Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned there would be "catastrophic" consequences if the United States attacks Iran's nuclear infrastructure after a threat by President Donald Trump. Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. State Department and Iran's foreign ministry for comment.
A New Jersey state trooper faces multiple charges after allegedly shooting and killing his dog, fleeing his home, vandalizing a stop sign, and assaulting a local police officer. Authorities arrested Alexander Lark in Wayne Township. He is charged with aggravated assault, resisting arrest, criminal mischief, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. He also faces a municipal violation for discharging a firearm. Animal cruelty charges are pending. An affidavit of probable cause states that Lark appeared to be under the influence of an unidentified substance. An indictment is merely an accusation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Read more
Musk visited CIA HQ for talks on government efficiency. This is the first time Musk has visited the CIA since the establishment of DOGE. Unlike other government departments, DOGE isn't going to get unlimited access to CIA databases or internal systems because most of it is top secret. CIA has an internal DOGE team that was formed after Trump's executive order which includes CIA career officials. CIA officials didn't give Musk an intelligence briefing, but discussed with him "how the CIA is unique" in comparison to other government agencies. Musk visited NSA HQ a few weeks ago, where I'm sure they held their noses too. Read more
USSECDEF Pete Hellsbreath issued a secret memo outlining US military priorities which comes straight from the conservative Heritage Foundation, including some passages that are nearly word-for-word duplications of text published by the think tank in 2024. The memo outlines Trumpf's vision to prepare for and win a potential war against Beijing and defend the US from threats in the "near abroad," which may include Greenland and the Panama Canal. Iran is mentioned several times as a powerful adversary. The author of the Heritage Foundation blueprint now works at the Pentagon. Archived: archive.ph Read more
Unprecedented turnout led to ballot shortages in Wisconsin's largest city Tuesday as voters cast ballots in "historic" numbers to decide a Supreme Court race pitting one candidate backed by President Donald Trump against another aligned with Democrats. The race for control of the court, which became a proxy battle for the nation's political fights, broke records for spending and was poised to be the highest-turnout Wisconsin Supreme Court election ever. Republicans including Trump and the world's wealthiest person, Elon Musk, lined up behind Brad Schimel, a former state attorney general. Democrats including former President Barack Obama and billionaire megadonor George Soros backed Susan Crawford, a Dane County judge who led legal fights to protect union power, abortion rights and to oppose voter ID.
China hawks in the United States have made what amounted to a Faustian pact with President Donald Trump. Anxious that Beijing's power was surpassing Washington's and critical of Democrats such as former President Joe Biden for failing to turn it back, Trump seemed to be the best option for a more robust approach to China.
Then new owners jacked up the rent by 365%. Residents of senior living facilities typically expect to live out their remaining years when they buy into a community. But a new dynamic in the industry is altering the deals these residents agreed to.
ormer first son Hunter Biden has agreed to give up his law license in Washington, D.C., according to an affidavit that was unsealed by the Board on Professional Responsibility on Tuesday. Biden's law license in D.C. was suspended last June after he was convicted of three felonies in Delaware, but he was pardoned for all crimes in December. The former first son has been an attorney in Washington, D.C., since 2007.
Newsmax stock (NMAX) soared as high as 173% Tuesday, extending its massive 735% gain on Monday following the conservative cable news outlet's IPO.
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
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.
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
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
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has said it is "outraged" at the deaths of eight medics killed on duty in Rafah in southern Gaza. The nine-person ambulance team came under heavy fire in al-Hashashin on 23 March. Their bodies were retrieved on Sunday after access was denied for a week. One medic is still missing. Benjamin Netanyahu resumed the genocide in Gaza on 18 March after US Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) capitulated on the appalling GOP budget, ensuring US economic and military aid to Israel remained uninterrupted. The IDF has killed over 900 people, including children, with US-provided weapons and funds since re-starting the Nakba on 18 March. Read more
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is facing scrutiny over his handling of details of a military strike, brought his wife, a former Fox News producer, to two meetings with foreign military counterparts where sensitive information was discussed, according to multiple people who were present or had knowledge of the discussions.
