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Category: Nation & World

  • Kennedy orders woman to stay in hantavirus quarantine, despite CDC recommendation

    A cruise ship passenger who was exposed to hantavirus in early May is still being held at a quarantine facility in Nebraska, against her wishes and against the recommendation of a medical review from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    On Monday, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a staunch proponent of medical freedom, signed an order to continue quarantining Angela Perryman, 47, even though others who had been held at the facility have, since May 31, been allowed to return to their homes if they wished to do so.

    In a telephone interview with the New York Times, Perryman, who has tested negative for the virus and says she has not had any symptoms, expressed anger and frustration. She said she learned of Kennedy’s decision when a copy of his order was slipped under the door to her room.

    After a hearing to dispute her quarantine order, Michael Bell, the CDC’s quarantine medical reviewer, recommended Thursday that Perryman be allowed to return home for the remainder of her 42-day quarantine, with remote symptom monitoring once daily and access to 24-hour help “in the event she develops symptoms.”

    “In my professional judgment, this less restrictive alternative is adequate to protect public health,” Bell wrote in the review.

    “This is the final proof that there is no check and balance on a basically indefinite detention under the public health law,” Perryman said.

    The Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment.

    Perryman is one of 18 passengers who were on a cruise ship that became the center of a hantavirus outbreak that killed three people, sickened several others, and unnerved people around the world. They were flown back to the United States on May 11 and quarantined at the National Quarantine Unit in Omaha, Neb.

    The passengers were initially set to return to their own states, but were then ordered to remain in Omaha at least until May 31. Perryman publicly challenged the order.

    “I think this is obvious malice and retaliation,” she said Monday.

    Some passengers were allowed to quarantine at home until June 22, or 42 days, provided local health officials committed to having a law enforcement or community health worker monitor them. Perryman is one of 10 passengers still in Omaha, she said, but the only one being held against her will.

    Perryman lives in Florida part of the time and wished to quarantine there. But Florida refused to comply with the administration’s requirements, according to Steven Hyman, Perryman’s lawyer.

    But now, the order by Kennedy to keep Perryman in Omaha “flies in the face of the findings of the medical reviewer,” Hyman said.

    At the Omaha facility, officials take Perryman’s temperature twice a day and provide her with food on request. She can also request access to a rooftop for about an hour each day, under the watch of armed guards.

    “They’re polite and they’re not using physical violence against me, but otherwise it’s a prison,” she said.

    This article originally appeared in the New York Times.

  • Colleges are finally making it easier to transfer academic credits

    Colleges are finally making it easier to transfer academic credits

    Hannah Fleckner was in the midst of a premed track at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland when she realized that what she really wanted to do was teach. But the idea of transferring to a new school was scary. She had to start over, figure out the policies at each school, and she realized she wouldn’t get credit for many of the classes she had already taken.

    It wasn’t just the fear.

    “The transfer process is frustrating,” said Fleckner, who is among the more than a million students who transfer colleges each year. “It’s self-inflicted pain.”

    Transferring academic credits is a perennial problem in higher education. Coursework at one school may not align with the requirements at another. Students may have to retake classes, spending more money and time on their education. And the frustration of it all can derail students from earning bachelor’s degrees.

    As students wrap up the school year and look ahead to the next, more colleges and universities are making a concerted effort to simplify the process to get more students across the finish line.

    There are potential benefits to the schools as well as to the students — especially at a time when many school officials are concerned about enrollment and hope to reach a wider mix of students.

    “We see some hope on the horizon,” said Tania LaViolet, director of the Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program. “There are community colleges and universities that have created transformational transfer models that are serving students much better than what we’ve seen in the past.”

    The Aspen Institute, a Washington think tank, has tracked the national outcomes for transfers since 2016. While 80% of community college students aspire to earn a bachelor’s degree, only 16% are successful within six years of entering school. LaViolet said transparency regarding student success rates and the workforce shortages has helped build urgency around the issue for many states and schools.

    Colleges are increasingly partnering to design transfer programs with tailored advising and course plans that map out the classes needed for community college students to progress in their majors.

    At American University — where Fleckner transferred — a new program will allow students to bring as many as 75 previously earned credits, and could cover up to half the cost of tuition at the private university.

    American, like many schools, has been concerned about enrollment, and transfers could be an opportunity for growth. School leaders said they have heard from local community colleges that their students who want a four-year degree are apt to assume that private colleges are out of reach.

    “I don’t know that it was always just perception that we were out of reach,” said Vicky Wilkins, the school’s provost and chief academic officer. “This is a true effort to make sure we’re not out of reach to them.” The school has made the financial commitment, she said, so that they can tell students, “You can plan to be at a private place like AU. You can come in and take advantage of the pledges and commitments we’ve been making in our strategic plan, and we’re going to help you get there and do it.”

    Colorado State University and Front Range Community College launched the Ram Transfer Academy in 2024 to give enrollees immediate access to academic and student services at both institutions. Lebanon Valley College, a private institution in Pennsylvania, teamed with Harrisburg Area Community College to offer a dual-admission program in which students can take up to four free courses at the four-year school while completing a degree at the community college.

    Last fall, the City University of New York rolled out Universal Transfer Path (UTP), a program that ensures students at CUNY community colleges follow the same coursework as those at CUNY four-year schools. That way, students can seamlessly transfer within a major across the system of 18 undergraduate colleges.

    “The way in which material was covered in similar courses varied quite a bit from school to school,” said Alicia Alvero, executive vice chancellor and university provost at CUNY, who is overseeing the transfer initiative. “It was demoralizing for students because they had to repeat so much content.”

    The university system focused on eight majors with the highest transfer rates — accounting, biology, business, computer science, engineering, math, psychology, and sociology — which account for 85% of CUNY’s transfer students.

    If a student takes an accounting class with the UTP designation at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, those credits are guaranteed to count toward a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Baruch College. According to CUNY, more than 345 courses are now universally equivalent to each other across all colleges, a system that is expected to save students an average of $1,220 in excess credits.

    At American University, the new program is open to students nationally. But school officials have been working particularly closely with local community colleges to make transferring credits seamless and to show students there’s a direct path to completing their degree, one they could be thinking about as early as high school.

    “We wanted to move transfers to the front of the conversation,” said Jeremy Lowe, American’s assistant vice president for undergraduate admissions. The country’s demographics are changing, and community college may become a more common starting point for a four-year degree, he added.

    Evelyn Thimba, the vice president for undergraduate enrollment, said the school realized some of its policies weren’t as transfer-friendly as they could be. Now officials are increasing financial aid, adding a transfer-specific orientation, starting academic advising even before students arrive on campus, and ensuring they have a career adviser who can help them find professional experiences such as internships.

    Benny Geller, a 21-year-old from Charlotte, N.C., who transferred from Berklee College of Music in Boston, appreciated that American grouped transfer students together for orientation, which helped the older students make friends quickly. “It just helped me feel a bit less like a stranger on campus,” he said.

    “I was worried about making friends, finding community,” Fleckner said. “I was just very nervous about being older going into a college environment,” where most entering students had recently finished high school. The transfer orientation group was more diverse — with veterans, people with associate’s degrees, students from public and private universities — and Fleckner said she found the experience welcoming.

    Her adviser met with her several times in the first two weeks of school to help her transfer as many credits as possible. “She has been amazing,” Fleckner said.

    Now, with the new initiative, she’s hopeful that she’ll be able to get credit for even more of her hard work from Case Western, finish her classes and graduate next spring — in time to start teaching in the fall.

  • Singer Oliver Tree is said to have died in collision of helicopters in Brazil

    Two helicopters collided Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, killing all six people on board, authorities in Brazil said.

    Among those believed to have died in the collision is American musician Oliver Tree, whose name was on the flight manifest, according to the Associated Press as well as a police official with knowledge of the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is still open.

    In a statement, the Military Fire Department of the State of Rio de Janeiro said it responded to a call around 9 a.m. Sunday for a collision involving two aircraft in the southwest zone of Rio.

    According to the agency, the helicopters collided in midair and crashed into the parking lot of a car dealership where electric vehicles were parked, setting off a fire involving at least 20 cars.

    The agency did not identify the victims of the crash, and it was not immediately clear what caused the collision.

    Tree, 32, had performed in Argentina this month as part of his world tour, the AP reported.

    On Saturday, Tree posted a video to his Instagram account in which he appeared to be playing soccer in Brazil.

    Tree, a musician from Santa Cruz, Calif., was recognized for his distinctive bowl cut and retro fashion along with his contributions to electronic music.

    He is best known for his songs “Life Goes On,” “Miss You,” and “Alien Boy.” He has more than 11 million monthly listeners on Spotify.

    Representatives for Tree did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

    This article originally appeared in the New York Times.

  • Iran and U.S. reach an initial deal to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz but challenges remain

    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United States and Iran reached an initial agreement Monday that would extend their shaky ceasefire and lead to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, but significant challenges remain to ending the war, including whether Israel will continue its offensive in Lebanon.

    Details of the deal have not been made public. The U.S. said it was signed electronically on Sunday but that it will not be implemented until a formal signing. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a key mediator, said that will happen Friday in Geneva. Even if the strait — a crucial waterway for the world’s oil and natural gas — fully opens then, it will likely take months for the global energy crisis sparked by its closure to ease.

    Israel joined the U.S. in launching the war on Feb. 28, but it is not party to the deal. The Israeli defense minister said Monday that the country would not withdraw from land seized in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group.

    A spokesperson in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel will continue to defend itself against any threat to its security. That alone could scuttle the deal, since Iran has insisted any agreement to end the war include an end to the fighting in Lebanon.

    The agreement also faces other major challenges. It gives just 60 days to decide what to do about Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium and its nuclear program — which the U.S. and Israel worry could be used to build an atomic weapon, despite Tehran’s insistence that the program is peaceful. It took years for Iran and world powers to negotiate a 2015 agreement to rein in Tehran’s nuclear program.

    President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from that accord in his first term, setting the stage for the tensions that culminated in the current war, which has killed thousands across the Middle East, including the top leaders of Iran’s theocracy, and raised the prices of fuel, food, and other basic goods far beyond the region.

    The Strait of Hormuz won’t open until the deal is signed

    Early in the war, Iranian attacks on ships brought traffic in the Strait of Hormuz — through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas passed before the conflict — to a near standstill. Trump implemented a blockade in response.

    Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said Iran would not start implementing the agreement until after the signing ceremony. The U.S. military said the blockade will remain in place “pending execution” of the deal.

    “Do not attempt to cross until explicit direction is given,” it said Monday in an advisory to merchant ships.

    Trump, who faced pressure to end the war ahead of congressional midterm elections in November, said that “a lot of great things are going to happen in the Middle East right now.”

    “Very importantly, the oil is plummeting down, and the stock market is shooting up like a rocket today,” he said Monday at the G7 summit in France.

    While the agreement provides for the “immediate” opening of the strait and lifting of the blockade, the process will take time because there are mines in the strait, and ships are unwilling to risk traversing it, according to a senior U.S. official who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss outlines of the agreement.

    Details remain scant but expected soon

    A second senior U.S. official told reporters that details of the agreement would be released within the next two days.

    The memorandum of understanding includes the possibility of releasing Iran’s frozen funds, easing sanctions, and creating a $300 billion fund to rebuild Iran — all of which would be tied to Iran meeting benchmarks, the official said.

    The officials said technical talks would begin on Friday after the signing ceremony and that Vice President JD Vance would lead negotiations for the U.S.

    Israel says it won’t withdraw from Lebanon

    The success of the deal rests at least partially on what happens between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel’s bombing of Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday nearly derailed the negotiations, and a previous attack led Iran to fire on Israel and Israel to fire back.

    Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel plans to stay “indefinitely” in land it holds in Lebanon, Syria, and the Gaza Strip. He also threatened that if Iran attacks Israel over its strikes in Lebanon, Israel will strike Iran with “great force.”

    Asked where Israel stands on the deal, David Mencer, a spokesperson in Netanyahu’s office, told the Associated Press that Israel and the U.S. remain fully aligned on preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. But he added that Israel will not tolerate attacks from Hezbollah on its territory.

    Israel and the U.S. began the war apparently in lockstep, but the war has created deep fractures in that close relationship, with Trump eager to end a conflict that is deeply unpopular with the American public and Netanyahu intent on destroying Hezbollah. Trump appears to have grown increasingly frustrated with the Israeli leader, even occasionally publicly insulting him, including telling the New York Times on Sunday that he was a “very difficult guy.”

    Many Lebanese travel to check on homes

    In a sign of the deal’s fragility, the Lebanese army called on residents not to rush to return to border villages, saying they should follow military instructions because of the danger of “Israeli violations and aggression.”

    Many Lebanese who had fled following Israeli evacuation orders and intense fighting were heading south, however, to check on their homes. Celine Fayad, driving south, said she will test how far she could go. Her village, Aitaroun, is along the border with Israel. It was among the first to be occupied and lies in ruins.

    “We were expecting to return,” she said. “Thanks to Iran.”

    Ali Haidar was among the first to return to Nabatiyeh, the southern city at the heart of the latest Israeli military operations, where many central buildings have been reduced to dust.

    “This used to be our home, our childhood home where we have all of our memories. This is where we grew up. Now it’s gone,” Haidar said. “We will return to rubble and sand. It’s better than being displaced.”

    Hezbollah, meanwhile, credited Iran with a “major achievement” in reaching the agreement, which it said could lead to “the full liberation of our land, the return of our prisoners to their homeland and families,” and reconstruction of war-devastated areas.

    Along with praising the deal, the militant group said it was committed to resisting Israel “until full withdrawal is achieved.”

    World leaders welcome the deal

    Despite the uncertainties, world leaders from Europe to China welcomed the agreement. French President Emmanuel Macron, who is hosting Trump and other world leaders at a Group of Seven summit this week, said France and other Western partners are “ready to take action very quickly” to help restore normal shipping traffic in the strait once the U.S. and Iran agree to such a mission.

    Others have expressed caution that the deal remains tentative. Luxembourg’s foreign minister, Xavier Bettel, noted: “It’s a long time till Friday.”

  • Trump arrives at G7 summit looking for momentum after announcing a deal to end the Iran war

    EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France — President Donald Trump started his visit to the G7 summit of leading industrialized nations on Monday by declaring his agreement aimed at ending the U.S. war with Iran is a potential breakthrough for global security and a chance for the U.S. to finally turn the page in its relationship with longtime adversary Iran.

    The Republican U.S. president sought to make clear that he arrived in Evian-les-Bains with the wind at his back for talks with G7 leaders, including some who have been sharply critical of his management of the 15-week-old conflict, which has led to a surge in global energy prices — though he did not immediately seem willing to lay out the details of what was in the emerging deal.

    Some of those details are still to be negotiated in talks over the next 60 days, though Trump said the memorandum of understanding would likely be released after it’s signed on Friday.

    “I think a lot of great things are going to happen in the Middle East right now, and very importantly the oil (price) is plummeting down and the stock market is shooting up like a rocket today,” Trump said at a meeting with the summit’s host, French President Emmanuel Macron, before they joined a working dinner with other leaders.

    “The Iran deal that we made is going to bring a lot of success to the world,” he said.

    Deal could change G7 dynamic

    Trump has had friction with Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni over failing to consult them before the decision to go to war. But sealing an agreement before jetting off to the summit might change the dynamic of the three-day gathering.

    Macron at the start of Monday’s meeting congratulated Trump for finding a way to an agreement.

    “It’s a very important matter for peace of the whole world,” Macron said.

    Trump has pushed back on the four European leaders — members of the NATO military alliance — for their lack of support for the U.S. in the conflict.

    He’s expected to discuss with leaders the demining of the Strait of Hormuz. Britain and France have expressed interest in assisting with the demining once the conflict is paused. Fear of potential mines is among the reasons tanker traffic has come to a halt during the war, and quickly clearing them will be crucial to regaining the confidence of commercial vessels.

    Macron on Monday said France was ready to move within days to deploy assets, including mine-clearing vessels, to the region to help.

    Senior U.S. officials told reporters that while the agreement provides for the immediate opening of the strait and lifting of the U.S. naval blockade, it will take weeks for traffic to return to previous levels.

    Macron invited the leaders of three nations that aren’t part of the G7 — Egypt, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates — to take part in a session on the Middle East on Tuesday, when Iran is expected to be a central focus.

    Trump faces questions about financial incentives for Tehran

    Trump had fiercely criticized President Barack Obama for the 2015 nuclear agreement, which Trump argued failed to stop Tehran from advancing toward a weapon and funneled billions of dollars into the Islamic Republic’s coffers.

    In 2018, Trump exited the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the European Union were also signatories to the pact.

    Trump in an interview on Sunday with the New York Times pushed back on comparisons to the Obama-era nuclear deal. “We negotiated from strength,” Trump said. “He was basically paying them off.”

    But Trump hasn’t explained how his agreement will address some key issues about Iran’s nuclear program, including who will be in charge of verifying that Iran is complying with the agreement and who will destroy or remove 972 pounds of highly enriched uranium believed to be buried under nuclear sites that were badly damaged by U.S. strikes last summer.

    The memorandum of understanding includes the possibility of releasing Iran’s frozen funds, sanctions relief, and a $300 billion fund to help rebuild Iran — all of which would be tied to Tehran meeting certain benchmarks aimed at assuaging White House concerns, senior U.S. officials told reporters on Monday.

    Some Democrats and hawkish critics say Trump has failed to explain how the financial relief in his agreement will differ from what Obama did in the 2015 nuclear deal.

    “For all his critique of JCPOA, we had international observers, we actually had an alliance there that included the Europeans, and Russia and China were all signatories,” Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday.

    Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Trump and an Iran hawk, expressed skepticism, saying that Congress will need to review and vote on any nuclear deal with Iran, and said he expects Vice President JD Vance — “the architect of the deal” — to present it.

    “I am somewhat concerned that Iran’s view of the agreement seems different than what the American negotiating team is claiming,” Graham said on social media.

    Trade irritants and the war in Ukraine are also a focus

    Leaders are expected to discuss a range of economic and trade issues. Trump told the New York Post he’s warned Macron the U.S. will “have no choice” but to slap 100% tariffs on French wines unless ​Paris eliminates its digital tax on American tech companies, renewing a long-running threat from him that dates to his first administration.

    Wines and ​spirits exported to the U.S. from the European Union currently face ​a 15% ⁠tariff.

    In an interview with broadcaster TF1, Macron said Monday that it’s not “for the United States to decide what European or French law should be.”

    Macron also invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for a working session with G7 leaders on Tuesday to discuss the Russia-Ukraine war.

    At the moment, Zelensky is not scheduled to hold one-on-one talks with Trump while they’re both in France, but Trump on Sunday held separate phone calls with Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

    Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters that Trump emphasized the need to end hostilities with Ukraine and stated his readiness to influence European allies and Kyiv toward that goal, including at the G7.

    Zelensky had offered to meet Putin with Trump and European leaders at the G7 gathering, but the Kremlin didn’t reply, a Ukrainian official familiar with the matter told the Associated Press. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

    Putin is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes, and France would be obliged as an ICC member to arrest him. The United States and Russia both oppose the court.

    Trump suggested that, after an Iran deal, he’ll now have greater bandwidth to focus on the Russia-Ukraine war.

    “Now that this is finished, we’re going to be focusing on that,” he said, referring to diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting that followed Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.

  • Kennedy seeks to expedite appeal of ruling that blocked his vaccine policies

    Kennedy seeks to expedite appeal of ruling that blocked his vaccine policies

    The Trump administration has requested an expedited appeal of a federal court ruling that blocked a series of decisions on vaccines made by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including rescinding routine recommendations for immunizations against a half-dozen childhood diseases.

    Kennedy announced in a social media post Friday that the administration had filed the motion to expedite appeal so that federal vaccine advisers could meet to decide whether to recommend shots before the fall flu season.

    The move is the latest development in a lawsuit brought by six medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics. The suit contended that Kennedy and his appointees to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had made “arbitrary and capricious” changes to the childhood vaccine schedule.

    It also argued that the panelists Kennedy appointed to the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, a panel of outside experts, did not have the qualifications to recommend vaccinations and that their decisions endangered the health of Americans.

    The ruling, delivered March 16 by a federal judge in Massachusetts, temporarily blocked Kennedy’s policies while the trial continued. It froze all decisions made by the panelists Kennedy had appointed and prevented the committee from meeting as scheduled.

    Friday’s announcement is the latest sign that the administration is seeking to revive the committee. Last month, President Donald Trump issued an executive order urging the CDC and the committee to align their recommendations for childhood vaccinations with those of peer countries. Separately, Kennedy’s office reestablished the committee’s charter.

    “The 2026-2027 respiratory virus season (i.e., RSV, influenza, COVID) begins in the fall, and while the ACIP cannot act, no newly licensed or reformulated vaccine for those conditions can be added to the immunization schedule,” the administration argued in its motion, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

    Richard Hughes, a lawyer for the medical organizations, said in a statement that the administration’s motion was a “misleading attempt to shift blame for what Secretary Kennedy broke.”

    “We will oppose his motion to expedite appeal because we refuse to pave the way for his further destruction,” Hughes said.

    Vaccine recommendations have historically been made by ACIP members after careful review of the benefits and potential risks, in a process that can take months or years. Last June, Kennedy fired all 17 previous members of the committee and named new ones, many of whom shared his skepticism of vaccines.

    Over three meetings, the new panelists rescinded several recommendations for childhood shots, including the immunization of all newborns against hepatitis B, a highly infectious virus that can severely damage the liver.

    Then, in January, bypassing the committee entirely, the acting head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, appointed by Kennedy, announced a new schedule for childhood vaccines, which cut the number of diseases against which children are routinely immunized to 11 from 17.

    In his decision, Judge Brian Murphy, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, noted that vaccine recommendations had historically followed “a method scientific in nature and codified into law through procedural requirements.”

    But, he added, “unfortunately, the government has disregarded those methods and thereby undermined the integrity of its actions.”

    Only six of the panelists Kennedy appointed “appear to have any meaningful experience in vaccines — the very focus of ACIP,” the judge said.

    Immediately after the ruling, the Trump administration indicated it would appeal. On April 23, the Justice Department instead asked the court to halt the case while an appeal was pending, arguing that continuing the case “wastes scarce taxpayer resources” and that compiling administrative records required by the court “would divert agency employees from other important responsibilities in furtherance of the public health.” Then, on April 29, the administration filed its intent to appeal.

    The court’s request for extensive records may indeed be what spurred the administration to appeal, said Dorit Reiss, an expert on vaccine policy and law at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco.

    “One reason for asking for a halt and filing the appeal may be that they did not want to give the information, or the trial was going poorly, and they wanted to put that on hold,” she said.

    This article originally appeared in the New York Times.

  • Trump winds down the war he started with goals unmet

    Trump winds down the war he started with goals unmet

    Almost immediately after striking a deal with Iran, President Donald Trump appeared eager to take a victory lap.

    He trumpeted that the agreement would open the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for the world’s energy supplies whose stalled ship traffic has rattled the global economy. He told the New York Times that his efforts had saved Israel from nuclear extinction and made the Middle East safer. It all gave him a key win as he traveled to France for the Group of 7 summit, where he is meeting with European leaders who have criticized his approach to the war.

    Despite Trump’s grandiose claims, the agreement has not yet achieved the core goals he laid out three months ago for launching the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.

    Back then, Trump said the United States intended to “annihilate” Iran’s military capabilities, abolish its nuclear ambitions, topple its theocratic leadership, and liberate its people, whom he encouraged to take over their government when the fighting had stopped. Just one week after the strikes started, he said Iran’s only path to a deal was an “unconditional surrender.”

    Trump publicly declared victory Sunday mainly based on solving a problem of his own making, in miscalculating Iran’s ability to choke off the Strait of Hormuz. Trump asserted on Truth Social that he had authorized the toll-free opening of the crucial waterway, which would essentially restore the prewar status quo, and celebrated that the global energy markets would rebound.

    “Ships of the World, start your engines,” he wrote. “Let the oil flow!”

    The latest framework, which has not yet been publicly released and is expected to be signed in Geneva on Friday, is a capstone to three months in which Trump has delivered a dizzying array of mixed messages.

    He said that Iran’s nuclear program had been “obliterated” in U.S. strikes last year, yet said that the war was necessary to stop the Iranians from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

    Trump said that Iran’s nuclear program posed a threat not only to allies, but also to U.S. troops overseas and to everyday Americans. He was clear that the war’s conclusion would rest on one stipulation: “It has always been the policy of the United States, in particular, my administration, that this terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon,” he said. “I’ll say it again. They can never have a nuclear weapon.”

    Even Saturday, when he announced that a deal would be signed the next day, he claimed that Iran’s leaders “no longer want a nuclear weapon, nor will they have one, either through purchase, development, or any other form of procurement.”

    But the deal leaves that issue unresolved for at least another 60 days, when both sides are expected to negotiate on nuclear issues.

    Trump did not cast the deal as a solution to the nuclear threat. Instead he focused on the Middle East and his legacy.

    “This Great Deal will bring Peace and Security to the whole Region,” he wrote in a social media post. “Many presidents have tried to make Peace with Iran, and all have failed before me.”

    Trump has also sent conflicting messages over how far he would go to secure a nuclear agreement with Iran. He has gone from threatening to wipe out the country’s civilization to saying he was in no hurry to remove its remaining stockpiles of enriched uranium.

    At the start of the war, Trump initially claimed the United States would accomplish its goals in “four to five weeks.” He repeatedly compared the war in Iran to his quick military operation in Venezuela, in which the top leader was removed but much of the rest of the government remained in place, willing to work with the United States.

    This war instead dragged on for months, killing thousands of Iranian civilians and 13 U.S. service members. Rather than bowing to the United States, Iran’s new leadership has been emboldened, consistently withstanding military and diplomatic pressure to persist in its goal of advancing a nuclear program.

    In negotiations with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and special envoy, Steve Witkoff, the Iranians have held firm on not giving up the right to enrich uranium.

    “As for the nuclear issues, there really is no agreement,” Daniel B. Shapiro, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, said in a statement on social platform X. “Iran knows how to drag out those negotiations, and try to pocket concessions along the way.”

    He added that the United States now appeared to be paying to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by potentially lifting sanctions imposed against Iran. The Trump administration has said Iran would receive no relief from sanctions or release of its frozen financial assets until it delivered on its commitments.

    The framework does provide a path toward potential peace and economic relief. And Monday, both world leaders and global markets expressed optimism.

    Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany, who previously said that the United States had “no strategy” and was being “humiliated” by Iran in the war, congratulated both sides on the diplomatic breakthrough, calling it a potential step toward “a reinvigorated global economy and a more secure Middle East.”

    But it was a cautious optimism given all the uncertainties. Crucially, Iran’s nuclear capability will need to be hashed out over the next two months of negotiations, raising questions over whether a lasting peace will materialize.

    Plenty of spoilers could arise along the way. Notably Israel, a partner in the war but not in the framework for peace, has been less than enthusiastic about the deal. Trump himself said in the Times interview that he was prepared to restart military attacks against Tehran if Iran failed to reach a final nuclear accord with the United States.

    Some of Trump’s allies appeared concerned over the unfinished aspects of the negotiations. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), who has long supported military action against Iran, said he was “somewhat concerned that Iran’s view of the agreement seems different than what the American negotiating team is claiming.”

    “I will be watching closely the ensuing negotiations regarding Iran’s nuclear program and other matters,” Graham said. He added that Vice President JD Vance, whom he described as the “architect of the deal,” should ensure that the final deal is presented to Congress.

    In an interview with CNBC on Monday, Vance said the framework gave the administration “leverage,” though there remained “details to figure out,” including on enriched uranium.

    As negotiations progressed over the weekend, Trump posted a lengthy criticism on social media of the previous deal struck with Iran by President Barack Obama, asserting that the one he was working on would be better.

    Shapiro, who is also a fellow at the Atlantic Council research institute, said on social media that Trump seemed focused on comparing his deal favorably with the Obama deal, but the United States was far from being able to come to such a conclusion.

    “It is possible that no deal will ever be reached,” Shapiro said, “and very likely that if one is reached, it will be worse than what we could have achieved through diplomacy before the war.”

    This article originally appeared in the New York Times.

  • Wisconsin beagle farm closing and hundreds of its dogs will be sent to a Florida rescue group

    MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin beagle breeding farm that’s been the site of recent violent protests is closing, and its remaining dogs are being taken in by a Florida rescue group.

    Big Dog Ranch Rescue announced Monday that it has reached an agreement for the permanent closure of Ridglan Farms and the transfer of its 475 remaining beagles starting this week.

    “Not one dog will remain,” Lauree Simmons, the group’s founder, said in a news conference at a farm in Wisconsin. “No more breeding, no more testing, no more anything.”

    The rescue group said some of the beagles will go to other rescue groups while others will be sent to its Florida and Alabama campuses, where they will be spayed, neutered, and prepared for adoption.

    The group bought roughly 1,500 of the farm’s more than 2,000 beagles in April for an undisclosed price.

    About 200 dogs were transferred from the farm starting Monday morning, according to Simmons. Another 125 will be moved Tuesday. The transfer of the remaining beagles will happen in August, as they are still puppies.

    Simmons called on protesters to refrain from further demonstrations as it says Ridglan Farms has committed to permanently closing its dog breeding, sales, research, and testing operations.

    She said her group and others are “working closely” with the Trump administration to stop funding studies that subject dogs to invasive and painful experimentation.

    “Our focus now should be on supporting these dogs as they transition into their new lives,” Simmons said. “These dogs will get to experience safety and a normal life for the first time.”

    Ridglan Farms, in a statement Monday, said all the dogs being transferred are “happy, healthy animals” with “extensive” state and federal inspection documentation.

    “We hope these dogs will continue to flourish in their new homes,” the farm said, adding that the “years-long harassment campaign targeting the research facility’s owners, staff, and neighbors comes to an end.”

    The dog breeding and research business is located in Blue Mounds, a small town about 25 miles southwest of the capital, Madison.

    Animal activists have been pushing for years to have dogs at the facility adopted, not sold to other research facilities.

    Beagles are the most common breed of dog used for animal testing, primarily because of their smaller size and gentle temperament, according to Big Dog Ranch Rescue.

    In April, police used tear gas and pepper spray to repel a large group of animal welfare activists that stormed the farm in an attempt to take beagles from the facility. Protesters also broke into the facility in March and took 30 dogs, leading to dozens of arrests.

    Ridglan Farms agreed in October to give up its state breeding license as of July 1 as part of a deal to avoid prosecution on felony animal mistreatment charges.

    The firm has denied mistreating animals, but a special prosecutor determined that Ridglan Farms was performing eye procedures that violated state veterinary standards.

  • A Russian barrage in Ukraine kills 11 and damages a sacred landmark, officials say

    KYIV, Ukraine — A cathedral in one of the oldest and most sacred landmarks in Eastern Orthodox Christianity was set ablaze early Monday as Russia bombarded Ukraine’s biggest cities, killing 11 people, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

    Russia fired the barrage of hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at the capital of Kyiv and the second-largest city of Kharkiv, after Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke separately by phone with U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday.

    Arriving in France, Trump said he had good conversations with Zelensky and Putin. “Now that this (Iran) is finished, we’re going to be focusing on that,” he said, referring to diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting that followed Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.

    The war in Ukraine is also set to feature in talks Tuesday by G7 leaders at a summit in France. Zelensky also is due to attend to bring attention to his country’s plight.

    “This is how Russia shows the world its intention to continue the war,” Zelensky said in a post on X, referring to the overnight attack on civilian sites that included the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, an 11th century monastery complex.

    “It is very important that there be a response from the G7 countries … and that this response be decisive and substantive; more pressure on the aggressor and more support for Ukraine’s air defense, especially anti-ballistic capabilities,” he said.

    Zelensky offered to meet Putin with Trump and European leaders at the G7 gathering in France but the Kremlin didn’t reply, a Ukrainian official familiar with the matter told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly about it. The Kremlin has said repeatedly that if Zelensky wants to meet Putin, he can come to Moscow.

    Putin is wanted by the court on a warrant dating to March 2023 for alleged involvement in the abduction of children from Ukraine during the conflict. France would be obliged as an ICC member to arrest him. The United States and Russia both oppose the court.

    Children among the wounded in Kyiv

    Zelensky said the Russian strikes killed 11 civilians and emergency workers and wounded 53 across Ukraine.

    Five were killed in Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, where at least 30 others were also wounded, including two children aged 5 and 6, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s Military Administration.

    A series of powerful explosions were heard across Kyiv, with a wave of ballistic missiles followed by Shahed drones as many people sought shelter underground. Clouds of black smoke drifted over the city.

    Five strikes hit civilian sites in the city’s Shevchenkivskyi district in under 30 minutes, Tkachenko said, including a 25-story apartment building, while a market and a grocery store caught fire. In the Obolonskyi district, a nine-story residential building took a direct hit.

    Russia’s Defense Ministry said the strikes targeted defense and industrial facilities in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipro, including enterprises and workshops producing components for long-range drones and cruise missiles. It said that a workshop producing medium- and long-range drones located on the premises of the Dovzhenko film studios in Kyiv was among the targets hit.

    Russia also claimed to have hit Kyiv’s Radar plant, which it said makes drone components, and the Mayak plant that it said makes Ukraine’s Flamingo long-range cruise missiles. Military conscription offices in Kyiv were also struck, it said.

    There was no immediate information about the 11th person killed in the attacks.

    Religious site damaged in attack

    In Kyiv, smoke billowed around the golden domes of the Dormition Cathedral inside the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a revered religious landmark.

    Its roof caught fire during the attack, said Metropolitan Epiphanius, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. He condemned the strike as another Russian crime “against humanity, against history, against Christianity,” and appealed for prayers to save the site.

    The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, also known as the Monastery of the Caves, is a sprawling complex of monasteries and churches, including some underground, built between the 11th and 19th centuries. Some of the churches at the UNESCO-listed World Heritage site are connected by a labyrinthine complex of caves spanning more than 2,000 feet.

    In a statement, UNESCO condemned the attack, which it said reportedly caused significant damage to the exterior and interior of the Dormition Cathedral.

    Zelensky said the damage was caused by two Russian drones and called the attack Moscow’s “biggest crime yet against Christian culture.” He visited the scene with Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko and other government officials.

    The cathedral, churches, and other buildings overlook the Dnieper River and have been a pilgrimage site for centuries.

    French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the attack was the “equivalent, for us French, of a bombing of Notre Dame” in Paris.

    Ukraine’s National Commission for UNESCO, which coordinates the country’s cooperation with the U.N. educational, scientific and cultural body, urged the international community to step up pressure on Moscow to stop its invasion and to throw it out of the organization.

    “By destroying Ukraine’s cultural heritage, (Russia) seeks to erase historical memory and inflicts damage upon the heritage of all humankind,” the commission said in a statement.

    Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed, without offering evidence, that the complex was hit by one of Ukraine’s U.S.-made Patriot air defense missiles, saying that it might have veered off course due to its age.

    Russia fires more than 600 drones at Ukraine

    Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 70 missiles and 611 drones overnight, primarily targeting Kyiv, while also striking the cities of Dnipro and Kharkiv.

    The military said air defenses intercepted or electronically suppressed 632 aerial targets, including 50 missiles and 582 drones.

    Preliminary data showed 20 ballistic missiles and 27 attack drones hit 42 locations across the country, while debris from intercepted drones fell at 12 sites.

    Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses downed 123 Ukrainian drones overnight.

  • U.K. bans under-16s from using social media apps including TikTok and YouTube

    LONDON — Britain will ban children aged under 16 from using a range of social media apps, including Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube, to protect them from harmful content and excessive screen time, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday.

    The ban, which is expected to take effect early next year, makes the U.K. part of a growing global movement to tighten online safety for children. Australia, Canada, Brazil, and Indonesia have introduced legislation or announced age-based restrictions or requirements for children’s access to social media. France, Spain, Denmark, Thailand, and South Korea are among others studying or developing similar approaches.

    “Every parent can see it with their own eyes. Social media is making children unhappy,” said Starmer, who has two teenage children. “I’ve heard first hand from families crying out for change and we will do right by them.”

    The plan was met with mixed reaction, with some praising Starmer for taking action and others questioning the effectiveness of a blanket ban.

    YouTube and Meta — the parent company of Facebook and Instagram — warned Monday that a blanket social media restriction could push kids into unregulated spaces.

    “Blanket bans push kids out of such curated, supervised, beneficial experiences and towards anonymous, less-safe services,” a YouTube spokesperson said. Meta said a ban could drive teens to online alternatives without any parental controls.

    Starmer acknowledged the challenges and said some teens would try to find their way around a ban, but said: “I do believe we can enforce it.”

    He added: “Teenagers drink before they should, but we do not then say, ‘in which case let us abandon any attempt to stop them buying alcohol.’”

    The prime minister — who is under pressure to step down from members of his own party over what they see as poor leadership and could face a challenge from within his Labour Party in the coming days or weeks — said he is “not prepared to compromise on the safety and happiness of our children.”

    Starmer says the U.K. will go further than Australia

    The U.K. plans to follow the same model for a social media ban as Australia, which last year became the first country to bar under-16s from holding social media accounts. Platforms that fail to take reasonable steps to exclude children younger than 16 could be punished with multimillion-dollar fines.

    The U.K. said its ban will apply to platforms including Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and X, but not YouTube Kids or messaging services like WhatsApp and Signal. Starmer stressed that enforcement action will target tech companies, not children.

    He said the move was a “big moment for our country,” adding that he will go further than Australia’s measures.

    The government will also act to prevent strangers from contacting children on gaming and livestreaming platforms, Starmer said. AI chatbots designed to simulate romantic or sexual relationships with users will be restricted to those over 18 only, and authorities are also considering additional measures including overnight curfews and breaks in infinite scrolling for those under 18.

    More details are expected next month.

    Some skepticism over whether a ban will work

    The decision follows a public comment period in which the government received 116,000 responses from parents, the tech industry, and children. More than 90% of respondents wanted an under-16 ban, the government said.

    Ellen Roome, a children’s online safety campaigner whose son took his own life at 14 years old, welcomed the move. She believes her son died after an online challenge went wrong and has campaigned for legal reforms to give parents access to children’s social media accounts after their death.

    “The tech companies, if they wanted to make changes, they could have done that by now. They’ve chosen not to do it,” she said. “We need to come down hard on them. If they’re not going to do it, we need to be very strict.”

    But others say research in Australia has shown that age verification is difficult to enforce, and that a blanket ban fails to address a deeper problem — the way social media algorithms push harmful content to young people.

    “This is far too easy to work around. It is based on age verification tools that have been shown to be ineffective to date,” said Kate Edwards, head of education at the Molly Rose Foundation, which was set up in memory of 14-year-old Molly Russell, who took her own life after being exposed to self-harm content online.

    “It does nothing to address the actual problem itself, the harmful algorithms, the harmful content that is existing on those platforms,” Edwards added.

    A Meta statement said it shares “the goal of keeping teens safe online,” and that it now features teen accounts to automatically limit who can contact them and the content they see.

    “Like others, we don’t think bans will achieve this goal,” Meta said, adding that Australia had shown how “bans risk isolating teens from online communities and information.”

    Jon Crowcroft, a communications systems professor at the University of Cambridge, said people supporting social bans are well-meaning but probably misguided, and changes could prevent children from accessing sites they need.

    “There is a real risk this will drive some users to worse sites, and policing devices is close to impossible technically,” Crowcroft said.

    Other critics including the Open Rights Group have expressed concerns about age verification companies and how users’ private data is protected.

    U.S. opposes the move

    The ban could further inflame tensions with the U.S., which has warned that regulations should be narrow and not violate free speech protections, according to a statement from the U.S. Embassy in London. It said it was also concerned that regulations would place greater burdens on American technology companies.

    Starmer said he expected to discuss the issue with U.S. President Donald Trump and other world leaders at a Group of Seven summit in France that started Monday.

    “I honestly think that across world leaders, there has always been a recognition that leaders have to take steps to protect children,” he said. “I don’t think that’s controversial.”