Category: Uncategorized

  • Spanish-language misinformation on Los Angeles immigration protests push a familiar theme

    Spanish-language misinformation on Los Angeles immigration protests push a familiar theme



    A surge of false or misleading posts, photographs and videos about the Los Angeles protests have been circulating on social media, with many of those shared among Latinos — mostly in Spanish — tying the protesters to socialist or communist governments.

    One post on X with over 600,000 views claims that in the U.S., immigration protest groups have links to “the Venezuelan mafia,” the Communist Party of Cuba, and the Morena Party, the left-wing ruling party of Mexico. But the post doesn’t specify any groups and doesn’t give evidence of this.

    The narrative echoes similar falsehoods that circulated during the 2020 George Floyd protests and the 2024 pro-Palestinian student protests on university campuses.

    Parts of Los Angeles and other cities across the country have seen protests against immigration raids as President Donald Trump’s administration enforces a hard-line immigration policy. Dramatic scenes where cars, including Waymo taxis, were set on fire and protesters confronted law enforcement by throwing objects at them have filled social media feeds.

    While some far-left groups have encouraged and even glorified violence in the protests, the onslaught of posts, mostly in Spanish, appears to be an attempt to link protests against immigrant raids to leftist Latin American governments, and the posts show support for President Donald Trump and his policies.

    “Though there is always inaccurate information swirling around, there has certainly been a spike since the Los Angeles protests took off,” said Evelyn Pérez-Verdía, president of We Are Más, which focuses on social impact consulting. “In the past we would find false or inaccurate information more hidden in platforms like Telegram, WhatsApp. Now it’s more in the open and more easily found on social media and online publications.”

    The falsehoods revive prior conspiracies that the protests are a planned provocation from leftist governments and not a spontaneous response to the immigration raids. On his platform, Truth Social, Trump has baselessly claimed protesters are “Paid Insurrectionists!”

    Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have been targets of some of the misinformation that seeks to link them to communism.

    A fake picture of Bass with Cuba’s late leader Fidel Castro, with his arm around her has circulated on social media. The original picture showed Castro with the late activist and former South African President Nelson Mandela.

    Bass does have some connections to Cuba; she traveled to the country with the Venceremos Brigade in the 1970s to do volunteer construction work and later went there as a member of Congress. She received criticism in 2020 for calling Castro’s death “a great loss,” but the fake picture is a step further to link her directly with Fidel Castro.

    “What we’re seeing in Spanish is different from what we’re seeing in English,” said Pérez-Verdía. In Spanish, she added, the false information is mainly focused on elected officials, like Newsom and Bass.

    “They talk about the extreme left, communism — actors, whether domestic or foreign, are changing the messaging based on the community they are targeting,” said Pérez-Verdía.

    In some cases, false information has made its way to the federal government.

    Some conservative and pro-Russian social media accounts have circulated a video of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum from before the protests, claiming she encouraged them, according to Newsguard, a fact-checking website.

    The move was “portrayed as foreign interference in domestic U.S. politics,” Newsguard reported.

    During an oval office briefing Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused Sheinbaum of encouraging “violent protests.”

    Sheinbaum responded on X, saying it’s “absolutely false” and included a video of herself from the day before saying she does not agree with violent actions as a form of protest. She also accused the opposition party of falsely saying she incited the protests.

    In some cases, videos and photos that include a hammer and sickle, are taken out of context to make it seem the protests are a communist movement. One post with tens of thousands of views claims that the protests are “URBAN COMMUNIST TERRORISM.”

    One Spanish-language post from an account with over 1 million followers glorifies violence against “progressive anti-ICE protestors.”

    Situations like these create fertile ground for disinformation to spread. Fake accounts in Spanish are more prevalent than they are in English, according to Darren Linvill, a professor at Clemson University and co-director of its Media Forensic Hub. Social media platforms are more likely to identify and shut down accounts in English than in other languages.

    Linvill said that another reason accounts in Spanish are more common than in English is that the use of marketing companies utilizing fake accounts — on behalf of political organizations or politicians — has spiked in the last few years.

    The spread of false information “is absolutely having an effect on driving partisanship, conspiratorial thinking, distrust for expertise and the lack of a sort of shared reality,” said Linvill. “A shared reality is important for us to build compromise and govern nations together. And I think it is absolutely having an effect on that.”

    “The degree to which motivated actors [bad actors], are responsible, versus the fundamental nature of social media to create a giant game of telephone that virtually generates the spread of false information, it’s hard to say,” Linvill said.



    Source link

  • ‘Targeted shootings’ in eastern Minnesota, Gov. Walz says

    ‘Targeted shootings’ in eastern Minnesota, Gov. Walz says


    There have been “targeted shootings” in eastern Minnesota, according to Gov. Tim Walz.

    “I’ve been briefed this morning on an ongoing situation involving targeted shootings in Champlin and Brooklyn Park,” he wrote on X Saturday morning. “The Minnesota Department of Public Safety and local law enforcement are on the scene. We will share more information soon.”

    Walz did not share any additional details about the shootings.

    The Brooklyn Park Police Department issued a shelter-in-place alert for an area surrounding the Edinburgh Golf Course Saturday morning in its quest for a suspect, NBC affiliate KARE 11 reported.

    The suspect is allegedly presenting himself as a member of law enforcement, and police say no one should approach him, according to the outlet.

    This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.



    Source link

  • Death toll in Indian plane crash climbs to 270 as search teams find more bodies

    Death toll in Indian plane crash climbs to 270 as search teams find more bodies



    Search and recovery teams continued scouring the site of one of India’s worst aviation disasters for a third day after the Air India flight fell from the sky and killed at least 270 people in Gujarat state, officials said Saturday.

    The London-bound Boeing 787 struck a medical college hostel in a residential area of the northwestern city of Ahmedabad minutes after takeoff Thursday, killing 241 people on board and at least 29 on the ground. One passenger survived.

    Recovery teams working until late Friday found at least 25 more bodies in the debris, officials said.

    Dr. Dhaval Gameti at the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad told The Associated Press the facility had received 270 bodies, adding that the lone surviving passenger was still under observation for some of his wounds.

    “He is doing very well and will be ready to be discharged anytime soon,” Gameti said Saturday.

    Hundreds of relatives of the crash victims have provided DNA samples at the hospital. Most bodies were charred or mutilated, making them unrecognizable.

    Some relatives expressed frustration Saturday that the process was taking too long. Authorities say it normally takes up to 72 hours to complete DNA matching and they are expediting the process.

    “Where are my children? Did you recover them?” asked Rafiq Abdullah, whose nephew, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren were on the flight. “I will have to ask questions. Government is not answering these questions.”

    Another relative persistently asked hospital staff when his relative’s body would be handed over to the family for last rites.

    “Give us the body,” the relative insisted.

    Alongside the formal investigation, the Indian government says it has formed a high-level, multi-disciplinary committee to examine the causes leading to the crash.

    The committee will focus on formulating procedures to prevent and handle aircraft emergencies in the future and “will not be a substitute to other enquiries being conducted by relevant organizations,” the Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a statement.

    Authorities have begun inspecting Air India’s entire fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, Indian Minister of Civil Aviation Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said Saturday in New Delhi at his first news briefing since Thursday’s crash.

    Eight of the 34 Dreamliner aircraft in India have already undergone inspection, Kinjarapu said, adding that the remaining aircraft will be examined with “immediate urgency.”

    The government is eagerly awaiting results of the crash investigation by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau and all necessary steps will be taken without hesitation, Kinjarapu said.

    Investigators on Friday recovered the plane’s digital flight data recorder, or the black box, which was recovered from a rooftop near the crash site and likely will lead to clues about the cause of the accident.

    India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said it had started working with “full force” to extract the data.

    The device is expected to reveal information about the engine and control settings, while the voice recorder will provide cockpit conversations, said Paul Fromme, a mechanical engineer with the U.K.-based Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

    Aviation safety consultant Jeff Guzzetti, a former crash investigator for both the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration, said investigators should be able to answer some important questions about what caused the crash as soon as next week as long as the flight data recorder is in good shape.

    Investigators likely are looking at whether wing flaps were set correctly, the engine lost power, alarms were going off inside the cockpit and if the plane’s crew correctly logged information about the hot temperature outside and the weight of the fuel and passengers, Guzzetti said.

    Mistakes in the data could result in the wing flaps being set incorrectly, he said.

    Thursday’s Air India crash involved a 12-year-old Boeing 787. Boeing planes have been plagued by safety issues on other types of aircraft.

    There are currently around 1,200 of the 787 Dreamliner aircraft worldwide and this was the first deadly crash in 16 years of operation, according to experts.



    Source link

  • Museums, zoos and aquariums are embracing dynamic pricing

    Museums, zoos and aquariums are embracing dynamic pricing



    How much will it cost to visit a museum, zoo or aquarium this summer? The answer, increasingly, is: It depends.

    John Linehan can rattle off almost two dozen factors that Zoo New England’s dynamic pricing contractor, Digonex, uses to recommend what to charge guests.

    “It’s complicated,” said Linehan, president and CEO of the operator of two zoos in eastern Massachusetts.

    Before adopting dynamic pricing, the organization was changing prices seasonally and increasing entry rates little by little. “As we watched that pattern, we were afraid some families were going to get priced out,” he said of the earlier approach. “I’m a father of four and I know what it is like.”

    Now, Zoo New England’s system provides cheaper rates for tickets purchased far in advance. That, coupled with the zoo’s participation in the Mass Cultural Council’s discounted admissions program for low-income and working families, “puts some control back in the consumer’s hands,” Linehan said.

    We charge what we need to make ends meet while delivering on our mission.

    John Linehan, CEO of Zoo New England

    The zoo is one of many attractions embracing pricing systems that were earlier pioneered by airlines, ride-hailing apps and theme parks. While these practices allow operators to lower prices when demand is soft, they also enable the reverse, threatening to squeeze consumers who are increasingly trimming their summer travel budgets.

    Before the pandemic, less than 1% of attractions surveyed by Arival, a tourism market research and events firm, used variable or dynamic pricing. Today, 17% use variable pricing, in which entry fees are adjusted based on predictable factors such as the day of the week or the season, Arival said. And 6% use dynamic pricing, in which historical and real-time data on weather, staffing, demand patterns and more influence rates.

    The changes come as barely half of U.S. museums, zoos, science centers and similar institutions have fully recovered to their pre-Covid attendance levels, according to the American Alliance of Museums. That has led many to pursue novel ways of filling budget gaps and offsetting cost increases.

    “There’s a saying: ‘No margin, no mission,’” Linehan said, “and we charge what we need to make ends meet while delivering on our mission.”

    Entry costs are climbing even at attractions that aren’t using price-setting technology. The broad “admissions” category in the federal government’s Consumer Price Index, which includes museum fees alongside sports and concert tickets, climbed 3.9% in May from the year before, well above the annual 2.4% inflation rate.

    In 2024, the nonprofit Monterey Bay Aquarium raised adult ticket prices from $59.95 to $65 and recently upped its individual membership rate, which includes year-round admission, from $95 to $125. “Gate admission from ticket sales funds the core operation of the aquarium,” a spokesperson said.

    While the Denver Art Museum has no plans to test dynamic pricing, it raised admissions fees last fall, three years after a $175 million renovation and a survey of ticket prices elsewhere, a spokesperson said. Entry costs went from $18 to $22 for Colorado residents and from $22 to $27 for out-of-state visitors. Prices rise on weekends and during busy times, to $25 and $30 for in- and out-of-state visitors, respectively. Guests under age 19 always get in free thanks to a sponsored program.

    Some attractions are doing a daily analysis of their bookings over the next several days or weeks and making adjustments.

    Douglas Quinby, CEO of Arival

    Like many attractions, the art museum posts these prices on its website. But many attractions’ publicly listed ticket prices are liable to fluctuate. The Seattle Aquarium — which raised its price ranges last summer by about $10 ahead of the opening of a new ocean pavilion — also uses Digonex’s algorithmic recommendations.

    During the week of June 8, for example, the aquarium’s online visit planner, which displays the relative ticket availability for each day, offered out-of-state adult admissions as low as $37.95 for dates later in the month and as much as $46.95 for walk-in tickets that week. In addition to booking in advance, there are more than half a dozen other discounts available to certain guests, including seniors and tribal and military members, a spokesperson noted.

    At many attractions, however, admission fees aren’t even provided until a guest enters the specific day and time they want to visit — making it difficult to know that lower prices may be available at another time.

    “Some attractions are doing a daily analysis of their bookings over the next several days or weeks and making adjustments” to prices continuously, said Arival CEO Douglas Quinby. Prices might rise quietly on a day when slots are filling up and dip when tickets don’t seem to be moving, he said.

    Digonex, which says it provides automated dynamic pricing services to more than 70 attractions worldwide, offers recommendations as frequently as daily. It’s up to clients to decide how and whether to implement them, a spokesperson said. Each algorithm is tailored to organizations’ goals and can account for everything from weather to capacity constraints and even Google Analytics search patterns.

    Data-driven pricing can be “a financial win for both the public and the museum,” said Elizabeth Merritt, vice president of strategic foresight at the American Alliance of Museums. It can reduce overcrowding, she said, while steering budget-minded guests toward dates that are both cheaper and less busy.

    But steeper prices during peak periods and for short-notice visits could rankle guests — who may see anything less than a top-notch experience as a rip-off, said Stephen Pratt, a professor at the University of Central Florida’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management who studies tourism.

    “Because of the higher prices, you want an experience that’s really great,” he said, transforming a low-key day at the zoo into a big-ticket, high-stakes outing. “You’ve invested this money into family time, into creating memories, and you don’t want any service mishaps.”

    That could raise the risk of blowback at many attractions, especially those grappling with Trump administration cuts this summer. Some historic sites and national parks have already warned that their operations are under pressure.

    Consumers should expect more price complexity to come. Arival said 16% of attractions ranked implementing dynamic pricing as a top priority for 2025-26. Among large attractions serving at least half a million guests annually, 37% are prioritizing dynamic pricing, up from the 12% that use it currently.

    For visitors, that could mean hunting harder for cheaper tickets. While many museums are free year-round, others provide lower rates for off-season visits and those booked in advance. It’s also common to reduce or waive fees on certain days or hours, and many kids and seniors can often get discounted entry.

    Here are a few other ways to keep admissions costs low:

    Ways to save on museum tickets:

    • Ask your local library. Many have museum passes that cardholders can check out.
    • Bundling programs such as CityPass, GetOutPass, Go City and others allow visitors to save money on admissions to a range of attractions.
    • Bank of America’s Museums on Us program offers cardholders free entry to many institutions during the first full weekend of each month.
    • For the past decade, Museums for All has been providing free or reduced entry at more 1,400 U.S. museums and attractions to anyone receiving SNAP food assistance benefits.
    • And each summer, the Blue Star Museums program offers museum discounts to actively serving military personnel and their families.

    “It may take a bit of research,” said Quinby, “but it’s still possible to find a good deal.”



    Source link

  • He chose to serve longer in the Army. Now he’s saddled with $40,000 in moving costs.

    He chose to serve longer in the Army. Now he’s saddled with $40,000 in moving costs.


    Charles Levine was blindsided in February when he was about to retire from the Army and found out it would not cover more than $40,000 in final moving costs — an end-of-service benefit given to retirees.

    The lieutenant colonel had served for 30 years, deploying five times and leading an airborne infantry company in Iraq and Afghanistan. But because he chose to continue serving after he was eligible to retire in 2022, he was stripped of moving and storage perks promised to nearly every retired soldier.

    “It was a broken promise,” Levine, 59, said. “I was incredulous.”

    Charles Levine with his wife Ginger at the Army Navy game in 2024.
    Charles Levine and his wife, Ginger, at the Army-Navy game in Philadelphia in 2024.Courtesy Charles Levine

    News of the noncoverage delivered a sharp emotional sting and a financial gut punch. Levine and his wife, Ginger, were relying on the benefit.

    They have been renting an apartment in Charlottesville, Virginia, for $2,800 a month, thinking the military would help them vacate their on-post housing at West Point, the military academy in New York.

    By the couple’s estimates, it would cost at least $42,000 to pack, transport and store a lifetime of belongings themselves, so they feel stuck at West Point, paying another $4,400 a month for rent.

    “We cannot afford to move and we cannot afford to stay,” Ginger said.

    To save money, Ginger, 53, has been driving around, scrounging up used cardboard boxes and paper from new neighbors, while “feeling humiliated that this is how our service ends.”

    Levine said he had a fulfilling career. But when he thinks about the toll the last few months has taken on him and his wife of 18 years, he questions his choice to stay longer in the military.

    “That’s the one thing that rises to the level where perhaps I did make a mistake,” he said.

    Levine served in the National Guard from 1995 to 2001, when, three months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, he started active duty in the Army.

    During the next 21 years, he crawled through enemy caves; participated in more than two dozen air assaults looking for Taliban-captured soldier Bowe Bergdahl, who was in his battalion; rose to battalion executive officer; and earned several medals, including three Bronze Stars.

    In that time, back home, he missed the entirety of his first year of marriage, many holidays, the birth of his first grandchild, the death of his father-in-law, and all of his son’s high school football games.

    “We’ve given everything we have,” said Levine, who spent the last six years of his service teaching calculus to cadets at West Point.

    Charles Levine with his wife Ginger.
    Charles Levine and Ginger in 2007, when he came home from his first deployment. Courtesy Charles Levine

    In fall 2022, Levine had served the maximum number of years in active duty and could retire. But, he said, senior Army Reserve leaders convinced him to transition to the Reserve and continue teaching at West Point instead.

    Levine officially separated from active duty and went on to teach for two more years as part of the Army Reserve. Just before he officially retired from the military in March, he learned he had lost the moving benefits.

    “We were told, without warning, that our family would not receive any support for our final move,” Ginger said. “No shipment of household goods, no storage, and no recognition of the circumstances.”

    In a statement, Lt. Col. Orlandon Howard, an Army spokesperson, said soldiers like Levine who choose to be released from active duty after at least 20 years of service, deferring retirement to continue working for the Reserve, have about six months to use their moving benefits. Those who elect to retire from active duty have three years.

    To guide their decision-making, Howard said the Army provides soldiers with “significant resources, education and support,” including transition assistance programs across the country.

    “Transitioning Soldiers must weigh their options, and associated advantages and disadvantages to make the best decision for their circumstances,” Howard said in his statement.

    Levine said he did not choose to be released from active duty and was instead involuntarily separated, which he said should have afforded him moving benefits for three years. Levine, a doctoral candidate at Northeastern University and a visiting scholar at the University of Virginia, also said a section of the regulation allows those who pursue advanced education four years to move.

    The Army said soldiers who leave active duty and join the Reserve are not considered involuntarily separated, but Levine said his separation papers show otherwise.

    After fighting their case for more than three months, the Levines have reached their breaking point. They’ve decided to dip into their savings to move themselves, fearing they were already wasting so much money paying two rents.

    “I broke,” Ginger said. “I was emotionally broken.”

    Charles Levine with his wife Ginger at a banquet,
    Charles Levine and Ginger at a banquet in 2024 at West Point. Courtesy Charles Levine

    The couple crunched estimates from multiple moving and storage companies. On the low end, if they pack themselves, they’d pay about $42,000 out of pocket.

    Their regular income is the roughly $5,000 Levine gets each month from his pension, and the severance Ginger has until the end of September after resigning from her federal job.

    “For the first time in our life, we have debt now,” Levine said.

    He thinks back to the sheer happiness and pride he felt in February during his retirement ceremony. A retired four-star general flew in from the Middle East to preside over the event, and Levine was celebrated for his feats while surrounded by loved ones and senior leaders.

    “It was amazing. I was dreading leaving. I felt really fulfilled,” he said. “All those things went away and evaporated.”



    Source link

  • Iranian regime may struggle to recover, but could decide to push for bomb, experts say

    Iranian regime may struggle to recover, but could decide to push for bomb, experts say


    Israel’s military strikes on Iran have struck at the heart of the country’s military leadership and nuclear program, creating a possible vacuum at the top of the regime that could hinder its ability to recover from the onslaught, experts say.

    But — assuming that it still can — there is a scenario in which the strikes could lead Tehran to abandon negotiations over its nuclear program and instead rush toward building a bomb, according to analysts and former U.S. officials.

    The killing of top Iranian military officers as well as several nuclear scientists will likely have sparked fears in Tehran that Israeli intelligence had deeply penetrated the regime and that other senior figures could also be in danger.

    Smoke and fire billow from the site of an alleged Israeli strike in southern Tehran
    Smoke and fire billow from the site of an alleged Israeli strike in southern Tehran on Friday. Atta Kenare / AFP via Getty Images

    Israel has previously pulled off brazen assassinations inside Iran, targeting senior government scientists involved in the country’s nuclear program and the political leader of the Iranian-backed Palestinian group Hamas when he was visiting Tehran.

    “You have to assume the system is shell-shocked,” said Alex Vatanka of the Middle East Institute think tank. “They don’t know… how badly they’re infiltrated” by Israel.

    Iranian media and the Israeli military said Israel’s strikes on Thursday killed Iran’s top military officer, Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, as well as the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Hossein Salami, and a major general in the Revolutionary Guards, Gholam Ali Rashid.

    The senior military officers targeted had deep ties to Iran’s regime and were known personally by the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, particularly Bagheri, according to Vatanka. Khamenei promoted Bagheri to his post as chief of the armed forces in 2016.

    “There’s a personal element here, which might be a factor in terms of what Khamenei decides to do,” he said.

    Shahid Beheshti University said five professors were killed in Thursday’s attack as well as “some” family members.

    Nuclear program’s future

    The first wave of Israeli military strikes launched Thursday likely inflicted serious damage on Iran’s nuclear program, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that air raids will continue for “as many days as it takes” to ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear arsenal.

    But Iran still has buried nuclear facilities at Fordow and elsewhere that it could potentially use if it chose to pull out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and rescind its commitment not to pursue nuclear weapons. In that case, Iran would need to enrich uranium to weapon-grade levels, a short technical step with its current stockpile, and then build a nuclear warhead. That effort could take roughly a year or more, most experts estimate.

    Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on February 7 urged his government not to negotiate with the United States, saying it would be "unwise".
    Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stands before members of the Iranian air force in Tehran on Feb. 7.Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AFP – Getty Images file

    The CIA declined to comment as to whether there were any indications that Iran was moving to pull out of the NPT and pursue nuclear weapons.

    U.S. President Donald Trump appears to be trying to use the Israeli military attack as leverage over Iran, pushing it to make concessions or else face even harsher military strikes. But Iran may calculate that the time for negotiations is over and opt to build nuclear weapons, according to Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group think tank.

    “One of the strategic risks in targeting Iran’s nuclear infrastructure is the potential for backlash,” Vaez said. The strikes “could incentivize Tehran to reconstitute its program with renewed urgency, driven by a heightened resolve to achieve a credible nuclear deterrent,” he said.

    Iran has invested decades of effort and trillions of dollars in building its nuclear program, and Iranian political leaders portray it as a point of national pride, a symbol of the country’s independence and technological progress.

    Israel Iran Mideast Wars
    Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept missiles over Tel Aviv, Israel, on Friday. Leo Correa / AP

    Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank, said Iran’s leadership will likely choose to develop nuclear weapons rather than give up the program it sees as a patriotic endeavor.

    “It has become a symbol of national prestige and honor,” Miller said on MSNBC.

    “When all is said and done, and this regime stays in power, which I suspect it will, the Iranians will probably make a decision to go all out in an effort to weaponize,” Miller said. “And the Americans and the Israelis are going to have to figure out, over time, how to deal with it.“

    Jonathan Panikoff, a former deputy national intelligence officer for the Near East at the U.S. National Intelligence Council, said that Iran may conclude that pursuing nuclear weapons is the only way to safeguard the regime.

    Iran “may determine that the Israeli strikes mean time is up for the regime to decide whether to obtain a bomb, if it hasn’t done so already,” Panikoff, now at the Atlantic Council think tank, wrote in an analysis. “The conclusion could be that it can no longer sit on the proverbial nuclear fence, and that it has to rush for a bomb or risk never having one.”

    To many Iranian political leaders, securing a nuclear weapon — or nuclear weapons capability — is vital for the survival of the regime itself, he added.

    But it was unclear if Israel’s military strikes could deliver a knock-out blow that would make it impossible for Iran to build nuclear weapons, some experts said.

    Alex Plitsas, a former senior Pentagon official and a fellow at the Atlantic Council, said it was likely that the Israeli assault, which included sabotage operations, had caused too much damage to Iran’s nuclear sites and equipment to enable Iran to rush toward building a bomb.

    Iran was caught flat-footed by the Israeli attack, even though Israel had sent clear warnings for years and in recent months that it would not tolerate an advancing Iranian nuclear program, Plitsas said.

    “The Iranians have misread the signals from Israel again and again,” he said.

    Even a successful series of strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites might only delay Tehran’s ability to develop the bomb by up to two years, according to past comments by U.S. officials and estimates by experts.

    In 2012, Robert Gates, shortly after he stepped down as defense secretary, said military strikes against Iran’s nuclear program would likely fail in the end to prevent Tehran from developing the bomb.

    “Such an attack would make a nuclear-armed Iran inevitable,” Gates said at the time. “They would just bury the program deeper and make it more covert.”

    Iran maintains its nuclear program is designed for purely civilian purposes to generate energy and research, but Western powers have long accused Tehran of laying the ground for a nuclear weapons project, citing enrichment activity far beyond what’s required for peaceful uses. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Iran had a nuclear weapons program but halted the project in 2003.

    A report in May from the International Atomic Energy Agency concluded Iran was not fully cooperating with U.N. inspectors and that the agency could not provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear program was “exclusively peaceful.”

    On Thursday, the IAEA censured Iran for failing to comply with nonproliferation obligations designed to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon. It was the first such censure in 20 years.

    Democratic lawmakers have criticized Trump for pulling, during his first term, the U.S. out of a 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran that imposed limits on its nuclear activities, saying that decision opened the way to the current crisis.



    Source link

  • Trump’s financial disclosures reveal tens of millions in income from guitars, bibles and watches with his name on them

    Trump’s financial disclosures reveal tens of millions in income from guitars, bibles and watches with his name on them



    President Donald Trump continues to enjoy income streams from scores of luxury properties and business ventures, many of which are worth tens of millions of dollars, according to a financial disclosure form filed late Friday.

    Released by the Office of Government Ethics, Trump’s 2025 financial disclosure spans 234 pages in all, including 145 pages of stock and bond investments, and is dated Friday with Trump’s signature.

    One of the largest sources of income on the form is the $57,355,532 he received from his ownership stake in World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency platform launched last year. The form shows that World Liberty’s sales of digital tokens have been highly lucrative for Trump and his family. Trump’s three sons, Donald Jr., Eric, and Barron, are listed on the company’s website as co-founders of the firm.

    Separately, Trump’s meme coin, known on crypto markets simply as $TRUMP, was not released until January and is therefore not subject to the disclosure requirements for this form, which covered the calendar year 2024.

    It was a lucrative year for Trump when it came to royalty payments for the various goods that are sold featuring his name and likeness.

    Among the royalty payments:

    • Save America (coffee table book) — $3,000,000
    • Trump Sneakers and Fragrances — $2,500,000
    • Trump Watches — $2,800,000
    • The Greenwood Bible — $1,306,035
    • “45” Guitar — $1,055,100
    • NFT licensing and royalties — $1,157,490

    The filing also includes a listing of liabilities, including at least $15,000 on an American Express credit card and payments due to E. Jean Carroll, the woman who successfully sued Trump over sexual abuse and defamation, though the president is still seeking to appeal the decision.

    The rest of the document contains dozens of pages of lengthy footnotes about the president’s various assets.

    The form was filed to comply with federal requirements for Executive Branch office holders. By comparison, the form that former President Joe Biden filed in 2024 was 11 pages and consisted largely of conventional sources of income like bank and retirement accounts, while Kamala Harris’s was 15 pages.

    Many of Trump’s key assets are held in a revocable trust overseen by Donald Trump Jr., his eldest son. This includes more than 100,000 shares of Trump Media and Technology Group, the social media company that went public in 2024. Trump is the largest shareholder, and his nearly 53% is worth billions of dollars. Those holdings were still disclosed in the form.



    Source link

  • South Carolina executes man who was serving death sentences in two murders

    South Carolina executes man who was serving death sentences in two murders



    COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina man sent to death row twice for separate murders was put to death Friday by lethal injection in the state’s sixth execution in nine months.

    Stephen Stanko, 57, was pronounced dead at 6:34 p.m.

    He was executed for shooting a friend and then cleaning out his bank account in Horry County in 2005.

    The execution began After a 3 1/2 minute final statement where Stanko apologized to his victims and asked not to be judged by the worst day of his life. Prison officials asked for the first dose of the powerful sedative pentobarbital.

    Stanko appeared to be saying words, turned toward the families of the victims and then let out several quick breaths as his lips quivered.

    Stanko appeared to stop breathing after a minute. A prison employee asked for a second dose of pentobarbital about 13 minutes later. He was announced dead about 28 minutes after the execution started.

    Stanko also was serving a death sentence for killing his live-in girlfriend in her Georgetown County home hours earlier, strangling her as he raped her teenage daughter. Stanko slit the teen’s throat, but she survived.

    Stanko was leaning toward dying by South Carolina’s new firing squad, like the past two inmates before him. But after autopsy results from the last inmate killed by that method showed the bullets from the three volunteers nearly missed his heart, Stanko went with lethal injection.

    Stanko was the last of four executions scheduled around the country this week. Florida and Alabama each put an inmate to death on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Oklahoma executed a man transferred from federal to state custody to allow his death.

    The federal courts rejected Stanko’s last-ditch effort to spare his life as his lawyers argued the state isn’t carrying out lethal injection properly after autopsy results found fluid in the lungs of other inmates killed that way.

    Also South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster refused clemency.in a phone call to prison officials minutes before the execution began.

    A governor has not spared a death row inmate’s life in the previous 48



    Source link

  • Anti-ICE protests growing across the country

    Anti-ICE protests growing across the country


    IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

    • Iran fires wave of missiles at Israel in retaliatory strikes

      03:01

    • Now Playing

      Marines arrive in LA as part of Trump’s new deployment

      02:38

    • UP NEXT

      What does Father’s Day mean to you?

      01:46

    • Sole survivor of Air India plane crash describes exiting plane

      02:12

    • Trump military parade will feature 7,000 soldiers and more than 60 aircraft

      01:36

    • Jury in Karen Read’s retrial now deliberating her fate

      01:40

    • U.S. officials say Israeli military begins airstrikes on Iran

      00:43

    • Cancer patient’s fight to get authorization for treatment recommended by his doctor

      03:06

    • Virginia mother surprises children with permanent home

      01:19

    • Meta files lawsuit to stop ‘nudify’ app promotion on platform

      02:11

    • Senator forcibly removed from DHS Secretary Noem’s press conference

      02:57

    • San Antonio slammed with deadly storms

      01:30

    • 241 killed, one survivor in Air India plane crash

      03:44

    • Harvey Weinstein accuser Kaja Sokola speaks out after split verdict

      01:48

    • Anti-ICE protests growing across the country

      03:29

    • Musk apologizes to Trump after launching personal attacks

      01:39

    • ICE’s immigration enforcement operations ramp up nationwide

      01:53

    • Karen Read’s defense team rests case

      01:39

    • One-on-one with Trump’s border czar

      01:10

    • 88-year-old grandmother graduates decades after being barred because of pregnancy

      01:25

    Nightly News

    Protestors opposed to ICE’s immigration enforcement operations are holding demonstrations across the country. In LA, there is a curfew for a second night in the downtown area in an effort to quell violence and looting. NBC News’ Liz Kreutz reports.

    NBC News NOW

    Nightly News Netcast

    Play All



Source link

  • A juror in the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sex-trafficking trial is expected to be dismissed

    A juror in the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sex-trafficking trial is expected to be dismissed



    A juror in the Sean “Diddy” Combs sex trafficking trial is expected to be dismissed from the case on Monday over inconsistencies about where he lives.

    The issue came up this week, five weeks into the trial, during a conversation Juror No. 6 had with the jury department, indicating he had moved to New Jersey a few weeks ago to live with his girlfriend.

    That conversation sparked another discussion among legal counsels, who pressed for more information. Jurors in the case must live in New York state and district courts have broad discretion to replace a juror for any violation.

    The juror, a 41-year-old Black male who works in communications at a correctional facility, told court officials he was living in a New York apartment during the work week.

    His story later changed to him living with his daughter and fiancée in the Bronx. At some point, he told court officials he lived with his aunt in the Bronx.

    Earlier Friday, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian said he was leaning against dismissing the juror, saying there was likely an innocent explanation for the conflicting answers.

    But as more details emerged, Subramanian said there were serious concerns about his candor and it appeared the juror either could not follow simple instructions or there was an effort to be deceptive.

    Subramanian warned that removal of the juror may be required.

    Defense attorney Xavier Donaldson said the juror answered the question about where he resides as truthfully as possible and suggested bringing him back to court because he wanted to remain on the jury.

    Prosecutors argued that the juror’s removal is necessary to protect the integrity of the court proceedings.

    The juror said during jury selection that he enjoyed listening to reggaeton and ‘90s hip-hop, and his hobbies included sports and fantasy football.

    Combs faces five criminal counts: one count of racketeering conspiracy; two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. Combs has vociferously denied the allegations against him.



    Source link