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Iran says it has launched a missile attack at an airbase in Jordan hosting US forces, after also targeting Kuwait and Bahrain. The Revolutionary Guards said missiles have targeted the Muwaffaq Salti airbase, which is known to host US F-35 fighter jets and other aircraft.

Neither Jordan nor the US has acknowledged any attack, but if confirmed it would likely be the first time that Iran has targeted Jordan since the start of the ceasefire in April.

The US strikes on Iran followed the downing of a US Apache helicopter over the strait of Hormuz, from which two crew members were rescued in a stable condition. In a post on social media Trump said the US “must” respond to the helicopter crash.

Here is the latest:

  • The US launched multiple waves of strikes on Iran in response to a military helicopter crash off the strait of Hormuz that Donald Trump said Iran had downed. The Associated Press reported that the Apache helicopter that crashed went down after colliding with an Iranian drone, but it was not clear whether the collision was intentional.

  • US strikes were reported across Iran’s southern coast, on the strait of Hormuz. After more than three hours of military action, US central command (Centcom) said strikes were “completed”, adding that the US remained ready to defend against “unjustified Iranian aggression.”

  • Soon after, Iran launched retaliatory attacks against the US, according to the countries state media, which said American bases in the region and the US fifth fleet in Bahrain were targeted with drones. Kuwait and Bahrain issued air raid alerts and reported that air defences were active in repelling attacks. Iran also claimed it had targeted a US base in Jordan with long range missiles.

  • Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said no attack would go “unanswered”, soon after the US launched strikes on Iran. Posting an image of the strait of Hormuz with the label, “Forever Persian Gulf”, Araghchi says that “despite its defeats on the battlefield, the U.S. opted to test our determination.”

  • Five hours before the airstrikes, Trump had posted on social media that the US “must” respond to the helicopter crash, from which two crew members were rescued in stable condition. Before his social media post, however, Trump appeared to downplay the crash, telling the Wall Street Journal in a phone interview that it “wasn’t a big deal” and that “the pilot is fine.”

  • Iranian state media reported that no air military operations have taken place in the strait of Hormuz over the past 24 hours, according to Reuters.

  • Lebanon’s health ministry said 11 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the southern city of Tyre on Tuesday. The state-run National News Agency (NNA) had reported the first strike taking place not long before Israel’s military issued an evacuation warning for the entire city and surrounding areas ahead of strikes there.

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Republican House lawmakers have introduced legislation to stop sexual predators from obtaining children through the use of surrogacy, after a homosexual registered sex offender purchased a baby boy in Pennsylvania.

Last year, LifeSiteNews covered the case of Brandon Mitchell, a Tier 1 sex offender in Pennsylvania, convicted of “sexual abuse of children” and “possession of child pornography.” A high school chemistry teacher at the time, Mitchell was arrested in 2016 for numerous “sexually explicit solicitations and conversations” with a 16-year-old student after he was found to have sent 20 explicit photos and a sexually explicit video of himself. 

Despite this record, Mitchell and his “husband” Logan Riley shared a video of them celebrating holidays with the surrogate-born boy through the first year of his life.

Now, Rep. Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) has introduced HR 9131, the Protecting Kids From Creeps Act, which punishes surrogacy agencies that fail to conduct background checks on clients; and HR 9132, the Preventing International Surrogacy Exploitation Act, which forbids foreign nationals from using American-based surrogacy services.

“These bills put children first (which should always be the case, and some seem to be forgetting that), and help prevent predators / foreign actors from obtaining children in our Nation for personal gain, profit, or other nefarious reasons,” Perry declared.

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After weeks in which President Donald Trump has expressed cautious optimism about peace talks with Iran, the United States retaliated against an Iranian downing of an American aircraft, raising questions about the administration’s Iran exit plan and how it will work with Congress going forward.

On Tuesday, the United States struck Iran in retaliation for the downing of an Army Apache helicopter. U.S. Central Command described the “self-defense strikes” as “a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression.”

Trump tied the strike into Iran’s hesitancy to accept American peace offers.

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Congressional Republicans returned to the Capitol on Monday, and CNN’s Manu Raju has been tracking them down to ask if they have any proof to support Trump’s claim that the primary election in California was rigged.

When Raju asked the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson said:

I, look, I don’t… Some of these efforts are so diabolical and so far upstream, it is impossible to prove, but I think everybody knows instinctively something is wrong here, and that’s a concern. We need people to believe in the integrity of our election system. It is critical to maintain a constitutional republic. We’re gonna keep working to pass the Save America Act because it requires, as you know, proof of citizenship and a photo ID to vote.

That, those are also 90%-plus issues in public opinion, and 70% of Democrats understand that’s, that’s necessary. We have to have free and fair elections-

Johnson seemed to be claiming that there is no proof that the California primary election was rigged because Democrats in the state are “diabolical.”

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Social Security’s trustees said in their annual report released Tuesday that the New Deal program will be unable to pay out full benefits by the end of 2032—a quarter earlier than projected last year—in the absence of congressional action, a finding that advocates said underscores the destructive impact of President Donald Trump’s policy agenda and the need to make the rich finally pay their fair share into the system.

“This is the first Social Security trustees report that begins to take Donald Trump’s second term policies into account: A tax bill that largely benefited the wealthy, economy-wrecking tariffs, a needless war with Iran, and hostility to immigrants,” said Nancy Altman, the president of Social Security Works. “All of these have reduced the amount of money going into Social Security, weakening the system’s finances.”

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MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — A cholera outbreak in northeastern Nigeria has killed 74 people and infected more than 7,000 others since it started in early May, medical charity Doctors Without Borders said Tuesday.

The outbreak, reported in 14 of Borno state’s 27 local governments, is unfolding in communities with health systems made fragile by nearly two decades of violent extremism from the Boko Haram insurgent group.

The illness is endemic and seasonal in the country, where only 14% of Nigeria’s population of more than 200 million have access to safely managed drinking water supply services, according to government data from 2020.

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More than 1,200 emergency personnel, supported by international teams from Japan and Australia, were deployed across the disaster zone as search crews continued inspecting damaged buildings for possible survivors. Although only four people remained officially listed as missing, authorities said heavily damaged structures still required thorough examination.

General Santos, a city of more than 700,000 people, was among the worst affected areas. Collapsing buildings and falling debris caused at least 13 deaths, while thousands of homes, schools, hospitals and public facilities suffered damage. Initial assessments indicated that more than 3,100 houses had been destroyed and 145 public buildings affected, including 12 hospitals and 89 schools.

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President Donald Trump’s explanation for the latest escalation “doesn’t make sense,” Larry Johnson has told RT

The US and Israel carried out their latest strikes on Iran and Lebanon in a deliberate effort to sabotage the ongoing peace talks, former CIA analyst Larry Johnson has told RT.

On Wednesday local time, the US struck Qeshm Island and targets in southern Iran in response to the crash of a US AH-64 Apache attack helicopter off the coast of Oman – an incident US President Donald Trump blamed on Iran. Tehran, however, has refused to confirm that it was responsible for the crash.

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Taiwan may feel distant to most Europeans, but a Chinese takeover of the island would send shockwaves from Washington to Tokyo, Taiwan’s deputy foreign minister François Chih-chung Wu told Euronews Next.

“If China attacks Taiwan, France, Europe, the United States, and Japan will all be affected. Taiwan will be in a terrible situation — but so will you,” he warned.

The deputy minister pushed back on China’s claim over Taiwan as part of its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. Beijing has never ruled out using force to bring the self-governing island under its control and refuses to recognise it as a sovereign state, insisting it be referred to internationally as “Chinese Taipei,” a designation that reflects China’s position that there is only “one China” and that Taiwan is part of it.

Taiwan itself officially goes by the Republic of China, a name dating back to the government that fled to the island after losing the civil war to Mao Zedong’s Communist forces.

Taiwan’s history is far more complex than the narrative that it has always been part of China, Wu said, with the island ruled by the Dutch, the Spanish, the Qing Empire and Japan at different times.

The Qing Dynasty administered part of Taiwan for more than a hundred years, but it was only between 1885 and 1894 that it attached any real importance to the island and established it as a province — a mere ten years of genuine strategic interest that challenges the current Chinese claims of continued sovereignty.

“China was not the only country there,” he said, arguing this history does not justify Beijing’s ambitions.

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Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) endorsed South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson (R) in the Palmetto State’s GOP gubernatorial primary after she lost the initial primary Tuesday. “I want you to know that I’m going to endorse Alan Wilson for governor,” Mace told supporters after polls closed.  “I want a law-and-order governor, and that law-and-order governor is going to…

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Los Angeles’ hotel industry is losing jobs at its fastest pace in a decade outside of the pandemic, raising fresh concerns about the economic fallout from some of the most aggressive minimum wage mandates in the nation.

A new analysis of federal labor data found that Los Angeles County hotels and motels saw their workforce shrink by 1.7% in December 2025 compared to the same month a year earlier, as businesses grappled with rapidly rising labor costs imposed by city and county officials.

The decline comes as Los Angeles prepares to host a series of major international events, including the 2028 Summer Olympics, while hotel operators warn that mounting costs are threatening the industry’s ability to expand and meet future demand.

Wage Mandates Coincide with Sharp Employment Decline

According to an analysis by the Employment Policies Institute (EPI) of newly released U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the contraction represents the steepest year-over-year decline in Los Angeles County’s hotel industry in a decade, excluding pandemic-related disruptions.

The losses followed a series of government-mandated wage increases.

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A Collin County, Texas, jury found Karmelo Anthony guilty of murder on Tuesday for the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf during a high school track meet in Frisco in April 2025. The jury rejected Anthony’s claim that he acted in self-defense.

The jury returned the verdict after roughly three hours of deliberation. Reports indicate the jurors did not opt for a lesser manslaughter conviction.

The New York Post provided a brief recap of the events that led to Metcalf’s death:

The violent confrontation erupted in the bleachers of Kuykendall Stadium when Anthony refused to leave the tent reserved for the Memorial High School track team during a rain delay.

Anthony was repeatedly asked to leave the tent multiple times, and Metcalf began to argue with him.

The argument escalated further when Anthony said to Metcalf “touch me and see what happens,” while keeping his hand hidden in his backpack, implying that he had a weapon, according to FOX4.

Metcalf pushed him and Anthony fatally stabbed him in the chest with a knife.

Witnesses for the state testified that Anthony acted as the aggressor.

Anthony was caught on video stating, “I’m not alleged, I did it.”

“He put his hands on me.”

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The buzziest bit of the new artificial-intelligence bill from Reps. Jay Obernolte, a California Republican, and Lori Trahan, a Massachusetts Democrat, is probably the section that would let Washington preempt state rules on AI development for three years. For me, the more interesting part is its bet on auditing as a middle path between Silicon Valley self-regulation and an FDA-style premarket approval regime for frontier models.

Earlier this year, several dozen AI policy folks signed onto a proposal, “Frontier AI Auditing: Toward Rigorous Third-Party Assessment of Safety and Security Practices at Leading AI Companies” that “outlines a vision for frontier AI auditing, which we define as rigorous third-party verification of frontier AI developers’ safety and security claims, and evaluation of their systems and practices against relevant standards, based on deep, secure access to non-public information.”

What does that mean? For starters, an audit is not a permission slip. Rather than making a company clear a government gate before shipping, as the FDA does with drugs, an independent reviewer with access to the confidential innards of an AI company would check the latest model against a set standard. Think of it as how an accountant signs off on a public company’s books. Private firms do the examining while a public body stays in the background. Maybe it sets the rules, accredits the examiners, and holds the enforcement hammer.

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Karmelo Anthony has been found guilty of first degree murder in the fatal stabbing of Austin Metcalf during a high school track meet in Frisco, Texas, last year. The Collin County jury reached the verdict Tuesday afternoon, rejecting Anthony’s claim of self-defense after deliberating for less than three hours.

An angry mob of Anthony supporters gathered outside the courthouse, chanting “we want justice!”

Fights broke out, with police swiftly making arrests to keep the peace.

“Deputies have made their presence clear, that they’re not going to tolerate any form of chaos,” Fox News reported.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A man charged in the fatal stabbing of a Ukrainian refugee on a North Carolina commuter train cannot currently stand trial because of his mental illness and will undergo medical treatment to try to restore his competency, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Decarlos Brown Jr., 35, faces a federal charge of causing death on a mass transportation system in the killing of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, a charge that is punishable by death. A separate state case against Brown in which he is charged with first-degree murder is on pause pending the outcome of the federal case.

At the request of Brown’s attorneys, U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell found that their client is not currently competent to stand trial and ordered him to spend up to four months in a prison medical facility to try to restore his competency.

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The Southern Poverty Law Center spent decades branding conservative and Christian groups as hate. On Tuesday its own leadership was the one answering questions under oath.

SPLC interim CEO and President Bryan Fair testified before the House Judiciary Committee at a hearing titled “The Southern Poverty Law Center: Manufacturing Hate, Part II.”

The hearing landed less than two months after a federal grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama, returned an indictment charging the SPLC organization with 11 counts of wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.

After the mail-in-vote save eliminated a Republican in the LA Mayor’s race, Republican Steve Hilton looked to be heading for a similar fate. Perhaps the growing suspicion of the legitimacy of that election led California to quickly certify the Republican as the second candidate in the run-off election.

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The US president has reportedly urged the Israeli PM not to restart a full-blown war with Iran

US President Donald Trump threatened to withdraw support for Israel during a tense phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Axios has reported.

Trump has held several heated phone conversations with the Israeli prime minister since Iran announced last week that it was suspending talks with the US over repeated Israeli strikes in Lebanon.

Iran’s conditions for a peace agreement include the cessation of hostilities on “all fronts,” including Lebanon, where nearly 3,700 people have been killed since early March, when Israel resumed strikes in response to attacks by Hezbollah.

Israel and Iran exchanged strikes on Sunday and Monday for the first time since a ceasefire was reached in April, following an Israeli strike in Beirut.