The world's billionaires have always been rich and powerful"but never more than now. That's particularly true in the United States, where Donald Trump was sworn in (again) as America's billionaire-in-chief in January. This time around, he's giving the billionaire class more control over the government than ever before. His right-hand man is the planet's richest person. His administration includes at least ten billionaires and billionaire spouses. And scores of billionaire execs"from Meta's Mark Zuckerberg to French luxury goods kingpin Bernard Arnault"have lined up behind Trump. The billionaire bonanza extends beyond the U.S., however. A record 3,028 people around the globe make Forbes' annual World's Billionaires list this year, 247 more than last year. It's the first time the billionaire population has crossed the 3,000 mark. Read more
President Donald Trump's drive to scale down the federal government by unleashing and empowering Elon Musk to indiscriminately fire thousands of federal employees, has wreaked chaos. There have been plenty of demonstrations of the inefficiency of Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), from having to rehire workers to being forced to admit claims of vast savings were bogus. That's not particularly surprising for such an indiscriminate effort.
The documents reveal a DOGE affiliate is attempting to transfer the headquarters of an independent think tank, the United States Institute of Peace, to the government at no cost.
An Idaho Republican has accused a GOP rival of harassment in an op-ed after he reported her farm to federal immigration authorities. In January, Ryan Spoon, vice chair of the Republican Party in Ada County, publicly called for immigration raids on State Representative Stephanie Mickelsen's farm, accusing her of employing undocumented workers. Days later, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrived at Mickelsen Farms, escalating political tensions and raising concerns about the impact of immigration enforcement on Idaho's agriculture industry. "Those who speak up with concerns that challenge certain views are quickly labeled as non-conservative and targeted for harassment," Mickelsen wrote in an op-ed published in The Idaho Statesman.
A former North Dakota lawmaker was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. Ray Holmberg, 81, was a Grand Forks state senator for 45 years, and received a sentence that is longer than federal sentencing guidelines. U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland characterized Holmberg's conduct as "egregious and despicable" and said he didn't think the guideline sentence of more than three years was adequate. "From my perspective, this was not an isolated case and this is not a victimless crime," Hovland said. "It displays a pattern of very vile, sickening criminal behavior." Prosecutors allege Holmberg traveled to Prague in the Czech Republic 14 times between 2011 and 2021 to pay for sex with boys.
Holmberg, a Republican who held the powerful positions of Senate Appropriations Committee chair and head of Legislative Management, resigned from the Legislature in 2022.
The Trump administration acknowledged late Monday that it had inadvertently deported a man to El Salvador last month despite a court's determination that he had a legitimate fear of persecution in his home country. "This removal was an error," a top Immigration and Customs Enforcement official wrote in a statement to a federal judge. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran, was on one of three deportation flights to his home country on March 15 amid a frantic legal fight over President Donald Trump's decision to invoke war powers to hasten the deportation of more than 100 Venezuela nationals to El Salvador. In addition to the Venezuelans subject to Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act were other deportees with purported gang ties. The Trump administration now says there's nothing it can do to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return to U.S. custody.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered another 160,000 Russian citizens be called up to serve in the military, Russian news agency Interfax reported Monday. Russia drafts men aged 18 to 30 years old. The new order, starting April 1 and to be completed by July 15, comes amid the ongoing negotiations for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, brokered by the United States. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claims Russia is dragging out the peace process as it is preparing a massive new offensive to grab more Ukrainian land before actual peace talks.
An early toxic algae bloom off the coast of Southern California is killing or sickening hundreds of sea lions, dolphins and seabirds, while forcing rescuers to make tough choices about "which animals to save." The West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network says it is receiving more than 100 calls a day about sea lions having seizures, acting erratically or lying dead on beaches, as dolphins are discovered swimming circles in shallow waters. "We are having to do triage on the beach as we try to identify those animals where we have the greatest chance of making a difference," said John Warner, chief executive officer of the Marine Mammal Care Center in Los Angeles. Domoic acid, released by algae blooms, is harmless to fish but can be deadly if consumed by sea mammals or birds. The toxin causes seizures, coma, or death. Read more
Florida's orange juice industry is getting squeezed by hurricanes, citrus disease, and changing consumer tastes as the state reveals what is expected to be its smallest crop in 95 years. Florida's crop for the 2024-2025 season is predicted to be the smallest since before World War II, with orange juice consumption plummeting more than 50% since 2000, according to the USDA. The most recent forecast for the season is 522,000 tons, which is down 35% from last season's total of 808,000 tons due to weather events like Hurricane Milton and ongoing citrus disease. "Citrus greening is still an existential threat to Florida's orange juice production," according to a Florida citrus expert. "We're losing trees faster than we can replant them." Read more
A shooting involving a bus driver and passengers on a Miami-Dade Transit bus left two men dead early Sunday in a suburb north of Miami. "Preliminary investigation revealed the operator from the bus got into a verbal dispute and fired several rounds in the bus, striking and killing two passengers," Miami Gardens police said. The victims were airlifted to Aventura Hospital in critical condition and later pronounced dead from their wounds. In an average year, 3,038 people die and 6,358 are wounded by guns in Florida which has some of the loosest firearms laws in the US. These are wartime casualty figures. Between 7 Oct 2001 and 30 Aug 2021, the US lost a total of 2,459 military personnel in Afghanistan. The Sunshine State loses more people in one year to gun violence than the total 20 years of fighting the Taliban and HQN in Afghanistan. Read more
China's military kicked off joint exercises involving its army, navy, air force and rocket force around Taiwan as a "stern warning," days after USSECDEF Pete Hellsbreath vowed to counter "China's aggression" on his first visit to Asia. The drills will see China's armed forces "close in" on Taiwan from "multiple directions." An internal analysis by the Taiwan government cited Hellsbreath's visit as the "external reasons" for China's latest drills. The US maintains unofficial relations with Taipei and is bound by law to provide Taiwan with weapons for its defense. Washington has long maintained a policy of strategic ambiguity on whether it would come to Taiwan's defense in the event of an attack from China. Below, the new Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong can travel up to 31 knots and is fitted with 30 aircraft (24 J-15 fighters). Read more
The United States's Afghan allies are the victims of strategic narcissism.
An antisemitism task force will review $8.7 billion in multiyear grants and $255 million in contracts with the university and its affiliates.
Updated March 31, 2025 at 7:10 p.m. EDT today at 7:10 p.m
Hooters " the restaurant chain first known for its orange-clad, all-female wait staff and then its chicken wings " filed for bankruptcy, the company announced Monday. But the decades-old brand said it isn't going anywhere. Read more
Musk's new mission is likely to create a lot of noise at Capitol Hill soon. A town hall attendee asked Musk whether DOGE had found any evidence of funds being transferred from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). "They'll [the government] send the money overseas to one NGO [non-governmental organization], then they'll go through a bunch of them, and then I'm highly confident that a bunch of that money then comes back to the United States and lands in the pockets of the people you just mentioned," Musk replied.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday aimed at cracking down on ticket scalping and fees that drive up the costs of attending live events for consumers. The order directs the Federal Trade Commission to work with the Department of Justice to ensure that competition laws are enforced in the concert and entertainment industry " including the Better Online Ticket Sales, or BOTS, Act " and pushes state consumer protection authorities on enforcement, according to a fact sheet seen by Bloomberg News. It also seeks to "ensure price transparency at all stages of the ticket-purchase process, including the secondary ticketing market." Attorney General Pam Bondi and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will be asked to ensure that ticket resellers are complying with the tax code and other laws. Read more
