Trump extends ceasefire in Iran, citing ‘seriously fractured’ Iranian government

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/21/trump-iran-war-ceasefire.html

President Donald Trump on Tuesday extended the two-week U.S. ceasefire with Iran, saying the extension was warranted due to Tehran’s government being “seriously fractured.”

Trump said the ceasefire, which he earlier had said would end on Wednesday, would continue “until such time as” Iran’s leaders and representatives submit a “unified proposal” to end the war with the U.S. and Israel.

Trump’s announcement came after reports that an expected trip by Vice President JD Vance to Pakistan for a second round of peace talks with Iranian officials had been put on hold, and after the Iranian state news outlet Tasnim reported that negotiators from Tehran had informed their U.S. counterparts through an intermediary in Pakistan that they would not appear for further talks.

“Iran ultimately announced today that under these circumstances, attending the negotiations is a waste of time because the US prevents reaching any suitable agreement,” Tasnim reported.

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump, during an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” said, “I don’t want to do that,” after being asked if he would extend the ceasefire to allow for peace talks to reach a deal.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2026/04/21/king-charles-visit-dc-royal-garden-party-dress-code/89712940007/

Royal garden party welcoming King Charles to US breaks key tradition

An upcoming royal garden party to welcome King Charles III to the United States has an unconventional take on the storied event.

Guests attending the party, set to take place at the British ambassador's residence in Washington D.C. during Charles and Queen Camilla's visit in late April, are being discouraged from wearing hats.

According to an invitation obtained by the Washington Examiner's Rob Crilly, along with a customary dress code of lounge suits and day dresses, the invitation reads, "Hats Not Encouraged."

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https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/20/business/jet-fuel-airlines-iran-war
On top of higher airfares and fees because of the war in Iran, airlines in Europe and Asia, many of which depend on imported jet fuel, are now facing a potential shortage, raising the odds of flight cancellations and schedule cuts.

The US is in no immediate danger of running out of jet fuel, but the global shortage is driving up fuel prices for US carriers. They are cutting back on cheap airfares and less profitable flights, a move that’s likely to drive up airfares for US travelers particularly in the summer months.

Even if the US and Iran reach a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz today, the die is cast for summer travel. Airlines are planning routes and setting airfares for months in the future.

United, for example, has cut its previously planned schedule by about 5% over the next six months.

Airlines — and their passengers — likely won’t see any relief until deep into the summer, if then. That’s because it will take months to resume normal supplies of oil and jet fuel.

“It’s going to take until at least July,” said Matt Smith, head US analyst at energy consulting firm Kpler. “And even that may be optimistic at this point.”

Fuel is the second-largest cost for airlines, just behind labor. A single-aisle commercial jet burns roughly 800 gallons of jet fuel an hour. Widebodies generally burn even more.


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https://www.thedailybeast.com/scammer-emily-hart-mdupes-dumb-maga-men-with-ai-model/

A cash-strapped med student has revealed how he made thousands of dollars by duping “super dumb” MAGA men with an AI-generated model.

In January, Sam created “Emily Hart,” a conservative twenty-something inspired by Jennifer Lawrence and Sydney Sweeney who loves The Bible, fishing, and beer.

This trifecta appeared to do the trick, with the 22-year-old aspiring orthopedic surgeon from northern India raking in cash from “horny” guys.

Sam, not his real name, spoke to Wired about how all his other hustles, like YouTube content creation and hawking his study notes, fell flat. However, his fate changed when he used Google Gemini to sell bikini photos online.

>He said posts of a generic “hot girl” failed, before Gemini advised that he tried to swindle the “MAGA/conservative” space as a “cheat code.”

He claimed that the service even said such niche audiences are often loyal and have disposable income, but, speaking to Wired, a company spokesperson disputed that.

“Every day I’d write something pro-Christian, pro-Second Amendment, pro-life, anti-woke, and anti-immigration,” Sam said.

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https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/21/politics/us-military-missile-stockpile
The US military has significantly depleted its stockpile of key missiles during the war with Iran and created a “near-term risk” of running out of ammunition in a future conflict should one arise in the next few years, according to experts and three people familiar with recent internal Defense Department stockpile assessments.

Over the last seven weeks of war, the US military has expended at least 45% of its stockpile of Precision Strike Missiles; at least half of its inventory of THAAD missiles, which are designed to intercept ballistic missiles; and nearly 50% of its stockpile of Patriot air defense interceptor missiles, according to a new analysis conducted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Those numbers closely align with classified Pentagon data about US stockpiles, according to the sources familiar with the assessment.

Earlier this year the Pentagon signed a series of contracts that would help expand missile production, but the delivery timeline to replace these systems is three to five years even with the increased capacity, the CSIS experts and the sources said.

In the short term, the US likely maintains enough bombs and missiles to continue combat operations against Iran, in any scenario, should the shaky ceasefire fail to hold. But the number of critical munitions remaining in US stockpiles is no longer sufficient to confront a near-peer adversary, like China, and it will likely take years before the inventory of those weapons returns to pre-war levels, the CSIS analysis concludes.

“The high munitions expenditures have created a window of increased vulnerability in the western Pacific,” Mark Cancian, a retired US Marine Corps Colonel and one of the authors of the CSIS report, told CNN. “It will take one to four years to replenish these inventories and several years after that to expand them to where they need to be.”

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The process of revising the electoral roll, known as Special Intensive Revision (SIR), has been taking place in states and territories across India, justified by the Narendra Modi government as a way to stop “infiltrators” – a pejorative term largely referring to illegal Muslim Bangladeshi immigrants – from voting.

a new AI-assisted algorithm in West Bengal to flag so-called “logical discrepancies” in voter data, which led to millions of Bengalis having to prove their citizenship – including Indian Nobel laureate Amartya Sen – with many ending up on the list of 2.7 million deleted voters.

Experts say the algorithm failed to take into account key cultural issues, including that there is no standard form of transcribing Bengali names into English script, and that Bengali surnames have been adapted over generations, leading to small spelling inconsistencies between family documents. It also flagged parents under 16 and more than five siblings as a “logical discrepancy” even though both were common in older generations.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/22/india-west-bengal-state-elections-millions-stripped-of-vote

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https://dailycaller.com/2026/04/20/exclusive-california-school-sent-kids-on-segregated-field-trip-for-social-justice/

A California school district recently organized a field trip that excluded white students and maintains several other race-based policies, documents reveal.

Albany Unified School District (AUSD) hosted the trip to Virginia for “young men and women of color” to visit Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and discuss issues such as “social justice,” according to documents obtained by parental rights group Defending Education (DE) and shared exclusively with the Daily Caller News Foundation. The trip was approved by the board of education and cost the district $42,845.

“This unique mentoring program encourages Albany High School young men and women of color to develop social, personal, and academic success skills,” the document from the board reads. “Students gather in a safe, supportive, and empowering environment to voice their needs and challenges. The students engage in enriching discussions on social justice, education, leadership, mental well-being, and self-awareness. This mentoring program is transforming the lives of young men and women of color to make a significant global impact in society.”

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Columbus to settle with former police sergeant for $750,000 in discrimination case

https://www.wosu.org/politics-government/2026-04-20/columbus-to-settle-with-former-police-sergeant-for-750-000-in-discrimination-case

Columbus City Council on Monday is expected to settle a lawsuit with a former city police sergeant who accused the Division of Police of discriminating against him because he's a white man.

The city is set to pay out $750,000 to Brooke Wilson.

In federal court documents, Wilson, now 60, alleges that a young, Black, female cadet wrongly accused him of using a racial slur during a conversation in June 2020, during the height of the Black Lives Matter protests.

A police investigation upheld the allegations against Wilson and found that he had violated city policy. He was later charged with violations for "unbecoming conduct" and compliance with EEO laws.

Wilson denies saying the slur. In court documents, he claims he was not present at the time that the cadet says he used the slur. Wilson maintains that his timesheets showed as much — though he says that information was omitted for much of the investigation.

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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/tucker-carlson-says-will-tormented-long-time-support-trump-rcna341250
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson expressed regret over supporting President Donald Trump, saying in a video released Monday that he would "be tormented by it for a long time" and apologized for "misleading" people.
"I do think it’s like a moment to wrestle with our own consciences," Carlson said on "The Tucker Carlson Show," referring to the role of his and others' support for Trump. "You know, we’ll be tormented by it for a long time. I will be, and I want to say I’m sorry for misleading people. It was not intentional."
Carlson, once a staunch supporter of the president, pointed in the video to having campaigned for Trump, saying, "We're implicated in this for sure."
"It’s not enough to say, 'Well, I changed my mind,'" Carlson said during the show, during which he interviewed his brother, Buckley Carson. "Or like, 'Oh, this is bad. I’m out.' It’s like, in very small ways, but in real ways, you and me and millions of people like us for the reason this is happening right now."

Carlson's remarks come amid a growing public splinter on the right over Trump's handling of the war in Iran. Trump is facing the lowest job approval rating of his second term as a growing number of Americans strongly disapprove of the president's handling of inflation and the cost of living, which is consistently a top issue for voters.
Reached for comment, the White House pointed to an April 9 Truth Social post from Trump, who said that Carlson and other Trump allies-turned-critics "have one thing in common, Low IQs."
"They’re stupid people, they know it, their families know it, and everyone else knows it, too!" Trump said in the lengthy post.

After Carlson criticized Trump's handling of Iran earlier this month, Trump told the New York Post that he believed Carlson was “a low-IQ person" who has "absolutely no idea what’s going on."

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The proposal reflects a global reality in which governments appeal to President Trump’s vanity in order to get American might on their side.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/world/europe/donnyland-ukraine-donbas-trump.html
http://archive.today/gqEsR
When Poland sought a U.S. military base in 2018, it pitched the idea as Fort Trump.
When Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a peace pledge at the White House last year, they called the transport link it created the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity.
But the most improbable instance of President Trump’s name being lent to a geopolitical flashpoint may be one that has remained out of public view until now. In Ukraine peace talks in recent months, Ukrainian officials have suggested that the slice of the country’s Donbas region that Russia is still fighting for could be named “Donnyland.”

The moniker, a reference to “Donbas” and “Donald,” was described by four people familiar with the negotiations, who all spoke about it on the condition of anonymity because of the secrecy surrounding them.
When a Ukrainian negotiator first mentioned the term, partly in jest, it was as part of an attempt to convince the Trump administration to push back more against Russia’s territorial demands, according to three of the people familiar with the talks. President Vladimir V. Putin has vowed to keep fighting until Russian forces reach a key administrative boundary on the edge of the Donbas, the industrial region in eastern Ukraine where the Kremlin first started waging war in 2014.
That a name evocative of Disneyland has been applied to a depopulated, decimated swath of Ukrainian coal-and-steel country could appear jarring as Europe’s deadliest fighting since World War II continues to rage. But it also reflects a global reality in which governments appeal to Mr. Trump’s vanity in order to get American might on their side.

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>Incoming AI sloppa:

https://www.newsweek.com/us-draft-update-major-tech-company-urges-universal-national-service-11850885

A major U.S. technology company ignited controversy after urging the federal government to adopt a system of universal national service, a move that critics say edges toward endorsing a military draft.

In the post on X Sunday, Palantir shared a number of rules, including one that read: "National service should be a universal duty. We should, as a society, seriously consider moving away from an all-volunteer force and only fight the next war if everyone shares in the risk and the cost."

The call from Palantir Technologies drew attention online after its post was reposted, prompting debate about the role of private defense‑tech firms in shaping national policy

Advocacy groups have criticized Palantir for providing software used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Palantir's post comes amid the Iran war as it intensifies U.S. military commitments, strained global supply chains, and raised questions about long‑term manpower needs.

The conflict—now in its seventh week—began with U.S.‑Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, triggering a regional escalation that has included missile exchanges, naval clashes, and a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports.

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https://www.reuters.com/world/fbi-director-kash-patel-sues-atlantic-court-records-show-2026-04-20/
April 20 (Reuters) - FBI Director Kash Patel filed a defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic and its reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick following the publication of an article on Friday alleging the director had a drinking problem that could pose a threat to national security.
The magazine's story, initially titled “Kash Patel's Erratic Behavior Could Cost Him His Job," cited more than two dozen anonymous sources expressing concern at Patel’s “conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences” that “alarmed officials at the FBI and the Department of Justice.”
The article, which The Atlantic subsequently titled “The FBI Director Is MIA” in its online version, reported that during Patel’s tenure, the FBI had to reschedule early meetings “as a result of his alcohol-fueled nights” and that Patel “is often away or unreachable, delaying time-sensitive decisions needed to advance investigations.”
In The Atlantic's story, the White House, the Department of Justice and Patel denied the allegations. The article included a statement from the FBI attributed to Patel, “Print it, all false, I’ll see you in court—bring your checkbook.”
“The Atlantic's story is a lie,” Patel said in an interview with Reuters. “They were given the truth before they published, and they chose to print falsehoods anyway.”
"We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit," The Atlantic said in a statement.
Reuters could not independently establish the accuracy of the article or why the publication changed the title.

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https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/carney-says-canadas-us-ties-have-become-weakness-2026-04-19/
Canada's close ties to the United States were once a strength but have become a weakness, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Sunday, in a video message to his country in which he also praised the heroism of military leaders who fought against U.S. invasion more than two centuries ago.
Holding up a small toy soldier depiction of General Isaac Brock, the British military leader who died defending what is now Canada from a U.S. invasion in the War of 1812, Carney said Canada can't control the disruption coming from its U.S. neighbors, and can't bet its future on the hope that it will suddenly stop.
"The situation today feels unique, but we've faced down threats like this before," Carney said, referencing Brock and several other Canadian historical figures, including Chief Tecumseh who united Indigenous Nations across the Great Lakes to resist U.S. expansion in 1812.
Carney, who secured a parliamentary majority for his Liberal government last week, has said his electoral win will help him deal more effectively in the trade war started by U.S. President Donald Trump.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick slammed Canada as a difficult trading partner last week.
Canada, which sends almost 70% of its exports to the United States, is this year due to review the trilateral U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade treaty. U.S. officials have suggested they want major changes to the pact.
As well as imposing tariffs on Canadian exports such as steel, aluminum and autos, Trump has repeatedly mused about annexing Canada and turning it into the 51st U.S. state.
Carney's office did not immediately respond to questions about why he had praised figures who resisted U.S. expansionism.
Carney said he plans to give regular addresses to Canadians in the weeks and months ahead to update them on what his government is doing to grow Canada's economy and defend its sovereignty.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cge0grppe3po
Throughout US President Donald Trump's second term in office, traders have been betting millions of dollars just before he makes major announcements.
The BBC has examined trade volume data on several financial markets and matched them to some of the president's most significant market-moving statements.
It found a consistent pattern of spikes just hours, or sometimes minutes, before a social media post or media interview was made public.
Some analysts say it bears the hallmarks of illegal insider trading, whereby bets are made by people based on information that is not available to the general public.
Others say the picture is more complicated and that some traders have become more adept at anticipating the president's interventions.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0q9v1p2dd2o
Eight children, aged from one to 14 years old, have been killed in a shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana, which police are describing as a "domestic disturbance".

Officers said the incident began about 05:00 local time (10:00 BST). A single gunman shot 10 people before fleeing in a stolen car. Police then chased and killed the suspected shooter.

"We have hurting families, we have hurting police officers, coroners' personnel," Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux said. "This affects the entire community, so we all mourn with these families."

Police did not identify the suspected gunman or the victims, but said some of the children were related to the deceased man.

"This is a tragic situation - maybe the worst tragic situation we've ever had in Shreveport," the mayor added. He asked for prayers for the families and the city.

Police said the crime scene includes two homes on the same block and a third residence in the neighbourhood.