News of the World
05-08-2026, 10:04 AM
MIDDLE EAST WAR
Quote:China continues to support Iran's right to civilian nuclear energy, the country’s top diplomat said during discussions with his Iranian counterpart in Beijing on Wednesday.
"China commends Iran’s commitment not to develop nuclear weapons while recognizing that Iran has the legitimate right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy," Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, according to a ministry readout.
Wang and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi have spoken on the phone at least three times since the U.S. and Israel launched their attacks against the Islamic Republic on February 28, though this is their first face-to-face meeting. Iran and the U.S. remain at an impasse over a lasting deal to replace the ceasefire the two sides reached on April 8.
Though President Donald Trump and other U.S. officials have given various reasons and objectives for the war, the Trump administration has continued to demand that any lasting agreement include Iran's guarantee to completely halt its enrichment program.
Iran has long denied it was pursuing nuclear weapons, and it refused to meet that demand during two rounds of talks with U.S. negotiators last month that were organized by Pakistan.
While many nuclear enrichment and conversion sites across Iran were heavily damaged during the recent conflict, as well as during the U.S. and Israel's 12-day offensive against Iran in June 2025, the attacks were a major setback. Trump administration officials have said they are determined to prevent Tehran's nuclear program from rebounding.
Prior to the war, the International Atomic Energy Agency assessed that Iran had been enriching uranium to 60 percent—far above levels needed for civilian purposes and an enrichment level that could be brought to weapons grade relatively quickly.
Araghchi briefed the Chinese diplomat on the latest developments in Iran-U.S. talks and Iran's planned next steps, the ministry readout said.
Quote:France has deployed its sole, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to the Middle East as part of a joint effort with the UK and Europe to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, military officials said Wednesday.
The French Armed Forces ministry said the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, along with its strike group escort, had crossed the Suez Canal and was en route to the Red Sea.
The carrier is expected to enforce safe travel through the Strait of Hormuz once a US-Iranian peace deal is secured and Tehran agrees to open the waterway, which has remained shut since the war began.
“Geographically, it’s closer to the Strait of Hormuz and will therefore enable us to react faster, once the conditions are met,” Col. Guillaume Vernet, spokesman for the French armed forces chief of staff, said of the Charles de Gaulle carrier.
The Charles de Gaulle, launched in 1994, carries about 40 aircraft and helicopters on board with a crew of nearly 2,000.
The aircraft carrier is sailing with eight warships and two amphibious assault ships, and its deployment in the Red Sea allows its assets to be within range of the Strait of Hormuz without entering the contested waters.
Vernet stressed that the Gaulle’s deployment is part of a multinational mission separate from President Trump’s “Project Freedom,” which saw US forces escort two ships out of the Strait of Hormuz before being put on pause Wednesday.
Vernet warned that attempts to cross the Strait of Hormuz will likely fail without Iran’s cooperation, as seen by Tehran’s repeated attacks on foreign vessels that tried to cross the strait earlier this week.
“Today the Strait of Hormuz is stuck because of the threat and the insurance premiums are so high. Not a single ship will jeopardize their trip or go there,” he added.
Quote:The US military fired on and disabled an Iranian-flagged tanker that tried to break the naval blockade around the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, officials said.
The M/T Hasna was intercepted by American forces at around 9 a.m. EST, with a fighter jet firing its auto-cannon at the ship when it attempted to sail towards an Iranian port in the Gulf of Oman, said US Central Command (CENTCOM).
“After Hasna’s crew failed to comply with repeated warnings, US forces disabled the tanker’s rudder by firing several rounds from the 20mm cannon gun of a US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet launched from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72),” CENTCOM wrote on X.
“Hasna is no longer transiting to Iran,” the military added.
The US has maintained a blockade against all ships attempting to enter or depart Iranian ports as a means of strong economic pressures against the Islamic republic.
Iranian-linked ships were the only vessels sailing through the Strait of Hormuz after Tehran shut down the oil chokepoint, which saw more than 130 ships cross its waters every day before the war.
President Trump recently said that the blockade will remain in place despite the apparent progress in US-Iranian peace talks.
Iran, which claimed that the peace talks had made no progress, has yet to comment on the latest ship to be caught by the US blockade.
Just an hour after the interception took place Wednesday, US CENTCOM said that 52 commercial vessels had been stopped and redirected by US forces since the blockade went into effect last month.
Quote:The US military unleashed a wave of “self-defense” strikes on an Iranian port Thursday after Tehran launched an “unprovoked” attack targeting US Navy ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, officials said.
US Central Command said the retaliatory attack was carried out after US forces intercepted multiple missiles, drones and small boats targeting three guided-missile destroyers traveling through the vital waterway to the Gulf of Oman.
President Trump said the destroyers – USS Truxtun, USS Rafael Peralta, and USS Mason – were not damaged.
But Trump said the “Iranian attackers” were “completely destroyed along with numerous small boats, which are being used to take the place of their fully decapitated Navy.”
The retaliatory strikes hit Iran’s Qeshm port and Bandar Abbas as the US waited for Tehran’s response to a proposal aimed at halting the months-long conflict, Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin posted on X, citing a senior US official.
Trump described the US strikes as just a “love tap” in an interview with ABC News.
“U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) eliminated inbound threats and targeted Iranian military facilities responsible for attacking U.S. forces including missile and drone launch sites; command and control locations; and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance nodes,” officials said on X.
“CENTCOM does not seek escalation but remains positioned and ready to protect American forces.”
Trump threatened additional attacks if Iran doesn’t sign a peace agreement.
Quote:Federal investigators are probing at least four suspiciously timed oil trades worth more than $2.6 billion that were placed just minutes before major announcements about the Iran war sent crude prices tumbling, according to a report.
The Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are investigating whether traders improperly obtained advance information tied to military and diplomatic developments involving the US, Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, ABC News reported Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The suspicious trades allegedly involved huge wagers that oil prices would fall shortly before President Trump and a senior Iranian official made market-moving announcements during the conflict.
Data obtained by ABC News from the London Stock Exchange Group showed that on March 23, traders placed more than $500 million in bets that oil prices would decline just 15 minutes before Trump announced he would delay threatened attacks on Iran’s power grid.
Oil prices dropped sharply after that announcement.
On April 7, traders wagered about $960 million against oil prices hours before Trump revealed a temporary ceasefire.
Another suspiciously timed trade came on April 17, when traders placed $760 million in bearish oil bets about 20 minutes before Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on social media that the Strait of Hormuz was open to commercial shipping.
The strait is one of the world’s most critical oil chokepoints, and its closure has rattled energy markets throughout the conflict.
On April 21, traders were found placing another $430 million worth of bets on falling oil prices just 15 minutes before Trump announced an extension of the ceasefire.
Reuters first reported several of the trades earlier this year.
Quote:WASHINGTON — President Trump suspended a plan to have the military escort commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz after Saudi Arabian officials warned Riyadh would not allow the US to use its airspace or air bases to support the initiative.
“Project Freedom,” which the president announced Sunday evening, was paused Tuesday following pushback from the Gulf nation — as well as a phone conversation between Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that did not resolve the issue, NBC News reported.
The military operation had been intended to stop Iran from blocking the vital waterway, through which at least one-fifth of the world’s seaborne oil passes.
Trump said in a Tuesday post on his Truth Social that he delayed Project Freedom at “the request of Pakistan and other Countries,” and due to “the fact that Great Progress has been made toward a Complete and Final Agreement with Representatives of Iran.”
A US-imposed naval blockade on sanctioned vessels seeking to exit or enter the strait remains “in full force and effect,” the president also said.
A Gulf source familiar with the US-Iran negotiations previously told The Post that the “cease-fire is still intact, but its stability is limited and dependent on continued restraint from both sides.”
Iran has launched at least 10 attacks on US forces since the start of the April 8 cease-fire, in addition to strikes on Persian Gulf neighbors, according to Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Small skirmishes between American warships and Iranian boats still occurred Monday — with six small vessels from Tehran’s regime sunk.
“You know, they fired them in little boats with pea shooters. You know, peas shooters, little boats,” Trump said of the clash. “You know why? Because they don’t have any boats anymore. Their navy is comprised of, they call them, little boats.”
Quote:WASHINGTON — President Trump’s “Project Freedom” to reopen the Strait of Hormuz could be back on in days after a previously secret spat with Gulf allies which halted the military operation was resolved.
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have quietly reopened their bases and airspace to the US military, which could restart the currently paused “Project Freedom” mission to protect ships from Iranian attacks, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The Gulf countries had previously balked at letting the US use their territory for “Project Freedom,” which Trump called off on Tuesday less than 48 hours after it took effect, citing a request from Pakistan and “other countries.”
While it remains unclear when exactly Project Freedom would restart, Pentagon officials have signaled that escorts could begin as early as this week, according to the WSJ.
Ebrahim Azizi, chairman of the Iranian parliament’s national security committee, appeared to warn the US to avoid restarting the operation in a veiled threat on Thursday.
“Making the same mistake again and again won’t get you a different answer; only a stronger one,” Aziz wrote on X. “Respect the new Maritime Regime of Iran.”
Iran had warned neighboring countries not to help the US, raising fears of retaliation as Tehran launched missile and drone attacks across the region. The Strait of Hormuz carries about a fifth of the world’s oil supply, making it one of the planet’s most critical shipping lanes.
The previous restrictions were lifted after talks between Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to the WSJ, which cited “US and Saudi officials.” Pakistan later confirmed that Saudi Arabia was among the other nations the US consulted.
The White House, however, denied that the Gulf nations had restricted the US from using their bases.
Quote:JERUSALEM/BEIRUT, May 7 — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday there was no “immunity” for Israel’s enemies, a day after the Israeli military targeted a Hezbollah commander in its first strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs since a cease-fire was declared last month.
Israel said the attack killed the commander of the Iran-backed group’s elite Radwan force.
Hezbollah, which controls Beirut’s southern suburbs, has yet to issue any statement on the strike or the commander’s status.
“He likely read in the press that he had immunity in Beirut. Well, he read it and it is no longer the case,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
Hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reignited on March 2 when the group opened fire at Israel after Tehran came under US-Israeli attack.
Wednesday’s strike raises pressure on the Lebanon cease-fire that emerged in parallel to a truce in the wider Middle East war, with a halt to Israeli strikes in Lebanon being a key Iranian demand in Tehran’s negotiations with Washington.
Announced on April 16 by US President Donald Trump, the Lebanon cease-fire has led to a reduction in hostilities: the Beirut area was not struck by Israel for weeks before Wednesday’s attack.
But the sides have continued to trade blows in the south, where Israel has carved out a self-declared security zone.
Netanyahu said the Hezbollah commander, identified as Ahmed Ali Balout by the Israeli military, “thought he could continue to direct attacks against our forces and our communities from his secret terrorist headquarters in Beirut”.
“I say to our enemies in the clearest possible way: No terrorist has immunity,” he said.
Lebanese PM: Too early for ‘high-level’ meeting
More than 2,700 people have been killed in the war in Lebanon since March 2, Lebanon’s Health Ministry says. Some 1.2 million people have been driven from their homes in Lebanon, many of them fleeing from southern Lebanon.
Israel has announced 17 soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon, along with two civilians in northern Israel.
At least 11 people were killed in Israeli strikes in three different areas of south Lebanon on Wednesday, according to a tally of Lebanese health ministry announcements.
Quote:Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kisch has threatened to advance legislation imposing financial sanctions on educational institutions unless they commit to keeping politics out of academia, he confirmed on Tuesday.
“We are putting an end to the politicization of university presidents,” Kisch tweeted.
“For academic institutions that enter the political arena, we will advance legislation that would deny them funding.”
“If they are interested in promoting a political agenda, they are welcome to resign from their positions and run in elections,” the minister added.
Kisch confirmed a Channel 14 News report that he had sent a letter to the heads of Israeli universities and colleges demanding they pledge by Thursday to refrain from expressing official political positions, prevent politically motivated strikes and ensure uninterrupted academic activity.
If the presidents refused to sign the pledge, Kisch warned he would back legislation proposed by fellow Likud Party lawmaker Avichai Boaron, imposing financial penalties on their institutions, the broadcaster reported.
“Over the past 50 years, the funds of Israeli academia have not been managed by the government and have not been supervised by the Knesset,” Boaron told Channel 14.
“This caused severe politicization within Israeli academia.”
“The law that I submitted does two things. First, it returns the funds to government management and Knesset oversight, and second, it uproots politics from Israeli academia,” the Knesset member added.
Israeli coalition lawmakers have accused the country’s universities of fostering left-wing activism, particularly during the mass protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 2023 attempt to reform the judiciary.
Quote:WASHINGTON — A US government watchdog has found at least four more staffers for the United Nations’ Palestinian refugee aid agency “kidnapped” Israelis and aided Hamas’ terror attack on Oct. 7, 2023, information that is likely to feed into a federal criminal probe, sources told The Post.
The USAID Office of Inspector General, in an April 30 investigative summary, cited “four additional current or former staff” at the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, three of whom were teachers and one of whom was a social worker.
The unnamed staffers were “alleged to have participated in the holding of civilian hostages kidnapped from Israel and/or the terrorist activities in Israel on October 7, 2023,” the summary stated.
More than 100 UNRWA officials are being investigated by the IG’s office — with evidence now supporting at least 21 were affiliated with Hamas or participated in the terror group’s massacre of 1,200 in the Jewish state, including 46 US citizens. More than 250 hostages were also taken back to the Gaza Strip.
“The recent investigation by the USAID IG confirms that the UN is deficient in vetting its own staff for ties to terrorist organizations,” a senior State Department official told The Post.
“As the UN itself doesn’t consider Hamas a terrorist organization, both UN agencies and local NGOs [non-governmental organizations] may still hire Hamas-affiliated staff that place programs at high risk for diversion. This will not be tolerated.”
All 21 UNRWA staffers have since been proposed for suspension or debarment from receiving federal funds for the next decade. Past USAID OIG reports have called out the risk of hundreds of millions of dollars in US taxpayer funding to the UN agency being diverted to terror groups.
In response to the IG probe’s findings, Department of Justice senior counsel Leo Terrell also posted on X of the four most recent employees flagged for Hamas ties: “Jail them!”
Jail them! https://t.co/0q6UhJ6qou
— Leo Terrell (@LeoTerrellDOJ) May 3, 2026
The DOJ and FBI have already been looking into allegations that UNRWA employees assisted Hamas, according to two sources familiar with the matter. One of those people noted that USAID OIG’s evidence could be forwarded eventually to prosecutors should they decide to bring a case.
“The FBI is definitely involved in it on the counterterrorism side,” the other source noted, adding that “the murder of Americans” in Israel had prompted their involvement.
UNRWA had already faced a civil suit that alleged it “aided and abetted” Hamas by providing more than $1 billion to Gaza, but a Manhattan federal judge ruled last October that the agency has immunity from such legal claims since it is part of the United Nations.
USA
Quote:The White House ripped “Star Wars” star Mark Hamill as “one sick individual” on Thursday after he blasted out a mocked-up image of President Trump dead in a grave.
The 74-year-old actor, best known for playing the original Luke Skywalker, posted the AI-generated image on Bluesky of Trump lying beneath a tombstone with the words, “Donald J. Trump: 1946–2024″ — and the words, “If only.”
“Mark Hamill is one sick individual,” the administration’s Rapid Response 47 account posted on X.
“These Radical Left lunatics just can’t help themselves. This kind of rhetoric is exactly what has inspired three assassination attempts in two years against our President.”
Hamill, a known Trump critic, accompanied the image with a lengthy caption again attacking the president — just days after a suspect was nabbed for trying to assassinate Trump and his top aides at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
“If Only,” the actor wrote of Trump lying in his grave. “He should live long enough to witness his inevitable devastating loss in the midterms, be held accountable for his unprecedented corruption, impeached, convicted & humiliated for his countless crimes.”
“Long enough to realize he’ll be disgraced in the history books, forevermore. #don_TheCON.”
Hamill has a lengthy history of bashing Trump.
He claimed he nearly fled the US in favor of the UK or Ireland after Trump’s 2024 election victory — but was ultimately persuaded to stay by his wife.
“She’s very clever. She didn’t respond right away, but a week later she said, ‘I’m surprised you would allow him to force you out of your own country,’” Hamill previously told the Times of London.
Quote:WASHINGTON — FBI agents raided the office of a powerful Virginia Democratic state senator on Wednesday as part of a public corruption probe, federal law enforcement sources told The Post.
A cannabis dispensary that State Sen. L. Louis Lucas has said she co-owns, and which is located across a parking lot from the Portsmouth, Va., office, was also searched, Fox News first reported.
The federal probe involves alleged bribery by the highest-ranking Democrat concerning the retail marijuana business, one source familiar with the probe noted.
Photos and videos from Fox showed armed agents executing what authorities later said was a court-authorized search warrant — and Lucas later arriving on scene.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” the 82-year-old legislator told Fox News correspondent Alex Hogan. “I just came from a medical appointment.”
Agents removed several boxes from the office and also entered The Cannabis Outlet. Three individuals were reportedly taken into custody, and Lucas was seen circling the parking lot several times during the raid.
Lucas is listed in state business records as recently as 2024 in relation to the property
Lucas has previously claimed that former Virginia GOP attorney general Jason Miyares was looking into her business as far back as 2021. She’s also shared posts on X bragging about the hemp and cannabis business.
The longtime Democratic power broker in Virginia politics has served in the legislature since 1992 — and was also instrumental in pushing for a redistricting referendum that passed in April and is expected to net their party four seats in the US House of Representatives this November.
“You all started it and we f–king finished it,” she goaded Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) shortly after it passed by a 51.7% to 48.3% margin among Virginia voters.
Since 2019, she’s served as president pro tempore of the state Senate.
Quote:A Democratic lawmaker is drawing backlash after saying she spoke with foreign ambassadors about getting oil to Cuba despite US sanctions, defending the outreach as “literally our right and responsibility.”
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., made the remarks during a recent Seattle briefing following a congressional delegation trip to Cuba, where she discussed the island’s worsening fuel shortages and US policy toward the communist regime.
“I was in conversations with the ambassadors from Mexico and some other places … trying to figure out how to get oil there,” Jayapal said during the briefing, calling the situation on the island “a crisis beyond imagination.”
Jayapal said the event was part of a broader briefing on the humanitarian situation in Cuba following her recent visit.
“As many of you know, I traveled to Cuba as part of a congressional delegation last month,” she said. “It is part of my role to see how US foreign policy is actually affecting the people in the countries where that policy is being implemented.”
She said she met with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, senior government officials, political dissidents, civil society groups and foreign diplomats during the trip.
Video of the remarks circulated widely on X, where users criticized the progressive lawmaker’s comments and raised legal concerns.
Quote:California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton is escalating accusations against his Democrat rival Xavier Becerra, claiming a taxpayer-funded nonprofit is helping build a political ground game powered by immigrant communities, including those without legal status.
At the center of the dispute is the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) and its political arm, the CHIRLA Action Fund, which formally endorsed Becerra for governor on April 13.
Hilton, pointing to findings from the California Department of Government Efficiency (CAL DOGE), alleges the group is benefiting from millions in public funding while engaging in political organizing tied to Becerra’s campaign.
“NEW FROM CAL DOGE: California taxpayer $$$ funding illegal immigrants to campaign for Xavier Becerra, in violation of federal law,” Hilton wrote on X.
CAL DOGE is an anti-fraud and waste-cutting initiative launched on Jan. 26 by Hilton to root out corruption in the state government.
A document highlighted in the investigation outlines what it calls a “pipeline” approach: beginning with immigration legal services such as DACA renewals and naturalization, then moving individuals into civic engagement activities like voter registration and mobilization.
The same materials describe efforts to “create as many citizens as possible” and to build a new voter base capable of influencing state politics.
Organizers are said to target newly naturalized citizens and maintain repeated outreach, “4–7 pre-election contacts per voter,” through canvassers described as “ranging in status from undocumented to LPR (lawful permanent resident).”
The CHIRLA Action Fund ultimately endorses candidates and spends to support them, according to the outline.
CAL DOGE claims this structure effectively links taxpayer-funded services to political activity, alleging that individuals without legal work authorization are being paid to participate in campaign-related outreach.
Quote:The Justice Department has launched an investigation into a radical Northern Virginia prosecutor who allegedly discriminated against US citizens by offering preferential treatment “only to illegal alien” criminal defendants.
The DOJ notified Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano on Wednesday that it is looking into potential civil rights violations related to his office’s plea bargaining, charging decisions and sentencing policies.
“Under my leadership, the Civil Rights Division will not allow local prosecutors to pick and choose winners based on their immigration status,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in a statement.
“This investigation will uncover whether this prosecutor is putting the community at risk in offering sweetheart deals to illegal immigrants charged with serious crimes,” the head of the DOJ’s civil rights division added.
The investigation centers on Descano’s adoption of policies that instruct prosecutors to “consider immigration consequences where possible” and “consider … the collateral immigration consequences of the specific crime(s) the defendant is charged with” during plea bargaining, charging and sentencing.
The DOJ is examining whether Descano “engaged in unlawful discrimination in violation of Title VI and the Safe Streets Act and whether [his office] is engaged in a pattern or practice of law enforcement misconduct that deprives persons of rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States” by implementing that policy after his 2019 election.
During his campaign, Descano’s website included language similar to the current Fairfax County DA’s office’s policy.
“If two people commit the same crime, but only one’s punishment includes deportation, that’s a perversion of justice and not a reflection of the values of Fairfax County,” read the since-deleted line on Descano’s website, The Post previously reported.
Quote:A ring of elite corporate lawyers were accused of illegally trading on inside info about blockbuster deals over a decade, using a bizarre code that referred to one merger as a “rabbi” as they raked in tens of millions of dollars in ill-gotten profits, according to federal prosecutors.
Nicolo Nourafchan, a former mergers-and-acquisitions attorney at Goodwin and Latham, was accused of raiding confidential law-firm databases for secret deal documents tied to at least two dozen corporate transactions.
According to indictments unsealed Wednesday in Boston federal court, Nourafchan, 43, and associate Robert Yadgarov, 45, built a massive insider-trading pipeline that netted them a fortune by trading ahead of major acquisitions involving companies including Anadarko Petroleum, Care.com, iRobot, Qualcomm and Tim Hortons.
The ring allegedly tried to hide their plans with code words like “rabbi,” “doctor” and “surgery.”
Prosecutors said alleged conspirator Simon Fensterszaub, 50, asked at one point, “I really need to know when the rabbi is scheduled for surgery” — a reference to a pending deal — following up with, “How’s the rabbi?”
“He’s stable,” alleged conspirator Gavryel Silverstein, 43, replied, according to authorities, who said the response was meant to convey that an expected acquisition announcement would take place as planned.
Pending corporate takeovers and trading opportunities were allegedly described as “flights,” with traders alerting associates when a deal was “taking off” and telling them to get their “passport ready.” Insiders themselves were allegedly referred to as “travel agents” and “pilots.”
“We cannot miss this boat!!” Fensterszaub wrote while discussing an upcoming deal, according to prosecutors.
The indictments do not name the law firms Nourafchan and Yadgarov allegedly targeted for insider information. But Bloomberg News identified the firms as including Wachtell Lipton, Rosen & Katz, Latham & Watkins and Goodwin Procter, citing transaction details and employment histories laid out in the indictments.
“The responsible party left Wachtell Lipton over four years ago,” a Wachtell spokesperson told Bloomberg News in a statement. “There are no allegations of wrongdoing against the firm. Wachtell Lipton has cooperated fully with the US Attorney’s office and will continue to do so.”
Goodwin told Bloomberg News, “We are deeply disappointed that a former employee is alleged to have violated the trust placed in him and misused confidential information as part of a broader criminal scheme affecting multiple law firms and their clients. We have been cooperating and continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement.”
And a Latham & Watkins spokesperson said, “The former associate charged today has not been associated with our firm for five years, and the conduct as alleged would reflect a serious violation of our robust policies and procedures.”
The Post has sought comment from Nourafchan, Yadgarov and the other law firms.
The alleged scheme stretched from around 2014 through 2024 and ultimately involved 30 defendants across two federal indictments.
Quote:Ted Turner, the outspoken media pioneer who launched CNN and ushered in the era of 24-hour global news, died Wednesday at 87, according to Turner Enterprises. The Ohio-born Atlanta businessman built a far‑reaching media empire and became one of the most influential figures in modern broadcasting.
What to Know
- Turner founded CNN, creating a nonstop global news model that reshaped how audiences consumed information.
- He earned the nickname “The Mouth of the South” for his bold, unfiltered public persona throughout his rise in media.
- His empire included cable’s first superstation, multiple entertainment channels, and ownership of the Atlanta Braves.
- Turner became a major philanthropist, establishing the United Nations Foundation and donating heavily to global causes.
- He was a leading conservationist who helped reintroduce bison to the American West and became one of the country’s largest landowners.
- Turner disclosed a diagnosis of Lewy body dementia in 2018 and was hospitalized with pneumonia in early 2025 before recovering.
Quote:Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged suicide note was finally revealed — and the convicted pedophile appears to claim investigators “found nothing” on him.
“They investigated for month — found nothing!!!” read the barely legible note, released by a New York court order Wednesday in response to a New York Times petition.
“So 16 year old charge results!” the note appeared to read. “It is a treat to be able to choose one’s time to say goodbye.”
“Watcha want me to do — bust out crying!!” it continued. “NO FUN — not worth it!!”
The note was purportedly written after Epstein tried to hang himself in his Manhattan jail cell in July 2019, just days after his arrest for sex trafficking.
He was unsuccessful in that attempt and blamed his cellmate — disgraced cop and convicted quadruple murderer Nicholas Tartaglione.
Tartaglione found the note and gave it to his lawyers as purported proof that he did not attempt to murder the disgraced financier.
Tartaglione’s lawyer claimed the note was later verified as being written by Epstein, according to the Times.
Epstein succeeded in killing himself in August 2019, the month after the note was supposedly written for the initial attempt.
The verbiage in the supposed suicide note was similar to another scrawl he’d written while being held in Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center, where he complained about being fed bad food and living with “giant bugs.”
“No fun!!” he also wrote on that note.
It languished in Tartaglione’s case file at his attorney’s office after it was found, then spent years locked in the vaults of a White Plains court after a judge ordered it sealed for the ex-cop’s ongoing litigation.
But Tartaglione hinted at its existence after he was convicted of murder in 2023.
Quote:They just never lear.
The head of a Texas Islamic group that rented out a taxpayer-funded waterpark for an event that was advertised as “Muslim only” runs a childhood education center with the exact same unfortunate ‘Learing Center’ typo first seen at an infamous daycare in Minneapolis.
The “Excellence Early Learing Center,” as its misspelled website header reads — located in the Fort Worth suburb of Hurst — offers a variety of programs for youngsters from infants to pre-K, and promises to provide children with “the loving, personal care that they need to thrive and feel confident.”
The center boasts “multiculturalism, small classroom sizes, healthy eating and a warm, loving environment that feels like home” and staff with degrees in “education, accounting, biology, pharmacology, science, nursing and mathematics from their home countries.”
Its owner, head operator and curriculum designer is Aminah Knight, who boasts a master’s degree fro the University of Southern California and a doctorate from Vanderbilt University.
Earlier this week, Knight and her DFW Epic Eid organization drew massive criticism for a flyer advertising an event at Epic Waters in Grand Prairie billed as “Muslim only” and requiring modest swimsuits for all attendees.
Epic Waters, a sprawling, 80,000-square-feet indoor waterpark opened in 2017 at a cost of $88 million — funded by a 0.25% sales tax hike residents approved at the ballot box in 2014.
The FAQ for the third-annual event, which was being held to celebrate the Muslim holiday Eid, initially proclaimed “the entire waterpark has been exclusively reserved for Muslims.”
After the backlash, Knight modified the advert to omit the exclusionary language, and acknowledged to The Post in an email that the original messaging wasn’t intended to bar non-Muslims.
Quote:An accused narco queen and her boyfriend were the alleged masterminds behind a drug ring that funneled fentanyl and methamphetamine into crime-ridden MacArthur Park, bombshell charges revealed.
Mallaly Moreno-Lopez and beau Jackson Tarfur allegedly controlled a string of storefronts along Alvarado Street on the park’s perimeter that were responsible for the lion’s share of illegal narcotics feeding desperate addicts that flooded the park daily, prosecutors said.
A swarm of Drug Enforcement Agency officers raided the couple’s South Los Angeles home on Wednesday as part of a broader operation that led to nearly 40 arrests and the recovery of millions of dollars in potentially deadly drugs.
Both have been hit with federal charges of drug possession and distribution, and they face 10 years to life in prison.
Investigators say they caught the couple delivering narcotics to local storefronts for street-level dealers to sell, according to a criminal complaint.
“Moreno-Lopez, and her boyfriend, Jackson Tarfur, were hand-delivering drugs to the Alvarado Corridor here across from MacArthur Park,” LA’s top federal prosecutor, Bill Essayli, said at the park on Wednesday. “And they were storing and stashing the drugs at the business, as you see across the street.”
The pair is accused of working for the brutal 18th Street gang, a violent, transnational criminal organization thousands of members involved in drug trafficking, extortion and murder.
Moreno-Lopez was born into the gang and both her parents are active in the group, prosecutors said. Her mother was arrested during another raid in March, authorities said.
In one brazen move, investigators watched as the couple allegedly met an associate at a Food4Less to transfer a brown Nike bag stuffed with nearly 1,000 grams of fentanyl and meth, the complaint said.
Moreno-Lopez was even caught on camera unloading a foldable black shopping cart from a white Jeep Wrangler and stuffing it with eight large paper bags before wheeling it into a business, according to prosecutors.
Quote:A pro-Palestinian professor charged with killing a 69-year-old Jewish dad during an anti-Israel protest in southern California in 2023 will not stand trial after he plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
The 54-year-old Moorpark resident Loay Abdel Fattah Alnaji pleaded guilty to felony involuntary manslaughter and felony battery causing serious bodily injury related to the death of Paul Kessler, the Ventura County District Attorney’s office said in a press release on Tuesday.
Alnaji-who teaches computer science at Moorpark College-and Kessler were both protesting the Israel-Hamas war during dueling pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel demonstrations in Thousand Oaks in 2023 when Alnaji struck the Jewish demonstrator in the head with a megaphone.
The DA said the blow to the head caused Kessler to fall to the ground, where he then struck his head on the pavement, later dying from injuries he sustained in the clash.
In addition to pleading guilty, Alnaji admitted the “aggravating factors that he used a weapon and that the victim was particularly vulnerable” and that he had “personally inflicted great bodily injury to Kessler,” the DA noted.
Because Alnaji was not convicted he will likely get formal probation with up to a year behind bars, per the DA. He was facing up to four years in prison for the crime.
“Alnaji should be sentenced to prison for his violent behavior, and our office strongly objects to any lesser sentence,” Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko said in a statement.
Quote:Cops in Tucson, Arizona, rushed to investigate human remains that a streamer discovered in a wash less than five miles from Nancy Guthrie’s home Thursday – but they appear to be at least 50 years old, possibly even “prehistoric.”
The bone was discovered by a livestreamer searching the area for the missing mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie, with the area quickly being cordoned off by police.
It was soon confirmed the bone was human – but officials said it they appeared to be far older than 84-year-old Nancy, who hasn’t been seen since vanishing from her home in February.
“This will be a prehistoric anthropological investigation,” Tucson Police Department told KVOA, confirming there was no criminal investigation into the remains.
The University of Arizona’s Anthropology Department is helping with the investigation.
Numerous Native American artifacts have been previously discovered in the area where the bone was discovered.
The find comes just over three months since Nancy was last seen on Feb. 1, and after countless hours-worth of searches from law enforcement, who have combed the desert terrain for any sign of her.
But so far, all searches have been completely fruitless.
The bone was just the latest discovery which cast the integrity of the investigation into doubt, however.
Quote:Families hoping to make memories on a cruise were unknowingly surrounded by alleged child predators working aboard the ships, according to law enforcement officials.
US Customs and Border Protection boarded five cruise ships, including a Disney cruise docked in San Diego, between April 23 and 25 as part of ongoing child sexual exploitation material (CSEM) enforcement operations, a CBP spokesperson told The California Post.
“After boarding the vessels and interviewing 26 suspected crew members from the Philippines, one suspected crew member from Portugal, and one from Indonesia, officers confirmed all subjects were involved in either the receipt, possession, transportation, distribution, or viewing of CSEM or child pornography,” the CBP spokesperson said.
“CBP cancelled their visas and these criminals are being removed from our country,” the spokesperson continued.
“We have a zero-tolerance policy for this type of behavior and fully cooperated with law enforcement. While the majority of these individuals were not from our cruise line, those who were are no longer with the company,” a Disney spokesperson told The California Post.
It’s unclear which other ships the additional crew members may have worked on outside of Disney.
Passengers aboard a Disney cruise ship docking in San Diego were stunned as they documented multiple employees getting arrested last month.
Vacationers watched as immigration officials cuffed several employees on the Disney Magic ship while it was being unloaded. Passenger Dharmi Mehta took a video of the moment, saying one of those detained was her server.
Prior to the news about what the arrests were allegedly for, several immigration rights groups were up in arms about the Disney arrests, and also claimed four “seafarers” were arrested on the Holland America MV Zandaam cruise ship.
The port said local police were not involved in the arrest.
Quote:A twisted Texas man allegedly gunned down two people and injured three others in a botched murder-suicide plot against his business partners, court documents revealed.
Seung Han Ho, 69, opened fire at the K-Towne strip mall in Carrollton in a purported pre-meditated attack against the shopping center’s owners and their employees, according to an affidavit obtained by Fox 4.
Ho first confronted four of the victims — Sung Rae Cho, Olivia Kim, Yo Sung Kim and Young Yoo — at the mall. He told them that he didn’t have their rent, but did have a pistol, the affidavit said.
The jilted entrepreneur was on the hook for a sushi restaurant at the plaza, the owner of the mall, Yoo, and Edward Schleigh, a local real estate agent, “convinced” him to purchase last summer for upwards of $75,000, court documents said.
The two also persuaded him to invest in a separate property in Georgia.
When the deals “eventually fell through,” Ho demanded his money back — but he was rebuffed. Kim also separately talked Yoo into hiking the rent for the sushi spot an additional $2,000, according to the affidavit.
An enraged Ho collected the four victims’ cellphones and opened fire after a heated, minutes-long discussion, as alleged in the affidavit.
He fatally shot Cho while he was running towards an exit. He also shot Yoo and the Kims, the affidavit said — although they are all expected to survive the shootings.
From there, Ho set his sights on Schleigh, who lived at an apartment complex four miles away from the mall.
Ho allegedly told detectives he knew Schleigh left his apartment unlocked, so he stormed in and fatally shot the real estate agent twice, the affidavit stated.
Quote:An Egyptian illegal immigrant who killed an elderly woman and injured a dozen other people in an antisemitic firebombing in Colorado last June was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty Thursday — but he could still face the death penalty.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 46, who admitted to state charges for the fiery ambush, has pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges stemming from the attack against a demonstration in support of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
Federal prosecutors say they could still seek the death penalty in their case against him.
Soliman, who was in the country illegally on an expired tourist visa, lobbed two Molotov cocktails at the group, who had gathered at a popular pedestrian mall in downtown Boulder, and later told investigators he was motivated by a desire “to kill all Zionist people.”
Karen Diamond, 82, was injured in the attack and later died. A dozen others were also injured.
Speaking to the court through an interpreter for nearly a half hour, Soliman offered apologies to the victims and condolences for Diamond’s death. “There are no words that can express my sadness for her passing,” Soliman said.
He said he wasn’t asking for leniency at sentencing for his convictions in state court and wants prosecutors pressing federal hate crime charges against him to seek the death penalty.
“If I went back, I would not have done this as this is not according to the teaching of Islam,” Soliman said. “What I did came out of myself and only myself.”
In a statement read earlier in court by a prosecutor, Diamond’s sons asked that Soliman not be allowed to see his family again “since he is responsible for our mother never seeing her family again.”
CHINA
Quote:A local Chinatown community leader ran a secret Chinese spy outpost out of a nondescript Manhattan office building — helping his communist handlers track a pro-democracy dissident, prosecutors charged Wednesday.
Lu Jianwang, who goes by Harry Lu, “opened a satellite office for the Chinese government in the heart of New York City,” prosecutor Lindsey Oken told jurors at the start of a Brooklyn federal court trial expected to shed light on Beijing’s alleged shadowy US influence campaign.
Lu, a Bronx resident who has been a naturalized US citizen for decades, “was living in New York City but he was working for the Chinese government,” the prosecutor added.
The alleged Chinese agent took orders from China’s Ministry of Public Security to monitor a Big Apple-based dissident from the glass-windowed six-story building at 107 East Broadway — where a banner was hung proudly announcing that the site was a “Fuzhou Police Overseas Service Station,” the feds allege.
But a lawyer for the 64-year-old leader of the America Changle Association — which advocates for New Yorkers hailing from China’s Fujian Province — shot back that the alleged secret “police station” was merely an innocuous community center where locals gathered to play ping pong and mahjong.
The community relied on Lu for help renewing their Chinese driver’s licenses remotely as travel back to their homeland was shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, defense lawyer John Carman claimed.
“He’s not an agent of Chinese intelligence … He’s an agent of the people of his community,” Carman told jurors.
The dueling claims came at the start of a one-week trial where the dissident is expected to testify. Lu has pleaded not guilty to charges of failing to register as a foreign agent and obstructing justice by allegedly deleting WeChat messages with his purported Beijing handler.
With an American flag pin affixed to the lapel of his dark suit, Lu didn’t betray much emotion as he listened to a Fujianese translation of the opening statements through an earpiece Wednesday morning.
Quote:A 64-year-old Chinese national has been convicted by a federal jury of selling more than a million fraudulent COVID-19 tests nationwide out of a Fresno biolab during the pandemic.
The Department of Justice said that Jia Bei Zhu was found guilty of fraudulently selling nearly $4 million worth of the faulty tests out of his Fresno-based company Universal Meditech Inc (UMI) to customers across the US.
He was convicted on nearly a dozen counts including, one for making a false statement to the FDA, eight counts of substantive wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
“This verdict holds the defendant accountable for actions that exploited a public health crisis for his own gain,” US Attorney Eric Grant said about the conviction.
“He flouted the lawful authority of the FDA and deliberately deceived the public by repackaging low-quality, foreign-made test kits at a time when accuracy and reliability were critical.”
Between August 2020 and March 2023, Zhu, his romantic partner Zhaoyan Wang and others at UMI “conspired with each other to import faulty COVID tests from China and then sell them to customers based” on lies.
The DOJ said that Zhu lied that the tests were approved by the FDA, that they were made in the USA, that they came from a certified lab, and that they actually worked.
It was revealed at trial that Zhu and Wang hired employees that wouldn’t ask questions.
Some of those employees testified that they knew what was going down but they were either too afraid of losing their job or too scared of Zhu to stop selling the fraudulent tests and blow the whistle.
Quote:China’s top diplomat said Thursday that ties with the US have been in general stable despite “many twists and disruptions,” and called on both countries to find a way to contribute to global peace, a week before President Donald Trump is expected to visit.
During a meeting with members of a US bipartisan congressional delegation, led by Sen. Steve Daines, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi credited Presidents Xi Jinping and Trump for “helping steer the direction of bilateral relations at critical moments.”
“Over the past year, China-US relations have gone through many twists and disruptions, but we have still managed to maintain overall stability,” Wang said.
Daines, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a strong supporter of Trump, agreed and said that both countries should look for stability.
“I strongly believe that we want to de-escalate, not decouple. We want stability, we want mutual respect,” he said.
Daines added that after the leaders meet next week, “perhaps we could see some more Boeing airplanes purchased, which I know would be something we would like to see.”
The senator also recognized China’s efforts to help reduce tensions in the Middle East and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
He said that Wang’s meeting on Wednesday with the Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was proof of China’s engagement.
Ahead of Trump’s visit to China, scheduled for May 14-15, the US government has been pressing Beijing to use its influence with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, where 20% of the world’s oil normally flows.
It was Daines’ second trip to China since Trump took office last year.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
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My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE
