to deter oil vessels from traveling through the critical chokepoint.

Iran claims to have placed mines in the Strait but has lost track of them. It has attempted to charge a toll of $1 per barrel of oil for ships to get through safely, according to US officials.

Iran has sought to use revenue from those tolls to rebuild its country after the Operation Epic Fury attacks.

The president didn’t lay out a specific timeline for when the blockade will officially begin, but teased that it’s happening “soon.”

Trump announced a fragile two-week cease-fire with Iran last Tuesday after threatening earlier that day that “an entire civilization will die tonight” if Tehran didn’t cut a deal.

Quote:WASHINGTON — Iran warned Sunday that military vessels approaching the Strait of Hormuz would be a violation of the fragile cease-fire and face a “strong and forceful response” — following President Trump’s announcement of a blockade on the critical oil chokepoint.

Trump announced plans earlier Sunday to stop “any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave” the waterway until there’s a point where all oil is allowed to go in and out without obstruction from Iran.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy hit back, insisting it has “full control” of the Strait and that the waterway remains open for non-military vessels.

“Contrary to the false claims of certain enemy officials, the Strait of Hormuz is open for the passage of non-military vessels under smart control and management, in accordance with specific regulations,” the naval forces said in a statement, according to two semi-official Iranian news agencies.

The IRGC warned that any approach by military vessels toward the Strait would be treated as a violation of a cease-fire agreement.

Trump claimed that the cease-fire deal last week meant that Iran would allow the Strait of Hormuz, where over a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil supplies flow through annually, to be reopened.

But Iran has been accused of attempting to charge tolls on vessels going through and claimed that it lost track of the mines it laid down, scaring off ships from traversing the beleaguered waterway.

Despite Iran’s threats to view the deployment of a military vessel through the Strait as a violation of the cease-fire, the US claims that two American Navy destroyers went through it Saturday and took down an Iranian drone.

Quote:More than 60% of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ fast attack ships in charge of patrolling the Strait of Hormuz are still intact despite six weeks of US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran’s navy, according to a new report.

While America has decimated Iran’s standard navy, sinking more than 155 vessels, the ships under the IRGC’s control are still largely operational and capable of policing the key water route President Trump has vowed to reopen, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The IRGC’s navy is vast, small, and speedy, allowing the attack vessels to evade satellite detection and hide in underground pens along the rocky coast of the 20-mile-wide strait, said Chris Long, a former British navy official in the Persian Gulf.

“It will be a long time before the US can take all those out,” Long told the WSJ.

The formation of the fleet was a direct result of the so-called Tanker War of the 1980s, when the US sank much of Iran’s active fleet in a single-day strike.
Since then, the Islamic Republic has pivoted to an asymmetrical navy, with the IRGC tasked with policing the Strait of Hormuz while Iran’s conventional navy patrols other waterways in the Gulf.

Iran previously showed off the speedy boats during live-fire military drills in February as a show of force against the US naval buildup in the Middle East prior to the start of the war.

The ships were shown to be armed with rocket launchers and able to lay mines in the strait, with the boats capable of moving at high speeds as they moved in and out of their underground pens.

The strategy appears to have paid off for Tehran, given the IRGC’s survival rate compared with that of the conventional navy, which US officials touted as completely destroyed in the first three weeks of the war.

The IRGC’s navy, meanwhile, has been able to effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz with underwater mines and drone attacks, pausing a key trade route that oversees the transport of 20% of the world’s oil supply.

Quote:Hamas representatives were expected to hold talks with Egyptian mediators in Cairo on Sunday to discuss the implementation of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan for the Gaza Strip, two Hamas officials told AFP.

The talks will also be focused on “halting Israeli violations,” one Hamas official said, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak with the press.

According to the official, the terrorist group will stress the need for the Israel Defense Forces to withdraw from Gaza, fully reopen the Strip’s borders, increase the number of crossings and allow greater volumes of humanitarian aid to enter the enclave.

The Hamas delegation will also meet with representatives of other Palestinian terrorist organizations to discuss those issues, the second Hamas official told AFP.

On Thursday, the Israeli military eliminated two Palestinian terrorists who were planning “imminent” terror attacks against soldiers deployed in the Strip, the IDF said on Friday.

In southern Gaza, the IDF killed Mahmoud Barim, a terrorist in the Al-Mujahideen Brigades, the military arm of the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement, a group that splintered from Fatah. Barim “monitored IDF troop activity and possessed a large quantity of weapons,” according to the military.

In the northern Strip, the IDF struck Ahmed Mohammed Saleh, a Hamas Nukhba Force terrorist “who had carried out and advanced numerous terror attacks,” it said. Several additional Hamas terrorists were also hit in the strike.

Prior to the airstrikes, steps were taken to mitigate harm to noncombatants, “including the use of precise munitions and aerial surveillance,” per the statement.

On Saturday, an Israeli soldier was severely injured as a result of an operational accident in central Gaza, the army stated separately. The soldier was evacuated to a hospital and his family was notified.

The current truce went into effect in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 10, 2025, ending the two-year war that began when Hamas, other Palestinian terrorist groups and Gazan “civilians” invaded the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023. The terms of the ceasefire leave the IDF in control of approximately half of Gaza.

Top Hamas leaders, including Khaled Mashaal and Musa Abu Marzouk, have rejected key parts of Trump’s plan in recent months, including disarmament, despite having agreed to the proposal in October.

Quote:Israel’s Foreign Ministry sharply criticized South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Friday for comments it said trivialized the Holocaust and spread misinformation about Israeli forces.

In a post on X that drew more than nine million views, the ministry said Lee’s remarks, “including the trivialization of the massacre of Jews on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel,” were “unacceptable and warrant strong condemnation.”

Yom HaShoah will be observed in Israel from Monday evening through Tuesday.

Lee had referenced a 2024 video falsely alleged to show Israeli soldiers abusing a Palestinian boy, calling the incident akin to the “Jewish massacre or wartime killings.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the clip came from a disinformation account and that the event had been investigated two years ago.

“President Lee Jae Myung, for some strange reason, chose to dig up a story from 2024 and to cite a fake account that falsely presented it as a current event.

“This account is notorious for spreading anti-Israeli disinformation and falsehoods about Israel. The event discussed occurred during an operation against terrorists, at a time when Israeli soldiers were facing direct and immediate threats to their lives.

“The event was thoroughly investigated and addressed two years ago,” the ministry wrote.

The ministry rebuked Lee for failing to condemn recent Iranian and Hezbollah attacks on Israelis.

“Yet we have not heard a single word from the President about the terrorists who were at the center of this event. Nor have we heard a word from the President regarding the recent Iranian and Hezbollah terror attacks against Israeli citizens,” the post stated.

The ministry ended its post with this sentence: “Mr. President, it’s always better to check before posting.”

Quote:A Pennsylvania-linked manufacturer has been stripped of control over its Russian operations under a Kremlin order, raising fresh risks for Western companies as Moscow courts renewed economic ties with the United States.

CANPACK, a global aluminum beverage can manufacturer owned by a Pennsylvania-based holding company, operates in multiple countries across Europe and North America and said its Russian business — valued at roughly $700 million — was placed under state "external administration" by a Dec. 31, 2025, decree signed by President Vladimir Putin, effectively transferring control of 100% of its shares to state-appointed managers.

CEO Peter Giorgi said the company lost all operational authority after administrators arrived in mid-January.

"I'm only a nominal shareholder," Giorgi said in an interview with Fox News Digital. "I lose all control of the company."

The case underscores the risks facing Western companies that remained in Russia during the war, even as Moscow signals interest in rebuilding economic ties with Washington as part of potential peace negotiations.

Putin’s envoy for foreign investment, Kirill Dmitriev, is in the United States meeting with officials in President Donald Trump’s administration to discuss a potential Ukraine peace deal and future economic cooperation, according to Reuters.

Analysts say the move is part of a broader shift in Russia’s handling of foreign-owned assets since the Ukraine War. 

"Let’s not be U.S.-centric about that," said Alexander Kolyandr, a fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis. "CANPACK is not alone."

CANPACK has operated in Russia for nearly 30 years and held an estimated 35%–40% share of the country’s aluminum beverage can market, according to the company, underscoring the scale of the takeover.

The company has had no direct access to, or communication with, its Russian operations since the move, according to a person familiar with the matter, and several senior executives — including the general manager and chief financial officer — were removed following the takeover.

Company officials say executives in Russia have faced pressure from state-appointed administrators, including demands to approve financial decisions under threat of dismissal or other consequences.

The situation has not changed in recent months, according to the officials. The company’s Russian operations remain under external administration, with no restoration of control or ownership as of April.

The move falls under a legal framework introduced in 2023 allowing the Russian government to place certain foreign-owned assets under temporary state control.

The decree identified a company called Stalelement as the entity overseeing the assets, which company representatives describe as a shell entity with ties to the Russian government.

The company has raised the issue with U.S. officials, but no formal action has been taken.

Quote:Russia warned Sunday it will not extend an Orthodox Easter truce with Ukraine unless Volodymyr Zelensky accepts its terms, saying the war will resume if Kyiv refuses. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov cast the decision as Zelensky’s, arguing peace could come “literally today” if Ukraine agrees to Moscow’s demands.

Russia will not extend a truce with Ukraine over Orthodox Easter unless Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accepts its terms, the Kremlin said in an interview aired Sunday.

"Sustainable peace can come when we secure our interests and achieve the goals we set from the very start. This can be done literally today. But Zelensky must accept these well-known solutions," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Russian news agencies.

"Until Zelensky musters the courage to assume this responsibility, the special military operation will continue after the truce expires," Peskov added, referring to the war in Ukraine.

Earlier Sunday, Ukraine and Russia accused each other of violating the truce in place for Orthodox Easter thousands of times, as the war dragged on into its fifth year.

Both sides had agreed to observe the halt to hostilities for the religious holiday, after Putin agreed on Thursday to a proposal made by Zelensky more than a week before.

"As of 7am on 12 April, 2,299 ceasefire violations were recorded. Specifically: 28 enemy assault actions, 479 enemy shellings, 747 strikes by attack drones ... and 1,045 strikes by FPV drones," the Ukrainian military's general staff said in a post on Facebook.

"There were no missile strikes, guided aerial bomb strikes, or Shahed-type UAV strikes," it added.

In turn, Russia's defence ministry accused Kyiv of nearly 2,000 breaches of its own.

"A total of 1,971 ceasefire violations by units of the Ukrainian armed forces were recorded between 4:00 pm Moscow time on April 12 and 8:00 am on April 12," the ministry said, as reported by the TASS news agency.

The truce had been due to last for 32 hours, from 4:00 pm (1300 GMT) on Saturday until the end of the day on Sunday, according to the Kremlin.

Quote:“Monty Python” actor John Cleese warned this week that the world has failed to live up to the ideal of saying “Black lives matter” when it ignores anti-Christian terrorism in Nigeria.

Numerous news sources around the world, including The Associated Press, reported that according to local military and officials, at least 26 people were killed in three separate Easter attacks in northern Nigeria.

This has caused multiple prominent commentators to not only criticize the terrorism rife in the region, but the silence of the international community that they argue is politically-motivated.

“It looks rather as though Black Lives Don’t Matter,” Cleese lamented on Tuesday, adding what appears to be a sarcastic critique of liberal media by writing, “Also, writing about it would damage the image of the murderers who killed these poor people.”

Cleese had been responding to a post from the Chair of the DOJ Task Force to Combat Antisemitism and Senior Counsel at The Justice Department, Leo Terrell, who had asked, “Why isn’t the world talking about the massacre of Christians by Islamist terrorists??!!!!”

While Cleese is very much a liberal himself — condemning President Trump and his allies frequently — he has been on an ongoing multi-week campaign blasting how liberalism has turned a blind eye toward radical Islam.

He had recently made headlines for condemning a mass Muslim prayer that occurred in Trafalgar Square, a British military memorial.

These gatherings follow a growing trend of mass Islamic prayers of up to thousands of people in iconic Western landmarks.

While these are often organized with government permission, critics like Cleese argue these displays represent a cultural gesture of domination, occupying highly symbolic public spaces to signal a shift in national identity.

Cleese also made waves by tweeting, “The UK has always been based at the deepest level on Christian values, regardless of dogma.

“Despite the many mistakes made by churches, for centuries British people have been influenced by Christ’s teaching. If these values are replaced by Islamic ones, this will not be Britain any more.”

John Cleese is one of many British public icons who were once liberal darlings, but have since spoken out against far-left dogma, similar to how “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling has since waged a long-term campaign against transgender ideology.

Another prominent example includes atheist commentator Richard Dawkins, the author of “The God Delusion,” who has argued that Christianity is something of a bulwark for European civilization and has identified himself as a “cultural Christian.”

Quote:ISLAMABAD — President Trump’s naval blockade of Iranian ports is targeting one of the Islamic Republic’s most sensitive points — and it may be enough to inspire Tehran to respond to the US’ peace overtures, a former senior Pakistani official told The Post on Monday after weekend talks here ended without a deal.

“This may prove totally wrong, but it’s my assumption that whatever option has been given to them as ‘Take it or leave it,’ they will come back on it — either saying ‘We accept it,’ or they will say, ‘We totally reject it,'” explained retired Lt. Gen. Muhammad Saeed. “Or they will say, ‘These are adjustments we seek in your option.'”

Saeed added that Iran will be eager to resume negotiations with Washington because “they know what economic hardships their people are facing.”

Iran’s economy was struggling long before the war began on Feb. 28, with international sanctions triggering financial woes, including a major currency devaluation that sent protesters into the streets for nationwide — and deadly — demonstrations in late December and early January.

“Irrespective of their perception of victory,” Saeed said, “they know what economic hardships their people are facing. They know the level of inflation. They know how terribly their own currency is.”

Perhaps most crucially, he added, the regime likely is aware of its military’s limits.

“While they would keep firing drones and missiles for a few more days, they don’t have compatible military means” to counter the US and Israel, “and they don’t have cost-effective military options to fall back on.”

Since Vice President JD Vance on Sunday presented the Iranians with what he called a “best and final offer,” the ball has been in Iran’s court.

At least publicly, the regime in Tehran has not given a clear response to the pitch — the full details of which have not been officially confirmed by any of the parties — but President Trump indicated Monday the Iranians are interested in continuing discussions.

Quote:WASHINGTON — The US asked Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program for at least two decades during weekend cease-fire negotiations in Pakistan, a source familiar with the talks told The Post Monday.

“The United States suggested 20 years at a minimum with all kinds of other restrictions,” said the person, apparently indicating that the White House had budged on what President Trump had previously described as a red line for his administration.

The US offer was first reported by Axios.

Discussions led by Vice President JD Vance broke up in Islamabad after 21 hours with no agreement announced — though President Trump claimed Monday that Tehran was ready to try again.

“We’ve been called by the other side,” he told reporters outside the Oval Office. “They’d like to make a deal very badly, very badly.”

Trump acknowledged that the future of Tehran’s nuclear program was the sticking point, insisting: “Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. And we agreed to a lot of things, but they didn’t agree to that. I think they will agree to it. I’m almost sure of it. In fact, I am sure of it.

“If they don’t agree, there’s no deal. There’ll never be a deal. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon, and we’re going to get the [uranium] dust back. We’ll get it back. Either we’ll get it back from them or we’ll take it.”

The White House later confirmed the US and Iran were in “continued engagement” with “forward motion,” without elaborating.

With the war in its seventh week, economic pressure is building on both nations. Oil prices briefly surged back above $100 per barrel after the US Navy began a blockade of Iranian ports on the Strait of Hormuz, while regular gas prices remain above $4.12 per gallon on average nationwide.

But Tehran is also feeling the heat. With the strait blocked, Iran has lost its main route to distribute oil and receive cargo.

Quote:The leader of Hezbollah called on Lebanese officials to reject the US-led peace talks scheduled with Israel on Tuesday, saying the terror group would not accept surrender and will keep retaliating against the Jewish state.

In a televised speech on the eve of the meeting, Naim Qassem demanded leaders in Lebanon cancel the talks in Washington as he vowed that the Iran-backed group would not accept any terms of a cease-fire with Israel.

“We call on the president and prime minister to back down from these negotiations that we absolutely reject,” Qassem said.

“Our choice is resistance and confrontation in the face of this enemy, and we consider these negotiations to be worthless and will only provide the enemy with free concessions,” he added.

Qassem slammed the peace talks as hypocritical given Israel’s continued airstrikes in southern Lebanon, arguing that the US has helped facilitate those attacks.

The Hezbollah chief went as far as to claim that Israel’s true aim in the war was the complete annexation of Lebanon, spreading a conspiracy theory that the Jewish state wishes to engulf the entire Middle East.

The heated response comes as Israel and Hezbollah continue to wage war despite the cease-fire in Iran, with the fighting threatening to collapse the fragile truce.

The Jewish state maintains that the strikes against Hezbollah are to ensure the safety of northern Israel, which is within striking distance of the terror group’s rocket launchers.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he supported a cease-fire as the conflict escalates and continues to affect the country’s security forces, first responders, and United Nations’ peace keeping troops.

More than 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since the current conflict broke out on March 2, according to health officials, who do not differentiate between civilians and terrorists.

Quote:The Iranian regime executed more than 1,600 people last year — marking a three decade high not seen since the end of the Islamic Republic’s war against Iraq in 1989.

The shocking figures were included in a joint report released by the nonprofit Iran Human Rights and Together Against the Death Penalty, which estimated that in 2025 at least four people were put to death each day in Iran.

In total, at least 1,639 were executed in Iran last year, the highest reported number since the post-war bloodbath in 1989, where an estimated 1,700 political prisoners were executed, according to the report.

It’s not clear how many of the executions were done publicly.

Most of last year’s prisoners were hanged for drug-related offenses or murder at ostensibly higher rates compared to 2024. Drug-related convictions resulting in death saw a 58% increase, while murder convictions — which almost always leads to execution — jumped a staggering 79%, according to the report.

At least 57 others, including two protesters, were given the death penalty for intangible charges like “waging war against God” and “corruption on Earth,” according to the report.

At least 48 women were also killed, setting another 20-year record, according to the report.

A bulk of the death sentences were handed down by the Revolutionary Courts “after grossly unfair trials and without due process,” the report said.

The nonprofits noted that those in marginalized groups, including ethnic and religious minorities, were “disproportionately represented among those executed.”

The report does not account for the slew of executions that have been ordered since January’s nationwide revolt and the start of the war with Israel and the US.

State media has already confirmed at least 14 executions by the brutal regime this year, though the Norwegian-based Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reported evidence of as many as 160 hangings since January.

Seven of the known hangings linked to protest activity took place after Operation Epic Fury launched in late February. Six other victims were convicted of membership with the exiled opposition group Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK), and one was accused of spying for Israel, the report said.

Quote:Iran’s barbaric regime is set to execute its first female protester over recent protests, one of an estimated 1,600 sentenced to death by the Islamic Republic in the past year.

Bita Hemmati is the first woman due to be hanged in relation to the demonstrations that broke out in January across the country and were viciously stamped out by government forces.

The regime accused her of numerous crimes, including using explosives and weapons, throwing objects such as concrete blocks, participating in protest gatherings, and disrupting national security, according to a Tuesday press release from the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

Her husband, Mohammadreza Majid Asl, 34, as well as two other men, Behrouz and Kourosh Zamaninezhad, who lived in the couple’s apartment building, were also sentenced to death following a hasty trial and their property confiscated.

A fifth defendant, Hemmati’s relative Amir Hemmati, was sentenced to almost six years in prison for “assembly and collusion against national security” as well as “propaganda against the regime.”

They were accused by Iran’s government of “operational action for the hostile government of the United States and hostile groups,” according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.

The group was all arrested in Tehran, which saw the largest national protests against the Iranian regime.
No execution date has yet been given.

“The Iranian Resistance once again calls on the United Nations, relevant international bodies, and human rights defenders to take immediate action to save the lives of prisoners sentenced to death, especially political prisoners and those detained during the uprising,” the NCRI said in a statement.

The protests in Iran were triggered by a series of local strikes by shopkeepers and market merchants in Tehran in late December.