Author: admin

Facing a tough election challenge is a cost of doing business for members of Congress. But when that challenge comes from a colleague, things can get personal quickly.

That’s what’s happening right now in Southern California, where tensions between Republican Reps. Ken Calvert and Young Kim are boiling over after Democratic redistricting forced them into a fight for their political lives ahead of June’s primary.

Kim is panning her colleague, a 30-year veteran of Congress, as a creature of Washington. Calvert is calling her insufficiently conservative on issues like immigration. And Calvert even accused Kim, after the recent attempt to assassinate President Donald Trump, of contributing to “the heated environment and violence we’ve seen” because she has criticized Trump in the past, leading Kim to retort that Calvert is running a “desperate” campaign.

The messy intraparty fight is a result of state Democrats’ aggressive redistricting efforts last year, which carved up Republican-held seats in Southern California to create more blue-leaning districts. Along the way, they crammed into one red district a powerful member of the House Appropriations Committee, Calvert, and a battle-tested incumbent who has won tough races in recent years, Kim.

“Love and war have rules,” said Rep. Darrell Issa, a retiring Republican also from Southern California. “Politics doesn’t.”

Read the full story here.

  25m ago

Israeli Army tells residents of more southern Lebanon villages to evacuate ahead of attacks

The Israeli military told people living in seven villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate their homes on Friday.

Israel Defense Forces spokesman Avichay Adraee issued an “urgent warning” to people in Al-Namriyah, Tayr Filisiya, Hallusiyah, Upper Hallusiyah, Turah, Marakah and Al-Abbayiyya, saying if they didn’t leave, their lives would be in danger.

Adraee, who has issued similar evacuation orders almost daily since Hezbollah and Israel started exchanging fire two days after the Iran war began, said the IDF was “compelled” to act against Hezbollah in light of the group’s “violation of the ceasefire agreement” brokered by the U.S. 

That truce was signed between the Israeli and Lebanese governments. Hezbollah was not a party to it, and it quickly accused Israel of violating the deal and said it was launching attacks in response. That exchange of fire, with both Hezbollah and Israel accusing the other side of breaching the ceasefire, has continued since the truce came into force.

Hezbollah said Friday it had attacked an Israeli military bulldozer, tank and troops.

The IDF acknowledged several Hezbollah strikes against its forces and said one soldier was severely wounded, and two others moderately wounded.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said earlier this week that the death toll from Israel’s attacks since March 2 had risen to more than 2,700 people. More than 1 million people have been displaced from their homes by the fighting. 

In Israel, more than 40 people have been killed by Iranian and Hezbollah attacks since the U.S. and Israel launched their joint war with Iran on Feb. 28. 

  54m ago

Israel says 4 people arrested for spying for Iran when they were minors

Israel has arrested four people accused of spying for Iran when they were minors, the country’s military and main intelligence agency said in a joint statement Friday.

The Shin Bet intelligence service, Israeli police and Israel Defense Forces Israel said the civilian and three soldiers were suspected of “having long-term contacts with Iranian intelligence elements and carrying out missions under their direction.”

These allegedly include documenting various sites around Israel, including train stations, shopping centers, security cameras and “records of the Air Force Technical School where some of the suspects studied.”

“In addition, some of the defendants approached the operator on their own initiative to carry out security missions,” the statement continued.

The four were arrested in March. The three soldiers are suspected of carrying out the covert operations “before their recruitment to the IDF,” according to the bulletin.

The four were about 17 when they committed the offenses, according to Israeli news outlet Ynet.

Twenty-five Israelis and foreign residents in Israel were indicted on charges of spying for Iran in 2025, according to Shin Bet’s annual report, published in February. It said recruitment attempts on Israelis had increased by 400% compared to 2024.

  54m ago

Lebanon says Israeli strike kills rescuer in south

An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon killed a member of Lebanon’s civil defense volunteer rescue organization, the group said Friday, a day after another strike killed a first responder with the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee.

In a statement, the civil defense said its member was killed, “as a result of an Israeli strike that targeted him” on a road between two southern towns.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday that the U.N. agency had “verified 152 attacks on healthcare that resulted in 103 deaths and 241 injuries” in Lebanon since the war began on March 2.

A ceasefire between the Lebanese and Israeli governments, brokered by the Trump administration, remains ostensibly in effect, but it has not stopped fighting between Israeli forces and Iranian-backed Hezbollah.

CBS/AFP

  7:14 AM

Iran says U.S. has “crossed the point of no return” after exchange of fire in Strait of Hormuz

Iranian officials say the U.S. has “crossed the point of no return,” blasting American strikes on ports in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday as a violation of the ceasefire that President Trump insists is still in effect.

In a statement released Thursday night, Iran’s central military command, the Khatam Al-Anbiya headquarters, claimed the U.S. targeted an Iranian oil tanker and another vessel near the strait, prompting Iranian forces to return fire on U.S. warships.

“In a simultaneous attack” the U.S. launched air raids “targeting civilian areas” in cooperation with regional allies on ports in Khamir, Sirik as well as Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. officials, including President Trump, said Iran fired first at three U.S. Navy destroyers transiting the strait on Thursday, prompting “self-defense strikes” against military assets at Iranian ports.

Iran claimed its attacks on the ships caused “severe and substantial damage,” though President Trump said none were damaged in the exchange of fire. 

Brigadier General Ebrahim Zulfuqari, a spokesman for the Al-Anbiya headquarters, said in a social media post Thursday that the U.S. had “crossed the point of no return, and the response will be commensurate with the crime and more.”

  7:14 AM

UAE says air defense systems activated over Iranian missile attack

The United Arab Emirates reported early Friday morning local time that its air defense systems had been activated to respond to drones and missiles launched by Iran.

The UAE’s defense ministry said in a social media post that “sounds heard in various parts of the country are the result of the UAE air defense systems intercepting ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones.”

The UAE’s National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority cautioned residents to “remain in a safe place and follow the warnings and updates on official websites.”

  7:14 AM

Trump says Iran deal “might not happen” but “could happen any day”

President Trump told reporters late Thursday that a deal with Iran “might not happen, but it could happen any day.”

“I believe they want the deal more than I do,” he said during a visit to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, where his administration is installing blue filament as part of a renovation project.

Mr. Trump also addressed Iran’s attacks on three U.S. Navy destroyers, which drew an American counterattack.

“They trifled with us today. We blew them away,” he said. “They should not have done that today.”

Mr. Trump reiterated that the ceasefire is not over, in spite of Tuesday’s exchange. 

“If there’s no ceasefire, you’re not going to have to know. You’re just going to have to look at one big glow coming out of Iran,” he said.

  7:14 AM

Trump says Iran sustained “great damage” after attacking U.S. warships

President Trump confirmed that three American destroyers passed through the Strait of Hormuz after dodging an Iranian onslaught — and warned Iran that it needs to strike a deal with the U.S. quickly.

Mr. Trump said in a social media post that the U.S. vessels were unharmed while Iran faced “great damage,” describing the military’s efforts to deflect Iranian boats, missiles and drones in vivid terms.

“They dropped ever so beautifully down to the Ocean, very much like a butterfly dropping to its grave!” he said of the U.S.’s response to the drone attacks.

“A normal Country would have allowed these Destroyers to pass, but Iran is not a normal Country. They are led by LUNATICS, and if they had the chance to use a Nuclear Weapon, they would do it, without question,” the president wrote.

He also warned that “we’ll knock them out a lot harder, and a lot more violently, in the future, if they don’t get their Deal signed, FAST!” Mr. Trump is seeking a longer-term peace deal with Iran, but the status of talks is unclear.

  7:14 AM

U.S. launches “self-defense strikes,” U.S. Central Command says

American forces “responded with self-defense strikes” on Iranian targets after three Navy destroyers came under missile and drone fire, but were not struck, U.S. Central Command said Thursday.

The destroyers USS Truxtun, USS Mason and USS Rafael Peralta were attacked by missiles, drones and small boats, CENTCOM said. The U.S. military responded by targeting Iranian facilities, including drone and missile launch sites.

  7:14 AM

U.S. destroyers face second round of Iranian attacks

Three U.S. Navy destroyers transiting the Strait of Hormuz came under renewed attack on Thursday, enduring what American officials described as a fiercer and more sustained Iranian assault than the barrage the warships faced only days earlier. 

The destroyers came under an intense Iranian assault as swarms of Iranian fast-attack boats maneuvered close enough that American warships opened fire to keep them at bay, the U.S. officials told CBS News under condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. 

Iranian forces also launched drones and missiles during the confrontation, the officials said. 

Over several hours, the American warships and supporting aircraft mounted a layered defense. 

Despite the intensity of the attacks, neither U.S. vessel was struck. 

Read more here.

  7:14 AM

Trump calls strikes on Iranian ports a “love tap,” says ceasefire still “in effect”

President Trump told ABC News Thursday that the U.S.-Iran ceasefire remains in effect despite American strikes on two Iranian ports, describing the strikes as “just a love tap.”

Mr. Trump spoke on the phone with ABC News senior political correspondent Rachel Scott.

When she asked if it means the ceasefire is over, she says he replied, “No, no, the ceasefire is going. It’s in effect.”

by ALEXX ALTMAN-DEVILBISS | The National News Desk

Fri, May 8, 2026 at 7:51 AM

Updated Fri, May 8, 2026 at 7:53 AM

WASHINGTON (TNND) — President Donald Trump visited the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Thursday to check on renovations ahead of America’s 250th birthday celebration.

Photos showed Trump shaking hands with workers on the project and speaking with reporters. The White House highlighted the visit on X, writing that he “thanked the hardworking men restoring the Reflecting Pool and making Washington, D.C., beautiful again.”

His motorcade also passed through the unfinished site as upgrades continue.

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung shared a video of the visit, capturing surprised reactions from onlookers. “They see me rolling!” Cheung wrote. “President Trump rides in the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial!”

Last month, Trump shared photos of the renovation, describing it as being in “the final phase.” The images showed workers painting the reflecting pool blue.

He said the project, initially estimated to cost more than $300 million and take three years, would instead cost about $2 million with the help of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and his department.

The iconic landmark, built in 1922, has been “decaying” and plagued by leaks, according to Trump.

“We’re going to have the most beautiful reflecting pool,” he said previously.

“Right now, it’s got no water in it because it was in terrible shape,” he added in a video shared on Truth Social. “It was filthy dirty and it leaked like a sieve for many years.”

Trump said it will be finished ahead of the Fourth of July, when the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of its independence. He added that the revamps should last up to 40 to 50 years.

Copyright © 2026 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

It’s been four months since the US captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and brought him to the US to stand trial. His vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, is now in charge, but the Trump administration has been largely silent on what comes next for the country.

In the meantime, Missy Ryan, a staff writer at the Atlantic, tells Vox that some polling suggests that a significant number of Venezuelans now feel that their country is better off — or at least no worse — than it was pre-US intervention.

It’s a somewhat surprising finding, given the many less optimistic predictions in the aftermath of Maduro’s removal. To explain what’s going on, Ryan spoke with Today, Explained co-host Sean Rameswaram about the surprising status of the US operation and what some positive outlook from inside the country tells us about what comes next.

Below is an excerpt of the conversation, edited for length and clarity. There’s much more in the full podcast, so listen to Today, Explained wherever you get podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and Spotify.

The headline of the piece really captured the surprise that many of my colleagues and many of the Latin America experts that I spoke with for the piece felt three months on from the ouster of Maduro, which was that, contrary to a lot of expectations about the potential destabilization of Venezuela, the potential for an Iraq-style armed insurgency or fracturing of the state, things were pretty quiet in Venezuela.

And in fact, there had been a relatively positive response from the Venezuelan public. In the limited polling that’s been done since January 3, they have expressed cautious optimism or at least a willingness to let some time pass before making a judgment about the overall net analysis of ‘are things better or worse for us in Venezuela?’

And you referenced polling, so this isn’t just people in the media saying things got better in Venezuela. Venezuelans broadly feel that way.

Correct. And I think that that should be the ultimate arbiter. It doesn’t matter as much what analysts in Washington or Miami think. It’s about the Venezuelans in Venezuela and then obviously the exile community throughout the world who are deeply invested in what happens there [and] can potentially return and help grow the economy, rebuild Venezuelan society after a very traumatic period of repression and economic deterioration.

The sense was people were willing to give Delcy Rodríguez, the interim president, some time and the interim authority some time to show if they could deliver on the kind of bread and butter issues that Venezuelans seem most focused on. There are starting to be some improvements there in terms of the economy. It hasn’t really affected prices yet, but certainly investment is starting to slowly materialize, [though] definitely far short of what President Trump had envisioned and promised when we heard from him in early January.

But with oil prices, where they are and the lifting of sanctions, the resource-dependent Venezuelan economy stands to grow if only from a statistical rebound perspective. And hopefully that’ll really begin to trickle down into Venezuelans’ pockets. The question of political freedoms is going to be very important, but it didn’t seem like it was the primary concern of Venezuelans in the polling that has been done so far.

One of the biggest differences is obviously just that there’s someone different in charge. Is Delcy Rodríguez making Venezuela a freer country than Maduro did?

That is a complicated question. There have been a number of metrics that you can talk about.

When the ouster happened in January, the Trump administration talked about it as a simple law enforcement operation that was executed by the military, which is incredibly unorthodox. They were talking about three phases, and this is what Rubio and the people at the State Department were describing as three phases that they saw for Venezuela: stabilization, recovery, and then transition.

As part of that recovery stage, they have leaned on the Rodríguez interim authorities to take certain steps. They focused on the release of political prisoners [and] they backed away from the same level of arbitrary arrests that had occurred under Maduro. There have been some limited, mostly economically focused protests or demonstrations that have happened without the same kind of crackdown that you would’ve expected under Maduro.

These have only been limited steps; there’s so much more that hasn’t actually occurred yet, and that includes the full release of political prisoners.

Remember that although Venezuelan oil exports are really starting to increase and the revenues are really starting to increase, that money goes into a US Treasury-controlled account in the United States, and Delcy Rodríguez has to submit a spending plan to the US government and in order to get that money back to Venezuela to pay salaries, to provide public services. So it is not an autonomous sovereign situation — far from it.

One of the biggest criticisms of this intervention in Venezuela, against President Trump, has been, “You didn’t even change the regime. You just put Maduro’s number two in power.” There’s no commitment to elections, at least in a concrete form. Do we have any idea now that it’s been four months, when we might see elections?

There has been no official statement either from the interim authorities in Venezuela or the US government, but what I’m told privately is that they are planning for elections to occur by the second half of 2027.

However, there is a lot that needs to happen before then, and we haven’t seen any public steps to advance those steps, which would include reform of the National Electoral Commission, an update to the registry of Venezuelans who have all been displaced all throughout Venezuela, and then of course, the question of millions of Venezuelans who are now outside the country who would need to [take] part in any sort of credible election.

The lack of a plan that has been made public raises questions about the level of commitment that the US administration has to the democracy piece of this. Their argument has been, ‘Look, if we jumped right into elections that really would have intensified the potential for civil conflict.’ And so their bet is on slow incremental change.

The fact that elections might be one, two years away only lends more credibility to this argument that this wasn’t about freedom for the Venezuelan people, this was about oil. Now that we’re months out, does it feel like this was just about oil? Is that a fair criticism to lob at the Trump administration?

It definitely was about oil, primarily for President Trump. He mentioned oil 19 times in the press conference that he gave the morning after the Maduro raid. There have been some more modest deals that have occurred, but the kind of big production deals in the oil sector have not yet materialized. And there’s a lot of structural obstacles that need to be overcome.

Primary among them is the overall trajectory of Venezuela and skepticism among oil investors to jump back in when they don’t know who’s going to be ruling the country in a year. Is it going to go back to a socialist model where they’re going to appropriate things?

Again, as Exxon famously said, they had their assets taken not once, but twice, and [Venezuela] was uninvestible. But also, what is this country going to look like in two years, five years, 10 years?