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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0m2z0k1gngo

All but two pro-Palestinian activists detained by Israeli forces after their flotilla headed for Gaza was intercepted in international waters have now been released in Greece.

On Thursday, around 175 activists aboard 22 boats carrying aid were seized near the island of Crete.

The organisers of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) denounced the action as "piracy", saying members were seized unlawfully more than 965km (600 miles) from Gaza, which is under an Israeli naval blockade. Israel's foreign ministry called the flotilla a "PR stunt".

All the detained activists have disembarked in Crete, apart from two men who are being brought to Israel "for questioning", according to the Israeli government.

Israel's foreign ministry said that one of the men, Saif Abu Keshek, was "suspected of affiliation with a terrorist organisation" and the other, Thiago Ávila, was "suspected of illegal activity". Both men remain in Israeli custody.

The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) called for the immediate release of Abu Keshek and Ávila. The group said: "We demand that all governments do all they can to pressure the Israeli regime to release all the illegal abductees."

It confirmed that all other members of the captured flotilla boats had been released on the Greek island of Crete.

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The United States lost aerial equipment worth up to $2.8bn, according to a US-based think tank.
By Alia Chughtai
Published On 30 Apr 2026

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/30/us-military-equipment-worth-billions-of-dollars-destroyed-in-iran-war

Speaking at a televised Cabinet meeting on March 26, the US secretary of defense boasted of US military successes against Iran in the ongoing war. “Never in recorded history has a nation’s military been so quickly and so effectively neutralised,” he said, seated next to US President Donald Trump.
The very next day, Iran fired missiles and drones that struck a US base in Saudi Arabia, wounding several US soldiers and destroying a radar surveillance plane that cost $700m.

Rubio says NATO must be re-examined after Spain blocks US operation on Iran
end of list
It was no one-off hit. Iran’s missiles and drones, and one devastating instance of so-called friendly fire, have destroyed US military equipment worth between $2.3bn and $2.8bn, the Washington, DC-based Center for Strategic and International Studies has calculated.
The CSIS estimate is the first detailed tabulation by a major international research group of US military losses in the war that began on February 28, and Al Jazeera is the first to report it.

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https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/us-will-release-ufo-files-soon-trump-says-2026-04-29/
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that his administration will be releasing as much information as possible on UFOs in the near future.

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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-congressional-authorization-iran-military-operation-war-powers-rcna343094
Trump told reporters he considers seeking congressional authorization under the War Powers Act "unconstitutional" and falsely claimed other presidents had not done so.

President Donald Trump on Friday sent letters to Congress explaining that, due to the ceasefire, he doesn't need its authorization for military operations in Iran, even though the conflict hit the 60-day mark this week.

"On April 7, 2026, I ordered a two-week ceasefire. The ceasefire has since been extended. There has been no exchange of fire between the United States Forces and Iran since April 7, 2026. The hostilities that began on February 28, 2026, have terminated," Trump wrote in the letters, one of which went to the House and one of which went to the Senate.

"Despite the success of United States operations against the Iranian regime and continued efforts to secure a lasting peace, the threat posed by Iran to the United States and our Armed Forces remains significant," the president added in the letter, promising to keep congressional leaders updated on further developments in Iran.

The letters come as congressional leaders this week faced mounting questions about whether they planned to schedule votes on a formal war authorization from Congress.

The 1973 War Powers Resolution directs the president to seek authorization for war from Congress after an ongoing military conflict hits the 60-day threshold. The law allows for a president to seek a 30-day extension if necessary to safely remove troops from the region, but Trump did not mention that in his letter.

"I have and will continue to direct United States Armed Forces consistent with my responsibilities and pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct United States foreign relations and as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive," the president wrote in his letter.

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https://www.nbcnews.com/business/energy/gas-prices-new-high-iran-war-rcna342578
U.S. gas prices have hit a fresh record since the start of the war with Iran, rising to an average nationwide of $4.23 per gallon Wednesday, according to AAA.

The milestone comes as oil prices have surged higher over the past week amid a dual blockade by the United States and Iran of the Strait of Hormuz, the key chokepoint in the region for transiting crude and petroleum-based products out of the Persian Gulf.

The price of Brent crude, the international benchmark that influences the price of U.S. gasoline prices, stands at $114.60, up nearly 25% from the recent low seen April 17 and just a few dollars away from the recent high of $118.

A day earlier, AAA recorded the biggest single-day increase in more than a month, with prices rising $0.07. Gasoline prices have climbed $1.25 a gallon, or more than 40%, since prior to the war’s start in late February.

The surge in oil prices has compounded the typical price increases seen this time of year as refineries undergo maintenance and the spring-summer driving season begins to kick off.

Many gas stations have also sought to artificially keep prices below the $4 threshold by reducing their own profit margins, said Tom Kloza, chief energy adviser to Gulf Oil. But they can only stomach lower margins for so long, he said.

“This is the most serious squeeze, in terms of margin suppression, we’ve seen for retailers since 2020,” he said.


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>Thread theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOljYeqrjqU

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-limits-use-race-redistricting-win-republicans-rcna245856

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday further weakened the Voting Rights Act, ruling that a congressional map in Louisiana was a racial gerrymander even though it was drawn to comply with the landmark law aimed at protecting minority voters.

The justices, split 6-3 with the court's conservatives in the majority, told states they can almost never consider race when drawing maps to comply with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which was enacted to protect minority voters who long faced discrimination in elections.

Conservative Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, said that while there may be extreme situations where the use of race can be justified to draw a map, it was not in the Louisiana case. As a result, the new map was an "unconstitutional racial gerrymander," he added.

The decision means Louisiana will need to redraw its map. Other states could try to do so as well, although there is little time this year with primaries underway ahead of November’s midterm congressional elections. Louisiana's primary is May 16, just two weeks away.

While the court had previously assumed that states could consider race in seeking to comply with the Voting Rights Act, Alito wrote that "allowing race to play any part in government decision-making represents a departure from the constitutional rule that applies in almost any other context."

In justifying the court's change of course, Alito highlighted developments in recent years, including "social change" in the South, where most of the race-based redistricting challenges arise. He also cited the court's 2019 decision that paved the way to unfettered partisan gerrymandering.

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https://tech.yahoo.com/cybersecurity/articles/report-flags-40-internet-traffic-151500514.html

Automated bots now account for over half of global internet traffic, with malicious bots nearing 40%

AI‑driven bot attacks surged more than twelvefold in 2025, blurring lines between legitimate automation and abuse

A growing share of attacks target APIs, with financial services seeing nearly half of last year’s account takeovers

It’s been a few years now since automated bot activity took up most of global web traffic, but “bad bots” are taking an ever-increasing share of that cake, and with AI agents being thrown into the mix, the problem is only getting more complex.

A new report on bot activity, harvested from Thales’ Threat Research and Security Analyst Services teams over 2025 found automated activity now represents more than 53% of all internet traffic, while the remaining 47% fall on human interaction.

Bad bots, on the other hand, now take up almost 40% of all global web traffic.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr5pn1ngerpo
The US will release a limited number of passports that feature a portrait of US President Donald Trump, the White House has confirmed.

First reported by Fox News, the passports will be released as part of celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence in July.

An administration official has confirmed to the BBC that the new designs will be available for "any American citizen" who applies for a passport when the rollout kicks off, and will continue for as long as there is availability.

The passports will also only be available at the Washington Passport Agency.

In a rendering of the passport released by the US State Department, an image of Trump is seen surrounded by the text of the Declaration of Independence and the American flag, along with the president's signature in gold.

"President Trump's new patriotic passport design provides yet another great way Americans can join in the spectacular celebrations for America's 250th birthday," a spokesperson for the White House told the BBC.

"Between the UFC250 Fight, the Great American State Fair, Freedom250 Grand Prix, and this new passport celebrating our freedom, President Trump continues to proudly lead a renewal of national pride and patriotism during our historic semiquincentennial celebration," they added.


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The longest shutdown of a federal department in U.S. history came to an end on Thursday when President Trump signed a bill to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security following a breakthrough on Capitol Hill.

The House unanimously approved a Senate-passed bill to fund most of DHS earlier in the day, with the exception of the department's immigration enforcement agencies, which have been largely unaffected by the shutdown. The chamber passed the legislation through voice vote with little fanfare, a sign that lawmakers were finally ready to put the impasse behind them.

The 76-day shutdown left many critical agencies like the Coast Guard, FEMA and the TSA struggling to maintain operations as funding ran dry. Repurposed money to pay employees was set to expire within days, increasing pressure on lawmakers to resolve the funding lapse.

The DHS shutdown
Spending authority for the department expired on Feb. 14, kicking off weeks of protracted negotiations between Republicans and Democrats that ultimately resulted in the bill that earned the House's sign-off.

>https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dhs-shutdown-house-vote/

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>Trump’s new nickname indicates people are not confident he will secure a deal with Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-taco-wall-street-nacho-b2967600.html

President Donald Trump’s back-and-forth with Iran over opening the Strait of Hormuz has led to a new nickname inspired by TACO, the president’s acronym nickname for issuing and reversing threats.

“We thought we were getting a TACO, ‘Trump Always Chickens Out.’ But so far we are getting a NACHO, ‘Not A Chance Hormuz Opens,’” Bloomberg columnist Javier Blas wrote on Twitter.

The new nickname, bestowed by a financial trader, according to Blas, reflects the public’s frustration with the on-again, off-again blockade in the Strait that has disrupted global oil supply, causing gas prices to rise.

But it also indicates that some are not confident Trump can secure a deal with Iran that will alleviate tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and allow ships carrying oil to pass through.

Despite being in the middle of a ceasefire, Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. has initiated a blockade of Iranian ports. Iran has offered to reopen the waterway if the U.S. concludes its blockade, but the president has refused unless Iran concedes to his demands about ending its nuclear enrichment program.

Already, peace talks between the U.S., Israel and Iran have failed once, and an attempt at a second round of negotiations fell through this past week when Trump summoned his top negotiators back to D.C.

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https://nypost.com/2026/04/27/us-news/kkk-informants-to-the-splc-de-hooded-one-legged-true-believer-and-cleaning-lady-who-show-no-signs-of-reform/
Two of the eight ‘informants’ paid millions by the Southern Poverty Law Center can be un-hooded by The Post as a suburban mom from Georgia and a one-legged “true believer” from Alabama.

One of the SPLC’s so-called informants was an Imperial Wizard of the United Klans of America, a Ku Klux Klan organization, who remained a committed racist until his death in 2023 aged 50.

Bradley Scott Jenkins was high-up enough in the organization to call himself the leader of the “true Klan” and never displayed any signs of reform or subverting the KKK’s message — the stated aim of the SPLC’s ‘informant’ program — according to his son, Noah Jenkins.

Jenkins, who died an unemployed father-of-three at 50, was one of the ‘informants’ referred to as “F-unknown” in the indictment against the SPLC. The UKA is believed to continue with a new leader.

“When I went to the rallies with him as a kid, I never saw anything that made me think he wasn’t a true believer,” Noah, 24, told The Post of his father, who lost his left leg due to medical complications.

He was seemingly happy to take the nonprofit’s money while revitalizing the UKA, a once-defunct Alabama-based KKK splinter group, described on the SPLC’s website as a “millennial reboot of what was once a serious domestic threat.” In the 60s UKA had been responsible for many racist attacks and “the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Ala., which resulted in the deaths of four little girls in 1963.”

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Remember this thread here >>1507239 ? Remember all the simps defending Ilhan Omar's blatant fraud? Welp I've got some good news...

https://www.bizpacreview.com/2026/04/27/ilhan-omars-husbands-wine-company-has-been-officially-dissolved-amid-scrutiny-1635100/

I'm not even going to post the full article. Rather I'm going to focus on this part right here:

>“The people at the address didn’t even know what we were talking about when we went out there because it never existed in that location,” independent journalist Nick Sortor told Fox News’ Kayleigh McEnany. “And it’s awfully coincidental that only days after her accounting error of millions of dollars, that this entity, this wine company, ends up being dissolved.”

Another Somalian owned business pulling millions in scams that doesn't exist... It's almost like there's a pattern. I can't wait to see what excuses /news/ comes up with next!

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They're calling it the least surprising thing to ever happen.

After months of Donald Trump claiming his golden ballroom would not cost taxpayers a penny, Republican lawmakers this week are proposing legislation for Americans to pick up the full four hundred million dollar tab for the gaudy addition to the White House.

This sudden enthusiasm and laser focus from Republican lawmakers comes as DHS employees continue not being paid as the partial government shutdown that has been in effect since February 14th stretches on, and as American consumers continue to pay an additional 1.20 per gallon for gasoline as Donald Trump's 48 hour war with Iran stretches into it's third month.

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/taxpayer-fund-trump-ballroom-correspondents-dinner-shooting-b2966078.html

In the wake of the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, top Republicans want to use $400 million in taxpayer funds on President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project, arguing the new building is vital for national security. This comes despite past promises from the president the ballroom would be entirely funded by private donations.

“It’s very difficult to have a bunch of important people in the same place unless it’s really, really secure,” Sen. Lindsey Graham told reporters on Monday. “The times in which we live are unusual. I’ve been up here for a while now. I’ve never felt the sense of threat that exists today.”

Graham and his GOP colleagues Sen. Eric Schmitt and Sen. Katie Britt are pushing a bill to fund the ballroom and offset costs by using customs and national parks user fees. The proposal includes building new military and Secret Service infrastructure within the ballroom complex.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/28/us/politics/james-comey-indictment.html

The Justice Department has secured a new indictment of James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, over a social media post, after a past indictment effort spurred by President Trump last year ended in failure, according to people familiar with the investigation.

The new case represents another twist in the department’s tortured efforts to satisfy the demands of Mr. Trump to pursue criminal charges against Mr. Comey, a longtime target of the president’s wrath.

The charge stems from an incident nearly a year ago, when Mr. Comey, vacationing on the North Carolina coast, posted a photograph on social media showing seashells arranged to say “86 47,” combining the slang term “86” often used to mean dismiss or remove in reference to Mr. Trump, the country’s 47th president.

Members of the administration, as well as Mr. Trump’s family, declared that the meaning of “86” was to kill, and that the message amounted to a threat to assassinate the president.

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The Federal Communications Commission is once again trying to muzzle those who poke fun at President Donald Trump.

FCC Chair Brendan Carr ordered early license reviews of Disney’s eight owned-and-operated ABC stations on Tuesday, according to Reuters, signaling a significant escalation in its battle with the media and free speech.

A source with knowledge of the development told NBC it’s “unprecedented.” The FCC is forcing Disney to reapply for licenses that don’t expire until at least 2028.

The move seems like clear retribution for a joke that late-night host Jimmy Kimmel made about Trump’s age, in which he described first lady Melania Trump as having the glow of “an expectant widow.”

Days later, an armed man opened fire at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner that the president was attending, prompting Melania Trump to demand that Disney’s subsidiary ABC fire Kimmel, who has insisted that the joke was “obviously ... about their age difference.”

The late-night host didn’t back down in his monologue on Monday, when he described the joke about the first couple as “a very light roast about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am.”

“It was not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination,” he added. “And they know that. I’ve been very vocal for many years, speaking out against gun violence in particular.”

“I understand that the first lady had a stressful experience over the weekend, and probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house. And also, I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do,” Kimmel continued. “And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.”

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