Ten Illegal Migrant Children Rescued at Raided
Democrat Donor's California Marijuana Plantation
Rescuing children from Slave Labor should not be an issue.
That 320,000 children were lost under the Biden administration, and these rescued children are among those missing should be.
And that so-named protestors have fought back against this action, even to fire guns, should be of grave concern.

Quote:A U.S. company has announced a $400 million deal with the United States Department of Defense amid soaring demand for domestically mined rare earth elements that are critical for both civilian and military technologies.

The MP Materials deal is being hailed as a major move toward building out the U.S. mine-to-magnet supply chain and cutting the country's reliance on geopolitical rival China.

Newsweek reached out to the Pentagon and MP Materials via request for comment outside of office hours.

Why It Matters

China supplies 70 percent of the rare earths imported by the U.S. and controls about 85 percent of the world's refining capacity—a virtual stranglehold on production of the high-performance magnets used in everything from electric vehicles to missiles.

This dependency is viewed in Washington as an Achilles' heel. That concern has driven the administration of President Donald Trump to seek out new deals—such as one signed with Ukraine in May.

What To Know

MP Materials Corp announced Thursday it had entered a public-private partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense that would, in its words, "dramatically accelerate the build-out of an end-to-end U.S. rare earth magnet supply chain and reduce foreign dependency."

Under the deal, the Pentagon will invest $400 million for a 15 percent ownership stake in the Las Vegas-headquartered firm, whose Mountain Pass mine in California remains the country's only rare earth mining facility.

The company also processes rare earth concentrate, though most of the final refining and magnet production still takes place in China.

"This initiative marks a decisive action by the Trump administration to accelerate American supply chain independence," said James Litinsky, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of MP Materials.

MP Materials shares surged by over 50 percent when trading opened Thursday morning.

Quote:Attorney General Pam Bondi has fired several Department of Justice (DOJ) employees who worked with former special counsel Jack Smith on two criminal investigations into President Donald Trump's possession of classified documents and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, Reuters reported on Friday.
...
The Trump administration has pursued sweeping personnel changes across federal departments and agencies, particularly targeting those they deem disloyal or involved in investigating Trump. The administration has carried out large firings on Friday evenings before, including the termination of several inspectors general in January.

Prior to assuming office for his second term, Trump faced two major criminal investigations overseen by then-Special Counsel Smith that involved multiple indictments. Over a dozen DOJ employees who worked with Smith have been fired since Trump took office again.

Outside of the judiciary, the president has also directed criticism and executive orders at lawyers and law firms linked to Smith.

What To Know

At least seven of the individuals fired Friday night worked as support staff on Smith's team, sources told Reuters.

Some of the now terminated DOJ employees most recently worked in U.S. Attorney's offices across the U.S. including Florida and North Carolina, the wire service reported.

Reuters initially reported that nine DOJ employees were fired, but later updated its reporting to note the number had risen to around 20. Axios and ABC News have also reported that at least 20 people were terminated.

Smith spearheaded the federal classified documents case in Florida and the case involving Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

Trump faced dozens of felony counts accusing him of illegally keeping classified documents that he took with him after he left the White House in 2021 at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and then obstructing the government's efforts to get them back. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and has denied wrongdoing.

Last summer, Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, dismissed the classified documents case on grounds that Smith was not properly appointed by then Attorney General Merrick Garland because he was not approved by the U.S. Senate.

Quote:Elon Musk escalated his public feud with President Donald Trump over the weekend, urging the release of documents related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein "as promised."

The billionaire responded to Trump's Truth Social post defending U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has faced backlash from the MAGA movement over her handling of the Epstein files.

Musk replied to a screen grab of Trump's post and said: "Seriously. He said 'Epstein' half a dozen times while telling everyone to stop talking about Epstein. Just release the files as promised."
[Tweet]
Why It Matters

The Epstein issue has become a symbolic litmus test for parts of the conservative base, especially among voters who believe Trump promised full transparency. MAGA is clearly divided over Epstein, with multiple calls for Bondi to be sacked.

Influential voices on the right, including former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, have warned that suppressing the Epstein documents could be politically devastating. "You're going to lose 40 House seats over this if you don't release the files," Bannon said recently.

As Trump seeks to shore up his base for November, the controversy threatens to alienate populist factions once firmly in his corner.

What To Know

Musk was one of the most prominent supporters of Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, spending at least $250 million to support his bid.

But the pair fell out over Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill, a major tax and spending package that passed the Senate with Vice President JD Vance's tiebreaking vote.

Quote:President Donald Trump publicly backed FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino during a press gaggle on Sunday, stating that Bongino is staying at the FBI for now following reports of potential resignation this week.

Trump described Bongino as "a very good guy" and said he believes the deputy director is "in good shape" amid ongoing tensions within the administration over the handling of Jeffrey Epstein files.

Newsweek reached out to the White House via email on Sunday for comment.

Why It Matters

Epstein, the financier and sex offender who died in prison six years ago, socialized with some of the world's most powerful people. While his death was ruled a suicide, conspiracy theories persist that he was instead killed due to his purported "client list," which many have speculated to contain the names of politicians including Trump, former President Bill Clinton and Britain's Prince Andrew.

Trump during his 2024 presidential campaign suggested he would release files related to Epstein, with a first batch publicized in February by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. However, earlier this week, Trump and Bondi said they found "no incriminating 'client list'" related to Epstein, triggering major backlash among both Democrats and MAGA supporters.

Billionaire Elon Musk last month said the government had not released records related to the case because Trump "is in the Epstein files." While the president has dismissed Musk's claim, it has sparked further interest in the government's records.

What To Know

Speaking with reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Trump revealed he had spoken with Bongino earlier on Sunday about his future at the FBI.

The president expressed confidence in his deputy director, emphasizing their long-standing relationship and Bongino's regular appearances on Trump's campaign trail. Trump noted he had "done his show many, many times," referring to The Dan Bongino Show podcast, which ranked as the 56th most-popular podcast on Spotify before Bongino took his FBI position.

The president's comments came amid reports that Bongino was considering resignation following a heated exchange with Attorney General Pam Bondi over the management of Epstein files. According to CNN, Bongino did not report to work on Friday, fueling speculation about his potential departure.

Trump appointed Bongino to his FBI deputy director role in late February, praising him as "great news for Law Enforcement and American Justice." Bongino previously served in the New York Police Department (NYPD) and as a Secret Service agent, protecting Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Quote:Two women were killed, and three others, including a Kentucky State Trooper, were injured after a suspect shot at the officer and fled to the Richmond Road Baptist Church, Kentucky authorities said on Sunday.

Police have confirmed that the suspect is also dead.

Newsweek has reached out to the Lexington Fire Department and the Richmond Road Baptist Church for comment via email on Sunday.

What To Know

"I'm heartbroken to share the shooting in Lexington at Richmond Road Baptist Church has taken the lives of two people," Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear wrote in an X, formerly Twitter, post.

Four people were shot at on church property, the two women who were killed and two men who have been transported to the hospital, the Lexington Police Department said in a press release.

"One victim was reported to have sustained critical injuries and the other was reported in stable condition," the police said.

In a second post, the governor wrote: "Violence like this has no place in our commonwealth or country. Please join Britainy and me as we pray for the families of those lost, each one a child of God gone too soon."

A single suspect was involved in two shootings Sunday in Lexington, with the first reported around 11:36 a.m. local time in Fayette County, Kentucky. The suspect "shot a trooper and then fled the scene, ending up at the Richmond Road Baptist Church," the Kentucky State Police (KSP) said in a statement emailed to Newsweek on Sunday afternoon.

The Lexington Police Department said in a Sunday statement the shootings are "connected," noting the first took place "on Terminal Drive, where a Kentucky State Trooper was shot."

The statement continued, "While that shooting occurred on Terminal Drive, it was unrelated to the Blue Grass Airport. The Trooper is in stable condition, receiving medical treatment."

Quote:A McDonald's manager was stabbed to death at work by an employee after an argument at a Detroit-area restaurant on Thursday, police have said.

The victim has been named as Jennifer Harris, a 36-year-old mother-of-six who had worked at the Eastpointe McDonald's, on 9 Mile and Schroeder Avenue, for 15 years.

What To Know

Harris had asked the employee to leave following an argument between the pair, police said. The employee went home but then returned with a kitchen knife and stabbed Harris multiple times shortly before 8 a.m., police said.

The 26-year-old suspect tried to run out of the restaurant after the attack but a customer with a gun fired a warning shot and detained the suspect, police added.

A witness at the drive-thru said the suspect was wearing a mask when she returned, according to Fox2Detroit.

"She started stabbing her and I ran for help and basically asked everybody like "help help" or whatever," the witness said. "I tried to stop her - it was no stopping her. She stabbed her everywhere."

Harris' daughter Antonia Griffin told reporters: "My momma was a good person, she was the best mom anybody could ever ask for. My momma, she woke up every day to work for us. My momma died trying to take care of us!"

The Context

Workplace violence remains a persistent problem in the United States. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration reports that about 2 million American workers experience workplace violence each year.

Hospitality workers experience 8 percent of workplace violence cases with guest interactions and late-night hours contributing to vulnerability, according to the report.

Quote:North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reaffirmed his country's "unconditional support" for Russia in the Ukraine war, telling Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Saturday that he strongly believes Moscow will emerge victorious from the conflict.

The exchange between the two was reported by North Korea state news agency KCNA on Sunday, which described the meeting between the so-called supreme leader and Lavrov as taking place in "an atmosphere full of warm comradely trust."

A Tightening Partnership

Kim and Lavrov met in the eastern coastal city of Wonsan during the Russian top diplomat's three-day visit to North Korea, the latest in a recent series of trips meant to further tighten the relationship between the two pariah countries.

The strategic partnership between the two countries, which position themselves as allies against the same West which has isolated them, has quickly escalated in recent years—in a way that experts consider dangerous. If in the first months following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022 the relationship between the two countries was based on rather practical cash-for-weapon exchange, Pyongyang has recently gone as far in its support as sending more than 10,000 troops to fight for Russia in Ukraine.

Kim's recent statement to Lavrov suggests that there is no turning back for North Korea, even as the country has admitted losing hundreds of soldiers in Ukraine.

"Kim Jong Un reaffirmed that the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) is ready to unconditionally support and encourage all the measures taken by the Russian leadership as regards the tackling of the root cause of the Ukrainian crisis," KCNA wrote on Sunday.

Russia seems equally as enthusiastic about the friendship between the two countries. On Saturday, Lavrov was quoted on Russian media as celebrating Moscow and Pyongyang as "an invincible fighting brotherhood." The Russian diplomat also reportedly thanked Kim for the deployment of his country's troops to Ukraine.

What Is Happening In Ukraine

On the same day of the meeting between Kim and Lavrov, Ukraine said that Russia fired hundreds of drones and long-range missiles across the country overnight, in what the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) described as the third combined strike with over 400 drones and missiles in July alone.

"Twenty-six cruise missiles and 597 attack drones were launched, of which more than half were 'Shaheds' [Iranian-made drones]," Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening speech. According to the Ukrainian air force, 319 Shahed drones and 25 missiles were brought down, while one missile and about 20 drones had hit "five locations."

"The Russians are intensifying terror against cities and communities to increasingly intimidate our people. But despite Moscow's plans, the air defense forces are achieving good results," Zelensky wrote on X.

It seems sort of clear now that North Korea is heavily training its military to make its soldiers become truly professional combatants, and this might only mean they're waiting for the day when another war starts. But this time it'll be in the Pacific theater.

Quote:Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) said on Sunday that it successfully tracked down and "neutralized" two Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agents who were suspected of assassinating Colonel Ivan Voronych, a high-ranking SBU Special Operations Centre officer, in Kyiv on July 10.

Newsweek has contacted the SBU, Ukrainian officials, and the FSB on Sunday via email for comment.

Why It Matters

Colonel Voronych served in the Special Operations Center (Alpha) and led high-risk operations targeting Russian military assets. As reported by RBC-Ukraine, his unit was involved in sabotage operations behind enemy lines and was credited with eliminating high-ranking members of the Russian administration.

His assassination marked a significant and brazen escalation in the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia that began in February 2022 when Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded the Eastern European nation.

What To Know

As reported by Newsweek, Voronych was shot dead as he left his home in Kyiv on Thursday morning. A masked gunman approached the senior intelligence officer from a residential parking lot and shot him several times with a silenced handgun before fleeing.

According to SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk, the two agents, identified as a man and a woman, were dispatched into Ukraine several days before Voronych was gunned down in Kyiv's Holosiivskyi district.

Surveillance footage captured the two suspects following Voronych to a firearms cache where they retrieved a suppressed pistol. Around 9 a.m. local time on July 10, they ambushed and fatally shot him.

An update posted to the Ukrainian government Telegram channel stated: "The SBU eliminated the killers who killed the Security Service colonel in Kyiv. During a special operation, employees of the Security Service of Ukraine eliminated agents of the Russian special services who, on the instructions of the FSB of the Russian Federation, carried out the murder of the SBU colonel in Kyiv.

"The special operation to find the killers of the Ukrainian defender was personally led by the head of the SBU, Lieutenant General Vasyl Malyuk. The FSB agent-combat group was routed to Ukraine in advance and three days ago committed the murder of an SBU employee, our brother Colonel Ivan Voronych."

SBU and National Police located the pair in Kyiv Oblast during a special operation led personally by Malyuk. When the agents resisted arrest, a gunfight ensued, ending with both suspects being killed in the operation

"SBU and National Police officers established their location in the Kyiv region. This morning, a special operation was conducted, during which members of the FSB intelligence and combat group of the Russian Federation began to resist, so they were eliminated," the post said.

It went on to say that the head of the Ukrainian special service thanked the employees of the National Police of Ukraine for their professionalism and support, emphasizing that "effective counteraction to Russian special services is a key area of activity for the Security Service."

Quote:Finland has formally notified the United Nations (U.N.) of its intention to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention, which bans the use of antipersonnel land mines, according to Reuters—a move that several European allies have made in the face of Russia's ongoing aggression in Ukraine.

Newsweek reached out to NATO via email outside of normal business hours on Friday night for comment.

Why It Matters

The move by Finland, a country sharing an 830-mile border with Russia, highlights growing apprehension in Eastern Europe due to the heightened threat of Russian invasion. Finland joined NATO after decades of holding a position of neutrality between the alliance and Russia, but changed course following the invasion of Ukraine.

In a joint statement earlier this year, Poland and the Baltic defense ministers said their decision would send "a clear message: Our countries are prepared and can use every necessary measure to defend our territory and freedom."

The Ottawa Convention, which took effect in 1999, requires signatory states to ban the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of antipersonnel mines. Finland's withdrawal was announced as regional partners—including Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania—also indicated their exit amid fears of Russia's military actions following its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Last year, international watchdog Landmine Monitor reported that Russia and other countries had actively used land mines in recent conflicts. At least 5,757 people were killed or wounded by the mines and unexploded ordnance in the past year, most of whom were civilians—including significant numbers of children.

Comrade Peskov is back after discovering that water is wet!

Quote:Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peksov has admitted there is "unprecedented" military censorship of the media in Russia, but defended it as necessary in the current circumstances, as Moscow's invasion of Ukraine continues.

Peksov, speaking to Russia's Expert magazine, acknowledged that many independent publications had closed down and journalists had left the country.

"But do not forget the situation we are in," Peskov said, in comments translated from Russian, in the interview published on Friday, July 11.

"Now is the time of military censorship—unprecedented for our country.

"After all, the war is also going on in the information space. And it would be wrong to turn a blind eye to the media that are deliberately engaged in discrediting Russia. Therefore, I believe that this regime is justified now."

Russia Throttles Media Freedom

According to Reporters Without Borders, an advocacy group focused on media freedom, almost all independent media sources in Russia have been banned, blocked, or subjected to censorship and other sanctions since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

"The remaining media are owned by the state or by Kremlin allies. Their employees must follow orders issued by the president's office regarding subjects to be avoided, and must censor themselves closely," says Reporters Without Borders.

Most Russians consume news via television, whose channels are heavily controlled by the government.

Moscow has framed the conflict in Ukraine as a "special military operation" against what it characterizes as a "Nazi" regime, and says it is pushing back against Western threats to Russia's security as well as attempts to eradicate its culture.

Ukraine says Russia has launched a brutal imperial war of aggression to seize control of a neighbor and remove its sovereignty to prevent it joining groups such as the European Union (EU) and the U.S.-led defensive alliance NATO.

Peskov Praises New 'Patriotism' in Coverage
Peskov praised the Russian media for becoming increasingly "patriotic" in its coverage.

"I think that most people have always had a sense of love for Russia and pride in it, but it was not customary for many media outlets to promote such an agenda," he told Expert.

"I would even say that part of the editorial policy of a number of Russian media was to express skepticism toward their own country."

But he said there "will come a time when a softer information policy will be in demand, and then we will see the emergence of more neutral media that write about both problems and achievements."

If you were asking yourself if Soviet Russia was alive and kicking, this should open your eyes to the saddening and bloody red truth.

Quote:Two heavily armed Chinese coast guard vessels have been tracked in what Tokyo considers to be territorial waters around the disputed Senkaku Islands, according to the Japanese coast guard.
...
Japan administers the uninhabited islands, which China and Taiwan have long claimed—calling them the Diaoyu and Diaoyutai, respectively. Japan's nationalization of the islands in 2012 prompted China to step up its activities in the area.

The latest patrols come against a backdrop of tensions between the U.S. ally over China's military buildup. Analysts say China is using its coast guard to normalize its presence in disputed waters through "gray zone" actions that stop short of what would likely trigger a military response.

What To Know

The pair of Chinese coast guard cutters crossed into Japan-claimed territorial waters—which extend 12 nautical miles, or about 14 miles, from shore—near the Senkaku Islands early Wednesday morning, Japan's coast guard told local media.

The vessels, both of which were equipped with deck-mounted autocannons, attempted to approach a Japanese fishing boat operating in the area, the agency added.

Japan's coast guard said its ships had repeatedly ordered their Chinese counterparts to leave the area and managed to prevent them from sailing closer to the fishing vessel.

Nevertheless, both Chinese ships were still operating in territorial waters as of Thursday and were again successfully blocked from intercepting a fishing boat, the agency said, criticizing the move as "a violation of international law."

Quote:Iran is prepared to resume talks with the United States but only if it meets certain conditions, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.

Iran's suggestion that talks can be resumed comes nearly three weeks after President Donald Trump ordered strikes on Iran aimed at stopping its nuclear program following initial Israeli strikes.

Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. Department of State for comment.

Why It Matters

The comments and the setting of conditions indicate the challenge to reviving talks.

The impact of the U.S. strikes on the Iranian facilities is not clear, leading to speculation of more attacks and major questions over efforts to revive diplomatic engagement between the two long-time adversaries.

Iran's nuclear program may get more difficult to monitor if no deal is reached with the United States. The U.N. nuclear watchdog has withdrawn its inspectors and nuclear experts believe Iran relocated more than 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium—enough for 10 nuclear weapons—to a secret location.

What To Know

Araghchi, in a written interview with the French newspaper Le Monde, said the United States should compensate for the "serious damages" caused by the strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities and guarantee there won't be more attacks. He also warned that sanctions complicate diplomacy and efforts to build trust around Iran's nuclear program.

"It was the U.S. that broke off negotiations and turned to military action. It is therefore essential that responsibility for these mistakes is acknowledged and that a clear sign of a change in behavior is observed," Araghchi said.

Please keep in mind that China is involved in this mega project.

Quote:Brazil and China have signed an agreement to launch a technical, environmental and economic feasibility study for a proposed 2,800-mile railway linking Brazil's Atlantic coast with Peru's Pacific port of Chancay.

The memorandum of understanding, made public on Monday, was agreed between Infra S.A., a Brazilian state-owned entity attached to the Ministry of Transport, and the China Railway Economic and Planning Research Institute.

Why It Matters

The proposed transcontinental corridor, if constructed, would represent a multibillion-dollar logistical overhaul for cross-continental trade, with estimates suggesting the cost could rise above $70 billion. Linking Brazil's Atlantic coast with the Pacific Ocean in Peru could shorten shipping times to Asian markets by as much as 12 days compared with current routes passing through the Panama Canal.

This diversification of trade infrastructure could decrease dependence on maritime choke points and foster expanded economic ties between South America and Asia. Infrastructure improvements on such a scale could make South American exports more competitive in Asian markets and potentially realign global supply chains.

What To Know

The feasibility study follows months of growing engagement between Brazil and China. In April, a Chinese delegation visited Brazil's Fico and Fiol railway lines, which are anticipated as important components for the larger corridor. The same group toured the Port of Santos, the busiest port in Latin America, which is also being expanded with Chinese investment.

The planned 2,800 miles of rail line would stretch from Ilhéus, Bahia, in northeastern Brazil, through the Amazon and the state of Acre, and ultimately cross the Andes Mountains into Peru.

The final destination would be Chancay, a major Pacific port. The project's cost, estimated at over $70 billion, makes it one of the most expensive infrastructure projects in South American history. As of the agreement, both countries have limited their commitment to a feasibility study, which will examine technical, environmental and economic implications. The study is projected to take up to five years before any construction could begin.

The feasibility study will need to account for significant logistical, technical and environmental hurdles. The planned railway traverses ecologically sensitive regions including portions of the Amazon rainforest and the Andes Mountains, raising concerns about potential impacts.

Both parties remain in the study phase and have not made final commitments on route selection or environmental mitigation.

The memorandum was signed after months of negotiation and on-site assessments, including a review of Fico and Fiol.

Quote:The U.S. Supreme Court said President Donald Trump's administration can proceed with plans to lay off some 1,400 employees at the Department of Education—marking another win for the White House from the conservative-leaning high court.

A majority of the justices lifted a lower-court ruling that had indefinitely paused the administration's plan. Liberal Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented.

"Today, the Supreme Court again confirmed the obvious: the President of the United States, as the head of the Executive Branch, has the ultimate authority to make decisions about staffing levels, administrative organization, and day-to-day operations of federal agencies," Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a press release.

"While today's ruling is a significant win for students and families, it is a shame that the highest court in the land had to step in to allow President Trump to advance the reforms Americans elected him to deliver using the authorities granted to him by the U.S. Constitution."

Quote:Three Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies were killed in a blast at a compound that houses the agency’s arson and explosive unit on Friday morning.

The explosion at the Biscailuz Center Academy Training facility in East Los Angeles resulted in the department’s worst loss of life in a single event since 1857.

The officers were identified as Detective Joshua Kelley-Eklund, Detective Victor Lemus and Detective William Osborn, all of whom were assigned to the Special Enforcement Bureau’s Arson Explosives Detail.

The fallen members — whose elite unit responds to 1,000 calls yearly — were longtime veterans who had been on the job for 19, 22 and 33 years, respectively.

The three were remembered as heroes by the county’s top cop.

“There are no words to express the pain and sorrow we feel,” Sheriff Robert Luna said late Friday night. “These heroes represented the best of our Department, exemplifying courage, integrity, and selfless service. This is not only a heartbreaking loss for their families, but for all of us.”

At an earlier press briefing, he said they were “fantastic experts and, unfortunately, I lost three of them today.”

It’s unclear what sparked the deadly blast, though investigators are preliminarily looking at a possible training accident, a person briefed on the matter told the Associated Press.

Aerial footage from local news helicopters showed the explosion happened in a parking lot where patrol cars and box trucks were parked.

No other injuries were reported, and the scene was deemed safe about four hours after the explosion.

“There is currently an investigation going on to determine what happened from the very beginning to the end,” Luna said. “I know everybody wants answers, please understand we just rendered the scene safe.”

Quote:Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) made a quick U-turn Thursday after initially fuming that the discourse surrounding government documents related to notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was a “distraction.”

About an hour after suggesting that Americans should focus on the debate over the rescissions package being considered in Congress, rather than the so-called “Epstein files,” Pelosi weighed in on President Trump’s handling of the convicted sex predator’s case – demanding that documents be released.
“This is a distraction,” Pelosi told MSNBC host Chris Jansing, when asked about what Trump could do to get his supporters to move on from the Epstein matter. “We have major issues right here with things we’re voting on today in the Congress.”

“And instead we’re talking about him – about this thing, and his own base has its own views of what the president should do,” she continued.

“I’ll leave it up to them to talk it out.”
“[W]hether it’s Jeffrey Epstein or Alcatraz, it’s all off the subject of what they’re doing with this budget that is harmful to the kitchen table, meeting the kitchen-table needs of the American people,” Pelosi fumed.

When asked to clarify her comments, Pelosi doubled-down, calling the Epstein debate and Trump’s vision of refurbishing Alcatraz so it can once again house prisoners “both distractions.”

“I think that they’re off the subject of what is happening, changing the character and the culture of America by undermining –  by placing huge, trillions of dollars of national debt on future generations to carry forward at the expense of the health, nutrition and education of the American people,” she argued.

Quote:President Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi Thursday to release “pertinent” grand jury testimony in the case of notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein — so long as a court allows it.

“Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval,” he wrote on Truth Social.

“This SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats, should end, right now!” the president added.

Trump’s decision follows intense pressure from his base for more transparency in the case, and comes hours after The Wall Street Journal published a story about a note he allegedly wrote to Epstein.

Grand jury testimony in the Epstein case took place in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York — and Bondi indicated that she would petition the court Friday for the release of the files.

“President Trump — we are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts,” Bondi wrote on X.

Epstein, 66, was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell in August 2019, a month after he was charged with sex trafficking minors by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

The FBI and Justice Department announced the conclusion of a “systematic review” of the Epstein case last week in a controversial, unsigned memo.

The review found “no credible evidence” that Epstein “blackmailed prominent individuals” or that investigations against “uncharged third parties” were warranted.

Investigators also concluded the financier died by suicide and never had a “client list” of powerful associates allegedly implicated in his sickening crimes.

The memo indicated that no further disclosures would be made in the case.

Trump, backing the FBI and DOJ’s decision, has described the case as a “hoax” and has urged his supporters to move on from the issue since the release of the memo.

Quote:President Trump sued the publisher of The Wall Street Journal for $10 billion over an allegedly “fake” and “defamatory” article that claimed he sent a lewd letter, with the drawn outline of a naked woman, to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday.

News Corp, its chair emeritus Rupert Murdoch and chief executive Robert Thomson; Dow Jones, the Journal’s publisher; and the reporters who authored the report were named as defendants in the suit filed Friday in federal court in the Southern District of Florida.

A Dow Jones spokesperson responded: “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”
Reps for News Corp did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The suit, which seeks $10 billion in damages, stated “no authentic letter or drawing exists” showing Trump, 79, using “salacious language” to wish Epstein a happy 50th birthday in 2003.

“To attempt and inextricably link President Trump to Epstein, Defendants Safdar and Palazzolo falsely claim that the salacious language of the letter is contained within a hand-drawn naked woman, which was created with a heavy marker,” wrote Trump’s attorney Alejandro Brito.

The report goes on to “provide a series of quotes from the nonexistent letter, claiming that the letter was written in third person, beginning with a voice over interluding a conversation, followed by a purported dialogue between President Trump and Epstein — as if they were characters in a play.”

Brito also accused the Journal of trying to “falsely represent as fact that President Trump drew the naked woman’s breasts and signed his name ‘Donald’ below her waist, ‘mimicking pubic hair.'”

“Defendants concocted this story to malign President Trump’s character and integrity and deceptively portray him in a false light,” the suit alleged.

Quote:An undocumented woman faked her own kidnapping and blamed it on Immigration and Customs Enforcement to generate sympathy and donations, the Justice Department has claimed.

The DOJ said in a press release Thursday Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon, a 41-year-old from Los Angeles, was taken into ICE custody and charged with conspiracy and making false statements to federal officers.

The case comes amid criticism of President Donald Trump’s mass immigration deportation efforts, which have brought a spike in immigration raids across the country.

Federal prosecutors claimed, citing court documents filed Wednesday, that an attorney representing Calderon’s family held a press conference on June 30 saying the woman was kidnapped five days earlier in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant in Los Angeles.

The lawyer claimed she was brought to San Ysidro near the southern border, where “she was presented to [a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] staffer” and “presented with voluntary self-deportation paperwork,” prosecutors said.

When Calderon refused to sign the papers and demanded to speak to a judge and a lawyer, “she was punished” and sent to a warehouse in an undisclosed location, the attorney claimed, according to prosecutors.

A GoFundMe page with a fundraising goal of $4,500 was set up by Calderon’s daughter, who claimed her mother “was taken by masked men in an unmarked vehicle…when she was on her way to work,” according to the DOJ’s press release.

A fundraising page matching the DOJ’s description said Calderon is the head of the family household and describes her as an “amazing mother and very dedicated.”

Her daughter said her mother takes care of her, two teenage children and two adults with disabilities.

“We are asking for help because we are also facing an eviction. Every single dollar could help us at this moment, and we are hoping that we could find out where they have her. We have already looked in detention centers as well as warehouses, and we still have no idea why they did not process her,” Calderon’s daughter wrote on the page.

When The Independent reached out to GoFundMe about the $80 raised on Calderon’s behalf, a spokesperson for the company said: “GoFundMe has zero tolerance for the misuse of our platform, or any attempt to exploit the generosity of others, and cooperates with law enforcement investigations of those accused of wrongdoing.

“This fundraiser was removed from the platform and the $80 raised was refunded; at no point did the organizer have access to any of the funds. The GoFundMe Giving Guarantee guarantees donors a full refund in the rare case something isn’t right.”

Quote:A federal judge blocked on Friday the enforcement of US President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting those who work with the International Criminal Court.

The ruling follows an April lawsuit by two human rights advocates challenging Trump’s February 6 order authorizing potentially far-reaching economic and travel sanctions on people who work on ICC investigations of US citizens or US allies, such as Israel.

In her ruling, US District Judge Nancy Torresen called the executive order an unconstitutional infringement on free speech.
“The executive order appears to restrict substantially more speech than necessary to further that end,” she wrote.
“The executive order broadly prohibits any speech-based services that benefit the prosecutor, regardless of whether those beneficial services relate to an ICC investigation of the United States, Israel, or another US ally.”

The White House and the ICC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The executive order imposed sanctions on ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan, who is British. The US treasury department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control also places him on a registry of sanctioned individuals and entities.

US citizens who provide services for the benefit of Khan or other sanctioned individuals could face civil and criminal penalties, according to the order, which has been condemned by the ICC and dozens of countries.

Has that judge ever thought that the ICC might have overreached its own legal authority in the US and Israel by any chance?

Quote:The Trump administration is offering former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers up to $50,000 in bonuses to rejoin the agency now that it has additional funding to carry out migrant deportation arrests.

“You served the United States of America with distinction and honor. Now, your country calls upon you to serve once more,” read an email sent by ICE to a retired employee and obtained by The Post.

“Due to the prior administration’s disastrous immigration policies, the men and women of ICE now face unprecedented challenges,” the message continued. “Your experience and unwavering commitment are critically needed to secure our communities and uphold our laws.”

The “urgent call” to former ICE officers has been dubbed “Operation Return to Mission.”

As part of the deal, returning employees may serve in their “current location and previous job series,” and they could be eligible for lucrative bonuses.
ICE is offering a signing bonus of $10,000 upon returning to service; another $10,000 bonus for those who submit applications by Aug. 1; and annual $10,000 bonuses, for up to three years, for those who take part in Operation Return to Service.

The agency notes that “dual compensation waivers” will also be offered, allowing former federal workers to retain pension payments and benefits if they come out of retirement.

“By returning to ICE, you are providing an honorable, indispensable service to our nation,” the email said.

ICE noted that President Trump’s July 4 signing of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act has allowed the agency to “significantly” grow its team and that it is “starting with bringing back our former colleagues.”

The massive piece of legislation granted ICE $75 billion in extra funding to carry out Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration, including $30 billion for arrest and deportation efforts and $45 billion to expand detention capabilities.

Quote:The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the elimination of its research and development office Friday, along with thousands of job cuts that will save taxpayers nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars.

The reduction in force (RIF) will target the Office of Research and Development, the EPA’s scientific research arm which informs decision making, the agency said.

The EPA expects the overhaul to result in $748.8 million in savings.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, EPA has taken a close look at our operations to ensure the agency is better equipped than ever to deliver on our core mission of protecting human health and the environment while Powering the Great American Comeback,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement. 

“This reduction in force will ensure we can better fulfill that mission while being responsible stewards of your hard-earned tax dollars,” he added.

The EPA previously announced that it planned to shift scientific expertise and research efforts to program offices that handle “statutory obligations and mission essential functions,” such as ensuring clean air and water. 

The agency also said it is creating a new Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions that will “allow EPA to prioritize research and science more than ever before and put it at the forefront of rulemakings and technical assistance to states.”

EPA union leader Justin Chen slammed the decision to axe the Office of Research and Development, which he described as “the heart and brain” of the agency.

Quote:CBS brass say they pulled the plug on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” because of its punishing losses — pegged between $40 million and $50 million a year — and claim politics had nothing to do with it, The Post has learned.

The 61-year-old host got canned just days after he took a dig at the Tiffany Network over its $16 million settlement with Donald Trump over a controversial “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris as the network’s parent Paramount negotiates with the Trump administration regulatory approval for its $8 billion sale to independent studio Skydance.

“I am offended, and I don’t know if anything will ever repair my trust in this company,” Colbert said of the truce in his Monday night monologue.
“But just taking a stab at it, I’d say $16 million would help.”

‘Gets no advertising’

But scathing jokes at the expense of CBS brass wasn’t the problem, according to insiders.

Instead, the network’s bosses could no longer stomach the fact that Colbert has been plagued with an increasingly dire shortage of advertisers.

That’s despite Colbert’s No, 1 ratings in his time slot and his status as a key face for the Tiffany Network.

In the end, Paramount’s co-CEO George Cheeks decided to kill the show, sources said.

“Colbert gets no advertising and late night is a tough spot,” said a person with direct knowledge of CBS’s decision.

“Colbert might be No. 1, but who watches late night TV anymore?”

Some Democrats voiced suspicion, citing the host’s left-wing leanings and CBS owner Paramount’s urgent need to gain an OK from the Trump administration for the merger with Skydance, the Hollywood studio behind the “Mission: Impossible” franchise.

“CBS canceled Colbert’s show just THREE DAYS after Colbert called out CBS parent company Paramount for its $16M settlement with Trump — a deal that looks like bribery,” lefty Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote on X.

“America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons.”

Skydance CEO David Ellison is the son of Donald Trump pal and tech billionaire Larry Ellison.

As The Post first reported, CBS just paid $16 million to Trump and has agreed to run millions of dollars more in MAGA-friendly ads to settle the president’s lawsuit alleging that “60 Minutes” deceptively edited its 2024 interview with Kamala Harris to make her look better.

Trump, meanwhile, celebrated Colbert’s canning in a Friday morning post on Truth Social.

“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,” the president wrote.

Quote:The Obama administration knew before and after the 2016 election that Russia did not affect the vote’s outcome through cyberattacks, according to a bombshell document released by the Trump administration Friday.

Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard made public more than 100 pages of emails, memos and other records cataloguing what she called Obama officials’ “conspiracy to subvert President Trump’s 2016 victory.”

Both before and after Democrat Hillary Clinton’s loss, the US Intelligence Community assessed that Russia played no significant role influencing the election.

Among the documents was a Sept. 12, 2016, Intelligence Community Assessment that determined “foreign adversaries do not have and will probably not obtain the capabilities to successfully execute widespread and undetected cyber attacks” on election infrastructure.

On Dec. 7, 2016, then-DNI James Clapper’s office also concluded: “Foreign adversaries did not use cyberattacks on election infrastructure to alter the US Presidential election outcome” and “We have no evidence of cyber manipulation of election infrastructure intended to alter results.”

Other findings, prepared the following day for Obama’s Presidential Daily Brief, only pointed to the “likely” hacking of an Illinois voter registration database that did not affect the electoral count and was “unsuccessfully attempted” in other states.

“Criminal activity also failed to reach the scale and sophistication necessary to change election outcomes,” the draft of the brief stated.

But those findings were suppressed after the FBI — led by Director James Comey — said it was going to “dissent” from the draft’s conclusions “based on some new guidance.”

Clapper then spearheaded an alternative intelligence report claiming the Kremlin orchestrated hackings of Democratic National Committee emails, thousands of which were later posted online by Wikileaks, and intervened in the presidential contest in favor of Trump.

Several officials — including CIA Director John Brennan, Secretary of State John Kerry, and FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe — met at the White House on Dec. 9, 2016, where Obama began “tasking” each to look into “Russia Election Meddling.”

White House chief of staff Denis McDonogh, National Security Adviser Susan Rice, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson also attended that meeting.

The 44th president ordered a new intelligence assessment from the CIA, FBI, NSA and DHS, with comprehensive information about Russia’s activities related to the US presidential race by early January — an assessment which ended up including the since-debunked dossier produced by former MI6 spy Christopher Steele.

Quote:United States will revoke visas from other seven justices of Brazilian Supreme Court, in addition to judge Alexandre de Moraes, local newspaper O Globo reported on Friday, without citing its source.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced earlier the immediate visa revocations from “Moraes and his allies on the court, as well as their immediate family members”, citing court orders against former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

Brazil’s Supreme Court issued search warrants and restraining orders against Bolsonaro on Friday, banning him from contacting foreign officials over allegations he courted the interference of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump has already tried to use pressure to help Bolsonaro by announcing a 50% tariff on goods from Latin America’s No. 1 economy.

Bolsonaro told Reuters that he believed the court orders were a reaction to Trump’s criticism of his trial before the Supreme Court for trying to overturn the last election.

The court’s crackdown on Bolsonaro added to evidence that Trump’s tactics are backfiring in Brazil, compounding trouble for his ideological ally and rallying public support behind a defiant leftist government.

Bolsonaro was banned from contacting foreign officials, using social media or approaching embassies, according to the decision issued by Moraes, who cited a “concrete possibility” of him fleeing the country. His home was raided by federal police and he had an ankle monitor placed on him.

In an interview with Reuters at his party’s headquarters on Friday, Bolsonaro called Moraes a “dictator” and described the latest court orders as acts of “cowardice.”

Quote:A Minnesota state senator was convicted of burglary Friday for breaking into her estranged stepmother’s home, and faced calls for her immediate resignation from a closely divided chamber where she holds a deciding vote.

After about three hours of deliberations, the jury found Democratic state Sen. Nicole Mitchell, 51, guilty of first-degree burglary and possession of burglary tools.

She told police right after her arrest that she went there to search for her father’s ashes and other mementos, but tried to back away from that story on the witness stand.

Mitchell displayed little emotion as the verdicts were read.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy was quick to issue a statement saying that Mitchell has told colleagues that she planned to resign if convicted, “and I expect her to follow through on that pledge.”

Republican Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson reiterated the GOP’s long-standing demand for immediate resignation or face expulsion.

Gov. Tim Walz’s office said he expects her to resign.

But one of Mitchell’s attorneys, Dane DeKrey, said in text messages that he didn’t know if she would heed the calls. He said they’re exploring their options for an appeal.

The Democrat from the St. Paul suburb of Woodbury maintained her innocence and refused to resign since her arrest in the early hours of April 22, 2024, at her stepmother’s home in the northwestern Minnesota city of Detroit Lakes.

Mitchell’s father died in 2023 at the age of 72.

He had been married to Mitchell’s stepmother, Carol Mitchell, for nearly 40 years.

The jury saw bodycam video of Mitchell telling police repeatedly after her arrest that she broke into the home because her stepmother refused to give her items of sentimental value from her father, including some of his ashes, photos and a flannel shirt.

Quote:The Big Apple will devolve into a crime-ridden dystopia unsafe for civilians and cops alike if socialist Zohran Mamdani wins the keys to City Hall, Mayor Adams predicted.

The far-left Democratic mayoral nominee’s anti-cop, soft-on-crime agenda will destroy the work Adams has done driving down major crimes in his first term, Hizzoner warned in an exclusive sit-down Thursday on the backyard porch of Gracie Mansion.

“Look at [Mandani’s] policies: once you empty out Rikers Island, that’s a major impact,” he told The Post, referring to Mamdani’s plan to drastically lower the jail complex’s 7,600 population. “It’s going to go back to the communities that crime came from.”

Adams, a retired NYPD captain, said Mamdani’s plan to have social workers respond to domestic violence calls — rather than cops — is another recipe for disaster.

He referred to NYPD Officer Wilbert Mora, 27, and his rookie partner Jason Rivera, 22, who were shot dead by 47-year-old Lashawn McNeil on Jan. 21, 2022 in East Harlem.

“Mora and Rivera, the two cops who were shot in the beginning of my [mayoral] career, they died and were assassinated responding to a domestic violence call,” said Adams, whose voice cracked with emotion while delivering eulogies at memorial services for the men days later.

“I think that we’re going to see some real errors” if Mamdani is elected mayor, Adams said. “His policies are harmful to the city.”

During a wide-ranging interview, Adams, sporting a gray pinstripe suit, black loafers and a silver watch, insisted he’s had to waste too much time in office “cleaning up” a “mess” he inherited thanks to state bail reform laws and other left-wing policies implemented under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a registered Democrat who like Adams is also running for mayor as an independent.

He also insisted a bombshell lawsuit filed this week by former top cop Tom Donlon accusing him of running the NYPD like a criminal enterprise is both “baseless” and “politically” motivated — and that he has a great working relationship with current Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who he wants back if he’s reelected.

Quote:More than 30 people were hurt after a driver plowed into a crowd standing outside an East Hollywood nightclub on Friday night, according to officials.

Seven of the victims were in critical condition after the incident, which unfolded at 2 a.m. Saturday when a Nissan Versa flew into the crowd outside of The Vermont Hollywood club on Santa Monica Boulevard, near the intersection of Vermont Avenue, officials said.

“They were all standing in line going into a nightclub. There was a taco cart out there, so they were…getting some food, waiting to go in. And there’s also a valet line out there,” Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Adam VanGerpen said. “The valet podium was taken out, the taco truck was taken out, and then a large number of people were impacted by the vehicle.”

The majority of the people in line for the concert at the nightclub, which was billed as “So-Cal’s Biggest Reggaeton & Hip-Hop Party,” were women, according to VanGerpen.

At least three victims were in critical condition.

One of the patients had a gunshot wound, said paramedics, but the victim had yet to be identified and it was unclear if that victim was connected to the crash.

The majority of the 31 patients were being treated and transported to area hospitals and trauma centers, Van Gerpen said.
The cause of the crash was being probed, officials said.

“This is under police investigation,” VanGerpen said. “This will be a large investigation with the LAPD.”

People inside the club came out to help the victims in the minutes before emergency crews arrived on the scene, the captain said.

Quote:A stolen plane triggered a major security incident at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) on Tuesday afternoon, temporarily halting operations and forcing multiple flights to reroute.

Just before 1:30 p.m. local time on July 15, a “security incident” involving a small private plane led to a temporary halt in airport operations, according to a statement from YVR.

The plane, flying within YVR’s airspace, forced nine incoming flights to reroute to different airports.

At approximately 1:45 p.m., following a 39-minute air traffic suspension, the Cessna 172, operated by a single individual, safely landed.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) then apprehended the pilot.

In an air traffic control recording obtained by the Vancouver Sun via LiveATC.net, a controller alerted other pilots: “We do have an aircraft that has been hijacked and is in the vicinity of the airport … just in case anything starts heading toward [you], you have the ability to move at your discretion.”

“They are currently flying overhead,” a voice from air traffic control can be heard saying.

“At this time, I have no further updates. We have the aircraft in visual range—please stand by for further instructions.”

Later, air traffic controllers instructed grounded aircraft to remain on standby during the ongoing situation:

“We’re not certain what will happen next. The aircraft continues to circle above, and its intentions remain unknown. For now, we are holding position.”

RCMP later confirmed that the aircraft had been taken from Victoria International Airport and had flown around 40 miles into Vancouver’s airspace.

Quote:The Mexico City government on Wednesday announced a preliminary plan to deal with gentrification, a week after a fierce protest against rising housing prices some link to mass tourism and an increase in foreigners often called “digital nomads” who live temporarily in the capital city.

Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada said the plan will include regulation so that landlords cannot increase rents above inflation. Authorities will also share a list of “reasonable rental” proposals.

Brugada said her government will open a discussion with residents of Mexico’s capital about her plan, but that the idea is to work on a bill that includes measures to promote affordable rent.

The protest in early July was fueled by government failures and active promotion to attract digital nomads who work remotely often for foreign companies from Mexico City, according to experts.

Hundreds of people marched in neighborhoods popular with tourists, but the demonstration turned violent when a small number of people began smashing storefronts and harassing foreigners.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that the protest was marked by xenophobia.

“The xenophobic displays seen at that protest have to be condemned. No one should be able to say ‘any nationality get out of our country’ even over a legitimate problem like gentrification,” Sheinbaum said back then.

Many Mexicans have complained about being priced out of their neighborhoods — in part because of a move made by Sheinbaum in 2022, when she was the Mexico City mayor and signed an agreement with Airbnb and UNESCO to boost tourism and attract digital nomads despite concern over the impact short-term rentals could have.

During the protest, some people marched with signs reading “Gringo: Stop stealing our home” and “Housing regulations now!”

Some anti-gentrification groups have called for a new protest this weekend.

So now the Mexican president is promising to solve the very same issue she caused in the first place!?

Quote:Authorities at the Philip S.W. Goldson International Airport (P.G.I.A.) say they were alerted to a U.S. man who was hijacking a small plane in Belize on Thursday.

The man stabbed two passengers and a pilot, before one of the stabbed passengers fatally shot him, according to officials in Belize and the United States. The passenger was licensed to carry a firearm and later turned his weapon over to the police.

"We are praying for him," Chester Williams, Belize police commissioner, told reporters. "He’s our hero."

Williams identified the hijacker as Akinyela Taylor and said he was a U.S. military veteran, a report by The Associated Press said. U.S. officials could not confirm the Belize police commissioner’s statement that Taylor was a military veteran.

The air flight Cessna Caravan V3HIG from Corozal to San Pedro had 14 passengers and 2 crew members onboard, the statement from P.G.I.A. said.

A full emergency was declared immediately after the incident started and the aircraft circled in random directions for approximately two hours until finally landing safely at the P.G.I.A., according to a statement by the Belize Airport Concession Company.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said at a news briefing in Washington that officials were still gathering information about what occurred.

"Horrifying," she said. "We are grateful, I think all of us are, that it did not turn into a mass casualty event with, I believe, over a dozen people on the plane. Clearly we know a few details. We don’t know much more."

U.S. officials said they did not know the motive for Taylor’s hijacking but were working with Belizean authorities to determine what happened.

Just as a reminder: Back in March 27 some American tourists ended up losing their lives in Belize...

Quote:A German doctor went on trial in Berlin Monday, accused of murdering 15 of his patients who were under palliative care.

The prosecutor’s office brought charges against the 40-year-old doctor “for 15 counts of murder with premeditated malice and other base motives” before a Berlin state court. The prosecutor’s office is seeking not only a conviction and a finding of “particularly serious” guilt, but also a lifetime ban on practicing medicine and subsequent preventive detention.

Murder charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. If a court establishes that the defendant bears particularly severe guilt, that means he wouldn’t be eligible for release after 15 years as is usually the case in Germany.

Parallel to the trial, the prosecutor’s office is investigating dozens of other suspected cases in separate proceedings.

The man, who has only been identified as Johannes M. in line with Germany privacy rules, is also accused of trying to cover up evidence of the murders by starting fires in the victims’ homes. He has been in custody since Aug. 6.

The doctor was part of a nursing service’s end-of-life care team in the German capital and was initially suspected in the deaths of just four patients. That number has crept higher since last summer, and prosecutors are now accusing him of the deaths of 15 people between Sept. 22, 2021, and July 24 last year.

The victims’ ages ranged from 25 to 94. Most died in their own homes.

The doctor allegedly administered an anesthetic and a muscle relaxer to the patients without their knowledge or consent. The drug cocktail then allegedly paralyzed the respiratory muscles. Respiratory arrest and death followed within minutes, prosecutors said.

Quote:A mosaic panel on travertine slabs, depicting an erotic theme from the Roman era, was returned to the archaeological park of Pompeii on Tuesday, after being stolen by a Nazi German captain during World War II.

The artwork was repatriated from Germany through diplomatic channels, arranged by the Italian Consulate in Stuttgart, Germany, after having been returned from the heirs of the last owner, a deceased German citizen.

The owner had received the mosaic as a gift from a Wehrmacht captain, assigned to the military supply chain in Italy during the war.

The mosaic — dating between mid- to last century B.C. and the first century — is considered a work of “extraordinary cultural interest,” experts said.

“It is the moment when the theme of domestic love becomes an artistic subject,” said Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii and co-author of an essay dedicated to the returned work. “While the Hellenistic period, from the fourth to the first century B.C., exulted the passion of mythological and heroic figures, now we see a new theme.”

The heirs of the mosaic’s last owner in Germany contacted the Carabinieri unit in Rome that’s dedicated to protecting cultural heritage, which was in charge of the investigation, asking for information on how to return the mosaic to the Italian state. Authorities carried out the necessary checks to establish its authenticity and provenance, and then worked to repatriate the mosaic in September 2023.

Quote:A Staten Island native came face to face with the worst of Italy’s migrant crisis this week when he was nearly killed while vacationing in Milan.

Nick Pellegrino was attacked on a train Tuesday by a pair of North African migrants, who stabbed him in the neck with a 5-inch knife before making off with his luggage and jewelry — leaving him to die in a pool of his own blood in his family’s homeland, which has experienced a surge in criminal migrants over the past four years.

“With these very loose, lefty immigration laws, these immigrants come into these countries and they’re running amok, trying to murder people. It’s a playground for terror, for the vicious,” said Pellegrino, 29, speaking by phone from his hospital bed in the town of San Donato Milanese.

“It’s f–king crazy,” he said. “I know America has a big immigration problem, but it is worse here.”

Pellegrino — a former teacher at prestigious Monsignor Farrell High School in Oakwood who was visiting friends and family in Italy — recalled looking down at his phone as the train from Melegnano to Milan Bovisa rolled into the San Giuliano Milanese station.

When the train doors opened, his mid-20s, Arabic-speaking attackers darted towards him, stabbing him in the neck, nicking his jugular vein, Pellegrino said.

“They looked like the 9/11 hijackers,” Pellegrino said. “I remember looking at the floor in the train and just seeing the blade of the knife, and the most frightening amount of blood I have ever seen.”

Pellegrino was later told by EMTs he lost about a liter-and-a-half of blood, said Pellegrino, who now teaches religion and coaches track at Archbishop Riordan High School in San Francisco.

Before stealing his luggage and leaving him for dead, Pellegrino’s homicidal attackers snatched the gold crucifix from around his neck, he said.

A blood-soaked Pellegrino managed to stumble onto the train platform, where a 16-year-old boy dialed 112, Italy’s 911 equivalent.

Quote:A volcanic eruption in southwestern Iceland has once again forced the evacuation of local residents and the internationally known Blue Lagoon geothermal spa, the national broadcaster RUV reported.

The eruption began around 4 a.m. following an intense seismic swarm on the Reykjanes Peninsula, southwest of the capital, Reykjavik, Iceland’s Met Office said.

The town of Grindavik was evacuated shortly after the seismic activity began, with campers and guests at the Blue Lagoon forced to quickly pack their bags, RUV reported.

Lava from the eruption is flowing southeast from a fissure in the barren landscape that is 2,296 to 3,280 feet wide, but the molten rock isn’t threatening any infrastructure, the Met Office said.

Grindavik has been evacuated repeatedly since November 2023 when a volcano in the area came to life after lying dormant for some 800 years.

Quote:France’s prime minister proposed on Tuesday the elimination of two public holidays from the country’s annual calendar — possibly Easter Monday and the day marking the Allied victory over the Nazis — to save money in next year’s budget.

That’s among a raft of spending cuts laid out by Prime Minister Francois Bayrou in a sweeping, and potentially doomed, budget plan.

He argued that removing two state holidays would bring in tax revenues generated from economic activity, contributing to around 44 billion euros ($51.3 billion) in overall savings.

President Emmanuel Macron tasked Bayrou with crafting a budget that shaves costs to bring down France’s staggering debt and deficit, while also adding billions in new defense spending to face what Macron says are resurgent threats from Russia and beyond.

Bayrou questioned the religious importance of Easter Monday. And Victory Day, celebrated on May 8, comes in a month that has become a “veritable Gruyere,” or holey cheese, of days off that includes May Day and the Catholic holiday of Ascension, he said.

He said that those holidays were just suggestions, and that he was open to other ideas. France currently has 11 official holidays per year.

With no parliamentary majority, Macron’s centrist grouping must win support from adversaries on the left and right to pass the budget this fall.

Bayrou’s proposals, which are just a first step in the budget process, were quickly assailed by unions and the far-right National Rally, the largest single party in the lower house of Parliament.

Bayrou’s job is precarious, and he could be voted out if he fails to reach a compromise on the budget.

Quote:South Korea’s jailed ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol was indicted on additional charges on Saturday as a special prosecutor continues investigating him for his short-lived declaration of martial law in December.

The new charges include obstruction of the exercise of others’ rights by abuse of authority, ordering the deletion of records and blocking the execution of arrest warrants, the prosecutor’s office said in a briefing.

Yoon has been on trial on charges of insurrection, which is punishable by death or life imprisonment, facing additional charges since the special prosecutor was appointed in June to take over the cases against him.

Yoon has denied all wrongdoing. His lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new charges.

Quote:North Korea is banning the entry of foreign tourists to a recently opened mega beach resort, a move that dims prospects for the complex that leader Kim Jong Un hailed it as “one of the greatest successes this year.”

DPR Korea Tour, a website run by North Korea’s tourism authorities, said in a notice Friday that the eastern coastal Wonsan-Kalma tourist complex “is temporarily not receiving foreign tourists.”

It gave no further details including why a ban was established or how long it would last.
North Korea says the complex can accommodate nearly 20,000 guests.

The resort opened to domestic tourists July 1 before receiving a small group of Russian tourists last week. Observers expected North Korea to open the resort to Chinese tourists while largely blocking other international tourists.

Ban comes after visit by Russia’s top diplomat

The announcement came after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov flew to the complex to meet Kim and Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui for talks last weekend.

North Korea and Russia have sharply expanded military and other cooperation in recent years, with North Korea supplying weapons and troops to back Russia’s war against Ukraine.

During a meeting with Choe, Lavrov promised to take steps to support Russian travel to the zone.

“I am sure that Russian tourists will be increasingly eager to come here,” he said.

But experts say North Korea likely decided to halt foreign travel to the zone because of a newspaper article by a Russian reporter who traveled with Lavrov that implied North Koreans at the zone appeared to be mobilized by authorities and not real tourists.

Quote:President Trump announced Monday the US will send “billions of dollars” worth of weapons to Ukraine via Washington’s NATO allies — and threatened to impose “secondary tariffs” on Moscow’s business partners in 50 days if no peace is agreed to end the 40-month-old war.

The weapons will include “everything,” Trump said during his meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office — though the president did not immediately reveal specifics.

The White House also did not provide additional information on the specific weapons sent over to Europe.

When asked whether “Patriot missiles” — officially known as Guided Mulitple Launch Rocket Systems — or “Patriot batteries” would be sent to Ukraine, the president responded: “It is all of them. It is a full complement.”

“We will have some within days,” Trump continued. “A couple of countries that have Patriots will swap over, or replace the Patriots with the ones they have.”

“NATO may choose to have certain of them sent to other countries where we can get a little additional speed, where the country will release something, and it’ll be mostly in the form of a replacement,” he added.

Later Monday, ahead of a White House faith luncheon, the 79-year-old Trump reiterated that there will be “weapons of all kinds” sent across the Atlantic, with other members of the alliance paying for them by raising their defense spending to 5% of GDP over the next decade.

“We are going to be sending them weapons and they’re going to be paying for them,” Trump said, with Rutte agreeing that European countries should be “stepping up” and paying for the American-made materiel.

“This is really big,” Rutte, 58, said of the announcement, lauding Trump’s leadership in supplying Kyiv with much-needed munitions.

“It will mean that Ukraine can get its hands on really massive numbers of military equipment, both for air defense, but also missiles, ammunition, etc., etc.,” the NATO secretary general and former Dutch prime minister added.

Quote:Russia assaulted Ukraine with a fresh wave of deadly drone and missile strikes Wednesday in another audacious rebellion of President Trump’s 50-day peace ultimatum to Vladimir Putin.

Northeastern city Kharkiv was rocked by 17 strikes in just 20 minutes after midnight, the Kyiv Independent reported, citing Ukrainian government officials.

The intense barrage was focused on the city’s Kyivskyi district, where at least two people were killed and several more injured, Reuters reported.

There were also strikes reported to the east of Kharkiv in the town of Kupiansk and in the city of Kryvi Rih in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, according to the Kyiv Independent.

Power and water supplies were knocked out of service at several of the bombed areas, the outlet reported, citing a local military official, and explosions were also heard in Izmail, a city in Odesa Oblast in southern Ukraine.

The deadly strikes mark the second day in a row that the Russian military violently rebelled against Trump’s 50-day peace ultimatum he issued to Putin on Monday.

Early Tuesday morning, Russia killed five and injured 43 others, including two teens and four children, in bombing strikes targeting Sumy, with Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Oblast also under assault, the Kyiv Independent reported.

Russia claimed to only target military-industrial facilities, but local reports stated several residential buildings, a university and medical sites were also hit by drones, according to EuroNews.

Quote:President Trump reportedly questioned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about whether Kyiv could blast Moscow and St Petersburg, but later indicated publicly that Russia’s capital should be off limits.

“Volodymyr, can you hit Moscow? … Can you hit St Petersburg too?” Trump asked on a July 4 call with Zelensky, a day after the president had a disappointing phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the Financial Times reported, citing multiple sources.

Zelensky, who has pressed Western powers for years to provide more long-range missiles, reportedly replied, “Absolutely. We can if you give us the weapons.”

The president later clarified to reporters Tuesday that Zelensky “shouldn’t target Moscow” and stressed that he’s “on nobody’s side” with the simple goal of stopping the killing. Trump further said that he has no plans to give Ukraine long-range missiles.

The White House insisted in a statement to The Post that the comments should not be taken out of context, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt pushing back on the Financial Times’ framing of the call, which suggested Trump encouraged Zelensky to step up strikes deep into Russian territory.

“The Financial Times is notorious for taking words wildly out of context to get clicks because their paper is dying,” Leavitt told The Post.

“President Trump was merely asking a question, not encouraging further killing. He’s working tirelessly to stop the killing and end this war.”

Trump’s reported query came after he spoke with Putin and was left convinced that the Kremlin wasn’t going to halt its war machine.

The reported question marks a significant turnaround from Trump’s explosive Feb. 28 Oval Office meeting with Zelensky, in which he raged that the Ukrainian leader was “gambling with World War III” and that “you don’t have the cards right now.”

On Monday, Trump announced a deal with NATO for the US to step up its supply of weapons to Ukraine, including Patriot missile systems and what he called a “full complement” of firepower to the war-torn ally.

Quote:The Kremlin mocked President Trump’s warning that Russia would face 100% secondary tariffs if it did not agree to a cease-fire deal with Ukraine as nothing more than a “theatrical ultimatum.”

Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president and top ally of Vladimir Putin, said the Kremlin would not abide by Trump’s call for a cease-fire agreement to be reached within 50 days, slamming threats of 100% secondary tariffs against Moscow as inconsequential.

“Trump issued a theatrical ultimatum to the Kremlin. The world shuddered, expecting the consequences. Belligerent Europe was disappointed. Russia didn’t care,” Medvedev wrote on X.

Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s senior diplomat, joined the criticism and described Trump’s warnings as unacceptable and pointless.

During his meeting with NATO’s top official on Monday, Trump said America would seek harsh secondary tariffs against Russia over Putin’s repeated dismissal of US-backed cease-fire deals and the ever-escalating airstrikes on Ukraine.

Secondary sanctions are meant to punish individuals or entities who do business with a country, with Trump aiming at those who prop up Russia’s war machine.

The tariffs would likely target China, India and Turkey, the biggest buyers of crude oil from Russia, the world’s second-largest exporter.

Trump also vowed to provide “billions of dollars” worth of weapons to Ukraine via Washington’s NATO allies to bolster Kyiv’s defenses.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said some of Trump’s remarks were personally addressed by Putin, warning the US and NATO that the discussions are being seen as “a signal to continue the war.”

“The US president’s statements are very serious,” Peskov told reporters. “We certainly need time to analyze what was said in Washington.”

Outside the Kremlin, Russia has been shocked by Trump’s latest policy against Moscow after previously touting his conversations with Putin and falsely accusing Ukraine of starting the war.

The front page of Kommersant, one of Russia’s most respected newspapers, led with the headline, “Et tu, Trump,” invoking the betrayal in William Shakespeare’s classic, “Julius Caesar.”

The latest development comes as Russia launched hundreds more drones and missiles into six Ukrainian regions overnight, killing at least two people, including a child.

Quote:North Korea is now supplying almost half of Russia’s ammunition for its war against Ukraine, South Korean military data shows.

Pyongyang is accused of shipping millions of artillery shells and other munitions to Vladimir Putin’s military, South Korea’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) said on Sunday.

The 28,000 containers loaded with shells and munitions are believed to exceed roughly 12 million rounds when converted into 6-inch artillery shells, the DIA said.

“North Korea is continuing to supply weapons to Russia. Our military is constantly reassessing the scale of North Korea’s weapons support to Russia in coordination with relevant agencies and allied nations,” the DIA said in a statement shared with South Korean lawmaker Kang Daeshik.

Pyongyang is now supplying Russia with as much as 40% of its ammunition needs for the war, Ukraine’s head of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, told Bloomberg.

Kim Jong-un’s regime is also sending other weapons including ballistic missiles and artillery systems to aid Putin’s war, Budanov said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on a visit to Pyongyang last week that North Korea had affirmed its “clear support” for Russia’s war and for the Kremlin’s leadership.

In return, Russia is supplying the hermit communist dictatorship with money and technology, Budanov said.

“Ukrainian and South Korean sources have been warning about Russia’s increasing reliance on North Korean shells for a while, and it is indicative of how Russia’s allies are propping up this war effort,” Russia Analyst from the Washington-based think-tank the Institute for the Study of War, Angelica Evans, told The Post.

“Russia’s alliance with North Korea is a huge asset to the war effort, as North Korea has a defense industrial capacity that Russia has benefited from and will likely continue to draw on,” she said.

“Putin is working very hard to minimize the impact of the war on regular Russians, and whatever industrial support Russia gets from its allies helps offset money that Russia can use to fund social programs and keep the Russian people placated,” Evans added.

Quote:The chairman of Russia’s Security Council called on Moscow to be ready to strike the West if it escalates the war in Ukraine — days after President Trump vowed to ramp up weapon shipments to Kyiv if a cease-fire isn’t reached soon.

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president and top ally of Vladimir Putin, warned that Russia would be ready to respond “in full” should the West get further involved in the conflict that has raged for more than three years.

“We need to act accordingly. To respond in full. And if necessary, launch preemptive strikes,” Medvedev told the state-owned TASS outlet as he claimed that many in the West have “treachery in their blood.”

As he called for Russia to be prepared for war with the West, he also dismissed fears from NATO nations in eastern Europe who worry that they’ll be next on the chopping block should Moscow complete its goal of conquering Ukraine.

The Putin ally slammed the fears — which has prompted countries like Sweden and Finland to bolster their armies — as nothing more than “complete nonsense.”

“What is happening today is a proxy war, but in essence it is a full-scale war (launches of Western missiles, satellite intelligence, etc.), sanctions packages, loud statements about the militarization of Europe,” Medvedev said.

“It’s another attempt to destroy the ‘historical anomaly’ hated by the West — Russia, our country,” he added.

The Kremlin said Medvedev’s remarks were justified given the alleged “confrontational” environment of Europe, with the UK and France recently agreeing to a joint partnership to improve NATO and serve as the blocs’ nuclear defenders.

The tensions come about a year after Putin expanded Moscow’s nuclear doctrine, warning that any nuclear superpower that assists an enemy of Russia with long-range missiles can and should be considered a viable target for the Kremlin’s nukes.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia is currently weighing all options after President Trump threatened to slap 100% secondary tariffs on Russia and arm Ukraine with “billions of dollars” of new weapons if Putin does not agree to a peace deal in 50 days.

Quote:Russian President Vladimir Putin is “not ready for compromises” to end his brutal war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told The Post in an exclusive interview on Wednesday — but President Trump has the power to bring him to his knees by speeding up tough sanctions that could cause a “social explosion” in Russia.

“He needs to feel this,” Zelensky said.

The leader said he was “very grateful” that Trump supports sanctions, referring to the president’s Monday announcement that he would levy 100% tariffs on countries that purchase Russian oil if Moscow does not agree to a peace deal.

However, the 50-day deadline, he said, only means more death and destruction for another almost two months.
“Fifty days, for us, is just — every day is scary,” Zelensky said.

Zelensky said the solution to the more than three years of bloodshed is to make Putin want to end his war.

“Putin does not want a conclusion … so he’s just not ready to compromise,” Zelensky said.

“If Ukraine has to do this on its own, we have a very long way to go with a lot of deaths to convince him that it’s important [to end the conflict] because it’s not just words — they need serious leverage.”

It comes as Putin’s war machine has become increasingly savage, intentionally targeting civilians — including babies — with explosive drones, which his forces are launching into Ukraine in record numbers.

The Russian military even targets the first responders after an attack, Zelensky said. Secondary strikes are common, with Moscow sending additional drones to take out those attempting to help victims.

“They hit civilian infrastructure, a house, and they know that an ambulance is coming,” the president said.

“And at that moment, after the first blow, they pause. Then the cars come, the people who provide the opportunity to save lives come, the ambulance, the doctors, the nurses, the SES, and they come, and at that moment, when they are there, they strike again,” he continued.

Quote:Ukraine was pounded by hundreds of Russian bombs overnight into Saturday in a fiery scene that claimed the lives of at least eight civilians and wounded 31 others — leaving behind a trail of destruction across multiple frontline regions.

In the Black Sea port city of Odesa, Russian troops launched more than 20 drones and a missile, according to local officials, striking residential buildings and other infrastructure, killing at least one civilian.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the situation continues to remain “difficult” along the border — particularly in the areas of the Sumy and Kharkiv regions.

“The Russian army continues to torment our people in the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions, attacking civilians with various types of drones,” Zelensky wrote on X.

Flames badly engulfed one apartment building in Odesa, after a strike set fire to the top four floors of the nine-story structure, the state emergency service said.

Emergency crews pulled people from the burning apartments, but one of the women rescued died, local authorities said.
Six others were wounded, including a child.

The attack left behind charred rubble — as children’s clothes and the wreckage of furniture were seen piled up in destroyed apartments.

The onslaught came just as President Trump issued Russian strongman Vladimir Putin a 50-day ultimatum this week to agree to a peace deal.

In Pokrovsk — a key battleground city on the eastern front’s Donetsk region — five people were killed and nine more injured over the past day, the region’s governor said.

The Ukrainian “fortress city” has come under heavy Russian attack recently, after holding strong for much of the year.

Two more civilians were killed overnight, one in Kherson and another in Zaporizhzhia, according to local authorities.

Quote:President Donald Trump labeled those, including many of his "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) supporters urging the government to release more information in the Jeffrey Epstein case, as "troublemakers" in a social media post Saturday.

Newsweek reached out to the Department of Justice (DOJ) via their online contact form for comment on Saturday.

Why It Matters

From lawmakers and attorneys to concerned voters, many say that full transparency is essential to restoring public trust and bringing clarity to one of the most high-profile criminal investigations in recent memory.

Epstein, a convicted sex offender, died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting further sex trafficking charges. The disgraced financier had well-documented connections to powerful figures, and his death has long prompted numerous conspiracy theories, particularly about a "client list" and the way in which he died.

Frustrated MAGA supporters have pointed to Trump's past promise to make the materials public, as well as Attorney General Pam Bondi's claim that the list was on her desk. The backlash has led Trump to call out members of his own base in social media posts.

What To Know

In a Saturday morning post on Truth Social, Trump wrote that he has instructed the DOJ to release the grand jury testimony related to Epstein, writing, "I have asked the Justice Department to release all Grand Jury testimony with respect to Jeffrey Epstein, subject only to Court Approval."

The president continued: "With that being said, and even if the Court gave its full and unwavering approval, nothing will be good enough for the troublemakers and radical left lunatics making the request," he concluded, adding, "It will always be more, more, more. MAGA!"

The statement comes a day after the DOJ requested the unsealing of grand jury transcripts related to Epstein. Bondi's top deputy, Todd Blanche, submitted the motion to unseal the Epstein transcripts, as well as those in the case against convicted British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, just one day after Trump publicly directed the department to take that step.

In 2022, Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison for recruiting and grooming teenage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse. The 63-year-old, meanwhile, has filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate her conviction.

Quote:Representative Jasmine Crockett, a Texas Democrat, delivered sharp criticism of her Republican colleagues during a Saturday afternoon MSNBC interview, accusing them of showing loyalty to what she called a "wannabe Hitler" in reference to President Donald Trump.

The remarks came amid growing controversy over the Trump administration's handling of Jeffrey Epstein-related files.

Newsweek reached out to the White House via email on Sunday for comment.

Why It Matters

Epstein, a convicted sex offender, died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting further sex trafficking charges.

The disgraced financier had well-documented connections to powerful figures, and his death has long prompted numerous conspiracy theories, particularly about a "client list" and the way in which he died. From lawmakers and attorneys to concerned voters, many say that full transparency is essential to restoring public trust and bringing clarity to one of the most high-profile criminal investigations in recent memory.

The controversy has created fractures within Trump's own Make America Great Again (MAGA) base while highlighting broader questions about government transparency and executive accountability.

What To Know

During her Saturday MSNBC appearance on Alex Witt Reports, Crockett addressed Trump's reversal on releasing Epstein files after initially pledging transparency.

The lawmaker predicted her Republican colleagues would avoid taking decisive action on the matter, noting that several GOP lawmakers "just skipped a previous vote this week." Crockett suggested Republicans are deliberately protecting Trump from potentially damaging revelations because "they understand that it is most likely problematic for him as well as the MAGA brand."

The Texas Democrat characterized Republican loyalty to Trump in stark terms, saying lawmakers want to "pledge their loyalty" to someone she described as a "wannabe Hitler." She expressed skepticism that Republicans would support any measures "that may harm them or their fearless leader."

Yes, Trump's words have been proven right once again.

Quote:Chinese nationals once again dominated foreign purchases of U.S. homes over the past year, according to a new report by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), with their expenses increasing by 83 percent compared to 2024.

In its latest report on international transactions in U.S. residential real estate, NAR found that Chinese buyers accounted for $13.7 billion of the total $56 billion spent by foreign buyers in the U.S. housing market between April 2024 and March 2025.

It was more than double the investment that Chinese buyers made a year earlier, $7.5 billion, and a little more than they spent in 2024, at $13.6 billion.

In terms of the number of existing homes purchased by foreign buyers, Chinese buyers snapped up 11,700 of the total 78,100. They represented 15 percent of all foreign buyers, followed by buyers from Canada (14 percent), Mexico (8 percent), India (6 percent), and the United Kingdom (4 percent).

Chinese buyers also paid the highest purchase price of the top five foreign buyers, according to NAR. Over the last year, their average purchase price was $1,168,800, while their median purchase price was $759,600.

Why Are Chinese Buyers So Interested In U.S. Homes?

Matt Christopherson, the director of Business and Consumer Research at NAR, believes that China's real estate crisis is partially to blame for the surge in interest in U.S. homes among Chinese buyers.

China's real estate sector, which at its peak contributed 25 percent of the country's total GDP and 38 percent of Beijing's government revenue, played a significant role in driving the country's spectacular economic growth over the past few decades.

But excessive borrowing and speculation brought the sector to a breaking point. In 2021, Evergrande defaulted on its debt, shaking confidence in the sector. Other developers, like Country Garden, followed in its footsteps, further destabilizing the market.

Since then, China's real estate sector has been navigating troubled waters, with declining prices and stalled construction. The crisis is having a negative impact on the entire Chinese economy, slowing growth despite authorities' efforts to prop up the housing market.

According to Christopherson, these challenges at home are prompting Chinese buyers to seek alternative investment opportunities for their hard-earned money.

"The Chinese housing market has been slow to recover following the pandemic, so Chinese buyers see a beneficial opportunity in diversifying their investment portfolios with exposure to stronger U.S. markets," Christopherson told Newsweek.

Quote:Representative Dina Titus, a Nevada Democrat, has introduced legislation that would restore the 100 percent deduction for gambling losses that Senate Republicans reduced to 90 percent late in the passing of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB).

Titus spoke with Newsweek about her Fair Accounting for Income Realized from Betting Earnings Taxation (FAIR BET) Act, which she says so far has garnered "10 times the response" from constituents in her state and beyond compared to other aspects of the OBBB.

Republican Representatives including Troy Nehls of Texas and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, also support Titus' bill.

Why It Matters

The roughly 900-page bill passed by Congress included a provision inserted by Senate Republicans without consent of the House that imposed a tax increase on Americans who gamble, reducing from 100 percent to 90 percent the amount of losses they can deduct from gambling winnings for their income taxes.

The new provision, added by the Senate Finance Committee late in the legislative process ahead of the July 4 bill signing by President Donald Trump, means that gambling losses that have traditionally been fully deductible would no longer be so and gamblers could owe taxes even if they ended up with net losses in a year.

For example, someone winning $100,000 and then losing that same amount may still owe $10,000 in taxes on that income—even though they broke even.

What To Know

Titus, in an exclusive interview, said the issue has drawn more widespread attention on the OBBB compared to other scrutinized portions of the legislation, such as Medicaid and food stamp cuts.

"We've certainly heard from the industry, they've all kind of now gotten on board," Titus said. "But I can tell you that we put out a lot of messages about that big, bad BS bill and we talked about Medicaid, we talked about food stamps, we talked about renewable energy, but this issue has gotten 10 times the response than any of those have."

The congresswoman continued: "I think it's people who are on the internet, I think it's young people who found an issue that they can kind of identify with. And I don't think it's just limited to the people directly impacted by gaming in Nevada. It's a national issue because now everybody can gamble on their phone, and so they're writing in, they're texting in, they're calling in to say, 'We should fix this.'"

Quote:Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused "neocolonial" Western powers of modern "robbery and looting" in the pursuit of rare earth metals to gain an advantage in the artificial intelligence (AI) race.

These highly prized resources are vital for the manufacture of cutting-edge technology, and President Donald Trump has put a particular emphasis on procuring them from Ukraine, Greenland, China, Africa, and elsewhere.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has also touted rare earths to Trump from the areas of Eastern Ukraine currently occupied by Moscow, which has tried to seize control of Kyiv in its full-scale invasion launched in February 2022.

"[Rare earth metals] are the prize in the trade wars underway between the key suppliers of AI solutions to the market," Zakharova wrote in an op-ed titled "Neo-coloniAIism" for the Rossiyskaya Gazeta, state news agency Tass reported.

"Political elites in Western countries, most of which don't have such reserves, seek to gain pre-empted and unrestricted access to the fields held by the countries of the global majority, and while doing so, they pursue an aggressive neocolonial policy bordering on robbery and looting."

Russia, China Rare Earths

The competition over rare earth elements—comprising 17 minerals essential for advanced electronics—has intensified in recent years due to their vital use in critical technologies, notably AI hardware.

Rare earths are foundational in manufacturing high-strength magnets found in electric vehicles, smartphones, wind turbines, and AI-centric semiconductor devices, such as Nvidia's H20 AI chips

Russia possesses significant rare earth reserves within its territory but has yet to develop these resources at scale for global supply.

The sector is underdeveloped compared to China, but Moscow views these minerals as strategically valuable—for domestic technological ambitions and as potential political leverage.

Ukraine Minerals Deal

The significance of Ukrainian mineral wealth is widely recognized, although full-scale exploitation has been hindered by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and lack of investment.

Trump sealed a critical minerals deal with Ukraine that will see Kyiv share its resources and the profits from them with the U.S. in exchange for investment and other support to develop its industries.

The White House saw the deal as a partial repayment for U.S. military aid as Ukraine fends off Russia's ongoing invasion.

Western officials have noted Russia's increased focus on critical minerals within occupied Ukrainian territories, further complicating the global supply landscape. The European Union (EU) has also raised concerns over the security implications of Russian access to rare earth assets amid its war in Ukraine.

China Exposure in Supply Chain

Supply chain vulnerability came into sharp focus after China introduced stricter controls on rare earth exports in April in retaliation for new U.S. tariffs.

The result was widespread disruption across the U.S. tech and auto sectors, with automakers temporarily suspending operations due to shortages.

Following weeks of stalled negotiations and further tit-for-tat export curbs, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke directly, paving the way for a renewed agreement in June.

As described by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the deal effectively unblocked rare earth shipments to the U.S., although China said it would approve export applications on a case-by-case basis to ensure compliance with dual-use and military end-user restrictions.

Quote:For the second time in a week, NATO member Poland has scrambled its aircraft in response to a widespread Russian attack on Ukraine.

The Polish Ministry of Defense announced the operation overnight on Friday, which coincided with drones and missile strikes Russia launched against Ukraine's cities.

On Saturday, the Polish Defense Ministry told Newsweek that no Polish airspace was violated and that Swedish aircraft were also involved in the operation.

Why It Matters

Poland has been among NATO's eastern flank members that have warned about the security risks posed by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The second deployment of Polish aircraft within a matter of days shows Warsaw's concerns about the risk of Russian drone and missile strikes on Ukraine spilling over into alliance territory.

What To Know

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia launched drones and missile on the regions of Donetsk, Kirovohrad, Dnipro, Sumy, Kherson, Volyn, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Odesa and Zhytomyr.

As Russia launched the attacks, Poland's Armed Forces said on X that it launched "all available forces and assets," which included aircraft being scrambled and ground-based air defense and radar reconnaissance being put on the "highest state of readiness."

The Polish Armed Forces told Newsweek in a statement that a pair of Polish and Swedish fighter jets on duty in Poland were scrambled.

Quote:Australia has sent Ukraine the first batch of dozens of U.S.-built M1A1 Abrams tanks that it had promised Kyiv for its fight against Russian aggression, according to the Defense Ministry in Canberra.

Ukraine's ally in the South Pacific announced that Kyiv had received the majority of the 49 decommissioned tanks it had pledged, with the rest scheduled to arrive later this year.

The delivery follows reported delays due to initial resistance from the U.S. about the American vehicles.

Why It Matters

Australia is one of Ukraine's largest non-NATO partners and has been supplying Kyiv with assistance, ammunition and defense equipment since the beginning of the war. The delivery of main battle tanks could be a battlefield boost for Ukraine as it awaits further pledges of military support from U.S. President Donald Trump.

What To Know

Australia is providing 49 Abrams tanks to Ukraine to help its fight against Russia as part of a pledge it made in October.

The delivery was delayed because of objections from the U.S., the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported, citing unnamed defense officials.

Washington had warned Canberra against sending the tanks, and Trump's decision to pause military aid earlier this year may also have added to complications, according to the Australian outlet.

Experts have voiced concerns about their battlefield effectiveness due to the vulnerabilities of the tank's roof to drones.

However, the Australian Defense Ministry said on Friday that most of the tanks had been shipped to Ukraine, adding to the mobility and firepower of Kyiv's forces. The rest are set to arrive in the coming months.

Ukraine also awaits additional military aid pledged by Trump on July 7, when he unveiled a plan to funnel weapons to Ukraine via a NATO- and EU-backed program.

Retired U.S. Vice Admiral Robert Murrett told Newsweek that Washington's decision to provide more arms to Ukraine mostly through European allies was a good step, although the Kremlin is still convinced that conditions on the ground are working in its favor.

Despite high Russian losses, Moscow is not interested in a ceasefire, in spite of Kyiv's willingness to accept such a move, added Murrett, the deputy director at Syracuse University's Institute for Security Policy and Law.

He continued, "Both sides are likely to sustain the fight, and keep a close eye on arms, prospective additional sanctions and military activity in the skies and front lines in Ukraine."

Quote:Russia's drone attacks on Ukraine's infrastructure have begun to target military recruitment centers, according to a data analyst group.

Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) said Russia began to hit enlistment centers in recent weeks in a concerted effort to disrupt Ukraine's mobilization.

Olha Polishchuk, ACLED's Eastern Europe research manager, told Newsweek this new tactic by Russia was part of a clear pattern to hamper efforts by Kyiv to bring in new troops at a critical time.

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.

Why It Matters

Three and half years into Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine is looking to draft more troops. But Russian strikes against enlistment offices appear to be a tactic to disrupt this process as the government looks to extend martial law.

What To Know

In the first part of the year, Russian intelligence operatives were behind three terrorist attacks on enlistment centers in Dnipropetrovsk, Khmelnytskyi and Rivne oblasts using local residents, The Kyiv Independent reported.

However, ACLED's Ukraine conflict monitor said that since June 30, Russia has targeted military recruitment centers in the first recorded wave of such strikes.

Russian drones targeted centers in Poltava and Kryvyi Rih in the Dnipropetrovsk region, causing casualties among both service members and civilians.

On July 6, an enlistment office in Kremenchuk in the Poltava region was struck. On the following day, recruitment centers in the cities of Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia were also hit in drone attacks that struck other targets.

Citing Ukrainian sources, ACLED said the attacks aim to destroy data on those liable for military service not yet entered into the unified register of conscripts and to disrupt the draft by scaring people from visiting the centers.

Polishchuk told Newsweek that this strategy marks a real shift in how Russia is trying to weaken Ukraine's war effort and that the strikes are not isolated incidents but part of a clear pattern.

Russian propagandists have acknowledged that enlistment centers are being targeted, spreading social media reports saying military recruitment in Ukraine are forced and unpopular, she added.

Quote:Ukraine launched renewed attacks on the Russian capital overnight into Sunday, according to Russian and Ukrainian sources, after Moscow doubled down on missile and drone strikes across Ukraine.

Why It Matters

Kyiv has occasionally targeted Moscow with long-range drone strikes, and launched a string of attacks on the Russian capital in recent days.

Russia has intensified its own aerial assaults on the Ukrainian capital and many other regions of Ukraine in the past few weeks, despite U.S. efforts to secure a ceasefire deal and increasing frustration from U.S. President Donald Trump with Russia's President, Vladimir Putin.

What To Know

Moscow mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said Russian air defenses had destroyed 13 Ukrainian drones over Moscow, then quickly said another seven had been intercepted.

Russia's Defense Ministry said in its own statement that Ukraine had launched 93 drones at Russia between 11:30 p.m. Moscow time on Saturday and 7 a.m. local time on Sunday. A total of 19 Ukrainian drones flew over the broader Moscow region, with 16 heading directly for the Russian capital city, the Russian government said. The Defense Ministry later reported Ukraine had launched seven more drones over the Moscow region from just after 8 a.m. Moscow time to midday.

A pro-Kremlin Telegram channel with purported links to Russian law enforcement reported a car "exploded after being hit by debris" from a Ukrainian drone in Zelenograd, on the northwestern edge of Moscow. The Baza Russian Telegram channel reported that debris from an intercepted drone had fallen on a multi-storey building in Zelenograd.

Russian state media reported temporary restrictions were put in place at Sheremetyevo airport, east of Zelenograd, citing the country's federal air transport agency. Restrictions were also imposed on the Moscow airports of Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky, as well as Kaluga, southwest of Moscow, according to several Russian reports.

A total of 134 flights were diverted over the weekend, a spokesperson for the Rosaviatsiya federal air transport agency said.

"Moscow was attacked by UAVs [uncrewed aerial vehicles]," Andriy Kovalenko, an official with Ukraine's national security and defense council, said in a post to social media on Sunday. Kovalenko shared footage the Ukrainian official said showed passengers at Sheremetyevo, which Newsweek could not independently verify.

Ukraine said on Sunday Russia had launched 57 drones at several regions of the war-torn country overnight, after reporting Moscow fired 344 drones at Ukraine into Saturday morning. Russia also used 12 short-range ballistic missiles and 15 cruise missiles from late on Friday into the early hours of Saturday, the Ukrainian air force said.

U.S.-brokered efforts to push Moscow into a ceasefire deal have so far failed, and Trump told the BBC earlier this month he was "disappointed" in the Russian leader, but "not done with him."

Quote:Ukraine has proposed a fresh round of negotiations with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

Why It Matters

Ceasefire talks pushed by the U.S have failed to yield progress toward an agreement after Russia refused to ink an American proposal that Ukraine agreed to back in March. Ukrainian and Russian officials have met directly for talks twice in recent months.

U.S. President Donald Trump has grown increasingly irritated with Russian President Vladimir Putin, pivoting from chasing a thaw with the Kremlin to overtly criticize the Russian leader.

In a marked departure from the White House's tough stance on Ukraine, Trump upped military support for Kyiv via NATO nations and said earlier this month Russia had 50 days to clinch a ceasefire deal or face tariffs. Moscow said Ukraine saw this as a "signal to continue the war" and abandon peace talks. Western leaders and Ukraine have repeatedly said Russia is stalling ceasefire negotiations.

What To Know

The chief of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), Rustem Umerov, has "proposed a new meeting with Russia next week," which would focus on ceasefire negotiations, prisoner exchanges and the return of Ukrainian children to the country, Zelensky said late on Saturday. Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.

Umerov, previously serving as Ukraine's defense minister, was appointed as the country's NSDC chief on Friday.

The Ukrainian president said he needed to meet with Putin "to truly ensure a lasting peace."

"Ukraine is ready," he added. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said last week Russia was waiting for Ukrainian proposals for a third round of talks.

Quote:Japan's government has launched a task force to deal with concerns about an uptick in foreign nationals living there.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi announced the "Office for the Promotion of a Society of Harmonious Coexistence with Foreign Nationals" on July 15.

The move comes as the issue of a record number of foreign nationals living there has become an election topic.

Why it Matters

The task force's establishment marked the most visible government response to growing public concerns as the number of foreign residents reached about 3.8 million as of the end of 2024, according to the Japanese data site Nippon.

This is the third consecutive record high, increasing by 10.5 percent year-on-year. But foreign nationals still only make up just 3 percent of Japan's total population of 120 million.

What To Know

Hayashi explained the reason for the task force in a press meeting on July 15, saying there are "situations in which the people feel anxious and unfair due to crimes and nuisances committed by some foreigners and inappropriate use of various systems."

"Realizing an orderly coexistence society with foreigners is one of the important policy issues that the government must address," he said.

Tasks will include creating a shared data information system for central and local governments to use and reviewing existing immigration rules and practices that do not take into account how much more globalized Japan currently is.

Japan has long had strict immigration laws, but the country has slowly eased them as its population has aged and birth rates have declined.

Quote:India's Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor will become the launch site for Japan's next-generation E10 Shinkansen bullet trains.

The Indian Ministry of Railways announced on Monday that the E10 trains, the successor to Japan's current generation of E5 Shinkansen, would make their debut in both countries simultaneously.

Newsweek contacted the Ministry of Railways and the Japanese Ministry of Transport via email for more information on the announcement.

Why It Matters

The introduction of E10 trains in India shows that there are deepening economic and technological ties with Japan. Japan's bullet trains are a huge part of the country's culture and the envy of the infrastructure world, so the fact that they are willing to share the spotlight with India suggests a high level of trust between the two nations.

What To Know

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train initiative will use the E10 model following initial testing of E5s.

The E10 series is set for commercial debut in Japan in 2030, at the same anticipated time that the Indian rail project will provide full connectivity to Mumbai.

The Indian Ministry of Railways said in a statement on Monday: "The Japanese Shinkansen [system] is currently running E5 trains. Next generation trains are E10.

"In the spirit of strategic partnership between Japan and India, the Japanese government has agreed to introduce E10 Shinkansen trains in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet train project. It is noteworthy that E10 will be introduced simultaneously in India and Japan."

The rollout will be the first time Japan has introduced its most advanced rail technology abroad in sync with its own domestic launch.

According to the Ministry of Railways, trials for the high-speed trains are scheduled between 2026 and 2027, while full-scale commercial service is targeted for 2027.

Quote:China has welcomed a Russian proposal for the restoration of a three-member bloc with India, saying cooperation would be in their interests and would contribute to peace and security, raising the prospect of a revitalized alliance that could challenge U.S. influence.

The three largest countries on the Eurasian land mass first floated the idea of a trilateral cooperation bloc in the 1990s, and they later held several ministerial meetings. But the initiative has stalled in recent years because of tensions between China and India over sections of their border.

Why It Matters

A revival of the Russia, India, China, or RIC, bloc could pose a challenge to the U.S. if it resulted in more coordinated action by the three nuclear-armed countries on diplomatic, economic and security issues.

The proposal for greater three-way cooperation comes as the administration of President Donald Trump is promoting his "America First" agenda, including the imposition of sweeping tariffs, which has raised questions in some countries about their standing with the U.S.

China has criticized U.S. tariff policy as "bullying." U.S. officials have defended the tariffs saying unfair trade arrangements have to be adjusted. India and the U.S. are negotiating a trade deal while the United States has imposed sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

What To Know

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, responding to a question about Russian negotiations to restore the RIC bloc, said more cooperation between the neighbors would be beneficial for all of them.

"Cooperation among China, Russia, and India not only aligns with the respective interests of the three countries, but also contributes to regional and global peace, security, stability, and progress," the spokesperson, Lin Jian, told a regular briefing in Beijing.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said earlier he was negotiating with both China and India on a revival of the bloc.

Quote:With Iran's military battered from an intense 12-day war with Israel that also involved direct U.S. intervention, China is emerging as top candidate to provide advanced weaponry that could help Tehran reestablish deterrence as tensions continue to simmer across the Middle East.

The trend marks a departure from Iran's long-standing efforts to acquire arms from another strategic partner, Russia, whose ability to deliver on deals remains limited by its ongoing war in Ukraine and other geopolitical constraints.

Beijing, on the other hand, has remained relatively insulated from two of the world's deadliest ongoing wars ravaging Eastern Europe and the Middle East, even if it has continued to cultivate cooperation with Moscow and Tehran.

With Iran's airspace now more vulnerable than ever, Hongda Fan, a professor at Shanghai International Studies University's Middle East Studies Institute, told Newsweek that "strengthening air defense capabilities is clearly an urgent priority for Iran at the moment" and that "China has indeed made remarkable progress in areas such as fighter jet development, attracting global attention."

Such progress was put on rare display in May when one of China's leading partners, Pakistan, employed Chinese Chengdu J-10C multi-purpose combat jets during another brief but intense battle with India, reportedly downing several Indian aircraft, including French Dassault Rafale warplanes.

Given the growing level of unrest that has rocked the international order in recent months, Fan felt the conditions could be ripe for greater military cooperation between the People's Republic and the Islamic Republic, particularly as "both China and Iran are victims of certain policies pursued by Western powers."

But if Tehran was to upgrade its cooperation with Beijing to something that more closely resembled the "all-weather," "iron-clad" pact between China and Pakistan, he said Iran would likely need to reevaluate its foreign policy outlook.

"It is important to note that, unlike Islamabad, some decision-makers in Tehran often see themselves Iran as one of the centers of the world," Fan said. "A great-power mindset is not uncommon in contemporary Iran, which to some extent affects the development of its foreign relations."

"Personally, I believe that if Tehran shows sufficient willingness and trust toward China," he added, "Beijing would not reject cooperation with Iran in military fields such as weapons."

Newsweek has reached out to the Chinese Embassy to the United States and the Iranian Mission to the United Nations for comment.

Quote:Iran has "restored" its air defense network heavily targeted by Israel during last month's conflict, state media reported on Sunday, citing a senior Iranian military official.

Why It Matters

Israel homed in on Iran's air defense network ahead of launching its strikes on the country's nuclear sites and other military targets in June. Iran retaliated, the repeated exchange of strikes becoming what has been dubbed the 12-day war.

Israel quickly said it had established "full aerial superiority" over the Iranian capital and the area west of Tehran, meaning it could operate its advanced aircraft over Iran with little fear they could be shot down by air defenses.

Israel's knocking out of Iranian air defenses also cleared the path for U.S. aircraft to launch their own strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities. Iran then attacked the U.S.'s Al Udeid military base in Qatar before a ceasefire was reached.

What To Know

Israel's "first targets" during the June war between the two countries were Iran's radars and air defense systems, Rear Admiral Mahmoud Mousavi, the deputy chief of operations for the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, said in comments carried by several state media and semiofficial outlets.

Mousavi said "some" air defenses were damaged. Israeli national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, said in June the Israeli military had destroyed "dozens and dozens" of Iranian air defense systems.

"With the efforts of my comrades, however, the damaged systems were replaced and deployed at predetermined locations," Mousavi said. The Israeli military declined to comment when approached by Newsweek on Sunday.

There are many types of air defenses, including large ground-based systems designed to intercept advanced missiles or keep aircraft far away from key targets. Iran has operated a mixture of domestically-made and imported air defense systems, including the Russian-manufactured S-300 long-range system and the shorter-range Tor.

Quote:President Donald Trump has warned Iran not to attempt to rebuild their nuclear facilities, after he claimed recent U.S. military strikes in June "completely destroyed" Iran's sites.

The President wrote on Truth Social on Saturday: "All three nuclear sites in Iran were completely destroyed and/or OBLITERATED. It would take years to bring them back into service and, if Iran wanted to do so, they would be much better off starting anew, in three different locations, prior to those sites being obliterated, should they decide to do so. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

Why it Matters

The stakes surrounding Iran's nuclear program remain high for U.S. national security interests and for stability across the Middle East.

President Trump's warning comes against a backdrop of ongoing debates about the effectiveness of U.S. strikes and the future of diplomatic efforts to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions.

What To Know

On June 21, the U.S. military—under an operation code-named Midnight Hammer—conducted airstrikes against three of Iran's principal nuclear sites: Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.

President Trump and defense officials publicly claimed that all three sites were "completely destroyed," saying that Iran would require years to reconstitute its nuclear program if it tried to rebuild. Trump reiterated this with his message on Saturday.

But some U.S. intelligence assessments have challenged the administration's narrative.

Only one out of three of Iran's nuclear sites was destroyed with the other two surviving enough to be able to resume nuclear enrichment within several months if Tehran wants it, according to NBC News, which cited five current and former U.S. officials familiar with the assessment.

The Defense Department and the White House have pushed back, asserting that their own intelligence showed all three facilities were "completely and totally obliterated."

Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Purnell said: "President Trump was clear and the American people understand: Iran's nuclear facilities in Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz were completely and totally obliterated. There is no doubt about that."

"The credibility of the Fake News Media is similar to that of the current state of the Iranian nuclear facilities: destroyed, in the dirt, and will take years to recover."

Iran maintains that its nuclear program serves peaceful purposes, despite long-standing Western suspicions.

Iranian diplomats are set to meet in Europe next week for discussions about a possible nuclear deal, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

"Iran has not softened its position on its right to enrich uranium on Iranian soil, which makes it unlikely that Iran will accept a nuclear deal that includes a zero uranium enrichment demand," the Institute said in its most recent report.

And just in case anything goes wrong, Iran now wants to discuss the nuclear issue with Europe...

Quote:Leaders from Iran, Germany, France, and Britain are finalizing plans to discuss Tehran's nuclear program, a major source of global tension, "in the coming week," a German diplomatic source told Newsweek on Sunday.

Newsweek has reached out to press representatives for France, Britain, and Iran via email for comment on Sunday.

Why It Matters

Iran's nuclear program has long been a source of international concern. In 2015, Iran and several world powers including France, the United Kingdom, and Germany, signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), an agreement aimed at limiting Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. The JCPOA is set to expire in October.

The United States withdrew from the accord in 2018 under the Trump administration, reimposing sanctions and reigniting diplomatic friction.

Iran has consistently maintained that its nuclear program is intended for civilian purposes, while the U.S. and some of its allies like Israel have accused Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons capability. Tensions spiked again last month when the U.S. conducted airstrikes on three nuclear sites in Iran, prompting Iranian retaliation with a strike on a U.S. military base in Qatar.

What To Know

The three European countries, known as the E3, "are in contact with Iran to arrange further talks in the coming week," a German diplomatic source told Newsweek in an email Sunday.

Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported a source informed on the matter, saying, "The principle of talks has been agreed upon, but consultations are continuing on the time and place of the talks. The country in which the talks could be held next week has not been finalized."

The organization of talks with E3 leaders and Iran comes just days after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held discussions with French, German and European Union (EU) officials. That was the first formal call since the Israel-Iran war.

A German diplomatic source told Newsweek that "Iran must never possess nuclear weapons."

Quote:Saudi Arabia's flagship urban development, The Line, entered a critical phase of evaluation this week, as the kingdom's Public Investment Fund (PIF) engaged external consulting firms to assess the feasibility of the megaproject.

The review aims to determine whether project goals remain attainable amid rising costs, shifting timelines, and a downturn in oil revenues.

Newsweek contacted the Public Investment Fund and Neom by email for comment.

The Context

The Line was first announced as a "linear city" of the Neom development, stretching 105 miles, featuring twin 500-meter-tall skyscrapers and promising residents that all daily needs would be met within a five-minute walk. The project was originally designed for nine million inhabitants, served by a high-speed train network, and to operate on zero emissions.

However, the scale and timeline of The Line have drawn skepticism, with reports last year suggesting that the project has been scaled back to house fewer than 300,000 people, though Saudi Arabia has not acknowledged reports of the change.

What To Know

Now, it appears that officials are accepting the project's scope may have to be reigned in, with Saudi Arabia calling in consultants to assess whether or not the current approach is feasible.

The review will also include suggestions of alterations to the design, according to reports from Bloomberg. Newsweek could not verify these reports.

In a statement on the review process, a spokesperson for Neom said: "As is typical with large-scale, multiyear projects, strategic reviews are common practice and occur several times over the course of a major development project or infrastructure program.

"The Line remains a strategic priority and Neom is focused on maintaining operational continuity, improving efficiencies and accelerating progress to match the overall vision and objectives of the project."

Despite the ambitious targets, progress on The Line has been limited. Satellite images published by Newsweek in April showed large-scale excavation and support-zone development near the site, with around 2,800 workers and staff housed in custom-built accommodations.

However, independent evidence of progress on the skyscraper elements remains limited. There were also allegations of labor abuses—particularly involving foreign workers—raised in the British TV documentary Kingdom Uncovered: Inside Saudi Arabia, which claimed that some workers at NEOM were treated as "trapped slaves" and "beggars."

In response, the Saudi Arabian National Council for Occupational Safety and Health told Newsweek: "In reference to the misinformation circulating across various media platforms—particularly claims suggesting an increase in worker fatalities linked to working conditions in Saudi Arabia, accompanied by unfounded statistics lacking credible sources—the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health in Saudi Arabia unequivocally refutes these assertions.

"The council affirms the work-related fatalities in Saudi Arabia is 1.12 per 100,000 workers. This figure positions Saudi Arabia among the lowest globally in terms of work-related fatalities.

"The International Labour Organization [ILO] acknowledges this progress, highlighting on its official website that Saudi Arabia has made significant advancements in improving occupational safety and health and reducing workplace accidents at the national level.

"Similar commendations have been offered by other reputable international organizations, including the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management and the British Safety Council.

Quote:Americans held in Venezuela will be included in a prisoner exchange with El Salvador, home to the supermax prison known as CECOT where the U.S. has deported hundreds of illegal migrants.

Newsweek understands that at least some of the Venezuelan immigrants sent to CECOT in March were on board flights headed to their home country Friday afternoon.

"Well, there were already rumors that a flight from El Salvador was leaving in a few hours," Danielvi Henriquez, sister of one of the deported Venezuelans Wilvenson Guevara Munoz, told Newsweek Friday.

"But we realized the plane was headed there. It landed, and they confirmed that there would indeed be an exchange — political prisoners here for our innocent Venezuelans in El Salvador."

Newsweek reached out to the U.S. State Department for comment by email on Friday afternoon. Secretary of State Marco Rubio later confirmed the release of 10 Americans from Venezuela.

Why It Matters

Relations between the U.S. and Venezuela have been strained for some time, with El Salvador becoming somewhat a bridge between the two nations when it comes to deportations and prisoners. Venezuela has been reluctant to take back nationals deported by the U.S., with CECOT taking many Venezuelans instead.

What To Know

El Salvador will send 238 Venezuelans held in the prison to Caracas in exchange for five U.S. citizens and five permanent U.S. residents to U.S. custody, according to Reuters, which cited two U.S. government officials.

Exact figures remain in flux, but one of the officials told the outlet that the numbers appear to be close to expectation.

Quote:The Trump administration has long insisted that America should not be a haven for criminals. Last week, it brought one home.

Dahud Hanid Ortiz — a Venezuelan-born American citizen and former U.S. Marine convicted of a brutal triple murder in Spain — was among 10 Americans repatriated from Venezuela in a high-profile prisoner exchange between the White House and the South American government.

Ortiz was sentenced to 30 years in prison for a 2016 triple homicide in Madrid, according to Venezuelan and Spanish court records reviewed by Newsweek. Spain requested his extradition, but Venezuela's Constitution bans extraditing its citizens. Instead, he was tried in Venezuela, which permits prosecuting crimes committed abroad.

The Trump administration has not explained how Ortiz ended up on the list of "wrongfully detained" Americans, alongside a group that, according to pro-democracy activists in Venezuela, includes tourists used by Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro as bargaining chips.

When Newsweek reached out to the State Department for comment on Wednesday morning, a spokesperson declined to comment on the specific case of Ortiz and defended the operation: "We were able to secure the release of all Americans detained in Venezuela; many of whom reported being subjected to torture and other harsh conditions."

Why It Matters

Venezuela on Friday released 10 jailed U.S. citizens and permanent residents in exchange for the return of dozens of Venezuelan migrants who had been deported in March by the United States to El Salvador under the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, officials said.

The Venezuelans had been held in the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT — a massive prison built to detain alleged gang members as part of President Bukele's war on gangs. Trump had invoked the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act, a wartime law, to swiftly deport the men, accusing them of ties to the violent Tren de Aragua street gang.

However, the administration did not provide evidence to back up those claims.

What To Know

In a bitter irony, while the Trump administration has championed the deportation of migrants accused of minor crimes and condemned countries for sheltering fugitives, it repatriated Ortiz as part of a deal it billed as a humanitarian breakthrough.

"We delivered murderers for you," Venezuelan minister Diosdado Cabello told the deportees aboard their flight home. "They were in hell. Today they are in Venezuela."

Spanish media reports first identified one of the men as Ortiz, 51, a fugitive wanted in Spain for one of Madrid's most shocking crimes in recent memory — the grisly murders of two Cuban women and an Ecuadorian man in a law office.

Investigators say Ortiz, driven by jealousy over his ex-partner, stalked her and her new boyfriend, hacked her devices, and planted microphones before traveling to Madrid and killing three innocent people he mistakenly thought were connected to her.

Quote:A California doctor pleaded guilty Wednesday to supplying Matthew Perry with ketamine in the weeks before the actor's fatal overdose. Dr. Salvador Plasencia, 43, admitted to four counts of distributing the powerful anesthetic during a hearing in federal court in Los Angeles, becoming the fourth of five individuals charged in connection with Perry's death to enter a guilty plea.

Plasencia had previously pleaded not guilty and was scheduled to stand trial in August but agreed last month to a plea deal that includes the dismissal of three additional distribution charges and two counts of falsifying records. Standing beside his attorney, Plasencia answered brief questions from U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett, confirming his legal team had reviewed all plea and sentencing options.

"Dr. Plasencia is profoundly remorseful for the treatment decisions he made while providing ketamine to Matthew Perry," the doctor's attorney, Debra White, said in an emailed statement after the hearing. "He is fully accepting responsibility by pleading guilty to drug distribution. Dr. Plasencia intends to voluntarily surrender his medical license, acknowledging his failure to protect Mr. Perry, a patient who was especially vulnerable due to addiction."

How did Matthew Perry die?

Matthew Perry, 54, was found unresponsive in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home on October 28, 2023. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner ruled his death an accident caused primarily by the acute effects of ketamine, with drowning and coronary artery disease also contributing factors.

What was Matthew Perry's cause of death?
The official autopsy identified the cause of death as "acute effects of ketamine," noting that Perry had high levels of the drug in his system, which triggered cardiovascular overstimulation and respiratory depression, ultimately leading to drowning.

Prosecutors noted in court that Plasencia did not provide the final dose that killed Perry but admitted to regularly supplying him with ketamine in the month before his death.

According to court documents, he provided Perry with 20 vials of ketamine totaling 100 mg, along with lozenges and syringes. He also enlisted another physician, Dr. Mark Chavez, to assist in the scheme. In one text message, Plasencia referred to Perry as a "moron" and said, "I wonder how much this moron will pay," as noted in Chavez's plea agreement. After selling the drugs for $4,500, Plasencia reportedly asked Chavez if they could continue the arrangement and become Perry's "go-to" ketamine providers.

Who was charged related to Matthew Perry's death?
Five individuals have been charged in connection with providing the fatal doses of ketamine: two doctors, Perry's personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, a supplier named Erik Fleming, and Jasveen Sangha (dubbed the "Ketamine Queen").

So far, four have pleaded guilty—including Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who admitted to illegally distributing ketamine to Perry in the month before his death—while Sangha has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

Quote:The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday delivered another victory to President Donald Trump, allowing his administration to remove three Democratic members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), marking Trump's 16th consecutive win before the High Court.

Why It Matters

The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, has granted a slew of Trump's requests filed through the emergency docket since the president took office in January.

Among other things, the court has handed the administration wins on its efforts to shrink the size of the federal government, immigration enforcement, deportations, scaling back legal protections for transgender people, removing independent government watchdogs and more.

What To Know

On Wednesday, the court granted an emergency request from the Department of Justice to overturn a lower-court ruling reinstating the three Democratic members of the CPSC. The DOJ argued in its request that as the head of the executive branch, the president has the authority to remove agency commissioners without cause.

The three liberal justices dissented, echoing concerns raised by U.S. District Judge Matthew Maddox, who had ruled in June that the dismissals were unlawful.

Maddox, who was appointed to the court by President Joe Biden, emphasized the CPSC's role as a semi-independent body tasked with protecting consumers through recalls, litigation and safety regulations. He had sought to distinguish the commission's duties from those of other federal agencies where the Court has upheld similar firings.

Justice Elena Kagan, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, was particularly sharp in her dissent Wednesday, saying that the High Court's ruling nearly overturned the precedent set by the 1935 case Humphrey's Executor v. United States. The court ruled in that case that the Constitution allows Congress to make laws limiting the president's power to fire some executive branch officials who are part of an independent agency.

Kagan was joined in her dissent by the court's other two liberal justices, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor.

The Supreme Court has not formally overturned the 90-year-old precedent, but Kagan wrote: "On the Court's emergency docket—which means 'on a short fuse without benefit of full briefing and oral argument'—the majority has effectively expunged Humphrey's from the U.S."

Quote:A federal appeals court delivered a win to MyPillow founder Mike Lindell on Wednesday, ruling he does not have to pay a $5 million award to a software engineer who challenged Lindell's claims that China interfered in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals found that an arbitration panel exceeded its authority in awarding the money to Robert Zeidman, a Las Vegas-based engineer who participated in Lindell's 2021 "Prove Mike Wrong Challenge."

Why It Matters

Lindell, a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, has been a leading voice in promoting claims that the 2020 election was rigged, despite more than 50 failed court challenges from Trump allies and clear statements from Trump's own Justice Department rejecting widespread fraud.

What To Know

As part of a "Cyber Symposium" Lindell hosted in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, he promised $5 million to anyone who could prove that the packet capture data he released was not from the 2020 election. Zeidman submitted a 15-page report debunking the data and, after contest officials refused to declare him the winner, he filed for arbitration. A panel of three arbitrators—including one chosen by Lindell—ruled in Zeidman's favor and awarded the $5 million. U.S. District Judge John Tunheim later upheld the decision, despite calling the contest rules a "poorly written contract."

However, the appeals court disagreed. In its ruling, the 8th Circuit said the arbitrators strayed beyond the contract's clear terms.

"Whatever one might think of the logic of the panel's reasoning, it is contrary to Minnesota law. ... Fair or not, agreed-to contract terms may not be modified by the panel or by this court," the court wrote. The case was remanded to the lower court with instructions to vacate the award.

"It's a great day for our country," Lindell said in an interview following the decision. "This is a big win. It opens the door to getting rid of these electronic voting machines and getting paper ballots, hand-counted."

Zeidman's attorney, Brian Glasser, criticized the ruling and encouraged the public to evaluate the original arbitration decision for themselves.

The ruling comes amid a string of legal battles for Lindell. Just last month, a Colorado jury found him liable for defaming a former voting machine company employee by accusing him of treason, awarding $2.3 million in damages.

Quote:President Donald Trump's administration was dealt a new legal loss by a federal appeals court over his executive order regarding birthright citizenship on Wednesday.

Why It Matters

The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit marked a significant setback for President Trump's efforts to redefine U.S. citizenship rules. Trump's executive action seeks to prevent children born on U.S. soil from automatically receiving citizenship if neither parent was an American citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of birth.

Wednesday's decision from the appeals court reinforced the 14th Amendment's long-standing interpretation making birthright citizenship accessible to nearly all individuals born in the U.S., regardless of their parents' legal status.

What To Know

The appeals court ruled on Wednesday that Trump's executive order is unconstitutional and upheld a lower-court decision that blocked its nationwide enforcement.

Judge Ronald Gould, writing the opinion for the court, said Trump's executive order "contradicts the plain language of the Fourteenth Amendment's grant of citizenship."

The ruling added: "The district court correctly concluded that the Executive Order's proposed interpretation, denying citizenship to many persons born in the United States, is unconstitutional. We fully agree."

Wednesday's ruling was 2-1, with two judges appointed by President Bill Clinton forming the majority, while one judge appointed by Trump dissented.

In an executive order posted on the day Trump was inaugurated, the president said that "the Fourteenth Amendment has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States. The Fourteenth Amendment has always excluded from birthright citizenship persons who were born in the United States but not 'subject to the jurisdiction thereof.'"

Quote:Democratic mayoral primary winner and New York state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani was issued a stark warning by Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro on Wednesday, saying that if Mamdani's supporters spout antisemitic rhetoric, "you can't leave room for that to just sit there. You've got to condemn that."
...
The rebuke arrives at a pivotal moment not just for Mamdani's campaign, but as Democrats nationwide wrestle with internal divisions over Israel policy, rising anti-Jewish hate and endorsement strategies, all holding significance for the 2026 midterm cycle. Jewish communities and party leaders are watching these developments closely as political rhetoric and policy stances on antisemitism become central campaign issues.

Mamdani's surge has intensified debate within the Democratic Party over its future direction, as his platform sharply contrasts with those of more centrist and establishment-aligned figures.

Unlike establishment Democrats—who have historically championed incremental reforms and avoided expansive tax policies targeting high-earners—Mamdani has proposed increasing taxes on residents earning more than $1 million annually, raising corporate tax rates and implementing a citywide rent freeze. These positions are central to his campaign, which he has framed around affordability, housing justice and public investment in services such as free child care and public transportation.

As Mamdani awaits critical Democratic backing, he sat down with business leaders this month, where he said he would discourage the phrase "globalize the intifada," according to The New York Times, citing three people familiar with discussions.

What To Know

While speaking to Jewish Insider, Shapiro took a swipe at Mamdani, saying, "He seemed to run a campaign that excited New Yorkers. He also seemed to run a campaign where he left open far too much space for extremists to either use his words or for him to not condemn the words of extremists that said some blatantly antisemitic things."

The assemblyman and democratic socialist has yet to secure key backing from Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, also of New York, ahead of the November election.

The Democratic governor said he is "concerned that support for Israel in the United States broadly is down compared to what it was a decade ago." He later added that "There are policies of the [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu government that I don't support. I've been very vocal about that. But there's a difference between not supporting the policies of whoever's in charge at a particular time, and the underlying notion of a Jewish state of Israel."

"I do think it is important to strengthen people's understanding of Israel and the relationship America should have with Israel and to strengthen that bond," Shapiro said.

The governor also handed out a piece of advice to Mamdani and any future leader: "You have to speak and act with moral clarity, and when supporters of yours say things that are blatantly antisemitic, you can't leave room for that to just sit there. You've got to condemn that."

Previously, Mamdani seemingly defended the phrase "globalize the intifada" as "a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights." He has also called antisemitism a "real issue" in New York City and said Hamas' attack of Israel on October 7, 2023, was a "war crime."

Quote:Former U.S. President Barack Obama has been the subject of online death threats and calls for imprisonment after President Donald Trump and the director of national intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard accused him of treason regarding Russian influence in previous presidential elections.

According to a report by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE), social media comments calling for Obama's imprisonment or execution surged between July 17 and July 20, after the administration claimed Obama's administration "manipulated and withheld" key information on the extent to which Russia was involved in the 2016 election. Obama has denied the allegations.

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told Newsweek: "President Trump and the entire administration strongly condemn all forms of violence. The Trump administration also believes in accountability and that individuals who participate in criminal activity should be held to the fullest extent of the law."

A DNI spokesperson said: "DNI Gabbard strongly condemns all forms of violence. The Director also believes in shining light on the truth, investigating wrongdoing, and holding those who participate in criminal activities accountable to the fullest extent of the law."
...
The threats started after Gabbard released a report on Friday alleging that Obama and members of his administration manufactured intelligence regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election to "lay the groundwork for what was essentially a yearslong coup against President Trump."

She said she would refer the officials to the Justice Department for prosecution.

Then on Sunday Trump weighed in and posted an AI-generated video to his social media platform, Truth Social, which showed Obama being arrested and put in jail.

Since then, between July 17 and July 20, comments targeting Obama have surged on Truth Social, Gab and Telegram, the researchers found.

On Truth Social, comments made calling Obama treasonous and deserving of either imprisonment or execution rose from three to 36, an 1,100 percent increase.

On Gab, these comments increased from nine to 48—a 433 percent increase.

And on Telegram, comments of this ilk increased from zero to 12.

GPAHE told Newsweek: "GPAHE's research continues to show a spike in online bigoted and violent rhetoric whenever the president targets people with his online posts. The combination of Director Gabbard's and President Trump's conspiracy-laden and racist posts, not only inflamed extremists, but further normalized language and ideas that are completely unacceptable in a thriving democracy. We, as a nation, cannot contribute to this normalization by staying silent."

Since the time period the researchers investigated, Trump has continued to make comments about Obama. On Tuesday, he called the former president "the leader of the gang" when it came to the Russia investigation.

He said: "He's guilty. This was treason. This was every word you can think of. They tried to steal the election. They tried to obfuscate the election. They did things that nobody's ever even imagined."

He added that it was "time to go after people," and accused other political opponents including former CIA director John Brennan of unlawfully conspiring against him.

Later that day, Obama's office released a statement rebutting the allegations, which they called "outrageous."

Quote:Senator Ron Wyden, the most senior Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, has written to Attorney General Pam Bondi urging her to "follow the money" and launch a fresh investigation into the financial affairs of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein using Treasury Department documents.

In his letter sent on Monday, Wyden said the Department of Justice (DOJ) "failed to conduct a real investigation into the funding of Epstein's sex trafficking operation" and accused four major banks of processing "billions in suspicious transactions that flowed through Epstein's accounts" that were not flagged to the Treasury until after the financier's suicide in August 2019.

Speaking to Newsweek, a DOJ spokesperson confirmed receipt of the letter but declined to comment further. Newsweek contacted Senator Wyden on Thursday via email and online inquiry form respectively outside of regular office hours.

Why It Matters

Earlier this month the DOJ and the FBI released a joint statement insisting Epstein "died by suicide" and had "no incriminating 'client list.'" The move sparked a furious reaction from a section of President Donald Trump's Make America Great Again (MAGA) base, which has long believed Epstein was murdered to cover up the participation of prominent figures in sexual abuse.

Wyden's letter shows the Trump administration will continue to face intense pressure to further investigate the Epstein case, or release documents it has concerning this, despite its apparent efforts to close down the subject.

What To Know

Addressing Attorney General Bondi in his letter Wyden said he was "convinced that the DOG ignored evidence found in the U.S. Treasury Department's Epstein file," which he said "contains extensive details on the mountains of cash Epstein received from prominent business owners that Epstein used to finance his criminal network."

In response to what he termed "the DOJ's lack of thoroughness" Wyden provided Bondi with "a road map with a list of 'follow the money' leads on Jeffrey Epstein."

Wyden noted the Senate Finance Committee on February 14 2024 reviewed "thousands of page[s] of Treasury Department files documenting the flow of money in and out of Jeffrey Epstein's accounts" which he concluded "contains significant information on the sources of funding behind Epstein's sex trafficking activities." He said this included documents showing more than 4,725 wire transfers involving Epstein's accounts from 2003 to 2019 totaling $1.08 billion.

Quote:UnitedHealth Group has said it is under investigation by the Department of Justice, which is probing its involvement in Medicare, a federal health insurance program for those over 65 and people with disabilities.

Newsweek reached out to the Department of Justice for comment.

UnitedHealth runs one of the nation's largest health insurance and pharmacy benefits management businesses. It also operates a growing Optum business that provides care and technology support.

It has come under intense scrutiny in recent months, as its profits soared amid controversy over its health insurance practices, a painful financial burden on many Americans, a large number of whom feel that the whole system is designed to take advantage of them.

Fraud Investigation, CEO Murder

Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal said federal officials had launched a civil fraud investigation into how the company records diagnoses that lead to extra payments for its Medicare Advantage, or MA, plans.

The CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, was fatally shot in Midtown Manhattan in December 2024 on his way to the company's annual investor meeting. The alleged shooter, Luigi Mangione, is on trial. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

UnitedHealth Group SEC Filing

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), UnitedHealth Group stated that it had "proactively reached out to the Department of Justice after reviewing media reports about investigations into certain aspects of the Company's participation in the Medicare program."

"The Company has now begun complying with formal criminal and civil requests from the Department," the company said in its filing on Thursday morning, July 24, adding that it "has full confidence in its practices and is committed to working cooperatively with the Department throughout this process."

UnitedHealth Group said it "has a long record of responsible conduct and effective compliance," and that "following a decade-long civil challenge by the Department to aspects of our Medicare Advantage business, a court-appointed Special Master concluded there was no evidence to support claims of wrongdoing."

UnitedHealth Revenues Rise, Shares Fall

Company shares were down nearly 4 percent, or $11.51, to $281.12 before markets opened Thursday.

But UnitedHealth raked in more than $400 billion in revenue last year as the third-largest company in the Fortune 500. Last year, its share price reached a new all-time high of over $630 before the recent declines.

The company's UnitedHealthcare business covers more than 8 million people, making it the nation's largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans. The business has been under pressure in recent quarters due to rising care use and rate cuts.

Quote:Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man at the center of a long-running legal and political controversy over U.S. immigration enforcement, must be released from custody and returned to Maryland, two federal judges ruled Wednesday in separate decisions.

The decisions come after months of legal battles following Abrego's controversial removal to El Salvador in March, a deportation that the U.S. Supreme Court later determined to be unlawful.

Late on Wednesday, in a third ruling, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes delayed Abrego's release from custody for 30 days, following a request from his attorneys. They cited government advice that the Department of Homeland Security would begin removal proceedings if he were released.
...
The orders from U.S. District Judges Waverly Crenshaw Jr. and Paula Xinis mark a significant turning point in the case. The orders are the latest developments in a high-profile saga involving immigration, criminal proceedings, and alleged violations of constitutional rights. While the decisions represent a significant legal victory for Abrego, federal immigration authorities have signaled that efforts to deport him may soon resume.

What To Know

Abrego, who entered the U.S. without authorization over a decade ago, was living and working in Maryland under an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) supervision order when he was detained and deported to El Salvador on March 12, 2025.

The deportation directly violated a standing immigration court order from 2019 that prohibited his removal to El Salvador due to credible fears for his safety there.

After being expelled, Abrego was held at El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center, a prison known for violence and overcrowding.

His removal prompted legal challenges that reached the Supreme Court, which found the deportation violated both the Immigration and Nationality Act and Abrego's constitutional right to due process.

Following the ruling, the federal government delayed for nearly three months before returning Abrego to the U.S. in June.

Upon arrival, he was placed in U.S. Marshals custody to face unrelated criminal charges in Tennessee.

On Wednesday, Judge Crenshaw, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, ruled that Abrego should be released on bail while awaiting trial in the Middle District of Tennessee, finding that prosecutors had not demonstrated that he posed a flight risk or danger to the community.

Crenshaw noted that although the government accused Abrego of immigrant smuggling involving a minor, he had been cooperative when stopped by law enforcement in 2022 and had not attempted to flee.

Judge Xinis, acting in a civil case brought by Abrego and his family over his deportation, ruled to both restore Abrego to his pre-deportation immigration status and protect his due process rights if officials attempt to remove him from the U.S. again. Her ruling criticized government attorneys and ICE officials for failing to prepare adequately for court proceedings and for offering limited details about possible third-country removal options.

The court noted that although DHS has existing diplomatic agreements with countries like Mexico and South Sudan to accept deportees, no specific plans had been confirmed for Abrego. Nor had federal officials explained what process would be available to him in the event of a third-country removal.

The court's ruling underscores that any further attempts to remove Abrego must begin in Maryland, where jurisdiction over his original immigration case lies. Officials had previously indicated that any removal proceedings could be initiated wherever ICE found space to detain him, raising concerns about due process and judicial oversight.

Tennessee U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes has delayed the release of alleged MS-13 member Kilmar Abrego Garcia from custody for thirty days.

His attorneys requested the delay on Monday, citing advice from the government that the Department of Homeland Security would initiate removal proceedings if he were released.

Quote:California Governor Gavin Newsom has decried a court's decision striking down a voter-backed California law that required background checks for people who buy bullets.

In a 2-1 decision on Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that the law violated the Second Amendment. The ruling upheld a lower court's decision from last year.

Newsom called the decision a "slap in the face to the progress California has made in recent years to keep its communities safer from gun violence."

He added that Californians "voted to require background checks on ammunition and their voices should matter."

Why It Matters

The law took effect in 2019 after voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative on the issue in 2016 and after the state legislature passed a bill changing requirements for buying ammunition.

The law was intended to help police find people who have guns illegally, such as convicted felons, people with certain mental illnesses and people with some domestic violence convictions. Sometimes they order kits online and assemble guns in their home. The guns don't have serial numbers and are difficult for law enforcement to track, but the people who own them show up in background checks when they try to buy bullets.

What To Know

Judge Sandra Segal Ikuta wrote for the majority that the law "meaningfully constrains" the constitutional right to keep arms by forcing gun owners to get rechecked before each purchase of bullets.

"The right to keep and bear arms incorporates the right to operate them, which requires ammunition," Ikuta wrote.

In his dissent, judge Jay Bybee argued that the law creates only minor hurdles to legal purchases of ammunition, and that it does not "meaningfully constrain" the right to bear arms.

All three judges on the panel were appointed by Republican presidents.

Last year, U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez decided that the law was unconstitutional because if people can't buy bullets, they can't use their guns for self-defense.

The law remained in effect while the state appealed the lower court's decision.

Quote:The Department of Justice has sued New York Mayor Eric Adams, challenging local "sanctuary" policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

It wants New York City's sanctuary policies to be declared unconstitutional, saying they impede the enforcement of federal immigration laws.

Why It Matters

The Trump administration has viewed sanctuary cities and states as obstacles to immigration enforcement operations, with local police not involved in ICE activity. Sanctuary laws are designed to limit local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. These laws seek to protect immigrants in the country illegally by restricting the sharing of personal information with federal authorities and preventing local law enforcement from assisting in immigration arrests. Critics argue that sanctuary laws impede immigration enforcement operations.

What To Know

In the lawsuit, the federal government is seeking to have the court declare New York City's sanctuary policies unconstitutional under the Supremacy Clause and to issue an injunction preventing the city from enforcing its limited-cooperation provisions.

"Some of these aliens find safe havens from federal law enforcement detection in so-called 'sanctuary' cities, where they are shielded among innocent Americans—who, all too often, later become their crime victim," the DOJ wrote in its complaint.

The complaint was brought in the Eastern District of New York and names Adams' administration as the defendant.

The DOJ's complaint says that New York City's refusal to hold individuals beyond their scheduled release time at the request of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), along with its prohibition on sharing release or incarceration information without a state court warrant or a conviction for a serious crime, directly conflicts with federal immigration statutes and the authority of the executive branch.

New York first implemented limited-cooperation policies in 2013, expanded them in 2014 and 2017, and solidified them further through Executive Order 50, signed in 2022. These measures restrict local law enforcement and correctional facilities from cooperating with federal immigration authorities in most cases.

Under the law, the city is permitted to honor detention requests only for individuals convicted of "violent or serious" crimes—a list that includes more than 170 offenses, such as rape and murder. Additionally, ICE must provide a warrant signed by a federal judge with each request in order for it to be considered.

"New York City has released thousands of criminals on the streets to commit violent crimes against law-abiding citizens due to sanctuary city policies," said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. "If New York City won't stand up for the safety of its citizens, we will."

In the early days of Trump's second term, Adams appeared to strike an informal agreement with the White House. He appeared on Fox News alongside border czar Tom Homan, pledging to cooperate with ICE on targeting serious criminal immigrants. However, publicly, he has maintained he only backs the arrest of serious criminals.

Quote:Three former Department of Justice (DOJ) officials, including Michael Gordon who prosecuted a number of January 6 cases, have filed a lawsuit against the department and Attorney General Pam Bondi alleging they were improperly fired by the Trump administration after it took office in January.
...
After Donald Trump was inaugurated as president for the second time on January 20, dozens of DOJ employees were fired, including a number of prosecutors who had worked on criminal cases against either Trump or those of his supporters arrested after the January 6 2021 Capitol Hill riot.

If some of these firings are ruled unlawful in court, it would be a significant blow to the Trump administration, which has already lost court cases concerning sanctions it imposed on law firms that were involved in legal action against Trump.

What To Know

The lawsuit from three former Justice Department employees was filed on Thursday with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, against the DOJ, Bondi and the White House.

In addition to Gordon, the case was filed by Joseph Tirrell, formerly director of the DOJ's Ethics Office, and public affairs expert Patty Hartman who according to CBS News was involved in crafting press releases related to January 6 prosecutions. Gordon, Tirrell and Hartman are seeking reinstatement to the DOJ, and back pay.

According to the lawsuit all three were informed they had been fired via one-page documents signed by Bondi that didn't give any specific reasons for their loss of employment. This "came as a particular shock" to Gordon according to the filing as he was working on a fraud case involving a Florida man who allegedly stole millions of dollars from children with special needs.

The court filing said that, under normal circumstances, Tirrell, Hartman and Gordon would have appealed their dismissals to the Merit Systems Protection Board, a federal agency, but felt this was "futile" after Trump weakened the body by firing a board member.

In the lawsuit, Tirell also said his firing failed to take account of his membership of the Senior Executive Service, giving him extra employment protection, due to his naval service.

The suit read: "Specifically, it is a Prohibited Personnel Practice to 'knowingly take, recommend, or approve any personnel action if the taking of such action would violate a veterans' preference requirement."

Quote:European and Iranian diplomats have arrived in Istanbul in a renewed effort to resolve the standoff over Tehran's nuclear program. The talks mark the first formal engagement since June's 12-day war between Iran and Israel, a conflict that included U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and heightened tensions across the region.

The discussions come as the UK, France, and Germany—collectively known as the E3—consider triggering a "snapback" mechanism that would reimpose UN sanctions lifted under the 2015 nuclear accord. In a bid to de-escalate, the E3 are floating a temporary extension of the sanctions deadline, contingent on Iranian commitments to diplomacy and international nuclear oversight.
...
The outcome of the Istanbul talks could determine whether the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) has any future. The U.S. withdrew from the deal in 2018 during President Donald Trump's first term. Since then, Iran has expanded its uranium enrichment, prompting alarm in some Western capitals and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The "snapback" of sanctions would isolate Iran further, risk collapse of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and possibly accelerate regional instability. Yet a successful diplomatic turn could restore limited trust and reduce the likelihood of further conflict.

What To Know

Western diplomats say a delay in triggering "snapback" is possible—if Iran resumes full cooperation with the IAEA and engages credibly in talks. European leaders have warned that sanctions will return by the end of August if no progress is made. Officials say Iran must also address the status of over 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity, a level just below weapons-grade.

Tehran's Distrust

Iran has conditioned its participation on what it calls "key principles," including guarantees against U.S. and Israeli military action during talks. Tehran suspended cooperation with the IAEA following the recent strikes and insists that its uranium enrichment is peaceful and within legal bounds.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, in a lengthy post in Farsi on X, emphasized that rebuilding trust in U.S. intentions is essential and outlined the principles guiding Tehran's engagement. Meanwhile, President Masoud Pezeshkian stated that Iran is "prepared for another war," while reiterating its program is compliant with international law.

Quote:Russia has launched a new Iranian communications satellite into orbit with one of its Soyuz rockets.

It is another symbol of deepening strategic cooperation between Russia and Iran, a point of concern for U.S.-led Western allies.

The rocket lifted off from the Vostochny launchpad in far eastern Russia, carrying two Russian Ionosphere-M Earth observation satellites, along with Iran's Nahid-2 satellite and 17 smaller Russian satellites.
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The launch underscores deepening technological ties between Russia and Iran amid rising Western pressure on both countries. It also signals Tehran's continued progress in satellite technology, despite longstanding concerns in the West that advances in its civilian space program may enhance its ballistic missile capabilities.

The timing of the launch—just hours before European nations met with Iranian officials to resume nuclear talks—may also be seen as a calculated show of strength. These negotiations come at a particularly fraught moment, following a 12-day conflict triggered by Israeli attacks on Iranian targets.

What to Know

The Nahid-2 satellite is the latest in a series of Iranian space projects. Iran's state broadcaster described it as a communications satellite entirely designed and manufactured domestically.

It was launched aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome. The 110-kilogram (242-pound) Iranian satellite is supposed to circle the Earth on a 500-kilometer (310-mile) orbit and has a service lifetime of two years.

How Has the West Responded?
Western governments have long raised alarms over Iran's space program, suggesting its technological gains could be repurposed for ballistic missile development. The dual-use nature of satellite launch vehicles has been cited as a particular area of concern by officials in Washington and Europe.

Earlier this week, Iran tested its own Qased satellite launch rocket, marking a new phase in its space program. State media described the launch as an effort to assess "emerging new technologies" and improve the performance of future satellite systems.

Quote:Hamas has pushed back against remarks by U.S. Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff, who criticized the group's stance in ongoing ceasefire talks and said negotiators were pulling out from Qatar on Thursday.

In a statement, Hamas expressed "surprise" at Witkoff's "negative" comments, saying that mediators had welcomed its "constructive and positive" position.
...
The deadlock in ceasefire talks has dealt a major blow to hopes of an imminent ceasefire for Gaza and is a setback for months of diplomatic efforts, including those by Egypt and Qatar. Washington blames Hamas for prolonging the war and obstructing humanitarian aid.

Gaza's humanitarian crisis continues to worsen, putting pressure on Israel. If negotiations collapse entirely, hopes for releasing remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza diminish further.

What To Know

U.S. and Israeli delegations recalled their negotiating teams from Doha following Hamas's response to a proposal that included a 60-day truce, phased hostages release, and humanitarian aid entry.

Witkoff, appointed by President Donald Trump, criticized Hamas for a lack of "good faith" in the negotiations. It remains unclear which sticking points in the negotiations led to the rift. Hamas, on the other hand, contradicted the "negative" comments from the U.S. envoy, saying that their position in the talks was positive, constructive and supported by the other mediators.

The war has been fought since Hamas' October 2023 attack on Israel, which killed some 1,200 Israelis and with around 250 kidnapped into Gaza. Israel is now expanding ground operations and airstrikes across the strip and had killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza-run health ministry. Nearly 900 Israeli soldiers have been killed, according to the military. Some 20 hostages are believed to be still alive.

Quote:Voters in cities and counties across Taiwan will head to the polls Saturday in what local media are calling the "Great Recall."

At stake are the jobs of nearly two dozen legislators and several local leaders—along with the island's political balance of power, which could significantly impact Taiwan's relationship with China.

Proponents have framed the recall as a means of breaking the legislative gridlock. Critics have slammed it as an abuse of the democratic process.

Why It Matters

The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) retained the presidency with Lai Ching-te's victory in January 2024, but lost its majority in Taiwan's 113-seat legislature. The opposition Kuomintang (KMT)—which favors closer engagement with China—and its junior partner, the Taiwan People's Party (TPP), have since used their majority to push through a series of parliamentary reforms and enact budget freezes, including cuts to major defense projects.

Critics accuse the opposition of obstructing government policy and weakening Taiwan's hand against China, which claims the self-ruled island as its territory and has not ruled out unification by force. Beijing has ramped up military pressure on Taiwan in recent years and this has only escalated since the inauguration of Lai, whom Beijing considers a "separatist."

What To Know

Saturday's recall election, spearheaded by DPP officials and affiliated grassroots organizations, targets 22 lawmakers from the KMT, one from the TPP, and two mayors.

A recall succeeds if over 25 percent of eligible voters participate and a majority votes to remove the official. Those recalled cannot run again in the same district for four years.

With the KMT holding a slim legislative majority, just six or seven successful recalls could tip the balance and give the DPP renewed control in the 113-seat Legislative Yuan. The KMT describes the campaign as an abuse of democratic process, while the DPP says it's a constitutional right for citizens.

China's Taiwan Affairs Office has denounced the recalls in previous statements, while Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council has accused Beijing of trying to influence the outcome.

The vote could reshape Taiwan's politics and signal how the island will respond to Chinese pressure. If the DPP regains control of the legislature, Beijing may retaliate with a show of force, such as the three large scale military drills it has staged since Lai took office.

Quote:Vietnam will purchase helicopters from the United States for its police force, as Hanoi—historically reliant on Russian weaponry—deepens its partnership with Washington.

A Reuters report also stated that Vietnam's Defense Ministry is negotiating with Lockheed Martin over the purchase of C-130 military transport aircraft.

A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department referred Newsweek to the government of Vietnam regarding the Southeast Asian country's equipment procurement. The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a written request for comment.

Why It Matters

Vietnam and the United States—former adversaries during the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975—have been expanding their defense cooperation since Washington lifted its arms sales ban in 2016, after which Hanoi acquired U.S. coast guard vessels and training aircraft.

Prior to its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia was a major weapons supplier to Vietnam. However, the Southeast Asian country is now diversifying its arms sources and enhancing domestic weapons production, creating opportunities for American defense firms.

Earlier in July, President Donald Trump announced a trade agreement with Vietnam, under which U.S. goods exported to the Vietnamese market will face zero tariffs. Choosing American defense equipment may also help narrow the U.S. trade deficit with Vietnam.

What To Know

Citing people with knowledge of the talks, Reuters reported on Thursday that Vietnam's Public Security Ministry has agreed to acquire two helicopters from Lockheed Martin as Vietnamese pilots have been training with the U.S. defense giant's S-92 helicopters.

According to Lockheed Martin, this type of helicopter is capable of performing a range of missions, including offshore energy transport, search and rescue, and airline operations. A total of 28 countries operate the S-92 helicopter for both civilian and military purposes.

Quote:The pharmaceutical industry is scrambling with scenario planning as U.S. President Donald Trump's 200% tariff proposal threatens to drive up drug prices and rip out corporate profit margins.

The president once again warned on Tuesday that long-awaited industry-wide tariffs would be announced "very soon" after the administration launched a so-called 232 investigation into the sector in April.

Trump suggested that those levies would not go into effect immediately, but get a grace period of "about a year, year and a half to come in."

Analysts nevertheless warn that such a rate — even with a delay — will have a detrimental effect on drug prices and profit margins.

"A 200% tariff would inflate production costs, compress profit margins, and risk supply chain disruptions, leading to drug shortages and higher prices for U.S. consumers," Barclays wrote in a note Wednesday.

UBS analysts cited a "significant negative impact" on margins, where goods are manufactured outside of the U.S. Meanwhile, the hit for patients could be "disastrous," Afsaneh Beschloss, founder and CEO of investment firm RockCreek Group said Tuesday, in reference to an estimated 100% levy.

"That would be potentially disastrous for every person because we need those pharmaceuticals, and it takes those companies a long time to produce them here in the U.S.," Beschloss told CNBC's "Closing Bell."

It is estimated that a tariff of just 25% on pharmaceutical imports would drive up U.S. drug prices by almost $51 billion annually, increasing domestic prices by as much as 12.9% if passed on, according to research from industry trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), which on Wednesday lambasted the president's proposals as "counterproductive" to health outcomes.

Delay brings little relief

Pharmaceutical products have typically been excluded from trade tariffs due to their critical nature. However, Trump has repeatedly targeted the industry for what he deems unfair pricing practices, and has urged firms to reshore manufacturing to the U.S.

In response, global pharma firms — including Novartis, Sanofi and Roche and U.S.-headquartered Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson — have made commitments to invest large sums in the U.S.

UBS dubbed the administration's tariff grace period of 12 to 18 months as "insufficient time" for firms to relocate their manufacturing stateside.

"We would usually think of 4 to 5 years as the timeline to move commercial scale manufacturing to a new site," the analysts wrote.

The industry is now awaiting further details at the end of this month, when the final Section 232 investigation report is due. But in the meantime, firms have little choice but to plan for various potential outcomes.

Yeap, Hunter Biden hates not being the First Son anymore.

Quote:Hunter Biden went off on actor George Clooney and other high-profile Democrats in an expletive-filled response to their calls for his father, former President Biden, to drop out of the 2024 election.

Appearing on YouTube personality Andrew Callaghan’s web series “Channel 5,” Hunter Biden lashed out at Clooney and other members of the party who publicly criticized the former president after his disastrous debate against President Trump last summer.

“F‑‑‑ him. F‑‑‑ him. F‑‑‑ him and everybody around him,” Hunter Biden said during the interview released Monday, in response to an anecdote about Clooney’s political involvement. “I don’t have to be f‑‑‑ing nice. No. 1, I agree with Quentin Tarantino. … F‑‑‑ing George Clooney is not a f‑‑‑ing actor. He is a f‑‑‑ing, like … I don’t know what he is. He is a brand.”

Clooney was among the first prominent Democrats to call on the then-president to drop out, warning in an op-ed in The New York Times last July that the party would lose the election otherwise.

Within two weeks, the elder Biden announced he was dropping his reelection bid and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to fill his place. Clooney thanked him “for saving democracy once again” in response and endorsed Harris.

The former president’s son also lashed out at other high-profile figures in the party.

“What do you have to do with f‑‑‑ing anything? Why do I have to f‑‑‑ing listen to you?” Biden asked. “What right do you have to step on a man who’s given 52 years of his f‑‑‑ing life to service of this country and to decide you, George Clooney, are going to take out basically a full page ad in the f‑‑‑ing New York Times. … To me — and James Carville, who hasn’t run a race in 40 f‑‑‑ing years, and David Axelrod who had one success in his political life, and that was Barack Obama and that was because of Barack Obama, not because of f‑‑‑ing David Axelrod and David Plouffe and all of these guys … and the Pod Save America Guys, who were junior f‑‑‑ing speechwriters on Barack Obama’s Senate staff who had been dining out on their relationship with him.”

Hunter Biden, who was pardoned over multiple federal charges by his father during the last months of the former president’s administration, has reemerged in public in recent weeks to slam the Democratic Party’s handling of the election.

He is slated to appear on former Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison’s new podcast, a trailer for which shows him blaming the Democratic Party’s loss on its lack of loyalty to his father.

“You know what, we are going to fight amongst ourselves for the next three years until there’s a nominee. And then with the nominee, we better as hell get behind that nominee,” Biden told Harrison on “At Our Table.”

Tommy Vietor, one of the hosts of “Pod Save America,” responded to Biden’s comments in a post on the social platform X.

“It’s good to see that Hunter has taken some time to process the election, look inward, and hold himself accountable for how his family’s insular, dare I say, arrogant at times, approach to politics led to this catastrophic outcome we’re all now living with,” he wrote.

Quote:Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg failed to replace outdated air traffic control systems while in office — with his agency instead shelling out tens of billions of dollars on a DEI agenda, according to federal spending records and airline industry insiders.

In one meeting, Buttigieg — who is said to be eyeing a 2028 presidential run — told industry executives that air traffic control upgrades would just allow them to fly more planes, “and so why would that be in his interest?” sources said.
What his department was really interested in was handing out hundreds of diversity, equity and inclusion grants totaling more than $80 billion over four years — at least half of the DOT’s entire budget for a typical fiscal year, records show.

“He was definitely pushing an agenda,” an air industry official said, noting the transportation secretary had “little to no interest” and took “definitely zero action” toward air traffic control modernization.

Buttigieg spent his time in President Joe Biden’s cabinet blaming the airlines for their delays and “vilifying” the industry as a whole while denying his department’s DEI agenda led to any air traffic control staffing shortages or was maintaining an ailing safety system that hasn’t been updated since the Carter administration, sources told The Post.
The flying public paid the price, insiders said.

“At first, [the Department of Transportation] and he were reluctant to say there was an air traffic controller shortage or that the shortage had anything to do with flight delays or flight cancellations,” the air industry official said.

Chris Meagher, a spokesman for Buttigieg, rejected both claims and pointed to increased air traffic controller hiring under the former transportation big, as well as software changes to improve efficiency at airport runways, new flight routes projected to cut up to 100 hours off travel time annually and the development of communications technology to decrease flight delays.
Biden’s infrastructure law also provided $5 billion to improve air traffic facilities’ towers and power systems, he noted.

“Suggesting that Secretary Buttigieg chose not to pursue air traffic control modernization is absurd,” said Meagher, adding that Biden’s budget request for fiscal year 2025 included another $8 billion in funding that congressional Republicans blocked.

“Secretary Buttigieg’s focus was always on safety — not just in aviation, but also on roads and bridges, where 40,000 Americans die on our country’s roads each year. Fixing issues with air traffic control was a priority.”

Is the FBI corrupt down to its very core?

Quote:FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino boldly declared Saturday that he made recent discoveries about government corruption and weaponization that shocked him down to the core.

Without elaborating on what he found out, Bongino teased that investigations into those discoveries are ongoing and being done “by the book.”

“What I have learned in the course of our properly predicated and necessary investigations into these aforementioned matters, has shocked me down to my core,” Bongino said in a shocking announcement on X.

“We cannot run a Republic like this. I’ll never be the same after learning what I’ve learned.”

Bongino did not provide a timeline for when the public might learn what he’s talking about, and underscored that while he is not as visible as he once was during his podcast days, “things are happening.”

“We are going to conduct these righteous and proper investigations by the book and in accordance with the law,” he stressed.

“We are going to get the answers WE ALL DESERVE. As with any investigation, I cannot predict where it will land, but I can promise you an honest and dignified effort at truth. Not ‘my truth,’ or ‘your truth,’ but THE TRUTH.”

Quote:Notorious sex criminal Ghislaine Maxwell answered questions from Justice Department officials about “100 different people” linked to late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, an attorney for the disgraced socialite claimed Friday following two days of interrogation led by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche during which she was reportedly granted limited immunity.

David Oscar Markus told reporters that his client, currently serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted in Manhattan of federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges in December 2021, was “asked about every possible thing you could imagine – everything.”

“This was the first opportunity she’s ever been given to answer questions about what happened,” Markus added. “The truth will come out about what happened with Mr. Epstein and she’s the person who’s answering those questions.”

Blanche had “every single question” answered during the sitdown, Maxwell’s attorney also said, with the British-born convict declining to plead the Fifth Amendment.

“If she lies they could charge her with lying,” Markus noted.

“They did charge her with lying,” a reporter challenged him, referring to two perjury counts that Markus noted were dropped by the feds after her conviction.

“No one is above the law — and no lead is off-limits,” Blanche posted on X Tuesday in announcing he would speak with Maxwell.

Maxwell, 63, is appealing her conviction and sentencing, and legal observers have speculated her willingness to answer questions is tied to a potential clemency grant by President Trump.

Her attorney described the commander in chief Friday as “the ultimate dealmaker” and claimed his client had “been treated unfairly for the past five years” and “didn’t get a fair trial.”

“We hope he exercises that power in a right and just way,” Markus added.

Trump, 79, told reporters after landing in Glasgow, Scotland that “I don’t know anything about the conversation” between Blanche and Maxwell because “I haven’t really been following it.”

“This is no time to be talking about pardons,” the president added after saying hours earlier while leaving the White House that “I haven’t thought” about the idea.

Maxwell reportedly initiated the sitdowns with the DOJ and answered questions for roughly nine hours, according to ABC News.

The proffer immunity granted to Maxwell allowed her to answer questions without her responses later being used against her in a criminal case, sources told the outlet.

Proffer immunity is typically granted to individuals prosecutors want cooperation from in a criminal case.

In 2022, the Department of Justice expressed doubts that Maxwell could be truthful, writing in court filings that she displayed a “significant pattern of dishonest conduct” and failed to take responsibility for her heinous crimes.

Court papers the prior year revealed that prosecutors never seriously entertained the prospect of offering the women dubbed “Epstein’s madam” a plea agreement after the financier was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell while awaiting his own federal trial on Aug. 10, 2019.

Quote:Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard fired back at former President Barack Obama, accusing him of deflecting from his administration’s “absolute failure” to vet intelligence reports used to fuel narratives of Russian collusion with the 2016 Trump campaign.

“The treasonous conspiracy that we have now released to the American people — the complicity, the deflection, and the silence of politicians, of the mainstream media, and of those directly implicated into this speaks volumes,” Gabbard said on Fox & Friends Saturday.

On Tuesday, President Trump called for criminal charges against Obama, 63, for allegedly ordering an intelligence report saying Russia meddled to help him win the White House in 2016.

Trump was referring to documents Gabbard declassified last week.

Obama’s office responded, calling the claims an attempt at distracting from the scandal over the administration’s handling of the Epstein files.

“Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response,” Patrick Rodenbush, a spokesman for Obama said.

“But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction,” he said, referring to the mounting pressure on Trump to release the Epstein files.

“Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes.”

Gabbard lashed out at Obama’s answer during her Fox appearance.

“President Obama’s very carefully worded response that came from his office, again, deflects away from addressing any of the truth that was revealed,” she said.

“They would have to admit and actually address the details of their complicity in this or their absolute failure in conducting the most basic responsibilities of, again, asking, where is this intelligence coming from?

Gabbard sent a criminal referral to Attorney General Pam Bondi Friday against Obama.

Quote:The star-studded benefit concert that raised more than $100 million dollars for wildfire victims in California is itself under fire for how the money was spent.

"I have not seen any benefit from the FireAid money, and I am very involved here and neither have my neighbors," said David Howard, who lost two homes in Pacific Palisades.

FireAid billed itself as "a benefit concert for wildfire victims." Aside from music by the likes of Lady Gaga, Jelly Roll, Katy Perry and Olivia Rodrigo, the five-hour show featured multiple stories from victims of the Altadena and Palisades fire who'd lost their homes.

"My house is gone," Altadena fire victim Mark Jones told the audience. Six months later, Jones told Fox 11 in Los Angeles he expected someone to reach out and provide help, but that didn't happen. Did Jones believe he would receive money? "I did, and I am sure with most Altadenians. The fire aid was for us. So, we figured where is the money? Where is it going?"

Fox News asked that question Wednesday of FireAid and the Annenberg Foundation, which helped put the concert together.

Did any non-profits receive money? If so, how much did each receive?

How many fire victims received aid?

How much aid or financial assistance was paid to the victims?

What accounting practices were adopted to prevent FireAid money from being co-mingled with other operating funds among those non-profits receiving money?

We have yet to receive a response, but officials acknowledged receiving our inquiry.

The FireAid website says the concert raised an estimated $100 million designated for "direct relief".

During the concert, host and actor Miles Teller told viewers "all the money raised will go directly to people who need it now and long-term efforts to build it back."

That was echoed by host and actor Samuel L. Jackson, who said, "Go to the website and give what you can. All the money will go directly to people who need help in the short term and the long-term effort to get this city back on its feet."

But last week, in a statement to the Fox affiliate in Los Angeles, the charity said, "FireAid does not have the capability to make direct payments to individuals and that was never the plan. We partnered directly with trusted local non-profits...to reach communities in need."

Fox News contacted more than 70 of those non-profits. Some replied. Others declined. Some are well known like the Boys and Girls Club, YWCA and Meals on Wheels.

Others are more obscure or promised to help specific ethnic groups or artists.

One that promoted "self-determination in the Latino community" vowed to use their FireAid grant to create "a more humane and democratic society by responding to the needs and problems of disenfranchised people."

Another claimed to use natural helpers or 'promotores' to "cultivate egalitarian relationships based on trust and respect."

At least $6.5 million in donor money also went to the County of Los Angeles.

All told, FireAid says it has granted $75 million so far to 188 non-profits. The remaining $25 million should go out in August and will focus on "long-term wildfire mitigation, environmental resilience, and sustainable rebuilding," according to the group.

The LA Times this week published an extensive piece on FireAid funding, contacting 100 non-profits receiving aid. It said the money provided a lifeline to many groups, allowing them to provide food, shelter, mental health services and animal care.

So who exactly who is responsible for how the money is spent? That's not entirely clear. The Annenberg Foundation helped organize the concert but claims only an advisory role in how the money is spent.

An Annenberg spokesperson says spending decisions are made by the FireAid Advisory Committee made up of respected philanthropists. They make recommendations to the FireAid Board of Trustees. It includes several executives from the LA Clipper basketball team, a businessman and wife of a prominent media executive.

While there is no evidence of fraud, California Congressman Kevin Kiley wants U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate "where these donations went and who benefited."

Quote:Bryan Kohberger has been transferred to one of America’s worst hellhole prisons overnight — where inmates chowed down on hot dogs and vegan casserole for dinner, The Post has learned.

The monstrous killer was sent to the notorious Idaho Maximum Security Institute after he was jailed for life Wednesday for the 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students, prison records show.

It wasn’t immediately clear if the 30-year-old made it in time for dinner.
But if he did, the Wednesday night menu included hot dogs, salad and Jello pie, a prison official told The Post.

For vegan inmates like Kohberger, vegan barley casserole, baked beans and canned fruit were on offer, the official added.

Kohberger, who was previously being held at the Ada County Jail in Boise during his trial, is now expected to live out his days at IMSI — the state’s only max-security prison.

The lockup, which has been plagued by claims of feces-smeared cages, brutally violent guards and rioting inmates, currently houses “Doomsday” cult mom Lori Vallow’s child-murderer husband, Chad Daybell.

Two of Idaho’s most notorious serial killers — Gerald Pizzuto and Thomas Eugene Creech — are also serving time there.

IMSI was named one of the “15 Worst Prisons in America” by Security Journal Americas in 2024.

Quote:At least 11 people were stabbed in a bloody scene inside a Michigan Walmart Saturday night — causing terrified shoppers and employees to flee — before a brave armed citizen helped detain the knife-wielding maniac, according to police, witnesses and harrowing video.

The terror unfolded around 5 p.m. when the alleged 42-year-old male attacker began randomly stabbing shoppers with a “standard” folding knife in various sections of the big-box chain store in Traverse City, about 255 miles northwest of Detroit, Grand Traverse County Sheriff Michael Shea said.

“Based on the information that we have at this time, they were random acts,” Shea told reporters at a press conference Saturday night, adding that the violent knifing is “very uncommon” for the city.

“Eleven [victims] is too many, but thank God it wasn’t more.”

Six of the victims are in critical condition, with the other five in serious condition.

Shea said the disturbing episode started near the store’s checkout counter.

“The whole store started screaming and running,” employee Tasha Nash told Channel2 Now.

“There was a guy with a knife — he stabbed six people. I saw someone stabbed in the eye.”

The knife-wielding monster was ultimately taken down by a pair of brave shoppers, including one who was armed, before authorities arrived and took him into custody, according to police and witnesses.

Video of the chaotic scene showed the unidentified suspect surrounded by shouting bystanders, including the armed good Samaritan.

Photos from Channel 2 Now show the sadistic suspect being placed into a Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office vehicle after the attack.

A shopper, who arrived at the superstore moments after the violent rampage, said she was shocked by the number of first responders on the scene.

“We were getting ready to go into Walmart as this was happening,” one witness wrote on X shortly after investigators asked the public to avoid the area.

Quote:The city Board of Elections asked Brooklyn prosecutors to open an investigation into possible voter fraud Friday after The Post revealed two absentee ballots in a close primary council race were cast on behalf of deceased people.

The BOE said it was asking the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office to look into two incidents surrounding the District 47 race, including the votes cast in the name of people who died over a decade ago and another 22 ballots that were deemed as “potentially fraudulent.”

The BOE didn’t say what made the more than two dozen ballots suspicious, but that the votes had been invalidated following an internal investigation, which was then referred to the Brooklyn DA.

The razor-thin margin primary between Brooklyn Republican Party Chair Richie Barsamian and entrepreneur George Sarantopoulos could be decided by only a handful of votes. Unofficial election night tallies had a mere 32-vote difference between the two candidates.

The 22 ballots were discovered during a manual recount process earlier this week a source told The Post, adding that lawyers from the BOE had been reviewing them in recent days.

Sarantopoulos was maintaining a 16-vote lead as of Friday, gaining two ballots in a manual recount that started Tuesday, sources said.

He had been maintaining a 14-vote lead as of Wednesday, according to a statement from his campaign.

A source who spoke to Barasamian — who as head of the Brooklyn GOP gets to appoint BOE employees — about The Post’s original reporting Tuesday, said that the candidate confided he was “very worried.”

The Barasamian campaign did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Sources said multiple people from the Brooklyn BOE who were involved in the south Brooklyn GOP primary had been reassigned from their roles during the internal investigation.

“The workers from that section were reassigned pending the results of the investigation,” Brooklyn Democratic BOE Commish and retired NYPD detective Frank Seddio told The Post.

Personal devices and computers were seized from BOE employees as part of the probe, sources said.

The BOE previously the election would be certified next week after the manual recount of votes is completed.

Quote:A grenade is missing from the scene of an explosion that killed three Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, authorities said Friday.

The July 18 blast at a sheriff’s department training facility killed three experienced deputies on the arson and explosives team.

The deputies were working on two grenades that had been taken into custody by authorities. One of the grenades detonated, and the other is unaccounted for, Sheriff Robert Luna said, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which is investigating the explosion.

Luna said authorities X-rayed special enforcement bureau vehicles, searched all around the blast area and examined office spaces and even the gym and haven’t found it.

“You get the drift. We have looked at everything out there that we possibly could,” he said, adding that no one from the public has had access to the area.

Quote:A Democratic congressional candidate was forcibly removed from the Texas State Capitol Thursday and arrested after he filibustered a hearing on redistricting in the Lone Star State.

“It is a shame. It is horrific. For what you have … “ Isaiah Martin shouted as he was dragged out of the House Redistricting Committee meeting in Austin, just before a capitol security official fell on top of the 27-year-old House hopeful.

Martin is seeking to replace the late Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-Texas), who died on March 5, as the Texas’ 18th Congressional District representative.

The Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed Martin was arrested and booked into Travis County Jail on charges of criminal trespass, disrupting a meeting or procession and resisting arrest, according to local outlet KVUE.

All charges against Martin were dropped Friday, and he was expected to be released from jail, his brother said in a social media post, arguing that the state was trying to make “an example” out of Isaiah.

Republican state Rep. Cody Vasut ordered the sergeant-at-arms to remove Martin from the hearing after he went over his allotted two minutes to speak and refused to stop talking — even after his microphone was shut off.

It took three men to wrestle Martin out of the room.

“Jesus! Get off of him!” a woman in the crowd demanded after the candidate fell to the ground with the sergeant-at-arms on top of him.

“He tripped,” one of the security members assured the woman.

“America will rise up against you!” Martin screamed as he was finally pulled into the hallway, where it appeared he fell, or was taken down, once more.

Quote:A federal judge appointed by former President Joe Biden on Friday dismissed a Trump administration lawsuit challenging sanctuary city policies in Chicago and the state of Illinois.

The Justice Department sued Illinois, Cook County and the city of Chicago — along with several state and local officials, including Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson — in February, arguing their sanctuary laws “interfere” with Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) ability to arrest and deport illegal migrants.

District Judge Lindsay C. Jenkins concluded that sanctuary policies — which prohibit local law enforcement from cooperating with federal authorities on immigration enforcement — are protected by the 10th Amendment.

“[T]he Sanctuary Policies reflect Defendants’ decision to not participate in enforcing civil immigration law — a decision protected by the Tenth Amendment and not preempted by [federal immigration laws],” Jenkins wrote in her 64-page ruling.

“Finding that these same Policy provisions constitute discrimination or impermissible regulation would provide an end-run around the Tenth Amendment,” the judge continued. “It would allow the federal government to commandeer States under the guise of intergovernmental immunity — the exact type of direct regulation of states barred by the Tenth Amendment.”

Jenkins also determined that the Trump administration lacked standing to sue the “individual defendants” named in the case, such as Pritzker and Cook.

She dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice, meaning the Trump administration may amend its complaint if it wishes to continue litigating the issue.

In their lawsuit, the Trump administration singled out the Illinois Trust Act and Chicago’s Welcoming City ordinance.

Quote:New York was hit with an air quality alert Saturday as smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted across the state.

The warning, issued by the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation and the Department of Health, covers the five boroughs, Long Island, the Lower and Upper Hudson Valley and the Adirondacks.

Officials advised New Yorkers to stay indoors and skip strenuous outdoor activity.

Pollution from fine particulate matter — PM2.5 — is expected to push the Air Quality Index over 100, hitting levels considered unhealthy for sensitive groups, including children, older adults and people with heart or lung conditions.

The tiny particles can cause eye, nose and throat irritation, along with coughing, sneezing and shortness of breath. They can also worsen asthma and heart disease.

The alert is expected to remain in effect until Sunday.

It’s the latest smoke surge to cloud city skies this year. An alert was also issued in early June, when ozone pollution and wildfire haze from Canada triggered warnings across the tri-state.

As of July 23, Canada has seen 3,345 fires in 2025 — scorching over 14 million acres, more than double the 10-year average. More than 50 remain out of control.

Quote:Mayor Eric Adams on Saturday blasted rival Andrew Cuomo for stepping down as governor as he was being investigated over sexual harassment allegations — and swiping his political “playbook” by running for mayor as an independent.

“Listen, he comes from a popular name. His dad was a great governor. His dad stood for three terms and did a great job. In the midst of his obligations to the state, he stepped down,” Adams told The Post while attending the 75th anniversary celebration of NYCHA Bronx River Houses at the Bronx Community Center.

“Personal strife should not cause you to leave office. During my personal strife, I stepped up. I continued to deliver for the city,” said Hizzoner, who had his historic bribery and fraud charges dismissed by the Trump administration earlier this year.

Cuomo, who has long disputed allegations of sexual harassment by multiple women, has been fiercely criticized over his administration’s disastrous March 2020 decision to send infected COVID-19 patients into nursing homes, which resulted in as many as 15,000 deaths.

Adams, who is running for re-election as an independent himself, also accused Cuomo of repeatedly trying to sabotage black politicians to claw back power.
“This is his history, and he’s using the same playbook in my mayoralty,” Adams said.

“He ran in the primary, he lost by double digits. He knew I was gonna run in a general election. Why would he throw his name in as an independent as well, unless he thought he was gonna do to me what he did to others, and it just did not happen.”

Cuomo quickly tossed his hat into the race as an independent after a humiliating loss to socialist Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani in last month’s Democratic primary election.

Quote:The leaders of Canada’s “Freedom Convoy” are facing up to eight years in prison, an “abusive” sentencing recommendation critics are ripping as “political vengeance.”

Tamara Lich and Chris Barber sat in an Ottawa courtroom for their sentencing hearings this week after being found guilty in April of mischief for organizing the trucker protest against then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s ultra-strict vaccine mandate.

The protest paralyzed the Great White North’s capital for three weeks in 2022.

The Crown is seeking seven years for Lich, 51, of Alberta, and eight for Barber, of Saskatchewan — who was also found guilty of counseling others to disobey a court order.

“It seems like a considerable overreach,” Lich told The Post Friday, during a stop on her three-day drive back to Alberta. “They’re trying to deter others, I believe, from ever protesting something like this again.”

Prosecutors are also pushing to seize Barber’s truck, “Big Red,” which was used in the protest — through a forfeiture order they filed three years after the fact.

“I’ve owned this truck for 21 years,” said Barber, 50, who runs a family trucking business and co-owns “Big Red” with his son. “This is how I make a living. And the Crown wants to remove that from me and destroy it, which is absolutely disheartening to see that they will go to such a level of vileness.”

“It’s just this vindictive vendetta of pettiness,” Lich added.

Quote:This news must have been a hard pill to swallow.

There is a nationwide shortage of common prescription pain medications in Canada — and it could last until early August.

Opioids that contain acetaminophen with codeine or oxycodone — better known as Percocet and Tylenol No. 3 — are in short supply, according to Health Canada, the department in charge of the country’s national health policy, which made the dire announcement last week.

Manufacturing disruptions and increased demand are behind the sudden scarcity, Health Canada said.

“We’re communicating with health care providers, provincial and territorial governments, and distributors to coordinate the sharing of information about this shortage,” the department said.

“We’re also working with manufacturers and stakeholders to monitor the supply of acetaminophen with codeine or oxycodone and looking at options for increasing access to these products.”

The Canadian Pharmacists Association is limiting the amounts of pills it dispenses.

“Usually pharmacists have to dispense the amount that is being written on the prescription unless it is being limited by the drug plan,” Sadaf Faisal, senior director of professional affairs at the CPA, told Global News.

“In a situation like these, pharmacists are documenting on their prescriptions that we are only supplying 30 days right now because we don’t have enough supply.”

Quote:The United States and Mexico have signed an agreement outlining specific steps and a new timetable to clean up the longstanding problem of the Tijuana River pouring sewage across the border and polluting California beaches, officials from both countries announced Thursday.

Billions of gallons of sewage and toxic chemicals from Tijuana have polluted the Pacific Ocean off neighboring Southern California, closing beaches and sickening Navy SEALs who train in the water.

That’s despite multiple efforts and millions of dollars that have been poured into addressing the problem over decades, including under the first Trump administration.

“There is a great commitment by the two countries to strengthen cooperation,” Mexico’s Environmental Secretary Alicia Bárcena said Thursday after meeting with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin in Mexico City for the signing of the memorandum of understanding.

The accord comes three months after Zeldin flew to San Diego to meet with Mexican officials and visit the border.

“I smelled what a lot of residents in the community lived through and have to deal with,” he said Thursday.

“I saw the degradation of the Tijuana River valley. I heard about the beaches that were closed. I met with the Navy Seals, who have had their training impacted. It was a powerful visit all around for me.”

Under the agreement, Mexico will complete its allocation of $93 million toward infrastructure projects, including adhering to a specific schedule for priority projects spanning through 2027.

The 120-mile-long (195-kilometer) Tijuana River runs near the coast in Mexico and crosses into Southern California, where it flows through Navy-owned land and out to the Pacific.

Quote:Twenty bodies were discovered — including four decapitated corpses hanging from a bridge near a plastic bag of human heads — after a bloody day of cartel violence in Mexico over the weekend.

All 20 of the victims were male and had gunshot wounds, the Sinaloa State Attorney General’s Office said.

Five of the bodies were decapitated, with four of those corpses left strung up by their feet along a highway bridge near Culiacán, the largest city in Sinaloa state, authorities said.

The 15 other bodies, including the fifth missing his head, were discovered just yards away in a van.

A plastic bag containing five human heads was found close to the bridge, officials said.

The van was plastered with a banner referencing the ongoing wars between rival drug cartels in Sinaloa, authorities said.

The victims were part of a total of 27 murders reported in Sinaloa on Sunday, including a young man and two women in an armed attack in Culiacán.

The recent upsurge in Mexican drug violence is blamed on clashes between the warring gangs Los Chapitos and La Mayiza, which are fighting over strategic drug trafficking routes in Sinaloa, security sources said.

A bloody power struggle broke out between the two factions in September, triggered by the dramatic kidnapping of one of the group’s leaders by the son of infamous narco boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. The kidnapped man was handed over to US authorities by way of a private plane.

Since then, Culiacan, previously one of the more peaceful Mexican cities, has been torn apart by violence as the Sinaloa Cartel has lost control.

Mexican authorities insist they are on top of the violence and are working to crack down on organized crime.

“Military and police forces are working together to reestablish total peace in Sinaloa,” said Feliciano Castro, a Sinaloa government spokesperson, in a statement Monday.

Quote:Kyiv and Moscow will hold a new round of peace talks — the first in seven weeks — on Wednesday in Turkey, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov is in Istanbul to meet with his Russian counterparts to discuss the war and hash out the terms for another prisoner of war exchange, Zelensky said.

Despite Kyiv’s push to reach a cease-fire deal, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the world not to expect a “miraculous breakthrough” from the meeting.

“We intend to pursue our interests, we intend to ensure our interests and fulfil the tasks that we set for ourselves from the very beginning,” Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

A Turkish foreign ministry source told Reuters that the meeting at the Ciragan Palace would begin at around noon EST, with all eyes set on how Russia would proceed.

“The Ukrainian delegation has come to Turkey prepared to take significant steps toward peace and a full ceasefire, but everything will depend on whether the Russian side is willing to take a constructive approach,” the source said.

Quote:Ukraine’s top military commander called on President Trump to provide long-range missiles capable of attacking deep into Russia to cripple Moscow’s war machine.

Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky said that along with the new Patriot air defense systems Washington and NATO have promised, Ukraine needs more long-range weapons, like the US-made ATAMCS system, to directly target Russia’s arms production plants, the Washington Post reported.

Syrsky told the outlet that taking out Moscow’s war infrastructure would send a direct message to the Kremlin and hinder Russia’s ability to fire hundreds of drones every night — attacks that have been escalating and killing civilians.

“They are targeting virtually everything — airfields, populated areas, infrastructure facilities,” Syrsky said.

“So, of course, we need supplies of ballistic missiles in order to be able to give the enemy a fitting rebuff.”

“The availability of any missile weapons is in itself a deterrent,” he added.

“I hope that thanks to President Trump’s position, this process will be much easier and … we won’t have any of the difficulties we had before.”

Syrsky was referencing the Biden-era ban on most deep strikes against Russian military targets, which has kept Kyiv on the defensive and largely relying on its own, home-made drones to attack targets hundreds of miles over the border.

It remains unclear if Trump would greenlight deep strikes against Russia, with reports revealing he had asked Zelensky earlier this month if Ukraine was capable of attacking Moscow or St. Petersburg.

Trump has since said Kyiv should avoid any direct attacks on the Russian capital.

The US and UK only allowed Ukraine to use their long-range missiles under limited circumstances last year, prompting backlash from the Kremlin who accused Western powers were getting directly involved in the war.

It led Russian President Vladimir Putin to update Moscow’s nuclear doctrine, opening the door for retaliation against any nuclear superpower that props up an enemy nation that fires into Russia.

Quote:Thousands are marching across Ukraine for the first time since Russia’s invasion to protest President Volodymyr Zelensky after he signed a bill to curb the country’s top anti-corruption agencies.

The controversial move allows a politically appointed prosecutor general to have more power over Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), threatening the independence of the two agencies tasked with weeding out decades of corruption in Kyiv.

Critics have now taken to the streets to protest the bill, which may even threaten the people’s dream of joining the European Union.

Zelensky, who has enjoyed popular support since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, is facing his first wartime protest at home after the bill was fast-tracked through parliament and presented before him on Tuesday night.

The president has defended the move as a necessary step to rid the two agencies of “Russian influence” and to address why some cases have been stalled for years.

“There is no rational explanation why criminal proceedings worth billions have been ‘hanging’ for years,” Zelensky said in a statement. “And there is no explanation why the Russians can still get the information they need.”

The approval of the law came following federal raids against NABU employees and an investigation into SAPO’s handling of state secrets, with two people arrested on Monday over “suspicion of working for Russian special services.”

Opponents, however, slammed the bill’s passage as a way of putting political pressure on what should be independent agencies that targeted some of Zelensky’s close allies, including former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov.

Critics have previously accused Zelensky of refusing to face the alleged corruption going on inside his inner circle, which opponents say has hurt Kyiv’s ability to fight back against the Russian invasion.

Quote:Russian intelligence obtained damaging information about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s health amid her 2016 presidential campaign — including evidence that she had “psycho-emotional problems” that were being treated with severe sedatives — but Vladimir Putin chose not to release it before that year’s election because he thought the Democrat would win.

The astounding revelations were contained in a Sept. 18, 2020, House Intelligence Committee report that reviewed Russia’s influence on the 2016 contest and was declassified and made public Wednesday by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

Russia’s foreign intelligence service, the SVR, “possessed DNC communications that Clinton was suffering from ‘intensified psycho-emotional problems, including uncontrolled fits of anger, aggression. and cheerfulness,’” stated the report, which the committee based on 20 interviews with intelligence officers and FBI agents, as well as a review of source material for the 2017 Obama-ordered report on Russian election meddling.

“Clinton was placed on a daily regimen of ‘heavy tranquilizers’ and while afraid of losing, she remained ‘obsessed with a thirst for power.’”

By September 2016, some of those communications showed then-President Barack Obama and Democratic party bosses found the state of Clinton’s health “extraordinarily alarming” and fretted that it could have a “serious negative impact” on her ability to beat Trump that November.

Clinton, now 77, was apparently suffering from “Type 2 diabetes, Ischemic heart disease, deep vein thrombosis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease” at the time.
A full picture of the former first lady’s condition was guarded by Clinton advisers with the “strictest secrecy.”

The SVR also “possessed a campaign email discussing a plan approved by Secretary Clinton to link Putin and Russian hackers to candidate Trump in order to ‘distract the [American] public’ from the Clinton email server scandal.”

Quote:Thirty-three civilians — including a 10-year-old and two teenagers — were wounded in strikes Thursday in Kharkiv, where Russian forces are testing out a new type of “glide bomb” on innocent people. 

The Post was on scene as war crimes investigators, firefighters, humanitarian and emergency services arrived just minutes after the back-to-back strikes, which hit a residential apartment building and a textiles factory around 11:15 a.m. local time.

“The Russians are striking everywhere. Homes, school and children. They won’t stop,” a building resident named Tatiana said, tears welling in her eyes. “This is World War III happening right here.”

“I was just coming from my kitchen when I heard the bomb,” another building resident, Svetlana Shevcheko, said. “I never thought about leaving Kharkiv before, but I am thinking now.”
The northeastern Ukrainian city is just 15 miles from the Russian border, so bombs and missiles can strike into the city before residents are alerted to an incoming air raid.

The strike used a new kind of glide bomb, which is a repurposed Soviet-era weapon outfitted with aerodynamic wings for more targeted precision and range.

The new bombs used on Kharkiv have a range of somewhere between 90 and 100 km — an increase of about 10 to 20 km — allowing Russia to strike that much further into the city.

“They are testing this out on civilians,” chief war crimes prosecutor for the Kharkiv district Spartak Borisenko told The Post.

While Ukraine is building interceptor drones and other technologies to knock Russian Shaheds out of the sky, the only thing capable of protecting Kharkiv and other Ukrainian cities from ballistic missiles and glide bombs are Patriot air-defense systems, which the US produces, Borisenko added.

President Trump announced this month that the US will ship Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine and insisted that the European Union would pick up the tab and reimburse the US for the associated costs.

Quote:Russia is forcing the children that it’s kidnapped from Ukraine to fight against their own country once they turn 18 as part of a direct order from President Vladimir Putin, Kyiv officials said.

Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, said soldiers on the battlefield are coming face-to-face with the young men, with one rescued 19-year-old recounting the Kremlin’s re-education process that he was made to endure for three years, the Times of London reported.

“We were made to sing the Russian anthem every morning, then physical training — jumps, squats, running, crawling — and we also learned how to shoot,” Vlad Rudenko told the outlet.
“The 16- and 17-year-olds were given dummy rifles and the older ones used live ammunition,” he added.

Rudenko was one of the many children who were taken from their homes when Russian soldiers stormed through the southern town of Kherson in October 2022.

He was only 16 when the foreign troops found him hiding in his mother’s apartment, taking the boy by gunpoint and transferring him to a re-education camp in occupied Crimea, where he and other children underwent combat training.

Rudenko, who was smuggled over the frontlines with the help of his mother last year, considered himself lucky when compared to some of the other 35,000 children Russia has kidnapped.

“The Russians didn’t manage to take anything from me though, they just deprived me of my childhood,” he said. “I am lucky, because there are Ukrainians now who are fighting against their own people.”

Yermak, who slammed Moscow as a “terroristic regime,” said the kidnapping and re-education of countless Ukrainian children serves two goals.

The first is for Russia to fill its ranks with expendable soldiers as Moscow continues to beef up its military numbers in the face of hundreds of deaths a week along the frontlines.

Quote:Russia pummeled Ukraine overnight, killing 10 and injuring as many as 61 civilians, in part of a ramped up aerial campaign to advance strongman Vladimir Putin’s war into the Eastern European country.

The Kremlin targeted Ukraine’s frontline regions with 208 drones and 27 missiles Saturday. In the southern Dnipro region, at least three Ukrainians were killed and six others wounded in the barrage, local officials on the ground reported.

The strikes shattered windows in a residential building, torched cars — and on the outskirts of the city flames engulfed an obliterated shopping center obliterated by a Russian missile, causing an apocalyptic-like scene on the streets of the war-torn country.

The Kremlin targeted Ukraine’s frontline regions with 208 drones and 27 missiles, according to officials.

“A scary night. A massive attack on the region,” Serhiy Lysak, Dnipro’s regional governor, said on Telegram.

In the northeastern Sumy region, another person was killed and three others injured, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said troops blocked Russian troops from gaining ground deeper into the battleground region.

Russia opened a new front in Sumy in early June, deploying 50,000 troops — three times the size of Kyiv’s forces in the key battleground — and capturing around a dozen border villages.

The region, a priority for the Kremlin, continues to face near-daily strikes. But, up until this point, Ukrainian forces have managed to maintain control over a bulk of the region.

Meanwhile, Kharkiv faced a sustained aerial bombardment on Saturday.

Ukraine’s second-largest city was pounded by four guided aerial bombs, two ballistic missiles and 15 drones over a three-hour period.

As many as 29 people were injured, including a child, Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said.

Quote:France will recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September, French President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday.

“True to its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the State of Palestine,” Macron wrote on X.

France is the first major Western power to recognize a sovereign Palestinian state.
Macron teased the move earlier this year, arguing in April that it wouldn’t be done to “please anyone,” but because “at some point it will be right.”

The French president, at the time, also claimed that recognizing a Palestinian state may result in more Middle Eastern countries recognizing Israel in return.

Macron’s social media post Thursday included a letter to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas informing him of his decision.

“In light of the commitments made to me by the president of the Palestinian Authority, I have therefore written to him of my determination to move forward,” he said.

“The urgency today is to end the war in Gaza and to provide aid to the civilian population.”

Macron further demanded an immediate cease-fire to the war in Gaza, the release of all hostages held by Hamas terrorists and “massive humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.”

“It is also necessary to ensure the demilitarization of Hamas, secure and rebuild Gaza” and “essential to build the State of Palestine, ensure its viability, and enable it, by accepting its demilitarization and fully recognizing Israel, to contribute to the security of all in the Middle East,” Macron continued.

“There is no alternative.”

Quote:President Trump has begun mediating the deadly conflict between Cambodia and Thailand over a border dispute and demanded that the two sides reach a ceasefire to avert a full-blown war.

Trump revealed that he held a call with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on Saturday and is planning to speak with Thailand’s acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai in an effort to broker peace.

“We happen to be, by coincidence, currently dealing on Trade with both Countries, but do not want to make any Deal, with either Country, if they are fighting,” Trump announced on Truth Social Saturday.

“And I have told them so!” he added. “I am trying to simplify a complex situation! Many people are being killed in this War, but it very much reminds me of the Conflict between Pakistan and India, which was brought to a successful halt.”

Clashes between Cambodia and Thailand erupted on Thursday over the border between the two countries.

Quote:Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar claimed his country is “very close” to locking down a tariff deal with the US ahead of President Trump’s fast-approaching Aug. 1 deadline for the “Liberation Day” levies to take effect.

Dar met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and predicted a deal is just days away as the Trump administration scrambles to finalize agreements with countries before the deadline.

“I think we are very close to finalizing a deal with the U.S.,” Dar said during an appearance at the Atlantic Council think tank Friday. “Our teams have been here in Washington, discussing, having virtual meetings and a committee has been tasked by the prime minister to fine-tune now.”

“It’s not going to be months, not even weeks, I would say days.”

Since Trump unveiled his “Liberation Day” tariffs, a deluge of countries have been negotiating with his team to cut lightning deals.

Trump repeatedly agreed to postpone the implementation rate for most of those tariffs, with the most recent deadline being Aug. 1 to give more time for negotiations to play out.

So far, he has locked down tariff deals with the United Kingdom, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines. The Trump administration also has a tariff truce with China, where there is an Aug. 12 deadline to ink a broader deal.

At the moment, Trump has imposed a 10% baseline tariff rate on almost all imports, tariffs on Chinese imports, 25% tariffs on automobiles, aluminum, and steel, as well as 25% on imports from Canada and Mexico that don’t comply with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

Total US trade with Pakistan clocked in at about $7.3 billion last year, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative.

The State Department and Pakistan also confirmed the two sides held talks on trade issues, but didn’t reveal a timeline for a deal getting finalized.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this year, fighting erupted between India and Pakistan after the Pahalgam terrorist attack near India’s administered Jammu and Kashmir. The incident sparked a chain of events that led to India firing missiles into Pakistan.

Quote:A Syrian-American who was taking care of his ill father was among the eight Druze men kidnapped from their family home and executed in the middle of the street in Syria last week, harrowing video shows.

Viral video of the Druze-Bedouin conflict shows the final moments of Hosam Saraya, a 35-year-old from Oklahoma who flew back to his homeland to take care of his sick father in Sweida, where Syria’s Druze minority reside, CNN reported.

Saraya and seven of his relatives were hauled out of their house at gunpoint and forced to march to the middle of Tishreen Square, where they were made to kneel before the armed men opened fire on them.

The carnage occurred during a week of fighting across Sweida before a cease-fire deal with the country’s new government was struck.

Fighters for the new regime were also accused of assisting Bedouin gunmen in carrying out the sectarian violence against the Druze, with one of Saraya’s relatives claiming that a man from the government was involved in the massacre against her family.

“One of them was wearing a General Security uniform … the black one,” she told CNN. ““They told us, ‘We are the army of Ahmad Al-Jolani (the Syrian president).’”

“They threatened us, told us not to make a sound or we will kill you,” she added. “They threatened us with rape … he told me if you speak I will come and kill you.”

The Syrian government has denied any involvement in the killings, reiterating that its forces were deployed to Sweida to establish peace between the two groups.

A cease-fire was eventually struck on Friday after the Israeli military launched airstrikes in Syria, warning that it would not allow violence against the Druze to go on nor have Damascus’ forces be deployed so close to the border.

The State Department confirmed Monday that an American was killed in Sweida last week, with Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) later revealing that Saraya was the victim.

Quote:Terrified minorities under attack for weeks in Syria by the country’s new Islamist regime are wary of a fragile ceasefire — despite President Trump’s pronouncement this week calling for the groups to be protected, their relatives told The Post.

More than 1,000 Druze, the country’s third largest religious minority which makes up just about three percent of the population, and 25 Syrian Christians have been killed so far in the southern district of Sweida.

Safi, a Druze lawyer in Syria, described heinous violence, including the indiscriminate murders of children and elderly, while a Christian Syrian named Lama told The Post her father was shot to death while scavenging for food.

“We believe they will continue to attack us – and the fear is growing,” Safi said, calling al-Sharaa’s government “a dictatorship…that is brutal to everyone.”

“We can’t trust them. This is not a government we can make a deal with,” he added.

“Right now, we are besieged by the Islamists who don’t differentiate between Christians and Druze – they’re attacking everyone,” said Lama, 30, a pharmacist who just gave birth to a son.

Her father’s bullet-riddled body was found by members of her church days after he’d gone out and failed to return, said Lama, who is now in hiding.

“There are no guarantees this is all over. With every ceasefire, they go back again with the missiles and snipers to attack peaceful people,” she said, adding civilians are scrambling for shelter as homes are targeted by drones.

Quote:The widow of slain Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the Oct. 7 terror attacks, was reportedly smuggled out Gaza with their kids using fake passports — and has already remarried.

Samar Muhammad Abu Zamar managed to slip out of the Palestinian enclave with huge chunks of cash in the early days of the war, Ynet reported Wednesday, citing multiple sources.

The Birkin bag-loving widow fled with the couple’s two young sons to Turkey, where she remained in hiding as Israeli forces hunted down her husband, the sources added.
Then, just months after her husband was wiped out by Israeli forces in a routine ground operation in southern Gaza last October, Abu Zamar remarried.

“She’s no longer here — she crossed through the Rafah border using a fake passport,” one source told the outlet, adding that the operation involved “high-level coordination, logistical support and large sums of money that regular Gazans don’t have.”

Her new marriage and resettlement was orchestrated by Fathi Hammad — a Hamas operative who is renowned for helping terrorists and their families disappear.
Details on her new husband weren’t immediately known.

It comes after footage emerged late last year of the terror kingpin’s wife fleeing into a Gaza tunnel while clutching what Israeli officials claimed was a $32,000 Birkin bag just hours before the Oct. 7 massacre unfolded.

“Did Sinwar’s wife enter the tunnel with him on October 6 carrying a Birkin bag estimated to cost around $32,000?!” an IDF spokesperson wrote on X, alongside a screenshot of the woman holding what appeared to be a super-luxe Hermes bag.

“While Gaza residents have no money for food, we see many examples of Yahya Sinwar and his wife’s special love for money.”

It wasn’t clear if that bag was a knockoff.

Quote:Hamas is planning to kill the remaining Israeli hostages if the Jewish state sends in troops to rescue them — the latest move by the terror group to undermine peace efforts in Gaza.

The terror group has reportedly reinstated its previously abandoned kill order on its captives if Israeli forces or anyone else closes in an attempt to retrieve the 50 remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip, according to the Times of Israel.

That policy had been scrapped after a short-lived cease-fire was reached in January, Hamas sources told the London-based Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat. Hamas also reportedly boasted that an Israeli military operation to free the hostages would fail, the outlet reported.

Of the 50 Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza, about 20 are still believed to be alive.

The plans come as the US walked away from the latest cease-fire talks in Qatar on Thursday, before slamming the terror group for showing no real interest in striking a deal with Israel.
President Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said “alternative options” to bring the hostages home would now have to be considered, after the latest round of negotiations broke down.

His comments were echoed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said “together with our US allies, we are now considering alternative options to bring our hostages home”

Neither the US or Israel have offered insight into what those alternative options might include.

But Trump said he would approve of Israel’s military finishing off Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“Hamas didn’t really want to make a deal,” Trump told reporters Friday as he departed the White House for a trip to Scotland.

“I think they want to die.”

“Trump’s remarks are particularly surprising, especially as they come at a time when progress had been made on some of the negotiation files,” a Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP.

Meanwhile, thousands of protestors in Tel Aviv marched to the US embassy on Saturday night, for the second week in a row, calling for a truce that releases the remaining hostages and puts an end to the war in Gaza.

Hamas captured 251 hostages during the brutal Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks. Of those, 148 were released following negotiations — 140 alive, eight dead.

Quote:Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday his government was considering “alternative options” to cease-fire talks with Hamas after Israel and the U.S. recalled their negotiating teams, throwing the future of the negotiations into further uncertainty.

Netanyahu’s statement came as a Hamas official said negotiations were expected to resume next week and portrayed the recall of the Israeli and American delegations as a pressure tactic. Egypt and Qatar, which are mediating the talks alongside the United States, said the pause was only temporary and that talks would resume, though they did not say when.

The teams left Qatar on Thursday as President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said Hamas’ latest response to proposals for a deal showed a “lack of desire” to reach a truce. Witkoff said the U.S. will look at “alternative options,” without elaborating.

In a statement released by his office, Netanyahu echoed Witkoff, saying, “Hamas is the obstacle to a hostage release deal.”

“Together with our U.S. allies, we are now considering alternative options to bring our hostages home, end Hamas’s terror rule, and secure lasting peace for Israel and our region,” he said. He did not elaborate. Israel’s government didn’t immediately respond to whether negotiations would resume next week.

A breakthrough on a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas has eluded the Trump administration as experts warn Gaza is being pushed closer to famine, after months of Israel entirely blocking food or letting in only limited amounts. This month, deaths related to malnutrition have accelerated.

More then two dozen Western-aligned countries and more than 100 charity and human rights groups have called for an end to the war, harshly criticizing Israel’s blockade and a new aid delivery model it has rolled out. The charities and rights groups said even their own staff were struggling to get enough food.

On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would recognize Palestine as a state. “The urgent thing today is that the war in Gaza stops and the civilian population is saved,” he said.

Jordan has requested to carry out airdrops of aid into Gaza “due to the dire situation,” a Jordanian official said. The official said the airdrops will mainly be food and milk formula.

An Israeli security official said the military was coordinating the drops, which were expected in the coming days. The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the yet-to-be-finalized plans.

Desperate Palestinians gathered at a charity kitchen in Gaza City on Friday, clutching empty pots waiting for a share of watery lentil soup. Such kitchens distributing cooked meals have been a main source of food for many Palestinians, but the number of meals they produce every day has plummeted to 160,000 from more than a million in April, according to the U.N.

“We’ve been living three months without bread,” said one woman in line, Riham Dwas. “We’re relying on charity kitchens, surviving on a pot of lentils and there are many times when we don’t even have that.”

When she can’t find food, she takes her children to a hospital to be put on saline IV drips for sustenance.

Hamas official Bassem Naim said Friday that the group was told that the Israeli delegation returned home for consultations and would return early next week to resume ceasefire negotiations.

Hamas said that Witkoff’s remarks were meant to pressure the group for Netanyahu’s benefit during the next round of talks and that in recent days negotiations had made progress. Naim said several gaps had been nearly solved, such as the agenda of the ceasefire, guarantees to continue negotiating to reach a permanent agreement and how humanitarian aid would be delivered.

In a joint statement, Egypt and Qatar also said progress had been made. “It is a natural to pause talks to hold consultations before the resumption of the dialogue once more,” they said.

Quote:Two flight attendants were injured after a commercial Southwest Airlines jet suddenly dropped 475 feet to avoid a “midair collision” shortly after takeoff at a Los Angeles-area airport Friday, with one frightened passenger saying the aircraft “was just in a freefall.”

Southwest Flight 1496 dove from 14,100 feet to 13,625 feet just six minutes after taking off from Hollywood Burbank Airport, according to FlightRadar24 data.

The pilot told concerned flyers that the drastic maneuver was carried out to avoid “a midair collision,” passenger Steve Ulasewicz told ABC News.
“The plane was just in a free fall. It was pandemonium,” he told NBC 4 Los Angeles.

Passengers screamed as the plane dropped for what felt like 10 seconds, according to Ulasewicz.

Comedian Jimmy Dore was on the flight, relaying that he and several other flyers were tossed about the cabin during the startling descent.

“Pilot had to dive aggressively to avoid midair collision over Burbank airport,” he wrote on X after landing in Sin City.

“Myself & Plenty of people flew out of their seats & bumped heads on ceiling, a flight attendant needed medical attention,” the California-based funnyman, 60, said.

Dore’s manager was also on the plane and was floored by the near-catastrophe.

“We’re driving home,” Stef Zamoramo said in a video posted on X from the cabin.

Tracking data showed that the plane — moving at 450 mph — proceeded to climb 20 seconds after the initial and sharp decline.

Southwest said two flight attendants were injured during the desperate life-saving swerve, but no passengers were injured.

Another plane, a Hawker Hunter aircraft, was near the Southwest plane at approximately 14,633 feet, according to ABC News.

Quote:At least one person was injured when a plane departing Denver International Airport was forced to abort takeoff due to a landing gear failure — causing passengers to flee the flaming and smoking aircraft on an inflatable emergency slide in a chaotic scene captured on harrowing video Saturday.

American Airlines Flight 3023 had a landing gear incident as it was taking off for Miami around 2:45 p.m. local time, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

“Flight 2023, you got a lot of smoke,” an air traffic controller can be heard telling the pilot in cockpit audio from Live ATC, 9News reported.
“There was some flames. Looks like the smoke is dying down a bit,” they said.

“You are actually on fire,” the controller quickly added moments later.

Video showed passengers frantically sliding down an inflatable safety slide as thick black smoke billowed from flames engulfing the rear left side of the aircraft.

The Denver Fire Department announced it had extinguished the blaze in a social media post at 5:10 p.m. local time.

The airline said there was an issue specifically involving the Boeing 737 MAX 8’s tire, Denver 7 reported.

All 173 passengers and six crew members evacuated the plane “safely,” American Airlines said in its statement.

Six people were evaluated for minor injuries, with one transported to a local hospital after deplaning, according to Denver 7.

“All customers and crew deplaned safely, and the aircraft was taken out of service to be inspected by our maintenance team,” American Airlines said in a statement.

“We thank our team members for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for their experience.”

Passengers were expected to depart for Miami on another aircraft Saturday, the carried added.

Quote:The head of the NYPD’s Aviation Unit was booted from the elite squad this week after trying to block the feds from probing his dangerous mishaps, The Post has learned.

Aviation’s Commanding Officer Winston Faison was an “incompetent boob” who had numerous breaches in safety as he attempted to make himself the unit’s head helicopter instructor, whistleblowers revealed.

When FAA inspectors made a surprise visit to the base on July 16 because of internal complaints to the agency, Faison flipped his lid, police sources said.
“Do not give them anything!’” he barked at his cops, an insider said. “Who let them on the base?”

Members have complained to the FAA and to NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau about Faison, 52, who took over in 2023 after stints at Youth Strategies, Community Affairs and two Brooklyn precincts. Complaints included:

Nearly crashed at the Brooklyn home base while flying the unit’s pricey Bell 407 training helicopter with a student next to him during a hard landing in the last week in June. “He and the student hit the ground hard,” the first source said. Neither was hurt.

Took the same helicopter for a solo jaunt up the Hudson River on  April 25, flying in the wrong seat against manufacturer’s rules. “There are emergency procedures that can only be performed sitting in the right (hand) seat,” said a second police source.

The helicopter’s tail rotor leaked oil and Faison didn’t catch it because he doesn’t do pre-flight checks as required by the FAA, the sources said. “When he landed the tail of the aircraft was covered in oil,” the second source said.

Hired new employees without the oversight of the NYPD, the sources said. “He’s working around department rules to get his people in,” a third source said.

Oversped his rotor and “could have torched a half-million engine we just got,” the first source said. “Drooped”(cq) the rotor system down to dangerously low speeds, nearly crashing, the sources said.

Caused structural damage to a $40,000 tail rotor while practicing a “quick stop” maneuver over rocks on July 4. “If that goes, you’re going to spin around like a top,” the first source said.

Quote:French authorities are trying to establish whether a group of young French citizens was removed from a plane bound for Paris from Spain this week because they are Jewish.

The airline, Vueling, has denied the claims.

Several dozen French passengers on Wednesday were kicked off a flight leaving the Spanish city of Valencia for Paris, for what Spanish police and the airline described as unruly behavior.

France’s ministry for Europe and foreign affairs said in a statement on Saturday that the minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, contacted the CEO of Vueling, Carolina Martinoli, to express his deep concern “about the removal of a group of young French Jews from one of the company’s flights.”

Barrot also requested more information to “determine whether these individuals had been discriminated against on the basis of their religion.”
A similar request has been made to the Spanish ambassador to France.

“Ms. Martinoli assured Mr. Barrot that a thorough internal investigation was underway and that its findings would be shared with the French and Spanish authorities,” the ministry said.

Vueling previously denied reports that the incident, which involved the removal of 44 minors and eight adults from flight V8166, was related to the passengers’ religion.

Some Israeli news outlets reported that the students were Jewish and that their removal was religiously motivated, a claim that was repeated by an Israeli minister online. Spain’s Civil Guard said the minors and adults were French nationals. A Civil Guard spokesperson said the agents involved were not aware of the group’s religious affiliation.

A Vueling spokesperson said the passengers were removed after the minors repeatedly tampered with the plane’s emergency equipment and interrupted the crew’s safety demonstration. A Civil Guard spokesperson said the captain of the plane ordered the removal of the minors from the plane at Valencia’s Manises Airport after they repeatedly ignored the crew’s instructions.

On Thursday, the Federation for Jewish Communities of Spain expressed concern about the incident. The group said that Vueling needed to provide documentary evidence of what happened on the plane.

Quote:A small plane nosedived into an Italian highway, crashing into the pavement and killing its pilot and passenger, harrowing video shows.

Footage from the freeway in Brescia captured the moment the Freccia RG aircraft swoops in from the sky nose-first on Tuesday and slams into the road, erupting into a plume of fire and black smoke.

The horrific crash killed pilot and lawyer Sergio Ravaglia, 75, of Milan, and his partner, Ann Maria De Stefano, 60, according to the local Giornale di Brescia.

Two drivers were also injured in the blast, officials said. Video shows several cars driving in and out of the burning crash site.

Ravaglia appeared to be attempting to complete an emergency landing on the highway but failed to regain speed, causing the aircraft to nosedive and spin out of control, witnesses told the local outlet.
First responders rushed to the scene to contain the fire, but found the plane already completely destroyed.

A consultant from Italy’s National Agency for Flight Safety is set to arrive in Brescia on Wednesday as officials begin to investigate the cause of the crash.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office of Brescia has opened a manslaughter investigation regarding the incident, but the subject of the charge has not been publicly named.

The prosecutor’s office will request a preliminary assessment of the wreck and look into the state of maintenance of the plane Ravaglia was flying.

The Freccia RG is an Italian ultralight plane built from carbon fiber with a wingspan of nearly 30 feet.

Quote:All 48 passengers and crew onboard a passenger plane that crashed in Russia’s Far East have died, the head of the country’s Amur region said in a statement Thursday.

Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said earlier that it had found the burning fuselage of the Soviet-designed twin turbo prop plane on a hillside south of its planned destination in the town of Tynda, more than 4,350 miles east of Moscow.

The plane, which was operated by the Siberia-based Angara Airlines, had initially departed from Khabarovsk before making its way to Blagoveshchensk on the Russian-Chinese border and onwards to Tynda.

It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the crash. Russia’s Interfax news agency said there were adverse weather conditions at the time of the crash, citing unnamed sources in the emergency services. Several Russian news outlets also reported that the aircraft was almost 50 years old, citing data taken from the plane’s tail number.

Images of the reported crash site circulated by Russian state media show debris scattered among dense forest, surrounded by plumes of smoke.
Regional Gov. Vasily Orlov said rescuers struggled to reach the site due to its remote location, 9 miles south of Tynda.

The transport prosecutor’s office in the Far East said in an online statement that the plane was attempting to land for a second time when it lost contact with air traffic control and disappeared from radars.

Orlov announced three days of mourning in the Amur region to mark the disaster, which he described as a “terrible tragedy.”

A previous statement from the govenor said that 49 people had been onboard the flight. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear.

The authorities have launched a probe on the charge of flight safety violations that resulted in multiple deaths, a standard procedure in aviation accidents.

Aviation incidents have been frequent in Russia, especially in recent years as international sanctions have squeezed the country’s aviation sector.

The plane, whose tail number showed it was built in 1976, was operated by a Siberia-based airline called Angara.

Quote:Air India said Tuesday that preliminary inspections found no issues in the locking mechanism of fuel control switches for select Boeing aircrafts.

The announcement followed a preliminary investigation into last month’s Air India plane crash that the switches shifted and flipped within seconds, starving both engines of fuel.

Air India operates a fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners for long-distance operations, while subsidiary and low-cost unit Air India Express operates the Boeing 737 jets for short-haul flights.
The airline inspected its entire fleet of both types of aircraft. “In the inspections, no issues were found with the said locking mechanism,” the airline’s statement said.

The investigation by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau into the London-bound plane that crashed in the northwestern city of Ahmedabad on June 12, killing 260 people, is centered around the fuel control switches on the Boeing 787 jetliner. One person survived the crash.

Last week, India’s aviation regulator ordered all airlines operating several Boeing models to examine fuel control switches and submit their findings to the regulator by July 21.

Air India has 33 Dreamliners in its fleet, and Air India Express operates 75 Boeing 737 jets.

In the past few weeks, the airline has faced disruptions in services amid heightened scrutiny and additional safety inspections, leading to flight delays, cancellations and growing passenger anxiety.

On Monday, an Air India Airbus 320 flight veered off the runway as it landed during heavy rainfall at Mumbai International Airport, partially damaging the underside of one of the plane’s engines and leading to a temporary runway closure.

The flight had flown from Kochi in the southern state of Kerala. The airline said in a statement that all passengers and crew members disembarked safely and the aircraft was grounded for checks.

In another incident, an Air India flight from Hong Kong had a fire in its auxiliary power unit Tuesday while passengers were exiting the aircraft after it landed in New Delhi.

Quote:On Monday, President Donald Trump told reporters that his name may have been planted in the Jeffrey Epstein files by former Attorney General Merrick Garland or former FBI director James Comey.

Trump was asked in Turnberry, Scotland, "You had said you had not been briefed that your name was in the Epstein files, doesn't the AG have to tell you?"

The president responded, in part, "Well, I haven't been overly interested in it. It's a hoax that's been built up by those, way beyond proportion. Those files were run by the worst scum on earth. They were run by Comey, they were run by Garland, they were run by Biden. Those files were run for four years by those people."

"The whole thing is a hoax. They ran the files. I was running against somebody that ran the files. If they had something they would have released."

Trump also referenced discredited and uncorroborated claims in the Steele dossier, a collection of unverified intelligence reports compiled in 2016 by former British spy Christopher Steele. Commissioned as opposition research during the presidential election, the dossier contains allegations about Trump's ties to Russia, including claims of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, as well as salacious and compromising personal material.

He continued, "Now, they can easily put something in the files that's a phony. As an example, Christopher Steele, wrote a book, we call the 'fake news dossier.' The whole thing was a fake. The whole thing was a fake. They can put things in the file that was a fake. Those files were run by sick, sick people."
Trump was also asked again Monday about the possibility of pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell, reiterating that he is "allowed" to do so. Maxwell, a close associate of Epstein, the late financier and convicted child sex offender, was convicted of child sex trafficking in 2021 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

"Well, I'm allowed to give her a pardon, but nobody's approached me with it, nobody's asked me about it," Trump told reporters when asked about the possibility. "It's in the news about that—that aspect of it, but right now it would be inappropriate to talk about it," he said.

The remark echoed the president's Friday comments, when he told reporters: "It's something I haven't thought about... I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I have not thought about."

Why It Matters

In recent weeks, Trump has struggled to shift the conversation from the Epstein, a wealthy financier and convicted sex offender who authorities said died by suicide behind bars in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

The president has faced pressure from his supporters to release the government's files about Epstein, which they believe will reveal a cover-up in the case to protect Epstein's wealthy and powerful friends.

Donald Trump Reveals Why He Kicked Jeffrey Epstein Out of Mar-a-Lago

Trump was also asked about reports that he kicked Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

The president said, in part, "For years I wouldn't talk to Jeffrey Epstein. He did something that was inappropriate. He hired help, and I said don't ever do that again. He stole people that worked for me. And he did it again, and I threw him out of the place, persona non grata, and that was it. I'm glad I did if you want to know the truth."

Quote:Ghislaine Maxwell has filed a reply with the U.S. Supreme Court, urging the justices to grant certiorari to review the scope of Jeffrey Epstein's 2007 non-prosecution agreement.

Her petition raises two key questions: Did Epstein's deal bind federal prosecutors nationwide, and does it shield Maxwell from prosecution?

Ghislaine Maxwell Appeal: What To Know
Maxwell, a close associate of Epstein, the late financier and convicted child sex offender, was convicted of child sex trafficking and transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity in 2021. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Maxwell filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to the Court in April and filed a reply in support of the petition on Monday.

David Oscar Markus and Mona Markus, attorneys for Maxwell, said in the filing that Maxwell should not have been prosecuted, even though she is not named in the non-prosecution agreement.

"Whether or not this was wise, it was the deal, and Petitioner is entitled to enforce it," the attorneys wrote.

Lawyers for the U.S. government said Maxwell was not a party to this agreement in a brief filed July 14.

"There is no evidence that the parties to the NPA intended for the coconspirators clause to benefit petitioner," Solicitor General D. John Sauer, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti and attorney Ethan A. Sachs wrote in the filing.

The government said the only parties to the agreement were Epstein and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Florida.

"Even if the Florida USAO had purported to bind all other USAOs in the NPA, it would have lacked authority to do so," Sauer, Galeotti and Sachs wrote.

Maxwell's attorneys challenged the government's argument in the reply filed Monday.

"It is not geographically limited to the Southern District of Florida, it is not conditioned on the co-conspirators being known by the government at the time, it does not depend on what any particular government attorney may have had in his or her head about who might be a co-conspirator, and it contains no other caveat or exception," David Oscar Markus and Mona Markus wrote.

The Court has yet to decide whether it will hear Maxwell's appeal.

Quote:Elon Musk has weighed in on the possibility of President Donald Trump issuing a pardon to Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned associate of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

A user on X posted a meme that suggested Trump would pardon Maxwell after she "names a bunch of Democrats" and says Trump "did nothing wrong." Musk responded to the post early Monday with a bull's-eye emoji.
...
Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison after being convicted of helping Epstein sexually abuse underage girls. She has appealed her case to the Supreme Court, which has not yet decided whether to take up the case.

Maxwell was questioned by the Department of Justice last week as the Trump administration continues to face pressure to release the government's files on the investigation into Epstein, after the DOJ and FBI said in a July 7 memo that Epstein did not have a list of clients and that no additional records would be released to the public.

Questioned by reporters on Friday, Trump did not rule out the possibility of pardoning Maxwell.

Musk, once a staunch ally of Trump and the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, is among those calling for the release of the files. During his falling out with Trump last month, Musk said without evidence in a since-deleted social media post that the Epstein files had not been released because Trump was in them. The president dismissed that claim, saying he "had nothing to do with it."

What To Know

Trump on Friday deflected reporters' questions about pardoning Maxwell, saying that "I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I have not thought about."

He spoke as Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche interviewed Maxwell at a Florida federal courthouse for a second day.

Blanche said on social media last week that Maxwell would be interviewed because of Trump's directive to gather and release any credible evidence about others who may have committed crimes.

Maxwell's attorney, David Markus, told reporters that Maxwell answered questions "honestly, truthfully, to the best of her ability."

What People Are Saying

House Speaker Mike Johnson said on NBC's Meet the Press, when asked if he was open to a pardon or commutation for Maxwell: "If you're asking my opinion, I think 20 years was a pittance. I think she should have a life sentence at least.

"I mean, think of all these unspeakable crimes...It's hard to put into words how evil this was, and that she orchestrated it and was a big part of it, at least under the criminal sanction, I think is an unforgivable thing. So again, not my decision, but I have great pause about that as any reasonable person would."

Quote:The United States blocked Taiwan's president from making a stopover in New York en route to Central America, The Financial Times reported, citing three people familiar with the matter.
...
The reported decision by the Trump administration comes as the U.S. is amid sensitive trade talks with China. Beijing objects to any official U.S. engagement with Taiwanese leadership.

The complex dynamics are amplified by the backdrop of U.S. legislation, like the Taiwan Relations Act, which guides American commitments to Taiwan's security and underpins unofficial commercial ties.

Washington's trading relationship with China, meanwhile, has seen months of turmoil during Trump's repeated tariff threats and disagreements over intellectual property, market access and more.

What To Know

According to FT, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te was planning to stop over in New York in August en route to Paraguay, Guatemala and Belize, all of whom recognize Taiwan's independence. Reuters also reported earlier that Lai had considered stopping in New York and Dallas on the way to Latin America.

But the U.S. told Lai he could not visit New York, FT reported, citing three sources. Lai's office said in a statement Monday that he does not currently have overseas travel plans because he's focusing on ongoing trade discussions with the U.S. and Taiwan's recovery from a typhoon.

Chinese and U.S. officials also met in Stockholm on Monday for trade talks, Reuters reported.

China claims Taiwan, which is democratically governed, as its own territory and regularly rejects any shows of support for Taipei from Washington.

What People Are Saying

A person with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters: "There's no such thing as cancelling the trip. In fact, further arrangement for the trip will be made later this year."

Quote:A co-pilot with Delta Air Lines was reportedly arrested by federal agents at San Francisco international airport over the weekend on charges related to child sexual abuse materials, according to a senior official with the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and multiple media reports.

The arrest reportedly took place shortly after the flight – Delta Flight 2809 from Minnesota – landed at the California airport at about 9.35pm on Saturday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Several passengers who were on the plane told various media outlets that about 10 law enforcement officers, including agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), boarded the plane before passengers were let off. The agents reportedly arrested and removed one of the co-pilots from the plane.

One passenger told the Chronicle that “a group of people with badges, guns, and different agency vests/markings were pushing their way up through the aisle to the cockpit”.

She said the officers “stormed the cockpit, cuffed the co-pilot, arrested him, walked him down the aisle, and ushered him off the plane through the cabin doors located between first [class] and coach” class.

The same witness said that a second group of officers returned to the aircraft shortly after to retrieve the co-pilot’s belongings.

The pilot has not yet been publicly identified.

In a statement to the Guardian on Monday, a senior DHS official confirmed that HSI agents had arrested the pilot in question on charges pertaining to child sexual abuse materials.

A DHS spokesperson also told the Chronicle on Sunday that the agency assisted local authorities in executing an arrest warrant.

Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin on Sunday cited a senior federal source who said that the co-pilot had been taken into custody by HSI on allegations involving child sexual abuse materials.

In a statement on Monday afternoon, Delta Air Lines said: “Delta has zero tolerance for unlawful conduct and will fully cooperate with law enforcement. We are appalled by reports of the charges related to the arrest and the individual in question has been suspended pending an investigation.”

Quote:Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced Monday that during the past six months it has arrested 214 migrants without legal status in the Houston area who have been charged with or convicted of sex crimes involving minors.

Why It Matters

The arrests, carried out by ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Houston field office, surpasses the total number of similar arrests made during the entire 2024 fiscal year, when officers arrested 211 people in the same category, ICE said.

What To Know

The people arrested were all found to have either pending charges or prior convictions related to child sex offenses, according to a press release issued by ICE.

"While we still have a long way to go to truly get this crisis under control, the strides we have made in just six months to make our local communities safer are substantial, and our officers continue to work tirelessly every day to get the worst of the worst criminal aliens out of Southeast Texas to return our communities to places we can all enjoy," ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Houston acting Field Office Director Paul McBride said.

Among those were apprehended was Jesus Gutierrez Mireles, 67, a Mexican national who had been deported from the U.S. three times, who was arrested on March 28. He had been convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child and driving while intoxicated. He was deported to Mexico on April 4.

Jorge Zebra, 48, also a Mexican national, was arrested on March 21. He had been convicted of two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a minor and one count of indecency with a minor. He was removed to Mexico on March 24.

Manuel Antonio Castro-Juarez, 37, a Salvadoran national who had been deported twice, was arrested on July 18. He had prior convictions for sexual assault of a minor and illegal reentry. Castro-Juarez remains in ICE custody pending removal to El Salvador.

Jose Guadalupe Meza, 40, a Mexican national deported four times, was arrested on June 24. He had been convicted of theft and sexual assault of a child. He was deported to Mexico on June 25.

Sergio Rolando Galvan Guerrero, 45, also from Mexico and previously deported three times, was arrested on July 12. He had been convicted of driving while intoxicated and aggravated sexual assault of a child. He was removed on July 14.

The arrests were carried out as part of coordinated operations by multiagency targeting teams. According to ICE, federal partners contributing to these efforts include the Houston offices of the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Diplomatic Security Service and U.S. Marshals Service.

Quote:MAKING GLOBAL HISTORY: Yesterday, President Donald J. Trump announced a trade deal with the European Union (EU), fundamentally rebalancing the economic relationship between the world’s two largest economies.

The deal marks a generational modernization of the transatlantic alliance and will provide Americans with unprecedented levels of market access to the European Union.

The deal bolsters America’s economy and manufacturing capabilities. The EU will purchase $750 billion in U.S. energy and make new investments of $600 billion in the United States, all by 2028.

Through decisive leadership and an unyielding commitment to American workers, President Trump has delivered yet another agreement that positions the United States as the world’s preeminent destination for investment, innovation, and advanced manufacturing.

REACHING A HISTORIC TRADE DEAL: President Trump’s agreement with the European Union achieves historic structural reforms and strategic commitments that will benefit American industry, workers, and national security for generations:

The United States and European Union reached a Cooperation Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair and Balanced Trade.

This colossal deal will enable U.S. farmers, ranchers, fishermen, and manufacturers to increase U.S. exports, expand business opportunities, and help reduce the goods trade deficit with the European Union.  The EU will remove significant tariffs, including the elimination of all EU tariffs on U.S. industrial goods exported to the EU, creating enormous opportunities for American-made and American-grown goods to compete and win in Europe. This new market access will drive growth across the American economy—fueling exports, expanding production, and allowing American businesses of all sizes to reach millions of new customers across the Atlantic.

As part of President Trump’s strategy to establish balanced trade, the European Union will pay the United States a tariff rate of 15%, including on autos and auto parts, pharmaceuticals, and semiconductors. However, the sectoral tariffs on steel, aluminum, and copper will remain unchanged—the EU will continue to pay 50% and the parties will discuss securing supply chains for these products. This new tariff regime will generate tens of billions of dollars in revenue annually and help to close the longstanding trade imbalance between the United States and Europe by encouraging local sourcing, reshoring production, and ensuring that foreign producers contribute their fair share to the American economy.

Additional key terms of the U.S.-European Union Agreement will include:

Massive EU Investment in the United States: The EU will invest $600 billion in the United States over the course of President Trump’s term. This new investment is in addition to the over $100 billion EU companies already invest in the United States every year.

Unleashing American Energy: The EU will double down on America as the Energy Superpower by purchasing $750 billion of U.S. energy exports through 2028. This will strengthen the United States’ energy dominance, reduce European reliance on adversarial sources, and narrow our trade deficit with the EU.

Tariff Barriers:  The European Union will work with the United States to eliminate tariffs in various sectors and will provide meaningful quotas for other products, which when combined will create commercially meaningful market access opportunities for a significant amount of U.S. goods exports to the European Union, supporting high-quality American jobs.

Non-Tariff Barriers for U.S. Industrial Exports: The European Union will work to address a range of U.S. concerns related to various EU requirements that are burdensome to U.S. exporters, particularly small and medium-sized businesses, including through efforts to eliminate the red tape that U.S. exporters face when doing business in the European Union.

Non-Tariff Barriers for U.S. Agriculture Exports: The United States and the European Union intend to work together to address non-tariff barriers affecting trade in food and agricultural products, including streamlining requirements for sanitary certificates for U.S. pork and dairy products.

No Free Riders: The United States and the European Union will establish strong rules of origin to ensure that the benefits of this agreement flow directly to the United States and the European Union, not to third countries.

Barriers for Digital Trade: The United States and the European Union intend to address unjustified digital trade barriers. In that respect, the European Union confirms that it will not adopt or maintain network usage fees. Furthermore, the United States and the European Union will maintain zero customs duties on electronic transmissions.

Economic Security: The United States and the European Union agree to strengthen economic security alignment to enhance supply chain resilience and innovation. The two sides will take complementary actions to address non-market policies of third parties, as well as cooperating on inbound and outbound investment reviews, export controls, and duty evasion.

Commercial Deals: The United States and European Union recognize a series of major commercial agreements across key sectors—including energy and semiconductors—that will further expand U.S. exports to the European market.

Military Equipment: The European Union agreed to purchase significant amounts of U.S. military equipment.

President Trump’s America First economic agenda is restoring our industrial might, securing energy dominance, and making the United States the premier destination for advanced manufacturing and industrial investment.

In just six short months, President Trump has reaffirmed the United States as the world’s most attractive destination for investment and the unrivaled leader in innovation, research, and advanced manufacturing.

Other American Presidents have tried and failed to reach a significant trade deal with the European Union. With this latest deal, President Trump has once again proven that bold leadership, economic strength, and unwavering resolve deliver results no other leader could achieve.

Quote:Donald Trump said he would reduce the 50-day deadline he had previously given Vladimir Putin for a ceasefire in Ukraine to "a lesser number," adding that he was "very disappointed" in the Russian president.

The U.S. president made the comments to reporters as he met United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the Trump Turnberry Golf Courses in southwest Scotland.

On July 14, Trump gave the Russian leader a September 2 deadline to end hostilities, or face secondary sanctions which could deliver a blow to Moscow's key energy exports.
...
Trump's pledge this month of "severe" secondary tariffs on Russia if Putin did not agree to a ceasefire was criticized as too lenient, in effect giving Moscow a seven-week window to continue with its battlefield efforts to capture Porkrovsk in the Donetsk region and strikes on Ukraine's infrastructure.

The reaction by the markets and the Kremlin signaled a lack of concern about the feasibility of secondary sanctions. But Trump's comments Monday show his growing frustration with the Russian president's intransigence at ending the war and could at least cement his commitment to continue arming Ukraine.

What To Know

The deadline Trump set for Putin has raised the prospect of 100 percent tariffs on countries trading with Russia, which, if implemented, could impact the purchase of fossil fuels by China and India, which have ramped up their trade with Moscow during the war.

But since Trump's comments two weeks ago, Russia has not relented in its attacks on Ukraine, with hundreds of drones fired overnight on Sunday.

When asked about ceasefire talks, Trump said Monday that his administration had thought that had been settled at least four times before, but he expressed dismay at Putin's continuing drone attacks.

Trump said that he was "very disappointed" in the Russian leader, reiterating his previous sentiments about Putin's continued aggression, in which he refers to strikes on civilian infrastructure rather than battlefield operations.

Trump said that the new deadline would be about "10 or 12 days from today," CBS News reported.

"We welcome these comments from President Trump and are looking forward to seeing quick actions by the White House and Senate to implement long-overdue, crippling sanctions," Yuriy Boyechko, CEO and Founder of Hope for Ukraine, said on Monday.

Zev Faintuch, head of research and intelligence at the security firm Global Guardian, told Newsweek that all actors are incentivized to gain as much bargaining leverage as possible ahead of any deadline.

Russia is continuing to feature its increased capacity to mount massive missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and towns, he said.

The recent release of footage of its new Tatarstan drone mega-factory is a deliberate signal in this ultimatum window that the costs imposed on Ukraine and its backers will only increase over time, he added.

Quote:Nazism is making a comeback in the West, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Russia is fighting alone against the entire region.

"Until now—even during the Cold War—dialogue went on, allowing the opposing camps to better understand each other's intentions, with the biggest goal being to prevent a major war," Lavrov said at the Terra Scientia National Educational Youth Forum, according to state news agency Tass.

"However, Europe has lost this instinct, and similarly, the vaccine against Nazism has begun to wear out."

Why It Matters

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly cited supposed neonazism in Ukraine as one of the reasons behind his full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022, which remains ongoing.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Lavrov earlier this year. The State Department said that both sides agreed to "appoint high-level teams to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible in a way that is enduring, sustainable, and acceptable to all sides."

Lavrov said U.S. President Donald Trump is "open to dialogue."

"The dialogue that we maintain with the Trump administration indicates that there still are reasonable people in the West," Lavrov said, according to Tass.

Trump said on Monday that he will reduce a 50-day deadline he previously imposed on Russia to reach a ceasefire or face sanctions.

"I'm very disappointed. I'm disappointed in President Putin. Very disappointed in him. So, we're going to have to look, and I'm going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number," Trump told reporters.

Quote:An unidentified drone suspected to have come from Belarus entered into Lithuanian airspace on Monday, according a local outlet.

Darius Buta, a representative of Lithuania's National Crisis Management Center, told public broadcaster LRT that a drone was spotted at an altitude of approximately 650 feet near the capital city of Vilnius.

"This morning, residents received reports about a drone that most likely flew into the territory of Lithuania from Belarus," Buta told the outlet. "Police have activated all forces."
...
Ukraine is not a member of NATO, but borders several nations, such as Lithuania, that are. Article 5 states that an attack on any NATO member would be treated like an attack on them all.

In this instance, it does not appear as if Lithuania was attacked, and no injuries have been reported as of time of writing. Still, the drone incident highlights NATO members' proximity to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

What To Know

Residents first reported the drone at approximately 5:55 a.m. local time, per LRT. It sounded "like that in Ukraine where drones fly, a rumbling sound," one resident told the outlet.

Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė told LRT that the drone may have been one intended for Ukraine, jammed by Kyiv's air defenses.

Ukraine's Air Force has said it stopped 309 of 324 attack drones and decoys launched against Ukraine overnight on Monday. One of the drones hit an apartment building in Kyiv, injuring a 3-year-old child and seven other people, per the Kyiv Independent.

Lithuanian outlet BNS reported that Vilnius would be adding more defenses to its border following this drone incident, with Šakalienė telling reporters: "We will take additional steps to ensure more effective border monitoring in cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and we will use additional military forces for this."

She added that there are "no indications" that this drone incident was deliberate.

Šakalienė told the media that Belarus is hosting joint Russian and Belarusian military exercises in mid-September for an anticipated 13,000 troops, which could increase the number of cross-border incidents.

Russia and Belarus, which borders Ukraine as well as Lithuania, make up the Union State and its leaders signed in late 2024 in Minsk a treaty, which Putin said would allow both countries to use "all available forces and means" as part of the countries' mutual defense obligations.

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka was reelected to his seventh term in January 2025, in an election deemed a sham by Western governments.

Quote:Two American citizens remain detained in Iran on suspicion of spying for Israel following last month's 12-day conflict, according to Israeli state media.

One of the men, a Jewish American from Los Angeles with Iranian roots, was recently released on bail. The other, a New York resident, remains in custody. Both were visiting relatives in Iran when they were arrested amid a broader crackdown targeting individuals suspected of collaborating with Israel.
...
The detentions reflect Tehran's intensifying efforts to root out alleged espionage, heightening concerns over the safety of dual nationals—especially Americans—and increasing tensions between Iran and the West.

These arrests point to heightened risks for those perceived to have ties to Israel and likely will further strain already tense U.S.-Iran relations, with the U.S. State Department repeatedly warning against travel to Iran, citing the real danger of wrongful detention on espionage charges.

What To Know

Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported that following the conflict with Israel, Iranian authorities arrested at least 35 Jews suspected of spying, including the two Americans.

The New York resident, who had left Iran 30 years ago, traveled back to visit family. The other detainee, the Los Angeles resident with Iranian heritage, was arrested alongside him but has since been released on bail.

"They came to the wrong place at the wrong time," Israel's Ynet news port quoted an anonymous legal representative involved in the case as saying.

Ongoing Negotiations

Homayoun Sameyah Najafabadi, a Jewish member of Iran's parliament, told local media he had secured the release of several detainees and confirmed that espionage charges were dropped against those held in Tehran. Some were released on light bail, he said, expressing hope that the remaining detainees would soon be freed.

However, it was not entirely clear which specific detainees Najafabadi was referring to. He said he was also pursuing the release of detainees in Alborz and Shiraz provinces.

Spy Arrests

Iranian authorities launched a campaign to shore up domestic security after Israel's attack on June 13, and it continued after the ceasefire on June 24. Iran has detained more than 700 individuals accused of collaborating with Israel or other hostile foreign governments. The crackdown has included mass arrests, swift trials and multiple executions involving alleged spies.

Quote:President Donald Trump ridiculed Iran's continued pursuit of uranium enrichment following U.S. airstrikes on its key nuclear sites last month, expressing disbelief on Sunday at Tehran's persistence despite what he described as a decisive military blow to its ambitions.

"They got the hell knocked out of them and they…I don't think they know it," Trump told reporters at his golf course in the Scottish village of Turnberry. He said Iran's insistence on enrichment was "stupid" and vowed to stop the program outright.
...
Trump's comments marked one of the sharpest threats from Washington since last month's 12-day war, when Israeli and U.S. strikes targeted Iran's nuclear facilities. Despite the losses, Tehran remains defiant on uranium enrichment—a key issue behind decades of U.S.-Iran tensions.

The U.S. leader's remarks highlight a growing divide: Iran claims its program is peaceful and scientific, while the U.S. sees enrichment as a path to nuclear weapons—something Trump insists he would never allow.

What to Know

Following a meeting with EU chief Ursula Von der Leyen, Trump expressed surprise at Iran's ongoing pursuit of uranium enrichment. "They still talk about enrichment," he said. "Who would do that? You just come out of something that's so bad, and they talk about, we want to continue enrichment."

He added: "How stupid can you be to say that?"

Trump also condemned Iran's rhetoric, saying: "Iran has been very nasty with their words, with their mouth. They got the hell knocked out of them and they…I don't think they know it. I actually don't think they know."

Nuclear Damage

On June 22, U.S. forces struck Iran's nuclear facilities at Fordow, Esfahan and Natanz, following a 12-day Israeli offensive. In retaliation, Iran launched missile attacks on Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar—the largest U.S. military installation in the Middle East—claiming it was a direct response to American aggression.

Although Iran reported successful strikes, U.S. and Qatari officials stated that all missiles were intercepted and no casualties or major damage occurred.

National Pride

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi recently reaffirmed that Iran would not abandon its uranium enrichment program. He called the effort both a scientific success and a patriotic symbol.

"Our enrichment is so dear to us," Araghchi said.

Meanwhile, Iran has said that it would proceed with nuclear negotiations alongside European powers following "serious, frank and detailed" discussions in Istanbul last week.

Quote:Militant group Hamas condemned what it called U.S. President Donald Trump's "denial of the famine in Gaza" and hit back against accusations that its members were stealing aid meant for Palestinians.

Trump had called Gaza "a mess" and said it was up to Israel to "make a decision" on its next steps in the territory. The comments came as the Israeli military began a limited 10-hour pauses in fighting across three areas of the strip on Sunday to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid
...
The latest friction follows a major setback in talks over a ceasefire agreement in Gaza after Israel and the United States—citing a "lack of good faith" by Hamas—withdrew their negotiators last week, a move Hamas said was negative.

Washington under Trump has backed Israel's position that Hamas is stealing and obstructing humanitarian aid.

What To Know

Izzat al-Rishq, a top Hamas official, said Trump's remarks "blatantly echo" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "narrative and lies," in an Arabic statement released on Monday on Telegram. The Israeli leader previously dismissed claims that his government had been pursuing a policy of starvation in Gaza.

Speaking to reporters in Scotland the previous day, Trump said: "The U.S. is giving a lot of money. If we weren't there, I think people would have starved, frankly. Gazans were "not eating well" because Hamas was stealing the aid, he said.

Aid groups have criticised distribution of assistance through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF)—a U.S.-funded, Israeli-coordinated mechanism. Palestinians have described aid hubs as "death traps" due to Israeli gunfire. Israel says it fires to maintain security and crowd control and to prevent supplies from falling into the hands of militants. The GHF has blamed U.N. groups that have refused to work with it for a failure to get more aid into Gaza.

The U.N. Human Rights Office said 613 Palestinians were killed near GHF aid sites and convoys in its first month. Israeli fire killed at least a dozen more in the past day as they sought food, The Associated Press reported.

"The U.S. accusations regarding so-called 'aid theft' are baseless claims without any supporting evidence," said al-Rishq, who added that the comments gave Israel "additional cover to continue its campaign of starvation and genocide."

He cited a Reuters report on a recent USAID assessment that found no substantial evidence that Hamas had been systematically stealing large amounts of aid in Gaza.

While humanitarian groups warn of the deepening risk of famine in Gaza, Netanyahu on Sunday categorically rejected the concerns as a "a bold-faced lie." He said at a press conference in Jerusalem: "There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza."

Had Israel not facilitated the flow of aid throughout the war, "there would be no Gazans," Netanyahu said.

The Israeli military has declared a "tactical pause" in Deir al-Balah, Gaza City and Muwasi to allow aid delivery and safe passage of U.N. convoys. Jordan and the UAE also conducted airdrop missions to deliver food and supplies.

Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya said on Sunday that ceasefire negotiations have become "meaningless" under "siege and starvation."

Quote:A 36-year-old married police officer and three other people were shot and killed by a crazed gunman who stormed a swanky Midtown skyscraper early Monday evening — sparking mayhem in Midtown — before turning the gun on himself, police said.

The 27-year-old maniac, identified as Las Vegas resident Shane Tamura, barged into the 44-story building — which houses Blackstone and the NFL headquarters — armed with a rifle and opened fire around 6:30 p.m. during the evening rush, cops and law enforcement sources told The Post.

Tamura, who authorities said had a “documented mental health history,” unleashed his rampage after setting foot in the lobby, first gunning down officer Didarul Islam, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a Monday evening press conference.

Tamura then fatally shot a woman who was hiding behind a pillar as he continued “spraying” the lobby of 345 Park Ave. with bullets, Tisch said.
The lone gunman didn’t stop there as he marched to the elevators and pumped a bullet into a security guard who took cover behind a desk, police said.

In a chilling moment of apparent mercy, the wacko spared the life of a woman who came face to face with the killer as she exited an elevator, according to Tisch.

Tamura then took the lift up to the 33rd floor, home to Rudin Management offices, where he “fired as he traveled,” striking and killing one person, before shooting himself in the chest.

Tamura was seen splayed out on the floor, apparently already dead, in a shocking photo obtained by The Post.

Another man was also shot in the lobby and survived his wounds.

A witness on the first floor recalled that “it sounded like a barrage of shots … Like an automatic weapon. Like a high-capacity weapon.”

“I was at work and this guy came in with an assault rifle and started shooting,” a man, who was gasping for air outside, told The Post shortly after the bullets started flying.

Tamura launched the mass shooting after driving across the country, police said.

He crossed into the Big Apple from New Jersey earlier Monday afternoon, then drove to 345 Park Ave., parking between 51st and 52nd streets, according to Tisch.

Chilling images showed the gunman calmly strolling across the building’s entry plaza with an assault rifle at his side before carrying out the carnage.

Quote:President Donald Trump tore into Republican Senator Josh Hawley on Wednesday after Hawley was the lone Republican to join Democrats in advancing legislation that would ban members of Congress from buying, selling or owning individual stocks.

In a lengthy Truth Social post, Trump called Hawley, who represents Missouri, a "pawn" and a "second-tier Senator," adding that the GOP lawmaker is "playing right into the dirty hands of the Democrats."
...
Congressional stock trading has drawn widespread scrutiny from the public over concerns that lawmakers with access to nonpublic information could benefit financially from their positions, creating potential conflicts of interest.

Calls for stricter regulation have been fueled by repeated reports of lawmakers trading stocks during sensitive periods, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, and transparency advocates say a ban on congressional stock trading would restore public trust in Congress while ensuring lawmakers do not use their positions for personal gain.

What To Know

Hawley, who introduced the bill, defended his vote to his fellow Republicans on Wednesday, saying, "I practice what I preach. I don't have individual stocks, I don't trade in stocks. I'm not a billionaire, unlike others on this committee. And what I think is, the American people are sending us a clear message."

The final vote in the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs was 8-7, with Hawley and all the Democrats on the panel voting in favor. Every other Republican voted against it.

Trump on Wednesday accused Democrats of trying to "target" him with the proposal banning stock-trading, which is called the "HONEST Act."

The president's allegation came after Axios reported that Democrats on the Homeland Security panel had pushed Hawley to include language in the bill that would also impose some limits on the president and vice president, which the Missouri senator agreed to do to help shepherd the proposal through a committee vote.

Hawley's decision didn't land well with the White House, and the Office of Legislative Affairs immediately pushed back and started lobbying against the bill, according to Axios. Hawley denied reports of a White House pushback against the bill, but Trump unleashed on the senator shortly after it passed out of committee.

"The Democrats, because of our tremendous ACHIEVEMENTS and SUCCESS, have been trying to 'Target' Me for a long period of time, and they're using Josh Hawley, who I got elected TWICE, as a pawn to help them," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

"I wonder why Hawley would pass a Bill that Nancy Pelosi is in absolute love with — He is playing right into the dirty hands of the Democrats," Trump said. "It's a great Bill for her, and her 'husband,' but so bad for our Country!"

California Representative Pelosi, to whom the ban would apply, along with every other member of Congress, applauded the bill's passage out of committee in a statement on Wednesday.

Quote:A nationwide boycott of Walmart, organized by The People's Union USA, is scheduled to begin August 1 and last throughout the month, with the group calling for Americans to halt spending at the retail giant.
...
This latest announcement follows a series of consumer-led economic boycotts following the re-election of President Donald Trump in January.

These boycotts have been spearheaded by progressive groups who have expressed a number of concerns over issues including company tax avoidance and workers' rights, in addition to backlash over companies scaling back diversity hiring commitments.

What To Know

The People's Union USA, led by John Schwartz, known online as TheOneCalledJai is leading the boycott action.

The People's Union encourages consumers, where possible, to redirect purchases to small, independent businesses or to delay nonessential shopping for the duration of the boycott.

The mission statement from The People's Union USA states: "We are not a political party. We are not a protest. We are a movement of people, organizing to take back control of our economy, government and future of our country."

It's not the first time that The People's Union USA has specifically taken action against Walmart. In an April statement about a previous boycott, Schwartz told Newsweek, "We're boycotting Walmart because they've become the symbol of everything that's wrong with corporate power in this country... Our mission is simple, we want these corporations to start paying their fair share of taxes so the American people can finally be relieved of the burden of federal income tax."

Unions and advocacy groups are encouraging individuals to vote with their money. Consumer boycotts can have a varied impact on companies.

A recent study has shown that there is a significant amount of support for consumer boycotts among Americans, particularly young Americans.

A survey from Lending Tree found that 31 percent of U.S. consumers say they have boycotted a business in the past, with Gen Zers being the most likely to participate in a boycott at 37 percent.

What People Are Saying

Walmart, in an April statement shared with Newsweek: "Serving communities is at the heart of Walmart's purpose to help people save money and live better. As one of the largest corporate taxpayers in the country, not only do we pay our fair share, we are an economic force multiplier strengthening communities nationwide through job creation, supplier growth, and over $1.7 billion in cash and in-kind donations last year, equal to 8 percent of our profit before tax, supporting local charities and causes such as disaster response, hunger relief, workforce development, and conservation.

"We remain dedicated to earning the business of all Americans and giving our time and resources to causes that uplift and unite communities who rely on us every day."

Quote:Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says the Trump administration "considered" ordering a new U.S. Census ahead of schedule, challenging long-standing norms on apportionment.

The next U.S. Census isn't officially scheduled until 2030.
...
President Donald Trump has made immigration policy a centerpiece for his second term.

The outcome of an earlier census could reshape congressional representation and federal resource allocation for years to come.

The U.S. Constitution mandates a decennial census to count all residents, regardless of citizenship. This data is not only integral for congressional seat allocation but also federal funding distribution.

What to Know

"I know they've considered doing another census," DeSantis said Wednesday in Tampa, adding that if conducted, the count should exclude undocumented immigrants. He argued the 2020 census had swindled Florida out of a congressional seat by undercounting its population, saying, "We would love for them to redo the census for '26."

While district lines are typically redrawn following each decennial census, DeSantis pointed out there are no legal obstacles to mid-decade redistricting.

The governor's remarks reflect a broader Republican push—supported by Trump—to cobble new electoral maps in advance of the 2026 midterms.

An earlier census could allow Republican-led states to redraw congressional districts before the 2026 midterms, potentially shifting political power in their favor. It could also open the door to excluding undocumented immigrants from population counts—an approach that may reduce representation and federal funding for Democratic-leaning, immigrant-rich areas.

"How many seats would California lose if you only counted lawful people," DeSantis asked during the news conference. "They would lose a lot of seats, because they're a sanctuary state."

"For us, you know, we would stand to gain because we did not spend money ... to try to count illegals because I don't think that that's constitutionally proper," the Florida governor said.

DeSantis later added, "I do think the Trump administration is going to put in for a census that is not going to count foreign nationals, that it's just going to count U.S. citizens."

Quote:A naval F-35C jet went down in California on Wednesday near Naval Air Station Lemoore.

NAS Lemoore Public Affairs Officer Sarah Thrasher told Newsweek via email that the jet pilot "successfully ejected and is safe." The F-35C was attached to the VFA-125 "Rough Raiders," Thrasher notes.

She said the cause of the crash is under investigation and that no other personnel were affected.

This is a developing story that will be updated with additional information.

Quote:Workers at a site in South Carolina that once made key parts for nuclear bombs in the U.S. have found a radioactive wasp nest but officials said there is no danger to anyone.

Employees who routinely check radiation levels at the Savannah River Site near Aiken found a wasp nest on July 3 on a post near tanks where liquid nuclear waste is stored, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The nest had a radiation level 10 times what is allowed by federal regulations, officials said.

The workers sprayed the nest with insect killer, removed it and disposed of it as radioactive waste. No wasps were found, officials said.

The report said there is no leak from the waste tanks, and the nest was likely radioactive through what it called “onsite legacy radioactive contamination” from the residual radioactivity left from when the site was fully operational.

The watchdog group Savannah River Site Watch said the report was at best incomplete since it doesn’t detail where the contamination came from, how the wasps might have encountered it and the possibility there could be another radioactive nest if there is a leak somewhere.

Knowing the type of wasp nest could also be critical — some wasps make nest out of dirt and others use different material which could pinpoint where the contamination came from, Tom Clements, executive director of the group, wrote in a text message.

“I’m as mad as a hornet that SRS didn’t explain where the radioactive waste came from or if there is some kind of leak from the waste tanks that the public should be aware of,” Clements said.

Quote:President Trump announced Wednesday evening that he had reached an agreement with South Korea that will include $350 billion in investment from Seoul and lock in a 15% tariff rate for the Asian nation.

“I am pleased to announce that the United States of America has agreed to a Full and Complete Trade Deal with the Republic of Korea,” Trump, 79, wrote on Truth Social.

The Deal is that South Korea will give to the United States $350 Billion Dollars for Investments owned and controlled by the United States, and selected by myself, as President,” he added. “Additionally, South Korea will purchase $100 Billion Dollars of LNG, or other Energy products and, further, South Korea has agreed to invest a large sum of money for their Investment purposes.”

The full investment amount will be announced when South Korean President Lee Jae Myung visits the White House, which Trump said would happen “within the next two weeks.” 

South Korea will be also be “completely OPEN TO TRADE with the United States” and accept American products, including “Cars and Trucks, Agriculture, etc.,” the president added.

While South Korean imports to the US will be slapped with a 15% duty, Trump said the US “will not be charged a Tariff.”

South Korea faced 25% tariffs on its exports to the US as part of Trump’s “Liberation Day” package that was announced April 2, but later delayed for 90 days.

The president reupped his threat in a letter to Lee July 7 – one of several sent to world leaders threatening tariffs.

In the note, Trump warned that the major car and electronics-exporting nation would be hit with the levy in order to “eliminate the Trade Deficit disparity we have with your Country.”

The president had set an Aug. 1 deadline for countries to agree to one-for-one trade deals with Washington or face potentially steep reciprocal tariffs.

Quote:Brown University reached an agreement with the Trump administration Wednesday to restore $510 million in federal funds that were frozen amid a probe into possible civil rights violations at the Ivy League school.

As part of the deal, Brown University will contribute $50 million to “workforce development organizations” in the state; end programs that promote “race-based outcomes, quotas, diversity targets or similar efforts”; and maintain “women-only and men-only” facilities and sports teams on campus.

“The Trump Administration is successfully reversing the decades-long woke-capture of our nation’s higher education institutions,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement.

“Because of the Trump Administration’s resolution agreement with Brown University, aspiring students will be judged solely on their merits, not their race or sex,” McMahon continued. “Brown has committed to proactive measures to protect Jewish students and combat Antisemitism on campus.”

“Women’s sports and intimate facilities will be protected for women and Title IX will be enforced as it was intended.”

Brown University President Christina Paxson noted that as part of the agreement, there is “no finding or admission of wrongdoing” on the part of the Rhode Island school.

“The University’s foremost priority throughout discussions with the government was remaining true to our academic mission, our core values and who we are as a community at Brown,” Paxson wrote in a letter to the university community announcing the agreement.

“This is reflected in key provisions of the resolution agreement preserving our academic independence, as well as a commitment to pay $50 million in grants over 10 years to workforce development organizations in Rhode Island, which is aligned with our service and community engagement mission,” she added.

Quote:An orange shape was spotted on surveillance footage near Jeffrey Epstein’s prison cell on the final night of his life — and forensic experts are questioning the federal government’s explanation of the mysterious object.

The shadowy object, seen in video obtained and reviewed by CBS News, moves up the stairs to Epstein’s cell block at the Metropolitan Correctional Center around 10:40 p.m. the night before the 66-year-old convicted sex trafficker was found hanged.

Federal investigators previously concluded the pixelated blob was a corrections officer “carrying linen or inmate clothing,” but forensic experts who spoke to the network as part of an investigation into the jail video now suspect it may have actually been a jumpsuit clad inmate.

“Based on the limited video, it’s more likely a person in an [orange] uniform,” Conor McCourt, a retired NYPD sergeant and forensic video expert, told CBS.

Epstein was found dead in his cell on August 10, 2019 and an official autopsy, as well as a joint DOJ-FBI probe, found that the disgraced financier killed himself by hanging.

But the forensic experts who spoke to CBS News believe there are significant flaws in the Justice Department’s official review of the convicted sex trafficker’s death.

While the FBI claimed surveillance cameras would have captured anyone entering or exiting the area where the billionaire was held, footage released by the DOJ revealed that the staircase is almost entirely out of view, the outlet’s analysis found.

The entrance to Epstein’s cell is also outside the camera’s field of view.

Quote:FBI Director Kash Patel discovered “burn bags” filled with thousands of documents dating back to the bureau’s Trump-Russia probe during the 2016 campaign, a source familiar with the findings told The Post Wednesday.

One of the documents, discovered in a purported secret room at the FBI’s DC headquarters, is a classified annex to the 2023 report by then-special counsel John Durham that scrutinized the original probe, code-named “Crossfire Hurricane.”

The 29-page appendix to the Durham report, which has never been publicly released, includes details of the intelligence he reviewed, according to Fox News Digital, which first reported on the discovery.

In official parlance, “burn bags” refer to containers that hold classified documents that are meant to be destroyed after a certain period of time.

It was not immediately clear whether the documents found by Patel had yet to reach their destroy date or were preserved due to an oversight by officials.
The annex will be declassified and turned over to Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) for eventual public release, a source confirmed to The Post.

Grassley’s office didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry about when the documents would be released.

Fox News Digital reported Tuesday that the annex includes information that foreign sources warned members of the US intelligence community that the FBI would help spread a narrative that the 2016 Trump campaign illegally colluded with the Kremlin to win the election — before the bureau launched “Crossfire Hurricane” in July 2016.

Those involved in examining the papers include Patel, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Attorney General Pam Bondi and acting National Security Agency Director William Hartman.

“I want everything to be shown,” President Trump told reporters Wednesday when asked about the news. “You know, as long as it’s fair and reasonable, I think it will be shown.”

The FBI investigation culminated in the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report in March 2019, which found that there were links between the Russians and Trump, but that there was no evidence that he “conspired” with the Kremlin.

Then-Attorney General Bill Barr assigned Durham to investigate the origins of Crossfire Hurricane in October 2020, after congressional investigators discovered the FBI had lied in statements when obtaining warrants to surveil then-Trump adviser Carter Page.

Durham’s final report concluded “Crossfire Hurricane” was “seriously flawed” and had no basis in evidence.

Quote:Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released a whistleblower’s account Wednesday detailing the pressure an Obama-era intelligence official applied on a subordinate to get them to sign off on an assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help Donald Trump.

“I was pressured to alter my views,” the senior intelligence analyst-turned-whistleblower claimed in documents Gabbard used as evidence in her bombshell report earlier this month, detailing the “treasonous conspiracy” Obama officials engaged in “to subvert President Trump’s 2016 victory.”

The analyst – who worked on a 2016 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) which determined “foreign adversaries did not use cyberattacks on election infrastructure to alter the US Presidential election outcome” – recalled that “my concurrence was sought to enable [redacted] to sway the views of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)” — so that DIA would sign off on a revised ICA. 

The new, 2017 ICA relied on the discredited Steele dossier and claimed the Kremlin orchestrated hackings of Democratic National Committee emails and intervened in the presidential contest in favor of Trump.

“There is reporting you are not allowed to see, if you saw it, you would agree,” the analyst recalled a supervisor telling them in early January 2017, when they asked to review the new reporting in the alternative assessment.

“Isn’t it possible Putin has something on Trump, to blackmail and coerce him?” the supervisor continued. ”You need to TRUST ME on this.”

When the whistleblower refused to sign off on the new assessment, the “visibly frustrated” supervisor stated: “I need you to say you agree with these judgements, so that DIA will go along with them!”

“I remember this conversation very clearly,” the whistleblower wrote in the account, “as it was a difficult situation and I listened, and chose my responses, with care.”

“I was aware that I was defying the [National Intelligence Office’s] direction to me (to misrepresent my views to DIA) based on a conscious decision to adhere to [Intelligence Community] standards, tradecraft, and ethics.”

The DIA did not end up joining the CIA, FBI, and National Security Agency (NSA) on the 2017 ICA.

The documents also show the whistleblower made repeated attempts to report concerns about the information used in the 2017 ICA to multiple government officials, including the inspector general for the intelligence community, former Special Counsel John Durham, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.),  to no avail.

Quote:A winner was finally certified in a hotly Brooklyn City Council primary marred by the revelation that ballots had been cast for dead voters — but a criminal investigation will continue.

The city Board of Elections certified George Sarantopoulos as the winner of a Republican Party primary over GOP chairman Richie Barsamian on Tuesday after an expose by The Post that showed accusations of voter fraud that included the revelation absentee ballots were cast for at least two dead voters.

A third voter said he hadn’t voted but received a “cure notice” that is sent to voters when their ballots contain errors such as a missing signature.
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s office is now probing the claims, according to sources.

Elections officials uncovered two alleged incidents of voter fraud — the dead voters as well as 22 ballots that were discovered during the manual recount that could not be attributed to specific voters.

“In a small Republican primary, unlike a mayoral contest, there were multiple ballot irregularities — including two absentee ballots who were casting for people who are deceased, and obviously the one person who was a living voter who did not vote at all,” Sarantopoulous said.

“We can’t let this stand,” he added. “Democrats, Republicans and independents. We all need to know that we have a system we can trust. Period full stop.”

Barsamian, who has the power to appoint BOE workers as chair of borough’s Republican Party, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. 

Sarantopoulous ultimately beat Barsamian by a mere 16 votes to challenge Democratic nominee Kayla Santosuosso in November.

Quote:An ax murderer jailed for life for hacking his parents and two younger siblings to death when he was a teen has just been released early thanks to a Minnesota law backed by Gov. Tim Walz.

David Brom, now 53, was cut loose from a state prison on authorized work release on Tuesday more than a decade earlier than he was initially meant to be freed, Fox9 reported.

The convicted killer, who was just 16 at the time of the infamous 1988 murders, was initially supposed to be locked up well into his 70s.

But he became eligible for release — earlier than expected — under a Minnesota law passed in 2023 that banned life sentences without parole for juveniles.

Gov. Walz, the failed Democratic vice presidential contender, backed the law and approved it after it was passed by the Dem-controlled state House and Senate.

Lawmakers with the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party said that the law was changed to comply with a Supreme Court ruling that banned sentences of life without parole for juvenile offenders, according to KTTC-TV.

Brom served more than 35 years in prison after he was convicted of slashing his parents, Paulette and Bernard, sister Diane and brother Richard, to death in their Rochester home Feb. 18, 1988.

All four victims were discovered with multiple ax wounds to their heads and bodies.

Brom, who tried to argue he was mentally ill at the time, was ultimately found guilty by a jury.

Quote:A Newsweek map shows that both the United States and China have deployed icebreakers to Arctic waters north of Alaska recently, as the two powers jostle for dominance in the region.

USCGC Healy—America's largest and most technologically advanced icebreaker—is conducting a mission to reinforce U.S. presence in the Arctic, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Regarding the deployment of the Chinese icebreaker Xue Long 2, the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., told Newsweek that China has always conducted normal maritime activities in accordance with international law.

Why It Matters

China has claimed the status of a "near-Arctic state" and a stakeholder in Arctic affairs. In recent years, the East Asian power has gradually expanded its Arctic presence, including deploying icebreakers and conducting scientific research with potential military applications.

Alarmed by China's activities in the Arctic—which include its cooperation with Russia—the Pentagon has updated its Arctic strategy, calling for a greater military presence, enhanced intelligence capabilities and closer cooperation with allies to address these challenges.

What To Know

Using open-source data, the Healy was tracked departing Dutch Harbor—a key fishing port on Alaska's Amaknak Island—on July 13. Four days later, it transited the Bering Strait, which separates Alaska from Russia's Far East, during its northbound voyage.

A Newsweek map shows that the Xue Long 2—China's first domestically built icebreaker—passed through the waterway a day after the Healy's transit.
As of July 26, both vessels were tracked underway in Arctic waters on the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf (ECS)—an area of continental shelf extending beyond 230 miles from America's coastline, where the U.S. has exclusive rights to conserve and manage resources.

The Healy was also observed sailing in the Chukchi Sea—north of the Bering Strait—and the Bering Sea on July 5 and July 9, respectively, according to photos released by the U.S. Coast Guard.

The vessel departed its home port of Seattle, Washington, on June 19 to conduct what the U.S. Coast Guard described as "high-latitude science and research missions" in the Arctic.

In a Facebook post on Monday, the U.S. Coast Guard said the Healy recently began its annual Arctic deployment, aimed at conducting "vital research" on sea ice and ocean movement.

Quote:Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said his country will recognize a Palestinian state in September, but U.S. President Donald Trump does not intend to follow suit, with a White House official telling Newsweek: "As the President stated, he would be rewarding Hamas if he recognizes a Palestinian state, and he doesn't think they should be rewarded. So he is not going to do that. President Trump's focus is on getting people fed."

Why It Matters

Carney's announcement makes Canada the third G7 nation in recent days to say it plans to recognize Palestinian statehood in September. The leaders of France and the United Kingdom also made statements in the last week announcing their intent to recognize it.

Though these announcements are largely symbolic, they signify a broader shift in global sentiment regarding Israel's ongoing and devastating war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and renewed concerns in recent days of widespread starvation throughout the Israeli-controlled territory.

Human-rights groups around the globe, including Israel's B'Tselem, have accused Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied that his forces are carrying out a "deliberate" strategy of starving the Gazan population. His government also rejects a two-state solution on nationalistic and security grounds.

What to Know

"Canada will always steadfastly support Israel's existence as an independent state in the Middle East, living in peace and security," Carney said during a news conference on Wednesday. "Any path to lasting peace for Israel also requires a viable and stable Palestinian state and one that recognizes Israel's inalienable right to security."

Carney said Canada's recognition of a Palestinian state will hinge on the Palestinian Authority "holding general elections in 2026 in which Hamas can play no part, and to demilitarize the Palestinian state."

The possibility of the condition being fulfilled remains unclear, as it's highly unlikely an election will take place in the besieged Gaza Strip next year.

Carney's announcement followed a similar one from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who announced on Tuesday that the U.K. will also recognize a Palestinian state in September unless Israel meets specific conditions related to its actions in the war-torn Gaza Strip.

Trump told reporters that while he did "not mind [Starmer] taking a position" on Palestinian statehood, the U.S. was not in the U.K.'s camp and would not be following its lead.

More than 140 countries recognize a Palestinian state, including about a dozen European nations.

Netanyahu blasted Starmer on Tuesday over the U.K.'s decision, saying it "rewards Hamas' monstrous terrorism" and "punishes its victims."

The Israeli leader added: "Appeasement towards jihadist terrorists always fails. It will fail you, too. It will not happen."

Quote:Chilean authorities said Tuesday they turned six valuable watches stolen from Canadian actor Keanu Reeves — including an engraved Rolex worth at least $9,500 — over to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, months after recovering them in a police raid.

The FBI will arrange for their return to Reeves, best known for his roles in action franchises like “The Matrix” and “John Wick.” Chilean prosecutors told reporters that Reeves had identified the watches as those stolen from his Los Angeles home during a string of high-profile burglaries in December 2023.

The announcement was made as the Trump administration’s Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, arrived in the South American country for meetings with Chilean officials about transnational crime, among other issues.

Noem was also the victim of a robbery attributed to a Chilean national residing illegally in the U.S., when her purse was stolen last April at a Washington restaurant.

Reeves’ six watches are valued at a total of $125,000, said Marcelo Varas, a police officer from Chile’s robbery investigation squad.

The watches stolen from Reeves’ Hollywood Hills home turned up in Santiago, Chile’s capital, when police raided homes and uncovered stolen cars, iPhones, luxury watches and designer purses.

That operation coincided with another Chilean investigation, coordinated with the FBI, into a spate of burglaries by South America-based crime groups targeting multimillion-dollar homes in the U.S., many belonging to celebrities and professional athletes, such as Kansas City Chiefs football player Travis Kelce.

In April, police in Chile announced the arrest of 23 citizens over the string of break-ins.

Varas said authorities were still investigating any link between the theft of Reeves’ watches and the other high-profile burglaries.

Quote:One of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded sent a tsunami crashing into a Russian port and smaller waves barreling across the Pacific to the Americas and south to New Zealand.

The danger had largely passed more than a day after the 8.8 magnitude quake, which was centered off the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia’s Far East. No major damage was reported and tsunami warnings were canceled in most areas. Chile, however, raised its warning to the highest level early Wednesday for most of its lengthy Pacific coast and started evacuating hundreds of people.

Here’s what to know:

What a tsunami is

Tsunamis are waves triggered by earthquakes, underwater volcanic eruptions and submarine landslides. After an underwater earthquake, the shaking of the seafloor moves water. The energy from this transfers to waves.

Many people think of tsunamis as one wave. But they are typically multiple waves that rush ashore like a fast-rising tide.

“Tsunamis cross the ocean at hundreds of miles an hour — as fast as a jet airplane — in deep water,” said Dave Snider, tsunami warning coordinator with the National Tsunami Warning Center in Alaska. “But when they get close to the shore, they slow down and start to pile up.”

It could take minutes for waves to hit land next to the site of a major quake. It could take hours for tsunamis to cross the Pacific Ocean. The speed of tsunami waves also depends on ocean depth. They travel faster over deep water and slow down in shallow water.

People were urged to stay away from coastlines until any wave surges passed in places as far away as Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Federated States of Micronesia and Solomon Islands.

Some tsunamis are small and don’t cause damage. Others can cause massive destruction. In 2004, a 9.1 magnitude earthquake off Indonesia caused waves that leveled remote villages, ports and tourist resorts along the Indian Ocean across Southeast and South Asia. Some 230,000 people died. A 9.1 magnitude quake and tsunami ravaged parts of Japan’s northeastern coast on March 11, 2011, killing about 20,000 people and triggering a nuclear meltdown.

The power of this quake

The 8.8-magnitude quake, which struck early Wednesday local time, was among the four strongest earthquakes this century, according to the USGS.

It was also the sixth-biggest quake ever recorded, said Simon Boxall, a principal teaching fellow at the University of Southampton’s Physical Oceanography Research Center.

The earthquake, which was followed by multiple aftershocks as strong as 6.9 magnitude, occurred along the Pacific Ring of Fire, the ring of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean where more than 80% of the world’s largest quakes occur. Several tectonic plates meet there. The ring gets its name from the volcanoes that surround it.

While not all earthquakes lead to tsunamis, this one generated a series of them spreading outward from the epicenter off the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula.

“It’s a bit like throwing a very, very large rock into the sea and then watching the waves propagate away from that rock, that splash,’’ Boxall said. “And so that’s what’s happened in this case. And that’s why this particular one has generated a tsunami. It’s not huge. It’s not one that’s going to cause mass devastation. But it will cause coastal flooding and it will cause damage, and it does put lives at risk if people don’t move to high ground.’’

The effects of this earthquake so far

A tsunami height of 3 to 4 meters (10 to 13 feet) was recorded in Kamchatka, while tsunami waves about 2 to 5 feet (0.61 to 1.52 meters) high reached San Francisco early Wednesday, officials said. Other areas have seen smaller waves.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said initial reports showed there had been no safety impact on nuclear power plants along Japan’s Pacific coast. Damage and evacuations were reported in the Russian regions nearest the quake’s epicenter, and officials declared a state of emergency in several areas. Several people were injured, but none gravely, and no major damage has been reported.

Additional aftershocks are possible. A tsunami advisory remained in effect for parts of the northern California coast.

Quote:Whales have been seen washed ashore in Japan by tsunami waves, following a massive earthquake off the eastern coast of Russia.

A video shared on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, shows four whales beached on what was reported to be Hirasuna Beach in Chiba, on Wednesday.

Russia's Kuril Islands and Japan's northern island of Hokkaido have been hit by tsunami waves after the magnitude 8.8 undersea earthquake—which appeared to be one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded and the biggest since Japan's 2011 quake.

The Context

The earthquake, which sent shockwaves through the Kamchatka Peninsula early Wednesday morning, was initially measured at 8.0 by seismologists in Japan and the U.S., although, the U.S. Geological Survey later determined the quake was an 8.8, at a depth of 20.7 kilometers.

Russian authorities have now declared a state of emergency on the Kuril Islands after tsunami waves inundated the region.

What To Know

Likely as a result of the changes in water levels and currents near the coast following the earthquake, whales have been spotted washing up on a beach in Japan, with the footage broadcast live on local TV.

When tension between tectonic plates is released in the event of an earthquake, the reverberations through the ocean floor can displace large volumes of water, causing waves to build with much greater motion. The rapid change to the water's current can then drag sea life, such as whales, ashore.

The seismic activity prompted tsunami warnings and urgent evacuations along the Pacific Rim.

Around 2 million residents in over 220 coastal municipalities have been placed under evacuation advisories in Japan, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency announced, as tsunami waves as high as 1.3 meters hit the northern Iwate prefecture, the BBC reported.

There have also been reports of 16 other locations along the Pacific coast being affected by large waves according to News 18, from Hokkaido to areas just northeast of Tokyo.

California and Hawaii are also on high alert, with Hawaii Governor Josh Green saying large waves, some as high as 1.2 meters according to the BBC, having already struck land.

The Philippines, Indonesia, Guam, Peru and the Galapagos Islands off Ecuador have also been issued with tsunami alerts.

Quote:The Klyuchevskoy Sopka volcano on Russia's Kamchatka peninsula erupted on Wednesday, sending dramatic plumes of ash and lava skyward.

The eruption followed a powerful earthquake off Russia's far eastern coast.

Timelapse video, above, shows the eruption.

Russia's Klyuchevskoy Volcano Erupts: What to Know

The Klyuchevskoy eruption occurred just hours after a huge 8.8 magnitude earthquake early Wednesday triggered a tsunami that sent waves across the Pacific, prompting evacuations and emergency declarations from Russia to Hawaii and alerts as far south as New Zealand.

The quake is tied for the sixth strongest ever recorded and was upgraded from an initial 8.0 reading.

Later Wednesday, lava began flowing from what is the largest active volcano in the northern hemisphere. The Russian Academy of Sciences' United Geophysical Service said in a post on Telegram: "A descent of burning hot lava is observed on the western slope. Powerful glow above the volcano, explosions."

The eruption prompted Russian officials to issue aviation alerts and monitor volcanic activity closely. Located on the seismically volatile Pacific "Ring of Fire," Klyuchevskoy is one of the most active volcanoes in the region, and its recent eruption is believed to have been triggered by seismic shifts caused by the nearby earthquake.

Was There Any Damage in Russia Following Volcano's Eruption?

The eruption of the Klyuchevskoy Volcano led to localized damage on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. Although the most dangerous lava flows remained confined to unpopulated areas, the event compounded challenges already underway due to the massive earthquake.

Reports indicate that buildings, including schools and public infrastructure, experienced minor to moderate damage, and power outages were recorded in several areas.

Residents also faced thick ashfall, which impaired air quality and visibility. Aviation officials issued a red alert for passing aircraft due to the height of the ash plume, which reached several kilometers into the atmosphere.

While no immediate fatalities were reported, emergency teams were deployed to assess potential risks to local communities and critical infrastructure.

Quote:Russia's only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, is likely to be sold or scrapped, marking the end of a vessel that was once a symbol of Moscow's naval ambition.

The fate of the 40-year-old flagship of the Russian Navy had hung in the balance following years of repairs, having been out of service since 2017, and maintenance work suspended.

However, Andrei Kostin, the chairman of Russia's state shipbuilding corporation (USC), told the newspaper Kommersant that "there is no point repairing it anymore."

Yörük Işık, head of the Bosphorus Observer consultancy in Istanbul, told Newsweek on Monday that such a move meant "a loss of prestige" for Russia's Navy.
...
The Admiral Kuznetsov was launched in 1985, and while it had seen action in Moscow's military campaign in Syria, it has been out of service for eight years.

Years of maintenance delays and increasing costs have raised questions about its technical effectiveness in modern warfare. But its scrapping will be seen as a sign of a diminishing Russian naval capability, especially as Ukrainian drones have chased most of its Black Sea Fleet away from its main base in Crimea.

What To Know

The newspaper Izvestia reported earlier in July that the refit of the vessel had been suspended, and Kostin was asked about its fate on the sidelines of a flag-raising ceremony for a new nuclear submarine in northwestern Russia.

Kostin confirmed the reports, telling Kommersant that there was no point in repairing it and that it will either be sold or disposed of, although no final decision had been taken.

The 1000-foot-long Admiral Kuznetsov was the last heavy aircraft carrier built in the Soviet Union and was designed to combine aviation capabilities with strike capabilities.

After the Soviet Union collapsed, the ship was transferred to Russia's Northern Fleet and was used in Russia's intervention in the Syrian civil war.

It displaced 59,000 tons, had a range of 8,400 nautical miles and could carry a crew of 2,600 and hold 26 fixed-wing aircraft and 24 helicopters.

But the carrier has faced technical problems, and The National Interest included it in a list of the world's worst aircraft carriers.

A refit was scheduled to be completed by 2022 at the Zvyozdochka shipyard in the Barents Sea port city of Murmansk, but the project has been beset by problems and spiraling costs.

In 2018, the floating dry dock where the ship was being repaired sank. The following year, a fire during welding work killed two people, and another fire broke out in 2022.

The estimated cost of repairs has ballooned from 20 billion rubles ($256.4 million) in 2017 to 60 billion rubles ($769.2 million) the following year, and the timeline has been revised from 2022 to 2024, with no plans for its return yet.

Işık, from the Bosphorus Observer, told Newsweek that, given it had been out of service for years, the exit of the vessel did not change much strategically but dealt a significant psychological blow to Russia's status as a naval power.

Ukraine's "ingenious and out-of-the-box thinking" in striking Russia's Black Sea vessels has shown how naval war is changing, he said.

"To extend power in far corners of the world, you need such vessels and Russia giving up the only such vessel it has like this means a loss of prestige," he added.

Quote:Russian glide bombs and missiles struck a Ukrainian prison and a medical facility overnight, killing at least 21 people, officials said Tuesday, as Russia kept up its bombardment of civilian areas despite US President Donald Trump’s threat to soon punish Russia with sanctions and tariffs unless it stops.

A Russian airstrike on a prison in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region killed at least 17 inmates and wounded more than 80 others, officials said.

In the Dnipro region, authorities reported at least four people were killed and eight injured.

Trump said Monday he is giving Russian President Vladimir Putin 10 to 12 days to stop the killing in Ukraine after three years of war, moving up a 50-day deadline he had given the Russian leader two weeks ago. The move meant Trump wants peace efforts to make progress by Aug. 7-9.

Trump has repeatedly rebuked Putin for talking about ending the war but continuing to bombard Ukrainian civilians. But the Kremlin hasn’t changed its tactics.
“I’m disappointed in President Putin,” Trump said during a visit to Scotland.

The Kremlin pushed back, however, with a top Putin lieutenant warned Trump against “playing the ultimatum game with Russia.”

“Russia isn’t Israel or even Iran,” former president Dmitry Medvedev, who is deputy head of the country’s Security Council, wrote on social platform X.
“Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country,” Medvedev said.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor, the Kremlin has warned Kyiv’s Western backers that their involvement could end up broadening the war to NATO countries.

“Kremlin officials continue to frame Russia as in direct geopolitical confrontation with the West in order to generate domestic support for the war in Ukraine and future Russian aggression against NATO,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said late Monday.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia launched two Iskander-M ballistic missiles along with 37 Shahed-type strike drones and decoys at Ukraine overnight. They say 32 Shahed drones were intercepted or neutralized by Ukrainian air defenses.

The Russian attack close to midnight Monday hit the Bilenkivska Correctional Facility with four guided aerial bombs, according to the State Criminal Executive Service of Ukraine.

At least 42 inmates were hospitalized with serious injuries, while another 40 people, including one staff member, sustained various injuries.

Quote:A key all of Russian President Vladimir Putin ally has dismissed a call by U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham for Russia to get "to the peace table" and negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.

The rejection by Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president and prime minister, of the call by the Republican from South Carolina, came as President Donald Trump spoke of his disappointment with Putin and announced that he would bring forward a deadline for a ceasefire in Ukraine.

Why It Matters

The comments by Medvedev, who is known as a hawk on Ukraine and close to Putin, will further dim hopes for compromise on a settlement to end the Ukraine war.

Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Putin as Russian forces pound Ukrainian cities with drones and missiles and push on with ground offensives while the White House is trying to broker peace.

Trump, speaking to reporters in Scotland on Monday, said he would reduce a 50-day deadline he had given Putin for a ceasefire in Ukraine to "a lesser number," adding that he was "very disappointed" with the Russian president.

On July 14, Trump gave the Russian leader a September 2 deadline to end hostilities, or face secondary sanctions which could deliver a blow to Moscow's key energy exports.

What to Know

Graham issued his call for Russia to get serious about peace talks in a post on the X social media platform.

"To those in Russia who believe that President Trump is not serious about ending the bloodbath between Russia and Ukraine: You and your customers will soon be sadly mistaken. You will also soon see that Joe Biden is no longer president," Graham said, adding: "Get to the peace table."

Medvedev responded by reiterating the Russian demand that its aims must be met before there can be any chance of peace.

"It's not for you or Trump to dictate when to 'get at the peace table'. Negotiations will end when all the objectives of our military operation have been achieved. Work on America first, gramps!" he said.

Trump's pledge this month of "severe" secondary tariffs on Russia if Putin did not agree to a ceasefire was criticized as too lenient, in effect giving Moscow a seven-week window to continue with its battlefield efforts to capture Porkrovsk in the Donetsk region and strikes on Ukraine's infrastructure.

The Trump deadline raises the prospect of 100 percent tariffs on countries trading with Russia, which, if implemented, could impact the purchase of fossil fuels by China and India, which have ramped up their trade with Russia since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Quote:Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s right-hand man lauded President Trump Tuesday for shortening the time frame for Russia to show willingness to make peace with Kyiv — saying it will let Vladimir Putin know that Washington is “serious” about ending the war in Ukraine.

“When the US leads, the free world follows. When America is serious, Russia backs down,” said Andriy Yermak — who runs the Ukrainian office of the president and seen as the equivalent to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. “We have seen that before, and we are starting to see it again.”

Trump, 79, told reporters aboard Air Force One Tuesday that Russia now has just 10 days — until Aug. 8 — to avoid economic sanctions aimed at stopping the flow of cash funding Moscow’s more than 41-month-old invasion.

The US president originally gave Putin 50 days from July 14 to stop his brutal assault on Kyiv — but so far, the Kremlin tyrant has shown no inclination to do so, slamming Ukraine nightly with deadly bombings and drone strikes on civilians.

Should that continue, Trump has promised to levy 100% tariffs on any country that buys Russian oil — either directly or indirectly — punishing those providing Moscow with its main source of income to power its war machine.

Moscow has occasionally feigned interest in a negotiated settlement, most recently holding lower-level meetings with Ukrainian officials in Turkey last week.

Putin has repeatedly refused to meet with Zelensky, who showed up in Turkey earlier this summer after Trump urged the two belligerents to hold direct talks, only to be stood up.

At last week’s meeting, according to Yermak, Moscow’s reps kept the discussions to prisoner of war exchanges and did not entertain talk of a cease-fire.

“It is necessary to act,” Yermak told The Post in an exclusive interview. “I believe in America. I believe in President Trump.”

Quote:A Ukrainian air force officer was arrested and charged with spying for Russia by leaking the locations of Kyiv’s prized F-16 and Mirage 2000 fighter jets, officials said.

The officer, who was only identified as a flight instructor who held the rank of major, stands accused of providing Russia with intel and suggesting the tactics used to attack an airbase housing the NATO-provided jets, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said in a statement.

“In particular, the enemy’s priority targets were airfields where F-16s, Mirage 2000s and Su-24s were based,” it said.

“In addition, to ensure the success of the enemy strike, the defendant prepared and handed over to the occupiers an analytical report on the necessary, in his opinion, tactics for delivering combined strikes,” the SBU added.

“This was to allow the Russians to strike, ‘bypassing’ the defense of the relevant military facilities.”

The US-made F-16s arrived in Ukraine late last year to bolster Kyiv’s air force and defenses against Russia’s escalating bombardments.

The warplanes serve as a key tool for Ukraine and are used alongside the French Mirage 2000 jets and the older, Soviet-manufactured Su-24s.

The NATO-provided jets are prime targets for Moscow, with its drones and missiles regularly aimed at airfields and military bases where the Kremlin believes the jets may be stationed.

Along with helping Russia carry out the attack, the SBU also accused the suspect of passing data on Ukrainian air force personnel and combat tactics to the Kremlin.

The arrest of the air force officer comes after the SBU detained two Chinese nationals earlier this month on suspicion of spying on Ukraine’s Neptune anti-ship missile program.

The intelligence breaches are not only limited to Ukraine, with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk revealing Tuesday that 32 suspects were arrested for allegedly spying for Russia.

“At the moment, 32 people who are suspected of collaborating with Russian special services who ordered sabotage or contract beatings have been detained,” Tusk said, according to Polish outlets.

Quote:Japan scrambled fighter jets Tuesday after a Russian surveillance plane deemed to pose a "risk of airspace violation," Japan's defense ministry said.

Why It Matters

Japan, which hosts over 52,000 American troops across more than 100 bases, is also a key part of the so-called First Island Chain—a line of allied and partner nations the Pentagon hopes to leverage in the event of a conflict with adversaries such as China.

Japanese defense officials have repeatedly expressed concern about Chinese and Russian military coordination and encroachment, including disputed Tokyo-controlled territories such as far-north Rebun Island.
...
The Russian aircraft, an Ilyushin Il-38 maritime patrol plane, was detected over the Sea of Japan on Tuesday, according to a statement from Japan's Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The Japanese Air Self-Defense Force's Central Air Command dispatched fighter jets to intercept the plane.

A flight path map released by officials showed the Il-38 taking a circuitous route along Japan's west coast within its air defense identification zone (ADIZ)—a pattern typical of aircraft conducting intelligence-gathering missions off Japan.

An ADIZ is an area where claimant states require foreign aircraft to identify themselves.

The Cold War-era Il-38 is Russia's counterpart to the U.S. P-3 Orion spy plane. While the four-engine turboprop is designed for anti-submarine warfare, it can also be used for search-and-rescue and mine-laying operations.

In a separate statement on Wednesday, the Joint Staff reported that a Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy Dakai-class submarine rescue ship was tracked sailing through the Tsushima Strait, about 200 miles west of Japan's southwestern Goto Islands.

It was the first time that class of ship had been observed in the area, according to the statement.

Quote:China and Russia will carry out joint naval exercises in the Pacific next week, the Chinese defense ministry said Wednesday, as the quasi-alliance continues to mature.

Why It Matters

The neighbors have moved to strengthen security ties in recent years through bilateral and multilateral exercises spanning naval and air patrols and computer simulations. Over half of their 113 combined drills since 2003 have taken place in the past six years, according to analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies' China Power Project.

This cooperation is especially concentrated in the Pacific. While Beijing and Moscow lack a formal treaty, they are aligned on challenging long-standing U.S. military dominance and seek to establish their own spheres of influence, analysts say.
...
Newsweek reached out to the Russian defense ministry by email with a request for comment outside of office hours.

What to Know
The People's Liberation Army Navy will join Russia's Pacific Fleet for drills in the Sea of Japan, in the waters and airspace near the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, China's defense ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang said during Wednesday's regular news conference.

The exercises, which will also include land-based training and collectively dubbed Maritime Interaction 2025, begin August 1, according to a Pacific Fleet statement shared by Russian state media. Both sides stressed that the drills are not directed at any third party.

Naval forces will train in anti-submarine warfare, air defense and search-and-rescue operations, and will conduct "joint gun" exercises, according to a Russian statement.

Participating Russian ships will be led by the large anti-submarine warfare ship Admiral Tributs, with the Type 052 guided-missile destroyer Shaoxing leading the Chinese contingent. Diesel-electric submarines and naval aircraft from both countries will also take part.

Following the exercises, the two sides will deploy to an unspecified part of the Pacific Ocean for their sixth joint maritime patrol, Zhang told reporters.

Quote:Chinese media reported that the number of fighter pilots recruited for the country's aircraft-carrier fleet hit a record high this year, as part of the East Asian power's rapid naval buildup.
...
China operates the world's largest navy by hull count, with over 370 ships and submarines in service, including two aircraft carriers. In June, both aircraft carriers were simultaneously deployed to the broader Western Pacific, demonstrating the country's growing naval power.

While the United States continues to possess the world's largest aircraft carrier fleet—with 11 operational vessels—the Chinese navy is set to commission its third and most-advanced aircraft carrier, with reported plans to build the nation's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

What To Know

China Central Television reported on Friday that the People's Liberation Army Navy—the official name of the Chinese navy—has recently concluded its pilot recruitment for the year.

The intake includes high school graduates, students from naval aviation schools, and recent bachelor's and master's degree graduates from both military and civilian universities, the report said. It described the recruitment sources as "increasingly diverse and optimized."

The report said that both the number of candidates meeting the standards for carrier-based fighter pilots and the proportion of qualified applicants have reached record levels.

While the report did not provide exact figures, it added that "tens of thousands of young students" across China had "enthusiastically" signed up for naval pilot recruitment, significantly expanding the recruitment and selection base compared to previous years.

Citing a military expert, Chinese state media Global Times said that the recruitment performance aligned with the development of the country's carrier-based aircraft, referring to the increasing variety and number of planes designed to operate from aircraft carriers.

Last November, the Chinese military officially unveiled two carrier-based fighter jets—the J-15T and the J-15D. Unlike the original J-15 variant, the T model is capable of taking off from all three Chinese aircraft carriers, which use two different aircraft launching systems.

Meanwhile, the D variant of the J-15 family is designed to conduct electronic warfare missions, matching its U.S. counterpart—the EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft.

The Chinese military is also developing a stealth carrier-based fighter aircraft as one of the variants of the J-35 family, alongside the J-35A, which is designed for the nation's air force.

Quote:Photos released on Tuesday show China and Serbia—Beijing's new "friend" in Europe—conducting joint military exercises between their special forces in the East Asian country.

The event, code-named Peace Guardian 2025, took place in Hebei Province, near China's capital city, in the second half of July, the Chinese military previously announced.

Newsweek reached out to the Chinese Defense Ministry for comment via email.

Why It Matters

China, a quasi-ally of Russia, has maintained close ties with Serbia, with the Balkan nation's leader, President Aleksandar Vučić, describing Beijing as his country's "most precious friend" during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Moscow in May.

While Serbia adopts a policy of military neutrality, refraining from joining collective defense organizations, it focuses on developing cooperation with individual partners, having acquired Chinese weapons, including drones and surface-to-air missile systems.

The deepening ties between China and Serbia have raised concerns in the European Union about Belgrade's path toward European integration. Serbia has been a candidate country for EU membership since 2012 and is obliged to align its foreign policy with that of the EU.

What To Know

According to the Serbian Defense Ministry, the country's 72nd Special Operations Brigade conducted joint training with a Chinese military special operations unit from July 19 to 28.

Officially released photos show participating soldiers engaged in a range of activities during Peace Guardian 2025, including shooting drills, indoor and outdoor maneuvers, and the use of unmanned ground and aerial vehicles at an undisclosed location in Hebei Province.

"During the ten-day training, mixed combat teams carried out tactical tasks in urban and rural areas with support from unmanned platforms," the Serbian Defense Ministry said, adding that the event focused on the use of drones in the execution of special forces tasks.

The joint training served as an opportunity to exchange experiences, compare knowledge, and improve skills in tactics, techniques, and procedures, according to Belgrade, which said the Chinese side "showed an exceptional level of organization and professionalism."

The Serbian Foreign Ministry said the joint military activity boosted military cooperation and enhanced coordination in conducting missions alongside foreign militaries and in international environments, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported on Wednesday.

Vuk Vuksanovic, a researcher at the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that Serbia's cooperation with China aligns with Belgrade's foreign policy, which aims to maximize its independence by partnering with various global actors.

Quote:Iran's foreign minister said his country will never submit to the language of threat and intimidation after President Donald Trump ridiculed its continued pursuit of uranium enrichment following U.S. airstrikes on key nuclear sites in June.

"Our enrichment facilities are severely damaged, but our DETERMINATION IS NOT," Abbas Araghchi said in a statement published on X, formerly Twitter.

Trump has described Tehran's talk of renewing its nuclear enrichment program as "stupid."
...
Araghchi's remarks come as Tehran has doubled down on uranium enrichment—despite U.S. and Israeli strikes on its nuclear facilities—reviving a central flash point in decades of U.S.-Iran tensions.

Iran is in discussions with the U.K., France and Germany—collectively known as the E3—hoping to avoid triggering a "snapback" mechanism that would reimpose U.N. sanctions lifted under the 2015 nuclear accord. The "snapback" of sanctions would isolate Iran further, risk collapse of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and possibly accelerate regional instability.

What To Know

"No one in their right mind would abandon the fruits of tremendous investment in homegrown and peaceful technology which is saving lives—and simply because [bullying] foreigners demand it," Araghchi said in a statement published on X.

Emphasizing that nuclear enrichment is vital for Iran, Araghchi said that over a million Iranians rely on medical radioisotopes produced by the Tehran Research Reactor—which requires 20 percent enriched uranium originally supplied by the United States.

Regarding the U.S. and its allies' concerns about Iran's nuclear enrichment program being diverted from the peaceful purposes Iran claims to pursue, Araghchi said that only "a negotiated solution" may succeed.

On June 22, U.S. strikes hit Iran's nuclear sites after a 12-day Israeli offensive. Iran retaliated with missile attacks on the American air base at Al-Udeid in Qatar, calling it a direct response to U.S. aggression.

Quote:Iran's top spy agency on Monday accused the United States and Israel of plotting to install a puppet government in Tehran led by the exiled son of the last Iranian monarch.

The alleged operation in June, which coincided with Israeli and U.S. airstrikes on Iran's nuclear enrichment sites, was part of "a premeditated and multifaceted war," Iran's Intelligence Ministry said, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
...
Tehran is intensifying efforts to root out alleged espionage following its two-week missile war with Israel. It said the conflict was publicly centered on Iran's nuclear and missile capabilities, with a parallel objective of regime destabilization in line with longstanding U.S. and Israeli interests.

Tensions between Iran and the United States have escalated sharply despite the ceasefire brokered by President Donald Trump. Iran claimed political and symbolic success by surviving the Israeli attack, while the Israeli and U.S. militaries said their bombing campaign dealt significant damage Iran's strategic infrastructure, setting back its nuclear ambitions for years.

What To Know

The Iranian Intelligence Ministry said the United States and Israel attempted to deploy armed security forces to Tehran as part of the "regime-change scheme" to put in power Reza Pahlavi, the eldest son of Iran's last Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

A CIA-backed coup in 1953 had restored the pro-Western shah, only for the 1979 Islamic Revolution to topple the monarchy and usher in the current theocracy. Mohammed Reza Pahlavi fled the country that year, while U.S.-based Reza Pahlavi has long pushed for non-violent regime change, but has limited support inside Iran.

"The U.S. and the Zionist regime plotted to install a puppet exile government headed by the disgraced Pahlavi heir, coordinating closely with known Zionist operatives," Iran's spy agency said.

The ministry said it seized arms including rocket launchers, explosives and U.S.-made weaponry in its border areas, and alleged that Israel had coordinated with separatist groups, including ISIS elements, to spark internal unrest.

Tehran said it arrested dozens of people accused of participating in the plot, "disguised as civil or religious groups," seeming confirming the wider security crackdown on alleged Mossad agents following the 12-day conflict, in which Israel attacked nuclear and military sites across the country and killed top Iranian commanders and scientists.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei avoided assassination by relocating to a fortified underground bunker during the Israeli strikes. Israeli defense chief Israel Katz publicly acknowledged that Israel had intended to kill Khamenei.

Israeli media said this week that Iranian authorities arrested at least 35 Jews suspected of spying, including two Americans.

Quote:ran's government has abruptly withdrawn a proposed internet censorship bill following growing political pressure and public opposition.

The legislation—introduced in the aftermath of a 12-day war with Israel—sought to impose sweeping penalties for online activity deemed false or harmful, alarming human rights advocates and reformist leaders who warned that it threatened civil liberties, contradicted campaign promises and risked institutionalizing censorship.
...
The legislation's introduction and swift rejection highlight growing tension within Iran over the balance between national security and civil rights—particularly in the digital realm. While officials said the bill targeted fake news, its vague provisions triggered fears of expanded repression in a country already ranked among the most restrictive in the world for internet freedom.

The withdrawal of the bill offers a rare glimpse of public and political influence on policy in Iran, but its initial introduction raises deeper questions about whether the government is willing to deliver on promises of reform.

What To Know

The bill's rapid withdrawal marks a politically sensitive moment for President Masoud Pezeshkian, whose Cabinet introduced the measure despite his campaign promises of dialogue and openness.

The proposal drew backlash from allies and critics alike, raising doubts about his commitment to civil liberties and the reformist agenda he championed.

Formally titled Combating the Dissemination of False Content in Cyberspace, the bill was submitted to parliament on July 20 and called for prison terms, fines and social media bans for users accused of spreading false or harmful information.

Penalties would have increased for repeat offenses, fake accounts or posts made during "crisis or wartime." Critics warned that vague terms—such as "distorted, misleading, and harmful to public perception"—gave authorities broad discretion and opened the door to politically motivated enforcement.

Quote:The Iranian-backed Yemeni Houthis have issued stern warnings to vessels defying their Red Sea blockade against Israel, confirming in a video Monday that they were holding several crew members of a cargo ship hostage.

The crew of the Eternity C, one of two commercial vessels sank earlier in July, included mainly Filipinos, according to the Philippine Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), which said 16 were missing after the attack and called for the immediate release of the "kidnapped" seafarers.
...
The attack on the Eternity C, in the same week the Houthis attacked the Magic Seas, signaled a show of force by the Iran-backed militant group, which is disrupting a key global trade route despite a heavy campaign of U.S. airstrikes in March ordered by President Donald Trump.

Trump said the group would be "annihilated" and promised to restore freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. The U.S. is also imposing sanctions aimed at curbing Iran's proxy influence in the region.

A renewed blockade of the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait by the Houthis may once again threaten international shipping in general and U.S. economic interests in particular, forcing Trump's hand in the long-restive region.
What To Know
In the six-minute video released by the Houthis, a distorted voice asked a crew member if he knew the ship was headed to Israel. The crew responded that they were assigned to load fertilizer there for delivery to China.

Marc Jayson, the ship's third officer, said the captain had informed the crew they were headed to the Israeli port of Eilat from Somalia. "We asked if there was any bonus for sailing to a high-risk area," he said, adding they received no further details before the attack.

Another crew member said the captain had ordered all satellite communications turned off as the ship approached Eilat—a claim the Houthis used to justify their attack against all commercial vessels stopping at Israeli ports. .

Filipino Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said an initial investigation found the ship had violated maritime safety protocols by crossing the Red Sea twice—via Egypt, Somalia, and Jeddah—despite a DMW ban on Filipino seafarers boarding vessels transiting the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, according to the official Philippine News Agency on July 10.

In November 2023, the Houthis seized the Galaxy Leader while it was sailing from Turkey to India, detaining its multinational crew, including more than a dozen Filipino seafarers, before being released in January 2025.

Quote:The Arab world has condemned Hamas, telling the group to end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority.

Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt joined 14 other countries in signing a declaration at a U.N. conference that condemned the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel and gave "unwavering support" to a two-state solution.

"In the context of ending the war in Gaza, Hamas must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority," the declaration said. "In line with the objective of a sovereign and independent Palestinian State."

Why It Matters

The declaration marks the first condemnation of Hamas by Arab nations.

Hamas launched an attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 that killed about 1,200, mainly Israeli civilians. Militants took about 250 people hostage, around 50 of whom are still being held.

The declaration also condemns Israel's attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza, citing Israel's "siege and starvation, which have produced a devastating humanitarian catastrophe and protection crisis."

Israel's offensive against Hamas has killed over 60,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants.

What to Know

The "New York Declaration" has laid out a phased strategy to resolve the nearly eight-decade-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the ongoing war in Gaza.

The plan envisions the creation of an independent, demilitarized Palestine, coexisting peacefully alongside Israel.

The declaration called for all hostages to be released: "Only by ending the war in Gaza, releasing all hostages, ending occupation, rejecting violence and terror, realizing an independent, sovereign, and democratic Palestinian State, ending the occupation of all Arab territories and providing solid security guarantees for Israel and Palestine, can normal relations and coexistence among the region's peoples and States be achieved."

The declaration comes amid reports of widespread starvation and famine in Gaza, fueling global outrage over Israeli policies that have limited food access to Palestinians. Israel has denied these allegations and says it has begun a series of measures to address the humanitarian crisis.

Quote:Israel could announce a plan to annex parts of the Gaza Strip to pressure Hamas to accept a cease-fire deal, according to a cabinet minister.

Security cabinet member Zeev Elkin accused Hamas of trying to drag out the peace talks to gain leverage over Israel, with the official claiming an ultimatum was necessary to threaten the terror group into taking the negotiations seriously.

“The most painful thing for our enemy is losing lands,” he told the local KAN public broadcaster.

He said that the plan is a “significant pressure tool” to tell Hamas that, “the moment they play games with us they will lose land that they will never get back.”

Israel and the US pulled their negotiation teams from Qatar last week after accusing Hamas of showing “a lack of desire to reach a cease-fire.”

The terror group, which still holds 20 living hostages in the Gaza Strip, has maintained that it will not agree to any deal that does not ensure a permanent end to the war, a condition Israel has slammed as a non-starter as its leaders vowed to keep the fight going until Hamas is eradicated.

Since the war began following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack, members of Israel’s far-right coalition have called for the full annexation of the Gaza Strip, a proposal slammed by most of the international community.

Elkin’s warning comes just a day after the UK presented its own ultimatum to Israel, calling on the Jewish state to end the war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza or else Britain would join France and formally recognize a Palestinian state before the UN in September.

Israel has repeatedly rejected any and all proposals for a two-state solution, saying any such outcome would reward Hamas.

President Trump used the same language on Tuesday following British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s ultimatum, warning that the US would not follow suit.

The president, however, joined international calls to address the widespread starvation in Gaza, telling reporters that the US and other nations would “get a lot of money to the area so they can get some food.”

With malnutrition deaths spiking in July, Israel has accused Hamas of using the crisis to drum up support to end the war and force the Jewish state to make concessions.

Israel has since enacted temporary pauses in the fighting to allow more aid to enter Gaza, but dozens of deaths are still being reported after airstrikes hit locations where the stops were ordered.

Quote:The New York Times appended a story it published last week containing a shocking image of a child purportedly suffering from starvation in Gaza with an editor’s note Tuesday.

The note informs readers that Mohammed Zakaria al Mutawaq — the Gazan boy “diagnosed with severe malnutrition” and pictured in the article — also suffers from “pre-existing health problems.”

“We recently ran a story about Gaza’s most vulnerable civilians, including Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, who is about 18 months old and suffers from severe malnutrition,” a spokesperson for the outlet said in a statement. 

“We have since learned new information, including from the hospital that treated him and his medical records, and have updated our story to add context about his pre-existing health problems,” the spokesperson continued.

“This additional detail gives readers a greater understanding of his situation.”

The stark images of little Mohammed — shown with a gaunt face and his spine protruding from his back as his mother held him — went viral last week, with many using him as the poster child for starvation in the Palestinian enclave amid Israel’s war against Hamas.

Days after the New York Times published images of Mohammed, pro-Israel group HonestReporting noted on July 27 that the boy’s older brother, Joud, is standing in the background, appearing in far better condition.

Mohammed’s mother has also indicated that her son suffers from a “muscle disorder” for which he receives specialized nutrition and physical therapy.
She noted, in a CNN segment last week, that her son was “happy” and able to “sit upright.”

The Times note did not elaborate on the pre-existing health problems from which Mohammed suffers. However, pro-Israel journalist David Collier reported last week that the young boy has “cerebral palsy, hypoxemia, and was born with a serious genetic disorder,” citing a May 2025 medical report from Gaza.

Quote:The Trump administration released a revised list of tariff rates against nearly 70 countries set to take effect next week.

The announcement follows a four-month negotiating sprint with dozens of US trading partners to lock in one-for-one agreements — some of which are reflected in the new list.

Among the notable rates which will be charged at 12:01 a.m. Aug. 7 — rather than on the Friday deadline initially announced by the White House — are 15% for Iceland and Israel, 30% for South Africa, 39% for Switzerland and 20% for Taiwan and Vietnam.

Brazil, the largest economic power in South America, will see its rate balloon to 50% on Aug. 6, President Trump announced Wednesday.

The president previously threatened Vietnam with a 46% tariff in his April 2 “Liberation Day” announcement but the country was able to reach a tentative trade deal with the US earlier this month, which lowered its rate.

Israel’s new rate is 2 percentage points lower than the 17% duty unveiled in April — despite not having made a formal agreement with the White House.

Trump noted in his executive order modifying reciprocal rates Wednesday that some nations “have agreed to, or are on the verge of agreeing to, meaningful trade and security commitments with the United States,” while others either have not tried to strike a deal or “despite having engaged in negotiations, have offered terms that, in my judgment, do not sufficiently address imbalances in our trading relationship or have failed to align sufficiently with the United States on economic and national-security matters.”

The steepest tariff rates will be carried by Syria (41%), Laos and Myanmar (40%), Switzerland (39%) and Iraq and Serbia (35%).

The list also denotes a 35% rate on imports from Canada after Trump signed an order upping the current tariff by 10 percentage points.

Countries not listed in the announcement will be subject to a 10% tariff, according to the White House.

Quote:President Trump, flanked by star athletes, signed an executive order Thursday re-establishing the Presidential Fitness Test for public schoolchildren after the Obama administration shifted the program’s focus away from athletic feats.

“We’re officially restoring the Presidential Fitness Test and the Presidential Fitness Award – and it’s going to be a very big thing,” Trump said in remarks from the White House.

“It was a big deal,” the president said of the competition the test fostered in schools.
“This was a wonderful tradition, and we’re bringing it back.”

The fitness test was introduced by former President Dwight Eisenhower in 1956 and had required students to perform situps, pullups or pushups, a sit-and-reach test and a one-mile run until it was altered in 2012.

Members of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, including professional golfers Bryson DeChambeau and Annika Sorenstam, Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, former New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor and former WWE wrestler Paul “Triple H” Levesque, who is the son-in-law of Education Secretary Linda McMahon, joined Trump at the signing ceremony.

“We have an opportunity …  to literally change the fabric of kids lives,” DeChambeau, a two-time major winner and frequent Trump golfing partner, said.

At one point, Trump grabbed ahold of 56-year-old Triple H’s bicep and noted: “He is still very strong. He’s a strong guy.”

Triple H, now a WWE executive, noted that health, fitness, sports and nutrition “has been such an important part of my life” since his teenage years.

“I think learning that at a young age sets you up for success in life,” the 14-time WWE champion said. “And without it, you’re at a lesser place for it. So I look forward to the opportunity to do this.”

Quote:The Trump administration will erect a privately funded, $200 million White House ballroom starting in September, with the venue ready for use before the president’s term ends in early 2029.

“We’ve been planning it for a long time,” Trump told reporters at the executive mansion. “They’ve wanted a ballroom at the White House for more than 150 years.”

The president emphasized that  “no government dollars” would be used to pay for the first structural change to the White House since the addition of the Truman Balcony in 1948.

The Trump administration will erect a privately funded, $200 million White House ballroom starting in September, with the venue ready for use before the president’s term ends in early 2029.

“We’ve been planning it for a long time,” Trump told reporters at the executive mansion. “They’ve wanted a ballroom at the White House for more than 150 years.”

The president emphasized that  “no government dollars” would be used to pay for the first structural change to the White House since the addition of the Truman Balcony in 1948.

“It’s a private thing. I’ll do it. And we’ll probably have some donors,” said Trump, 79.

The 90,000-square-foot “White House State Ballroom,” as it’s being officially called, will be situated in the East Wing and be able to fit 650 people when construction is completed.

“President Trump is a builder at heart and has an extraordinary eye for detail,” White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said in a statement.

“The President and the Trump White House are fully committed to working with the appropriate organizations to preserving the special history of the White House while building a beautiful ballroom that can be enjoyed by future Administrations and generations of Americans to come,” Wiles added.

Trump vowed to “get it built quickly and on time.”

Quote:The Cincinnati police chief has slammed social media posts about the viral mass brawl that occurred in the city, saying that the outrage lacked 'context.'

Police Chief Terri Theetge gave an update at a press conference on Monday after footage emerged showing a man and woman being attacked over the weekend in the downtown area of the Ohio city.

Chief Theetge also took aim at the media for only showing 'one version' of what occurred - without giving any more context about the fight herself.

She said: 'Social media and journalism and the role it plays in this incident, the posts that we have seen does not depict the entire incident.

'That is one version of what occurred. At times social media and mainstream media and their commentaries are a misrepresentation of the circumstances surrounding any given event.

'That causes us some difficulties in thoroughly investigating the activity and enforcing the law. Social media posts and your coverage of it distort the context of what actually happened, and that makes it more difficult.'

Chief Theetge confirmed in her update that five people have since been charged, but their records remain sealed at this time.

The female victim was identified by her first name, Holly, but the other victim has not yet been identified. Police are yet to provide details on what led up to the fight.

She added: 'I will say if individuals were down there and participated in this event, it would be in their best interest to turn themselves in.'

According to Theetge, she believes that alcohol had played a 'significant part' in the brawl, while saying police only received one 911 call about it.

'Nobody called the police. Nobody got us there as quickly as we could get there. They waited until they saw it on social media.

'That is unacceptable to not call the police when you view this. Traffic was horrendous. People saw this, they were fighting in front of traffic', she added.

Chief Theetge was unable to give an update on the victims' conditions, but Cincinnati FOP President Ken Sober said they suffered 'pretty serious injuries.'

Former presidential candidate and now Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy had identified the woman in the clip as 'Holly.'

He said on social media: 'I spoke to Holly earlier today (the woman tragically assaulted in Cincinnati this weekend).

'She's a single working mom who went to a friend's birthday party. It's unconscionable that there were no police present in that area of Cincinnati on a Friday night, or even an ambulance to take her to the hospital.'

Even if it's self evident that it was a dangerous aggression where people could have died before the police arrived, some people refuse to acknowledge the truth and seek to rewrite the story for convenience sake. Anyway, who got arrested in Cincinnati?  

Quote:Three people have been arrested in connection with a brawl in Cincinnati after footage of the incident went viral.

Police in the US city earlier said they were searching for a total of five people in connection with the fight, which sparked reaction by Vice-President JD Vance, Elon Musk and others.

Montianez Merriweather, 34; Dekyra Vernon, 24; and Jermaine Matthews, 39, have been charged with assault and aggravated riot.

According to police records, Mr Merriweather and Ms Vernon were additionally charged with felonious assault, which is punishable by up to eight years in prison.

The melee broke out just after 03:00 local time (07:00 GMT) on Saturday, according to Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge. Footage went viral after being posted online, including to a local crime-focused Facebook page.

Mr Merriweather was indicted earlier in July on weapons charges and a count of receiving stolen property, but was released on bail after paying 10% of a $4,000 (£3,000) bond.

Police union officials criticised the judge in the previous case. Ken Kober, president of the city's Fraternal Order of Police lodge, told the Cincinnati Enquirer that Mr Merriweather "never should have been out" of jail.

Records indicate Mr Merriweather is now being held on $500,000 bond. Bond has been set at $200,000 for Ms Vernon and $100,000 for Mr Matthews. Lawyers for the three could not immediately be identified.

Fox News and other US media reported that the FBI is also investigating the incident.

Quote:A New Mexico judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by actor Alec Baldwin for malicious prosecution and civil rights violations in the 2021 fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the Western movie “Rust.”

The judge in a ruling made public Wednesday dismissed the case without prejudice for lack of any significant action with the claim, which was filed in state district court earlier this year. Baldwin’s attorneys will have 30 days to file a motion seeking reinstatement.

Luke Nikas, Baldwin’s lead attorney, told The Associated Press in an email that the dismissal amounted to a nonevent since his team has been waiting to prosecute the case.

“We have been in good-faith settlement discussions with the parties to the lawsuit and will be refiling promptly if those discussions are not promptly and favorably resolved,” he said.

Defendants include special prosecutor Kari Morrissey and Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies, along with three investigators from the Santa Fe County sheriff’s office and the county board of commissioners.

A charge of involuntary manslaughter against Baldwin was dismissed at trial last year on allegations that police and prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense. The trial was upended by revelations that ammunition was brought into the Santa Fe County sheriff’s office months earlier by a man who said it could be related to the killing of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

The allegations in Baldwin’s tort claim include defamation, with his attorneys saying that prosecutors and investigators targeted the actor and coproducer for professional or political gain.

Hutchins died shortly after being wounded during a rehearsal for the movie “Rust” in October 2021 at a film-set ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Quote:Break out the floaties!

Torrential summer storms battered the Big Apple on Thursday, trapping a LIRR train filled with passengers and submerging cars on a Queens highway in a travel nightmare that hampered the evening rush.

Floodwater soaked the iconic Grand Central Station’s platform, cascaded in dramatic waterfalls inside Brooklyn’s Jay Street-MetroTech and burst from the walls in the Seventh Avenue station in Park Slope, wild video showed. 

A LIRR train got stuck on the tracks for several hours near Bayside station in Queens, forcing firefighters to use ladders to help travel-weary commuters evacuate, according to separate footage.

“I was scared at first. About like 15 minutes after we stopped on the tracks, all the lights went off. That’s when I got a little scared and went ‘oh boy, something’s going on’,” recalled Jessica Grant, a Stony Brook resident who was heading home after a trip to Lake George.

Grant was sitting in the second car and was able to trek to the front of the train and see the track covered by water, she said.

Another passenger added that the crew kept promising a “rescue engine” that never came.

A third passenger, who said she experienced claustrophobia and had double-vision, started to panic once the cars started to heat up.

“It’s still scary. I don’t have depth perception and I have double vision. It’s scary, and it was getting hot,” she said.

Quote:A Minnesota maniac laughed while admitting to stabbing a homeless woman “around 20 times” Sunday morning and claimed he’s had the urge to kill an innocent, random person since he was 10 years old, according to police.

Logan Anthony Seitz, 20, shamelessly admitted to the near-fatal attack in Hennepin County’s Willow Lane Park and noted that he “enjoyed it,” police said in a criminal complaint obtained by CBS News.

He also said he was “wondering what the outcome of the stabbing was” and became agitated during the police interrogation when a cop informed him that his victim was in critical condition but expected to survive, according to the complaint.

First responders discovered the badly bloodied woman with “stab wounds on her arms, torso, chest, hands, shoulders and stomach” in the park and rushed her to the hospital.

Police then tracked Seitz down to his home, and found him soaked in blood, which he allegedly said belonged to the victim. He added that he’d gone home to change his clothes and wash up “because her blood smelled,” according to the complaint.

Seitz — who reportedly had “homicidal ideations” for a decade — walked authorities through his twisted act step-by-step, the document alleges.

He said he snuck out of his home with a knife, fully intending to kill a random person — something he allegedly said he’d wanted to do since he was 10 years old — and wound up at the park, cops said.

Seitz said he spotted the homeless woman in the park, struck up a seemingly friendly conversation and walked with her before the pair sat together on the bench. They continued to chat before he randomly and chillingly told her he wanted to kill her, according to the complaint.

He then assaulted her, kicked her in the head and stabbed her repeatedly until she fell silent, the doc alleges.

The sicko only stopped wailing on her because he grew “tired from stabbing her so many times,” according to the complaint.

He then tossed the knife, asserting that he didn’t want to be shot by authorities if he were seen walking around with it, and headed back home, according to the complaint.

Seitz was previously charged with making threats of violence, criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct while in the ER, where he was a “psychiatric patient”, FergusNow reported in January.

He allegedly said he hoped to commit a mass murder on his upcoming birthday, according to the report.

Quote:The Virginia city councilman who was torched in a targeted attack suffered severe burns across more than half his body at the hands of a maniac who allegedly set out to kill him, according to police and reports.

The chilling attack — which police said was personal — left Danville City Councilman Lee Vogler with burns covering up to 60% of his body, mostly on his torso, Andrew Brooks, publisher of Showcase Magazine, the local outlet where the pol works and was set ablaze, told the New York Times Thursday.

The married father of two was expected to undergo surgery at a North Carolina hospital that he was airlifted to following the horrific attack Wednesday morning, Brooks said.

Vogler’s wife, Blair, said that her “fighter” husband is healing.

“As anyone who knows him would expect, he is facing this challenge the same way he’s faced every obstacle in his life — with courage, determination, and an unbreakable spirit. Lee is a fighter,” she said in a statement to Southside News Today.

“Lee has dedicated over a decade of his life to serving the people of Danville. As his wife, I’ve stood beside him through the highs and lows, and I can attest to the integrity with which he serves. Beyond the headlines and the public comments, there is a man who deeply loves his family, city, and its people.”

Crazed assailant Shotsie Michael Buck Hayes, 29, allegedly admitted to police he doused the 38-year-old Republican lawmaker with five gallons of gasoline and set him on fire because “it was his intention to kill” him, according to a criminal complaint obtained by ABC.

Quote:A monster Texas dad murdered his 7-year-old adopted son and stuffed his lifeless little body in a washing machine because the child ate his donut sticks.

Jemaine Thomas, 45, will now spend 50 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to the gruesome killing of little Troy Koehler on July 28, 2022.

“I need to get the [locks]. I’m going to end up kill[ing] him,” Thomas fumed in text messages before acting upon his threats, according to prosecutors.

The little boy’s dead body was found in a bloodied top-load washing machine, according to KPRC 2.

Koehler suffered from asphyxiation, blunt-force trauma and possible drowning.

He was also bruised and had injuries to his face.

Koehler’s “beloved” first-grade teacher, Sheryl Reed, delivered a heartbreaking account of her former student in a Harris County court on Wednesday.

“Now, we will never know what he could have become. His future, his dreams, his life — were stolen by someone who was supposed to love, protect, and nurture him,” Reed said.

“Today a reader, tomorrow a leader. That was always Troy. He loved reading. If he finished early, he’d head straight to our class library. Then he’d go right back to share those stories with classmates…always lifting others up with the joy he carried,” she added.

“But Troy wasn’t just leading his classmates — he led me, too. He led me to become a better teacher, a better mentor, and a better person. His energy, his smile, and his love for learning reminded me daily why I chose this path.”

Koehler’s adoptive mother Tiffany Thomas, 38, also pleaded guilty to her lesser charge of injury to a child in connection with the little boy’s death. Her sentencing hearing is slated for Sept. 10.

Thomas threatened to shove Koehler in an oven if he didn’t confess to eating some of her oatmeal cream pies, according to KPRC 2.

The couple adopted Koehler in 2019 and the family had a history with Child Protective Services, according to the local media outlet.

Quote:Zohran Mamdani skipped the vote on the one bill he passed this year as a state lawmaker, The Post has learned.

The chronically-absent Mamdani didn’t bother visiting the state Capitol after New York’s budget was approved in May, The Post previously reported — as he cast aside his duties as an elected state Assembly member to campaign for New York City mayor.

While on the trail he missed the June 13 vote for his only piece of legislation that passed the Assembly this year, as first reported by the Albany Times Union on Thursday.

Instead, Mamdani was in the Big Apple announcing a cross endorsement in the primary race with city Comptroller Brad Lander as both Democrats angled for a boost from each other’s voters in a ranked-choice primary election.

The following day, he hosted a rally with fellow socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

Mandani’s legislation, a non-controversial bill that would extend enhanced public input requirements for certain regulatory decisions made by state agencies, was approved with only one vote against it in both the Assembly and state Senate.

The socialist pol missed more than half of the Assembly’s roll call votes this year, a feat made even worse given that the chamber allows members to vote remotely during situations such as “disability, illness, caregiving responsibilities, or any other significant or unexpected factor.”

His lone bill was sponsored in the upper chamber by state Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris (D-Queens).

Mandani’s campaign did not return a request for comment.

“Zohran became a top tier candidate for NYC mayor while maintaining a near perfect attendance record through the conclusion of the weeks-delayed New York State Budget,” a spokesperson for his campaign told The Post asked about his voting record in Albany earlier this year.

Quote:Severe thunderstorms and heavy rain triggered flash flood warnings across the New York City Metro area on Thursday as NYC is inundated by storms.

Videos and pictures have gone viral showing subway stations, roads and even Grand Central Station inundated with rain water.

The Queens-Clearview express way has also been shutdown as motorists were caught in the sudden flooding.

LIRR train stuck in Queens after being overwhelmed by flooding
By Caitlin McCormack

A Long Island Railroad train filled with passengers was halted in Queens after the tracks were consumed by floodwater from Thursday's ongoing storm.

Emergency responders with the FDNY were down on the tracks, including parts that weren't even visible because of the murky water from the flood, as they tried to help clear the tracks and assist passengers to safety.

Officers with the MTA police responded alongside FDNY emergency responders to help load the passengers off of the halted train after the downpour let up.

Jessica Grant, a Stony Brook resident who was taking the train home after a trip to Lake George, said she could see the water covering the tracks while she was on the train.

“I was scared at first. About like 15 minutes after we stopped on the tracks, all the lights went off. That’s when I got a little scared and went ‘oh boy, something’s going on’,” she said.

One claustrophobic passenger started to panic once the cars started to heat up.

“It’s still scary. I don’t have depth perception and I have double vision. It’s scary, and it was getting hot,” she said.

Quote:Where in the world is Jimmy Hoffa?

More than 50 years after the mobbed-up Teamster boss disappeared, the FBI is still trying to figure it out — and is asking for tips to solve one of the country’s most notorious and puzzling cases.

Calling it “one of the most well-known missing person investigations in FBI history,” the federal agency’s Detroit field office said in a press release Thursday it “remains committed to following all credible leads” to “assist in moving this case forward.”

“As the 50th anniversary of Mr. Hoffa’s disappearance approaches, the FBI Detroit Field office remains steadfast in its commitment to pursuing all credible leads,” Cheyvoryea Gibson, the special agent in charge of the office, said in a statement.

Hoffa, 62, was trying to regain the leadership of the union when he left his cottage on July 30, 1975, for a meeting at the Machus Red Fox Restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

He was never heard from again.

Hoffa’s disappearance has since been the subject of folklore, most recently in the hit flick “The Irishman,” in which actor Robert DeNiro portrayed mob hitman Frank Sheeran, who fires the fatal shots.

But his body has never been found, with the hard-nosed union boss presumably buried anywhere from the Florida Everglades to the endzone of the former New Jersey Meadowlands stadium.

Quote:Two high-ranking employees of liberal billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundations held “confidential conversations” with the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign team in 2016 to push the narrative of collusion between Russia and GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, newly declassified intelligence files show.

The documents revealed that Leonard Benardo and Jeffrey Goldstein — Open Society’s regional director and senior policy adviser for Eurasia, respectively — held talks with then-DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz in early 2016 about smearing Trump as well as distracting from the “growing scandal” surround Clinton’s “possible corruption” as secretary of state.

In a January 2016 memo, the Soros operatives discussed with Wasserman Schultz the negative fallout from Clinton Foundation donors getting preferential access to Hillary and the “timely deletion of relevant data from mail servers.”

The year before, the former secretary of state had nixed more than 30,000 emails from a private server. The FBI confirmed in a subsequent investigation that the messages included “very sensitive, highly classified information,” but no charges were brought.

According to another memo, this one from March 2016, President Barack Obama didn’t want the controversy to “darken the final part of his presidency” and apparently tried to pressure his attorney general, Loretta Lynch, to meddle in FBI Director James Comey’s investigation of the Clinton emails.

“Barack Obama sanctioned the use of all administrative levers to remove possibly negative effects from the FBI investigation of cases related to the Clinton Foundation and the email correspondence in the State Department,” the memo declared.

As a result, the DNC saw the scandals’ threat to Clinton’s campaign as “minimal” and worked on developing a two-pronged counter-attack “focused on discrediting Trump through debates and propaganda activities” — with the help of “special services.”

Those included either the direct involvement of intelligence agencies or the use of a now-discredited dossier compiled by ex-MI6 spy Christopher Steele, alleging that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had blackmail material on Trump.

At the time, the files also disclosed, Lynch was communicating with Clinton campaign political director Amanda Renteria and the Democratic candidate was in the process of discussing a plan with adviser Julianne Smith that Benardo described as “a long-term affair to demonize Putin and Trump.”

Quote:Barnard College has made a “painful” announcement that it will lay off nearly 80 full-time employees as part of a “college-wide staff restructuring,” school officials said Thursday.

The layoffs come about three weeks after Barnard leaders agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by Jewish students claiming the Columbia University-affiliated school failed to properly address campus antisemitism.

“As part of a one-time, college-wide restructuring, we’ve made the hard but necessary decision to eliminate multiple staff positions across departments,” Barnard President Laura Rosenbury wrote in a letter on the college’s website.

In all, 77 staff members were culled, none of them faculty or from instructional services.

“This restructuring is part of our broader strategy to ensure Barnard remains strong, focused, and fully prepared to meet the needs of our community and the evolving landscape of higher education.”

The all-women’s school was facing a $252 million debt crunch at the end of fiscal year 2024, and a ballooning deficit that had doubled over the past decade.

To dig itself out, Barnard implemented several belt-tightening measures, including contributing less to staff and faculty benefits, introducing limits on business and travel expenses and the elimination of 40 unfilled staff positions, the Columbia Spectator wrote at the time.

As part of the settlement agreement earlier this month, the college agreed to several sweeping changes, including prohibiting masks, no longer engaging with the anti-Israel student protest group Columbia University Apartheid Divest and establishing a dedicated Title VI coordinator to oversee compliance with antidiscrimination laws, officials said.

“Antisemitism, discrimination, and harassment in any form are antithetical to the values Barnard College champions,” Rosenbury said in a statement when the settlement was announced.

Barnard had been the site of numerous virulent anti-Israel student protests, including the takeover of the campus’ Milstein Library by about 200 people, most of them hiding their identities with keffiyeh headscarves.

Quote:Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US is considering additional levers to put pressure on Russia as peace talks have failed to make meaningful progress.

In an interview with Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade, Rubio said ongoing conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle have yet to bear fruit.

“Earlier this week, on Monday or Tuesday, we had a whole conversation with some of Putin’s top people in hopes of arriving at some understanding on a path forward that would lead to peace. And we’ve not seen any progress on that,” the secretary said.

A third round of peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia earlier this month ended after less than an hour, with the sides failing to establish a cease-fire but instead agreeing to a prisoner swap involving around 1,200 people.

The talks were held in Istanbul a little more than a week after President Trump threatened “very severe tariffs” against Putin if he fails to commit to a cease-fire within 50 days in the Ukraine war — which has raged for more than three-and-a-half years.

Rubio alluded to what kinds of measures the US could impose on Russia should peace talks continue to stall, including secondary sanctions on the country’s oil sales — which he said constitute “a huge part of their revenue,” as well as “powerful” new banking sanctions.

“Again, I think our hope is to avoid that and to sort of figure out a way that we get the fighting to stop. We think that’s the best path forward,” Rubio said.

“We’re open to some different paths, but the best path forward is to have the shooting stop and the talking start. But so far, there’s not been, what we feel at least, a sincere interest on the Russian side in achieving that objective.”

On July 14, Trump announced the US would be sending “billions” of dollars worth of equipment to Ukraine via NATO as an additional means of pushing Putin to work toward ending the war.

“So, we’ll continue to be available and willing to participate in something like that if it becomes available. But, obviously, the president is not going to wait forever,” Rubio said.

Quote:Russia fired more than 300 drones and missiles into Ukraine overnight, killing at least nine people, including a 6-year-old boy, and injuring more than 100 others, officials said.

The deadly attack targeted the Kyiv, Dnipro, Poltava, Sumy and Mykolaiv regions, with Ukraine’s capital being the primary target, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said as he condemned the civilian casualties.

“Today, the world once again saw Russia’s answer to our desire for peace with America and Europe,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. “New demonstrative killings. That is why peace without strength is impossible.”

The latest Russian bombardment saw Moscow launch 309 suicide and decoy drones over the border, along with eight Iskander-K cruise missiles, according to the Ukrainian air force.

While Kyiv’s defenses were able to intercept and jam 288 drones and three missiles, five missiles and 21 drones still made it to their targets.

At least 27 locations across Kyiv were targeted by the attack, Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said.

Along with the deaths, 124 people were wounded, including 10 children, the youngest of whom was a 5-month-old girl, Tkachenko added.

More than 100 buildings were damaged in the assault, which also took out a large part of a nine-story residential building, city officials said.

The heaviest damage was seen in the Solomianskyi and Sviatoshynskyi districts, where homes, schools, kindergartens, medical facilities and universities were hit, Tkachenko said.

Yana Zhabborova, 35, a mother of two young children, said she was stunned by the destruction all around her as explosions woke up her family and blew off the doors and windows to her home during the attack.

Quote:President Trump warned Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev that he risks entering “dangerous territory” after he slammed the US deadline for a cease-fire in Ukraine as “a step towards war.”

“Tell Medvedev, the failed former President of Russia, who thinks he’s still President, to watch his words. He’s entering very dangerous territory!” Trump said on Truth Social Thursday morning regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top ally.

Trump announced Monday to reporters in Scotland that he was pushing up a 50-day deadline he gave Russia to end the war, now calling for the three-year invasion of Ukraine to end within 10 to 12 days.

He gave Putin the original 50-day target time on July 14 and called for a peace agreement to be made between the two neighboring countries, or Russia would face economic punishment.

Medvedev, Russia’s Security Council deputy chairman, claimed the two superpowers were heading toward a war of their own if the US commander-in-chief continued his push to end the fighting.

“Trump’s playing the ultimatum game with Russia: 50 days or 10 … He should remember 2 things: 1. Russia isn’t Israel or even Iran. 2. Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war,” Medvedev, 59, wrote to X on July 28.

The 78-year-old president invoked India in his response to Medvedev hours after he imposed a 25 percent tariff plus “penalty” on the country, which is set to begin on August 1.

“I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care. We have done very little business with India, their Tariffs are too high, among the highest in the World,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Likewise, Russia and the USA do almost no business together. Let’s keep it that way,” he added.

Trump says he has been disappointed with his Russian adversary, who has failed to end the deadly incursion.

“I’m disappointed in him, I must be honest with you,” the commander-in-chief told The Post’s Miranda Devine, on the newest episode of “Pod Force One,” released Wednesday.

“We’ve had great conversations, but it hasn’t been followed up with, you know, just some very bad things have happened. Very, very bad things have happened after we’ve had conversations. And I’d leave and I’d say, ‘Well, I really thought we had it settled’ three or four times.”

Quote:Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is ready to move on a bill sanctioning Russia if a cease-fire with Ukraine isn’t reached by the end of next week — if President Trump gives him “the green light.”

Thune told The Post in an exclusive interview Wednesday that he’s “hopeful” the legislation — introduced by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and sponsored by more than 80 senators — would give Trump more leverage to wind down the 41-month-old war.

Thune, 64, admitted that the commander-in-chief may decide to take “unilateral action” to impose those sanctions, but the House and Senate were “ready to move” if asked to apply harsher penalties.

“He’s somebody who is animated largely by trying to get to a peaceful solution,” the Republican leader said of Trump. “I think the president genuinely believes in that. We want to be a good partner in that and so like I said, we’ve been, I made it clear we’re available to move on that whenever they’re ready to have us do it.”

On Tuesday, Trump shortened a 50-day window before slapping sanctions on Vladimir Putin down to just 10 days, as the Russian strongman shows no signs of letting up on nightly bombings against Ukraine and merciless drone strikes on civilians.
...
Trump said Monday he hadn’t determined whether to impose additional sanctions on Russia or slap secondary tariffs on buyers of Russian energy, while repeating that the US hasn’t seen “any progress being made” toward ending Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II.

At least three summits have been held between Ukraine and Russia in Turkey in recent months with a cease-fire no closer, though there have been some prisoner swaps.

Quote:A flesh-eating parasite spreading across Mexico and Central America has placed the U.S. on high alert, but government officials say several key steps have been taken in case an outbreak occurs here.

According to a June report from the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the New World screwworm (NWS) is a fly larva that infests the living tissue of warm-blooded animals, including humans, that causes a painful condition known as myiasis.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the name screwworm refers to the feeding behavior of the larvae, known as maggots, as they burrow, or “screw,” into healthy tissue.

When that happens, the CDC says extensive damage could occur as the maggots tear into their host’s tissue with sharp mouth hooks. That wound can then become larger and deeper as more larvae hatch and feed on the tissue.

The USDA said those infestations of NWS can be fatal if left untreated.

Where is the New World screwworm now?

According to the APHIS, the NWS is currently known to exist in parts of every country in South America except Chile, as well as in parts of the Caribbean.

The APHIS said Panama reported a dramatic increase in the number of NWS cases in 2023, and since then has spread northward through Central America.

And in November 2024, the NWS reached the southern state of Mexico.

As of the June report, the APHIS said the NWS has not been spotted in the U.S.

What’s being done to prevent the New World screwworm from entering the U.S.?
The APHIS said there are two ways officials can try and prevent the spread of the NWS inside the United States.

One of the ways is by preventing contact between NWS flies and non-infested animals, including the prevention and treatment of wounds in non-infected hosts, as well as by quarantining and treating infested livestock.

Another way to try and prevent the spread of NWS is by stopping the reproduction cycle altogether.

This can be done through the detection and treatment of infested animals, and with the use of the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT).

That technique exposes NWS pupae to gamma radiation to create sterile NWS flies. These are then released into the wild from either ground level or the air, with sterile males overwhelmingly mating with wild female flies that then lay unfertilized eggs.

Quote:Panama’s Darien Gap, once a hotbed for US-bound migrants, is now completely deserted as President Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown has been in full swing.

Migrant crossings in the dangerous jungle path connecting Colombia to Panama have plummeted to almost zero, according to Panama’s migration agency.

Only 10 migrants traversed the Darien Gap in June, according to the data.

Under President Joe Biden, crossings peaked at 37,166 in February 2024, according to data provided by the Department of Homeland Security.

In 2023, human smugglers helped more than 530,000 migrants navigate the 2,600-mile trek on their way to the US.

And in 2022, Panamanian authorities were seeing an average of 16,400 migrants crossing each week, according to DHS.

The Trump administration attributes the massive drop to its border crackdown and mass deportation campaign.

Under President Trump’s watch, illegal crossings at the US-Mexico border have dropped to record lows. In June, border agents caught roughly 6,000 illegal migrants — the lowest level yet — and none of them were released into the US, according to ‘border czar’ Tom Homan.

More than 83,000 migrants traversed the southern border in June 2024, 99,000 in June 2023 and 192,000 in June 2022, according to Customs and Border Protection.

“In Panama’s Darien Gap, migrants are turning BACK before they even reach our border— only 10 migrants crossed in June,” Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Axios.

“The world is hearing our message that America’s borders are closed to lawbreakers,” she added.

Panama’s right-wing President José Raúl Mulino pledged to shutter the migrant pathway, leading crossings to drop by 40% in 2024.

“Effectively, the border with Darien is closed,” Mulino declared in May.

Quote:US officials will visit Gaza’s aid distribution sites this week amid stepped-up international efforts to ensure more food and key medical supplies make it to those most in need, the White House confirmed Thursday.

President Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff held a “very productive meeting” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on delivering additional humanitarian assistance to Gaza — which has been beset by a spiraling hunger crisis as supply points are choked off by continued military conflict.

“The Special Envoy and the ambassador will brief the president immediately after their visit to approve a final plan for food and aid distribution into the region, and we will provide more details for all of you once that plan is approved and agreed upon by the President of the United States,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters following the meeting.

The Aug 1. visit, to be joined by US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, follows Trump calling for the US and other nations to “get some food” to Gaza’s refugee population as reports of famine grow more dire in the Palestinian enclave.

On Wednesday, 48 people were reportedly killed while waiting for food in Gaza, as calls from international humanitarian agencies for Israel to allow aid to more freely flow into the region have spiked.

Israel has blamed the UN for the lack of food deliveries, officials sharing images showing tons of aid piled up inside the Gaza Strip, which they said is ready and waiting to be distributed to hungry Palestinians.

Last week, Israel announced it would cease military operations for 10 hours a day in parts of Gaza to ensure more food and medicine could be delivered after images of starving Palestinian children sparked outcry around the world.

The images even prompted President Trump to contradict Netanyahu, who claimed there was “no starvation” happening in Gaza.

Asked by reporters in Scotland whether he agrees with the PM’s assessment, Trump said, “not particularly, because those children look very hungry,” he said in reference to images he’s seen on TV showing emaciated and crying children.

Trump later hit out at Hamas for its role in slowing aid deliveries, writing on Truth Social that, “The fastest way to end the Humanitarian Crises in Gaza is for Hamas to SURRENDER AND RELEASE THE HOSTAGES!!!”

Witkoff is likely to meet with Netanyahu during his visit to continue talks on topics including the Gaza cease-fire and the release of Hamas hostages.

Quote:Israel’s top two ministers said Thursday that the time is ripe for the Jewish state to fully annex the West Bank, touting that the groundwork has already been laid out.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Defense Minister Israel Katz called for the controversial move to deploy Israel’s military across the Palestinian territory to claim the biblical cities of Judea and Samaria, the term Israel uses when referring to the West Bank, the Times of Israel reported.

“Ministers Katz and Levin have been working for many years to implement Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,” their offices said in a joint statement.

The ministers claimed that the preparations for annexing the West Bank began during President Trump’s first term, when his administration backed a plan for Israel to take control of the majority of the territory.

“This was expressed, among other things, in the work done by Minister Levin during President Trump’s first term, in which all the necessary things were prepared for the important move – from a proposal for resolutions to precise maps, and Defense Minister Katz led a series of unprecedented decisions to strengthen settlement and pave the way for Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,” the statement added.

The West Bank, a large stretch of land that lies west of the River Jordan, stands as the home of some 3 million people and is surrounded on three sides by Israel.

Israel claims historical and religious rights to the West Bank, describing it as the ancestral land of the Jewish people and the sites of the ancient kingdoms of Judah and Samaria.

The territory was ruled by Jordan until the 1967 Six-Day War, when it fell under Israeli occupation, leaving more than 2 million Palestinian Arabs living under both Israeli military rule and limited self-rule, currently under the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Since then, Israelis began building settlements along the West Bank, which the majority of the international community has deemed illegal.

Israel’s call to annex the West Bank comes as Canada and France announced plans to recognize a Palestinian state before the United Nations, with the United Kingdom threatening to do the same if the Jewish state does not end the war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

And in case you're wondering who would locally support this move in Judea and Samaria, here's a reminder of what the sheiks said earlier this month.

Quote:President Trump insisted Thursday that the fastest way to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza was for Hamas to finally agree to a ceasefire with Israel.

“The fastest way to end the Humanitarian Crises in Gaza is for Hamas to SURRENDER AND RELEASE THE HOSTAGES!!!” he wrote in an early Truth Social post.

Trump’s remark came as his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, was slated to touch down in Israel in a bid to salvage the cease-fire talks — as starvation continues to grip the Palestinian enclave.

Witkoff is expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his stop.

The cease-fire talks between the Jewish state and terror group ended in a deadlock last week after both sides pointed the finger at each other over the delays in bringing an end to the fighting.

Israel on Wednesday had fired back a response to Hamas’ latest amendments to a US proposal that would see a 60-day truce and the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a source told Reuters.

Israeli officials have in recent days suggested that Israel annex parts of Gaza if the stalemate continues.

Netanyahu has repeatedly said he won’t end the war until Hamas no longer rules the enclave and lays down its arms.

Hamas, however, has rejected the calls to disarm.

Quote:President Trump warned that it’ll be “very hard” to make a deal with Canada before Friday’s trade deadline after it recognized Palestine’s statehood.

“Wow! Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for Palestine,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday morning.

The commander in chief’s post comes hours after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Canada will recognize a Palestinian state at the 80th General Assembly of the United Nations in September.

“Canada has long been committed to a two-state solution — an independent, viable and sovereign Palestinian state living side by side with the State of Israel in peace and security,” Carney wrote in a statement Wednesday.

The Canadian prime minister said that the decision was reached after Palestinian Authority’s President Mahmoud Abbas assured him he was “committed to lead much needed reform” and to “hold general elections in 2026 in which Hamas can play no part, and to demilitarize the Palestinian state.”

“Canada will increase its efforts in supporting strong, democratic governance in Palestine and the contributions of its people to a more peaceful and hopeful future,” he wrote — emphasizing that Hamas “must disarm” and that Canada “will always steadfastly support Israel’s existence.”

Israel quickly criticized Carney’s announcement, calling the recognition a “reward for Hamas.”

“The change in the position of the Canadian government at this time is a reward for Hamas and harms the efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and a framework for the release of the hostages,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Canada is now the third of the US’s allies to announce its intention to recognize the State of Palestine.

Last week, France became the first major Western power to reveal plans to recognize a Palestinian state in September.

On Tuesday, the UK followed France’s lead to recognize a Palestinian state unless Israel agrees to a cease-fire in Gaza, allows aid to be brought in, and takes other steps toward long-term peace.

Quote:China—which possesses the world's third-largest nuclear arsenal—is using its rapid nuclear development to deter adversaries, namely the United States and its Asian allies, and gain a strategic advantage without resorting to war, a think tank reported on Wednesday.

"China has consistently adhered to a nuclear strategy of self-defense, always maintaining its nuclear forces at the minimum level required for national security, and does not engage in an arms race," China's Embassy in Washington, D.C., said in a statement to Newsweek.
...
Estimated figures from the U.S. Defense Department and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute show that China has built a nuclear stockpile of at least 600 warheads—an increase of 100 in one year. While the East Asian power is set to possess more than 1,000 warheads by 2030, this would still place Beijing far behind Moscow and Washington.

As part of China's ongoing military modernization, President Xi Jinping has ordered the acceleration of strategic deterrence force development. Beijing has also said it was "forced" to join the exclusive nuclear club—which currently includes nine nations—in response to nuclear threats, to end nuclear monopoly and to prevent a nuclear war.

What To Know

In a report titled "Implications of Chinese Nuclear Weapons Modernization for the United States and Regional Allies," the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C., said China's rapid nuclear modernization seeks to create political and psychological effects that lead to "enormously important strategic and military effects" rather than to win a nuclear exchange.

The authors—John Lee, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, and Lavina Lee, a senior lecturer in the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University in Australia—argued that these effects were fully aligned with what they described as China's "evolving notions" of strategic stability, strategic deterrence and strategic capabilities.

According to the report, Beijing views strategic stability as a condition that supports the advancement of China's geopolitical and development objectives. Strategic deterrence, meanwhile, involves not only dissuading an adversary from pursuing specific actions or policies but also constraining that adversary while China advances its own objectives.

"The modernizing nuclear arsenal exists to enable China to attack the adversary's plans (strategies) and allies, bringing China one step closer to subduing the enemy and winning without fighting," the authors cited the Philippines, Japan and South Korea as examples.

Quote:Only one stone wall remains of the old mother and baby home in this town, but it has cast a shadow over all of Ireland.

A mass grave that could hold up to nearly 800 infants and young children — some of it in a defunct septic tank — is being excavated on the grounds of the former home run by the Bon Secours Sisters, an order of nuns.

The burial site has forced Ireland and the Catholic Church — long central to its identity — to reckon with a legacy of having shunned unmarried mothers and separated them from their children left at the mercy of a cruel system.

The grave was accidentally discovered by two boys a half century ago. But the true horror of the place was not known until a local historian began digging into the home’s history.

Catherine Corless revealed that the site was atop a septic tank and that 796 deceased infants were unaccounted for. Her findings caused a scandal when the international news media wrote about her work in 2014.

When test excavations later confirmed an untold number of tiny skeletons were in the sewage pit, then-Prime Minister Enda Kenny called it a “chamber of horrors.”

Pope Francis later apologized for the church’s “crimes” that included forced separations of unwed mothers and children. The nuns apologized for not living up to their Christianity.

A cold, cramped and deadly place

The homes were not unique to Ireland and followed a Victorian-era practice of institutionalizing the poor, troubled and neglected children, and unmarried mothers.

The Tuam home was cold, crowded and deadly. Mothers worked there for up to a year before being cast out — almost always without their children.

Quote:Hillary Clinton signed off on a plan hatched by a top campaign adviser to “smear” then-candidate Donald Trump with false claims of Russian collusion and distract from her own mounting email scandal during the 2016 campaign, according to explosive intelligence files declassified Thursday.

The 24-page intelligence annex was compiled from memos and emails obtained by the Obama administration in the lead-up to Election Day that laid out “confidential conversations” between leaders of the Democratic National Committee — including then-Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz — and liberal billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundations.

The plot, the brainchild of the Clinton campaign’s then-foreign policy adviser, Julianne Smith, included “raising the theme of ‘Putin’s support for Trump’” and “subsequently steering public opinion toward the notion that it needs to equate” the Russian leader’s political influence campaign with actual hacking of election infrastructure.
Smith would go on to serve as former President Joe Biden’s ambassador to NATO. “I don’t have any comment,” she told The Post when reached by phone Thursday.

Open Society senior vice president Leonard Benardo was looped in on the scheme and laid out its intended effect in a series of emails in late July 2016.

“Julie [sic] says it will be a long-term affair to demonize Putin and Trump,” Benardo was quoted as writing July 25. “Now it is good for a post-convention bounce. Later the FBI will put more oil into the fire.”

Two days later, Benardo wrote: “HRC approved Julia’s idea about Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections. That should distract people from her own missing email, especially if the affair goes to the Olympic level,” an apparent reference to revelations of a massive state-sponsored doping campaign by Russia following the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

“The point is making the Russian play a U.S. domestic issue,” Benardo also stated. “In absence of direct evidence, Crowdstrike and ThreatConnect will supply the media, and GRU [Russia’s foreign intelligence arm] will hopefully carry on to give more facts.”

Special counsel John Durham uncovered the files during a multi-year probe into intelligence activities during the 2016 election.
...

Quote:The Trump administration released a revised list of tariff rates against nearly 70 countries set to take effect next week.

The announcement follows a four-month negotiating sprint with dozens of US trading partners to lock in one-for-one agreements — some of which are reflected in the new list.

Among the notable rates that will be charged at 12:01 a.m. Aug. 7 — rather than on the Friday deadline initially announced by the White House — are 15% for Iceland and Israel, 30% for South Africa, 39% for Switzerland and 20% for Taiwan and Vietnam.

Brazil, the largest economic power in South America, will see its rate balloon to 50% on Aug. 6, President Trump announced Wednesday.

The president previously threatened Vietnam with a 46% tariff in his April 2 “Liberation Day” announcement, but the country was able to reach a tentative trade deal with the US earlier this month, which lowered its rate.

Israel’s new rate is 2 percentage points lower than the 17% duty unveiled in April — despite not having made a formal agreement with the White House.

Trump noted in his executive order modifying reciprocal rates Wednesday that some nations “have agreed to, or are on the verge of agreeing to, meaningful trade and security commitments with the United States,” while others either have not tried to strike a deal or “despite having engaged in negotiations, have offered terms that, in my judgment, do not sufficiently address imbalances in our trading relationship or have failed to align sufficiently with the United States on economic and national-security matters.”

The steepest tariff rates will be carried by Syria (41%), Laos and Myanmar (40%), Switzerland (39%) and Iraq and Serbia (35%).

The list also denotes a 35% rate on imports from Canada after Trump signed an order upping the current tariff by 10 percentage points.

Countries not listed in the announcement will be subject to a 10% tariff, according to the White House.

Quote:The FBI redacted Donald Trump's name, along with the names of other prominent public figures, from references in the Jeffrey Epstein files, three people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg's Jason Leopold.

Internal directives instructed about 1,000 FBI agents to flag any mention of Trump during a March review of roughly 100,000 pages of records, people familiar with the process told Bloomberg.

The Justice Department said the review turned up no "client list" or evidence linking Trump to criminal activity, despite his name appearing in Epstein's contact book and flight logs.
...
The president and senior White House officials have repeatedly said in recent weeks that there was no reason to release the remaining Epstein files, and they have sought to move on from the saga despite calls from Trump's base to release all documents as promised.

What To Know

The Bloomberg report said that earlier this year, FBI agents were directed to search for all documents associated with the Epstein case and determine which could be released, totaling tens of thousands of pages, following Attorney General Pam Bondi's request for them.

During the review, in March, FBI personnel were said to have identified numerous references to Trump and other high-profile people, with the names then redacted by FOIA officers because they were private citizens at the time—a common practice under FOIA case law.

After the redactions, the files were sent to Bondi, who then reportedly told Trump in May that his name was in the files.

Then, in early July, the Justice Department and FBI released a joint statement, saying they had concluded that no further documents needed to be disclosed.

"While we have labored to provide the public with maximum information regarding Epstein," the statement read, "it is the determination of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation that no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted."

Privacy concerns and protections for victims have been cited as reasons for withholding additional material, a decision that has drawn bipartisan criticism and renewed scrutiny of the files' handling.

Trump has said he believes his name was added to the files by former President Barack Obama and others within his administration.

Trump And Epstein's Relationship Explained

Trump and Epstein, both New Yorkers, first knew each other in the late 1980s. There were several documented instances of the pair socializing and partying in the years that followed, including at Mar-a-Lago and in New York City.

They spent about 15 years as friends, per Trump's own recounting. He told New York magazine in 2002 that Epstein was a "terrific guy."

The president has said that he then fell out with Epstein and had not talked to him in more than a decade before the financier's arrest in 2019. Epstein, a convicted sex offender, died by suicide behind bars that year while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

I guess Trump will sue Bloomberg just as he did with the Wall Street Journal not long ago.

Quote:The Office of Special Counsel (OSC), an independent federal agency, confirmed Saturday that it has opened an investigation into Jack Smith, the former special counsel who prosecuted federal cases against then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.

The New York Post first reported about the investigation.

The investigation centers on allegations that Smith violated the Hatch Act, a federal law prohibiting certain government officials from engaging in political activities while in office.
...
This investigation represents a significant reversal of roles, with the former prosecutor now facing scrutiny for his own actions. The probe could set important precedents about the boundaries of special counsel operations and their potential political implications during election cycles.

The Trump administration has pursued sweeping personnel changes across federal departments, particularly targeting those involved in investigating Trump.

What To Know

Smith oversaw two major federal cases against Trump: one involving classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, launched by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland and another related to Trump's alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

Last summer, Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, dismissed the classified documents case on grounds that Smith was not properly appointed by Garland because he was not approved by the U.S. Senate.

Smith also was investigating whether Trump criminally attempted to overturn the 2020 election results, including efforts to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to delay certification of the Electoral College vote on January 6, 2021.

The probe examined Trump's role in promoting a false slate of electors and his involvement in the events leading to the U.S. Capitol riot, where his supporters stormed the building after he repeatedly, and without evidence, claimed the election had been "stolen" through widespread voter fraud.

Garland has previously said politics didn't play a part in the handling of the two cases, which were dropped after Trump's November 2024 election victory, following longstanding Justice Department policy that sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted.

Senator Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, formally requested the investigation Wednesday, alleging that Smith's conduct was designed to help then-President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, both Democrats, in their election efforts against Trump. Biden had dropped his own bid for reelection in July 2024 following his disastrous performance in a campaign debate against Trump and tapped Harris to succeed him on the ticket. Trump ultimately won the election.

The Hatch Act, enacted in 1939, restricts federal employees from using their official positions to influence elections. Violations can result in removal from office, suspension, or other disciplinary measures. The OSC, separate from the Justice Department's special counsel positions, investigates such violations but has no criminal enforcement power. However, it can impose fines and other sanctions for violations.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Pam Bondi has fired over 20 Department of Justice employees who worked with Smith on the Trump investigations, according to Reuters. Some of the terminated employees were identified by Bondi's "Weaponization Working Group," which evaluates activities of Smith and affiliates for potential "weaponization" of the legal system.

Smith resigned from his position following Trump's election victory and the dismissal of the federal cases. Neither case had proceeded to trial before being dropped.

Quote:Hundreds of thousands have been removed from a health care plan in California over the course of two years, according to data from KFF, a nonprofit health policy research and news organization.

About 900,000 Americans were disenrolled from Medicaid in the state as part of the unwinding process happening nationwide after Medicaid coverage was expanded following the COVID-19 pandemic.
...
The unwinding process has resulted in significant drops in Medicaid enrollment across the U.S. There is now growing concern about the rising population of those without health insurance and the wider impacts this could have, such as worsening health outcomes, increasing strain on emergency services and rising medical costs.

The worry has been amplified by the recent passing of President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill, in which funding cuts, a focus on "waste, fraud and abuse" and work requirements are in store for Medicaid. Many have voiced concern that the measures will result in millions losing health coverage.

What To Know

In California, there were 14,285,643 covered by Medicaid in March 2023, but by March 2025, that number was 13,392,566, KFF data shows.

This was because during the pandemic, some states expanded Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), causing nationwide enrollment levels to increase.

Federal rules forced states to keep most Medicaid enrollees on the program, even if their eligibility status changed, until March 2023, when they were then allowed to start rolling recipients off the program.

This marks a change of about 900,000, a decline that was smaller than other highly populated states like Texas, Florida and New York.

In March 2025, the number of people with Medicaid coverage in California was still higher than pre-pandemic levels, by 16 percent.

The reason why Medicaid coverage is unwinding at different rates in states is because "states approached the process of reviewing the eligibility of their Medicaid beneficiaries with fundamentally different strategies," Michael Sparer, professor and chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University, told Newsweek.

He said that Florida and Texas began the review process "as fast as they could and immediately declared ineligible those beneficiaries who did not promptly respond to review notices."

"There is clear evidence that many beneficiaries who were still eligible lost coverage simply because they did not timely navigate the administrative hurdles to recertification," he added.

Meanwhile, he said that New York and California "were far more deliberate in how they approached the review process, thus the number who've lost their eligibility via this process is far fewer."

Quote:The Trump administration suffered two legal defeats on Friday when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sustained a court imposed ban on immigration enforcement being conducted on the basis of language or occupation. And a district judge banned the Department of Homeland Security from using a controversial tactic against those with immigration parole.
...
Donald Trump was elected as president for a second term in November 2024 after vowing to crackdown on illegal immigration into the United States, and his administration has said it hopes to deport at least 1 million illegal migrants per year.

With Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress in addition to the White House, the courts have emerged as one of the main impediments to Trump administration policy. Courts have struck down punitive measures introduced by the president against legal firms involved in cases against him; removed sanctions targeted at International Criminal Court employees; and blocked a bid to strip thousands of Haitian migrants of legal protections.

What To Know

On Friday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a temporary restraining order preventing immigration enforcement agents from detaining people on the basis of their occupation or language was legally valid and can remain in force.

It said part of U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong's order had been vague, but added that "defendants, however, are not likely to succeed on their remaining arguments."

The initial case was brought by two U.S. nationals who said they were stopped and questioned by immigration enforcement, despite confirming they were citizens, and by three people who were detained at a bus stop where they were looking to find work.

Separately, Friday also saw U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb ban the Department of Homeland Security from using a controversial tactic against migrants who had been granted immigration parole, allowing them to live and work in the U.S. legally.

In a number of cases in recent months, the pending cases against such migrants were dismissed after which they were detained outside the courthouse and put through an expedited removal deportation process.

Cobb said that her decision will impact "hundreds of thousands" of migrants. It effectively overrules a Trump administration directive issued on January 23 instructing that "expedited removal," a swifter deportation process, should be used widely.

Quote:More than 3,200 Boeing defense workers are set to begin striking Monday, August 4, after overwhelmingly rejecting a contract proposal that included a 20 percent wage increase over four years.
...
This latest action represents the first strike in nearly three decades at Boeing's St. Louis-area defense factories, with the union's last work stoppage occurring in 1996 and lasting 99 days, according to Bloomberg.

The strike also adds to Boeing's mounting challenges amid ongoing safety concerns and production issues that have severely damaged the company's reputation. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated in March that Boeing had lost the trust of the American people following a mid-air panel blowout on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9, two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people, and a recent Boeing 787 Dreamliner crash in India that killed 260 people.

The work stoppage will directly impact production of the F-47 fighter jet, part of the Next Generation Air Dominance program designed to replace the F-22 Raptor. Boeing won this critical contract earlier this year, with the company expanding its St. Louis manufacturing facilities to accommodate the sixth-generation fighter program.

What To Know

Members of the IAM District 837 voted down Boeing's offer on Sunday, August 3, following the expiration of their current contract at 11:59 p.m. CT, according to a press release from the union. This latest vote follows members' rejection of Boeing's earlier proposal on Sunday, July 27.

The impending walkout will affect three facilities in St. Louis, St. Charles, Missouri, and Mascoutah, Illinois, where workers assemble critical military aircraft, including F-15 fighters, F/A-18 Super Hornets, and components for the advanced F-47 fighter jet program. Despite union leaders initially recommending approval of what they called a "landmark" agreement, District 837 members rejected Boeing's offer.

The proposal included the 20 percent wage increase, improved medical benefits, enhanced pension provisions, and better overtime benefits. Boeing characterized this as "the richest contract offer we've ever presented to IAM 837 which addressed all their stated priorities."

The Boeing Air Dominance division produces several military aircraft, including the U.S. Navy's Super Hornet and the Air Force's Red Hawk training aircraft. A strike late last year by machinists' union members put a heavy toll on the company, compounding existing production issues and stalling manufacturing of key aircraft including the 737 MAX, 767, and 777 models.

The union implemented a seven-day "cooling off" period following the contract's expiration, delaying strike action until August 4. This procedural step is standard in labor negotiations to provide additional time for potential last-minute agreements.

Quote:President Donald Trump in a strongly worded Truth Social post published on Saturday evening heavily criticized Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, for his demands in exchange for ending his party's filibuster of every nominee the president puts before the Senate.

Democrats are stalling the process, dragging it out and eating into the Senate recess and frustrating their counterparts across the aisle - as well as the president, who suggested the Republicans should tell Schumer and Democrats to "GO TO HELL!"
...
Trump still has a slate of nominees needing confirmation by the Senate, but Democrats have refused to simply pass them, even as Trump demands that his nominees "should NOT BE FORCED TO WAIT" and serve his administration.

The Democrats have forced procedural votes on almost all of Trump's picks, which means the Senate has to debate and approve the rules of voting before each nominee confirmation - a process that has forced the Senate to delay its annual August recess and forcing Senate Majority Leader John Thune to keep the Senate in session over the weekend to try and push through as many nominees as possible.

What To Know

Thune ahead of the weekend said he would leave negotiations to Trump and Schumer, telling reporters on Friday: "That's how this is going to get resolved. We'll see where that leads."

That approach has ultimately led to Trump lashing out at Schumer on Truth Social after a day of back and forth, thought it remains unclear what Schumer is asking of Trump in exchange for allowing the confirmations to proceed at a normal pace.

Trump instead blasted "Cryin' Chuck Schumer" and claimed the senator was "demanding over One Billion Dollars in order to approve a small number of our highly qualified nominees, who should right now be helping to run our Country."

"This demand is egregious and unprecedented, and would be embarrassing to the Republican Party if it were accepted," Trump wrote. "It is political extortion, by any other name."

"Tell Schumer, who is under tremendous political pressure from within his own party, the Radical Left Lunatics, to GO TO HELL!" he continued. "Do not accept the offer, go home and explain to your constituents what bad people the Democrats are, and what a great job the Republicans are doing, and have done, for our Country. Have a great RECESS and, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!"

In a previous post, Trump said he was "Very proud of our great Republican Senators for fighting, over the Weekend and far beyond, if necessary, in order to get my great Appointments approved, and on their way to helping us MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

He also said in that earlier post that the "Democrats want our Country to fail, because they have failed. Thank you to Senator John Thune and our Republican Warriors in the Senate. Fight and WIN. I am with you all the way!!!"

He later in the evening posted two further messages - one in which he called the Democrats "EXTORTIONISTS WHO ALMOST DESTROYED OUR COUNTRY," and one in which he again praised "A great job done" by Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson for their work on passing the One Big Beautiful Bill.

However, Democrats have indicated they have no desire to give in so quickly, even as they see a chance to retreat and regroup after months of unsuccessfully trying to get any concessions on Trump's bill and failing to prevent the passage of a Recissions Bill, which has gutted some public funding.

Three Republicans have at times worked with Democrats throughout the process: Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, and Senator Susan Collins of Maine - and Trump has criticized all of them at various times throughout the week in Truth Social posts.

What Happens Next

The Senate still has to see to dozens of nominations, according to The Associated Press.

Confirming all of them with the current process that Democrats have pursued could take months, but the Senate may simply go on recess for August and return to fight it out again in September.

Quote:Authorities in California have ordered evacuations in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties as the Gifford fire continues to spread, with only 5 percent of the blaze contained as of Saturday afternoon.

The Gifford fire has grown into the state's second-biggest this year behind the Madre fire, which also burned in San Luis Obispo County.

Why It Matters

The Golden State is still reeling after devastating fires destroyed significant portions of the area around Los Angeles County and some neighborhoods within the city itself earlier this year.

The Palisades and Eaton fires, which did the most damage, consumed 23,448 and 14,021 acres, respectively, by the time they were contained. The Palisades fire ended up one of the most destructive fires in California history after destroying over 1,000 structures.

What To Know

The Gifford fire broke out on Friday afternoon at around 3:44 p.m. local time along Highway 166, about 30 miles east of Santa Maria in the Los Padres National Forest. The fire has since rapidly spread to consume 23,588 acres over two counties in less than a day.

CalFire posted on its website an evacuation order labeling the fire an "immediate threat to life," stressing that the evacuation is "a lawful order to LEAVE NOW" as the area will be closed to public access as firefighters try to contain the blaze.

The order affects a dozen areas across the counties, with another half-dozen areas under evacuation warnings due to "potential threat to life and/or property," with those who require extra time to evacuate or have to evacuate pets and livestock "should leave now."

At the same time, the Green fire in Shasta County is nearly completely contained after burning just over 19,000 acres, and the Orleans Complex fire in Del Norte and Siskiyou counties is about 80 percent contained after burning around 21,500 acres.

The Madre fire, which started a month ago, is now fully contained after burning 80,779 acres across San Luis Obispo County.

Quote:A small earthquake shook the New York metropolitan area Saturday evening, registering a magnitude of 3.0, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

The tremor struck in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, less than eight miles west of Manhattan's Central Park, at a depth of approximately 6.2 miles underground.

NYC Emergency Management quickly issued guidance on social media to residents following the seismic event, confirming that tremors were felt across parts of New York City. The agency reported no major impacts at the time while coordinating with partner agencies to monitor for any potential damage or aftershocks.

Why It Matters

While earthquakes are relatively uncommon in the Northeast, this event highlights the region's ongoing seismic activity in one of the nation's most densely populated urban centers.

The earthquake's proximity to Manhattan underscores the importance of emergency preparedness planning and public awareness in metropolitan areas not typically associated with frequent seismic events.

In April 2024, an earthquake hit White House Station, New Jersey, and registered at a 4.7 magnitude. Shaking was felt for miles even in New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

What To Know

The earthquake originated in the Ramapo Fault system, a known seismic zone running through New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

Despite its minor magnitude of 3.0, the shallow depth allowed the tremor to be felt across the metropolitan region as a brief swaying sensation lasting only seconds.

NYC Emergency Management provided comprehensive safety guidance following the event, advising residents to check for hazards such as shifted items, falling debris, or cracks if they experienced shaking. The agency emphasized that no immediate protective action was needed unless damage occurred, while warning residents to remain prepared for possible aftershocks that could follow minutes, hours, or days after the initial quake.

The city established clear reporting channels for residents, directing earthquake reports to the USGS and non-emergency damage reports to 311, while reserving 911 calls for life-threatening emergencies only.

Quote:Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes has been seen at the same Texas prison now housing convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.

Both women are serving lengthy sentences at Federal Prison Camp Bryan, a minimum-security facility in Bryan, a facility known for housing white-collar and often referred to as "Club Fed" for its less restrictive environment.

Holmes was spotted jogging within the prison grounds over the weekend.
...
The convergence of Holmes and Maxwell at a single facility has raised questions about accountability, privilege, and the visibility of women's incarceration in America.

Both women were central figures in major national scandals: Holmes for leading a billion-dollar biotech fraud, and Maxwell for her role in Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking network.

Their shared placement in a minimum-security prison has drawn scrutiny from victims' groups and families, criminal justice advocates, and the public at large.

What To Know

Holmes, who is serving an 11-year sentence for defrauding investors in her failed startup Theranos, has been incarcerated at FPC Bryan since May 2023. She was recently photographed jogging in the prison yard, appearing relaxed and reportedly adjusting to the facility's routines.

Photographs published by Fox News show her wearing glasses, gray prison-issue shorts and T-shirt, compression gloves, sneakers, and a baseball cap, with her blond hair poking out underneath, while carrying small weights.

Maxwell, sentenced to 20 years for sex trafficking minors, was quietly transferred to the same prison in late July after previously being held at FCI Tallahassee. Sources said her transfer followed private meetings with senior Justice Department officials, fueling speculation about potential cooperation in ongoing investigations.

The prison itself is known for its relatively comfortable conditions compared to other federal facilities, housing nonviolent offenders in dormitory-style accommodations, as per the Houston Chronicle. Inmates have access to work assignments, educational programs, and limited family visitation.

Holmes is said to be working a clerical job, while maintaining regular contact with her two young children, People reports.

Maxwell's presence has added a new level of notoriety to the facility, which also houses former reality TV star Jen Shah.

Victims of Epstein's network have expressed outrage over what they perceive as the soft treatment of Maxwell. Many have condemned her transfer to FPC Bryan as a signal that she is receiving preferential treatment despite her conviction.

The family of Virginia Giuffre and other victims of Epstein's abuse expressed outrage on Friday, calling the move "a cover-up", as reported by Axios. Their reaction comes amid renewed public attention on Maxwell's case as President Donald Trump faces pressure over his handling of Epstein-related documents.

Giuffre, who died by suicide in April at the age of 41, had long accused Maxwell of recruiting her as a teenager from Mar-a-Lago to be abused by Epstein.

In response to questions about whether he would pardon Maxwell, Trump has not explicitly ruled out the possibility. Speaking to reporters earlier this week, he said, "I'm allowed to give her a pardon, but nobody's approached me with it," and added that discussing the matter would be "inappropriate."

Quote:The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) has charged two people believed to have "assisted" Austin Robert Drummond, the suspect in the recent killings of four people in Lake County.

Authorities are still searching for Drummond as of Sunday afternoon.

The TBI directed Newsweek to its social media for updates and offered no further comment when contacted for comment.

Why It Matters

Earlier this week, an infant was found abandoned in Dyer County. Hours later, four relatives, including the child's father and mother, were found murdered in nearby Lake County.

Authorities identified the victims as the child's parents, Matthew Wilson, 21, and Adrianna Williams, 20, along with the child's maternal grandmother, Courtney Rose, 38, and maternal uncle, Braydon Williams, 15.

What To Know

On Saturday, TBI announced two other Jackson, Tennessee, residents have been arrested in relation to the murders. Giovonte Thomas, 28, and Tanaka Brown, 29, have been arrested and charged with accessory after the fact to first-degree murder.

In a press release, TBI noted that "Thomas was already being held in the Madison County Jail on an unrelated charge for Failure to Appear. He will be transferred to the Lake County Jail to be arraigned on the new charges."

Brown has been booked into the Lake County Jail without bond, the TBI said. In an update, the TBI noted that Brown has an additional charge of one count of tampering with evidence.

The TBI has not released information explaining the charges but noted that the two "assisted" Drummond.

Drummond, 28, has been identified as the primary suspect in the murders. The TBI has issued a warrant for his arrest and added him to its "Most Wanted" list.

He is wanted on four counts of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated kidnapping, four counts of unlawful possession of a weapon, and one count of possessing a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony. He remains at-large with authorities warning that he is "considered armed and dangerous."

Quote:Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said he is "disappointed" by President Donald Trump's move to increase certain tariffs from 25 to 35 percent.

"President Trump has announced that the United States will increase its tariffs to 35 percent on those Canadian exports that are not covered under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, or CUSMA," Carney said in a statement posted on X.

"While the Canadian government is disappointed by this action, we remain committed to CUSMA, which is the world's second-largest free trade agreement by trading volume."

Trump announced the increase on Thursday, saying: "Canada has failed to cooperate in curbing the ongoing flood of fentanyl and other illicit drugs, and it has retaliated against the United States for the President's actions to address this unusual and extraordinary threat to the United States."

Why It Matters

The hike in tariffs on Canada is one of the sharpest escalations in Trump's aggressive trade agenda and ties national security concerns, including the fentanyl crisis, to economic penalties. By raising Canadian tariffs from 25 to 35 percent, the United States risks straining its most significant bilateral trading relationship. Indeed, Canada sends 75 percent of its exports to the U.S.

What To Know

On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order raising tariffs on select Canadian goods. The White House blamed what it described as Canada's insufficient cooperation in combating the cross-border trafficking of fentanyl and other illicit drugs.

"Mexican cartels are increasingly operating fentanyl- and nitazene-synthesis labs in Canada," the White House said.

So far this fiscal year, fentanyl seizures at the northern border have surpassed the total seizures made in the past three years, according to the administration.

"The amount of fentanyl seized at the northern border to date this fiscal year could have killed more than 16 million Americans due to the drug's potency," the White House said. "Canada's retaliatory trade measures against the United States further complicate bilateral efforts to address this escalating drug crisis."

Carney addressed this, saying: "The United States has justified its most recent trade action on the basis of the cross-border flow of fentanyl, despite the fact that Canada accounts for only 1 percent of U.S. fentanyl imports and has been working intensively to further reduce these volumes."

"Canada's government is making historic investments in border security to arrest drug traffickers, take down transnational gangs and end migrant smuggling," he added.

Carney went on to say that Canada has "thousands" of new law enforcement and border security officers, aerial surveillance, intelligence and security operations and "the strongest border legislation in our history."

Trump's decision comes amid a broader global trade shake-up. His administration also imposed steep tariffs on Brazil, India, Taiwan and other countries.

Quote:China's central government made waves this week over its plan to offer parents a cash subsidy of up to $1,500 per child.

The measure—the first of its kind to be applied nationwide—follows a flurry of government initiatives aimed at reversing the country's declining birth rate.

But analysts remain skeptical this will be enough to encourage more births, with one study warning that the population, officially 1.41 billion, could reach levels not seen since World War II by the end of the century.
...
China's Population Dilemma

After seven years of decline, China's total fertility rate in 2024 rose slightly to 1.2 births per woman, a modest uptick from the previous year that many demographers attribute to the end of Beijing's strict pandemic lockdowns in late 2022.

Even so, China counted half as many births last year as in 2016, the year China ended its decades-old One Child Policy, and births in 2024 exceeded deaths for the third straight year.

Frequently cited factors include the rising cost of urban living, longer working hours, and changing attitudes toward marriage and child-rearing.

China's leadership is eager to reverse the trend, as the soaring number of elderly citizens is expected to increase the burden on families and strain the country's social welfare systems, sapping vitality from the world's second-largest economy.

China's Smallest Population Since World War II?

A report published in January by researchers at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in Chengdu paints a sobering outlook for the future of the world's second-largest population.

Even under the most optimistic scenario—assuming a total fertility rate (TFR) of 1.31—China's population is projected to begin shrinking around 2030 and could fall to 590 million by 2100.

That's nearly 200 million less than the United Nations' World Population Prospects estimate for the same year.

A TFR of 2.1 is generally considered the replacement rate needed to maintain a stable population in the absence of significant immigration levels.

In the most extreme projection—a fertility rate of just 0.72—China's population would plummet to 320 million by 2100, a 77 percent decrease and smaller than the current 340-million strong population of the United States.

Quote:Russia's remote Krasheninnikov volcano, dormant for roughly 600 years, erupted overnight in Kamchatka peninsula in the country's far east, just days after a powerful 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck the region.

The eruption generated an ash plume rising approximately 6,000 meters (nearly 20,000 feet) into the sky, the Kamchatka branch of Russia's Ministry for Emergency Services said, as per Reuters. The volcano itself stands at 1,856 meters.
...
This eruption marks the first documented activity at Krasheninnikov since around 1463, according to experts, making it a geologically significant event. The timing, coming shortly after one of the strongest earthquakes in recent years, suggests a potential link between tectonic stress and volcanic activation.

The same earthquake is believed to have triggered the eruption of Klyuchevskoy, Kamchatka's most active volcano, which began on Wednesday.

Russian officials issued and then lifted a tsunami warning for the Kamchatka peninsula on Sunday after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, Newsweek reported.

Tsunami waves were possible in three parts of Russia's far eastern Kamchatka region, the country's Ministry for Emergency Services had said Sunday, following the earthquake near the Kuril Islands, per Reuters.

What To Know

Kamchatka, known as the "land of fire and ice," is among the most volcanically and seismically active areas on the planet. The region is home to roughly 300 volcanoes, including 29 that are currently active, according to NASA's Earth Observatory.

The region is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, named for frequent volcanic and seismic activity in the area, which stretches over parts of more than 20 countries that lie along the edges of the Pacific Ocean, including Indonesia, New Zealand, Papa New Guinea, the Philippines, Japan, the United States, Chile, Canada, Guatemala, Russia and Peru.

Krasheninnikov volcano's eruption coincided with the eruption of Klyuchevskoy volcano earlier this week. As reported by Newsweek, the latter eruption occurred just hours after a huge 8.8 magnitude earthquake early Wednesday off Russia's far eastern coast, triggering a tsunami that sent waves across the Pacific, prompting evacuations and emergency declarations from Russia to Hawaii and alerts as far south as New Zealand.

The quake is tied for the sixth strongest ever recorded and was upgraded from an initial 8.0 reading. Aftershocks were reported to be ongoing, raising the risk of further seismic or volcanic activity.

Experts suggest the earthquake may have triggered a volcano-tectonic event, a known precursor when seismic stress agitates dormant magma chambers. Such interactions are rare but well-documented in historical cases globally.

Clive Oppenheimer, a professor of volcanology at the University of Cambridge and a featured expert in Werner Herzog's 2016 documentary Into the Inferno, told Newsweek on Sunday: "The connection is plausible. There is statistical evidence that very large earthquakes might trigger some eruptions of volcanoes within some hundreds of kilometers of the epicenter. But the mechanisms are not well understood.

"This reported activity of Krasheninnikov volcano is certainly intriguing in this respect. One idea is that in regions like South America or Indonesia or Kamchatka…several might be more or less primed to erupt in coming decades or centuries and that the seismic disturbance experienced by the subterranean magma or the crust holding it in brings the eruption date forwards for some."

The latest incident has heightened concerns around seismic engineering, aviation safety, and disaster preparedness in a notoriously volatile region

Russian emergency authorities assigned an orange aviation warning code, signaling potential disruption to flights, per Reuters.

Quote:A tsunami that hit Russia's Pacific coast on Wednesday damaged the country's Rybachiy nuclear submarine base on the Kamchatka Peninsula, satellite imagery suggests.

The images were taken by the U.S. space technology company Umbra Space and posted by engineer Logan Garbarini who compared them to Google/Maxar images from earlier this year to show what the base looked like before and after the tsunami hit.

Why it Matters

The Rybachiy base is the primary housing facility for Russia's Pacific Fleet nuclear submarines and serves as one of the closest Russian military outposts to the United States. The base's role in Russian naval strategy makes any threat to its operational capabilities significant, not only for Russia but also for U.S.-Russia security dynamics.

What To Know

The tsunami followed a 8.8 magnitude offshore earthquake centered roughly 75 miles from the base, impacting the country's Pacific coastline in the early hours of Wednesday.

The Rybachiy nuclear submarine base, located inside Avacha Bay, is believed to have endured a direct hit from the waves within 15 minutes of the initial quake, according to analysis by the British newspaper The Telegraph.

Images show that a pier section at the base was visibly bent and appeared detached from its moorings.

Although two Yasen-class nuclear-powered submarines were docked at the facility before the incident, there was no evidence they sustained damage, Dr. Sidharth Kaushal, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, told The Telegraph.

Outside the base, other coastal areas, including the port of Severo-Kurilsk, experienced significant flooding and infrastructure destruction, with local footage showing waves up to five meters high.

Russia's emergency alert systems and construction standards for critical infrastructure, which account for seismic threats, were credited with avoiding casualties at Rybachiy.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Defense Ministry, via email, for comment.

Quote:President Donald Trump said on Friday that he had ordered two nuclear submarines in the "appropriate regions" in response to recent statements made by Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation.

"Based on the highly provocative statements of the Former President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

Why It Matters

The back-and-forth between Trump and Medvedev comes as Trump has sought to broker a peace deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war, which was launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin in February 2022. Trump, however, has grown increasingly frustrated with Putin as Russia continues its military operations in Ukraine.

In July, Trump gave Putin a 50-day deadline to reach a ceasefire in Ukraine but has since said he would reduce that to a "lesser number" and that he is "very disappointed" in Putin as Moscow has not relented its attacks on Ukraine.

Trump and Medvedev have traded jabs this week, with the president warning he should "watch his words."

Trump Stations Nuclear Submarines: What To Know
Trump on Friday responded to the latest remarks from Medvedev, the former president of Russia, who on Thursday made a veiled nuclear threat against the Trump administration.

"About Trump's threats against me on his personal 'Truth' social media network, which he's banned in our country," he wrote in a Telegram post. "If some words from the former president of Russia trigger such a nervous reaction from the high-and-mighty president of the United States, then Russia is doing everything right and will continue to proceed along its own path."

He continued: "And about India's and Russia's 'dead economies' and 'entering very dangerous territory' – well, let him remember his favorite movies about 'the walking dead', as well as how dangerous the fabled 'Dead Hand' can be."

The "Dead Hand" remark is a reference to the Russian nuclear command system that allows it to launch its nuclear weapons if its leadership were to be taken out by a strike.

Earlier this week, Trump said he would shorten the Russian ceasefire deadline to 10 days. If that deadline is not met, he said he would begin imposing more tariffs on Moscow, which has already faced sanctions from the West over the widely condemned invasion of Ukraine.

Quote:Russian lawmaker Viktor Vodolatsky responded to President Donald Trump's decision to move two U.S. nuclear submarines to "appropriate regions" near Russia by saying that Moscow can count on far more submarines than Washington.

"There are significantly more of our [nuclear] submarines in the world's oceans, [and they] have the strongest, most powerful weapons," Vodolatsky, who is also first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots, told Russia's government-controlled news agency TASS.

"This is why, let [Trump's] two boats float, they have been at gunpoint for a long time," he added.

Why It Matters

Vodolatsky's provocative comments follow the U.S. president's announcement on Friday of the repositioning of two U.S. nuclear submarines near Russia. The announcement itself can be seen as the latest escalation in the increasingly sour relationship between Moscow and Washington, which has been worsening in recent weeks as Russia's President Vladimir Putin has appeared deaf to Trump's repeated request to end the war in Ukraine.

Despite Trump's declared admiration for Putin and his willingness to accept an end to the war in Ukraine that would undoubtedly favor Moscow over Kyiv, the relationship between the two leaders have become frayed in recent weeks, and tensions are now running high between the two countries.

With the both holding a significant nuclear arsenal, the threats exchanged between them carry a particularly heavy weight.

What To Know

On Thursday, Trump said that if Russia does not agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine by next Friday, August 8, he will impose a package of economic sanctions on the country. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now Moscow's military leader, responded to the announcement on social media on Friday, saying that Trump's threat was "a step towards war."

This triggered Trump's announcement about the nuclear submarines. On Friday, the U.S. president wrote on his social media platform Truth Social: "I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that."

It is not clear whether the U.S. submarines moved in the unidentified "appropriate regions" near Russia are nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed.

Quote:Ukrainian drones targeted industrial sites across several Russian regions overnight Friday, including a facility which hosts Iranian-designed drones.

Ukraine's General Staff said Saturday that sites in at least four regions had been targeted in the previous 24 hours, including oil fields under international sanctions and facilities critical to Russia's military.
...
Ukraine is stepping up its use of drones to target sites key to Russia's military operations and show how Kyiv will hit back at Moscow's continued bombardment on civilian infrastructure, especially after the Ukrainian capital faced its biggest attack since the start of the war.

What To Know

Ukraine's General Staff said Saturday its drones targeted industrial sites in the Ryazan, Penza, Samara and Voronezh oblasts in Western Russia.

Ukrainian drones also hit the Primorsko-Akhtarsk military air base in the southern Krasnodar region that stored Shahed drones, according to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

The Iranian drones have been key to Moscow's bombardment of Ukraine and are now made in facilities across Russia.

In Penza, Ukrainian drones struck the Elektropribor plant, which produces digital networks in military command systems, aviation devices, armored vehicles, ships and spacecraft, according to the General Staff.

Russian Telegram channels reported explosions over the city, although officials have not commented on the strikes.

Further east, the Novokuibyshevsk oil refinery in the Samara region was hit in a drone strike, with video footage posted on Telegram channels appearing to show flames rising from the site.

Ukrainian drones also targeted the Annanefteprodukt fuel and lubricants storage base located in the Voronezh region, Ukraine's General Staff said.

Russia is continuing with its missile and drone attacks on Ukraine.

Ukrainian air forces said Saturday that Russian strikes had killed six people and injured at least 37 others over the previous day. Air defense downed 45 out of the 53 drones, among them, Shahed-type attack drones, rocket-powered drones and decoys.

On July 31, Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles on Kyiv, which killed at least 31 people and injured 179 in one of the deadliest attacks on Ukraine's capital in the war.

Quote:Russia has introduced a new guided glide bomb into its full-scale invasion, which marks Moscow's push to develop aerial weapons to bombard Ukraine's infrastructure.

Ukrainian authorities said that Russia's new UMPB-5 guided aerial bombs had been dropped by Sukhoi Su-34 fighter jets on two regions in the last two months amid testing of the new weapon.

Analysis shared with Newsweek by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a Washington, D.C., think tank, said that the glide bomb was part of Russia's growing efforts to develop cheap standoff guided munitions.
...
Before Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow underestimated how many glide bombs and other guided munitions it would need. Russia's glide bombs before the war were relatively expensive and so used sparingly.

The FDD's John Hardie said Russia's failure to destroy most of Ukraine's air defenses at the invasion's start pushed Moscow to swiftly develop cheap glide bombs with standoff range that will allow its air force to play a greater role.

What To Know

Ukrainian authorities said the UMPB-5 was first used in Ukraine's Sumy region and then on two consecutive days of strikes on the city of Kharkiv on July 24 and 25; one attack hit a hospital.

In the second instance, a Su-34 released the bomb about 65 miles away from Russia's neighboring Belgorod region; this is according to Spartak Borysenko from the Kharkiv Prosecutor's Office, which investigates such attacks as war crimes.

Borysenko said Russia is still testing the weapon and that its exact characteristics are not yet known. But the name of the UMPB-5 glide bomb suggests it is a derivative of the UMPB D-30SN, which was first seen in spring 2024, the FDD said.

The latter model has a longer range than the 50 miles of its predecessor and has warhead that weighs 2.5 times more, at around 550 pounds.

Cheap glide bombs are playing a greater role in Russia's aggression with Moscow; an average of 160 were dropped each day in July 2025, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky—eight times more than spring 2023.

The main one used is the UMPK, or "Universal Gliding and Correction Module," first seen in January 2023. It is designed to fit on dumb bombs and was initially employed with the FAB-500 M-62, a 1,100-pound-class high-explosive bomb, but since adapted for bombs of various sizes.

Borysenko said that Moscow started using a modified UMPK with larger wings and a range of at least 60 miles in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions in May. With further testing, this range could increase, as suggested by a Russian Telegram channel.

Russia is also developing low-cost air-launched cruise missiles, such as the recently unveiled S8000 BanderoL, which can be launched via remotely piloted aircraft.

Quote:An overnight Ukrainian drone attack on an oil depot near Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi sparked a major fire, Russian officials said Sunday, as the two countries traded strikes.

More than 120 firefighters attempted to extinguish the blaze, sparked after debris from a downed drone struck a fuel tank, Krasnodar regional Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev said on Telegram.

Videos on social media appeared to show huge pillars of smoke billowing above the oil depot.

Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, temporarily stopped flights at Sochi’s airport.

Further north, authorities in the Voronezh region reported that four people were wounded in another Ukrainian drone strike.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 93 Ukrainian drones over Russia and the Black Sea overnight into Sunday.

Meanwhile, in southern Ukraine, a Russian missile strike hit a residential area in the city of Mykolaiv, according to the State Emergency Services, wounding seven people.

The Ukrainian air force said Sunday Russia launched 76 drones and seven missiles against Ukraine.

It said 60 drones and one missile were intercepted, but 16 others and six missiles hit targets across eight locations.

The reciprocal attacks came at the end of one of the deadliest weeks in Ukraine in recent months, after a Russian drone and missile attack on Thursday killed 31 people, including five children, and wounded over 150.

The continued attacks come after US President Donald Trump gave on Tuesday Russian President Vladimir Putin a shorter deadline — Aug. 8 — for peace efforts to make progress.

Trump said Thursday that special envoy Steve Witkoff is heading to Russia to push Moscow to agree to a ceasefire in its war with Ukraine and has threatened new economic sanctions if progress is not made.

Quote:At least four Ukrainian officials have been arrested in a “large-scale corruption scheme” involving the purchase of drones designed to defend Kyiv against Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Just three days after Zelensky restored the independence of Ukrainian’s top anti-corruption agencies following fierce public backlash, the prez said the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office unveiled a plot by a sitting lawmaker, two local officials and several national guard service members to skim money meant to defend their nation.

“The essence of the scheme was to conclude state contracts with supplier companies at deliberately inflated prices,” the agencies added Saturday in a statement, noting the kickbacks to the officials were up to 30% of the contracts’ inflated costs.

The plot involved heads of district and city military civil administrations who allegedly helped cook the books on the purchases of drones and electronic jamming equipment — vital tools used to intercept the ever-escalating bombardments from Ukraine’s Russian invaders.

Drones have proven to be key to Ukraine’s attacks on Moscow, too, with the majority of Ukrainian attacks on Russian military assets involving UAVs, including a recent overnight strike on an oil depot.

“Unfortunately, these corruption schemes involved the procurement of electronic warfare systems and FPV drones. … There must be full and fair accountability for this,” Zelensky said on social media.

“There can only be zero tolerance for corruption. Clear teamwork to expose corruption and, as a result, a just sentence,” he said.

Quote:An award-winning Ukrainian war journalist who was tortured and killed while in Russian captivity is being honored after her death.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posthumously awarded Victoria Roshchyna the Order of Freedom on Saturday, for her “unwavering belief that freedom will overcome everything.”

”Viktoriia was one of those who spoke the truth about the war. She worked on the frontlines and in temporarily occupied territories, risking her life,” Zelensky wrote on X.

Roshchyna had been included in a scheduled prisoner exchange list when news of her death came in October 2024, the Ukrainian leader said.

“Russia had pledged to release her but broke its word,” said Zelensky.

The 27-year-old’s mutilated body was returned in February, with her eyes, brain and part of her throat missing.

She was stabbed and electrocuted before her death in a Russian prison, in what her cellmate described as “brutal, unhinged” attacks, an investigation found.

Roshchyna was arrested near the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, soon after reaching the Moscow-occupied Ukrainian territories in the summer of 2023.

Quote:The Iranian government has vehemently condemned a new round of sanctions by the United States that targeted over 115 individuals, entities and vessels linked to its oil and petrochemical sectors, calling the measures a continuation of Washington's "hostile policy" and an "assault on the Iranian people."

The sanctions, announced on Wednesday by the U.S. State Department, represent the latest step in America's "maximum pressure" campaign aimed at crippling Tehran's energy revenue, with the move promoting swift denunciation from Tehran as unjust and provocative.
...
The sanctions marked the most sweeping U.S. economic action against Iran's energy sector since the Trump administration exited the nuclear deal in 2018, and they followed a major escalation in regional conflict. In June, the U.S. joined Israel in launching coordinated strikes on Iranian targets, significantly disrupting Tehran's nuclear infrastructure.

With diplomacy stalled and Iran expanding ties with Russia and China, the sanctions are designed to cripple the financial networks fueling Iran's economy and by extension its power and influence over proxy groups in the region.

Possible implications of the move include the further destabilization of global energy markets and a deepening of East–West geopolitical divides.

What To Know

Iranian authorities on Thursday accused the United States of intensifying economic aggression. Its Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said the decision was "clear evidence of the hostility of American decision-makers towards the Iranian people," insisting that Iranians would resist the pressure with resolve.

He said the sanctions were designed to "weaken Iran and violate the fundamental rights of every Iranian."

Baqaei also accused the Trump administration of suffering from a "chronic addiction to unilateralism" and relying on "pressure tactics in pursuit of illegitimate goals," rhetoric that signals increasing frustration in Tehran as economic and diplomatic tensions mount.

Largest U.S. Sanctions Package

The new U.S. sanctions are the largest Iran-related measures since 2018, targeting over 115 individuals, entities and vessels linked to the country's petroleum sector.

The package focuses on a global shipping network allegedly controlled by Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, son of a senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. It designated 20 oil firms, five vessel management companies, one wholesaler, and dozens of actors across 17 countries and regions, including the U.K., Italy, Switzerland, India, the UAE and Hong Kong.

The U.S. government said the network laundered billions of dollars in oil and petrochemical revenue, mainly through covert shipments to China. Using foreign passports, shell companies and deceptive maritime tactics, it helped Tehran skirt sanctions. Washington frozen their U.S.-linked assets and blocked access to the American financial system, according to the announcement.

Quote:The United States and 13 allied nations have issued a joint statement accusing Iran's intelligence services of carrying out assassination attempts, abductions, and harassment campaigns targeting individuals across Europe and North America.

Governments including France, Germany, Canada, and Britain joined the U.S. in condemning Tehran's alleged extraterritorial actions, labeling them a violation of national sovereignty. In response, the Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned the allegations as "baseless and ridiculous."
...
The coordinated statement represents one of the strongest multilateral rebukes of Iran's intelligence activities to date. It highlights growing international alarm over Tehran's alleged willingness to use foreign-based criminal networks to silence its critics abroad.

Following the 12-day war between Israel and Iran as well as U.S. airstrikes on key Iranian nuclear sites, the joint statement reflects mounting concern over Tehran's regional behavior and nuclear ambitions. It also underscores fears that Iran's operations now extend beyond the Middle East as part of a wider global campaign.

What To Know

The signatory nations accused Iran of systematically targeting journalists, dissidents, and current and former government officials—particularly those critical of the regime—in a coordinated campaign of violence and intimidation.

"We are united in our opposition to the attempts of Iranian intelligence services to kill, kidnap, and harass people in Europe and North America," the joint statement said.

The U.S. State Department posted the joint statement on X, amplifying the message to a global audience.

Assassination Attempts

The U.S. Justice Department in 2023 indicted three individuals tied to a European criminal network accused of plotting to assassinate a dissident Iranian-American journalist on behalf of Tehran. Later that year, another man was charged over an alleged Iranian plot to kill then-U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump.

British authorities reported disrupting over 20 Iran-linked plots since early 2022, including attempted kidnappings and assassinations of individuals considered threats by Tehran—some of them British citizens.

Dutch officials said they foiled a 2024 plan to assassinate an Iranian national in the Netherlands. Two suspects were arrested, one of whom was also linked to the attempted shooting of a Spanish politician.

Iran Rejects Allegations

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei dismissed the accusations as "baseless and ridiculous," calling the claims a brazen attempt to deflect blame and shift public attention away from what he described as "Israeli genocidal crimes in Palestine."

He further rejected the security-related claims and turned the accusations back on the West, asserting that the U.S., France, and other signatories should "be held accountable for the measures in violation of the international law."

Quote:The United States has sharply rejected Iran's call for financial compensation following recent American strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, calling the request "ridiculous" and urging Tehran to end its destabilizing activities if it hopes for economic relief or sanctions relief.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told the Financial Times that Washington must accept responsibility for the attacks and provide financial redress before nuclear negotiations could resume. U.S. State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott dismissed that position in a press briefing, saying the U.S. remained open to diplomacy but insisted the burden of progress now lay with Iran.
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The exchange highlights deepening diplomatic tensions between Tehran and Washington, even as both sides navigate the fragile aftermath of June's military confrontation, when the U.S. and Israel carried out joint strikes on Iranian targets, including Iran's nuclear facilities. Tehran's insistence on reparations underscores the rising political stakes surrounding stalled nuclear talks, while the U.S. response signals a hardened stance against further concessions.

With nuclear diplomacy at a standstill and regional actors watching closely, the current impasse could have far-reaching consequences for nonproliferation, sanctions policy, and regional security in the Middle East.

What to Know

Pigott offered a forceful rebuff of Iran's compensation demand, stating it was inconsistent with Tehran's actions in the region.

"Any demands for financial compensation from the United States to the Iranian regime are ridiculous," Pigott said at the Washington briefing.

He accused Iran of misallocating resources and prolonging its own isolation through aggressive behavior.

"If the Iranian regime really wanted to save money, they would stop funding terrorist death squads, stop oppressing their own people, and stop wasting money on a nuclear program that isolates them further," he added.

Quote:France began a large-scale airdrop of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip on Friday, deploying four flights from Jordan to deliver 40 tons of food and supplies as the international posture towards the spiraling humanitarian crisis shifted in the face of imminent famine.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced the move as part of a plea for Israel to permit full humanitarian access, Reuters reported. The effort is the result of a multinational coalition including Jordan, Germany and the United Arab Emirates.
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The French aid initiative comes amid escalating warnings from international organizations of severe malnutrition and starvation among Gaza's 2 million residents.

Humanitarian corridors into Gaza remain largely restricted by Israel, with widespread reports of children dying from hunger-related causes. Efforts like France's airdrop highlight the international community's struggle to address what is widely described as a man-made famine, with much of the world's attention focused on blocked or limited ground aid routes.

The airdrops follow France's announcement that it intends to formally recognize a Palestinian state, which drew condemnation from some U.S. officials, such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio. However, other European nations have discussed or announced intention to recognize a Palestinian state as well as a means of pressuring Israel to act.

Israel, however, has repeatedly rejected claims of forced starvation in Gaza. In May, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied people are starving, saying Israel takes "thousands of prisoners" from Gaza and photographs them, and you "don't see one, not one, emaciated."

Israel has repeatedly said that aid deliveries must be delivered in a "safe framework" that does not give supplies to Hamas and notes that the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) is bringing food into Gaza. Israel has used aid restrictions as a pressure tactic to bring Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, to negotiate the release of hostages that were taken in its October 7, 2023, attack on the country.

What To Know

Macron confirmed the start of the operation on Friday, writing in a post on X: "Faced with an urgent humanitarian crisis, we just conducted a food airdrop over Gaza. I thank our Jordanian, Emirati, and German partners for their support, as well as our armed forces for their dedication. But airdrops are not enough. Israel must grant full humanitarian access to address the risk of famine."

France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot added in an interview with a local French broadcaster that four flights, each carrying 10 tons of humanitarian supplies, were dispatched from Jordan.

France previously participated in European humanitarian airlifts in October 2023 to provide aid to Gaza through Jordan and Egypt at the start of the conflict that erupted after Hamas launched an attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people. Israel retaliated with strikes on the enclave and then sent troops into the region as officials sought to eliminate Hamas.

Many nations backed Israel's right to respond to Hamas' attack, but in recent months the growing humanitarian crisis has shifted opinion and prompted outcry over the deteriorating conditions facing civilians.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has simultaneously begun instituting a daily "tactical pause in military activity" for "humanitarian purposes" in the areas of Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and Musawi. The practice, first declared last week, was said "to enable the safe passage of UN and humanitarian aid organization convoys delivering and distributing food and medicine to the population across the Gaza Strip."

The IDF also said it would begin conducting aid airdrops into Gaza.

Quote:Hamas forced emaciated Israeli hostage Evyatar David to dig his own grave in a sick new propaganda video, as the twisted terror group continued to stall negotiations to release the remaining living captives.

In the nearly 5-minute clip released Friday, the 24-year-old David is seen in a tunnel with a ceiling roughly as high as he is tall, crossing off dates on a calendar and digging a grave.

“I haven’t eaten for a few days in a row,” David says in the footage.

In the middle of the video, the person behind the camera hands him a can of beans.

“This can is for two days,” David says. “This whole can is for two days so that I don’t die.

“This is the grave I think I’m going to be buried in. Time is running out.”

The David family, which allowed the release of the video, said in a statement sent to the Hostages Families Forum Headquarters, “We are forced to witness our beloved son and brother, Evyatar David, deliberately and cynically starved in Hamas’s tunnels in Gaza — a living skeleton, buried alive.

“The deliberate starvation of our son as part of a propaganda campaign is one of the most horrifying acts the world has seen.”

The appalling video sparked outrage in Israel and across the globe.

“Hamas terrorists deliberately starve our hostages, documenting them in a cynical, humiliating, and malicious manner,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Naftali Fürst, a Holocaust survivor, said she watched the images of the hostages with a “heavy heart,” taking her back decades.

“I survived Auschwitz and Buchenwald. I know hunger up close. In the camps, we were given rations of bread and watery soup,” she said. “We were so hungry, we would even eat grass if we could find it.

“I remember the humiliation—the complete stripping of human dignity. I know the fear, the terror.”

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill pointed to Hamas’ monstrous treatment of David as a reminder of the terrorist group’s barbarity and role in prolonging the bloody conflict in Gaza.

“The chilling video of Hamas hostage Evyatar David is a grotesque reminder of why America must stand with Israel and demand every hostage’s release,” retiring Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told The Post.

He added, “If Hamas released the tortured hostages, this war would end.”

“Iran-backed Hamas terrorists have held innocent people hostage, starving them for 666 days,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said of the horrifying footage.

“Just look at these photos — it’s gut-wrenching. Every day that goes by is a risk to their lives. We cannot stop until every hostage is home and Hamas is destroyed.”

Quote:Militant groups aligned with the Islamic State (ISIS) are ramping up violence across Africa, staging a growing number of attacks and expanding their influence in a way that could ultimately pose a threat far beyond the continent, including to the United States.

Over the past week, the jihadis' operations in both the Congo region and Sahel drew headlines as ISIS-affiliated forces claimed a deadly attack against a church in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday and took responsibility for the killing of soldiers in Burkina Faso on Thursday.

Both incidents are part of a growing trend of ISIS-linked violence that analysts say exploits existing conflicts and capitalizes on deep-rooted insecurity to mount the kind of threat that makes combatting the group in Africa an especially complicated endeavor.

"What we're talking about there is a multi-year, prolonged period of investment that realistically the United States doesn't have the capacity to provide," one security expert who has briefed several government and military institutions on the threat posed by ISIS in Africa, told Newsweek. "It has to be provided by the governments in which those communities exist. And so, I think that that's the real challenge."

"What makes it complex is that you're dealing with local issues at the end of the day in order to address this larger problem," said the security expert, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the media.

"And if they're not addressed," the person added, "the risk is that it rises into something much larger that then presents a much greater threat on the global scene, so, a threat direct to the homeland of the United States, or to Europe or outside of Africa, just generally."

The Spread of ISIS in Africa

While traditionally associated with the Middle East, ISIS' roots took hold in Africa even before late founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi first declared his self-styled "caliphate" upon seizing vast territories in Iraq and Syria in 2014.

A year earlier, militants in Libya, taking advantage of chaos in the wake of longtime leader Muammar el-Qaddafi's downfall at the hands of a NATO-backed rebellion, had begun to tie their ideology to what would soon become a global brand of Islamist violence. In 2017, an ISIS acolyte from Libya conducted the group's first Africa-origin attack in the West, killing 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England.

That same year, ISIS' presence in Africa drew headlines when four U.S. soldiers and five Nigerien personnel were killed in an ambush staged by the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), also known as Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP).

Today, ISIS counts a number of partner groups across the continent. They include ISGS, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP), Islamic State Mozambique Province and Islamic State Somalia Province.

"Sadly, for several years now, Africa has been the frontline of the violence perpetrated by Islamist terrorists, including those affiliated with the so-called Islamic State," J. Peter Pham, former U.S. Special Envoy for the Great Lakes and Sahel Regions, told Newsweek.

"For three years now, an absolute majority of deaths due to terrorism globally have been in Africa, including roughly half of all terrorism-related fatalities in the world happening in just the Sahel region," he added. "While the threat level of the various IS affiliates varies, all of them from the Sahel to Somalia to the eastern Congo to Mozambique are becoming more lethal."

"Moreover," he added, "they are increasingly demonstrating capacity to hold large amounts of territory or, at the very least, deny governments the ability to function in many areas."

Thus far, ISIS franchises across Africa have largely operated in geographical isolation from another, curbing the level to which they can cooperate effectively.

But this may be changing.

The security expert with whom Newsweek spoke called the situation in the Sahel "a really combustible one" with the potential for ISIS' local affiliates to expand further into Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger and "pose a large enough threat to some of the criminal groups in Northwest Nigeria that maybe it pushes them out."

"Maybe it absorbs some of those groups, and now you have a space that's much more densely populated, larger economic activity, and Islamic State Greater Sahara might be able to carve out its own presence in that space," the person added. "I think that's a real risk right now."