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Category: Nation & World

  • Iran makes new strait demands, the UAE says a ship was targeted

    Iran makes new strait demands, the UAE says a ship was targeted

    Iran issued dramatic new demands for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen as the United Arab Emirates said one of its ships was targeted by an Iranian missile. Yemen’s military attacked the country’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. And Turkey’s Kurdish peace bill won approval in parliament.

    Here’s a look at developments across the Middle East on Saturday.

    Iran says strait won’t open until the U.S. ‘corrects’ behavior

    Iran’s politburo-like body known as the Supreme National Security Council said the Strait of Hormuz will not open until the United States “corrects its behavior,” issuing new demands that could shake up talks on a deal to manage the waterway and traffic on it.

    Iran’s state broadcaster published the statement by the council’s secretary, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, who is also a commander in the powerful Revolutionary Guard.

    The U.S. must never threaten Iran again, the statement said, and must permanently end the war with Iran and its armed allies in the region. The U.S. must lift the naval blockade of Iranian ports and withdraw its military from the area. It also must “completely compensate” Iran for war damage, lift sanctions, and “unconditionally” release frozen assets.

    There was no immediate comment from the U.S., which has wanted an acceptable deal first on the strait before ending the blockade. According to the interim deal signed in June, a schedule to end sanctions and plan on compensation would be part of the final deal, and negotiations would address frozen assets.

    The end of a 60-day period to negotiate a final deal will end in just over a week but could be extended.

    Iran has said it was close to reaching a separate deal with Oman to manage the strait, which runs between the two countries. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi earlier Saturday said they were close to reaching an agreement on navigation, “specifically the determination of a transit route.” But the waterway’s reopening is contingent on other conditions, he said in remarks shared on social media.

    Oman, a mediator Gulf Arab country which has said relatively little on the talks, said in a statement Saturday that the discussions were ongoing “in a positive and constructive atmosphere,” and condemned attacks on ships on the strait.

    The strait, crucial to global supplies of oil and natural gas, had been considered an international waterway before the war.

    Iran attacks vessel in Strait of Hormuz, UAE says

    A vessel owned by Abu Dhabi’s state-owned ADNOC oil and gas company was attacked while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, Emirati authorities said earlier Saturday. The Foreign Ministry said Iran fired the missile as part of attacks on commercial shipping.

    ADNOC in a statement said there were no casualties following the attack early Saturday. The company said over a dozen of its vessels have been attacked by missiles and drones while transiting the strait since the United States and Israel launched the war on Iran in February. One crew member has been killed and 20 others wounded, it said.

    ADNOC didn’t elaborate on the attack’s location or any damage.

    Later, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center said a vessel east of the town of Khasab, Oman, had been struck by a projectile that caused a fire that was put out, with the vessel and crew safe. It was not clear whether this was the ADNOC incident.

    Yemen’s military attacks Iran-backed Houthis

    The attacks were in response to the Houthis’ recent strikes in central and eastern Yemen. Col. Majed al-Nazili, spokesperson for Yemen’s military, said the attacks targeted the rebels’ “sites and capabilities” on multiple front lines, without elaborating.

    The escalation between the Houthis and Yemen’s internationally recognized government and its backer, a Saudi-supported coalition, threatens to reignite Yemen’s civil war following a 2022 truce.

    Turkey’s Kurdish peace bill wins approval in parliament

    A Turkish draft law aimed at advancing a peace effort with the country’s Kurdish insurgents passed its first hurdle in parliament on Saturday. A committee approved the measure. It is expected to be approved in the general assembly next week.

    Last year, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, declared its decision to disarm and disband as part of the peace initiative aimed at ending the decades-long conflict with the Turkish state.

    The draft legislation defines the procedures for the group’s disarmament and rehabilitation of some PKK members. The measures would come into effect once Turkey’s National Security Council confirms that the group has disbanded and surrendered all weapons.

    The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people since it began in the 1980s. Turkey and its Western allies consider the group a terrorist organization.

  • Pentagon strips security clearance from former Air Force secretary

    Pentagon strips security clearance from former Air Force secretary

    The Trump administration has revoked the security clearance of Frank Kendall, who served as Air Force secretary under President Joe Biden, accusing him of disclosing classified information about Air Force One to the media.

    Kendall has recently been quoted in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, in stories scrutinizing the security features of the Boeing 747 gifted by Qatar, the plane President Donald Trump is using as his official presidential aircraft.

    Kendall told the Times that he was “surprised to see this plane used outside the U.S.,” given how speedily it was modified after the Qatari royal family gave it to the United States. To the Journal, Kendall expressed skepticism that the plane had been “maxed out” with security features, as Trump has said it would be.

    In an X post Friday night, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said Kendall was being stripped of access to classified information and his ability to hold any sensitive position following “unauthorized disclosure of classified information regarding Air Force One’s capabilities.”

    “Safeguarding classified information is a non-negotiable duty. Those who violate that trust forfeit the privilege of access and any role requiring it,” Parnell wrote.

    Kendall could not immediately be reached for comment Saturday. The former Air Force chief, who also served in the Defense Department during the Obama administration, told the Journal he was “mystified” by the revocation of his security clearance.

    “I’ve been extremely careful to not say anything that could be classified, and as far as I know I have not said anything classified,” Kendall said, adding that so far he had not been told what classified information he had supposedly revealed.

    The luxury airplane gifted by Qatar has raised ethical, legal, and security concerns since Trump announced the unusual arrangement last year. Fresh questions about the new Air Force One’s security arose last month after Trump switched jets at the last minute for part of his travel back from the NATO summit in Turkey.

    Trump denied that security concerns were behind the switch of planes for the first leg of his trip — but also suggested that Iran could have tried to attack his plane, saying he was “number one on their list” of people to assassinate.

    The White House said last month that Trump would tentatively return to flying on an older Air Force One while the Qatari-gifted jet received unspecified “additional upgrades and enhancements” that would take about a month to complete.

  • Senate narrowly approves Blanche as attorney general, capping a tough confirmation fight

    Senate narrowly approves Blanche as attorney general, capping a tough confirmation fight

    The Senate narrowly voted to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general early Saturday morning, cementing President Donald Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer as the head of the Justice Department despite rare pushback from Republicans that had left his nomination in doubt.

    Sen. Bill Cassidy (R., La.) provided the crucial vote for Blanche as two other Republicans — Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine — sided with Democrats against the nominee. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), who has been absent from the Senate since he suffered a fall in June, missed the vote.

    The 50-49 vote at 4:31 a.m. — right before the Senate left for a five-week recess — gives Blanche the imprimatur of Senate confirmation in a job he has held on an acting basis since Trump fired former attorney general Pam Bondi in April.

    But it hardly amounted to a full-throated endorsement.

    Cassidy, despite voting in Blanche’s favor, joined Murkowski and Collins in publicly raising questions about the politicization of the Justice Department under Trump. The three also voiced concerns about Blanche’s role in a controversial deal struck this spring to resolve the president’s legal claims against the IRS — an agreement that included a now-scuttled proposal for a $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who claimed they were victims of political prosecutions.

    Two other Republican senators — John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — expressed similar reservations and threatened earlier in the process to vote against the nomination, although both ultimately backed Blanche.

    Explaining his decision, Cassidy described it as a choice between Blanche — who before his time as Trump’s personal lawyer had spent years as a federal prosecutor and a partner at a prestigious Manhattan law firm — and the possibility that Trump might pick someone worse.

    “Mr. Blanche is not perfect, and he will tell you this, but the choice is not between perfection and Mr. Blanche,” Cassidy said on the Senate floor Friday. “It is between Mr. Blanche and another acting attorney general who may not run the department as effectively under President Trump and who, indeed, may not be as good as Mr. Blanche.”

    For his part, Blanche said after the vote that he was “deeply honored by the trust and confidence President Trump has placed in me” and thanked the Senate for staying late for the vote.

    “To the dedicated public servants of the Department of Justice,” he said in a post to social media, “thank you for your work each day to uphold the law and keep our country safe.”

    With the confirmation fight now behind him, Blanche sheds the “acting” part of his title and, with it, any doubt about his authority as the head of a cabinet agency that Trump has made central to his second-term agenda.

    Since returning to the White House last year, the president has eroded the Justice Department’s long tradition of independence, demanding it pursue prosecutions of his political enemies and directing resources toward rewarding his allies.

    Meanwhile, the department has been ravaged by vacancies, low morale among career staff, and increasing credibility problems with federal judges.

    Blanche, first as Bondi’s No. 2 and then as the department’s acting leader, has played a central role in that transformation, although his boosters in Congress have praised his efforts to step up fraud enforcement, prosecute illegal immigration and combat violent crime.

    “America is safer with Todd Blanche at the helm of the Justice Department,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the Republican chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

    Cassidy called aspects of Blanche’s track record troubling, but he cited the bond Blanche built with Trump as he defended him in four criminal cases during his years out of office. The senator said he hoped that trust would strengthen Blanche’s ability to talk the president out of decisions that run contrary to the rule of law.

    But Democrats insist that, at every turn, Blanche has proven unable — or unwilling — to do just that.

    Since becoming acting attorney general, Blanche has defended the president’s “right” to intervene in criminal investigations and his controversial pardons of those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He has breathed new life into probes of Trump critics, including investigations of former FBI Director James B. Comey, former CIA Director John Brennan and Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide from the president’s first term who testified against him in Congress.

    “This nation deserves an Attorney General who loves the Constitution more than he loves the President. Sadly, for our nation, Todd Blanche, is not that person,” Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee said in a statement Saturday.

    But it is the out-of-court deal Blanche announced this spring to resolve a lawsuit the president filed against the IRS earlier this year, over the leak of his tax returns to the media, that has drawn the most unified criticism from lawmakers.

    In addition to the taxpayer-backed nearly $1.8 billion payout fund, the deal also extended unusual tax protections to Trump, two of his sons and their businesses, shielding them from any preexisting tax audits.

    Lawmakers from both parties decried the agreement, describing the proposed payouts as a “slush fund” designed to reward Trump’s allies, and denouncing the tax provisions as a corrupt exercise in self-dealing from a president who has often complained of burdensome audits.

    Facing bipartisan pressure, Blanche walked back plans for the fund. But Cornyn and Tillis, both of whom are not running for reelection after Trump declined to support them, demanded written assurances from Blanche that the president would not later reverse that decision before they agreed to support his nomination.

    Blanche ultimately relented, issuing statements late last Sunday declaring the fund officially dead and clarifying that the deal’s tax provisions protected the Trumps only from past tax audits and would not prevent the IRS from reviewing their finances in the future.

    But critics have questioned whether Blanche’s written pledges hold any legal weight, given that they were not signed by Trump and his legal team, and could be ignored by the president at any point.

    Murkowski raised that possibility in a statement Friday announcing her decision to vote against Blanche’s nomination. The only reason the payout fund was now off the table, she said, was because Blanche needed Senate support for his nomination.

    “Once we vote, that will end, and there is no telling what the future holds,” she said.

    “The country needs an attorney general who will check the worst impulses of this administration,” Murkowski added. “I hope Mr. Blanche is able to achieve that if confirmed, but I simply do not have confidence that will be the case.”

  • N.J. attorney general announces investigation into detainee deaths at Delaney Hall

    N.J. attorney general announces investigation into detainee deaths at Delaney Hall

    New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport announced Friday that her office’s civil rights division is investigating the operation of Delaney Hall, the privately run ICE facility in Newark where several detainees have died.

    Davenport said the investigation will look into how the facility is run by the GEO Group Inc. and whether its employees have violated the civil rights of people detained there, citing reports about conditions and the deaths.

    On Aug. 1, Edwin Jeovanny López Cornejo, 41, died in ICE custody after having a medical episode at Delaney Hall. His family said he had been living in the United States for two decades.

    Concerns have been raised about the death in December of Jean Wilson Brutus, a 41-year-old Haitian, shortly after he arrived at Delaney Hall.

    Congressional Democrats this week alleged that a third person at the facility had died.

    Critics say detainees at Delaney Hall endure poor conditions. The facility has been the subject of ongoing protests and clashes between federal officials and elected Democrats.

    File photo of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents watching protesters at Delaney Hall, an immigration detention center, in Newark, N.J., on June 7, 2026.LEXI PARRA

    “New Jersey has both a legal and a moral duty to stand up for the civil rights of people within our state,” Davenport said in a statement.

    “For people who are held involuntarily, including by a private corporation like GEO Group, those rights include the right to humane treatment and adequate medical care,” Davenport said.

    “We will take every action available under law to safeguard these core legal principles. We ask individuals to share their personal experiences with us so that we can take action to ensure that rights are protected,” she said.

    Anyone with information that could be helpful for the investigation can contact the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office Division of Civil Rights at AffirmativeEnforcement@njcivilrights.gov.

    A spokesperson for the GEO Group referred questions to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

    Spokespersons for ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security could not be reached for comment Friday evening.

    The Trump administration has previously rejected calls for Delaney Hall to be closed as it pursues mass deportations.

    Gov. Mikie Sherrill said in a statement that the investigation was necessary.

    “We’ve heard the reports of disturbing conditions and have been heartbroken by recent deaths of detainees at the facility,” Sherrill said.

    “ICE and The GEO Group have continued to block our efforts for a full health inspection and there are now reports that visitations have been stopped. We will not tolerate a facility that abdicates any transparency and accountability,” Sherrill said.

    “I have long opposed private detention facilities, and my position is clear that Delaney Hall should be closed. My administration will continue to do everything in our power to hold ICE and The GEO Group accountable to New Jersey laws,” the governor said.

    On Thursday, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.) called for the closure of Delaney Hall but was rebuffed by Senate Republicans.

    “A body count is not normal. A mother’s son whose face went numb the night before is not normal. Edwin Lopez Cornell’s death was preventable. Keeping Delaney Hall open is another deliberate decision to let it continuing,” Booker posted on social media.

    Also on Thursday, all nine House Democrats in New Jersey sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and acting ICE Director David J. Venturella asking for detailed information about the deaths and conditions at the facility.

    “Three deaths, repeated allegations of medical neglect, restricted oversight, and less public transparency are a terrible track record of care for individuals in your custody,” the Democrats wrote.

    “At this point, the question is no longer whether ICE knows what is happening inside Delaney Hall. It is, ‘why does ICE continue to allow the GEO Group to put lives at risk?’” they wrote.

  • A Russian retail giant’s warehouse burns after Ukraine’s latest long-range drone attack

    A Russian retail giant’s warehouse burns after Ukraine’s latest long-range drone attack

    Ukrainian long-range drones hit a warehouse of Russia’s biggest online retailer in the Ural Mountains, more than 1,200 miles from the two countries’ border, local officials and the company said Friday.

    Ukraine has regularly hit targets in the distant Urals this year and has even struck a Russian oil refinery in western Siberia, nearly 1,550 miles from the border. The attacks are examples of how Kyiv has used drone innovation as a key part of its response to the invasion by its much bigger enemy more than four years ago.

    Its successes have drawn international interest and drone cooperation agreements with nine countries, with further deals being negotiated with 15 other countries, according to Kyiv officials.

    Wildberries said its warehouse in Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city, was set ablaze by the attack. Most merchandise wasn’t damaged, the company said, unlike at some of the more than a dozen other Wildberries depots struck by Ukraine in recent weeks that have burned down.

    The regional governor, Denis Pasler, said three drones hit the warehouse’s roof. Artyom Zhoga, the Kremlin’s representative in the region, said that 800 people were evacuated from the warehouse and nobody was hurt.

    Kyiv is trying to rattle the Russian public and the Kremlin with the attacks.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin chaired a meeting Friday of the country’s Security Council. He said in televised opening remarks that the meeting would focus on additional measures to “strengthen … protection of infrastructure facilities” but gave no further details.

    Ukraine presses on with plans for new weapons

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is pushing for his country to keep up the pace of technological development, especially in air defense systems to help stop Russian ballistic missiles that are exploiting Ukraine’s shortage of American-made Patriot interceptor missiles and battering civilian areas.

    A joint European anti-ballistic development program is already underway, Zelensky said late Thursday, with 10 countries engaged in developing an anti-ballistic shield. Europe is concerned about Moscow’s ambitions on the continent beyond Ukraine.

    “Ukraine is capable of producing its (anti-ballistic) missile and launcher, while our partners will provide the necessary components and critical elements — radars, sensors, and everything else required,” Zelensky said on social media. “An anti-ballistic program of our own — one that is truly large-scale — will greatly benefit everyone in Europe.”

    At the same time, Ukraine is working on manufacturing its own ballistic missiles to use against Russia. “The tests have shown strong potential. We need to turn this into a real weapon,” Zelensky said.

    Defenders are under pressure in eastern Ukraine

    Ukrainian front-line defenses in eastern regions, meanwhile, remain under strain as Russia’s bigger army looks for a breakthrough after months of minimal advances that Western analysts and officials say have had a high cost for Moscow in troop casualties.

    Ukraine has been evacuating children from Kramatorsk, one of the four eastern Donetsk region cities that make up the Ukrainian so-called Fortress Belt. The line of four large and heavily defended cities, about 30 miles long, has been key to denying Moscow its goal of seizing Ukraine’s industrial heartland.

    The head of the Donetsk region’s regional military administration, Vadym Filashkin, said Friday that more than 800 people, including 91 children, were evacuated over the previous 24 hours.

    Ukraine has been deploying midrange strike drones to disrupt Russia’s supply lines and slow its advance.

    Zelensky said that the recently appointed commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, Maj. Gen. Mykhailo Drapatyi, reported to him Friday about the military situation in Donetsk.

    He said in a social media post that they reached “an understanding of how to strengthen” Ukraine’s defenses there but gave no details.

    Russia and Ukraine sustain nightly drone attacks

    Russia’s air defenses downed 203 Ukrainian drones from late Thursday through early Friday, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said.

    Over the past week, the Russian military struck 31 bulk cargo vessels and three tugboats that operated “in the interests of the Ukrainian armed forces,” it said.

    It added that late Thursday two ships were hit by Geran-4 drones in the Black Sea east and southeast of Odesa and one was struck in the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk.

    In other attacks, the ministry said that the military hit a facility assembling long-range drones in Okhtyrka in the Sumy region on Thursday. It also released a video of a train purportedly carrying military equipment struck by a Geran drone and then an Iskander ballistic missile near Vyshneve in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

    Meanwhile, Russia attacked Ukraine with 147 long-range strike drones overnight, according to the Ukrainian air force.

    In Ukraine’s northern Sumy region, a Russian drone struck a busy market Friday morning, wounding 10 people, authorities said.

    Russia also launched glide bombs and drones of various types at the regional capital, according to the head of regional administration, Oleh Hryhorov.

    The attack targeted residential buildings, transport, and infrastructure, wounding two people, he said.

  • 2 soldiers killed in Lebanon in the first Israeli deaths since June truce with Hezbollah

    2 soldiers killed in Lebanon in the first Israeli deaths since June truce with Hezbollah

    BEIRUT — Two Israeli soldiers were killed in an explosion in southern Lebanon, Israel’s military said Thursday, the first Israeli deaths since a shaky truce between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah began nearly two months ago.

    Four other soldiers were seriously wounded, the military said. An Israeli military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with the army’s policy, said that “an explosion was detonated” when the soldiers entered a site in the village of Majdal Zoun and that the nature of the explosive was under review.

    Israeli media reported the two deaths a day earlier.

    The Israeli army launched strikes Wednesday in southern Lebanon in response to what it described as Hezbollah’s violation of the ceasefire and called on residents of the village of Mansouri to flee — the first such warning Israel has issued in Lebanon for weeks.

    Lebanon’s Health Ministry said one person was killed and 12 wounded in an Israeli strike in the town of Tebnine Wednesday and another eight wounded in overnight strikes on the village of Burj al-Shemali. Artillery shelling also targeted the areas of Mansouri and Majdal Zoun, the state-run National News Agency said.

    There was no statement from the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

    The latest Israel-Hezbollah war erupted on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets across the border two days after the U.S. and Israel launched their attacks on Iran. More than 4,000 people have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since then, including hundreds of civilians. About 40 soldiers and three civilians — including a military contractor — have been killed on the Israeli side.

    A precarious truce between Israel and Hezbollah has largely held since June 20, but Israeli forces have continued to occupy swaths of southern Lebanon and to carry out periodic airstrikes and shelling.

    The U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon known as UNIFIL said it had recorded 113 projectiles launched by the Israeli military on Wednesday, the highest number recorded since June 21.

    The latest escalation came as Lebanese and Israeli negotiators met in Rome to discuss implementation of a June 26 deal reached between Israel and the Lebanese government under which Israeli forces are supposed to withdraw from areas they occupy in southern Lebanon and allow the Lebanese army to take control, in exchange for Hezbollah’s disarmament.

    Hezbollah has refused to disarm and opposed the direct Lebanon-Israel talks. It was not a party to the deal. The group has accused the Lebanese government of making too many concessions without guaranteeing an Israeli withdrawal.

    Wednesday’s talks ended early due to the escalation on the ground, but resumed on Thursday.

    The talks in Rome have focused on implementation of “pilot zones” where Israeli forces would withdraw and the Lebanese army would take control. Implementation began last month with an initial pilot zone in an area that wasn’t occupied by Israeli forces but had previously sustained Israeli fire.

    The Lebanese army entered the town of Zawtar al-Gharbieh and some civilians returned, although many came only to find their homes destroyed and left again.

    A diplomat familiar with the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly said earlier this week that Lebanon had asked for the next pilot zone to be either in the town of Khiam or Bint Jbeil. Both areas saw heavy fighting in the latest Israel-Hezbollah war and are currently occupied by Israeli forces.

    But U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa suggested ahead of the three-day talks that no new pilot zones would be immediately implemented, saying that “moving too quickly risks jeopardizing the very civilians this process is meant to protect.”

  • Student kills at least 7 people at a high school and a home outside Bangkok, officials say

    Student kills at least 7 people at a high school and a home outside Bangkok, officials say

    NONTHABURI, Thailand — A student opened fire at a high school outside Bangkok on Friday, killing at least five people and wounding more than 20, according to authorities, who said he also appeared to have killed his two grandparents at the family home earlier in the morning.

    The 14-year-old shooter took his own life at the school, officials said.

    Five school staff members, including teachers and administrators, died in the shooting around 10 a.m. at Debsirin Nonthaburi School in Nonthaburi province northwest of Bangkok, Deputy Interior Minister Polapee Suwunchwee said at the scene.

    The boy also killed his grandparents at the home he shared with them prior to the school shooting, Polapee said.

    Bangyai Hospital, about 3 miles from the school, said 23 people were wounded, of whom 10 were in critical condition, with most suffering gunshot wounds. Earlier reports gave conflicting casualty numbers.

    A witness said students hid inside a classroom while they heard gunshots from another building before police officers knocked on the door and cleared a way for them to leave the building.

    Amporn Niamfuang, who owns a restaurant 160 feet from the school, said there was the sound of a single gunshot and then a pause.

    “And then there were multiple continuous shots,” Amporn said, recalling the narrow road outside the restaurant filling with fleeing students. “Students were running scared and pouring onto the street. Young girls were holding each other’s hands and crying. I went inside to hide.”

    Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, speaking after touring the school, confirmed reports that the shooter was 14 and had killed himself. He said the student had shown signs of stress connected to school.

    The gun, described by police as small and compact, was legally registered to the student’s grandfather, he said.

    About an hour after the shooting, people stood outside comforting one another as police and first responders walked around the co-educational state school, which has an enrollment of about 3,000 students ranging from 12 to 18 years old.

    All classes will be suspended from Monday through Friday, and school staff have been instructed to work from home during that time, the school said.

    Police find grandparents dead at family home

    After the shooting, police went to the student’s home and found both grandparents dead of apparent gunshot wounds, regional police Commander Wattana Yeejeen said.

    The student appeared to have shot them before attending school as normal. He waited until classes started and began shooting inside his classroom before walking out and firing more shots, police spokesperson Trairong Piwpan said.

    The boy fired more than 20 shots and police found he still had 30 rounds after shooting himself, he said.

    Several family members, including his uncle and sisters of the grandfather who were at the family home while police investigated, said he usually kept to himself and was a good student.

    The family members said they were unaware of any troubles he faced at home or school.

    Thailand has high rate of gun owners

    Thailand has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in Asia, second only to Pakistan and far surpassing its other Southeast Asian neighbors.

    Data collected in 2017 by the groups Small Arms Survey and GunPolicy.org in their last extensive international study found civilian gun ownership in Thailand was about 15.1 guns per 100 people, compared with less than one per 100 in neighboring Malaysia.

    Thailand had 3.49 deaths by firearms per 100,000 people, according to 2023 statistics published by World Population Review. That puts it well behind parts of Latin America and the Caribbean, but relatively high in Asia. Only the Philippines is higher in Southeast Asia.

    In February, a 17-year-old stole a gun from police and opened fire at a public high school in southern Thailand, briefly taking people hostage in a two-hour attack that killed one person and injured two others.

    A 14-year-old boy was accused of a 2023 shooting at a major Bangkok shopping mall.

  • White House drafting order on vaccines, autism despite pollsters’ warnings

    White House drafting order on vaccines, autism despite pollsters’ warnings

    White House officials are drafting an executive order focused on the childhood vaccine schedule and autism, according to four people familiar with the matter. The order would continue to spotlight a divisive issue that Republican pollsters have warned carries political risk ahead of November’s midterm elections and would follow the confirmation of a new CDC director who has promised to uphold the scientific integrity of the agency.

    The aim is to focus on the vaccine schedule, research around autism, and parental choice, according to three people familiar with the matter, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal deliberations. Further details and timing of the order remain unclear, and it is subject to change.

    The effort underscores President Donald Trump’s determination to elevate vaccine policy within the administration even as a federal judge has halted Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s sweeping overhaul on this front, including changes to the childhood immunization schedule.

    The development also comes after a federal advisory committee on autism last month released a draft update to a federal strategic plan that sets priorities for autism research and serves as a blueprint for federal research funding.

    In a statement Thursday, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said, “President Trump has been clear: America must have the best childhood vaccine schedule in the world.”

    He added: “The Administration remains steadfastly committed to delivering on this presidential priority with Gold Standard Science for the countless parents whose questions and concerns about vaccinations have been ignored or mocked.”

    Trump has questioned whether the number of childhood vaccines can cause autism, despite decades of research finding no link. At a Cabinet meeting last week, Trump asked Kennedy for an update on autism research.

    “We will have an answer for you,” Kennedy replied.

    Kennedy, the founder of a prominent anti-vaccine group, has long disparaged vaccines and argued they have not been properly studied, including during an appearance on CNN last weekend. The comments have alarmed medical experts who say commonly administered shots are safe and effective.

    In recent months, Kennedy has publicly leaned into his health department’s quest to improve food and drug pricing instead of vaccines. But behind the scenes, Kennedy’s allies are continuing work to reshape the federal apparatus guiding vaccines, including crafting studies to research a wide range of vaccine-related questions, including whether routine immunizations are linked to autism, autoimmune disorders, and other medical conditions.

    After a federal judge halted the Department of Health and Human Services’ reduction of immunizations in the childhood schedule, the Trump administration released an executive order in late May directing the health department to realign the schedule with those of other developed countries that recommend fewer shots. It was not immediately clear how the new executive order would differ from the earlier directive.

    ‘It’s a personal issue for him’

    Trump last year announced moves that he said would combat the rise of autism in the United States. The president in September warned pregnant mothers against taking Tylenol and touted the potential of leucovorin as an autism treatment.

    “I told them … we have to find out” the causes of the condition, Trump said, flanked by Kennedy and other administration officials at the White House.

    The warnings from Trump and U.S. health officials on acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol and hundreds of other medications, represented a major shift in public health guidance. Research has yet to bear out the president’s claims on Tylenol and leucovorin.

    Trump has privately questioned why his administration has yet to release new recommendations on vaccines and urged his deputies to move faster, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions. The Wall Street Journal first reported that Trump was pushing to prioritize the study of vaccines and autism.

    “It’s a personal issue for him,” said one of the people, an administration official with knowledge of Trump’s comments. Trump has repeatedly invoked his own theories on the rise in autism, shaped by conversations with friends and advocates. Trump has previously said that he and his wife, first lady Melania Trump, deliberately spaced out childhood vaccines for their 20-year-old son, Barron.

    Trump has repeatedly pressed Kennedy on his agency’s autism efforts in public cabinet meetings, including five minutes of back-and-forth during an October meeting.

    “I’m addressing it the best I can as a nondoctor, but I’m a man of common sense,” Trump said then.

    ‘Never betray the science’

    On Wednesday, the Senate confirmed Erica Schwartz to helm the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which makes recommendations on vaccines.

    The CDC has been without a permanent leader for most of Trump’s second term. Susan Monarez, who served in the role for less than a month, told senators she was fired last year after Kennedy pressured her to support changes to the childhood vaccine schedule.

    During her confirmation hearing, Schwartz was repeatedly pressed by senators on whether she would defend the CDC’s scientific integrity if political directives conflicted with the evidence. She pledged that she would “never betray the science” but stopped short of saying she would publicly oppose Kennedy if he directed the agency to take actions she believed were unsupported by scientific evidence.

    Schwartz said she had not reviewed a CDC webpage that suggests a connection between childhood vaccines and autism, and declined to say whether it should be removed. She said, however, that the existing medical evidence does not support a link.

    In July, the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee released a 336-page draft strategic plan. Some advocates say the draft from the federal autism advisory committee shifts the field toward investigating autism as a result of medical injury, despite decades of research showing that autism is primarily rooted in genetics and early brain development. Although the plan does not explicitly identify vaccines as a cause of autism, critics say references to a potential “exposure or biological event” that might lead to autism echoes the framework long advanced by Kennedy and others who have promoted the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism.

    The autism advisory committee was reconstituted earlier this year by Kennedy, who appointed members who have echoed his controversial views and advocated for unproven treatments.

    The draft strategic plan “doesn’t mention or describe the cause of medical injury, but we can read between the lines,” said Alison Singer, president of the Autism Science Foundation. “The President and the HHS Secretary have been very vocal in the past about their belief that vaccines cause autism, as have several public members of the new federal IACC in their past statements, despite overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary.”

    Singer said the concern is less about what the draft says than the research agenda it establishes.

    Current research suggests that autism is largely written into our biology. Scientists have identified hundreds of genetic variants that collectively shape the developing brain. The evidence now points more clearly in one direction: Autism begins before birth and is not caused by vaccines or any single environmental factor. Vaccines are the one environmental factor that have been studied most extensively, she said, and large studies across multiple countries have found no evidence that they cause autism.

    But an executive order linking childhood vaccines to autism could be viewed as providing “backup ammunition and another legal document,” one administration official said on background, to revisit vaccine-related research in a final version of the strategic plan.

    Kennedy was slated to visit the Atlanta-based CDC on Friday, where he was to participate in a ceremony marking the first anniversary of a gunman spraying hundreds of bullets at the agency’s headquarters. Investigators said the gunman appeared motivated by distrust of coronavirus vaccines.

  • Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan have signed a key defense agreement

    Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan have signed a key defense agreement

    ANKARA, Turkey — Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan signed a defense agreement on Friday that would treat an attack on one as an attack on all three, officials said, solidifying cooperation among the three regional powers at a time of growing security concerns.

    The agreement was signed in the Saudi holy city of Mecca by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, according to statements from all three countries.

    The so-called Mecca Joint Defense Agreement between the three Sunni Muslim-majority states brings together oil-rich Saudi Arabia and nuclear power Pakistan as well as Turkey, which has NATO’s second-largest army and a rapidly growing defense industry. It would increase cooperation and deterrence at a time of increased regional uncertainty and threats from the war in Iran.

    Commitment to joint deterrence

    “The agreement is intended to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression, and stipulates that any armed attack against any one of the three states shall be regarded as an attack against them all,” the statements read.

    “It further provides for the enhancement of all aspects of defense cooperation among the three States,” the statements said.

    Saudi Arabia, whose critical infrastructure and oil facilities have come under attack as part of the war in Iran, has been looking to diversify its defense partnerships.

    In September, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed a mutual defense pact that also defines any attack on either nation as an attack on both.

    The agreement also comes amid rising tensions between Turkey and Israel over Gaza and other regional conflicts, including the war in Iran and Lebanon.

    The deal highlights how far relations between Saudi Arabia and Turkey have shifted toward alignment and partnership, after being highly strained just a few years ago, including over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul by Saudi operatives.

    Iran criticizes the deal

    In Iran, Ebrahim Rezaei, a member of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, criticized the deal on X, saying it would not bring security to Saudi Arabia.

    “The Saudis should know that a paper agreement with Turkey and Pakistan will not bring them security, just as years of one-sided ‘milking’ by the Americans did not bring them security. Change your policies so that you do not have to #BegForSecurity from others,” he wrote.

    Saudi Arabia says deal is not a military axis or religious bloc

    A statement from Saudi Arabia insisted that the agreement does not amount to a military pact and would not affect the kingdom’s existing partnerships.

    “The agreement does not represent any orientation toward building a military axis or sectarian/religious bloc, and it is not linked to nuclear endeavors or an arms race, but rather to building sustainable self-reliant capabilities,” the statement read. “The agreement does not come at the expense of the Kingdom’s strategic and strong relations at the Gulf, Arab, and international levels.”

    Erdogan said the agreement was based on “collective deterrence” and would deepen cooperation in defense, support joint defense industry projects, and bolster efforts to combat terrorism.

    “The agreement, which also reaffirms the right of defense as defined in Article 51 of the UN Charter, targets no country and is open to the participation of all brotherly countries that aim for the peace, prosperity, and stability of our region,” the Turkish president said on X.

    A Turkish government official described the agreement as “purely defensive in nature” and “not against any specific actor.” The deal does not annul or replace any bilateral or multilateral agreements between these states or with other states and organizations, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly.

    Long‑standing security ties

    Sharif described the agreement as a “historic pact” that would serve as a “shield of peace” for the three countries and the wider Muslim community.

    In a post on X, he also praised Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, saying his “untiring efforts and utmost dedication” had contributed significantly to the agreement.

    In Islamabad, defense analyst Abdullah Khan described the agreement as a natural evolution and formalization of decades of strategic ties among Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, saying a changing regional security environment and the evolving nature of warfare had increased the need for closer cooperation.

    Khan said the pact was “purely defensive” and not directed against any country, with collective deterrence intended to raise the cost of aggression and prevent conflict.

    The analyst said the three countries bring complementary strengths to the arrangement: Pakistan’s military experience and expertise in managing escalation, Saudi Arabia’s economic strength and regional influence, and Turkey’s advanced defense technology and industrial capabilities.

    Abdolreza Davari, an Iranian analyst and former politician, downplayed the risks the new defense pact poses to Tehran as it seeks to assert control over the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has already shown it can stand up to two of the world’s leading military powers, the U.S. and its ally Israel, he said.

    “What difference does it make? Will it be more difficult than the pressure the U.S. and Israel have created on Iran? Is the power of the U.S. and Israel greater or these three countries?” he said in a phone call from Tehran.

    Turkey and Pakistan unlikely to engage in large troop deployment

    Hamish Kinnear, a Middle East analyst for the risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft, said Turkey and Pakistan were unlikely to send large numbers of troops to assist Saudi Arabia. The deal was expected to allow deeper coordination in diplomacy, defense production, and technology transfer.

    “Token deployments are possible, but it is doubtful that Ankara and Islamabad want to become heavily involved in an anti-Houthi military operation. Pakistan, which already held a bilateral collective defense pact with Saudi Arabia, has not been a significant partner in anti-Houthi operations so far,” Kinnear said in an emailed note.

    “More likely is increased Ankara-Islamabad-Riyadh coordination on diplomacy, weapons development, and technological transfer, with Saudi capital boosting the defense sectors of Turkey and Pakistan,” he added.

    Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, director of the Ankara office for The German Marshall Fund think tank, said the agreement was the culmination of the countries’ shared concerns over regional fragmentation, civil conflict, and armed nonstate groups.

    “This is a reflection of their growing desire for greater regional stability,” Unluhisarcikli said.

  • Appeals court rules Trump can’t build White House ballroom without congressional approval

    Appeals court rules Trump can’t build White House ballroom without congressional approval

    WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Friday ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to halt construction of its $400 million ballroom at the White House because the project lacks congressional approval.

    Trump doesn’t have the unilateral authority to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom where the White House’s East Wing stood before he ordered its demolition last fall, according to the decision by a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

    The Republican president said in a post on social media that he would be appealing what he called an “unjust decision” to the U.S. Supreme Court.

    Friday’s ruling marked the second time this week the Trump administration has made headlines for construction plans that have been called into question. An assessment by the National Park Service found that a 250-foot-tall triumphal arch that Trump has proposed building could compromise the historical significance of dozens of sites near its planned location on a traffic circle between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.

    In a 2-1 decision on the ballroom, the appeals court sided with historic preservationists who sued to stop construction of the massive structure, which has begun to rise aboveground on the east side of the White House, according to the most recent aerial photos of the site. The court said it would stay its ruling for two weeks to give the administration time to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

    “Whether or not a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help,” the court wrote.

    “This holding has nothing at all to do with whether the proposed ballroom is desirable, or not, as a matter of policy. This ruling does not even necessarily mean that the Defendants may not ultimately construct the ballroom.

    “What it does mean,” the court continued, “is that the Defendants may not do so during the district court’s expeditious litigation without securing Congress’s authorization, as the Constitution and laws require.”

    Trump insists Congress’ approval is unnecessary

    The president reacted to the ruling with a lengthy post on social media in which he quoted from a dissenting opinion issued by Judge Neomi Rao, whom he nominated. He also described the plans for the facility to include bomb shelters, a hospital and medical facilities, “Top Secret Military Facilities,” and other security features.

    “The Military and Secret Service are viewing this horrendous, politically motivated, and unlawful ruling as a National Security threat to our Nation in that the entire Complex is being built for the protection of our Country and, additionally, all future Presidents,” Trump wrote.

    After the lower court earlier this year ordered a halt to aboveground construction, the president argued that permission from Congress to build the ballroom was unnecessary because public money was not being used to pay for it.

    Trump has said he has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from corporations and wealthy people, including himself, to cover the construction costs.

    But the Trump administration requested $1 billion for the ballroom, which Congress refused in May. In June, Democrats warned that $350 million in funds from a tax cuts law appeared to have been redirected for the ballroom.

    The National Trust for Historic Preservation, the nonprofit organization that brought the lawsuit against the Trump administration, said Friday’s decision affirmed “the American people’s right to voice their opinions about the historic places they cherish,” including the White House.

    “From the beginning, our position has been clear and consistent: the law states that only Congress can authorize the construction of a ballroom at the White House,” Brent Leggs, the group’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “We are pleased with the DC Circuit Court’s decision to uphold the District Court’s preliminary injunction, which although stayed for 14 days will block any above-ground ballroom construction unless and until Congress takes action.”

    The divided appeals court panel upheld an April 16 order from Leon for the Trump administration to halt aboveground work on the ballroom. Leon, who was nominated to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush, allowed construction to continue on underground work on a bunker and other “national security facilities” at the site.

    The appeals court case was assigned to Judges Rao, Patricia Millett, and Bradley Garcia. Millett was nominated to the court by Democratic President Barack Obama. Garcia was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden. Both Millett and Garcia backed the decision, while Rao opposed it.

    Preservationists challenge Trump in court

    The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued to challenge the project in December 2025, a week after completion of the East Wing demolition to make way for a ballroom that Trump says would hold 999 people.

    Government lawyers have argued that the project — the biggest structural change to the White House in more than 70 years — must move forward because it includes critical security features to guard against a range of threats, such as drones, ballistic missiles, and biohazards.

    “These upgrades, alterations, and improvements are essential to protecting the President, his family, and his staff, as well as the White House itself, and the entire project flows from them,” government attorneys wrote in a court filing.

    Attorneys for the preservation group countered that the lack of a White House ballroom doesn’t constitute a national security emergency.

    “That commonsense conclusion is not clearly erroneous, and there is no basis to disturb it,” they wrote.

    In an initial ruling that the government also appealed, Leon barred aboveground work on the ballroom from proceeding without congressional approval. In response, the appeals court instructed the judge to reconsider the national security implications of stopping construction.

    In his most recent decision, Leon ordered a stop only to the aboveground construction of the planned ballroom. The judge stressed that the White House is free to proceed with underground work, including the construction of any bunkers, military installations, and medical facilities.

    On April 2, Trump’s ballroom won final approval from the 12-member National Capital Planning Commission, which is charged with approving construction on federal property in the Washington region.