Category: Americas

The Trump administration’s $1.776 billion compensation fund for alleged “victims” of “weaponization” appears to violate and contradict a mandate set out by ousted Attorney General Pam Bondi last year, according to legal experts.
Recipients of the fund, announced by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche last week as part of a settlement after President Donald Trump abandoned his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS, will likely remain a secret.
While Blanche — who, like Bondi is a former Trump personal attorney — has stated that Trump and his family are not eligible for the fund, the president’s donors, allies, and supporters have not been ruled out.
Now, former Justice Department officials have pointed to a February 2025 directive issued by Bondi that appears to contradict the compensation fund because it could see major payouts awarded to people or groups who are not involved in an underlying lawsuit, according to The New York Times.
The memo, titled “Reinstating the Prohibitions on Im..

Michelle Petix raised her two daughters in the rural haven of Steamboat Springs, in northwestern Colorado, where they spent their childhoods skiing freely with friends or swimming in the river on balmy summer days.
“We lived off the grid, plowed our own road, built our home board by board,” Petix, 57, said of her family’s idyllic life in Routt County. “Tourism and ranching are truly a unique mixed vibe. We need a community to survive out in the rural areas.”
Tourism is the main driver of the local economy, powered by tens of thousands of visitors who come to “Ski Town USA” to hit the slopes, fly fish on local rivers, or attend the professional rodeo series held at the base of Colorado’s oldest public ski area, in operation since 1915.
Managing the influx of tourists while preserving the area’s ranching culture and history is a delicate balance. But Petix and others in the community fear that balance could soon be upended by a powerful real estate developer’s proposal to open a private..

Brothers to the Rescue, a group founded by Cuban exiles, is at the center of the U.S. Justice Department's decision to seek an indictment against Cuban leader Raúl Castro, a move reviving one of the lowest points in the two countries' bitter decades-long relationship.
The indictment is connected to Castro’s alleged role in the 1996 shootdown of two planes operated by the Miami-based exile group. Castro was defense minister at the time, making him the nation's highest authority after his brother Fidel.
What is Brothers to the Rescue?Brothers to the Rescue began operating in 1980 during 125,000 Cubans' unexpected emigration to the United States. Founded by emigré José Basulto, it aimed to help Cuban refugees in the Florida straits by dropping supplies from small planes and alerting the U.S. Coast Guard.
The months-long crisis began after some Cubans protested travel restrictions imposed by President Fidel Castro's communist government and Castro opened the port o..

Several financial firms that profited from well-timed oil trades, made shortly before President Donald Trump announced new developments in the Iran war, are being looked at by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, according to a new report.
Moments before Trump announced he would postpone bombing Iran’s infrastructure on March 23, more than $800 millon worth of oil futures were exchanged – with at least three firms profiting from more than $15 million combined, according to data and records seen by the Wall Street Journal.
A similar pattern has emerged over the last few months, with a volume of trades made on April 7, hours before Trump announced a temporary ceasefire with Iran; April 17, minutes before Iran’s Foreign Minister announced the Strait of Hormuz was open; and April 21, minutes before Trump announced he would extend the ceasefire with Iran.
It’s led the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, an independent agency that regulates futures, swaps and bets, to open an inquiry ..

Vice president JD Vance has said that Hunter Biden is “welcome to apply” for money from a special $1.8 billion fund to help the victims of “lawfare.”
“This is about compensating Americans for the lawfare they experienced under the last administration,” Vance told reporters, speaking at a White House press briefing Tuesday. “Republicans can apply for it, Democrats can apply for it… If Hunter Biden wants to apply for this particular fund, he’s welcome to.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the $1.776 billion compensation fund Monday, which is aimed to financially help individuals who believe they have been targeted for investigation or prosecution.
The fund is being set up as part of a settlement after Trump abandoned his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS.
Blanche vowed that the “machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American, and it is this Department’s intention to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens ..

The exact moment when it became clear that JD Vance was going to fumble this press conference was about 10 seconds in, when he called the Iran war “the Iran situation.”
The moment when it became clear that it was going to become deeply weird was when he claimed that the United States doesn’t have a national healthcare system because there are American troops in Europe.
And the moment when it became truly eye-opening was when he suggested taxpayers should be fine paying for a $1.8 billion (sorry, a patriotically pegged $1.776 billion, to be precise) slush fund for Trump allies because there aren’t taxes on overtime or tips.
It had already started off uncomfortably. Tasked with answering the questions of White House correspondents in the place of Karoline Leavitt (currently on maternity leave), Vance came sauntering into an already tense political moment carrying the political equivalent of a can of gasoline and a copy of Hillbilly Elegy. He had a tough job: defending that already-infa..

Police are investigating the death of a 27-year-old woman whose body was found stuffed inside a freezer at an abandoned Dallas house – and whether a suspicious fire that broke out at the property later that day is connected.
Officers responded to the vacant home on Georgia Avenue in East Oak Cliff around 2:30 p.m. Sunday and found Mariah Murray’s body inside a freezer, according to Dallas police.
Dallas Fire-Rescue was later called to the scene after the house caught fire. Investigators have not said what caused the blaze or whether foul play was involved.
No arrests have been made, and police have not released information about a suspect or possible motive.
Murray’s loved ones, who describe her as a “good spirit,” are pleading for answers. They say she did not deserve the tragic circumstances of her death.
open image in galleryDallas police have launched an investigation after the body of 27-year-old Mariah Murray was discovered inside a freezer at an abandoned home (Fox4)“All of t..

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s appearance at a Kentucky military event on Monday was briefly derailed by mother nature.
Hegseth was speaking at a reenlistment ceremony at the Sabalauski Air Assault School at Fort Campbell when powerful, persistent winds overwhelmed his remarks.
“Great to see everybody. It’s an honor to be here,” he said, just as a strong gust sent the flags behind him whipping violently, rattling their poles, video captured by Fox News shows.
The former broadcaster said he was “humbled to stand in front of great Americans willing to raise their right hand again to serve this nation.” He added, “I won’t belabor this too much,” an apparent nod to the difficulty of being heard over the wind.
Over on the Pentagon’s live YouTube feed, the problems were even more pronounced. The first minute-and-a-half of Hegseth’s speech aired without audio, leaving viewers to watch his lips move silently as flags thrashed and black stage curtains billowed.
open image in galleryA strong b..

Trump says he told Xi that America 'spies like hell' on China as he defends CCP cyber attacksDonald Trump has warned Tehran that the “clock is ticking” and threatened consequences if its leaders do not act quickly.
“For ⁠Iran, the ‌Clock is Ticking, ‌and they better ‌get moving, FAST, ⁠or there won’t be anything left of them. TIME ‌IS ​OF ‌THE ESSENCE!,” the US president wrote ⁠in a ‌Truth ​Social ‌post.
Trump warned that if Tehran failed to reach a peace agreement with the US, it would face “a very bad time”.
“If they don’t, they’re going to have a bad time. A very bad time. They had better make a deal,” Trump told French media. He also shared an AI-generated graphic of him and a US Navy admiral in front of stormy waters, and the line: “It was calm before the storm.”
It comes after Trump spoke to Benjamin Netanyahu about Iran on Sunday as the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu held a security meeting with his cabinet, Israeli media reports.
Trump’s warning follows a drone stri..

Barbra Streisand announced on Sunday that she will not attend the Cannes Film Festival 's closing ceremony later this week where she was to receive an honorary Palme d'Or, after sustaining a knee injury.
The festival organizers said they would still honor the singer-actor despite her absence, according to a press release that carried Streisand's statement.
“On the advice of my doctors, as I continue recovering from a knee injury, I am sadly unable to attend the Festival de Cannes this year,” she said in the statement. “But I am deeply honored to receive the honorary Palme d’Or and had so been looking forward to celebrating the remarkable films of the 79th edition.”
“I was also very much looking forward to spending time with colleagues whom I so admire — and, of course, returning to France, a place I have always loved,” Streisand added. “My heartfelt thanks to the Festival, and to everyone who continues to support and champion the art of cinema.”
During its opening cere..