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May 22 (UPI) — Tulsi Gabbard resigned as director of national intelligence Friday to support her husband, who has been diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer.

Gabbard said in a resignation letter, which she posted on X, that after her husband Abraham Williams’ recent diagnosis she will “step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle.”

The principal deputy director of national intelligence, Aaron Lukas, will take over as acting DNI after Gabbard departs June 30, President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

“I am deeply grateful for the trust you placed in me and for the opportunity to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for the last year and a half,” Gabbard said in her letter.

Gabbard, who told Trump that she is resigning during a meeting in the Oval Office on Friday, was a controversial nominee for the position.

Nearly all Republicans voted to confirm her on a party-line vote, but former Senate Republican leader Sen. Mitch McConnell voted against her because she had “failed to demonstrate” that she was ready for the position.

Before she was named DNI, Gabbard served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Hawaii House of Representatives dating to 2002.

The decision to resign, Gabbard said, is the balance of her husband’s dedication to her career, dating to her time in the military, and that she “cannot in good conscience ask him to face this fight alone while I continue in this demanding and time-consuming position.”

In his post, Trump said that Gabbard “has done an incredible job, and we will miss her.”

“She, rightfully, wants to be with [Abraham], bringing him back to good health as they currently fight a tough battle together,” Trump said. “I have no doubt he will soon be better than ever.”

May 22 (UPI) — A new American consulate opened in Nuuk, Greenland, Friday, and hundreds of Greenlanders showed up to protest it.

There has been a small consulate in the country since 2020, but the new one is 30,000 square feet and is on one of Nuuk’s busiest roads.

The consulate hosted an opening event with visitors and red, white and blue decorations inside. Ambassador to Denmark Kenneth Howery unveiled a new plaque and said he looked forward to a closer partnership with the semi-autonomous country, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

“The Arctic is clearly a region of global importance,” the BBC reported Howery said. “We will always be neighbors and be with you into whatever future you choose as allies and partners.”

But outside, the locals made their voices heard, chanting, “We don’t want your money” and “Greenlanders know a MAGA Trojan horse when we see one,” The New York Times reported.

The locals have dubbed the new consulate, “Trump Towers.”

Protest organizer Aqqalukkuluk Fontain, 37, said, “The waves they are trying to create, and the propaganda they are pushing — people are not falling for it.”

“Our government already told Donald Trump and his administration that Greenland is not for sale,” the BBC reported he said. “Our message is for the American people and to the rest of the world — that in a democratic world, no means no.”

The United States had thousands of troops stationed in Greenland during World War II and the Cold War, but the bases have all closed except one. American officials have begun visiting the old bases as they consider reopening some, The Times reported.

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Greenland Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry visited Nuuk on a “goodwill mission” and found he wasn’t very welcome. He handed out chocolate chip cookies and MAGA hats to few takers.

Inge Bisgaard told the BBC that Landry’s visit was disrespectful. “It’s so important to show this is not OK.”

“We get this fear from the United States. People were just recovering from last time, when it all began again in January,” she said about Trump’s previous comments about buying or invading Greenland.

Protesters stood for two minutes of silence with their backs facing the consulate, then resumed chanting for Americans to go away.

“Look at how little signage there is showing that it’s a consulate,” The Times reported protester Nivi Christensen, a museum director in Nuuk, said. “The other consulates fly large flags outside and are proud of it. This feels different. It feels as though they are doing it in a sketchy way.”

May 22 (UPI) — Federal immigration officials have arrested the sister of a sanctioned Cuban executive on the grounds that her presence in the United States poses a threat to the nation and undermines U.S. foreign policy interests.

Homeland Security Investigations agents arrested Adys Lastres Morera in Miami on Thursday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.

Little information about the arrest was made public. ICE published a photo showing the back of a woman in handcuffs being detained by immigration officers.

The arrest came as Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced in a statement that he had terminated Morera’s lawful permanent resident status under a provision of thee Immigration and Nationality Act that makes non-citizens deportable if the secretary of state believes their presence or activities in the United States “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.”

ICE said her status had been terminated on Wednesday, paving the way for her arrest.

“Allowing Lastres Morera to remain in the country would send a signal that Cuba regime-affiliated networks could continue to access the U.S.’s financial, education and social institutions — but that is not the case,” acting HSI Executive Associate Director John Condon said in a statement.

Adys Lastres Morera is the sister of Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, the executive president of the Cuban military-controlled financial conglomerate GAESA.

The State Department sanctioned GAESA and Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera earlier this month on accusations of diverting resources from the Cuban people to “fuel the lavish lifestyles of Castro family members and other regime elites and to finance overseas influence operations as part of Cuba’s long-standing ambition of a global communist revolution,” Rubio said Thursday.

According to ICE, Adys Lastres Morera was admitted to the United States as a lawful permanent resident on Jan. 13, 2023.

“For far too long, the family members of terrorist organizations, repressive anti-American regimes and other bad actors who would threaten the national security of the United States have been given a free pass to enjoy the privileges of living in the United States,” Rubio said.

“No longer. Under President [Donald] Trump, we are removing from our country the family members of [Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] terrorists and Cuban regime elites.”

The arrest comes amid mounting tensions in the Caribbean.

A day earlier, U.S. federal prosecutors charged former Cuban President Raul Castro on allegations of authorizing the 1996 shootdown of an aircraft operated by the Cuban American exile organization Brothers to the Rescue.

Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has accused the Trump administration of using the Castro indictment as a pretext to escalate tensions and potentially justify another military operation in the Caribbean, similar to the January U.S. strike that abducted Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolas Maduro, and brought him to the United States to face narco-terrorism charges.

May 21 (UPI) — House Republicans abruptly pulled legislation to curb President Donald Trump‘s ability to continue the war with Iran on Thursday amid Democratic accusations that GOP leaders shelved the measure over fears it would pass.

House Concurrent Resolution 86 was listed on House Majority Leader Steve Scalise‘s schedule for possible consideration on Thursday but no vote was held before the House left Washington.

The resolution was delayed until after the lower chamber returns from recess on June 2, leaving Democrats fuming.

“Are we not voting on it because the American people are sick and tired of this illegal war that is costing tens of billions of dollars, gas prices are through the roof, people can’t afford their groceries? Is that why you’re pulling it?” Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., asked on the House floor as cheers and boos erupted behind him.

“You guys don’t have the guts … to vote on this.”

The resolution, sponsored by Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., directs Trump to remove U.S. forces from hostilities with Iran unless authorized by Congress.

Democrats put the measure forward amid a larger congressional push aimed at reining in Trump’s ability to go to war in the Middle East. Democrats in the Senate on Tuesday advanced similar legislation in the eighth vote they have forced on the matter since the war began Feb. 28.

While Democrats have said the war is illegal without congressional authorization, Trump and his Republican Party argue the effort is moot, claiming the war ended with a fragile cease-fire announced last month.

The Senate measure advanced with support from a handful of Republicans who have split from their party on the issue as the war has continued. In the House, where the GOP also holds a narrow majority, defections were anticipated. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky has supported previous similar measures.

“Let’s be clear: Republicans pulled this vote because they knew they were going to lose it,” Meeks, ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement after the House recessed.

“They know this war is a political and strategic disaster. They know that as Americans head into Memorial Day weekend paying over [$]4.50 a gallon at the pump, they cannot go home and explain they voted to keep this war going. So, instead of casting that vote, they ran from it.”

Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., accused House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and House Republicans of abdicating their responsibility by postponing the vote.

“This is a new low,” he said in a social media post.

“This is a disservice to the American people and the troops being put in harm’s way.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., lambasted Trump for starting the war without articulating its objectives and exit strategy and without garnering public support or congressional approval for it.

“Even as we prepare to recognize our nation’s fallen heroes on Memorial Day, House Republicans refuse to show up and be accountable to the brave service members that have been recklessly put in harm’s way,” he said in a statement.

“The American people will remember in November.”

May 21 (UPI) — SpaceX on Thursday scrubbed the planned first test flight for its redesigned Super Heavy megarocket, the largest rocket ever built, from its new Texas launch pad.

Following several delays of the countdown at 40 seconds remaining, SpaceX spokesman Dan Huot announced the launch would be delayed due to engineering issues which could not be immediately remedied.

“We are expecting to be able to make another flight attempt tomorrow, but obviously stay tuned to our social media,” he said.

In addition to trying out the redesigned Super Heavy propulsion system, the launch is meant to assess upgraded systems on Starship, including the deployment of 22 Starlink satellite simulators, intentionally stressing its new flight control flaps and attempting the “dynamic banking maneuver” that it eventually will use to land back on its pad.

When it takes off, the uncrewed mission will be the 12th flight for Starship as SpaceX develops what is expected to be a primary vehicle for NASA’s Artemis missions to the moon.

“The flight test’s primary goal will be to demonstrate each of these new pieces in the flight environment for the first time, with each element of the Starship architecture featuring significant redesigns to enable full and rapid reuse that incorporate learnings from years of development and testing,” SpaceX said on its website.

The V3, which is 408 feet tall and more powerful than previous Super Heavy rockets, includes 33 redesigned Raptor engines — Starship has six of its own — will take off from South Texas for a round of primary tests similar to previous launches.

The rocket, SpaceX said, is hoped to successfully launch, ascend, separate from the second stage — Starship — and then perform boostback and landing burns in the Gulf of Mexico.

“As this is the first flight test of a significantly redesigned vehicle, the booster will not attempt a return to the launch site for catch,” the company said.

During the hot-stage separation, Starship will light its engines to enter a sub-orbital path, performing tests and then splashing down in the Indian Ocean.

Tests of the space vessel are important as NASA’s Artemis III mission in 2028 is expected to test connecting the Orion crew capsule to both Starship and Blue Origin‘s Blue Moon, although Blue Moon has yet to be launched for its first test flight.

Starship also is expected to be the ship that delivers Americans back to the moon in the next several years.

May 21 (UPI) — Eli Lilly said its weight loss drug, retatrutide, helped nearly half of participants in a phase 3 trial to lose more than 30% of their weight.

Many of the people who lost that much weight were on the highest dose of retatrutide for up to two years, but the company said that the weekly injection was effective for weight loss across all doses of the drug.

Retatrutide affects three hormones — GLP-1 and GIP, each of which are targeted by similar weight loss drugs, and glucagon, which none of them targets — and could be best for people looking to lose larger amounts of weight, said the company’s chief scientific and product officer, Dan Skovronsky.

“We haven’t seen that level of weight loss before with these kinds of medicines,” Skovronsky said, referring to a group of drugs that includes Eli Lilly’s Zepbound.

“For some patients, 30% weight loss may be more than what they’re seeking,” he said. “For other patients, that may be what they need to get healthy. So, not everyone will go up to the highest dose level and stay on it for two years.”

The phase 3 trial included 2,339 people who were obese or overweight. They were evaluated after 1 1/2 years or two years having injections.

Those who received the highest dose lost an average of 70 pounds, roughly 28% of their body weight, after 1 1/2 years, with patients who were assessed after two years losing an average of 85 pounds, or 30.3% of their weight, the company reported.

Side effects from the drug were reported to be similar to other weight loss drugs, which include nausea, diarrhea and constipation, and some patients also experienced upper respiratory tract infections and a nerve condition called dysesthesia, the company said.

The side effects were also similar to those seen in phase 3 trials evaluating retatrutide for use against diabetes and a specific type of arthritis.

Eli Lilly has not yet applied to the Food and Drug Administration for approval of the drug for any of the three uses.

May 21 (UPI) — Americans traveling back to the United States who have recently been in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda or South Sudan will be required to enter the country through Washington, D.C.

Citizens and lawful permanent residents who have been in any of the countries in the last 21 days will be required to fly to Washington Dulles International Airport for enhanced health screenings before continuing on to their final destination, the U.S. Department of State announced.

The announcement follows an Air France flight bound for the United States on Wednesday afternoon being redirected to Montreal Trudeau International Airport after a passenger on board was determined to be from the DRC.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday already had blocked non-U.S. passport holders from entering the United States if they had been to any of the three African nations in the last 21 days.

An American doctor, one of several exposed in the DRC, was also confirmed to be infected with the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola on Tuesday and flown to Germany for treatment.

“The Dulles requirement applies to all passengers, including U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, who were present in those countries,” the State Department said in a travel advisory.

“Please be prepared for flight changes or cancellations,” the department said.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a press conference that there have 51 confirmed cases of Ebola among the three countries, with nearly 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths.

Tedros said the scale of the epidemic is “much larger” in the DRC, and that there have been deaths reported among health care workers, which suggests health care-associated transmission.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that the doctor whose case was confirmed this week, with officials flying him to Germany because of their previous experience in handling Ebola cases.

Although contacts linked to the doctor also have been moved to Germany and Czechia for observation, there have been no additional cases in Americans, the CDC said.

May 21 (UPI) — President Donald Trump has said he will speak with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te about a stalled $14 billion arms deal, a call that would be precedent-setting for a sitting U.S. president and likely anger China.

“I’ll speak to him,” Trump said Thursday from the tarmac of Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

The president was responding to a reporter’s question on whether he planned to call Lai before making a final decision on the Congress-cleared weapons deal, the future of which remains uncertain following Trump’s visit last week to Beijing for meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Taiwan has requested the weapons package as it faces an aggressive China, which claims sovereignty over the self-governing island it views as a breakaway province and has said it will take it back by force if necessary.

The weapons deal was pre-approved by Congress in January 2025, and Taiwan’s legislative body earlier this month approved a special defense budget of $25 billion to buy weapons from the United States. The package now requires Trump to sign off on it.

But Trump on Friday told reporters aboard Air Force One while en route back to the United States following his visit with Xi in Beijing that they had “talked a lot about Taiwan” and that he would “make a determination over the next fairly short period” on whether to give the arms deal final approval.

Taiwan was a significant topic during the trip, with Xi warning Trump that the island was “the most important issue” in bilateral ties and that, if mishandled, could trigger “clashes and even conflicts.”

Amid the uncertainty, Lai issued a Facebook post Sunday night stating Taiwan-U.S. security cooperation and arms sales “are key elements in maintaining regional peace and stability” and that the island’s security is the region’s security.

Trump did not say Wednesday when he would speak with Lai or discuss specifics concerning the arms deal.

“We have that situation very well in hand,” he said, adding that he had an “amazing” meeting with Xi.

“We’ll work on that,” he said.

Trump spoke with Taiwan’s then-President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016, when he was the president-elect, but no sitting U.S. president is known to have spoken with the leader of Taiwan since Jan. 1, 1979, when the Carter administration formally severed diplomatic ties with the Republic of China, the official name of Taiwan’s government, and established relations with the People’s Republic of China in Beijing.

Spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian of Beijing’s State Council Taiwan Affairs Office gave reporters a standard answer during a press conference Wednesday, stating: “We firmly oppose the United States conducting any form of official exchanges with China’s Taiwan region, and we firmly oppose the United States selling weapons to China’s Taiwan region.”

“This position is consistent and clear,” she said.

UPI has contacted Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry for comment.

Democrats and some Republicans have urged Trump to approve the arms deal and expressed concern over its future as the president was in Beijing.

“Trump must not sell out Taiwan, period,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a social media statement.

The Republic of China, the current government of Taiwan, once governed mainland China but retreated to the island following its defeat by the Chinese Communist Party in the Chinese Civil War in 1949.

The Chinese Communist Party views Taiwan as part of China under its One China principle and seeks reunification with the island — an act Taiwan says would amount to an illegal annexation.

May 20 (UPI) — Three people are dead and nearly 20 others, mostly first responders, were hospitalized after coming into contact with an unknown substance at a central New Mexico residence on Wednesday.

New Mexico State Police said in a statement that the incident occurred around 11 a.m. MDT at a home at 306 Halon Avenue in Mountainair, located about 65 miles southeast of Albuquerque.

State police officers were assisting the Torrance County Sheriff’s office with what they believed was a suspected overdose involving an unidentified substance at the residence, where four people were found unresponsive inside, three of whom have since died.

Eighteen responders exposed to the substance then began experiencing nausea and dizziness, according to authorities, who said they, along with the sole living occupant of the residence, were transported to the University of New Mexico Hospital, where two first responders were listed in serious condition.

Albuquerque Fire Rescue’s technicians were deployed to the scene in Level-A hazmat suits, the highest level of protection against hazardous materials, to sample, identify and remove the unknown substance and conduct decontamination work.

Videos and photos published by Albuquerque Fire Rescue to its Facebook page show several men dressed in large orange hazmat suits coordinating their operation.

Fire officials said they had completed their operation at the residence. New Mexico State Police said they believe the substance is transmitted through contact and is not airborne.

“There is currently no threat to the public,” New Mexico State Police said.

“A secure perimeter has been established and the affected area remains limited to the residence.”

It was not clear whether authorities had identified the three people who died. The conditions of the other hospitalized first responders and the surviving occupant were also unknown, but authorities said they were being quarantined, evaluated and monitored.

WASHINGTON, May 20 (UPI) — As sports betting and prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket grow in popularity, U.S. senators on Wednesday weighed the need to regulate use of the platforms by minors.

One main issue senators raised during a hearing by the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Technology and Data Privacy was how prediction markets use social media to advertise their platforms to underage users, putting them at risk of a gambling addiction.

“Young people are being inundated with advertisements on social media. Their favorite influencers and sports figures are introducing minors to betting,” said Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who chaired the hearing.

“This is not safe. It needs to stop, and advertising to minors is disgusting,” Blackburn said.

The “No Sure Bets: Protecting Sports Integrity in America” hearing was intended to discuss the prevalence of sports betting and its impact on the integrity of matches.

It followed a unanimous Senate vote last month to ban its members and their staffs from trading on prediction market platforms, and the senators seemed determined to do more. Issues surrounding gaming continue to be a hot topic in Congress, where more than 10 active bills are related to prediction markets.

Some recent high-profile scandals surrounding prediction market platforms have also drawn attention to the industry, including the arrest of U.S. Army soldier Gannon Van Dyke last month. He was charged with using classified information to profit from a Polymarket wager related to the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in January.

In the same month, Kalshi fined and suspended from its platform three congressional candidates for betting on the outcomes of their own elections.

In the hearing, Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., criticized prediction markets like Kalshi for hiring social media influencers to promote their platforms to adolescent users.

“I think it’s specifically dangerous for minors to get into sports betting, and especially on prediction markets. That’s why almost all the states say [the legal betting age] is 21, not 18,” Hickenlooper said.

“Prediction markets let users as young as 18 bet on sports, but they also market their products to younger, more vulnerable audiences who are in many cases adept at getting around the platform precautions.”

A study released in January by Common Sense Media found that more than one-third of adolescent boys aged 11 to 17 admitted to engaging in gambling over the past year. Almost 60% of those who have been gambling said that they were exposed to gambling content through social media.

Kalshi, in an email, denied advertising to minors and pointed to recently implemented consumer protection measures, including requesting a selfie from the user to supplement documents verifying their age.

Hickenlooper grilled Patrick McHenry, a former U.S. representative now acting as senior adviser to the Coalition for Prediction Markets, on the guardrails to ensure underage users could not access their platforms.

McHenry pointed to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which oversees prediction markets and regulates them as a form of financial derivative rather than an avenue for gambling.

“The CFTC is a cop on the beat. It has the capacity to oversee this market, just as they’ve done with a broader commodities marketplace that has been around and well-versed for decades,” he said.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s jurisdiction over prediction markets has been a contentious topic, since users can trade event contracts related to sports, weather, politics and more.

The Prediction Markets Are Gambling Act, which Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., introduced in March, seeks to ban prediction markets from listing contracts that resemble sports bets, arguing that such contracts are considered gambling and should be subject to state regulation.

The agency argues that sports event contracts were treated as “swaps,” a term used to describe events that have potential economic consequences.

But Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, pushed back against the classification of sports contracts on prediction markets as financial derivatives.

“What is the economic consequence of whether a pitcher throws a ball or strike?” he asked.

Another bill specifically targeting digital gambling advertisements to minors was introduced Monday. Sens. Richard Blumenthal D‑Conn., and Katie Britt, R‑Ala., are advocating the Gaming Advertisement to Minors Enforcement Act, which would implement a federal ban on sports betting ads on social media platforms for minors.

May 20 (UPI) — Barney Frank, a former Massachusetts congressman who was instrumental in overhauling the country’s financial regulations and was one of the first openly gay members of Congress, died at his home in Maine. He was 86.

Frank had entered hospice care last month with congestive heart failure, The New York Times reported.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., worked with Frank in Congress for decades. Pelosi called him “a real mentor” and said she learned a lot from him.

“He has been about idealism and pragmatism to get the job done,” she told NBC News.

Frank served in the House of Representatives for more than 30 years and led the House Financial Services Committee from 2007 to 2011. One of the successes for which he was best known was the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, which he co-sponsored with Sen. Chris Dodd. The act, a response to the 2008 financial crisis, tightened regulations on Wall Street, preventing banks from taking part in the riskiest behaviors and protecting consumers.

Frank was one of the first U.S. politicians to come out as gay voluntarily — in a 1987 interview with the Boston Globe, a statement he followed with “So what?” He became the first member of Congress to marry a same-sex partner when he wed Jim Ready in 2012. Ready survives him.

“I think the key to our having made the enormous progress we made in defeating anti-gay prejudice had to do with all of us coming out and people discovering the gap between between our reality and the way we were painted,” Frank said in an interview last month with NBC News.

Frank was also known for championing civil rights and women’s rights and advocating for issues including environmental protection and abortion rights.

“I’m a left-handed gay Jew,” he often said, The New York Times reported. “I’ve never felt, automatically, a member of any majority.”

Frank’s first book, Frank: A Life in Politics from the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage, was published in 2015. His second, The Hard Path to Unity: Why We Must Reform the Left to Rescue Democracy, is expected to be published in September.

In Frank, he wrote that he’d been good at his job but in retirement, he was ready to be “good at life.”

May 20 (UPI) — In its eighth war powers resolution vote since the United States went to war with Iran, the U.S. Senate has advanced legislation seeking to curb President Donald Trump‘s ability to engage in conflict with Tehran.

Senate Democrats have repeatedly used War Power Resolution privileges to force votes on ending Trump’s use of military force in the Middle Eastern country without congressional approval and have vowed to continue to do so for as long as necessary.

In its eighth vote on the resolution Tuesday, Democrats were able to court enough Republican votes to advanced the measure in a 50-47 result, with three lawmakers not voting.

The Democratic victory is largely procedural, as it discharges the resolution from committee for floor consideration, limited debate and a final vote on whether to send it to the House for consideration.

The Democrats have slowly cobbled together a handful of Republican votes as the war and its effects on the economy drag on.

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana cast the deciding vote to push the legislation over the threshold on Tuesday, days after thee 15-year-veteran lost the Republican primary to Rep. Julia Letlow, whom Trump endorsed in turning against Cassidy for voting to convict him during his second impeachment trial in 2021.

“While I support the administration’s efforts to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program, the White House and Pentagon have left Congress in the dark on Operation Epic Fury,” he said in a social media statement, referring to the Defense Department name for its military operation against Iran.

“In Louisiana, I’ve heard from people, including President Trump’s supporters, who are concerned about this war. Until the administration provides clarity, no congressional authorization or extension can be justified.”

Since the war began on Feb. 28 with the joint U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, Democrats have been accusing the Trump administration of waging an unlawful war, stating the Constitution mandates that only Congress can authorize such military force.

The president is required to end the use of U.S. forces after 60 days unless Congress authorizes the action or extends the deadline, which was May 1.

Trump argues the resolution effort is moot, stating the conflict is over, and pointing to the fragile cease-fire announced in April.

The cease-fire “gives you additional time,” he told reporters earlier this month, describing the Democrats behind the legislative effort as “not patriotic people.”

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., the sponsor of Tuesday’s bill, said he was grateful that “enough of my colleagues stood up for the Constitution and listened to their constituents.”

“President Trump’s deeply unpopular war of choice in Iran has imposed a tremendous cost on the American people — including deaths and injuries of our service members and soaring gas prices,” he said in a statement.

The vote, he continued, sends “a strong message” to the Trump administration “that the American people aren’t interested in more war in the Middle East.”

The other three Republicans to vote in favor of the resolution were Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania has been the lone Democrat to consistently vote with the Republicans on this war powers measure.

May 19 (UPI) — Vice President JD Vance took questions from reporters Tuesday at a White House press briefing

, reiterating President Donald Trump‘s repeated assertion that the conflict in Iran is meant to keep the country from developing a nuclear weapon but that it is “not a forever war.”

“We want to keep the number of countries that have nuclear weapons small, and that’s why Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” he said during the briefing, “on top of all the other things that we might be worried about, that they themselves could use it, that they could use it in leverage and economic control or economic negotiations.”

Vance was the second person, following U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to stand in for White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is on maternity leave.

Iran was a dominant topic of the briefing. Vance said the United States has made progress in negotiations despite Iran’s position being “fractured,” but that U.S. forces are ready to attack again if necessary.

“We’re going to take care of business and come home,” he said.

Rubio and Vance are both considered presidential candidate contenders for Republicans in 2028, but the vice president demurred at a question

suggesting the press briefing role could be a sort of audition for candidacy.

“I’m a vice president,” he said. “I really like my job, and I’m going to try to do as good a job as I can.”

Vance also dealt with questions about the Justice Department’s new $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization fund,” which was created to compensate those who say they were unfairly targeted by former presidential administrations.

Some officials have criticized the fund as a way for the government to pay Trump allies who say they were targeted during the Biden administration. Earlier Tuesday, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said he could not rule out payments to convicted Jan. 6 rioters.

“We’re not trying to give money to anybody who attacked apolice officer,” Vance said at the briefing. “We’re trying to compensate people where the book was thrown at them, they were mistreated by the legal system.”

May 19 (UPI) — The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Tuesday announced that it is imposing sanctions on four activists for their alleged involvement in a flotilla seeking to carry humanitarian aid to Gaza during the Israeli blockade.

In a press release, the department said the flotilla was “pro-terror” and “operating in support of Hamas.” Those organizing the Global Sumud Flotilla say that it is a “legal, non-violent humanitarian mission.”

The Israeli military began to intercept the boats of the flotilla and detain the people aboard Monday as they were off the coast of Cyprus. More than 50 vessels are involved in the group.

Its organizers said that they were trying to deliver humanitarian aid while showing solidarity with the Palestinian population. Israel has continued bombing Gaza despite a cease-fire brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump late last year, Al Jazeera reported, and Palestinians are facing shortages in food and medical supplies.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, however, said the flotilla was organized by Hamas-linked organizations.

“The pro-terror flotilla attempting to reach Gaza is a ludicrous attempt to undermine President Trump’s successful progress toward lasting peace in the area,” said Scott Bessent, secretary of the treasury. “Treasury will continue to sever Hamas’ global financial support networks, no matter where in the world they are.”

The sanctions targeted two people from the advocacy group Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad and two from Samidoun, a Palestinian prisoners solidarity network. The Treasury said both groups are fronts for Palestinian terror organizations.

Those sanctioned are Saif Hashim Kamel Abukishek, a member of PCPA; Hisham Abdallah Sulayman Abu Mahfuz, president of the PCPA; Mohammed Khatib, European coordinator for Samidoun; and Jaldia Abubakra Aueda, a Samidoun coordinator in Spain.

The sanctions freeze the U.S. assets of those targeted and generally prohibit working with them.

WASHINGTON, May 19 (UPI) — President Donald Trump‘s move to build a national missile defense system would leave millions of Americans vulnerable to nuclear attack despite the program’s exorbitant cost, the author of a new scientific report said at a press conference Tuesday outside the U.S. Capitol.

The report simulated a “best case scenario” in which the Golden Dome system shot down 80% of incoming missiles, said Ira Helfand, the report’s main author and a co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility, an anti-nuclear weapons organization.

Under those circumstances, more than 300 warheads still would reach the United States, the report found, and that Russia would have a 95% chance of being able to destroy any one of 132 major population centers in which a combined 75 million Americans live.

“Let’s be clear what Golden Dome is: a vanity project of one person, Donald Trump,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., using Trump’s chosen moniker for the missile defense system. McGovern was one of two Massachusetts lawmakers who led the press event.

“We must suffer the Trump arch, the Trump ballroom, the Trump battleship and now Trump’s Golden Dome. Each are the egotistical fantasies of an aging man who needs psychiatric care,” McGovern said.

Soon after taking office in 2025, Trump directed the Defense Department to develop a homeland air and missile defense system. The order called for protecting the U.S. “against ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles and other next-generation aerial attacks from peer, near-peer and rogue adversaries.”

This initiative, later named Golden Dome for America, echoes earlier missile defense efforts, such as President Ronald Reagan‘s Strategic Defense Initiative, commonly known as Star Wars. It was never fully build or deployed.

“Building an effective and reliable shield against any realistic attack by nuclear-armed ICBMs is technologically infeasible for the foreseeable future,” said Laura Grego, a physicist who specializes in nuclear security at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

“But also attempting to build one would be hugely expensive — wasting time and resources — and accelerate the nuclear arms race.”

The report was released by the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Physicians for Social Responsibility and Back from the Brink, all advocates for abolishing nuclear weapons.

The press conference came after a Congressional Budget Office report released last week found that a missile defense system designed to counter a small-scale nuclear attack would cost $1.2 trillion.

A more robust system in line with Trump’s aspirations of “ending the missile threat to the American homeland,” would come with a $3.6 trillion price tag, according to a 2025 estimate by the American Enterprise Institute, a right-of-center think tank. Trump initially offered a price tag of $175 billion for the project.

“The Golden Dome is fool’s gold,” said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. “It’s a gold-plated boondoggle that will enrich defense contractors and ignite a new nuclear arms race.”

Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, told Medill News Service that he did not agree with the report’s conclusion that the Golden Dome would be too ineffective and costly to justify. On the contrary, Scott said, nuclear modernization efforts underway by U.S. rivals required a response.

“The weapons coming from China and Russia are faster and stronger,” Scott said. “And we have to be able to pick them up faster.”

Between 2014 and 2024, the estimated number of Chinese nuclear warheads doubled, from 250 to roughly 500, according to the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

China, however, has maintained a no-first-use policy since it first detonated a nuclear weapon in 1964, which commits Beijing to only employ its nuclear weapons in response to a nuclear attack by another country.

When asked about claims made by Helfand and others at the press conference that the Golden Dome would spur a new global nuclear arms race, Scott disagreed again.

“It’s a defensive system,” he said, “not an offensive system.”

The planned outlays for the Golden Dome come in tandem with other Trump administration priorities that have raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill, including a $1.5 trillion defense spending package for 2027, $400 million for a new White House ballroom that will sit atop a bunker and $29 billion so far for the war in Iran.

At the same time, in its proposed budget, the White House moved to cut non-defense discretionary spending by 10%. The spending category comprises public health, scientific research and scores of other domestic programs.

At Tuesday’s press conference, Markey said the United States doesn’t have trillions of dollars to waste on a system that “is not going to protect the American people,” and he decried funding cuts to social programs that “actually do provide security for families in their own homes.”

May 19 (UPI) — The U.S. Department of Justice announced it will drop criminal fraud charges against billionaire Indian businessman Gautam Adani.

The Justice Department submitted a motion Monday asking a federal judge to drop the indictment from 2024 brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn, N.Y. The request said the department “reviewed this case and has decided, in its prosecutorial discretion, not to devote further resources to these criminal charges against individual defendants,” NBC News reported the court filing said.

Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter and Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella signed the filing. Prosecutors assigned to the case were not included.

Separately, the President Donald Trump administration announced it had reached a $275 million settlement with a company founded by Adani over “egregious” apparent violations of U.S. sanctions against Iran, Politico reported.

According to the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, Adani Enterprises Limited bought $191 million worth of shipments of liquefied petroleum gas from a Dubai-based trader. OFAC alleged the company overlooked indications that the gas originated from Iran, Politico said.

Adani is the founder and chair of the Adani Group, a conglomerate based in Ahmedabad, India. Brooklyn prosecutors charged him and others in a fraud and bribery scheme in November 2024, while President Joe Biden was in office.

Adani’s lawyers from Sullivan & Cromwell included two of Trump’s personal attorneys: Robert Giuffra Jr. and James McDonald, Politico reported.

Adani’s worth is estimated at more than $100 billion. He is one of the richest people in Asia, and is an ally of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Prosecutors alleged that Adani and his co-defendants paid $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials. The bribes were to help Adani Green Energy, a subsidiary, win approval to create India’s largest solar power plant. It was projected to bring $2 billion in profits over 20 years.

They also alleged the defendants defrauded American and international investors by gaining funds “on the basis of false and misleading statements.”

Adani Group denied the allegations and called them “baseless.”

May 19 (UPI) — A bipartisan bill in the U.S. House is proposing a new $130 fee for registering an electric vehicle to help pay for transportation infrastructure.

The Five-Year Surface Transportation Reauthorization bill was introduced on Sunday by Reps. Sam Graves, R-Mo., and Rick Larsen, D-Wash. As proposed, it would require an annual $130 registration fee for electric vehicles and $35 for plug-in hybrids.

Graves said in a statement that the bill “ensures that electric vehicle owners begin paying their fair share for the use of our roads.”

Currently, the Highway Trust Fund is used to pay for county roads, bridges, railways and other infrastructure projects. The fund is filled by taxes on gasoline.

“The ‘user pays’ principle has been fundamental to how we fund our nation’s surface transportation system for as long as I’ve been in Congress,” Larsen said in a statement. “I support that principle and worked to make sure that this new fee on EVs is fair and not punitive.”

Albert Gore III, executive director of the Zero Emission Transportation Association, said the fees would penalize electric vehicle owners. The organization estimates that the fee is higher than what is collected on the gas tax on a per-consumer basis.

The federal gasoline tax is about $0.18 per gallon. It has not changed since 1993.

“I don’t argue that the number should be zero, but the number should be fair,” Gore said.

Congress eliminated electric vehicle subsidies last year, totaling about $7,500 per vehicle, as part of an effort to peel back sustainability and environmental efforts enacted under the Biden administration.

Fees on electric vehicle owners are in place in at least 41 states,

including Colorado and New Jersey, ranging from $50 to $260.

May 19 (UPI) — The National Transportation Safety Board began its two-day hearing on Tuesday on the deadly UPS cargo plane crash in Louisville, Ky., that killed 15 people on Nov. 4.

The NTSB released the agenda of the hearing as soon as it began at 8 a.m. EDT in Washington, D.C. The hearing will continue to 6 p.m. Tuesday, and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday at the NTSB Boardroom and Conference Center in Washington.

The NTSB has investigative hearings to find the facts and circumstances of transportation accidents or incidents under investigation, a press release said. The hearing is open to the public, but only NTSB board members, investigators, witnesses and parties to the hearing are allowed to participate.

The crash is the deadliest in the history of UPS. All three crew members on UPS Flight 2976 died, as well as 12 others on the ground, several of whom were working or shopping at nearby businesses. The crash also injured about 23 others.

The NTSB’s preliminary report showed that fatigued and overly stressed connecting pylons likely caused the left engine to detach from the McDonnell Douglas MD-11. The engine fell from the aircraft as it was taking off from the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. The aircraft crashed into the ground and burst into flames. The fully fueled flight was intended for Honolulu.

The preliminary report said cracks caused by fatigue and signs of excessive mechanical stress were found in the pylon that connected the left engine to the wing. The plane was 34 years old and had recently undergone maintenance in San Antonio.

The engine-mounting hardware was last inspected in October 2021. It wasn’t due for another inspection until the aircraft completed 7,000 more flights, the NTSB said. The preliminary report showed no apparent pilot errors.

The NTSB invited several groups to participate in the hearing: the Federal Aviation Administration, UPS, The Boeing Company, GE Aerospace, Teamsters Airline Division, Independent Pilots Association and Collins Aerospace.

The hearing panel includes accident investigators and engineers. They will hear from nine witnesses on Tuesday. A new panel will hear from four witnesses from the FAA and Boeing on Wednesday.

In January, UPS announced it was retiring all MD-11 planes and was reducing its workforce by 30,000.

May 19 (UPI) — The Sandy Fire in Simi Valley, Calif., has spread across more than 1,300 acres Tuesday, putting thousands of people under evacuation orders.

The fire started as a brush fire on Monday morning but spread quickly due to heavy wind gusts. At least one home has been burned.

The California Department of Forest and Fire Protection said Monday night that “fire activity has decreased significantly” due to calmer winds and higher humidity.

“California is mobilizing resources to support Ventura County communities threatened by the Sandy Fire,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “This activation will ensure responders have the support needed to continue protecting lives and homes as dangerous fire conditions persist. We are deeply grateful to the crews on the front lines and urge Californians in impacted areas to follow guidance from local officials.”

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Fire crews continue to battle the blaze with 750 firefighters working overnight attempting to contain it.

As of 6:11 a.m. PDT on Tuesday the fire had torn through 1,386 acres with zero containment.

No casualties or civilian injuries have been reported.

“We have made tremendous progress on this fire,” said Andrew Dowd, Ventura County Fire Department spokesperson. “Zero percent containment, don’t let that number fool you. A lot of great work has been done.”

An emergency shelter is open at Rancho Santa Susana Community Park in Simi Valley for people needing somewhere to stay overnight.

The Simi Valley Unified School District has closed all schools on Tuesday due to the fire. On Tuesday afternoon, it will determine if schools will reopen on Wednesday.

May 19 (UPI) — The Trump administration has issued temporary Russia sanctions relief for a third straight month, extending a waiver allowing the delivery and sale of Russian oil already loaded onto tankers at sea amid the ongoing energy crisis cause by the U.S. war with Iran.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the 30-day reprieve on social media, saying it will “provide the most vulnerable nations with the ability to temporarily access Russian oil currently stranded at sea.”

“This extension will provide additional flexibility, and we will work with these nations to provide specific licenses as needed. This general license will help stabilize the physical crude market and ensure oil reaches the most energy-vulnerable countries,” he said in a statement.

The United States has imposed thousands of sanctions on Russia since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022, in an effort to cut it off from a lucrative revenue source to fund its war.

The sanctions relief — first issued on March 5 to permit the sale of Russian crude to India before being broadened March 12 — may have helped Russia generate ab additional $150 million per day in oil revenue, or $3.3 billion to $5 billion in the month of March alone, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in mid-April that about $10 billion worth of Russian oil was at sea, condemning the sanctions relief by stating “every dollar paid for Russian oil is money for the war.”

Democrats and Ukrainians have been sharply critical about the sanctions relief, describing it as undercutting their years of work to try to hobble Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ability to make war.

Following the announcement of the extension on Monday, Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts described the waiver as “delivering another dangerous and indefensible gift” to Putin.

“Every additional dollar the Kremlin earns from this license helps Putin finance his illegal war against Ukraine and kill innocent Ukrainians,” the Democratic pair said in a joint statement.

The Trump administration initially issued the waiver as oil prices surged in response to the war in the Middle East, which began Feb. 28 when the United States and Israel launched joint attacks on Iran.

Shaheen, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Warren, ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, criticized the Trump administration over its reasoning that the waiver is to support vulnerable countries, stating that justification “would be more credible had it not launched this war, or if it had used policy tools to limit the prices Russia could push on those countries.”

“Instead, the Trump administration has helped Russia charge more for its oil cargoes by removing the risk of sanctions,” they said.

“Continuing to show weakness like this will only invite more aggression and put a just end to the war in Ukraine further away.”

May 19 (UPI) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he has imposed additional sanctions against Cuba, with more to come in the days and weeks ahead, as the Trump administration ratchets up the pressure on the communist government of President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

The sanctions announced Monday by the U.S. State Department target 11 Cuba officials and three Cuban security and intelligence entities, freezing any assets under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibiting U.S. persons from doing business with them.

Agencies blacklisted were Cuba’s Ministry of Interior, the National Revolutionary Police Force and its Directorate of Intelligence, Havana’s primary foreign intelligence agency.

Officials hit included the heads of the Revolutionary Police Force as well as various ministers, the chief of staff of military counterintelligence, the chief of the Central Army of Cuba, the chief of the Eastern Army of Cuba, and the president of Cuba’s National Assembly for People’s Power, among others.

Rubio described them as “Cuban regime elites” and officials who have been involved in repressing the Cuban people.

“Regime-aligned actors such as those designated today bear responsibility for the suffering of the Cuban people, the failing Cuban economy and the exploitation of Cuba for foreign intelligence, military and terror operations,” he said in a statement, while warning that more sanctions “can be expected” in the following days and weeks.

“Today’s designations further restrict the Cuban regime’s ability to suppress the will of the Cuban people.”

Late Monday, Diaz-Canel lashed out at the United States over the sanctions, saying no one in Cuba’s government, political party or military institutions has any assets or property to protect under U.S. jurisdiction — and the Trump administration knows this.

“The anti-Cuban rhetoric of hate tries to make people believe such things exist in order to justify the escalation of its total economic war,” he said in a social media statement.

“That’s why we will continue to denounce, int he firmest and most energetic way possible, the genocidal siege that seeks to strangle our people.”

He described Trump’s Cuban policy as “collective punishment” and “an act of genocide,” calling on the international community to prosecute those responsible for it.

President Donald Trump has been targeting Havana with sanctions and economic restrictions since early this year, when he declared a national emergency concerning Cuba on the grounds that it has aligned with “numerous hostile countries, transnational terrorist groups and malign actors adverse to the United States.”

Trump has blocked Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba, adding to the decades-old economic embargo and worsening the island nation’s energy crisis. The country’s fuel oil stocks have run dry, according to officials, and blackouts are common.

Trump has repeatedly raised the prospect of military action against Cuba and has stopped short of directly calling for regime change as he seeks to extend the United States’ influence across the Western Hemisphere.

Cuba blames the United States for its current economic and energy situation, and the sanctions came as its foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, on Monday, defended Havana’s right to self-defense in response to reports that claimed the island nation had purchased drones from Russia and Iran.

While some Republicans, including Sen. Rick Scott and Rep. Carlos Gimenez, both of Florida, celebrated the sanctions, several Democrats have condemned the Trump administration’s broader campaign, accusing it of manufacturing a pretext for war.

Reps. Delia Ramirez of Illinois and Nydia Velazquez of New York lambasted the administration in a joint statement, accusing it of attempting to justify another “unauthorized and unlawful military invasion,” seemingly referring to the U.S. military abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January and Trump’s late February strikes on Iran, which triggered a war later halted by a fragile cease-fire.

“For the Trump administration, the goal is another military incursion. They will justify their actions by claiming it serves the freedom of Cubans,” the Democratic pair said, calling on Congress to pass a war powers resolution to curb Trump’s ability to make war without congressional authorization.

“Today, we must act to stop the destructive ambitions of imperialists and warmongers.”

May 18 (UPI) — Alex Saab, a billionaire Colombian businessman and longtime ally of ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, appeared in a Miami federal courtroom on Monday, days after he was extradited to the United States.

Saab, 54, made his initial court appearance in the Southern District of Florida, where a federal indictment was unsealed, charging him with conspiracy to launder money through U.S. banks.

U.S. authorities have long accused Saab of corruption, specifically of using his connections to the Maduro regime to skim money from government programs intended to benefit Venezuela’s poor and of helping Maduro evade sanctions.

The case is centered on the Venezuelan government program Local Committees for Supply and Production, known as CLAP, an acronym of its Spanish name. Created in 2016 in response to the collapse of Venezuela’s economy, CLAP was intended to provide subsidized food to the country’s poor.

Federal prosecutors allege that Saab and his unnamed co-conspirators paid bribes to Venezuelan government officials to be awarded the CLAP contracts to import food, but instead enriched themselves by siphoning hundreds of millions of dollars from the program.

The charging document further accuses Saab and others of expanding the scheme to include the illegal sale of Venezuelan oil, starting in at least 2019 and continuing until the return of the indictment, which is dated Jan. 14.

The U.S. charges stem from the accusation that at least some of the allegedly ill-gotten money was transferred through U.S.-based bank accounts. If convicted, Saab faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

“When illicit proceeds are moved through the United States financial system, our courts have jurisdiction and our prosecutors will act,” U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quinones of the Southern District of Florida said in a statement.

The indictment announced Monday is the second a Trump administration has brought against Saab, and his extradition on Saturday is the second time he has been sent to the United States to face criminal charges.

Maduro’s government has been a target of President Donald Trump since his first administration, which sought to oust the authoritarian leader through a so-called maximum pressure campaign of sanctions, including designating Saab in 2019 over the alleged CLAP scheme.

Saab was then arrested in June 2020 in Cape Verde at the request of the United States and was extradited.

But he was returned to Venezuela by the Biden administration in 2023 in exchange for 10 detained Americans. As part of the prisoner exchange, Saab was issued a full pardon for charges included in the first indictment.

After his re-election in 2025, Trump ousted Maduro and brought him to the United States to face narco-terrorism charges in a clandestine early January military operation.

Then in February, under the government of Maduro’s former vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, who was elevated to president following her predecessor’s U.S. arrest, Venezuelan authorities detained Saab at the request of the United States.

Saab’s return to U.S. custody now raises speculation that he could be used in the federal prosecution’s case against Maduro, given his former proximity to Maduro and members of Maduro’s family.

“Saab would be a powerful witness in the prosecution of Maduro — and could offer insights into Delcy’s role in building South America’s prototypical kleptocracy,” Benjamin Gedan, a foreign policy scholar and director of the Stimson Center’s Latin America Program, said in a social media statement.