U.S.

Aug. 26 (UPI) — Meta agreed to pay up to $18 billion to 48 states, the District of Columbia and three U.S. territories on Wednesday, in settlements resolving lawsuits over the mental health risks its social media platforms pose to children as well as spearate privacy claims.

Court filings state that the settlements, pending judicial approval, include payments of $16.68 billion to 51 U.S. jurisdictions, more than $1 billion to Texas and another $459 million to 46 states, Puerto Rico and Northern Mariana Islands to resolve privacy claims tied to the 2018 Cambridge Analytica data scandal.

The filings also state that Meta must implement safeguards on its platform for minors, including limits on daily use, blocking access at night, more parental tools, stricter age-assurance standards, the hiding of likes on posts and banning cosmetic-procedure filters, among other measures.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that his state may receive between $1.5 billion and $2.1 billion in the settlement.

“Today, we have secured a settlement with Meta that will make social media less dangerous for our kids and make a world of difference for children and their families,” Bonta said in a statement. “Meta has agreed to make massive transformations that will reduce the risk of harm from its platforms — and will do it within months.”

Meta said that 70% of the funds will be distributed over a 10-year period, with the remaining 30% to be released only after Alphabet-owned YouTube and ByteDance’s TikTok implement a one-hour dayily limit, night mode and age-assurance measures as well as each pay a matching $5.3 billion.

The Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta said the structure was designed to enforce an industry-wide adoption of the measures it has agreed to and ensure teens receive the same level of protection across major social media platforms.

“Because teens move fluidly across dozens of apps, we need an industry-wide solution. We therefore call on our industry peers, TikTok and YouTube, to implement this new framework, right away,” C.J. Mahoney, chief legal officer at Meta, said in a statement.

As part of the settlement, all parties, including Meta, waive all rights to appeal the final judgment.

“The focus of this case was to protect our kids: stopping notifications and alerts at night and when they are in school, encouraging them to take breaks from social media, protecting them against harmful features,” Phil Weiser, Colorado attorney general, said in a statement.

The cases brought by U.S. states are among several across the globe investigating social media companies over the harms they pose to children. Elsewhere, countries, such as Australia, have implemented age restrictions and called for the end to addictive features that encourage compulsive use, such as endless scrolling.

Meta still faces additional lawsuits in the United States still. Several school districts and individuals have filed lawsuits against Meta and other social media platforms for contributing to mental health problems among children.

Aug. 26 (UPI) — Testimony ended Wednesday in Lindsay Clancy’s triple-murder trial, with closing arguments set to begin Thursday.

Clancy, 36, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the killings of her three children, ages 5, 3 and 8 months, at their Duxbury, Mass., home in January 2023. She pleaded not guilty.

The defense has argued that Clancy should not be held criminally responsible because of extreme mental health issues, including postpartum psychosis, while prosecutors say she deliberately killed the children. A panel of 12 jurors is expected to start deliberations after closing arguments.

An FBI psychiatrist, Dr. Gregory Saathoff, was the final witness Wednesday. He said Clancy could still appreciate right from wrong when she killed the children and noted her planning for it, CNN reported. Clancy sent her husband out for takeout before the killings and then attempted to take her own life, cutting her wrists and neck and jumping out a second-floor window. She was paralyzed by the fall.

“The fact that this was done without any witness present during a time where she had asked a potential witness to go on a longer errand — also I thought was significant,” Saathoff said.

The jury will have the choice of first- or second-degree murder or manslaughter charges. If Clancy is found guilty, she will face life in prison. If she is found not guilty by reason of insanity, she will likely be committed to a mental health facility.

The prosecution called more than 70 witnesses during the trial, while the defense called 10. Clancy’s defense included testimony from friends and family members who called her an “incredible” mother.

Clancy, who worked as a labor and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, sought treatment for her mental health issues and was prescribed more than a dozen psychiatric medications on and off over several months. Both sides called psychiatric experts to testify during the trial.

Aug. 26 (UPI) — OpenAI released a final report Wednesday on a July incident in which its artificial intelligence agents hacked into another company’s systems, saying it considers the episode “a warning shot” for the company and the world.

The incident is “evidence that, without proper safeguards, highly capable AI agents are now able to work around technical controls, collaborate through unapproved channels and take dangerous actions that no human directed,” the report said.

The episode in question happened when some of the company’s AI bots hacked into the systems of Hugging Face, a company working with OpenAI. The bots did this of their own accord to get data they decided they needed to solve a problem during model testing, despite restrictions meant to keep them from the internet.

“With the benefit of hindsight, some early signals identified in this report could have triggered an earlier response,” the report said.

The company shared some new details in the report, including how the AI agents left messages for each other hidden in software infrastructure and coordinated to hack the other company, Wired reported.

Two independent research groups, METR and Redwood Research, also released an independent report on the incident Wednesday. These groups found that more than 700 AI agents were part of the breach.

Buck Shlegeris, CEO of Redwood Research, said in an interview with Wired that preventing the incident “wouldn’t have been that hard” if someone had decided to make sure of it.

“The issue is just that OpenAI is doing a lot of things at once, and it’s very hard for them to track all of the things that are going on and all the problems that could be occurring,” Shlegeris said. “The company has already said they’re changing their monitoring process in ways that probably would have caught this.”

The Washington Post noted in a story on the OpenAI report that the company acknowledged in the report that its AI agents repeatedly cheat to find shortcuts to accomplish tasks during training.

“Agents attempting to cheat on their tasks by looking up solutions online was a primary driver of the Hugging Face incident,” the OpenAI report said.

Aug. 26 (UPI) — The U.S. Treasury issued sanctions Wednesday against British-based direct action group Palestine Action and two other organizations it called “violent far-left terrorist networks.”

The treasury declared Palestine Action a “specially designated global terrorist,” meaning that it can freeze the group’s assets, including bank accounts and property. The sanctions also prohibit people from giving funds, goods or services to the organization.

“Far-left extremists, their fronts and their enablers should be on notice: We will bring the full weight of our economic tools to bear,” said Scott Bessent, secretary of the treasury. “Political terrorism has no place in our society, and we will continue to cut the financial lifelines of these groups until they are eliminated.”

In response, Huda Ammori, the co-founder of Palestine Action, said the group’s activities in the United States and other countries “have always been about saving lives by disrupting the Israeli war machine, which is committing a genocide in Gaza with the support of the U.S. government,” The Guardian reported.

“Trump has been at the center of the mass murder of Palestinians, enabling the Zionist regime at every turn,” Ammori said.

Palestine Action was also the first direct action group named under Britain’s Terrorism Act in July 2025. The group is fighting the ban in a legal challenge before the country’s supreme court in November.

“The fact that Trump is now taking inspiration from Britain’s repression of the movement for Palestinian freedom exposes just how dangerous this ban is and should be a wake-up call to anyone who cares about free speech and civil liberties,” Ammori said.

The U.S. Treasury said Palestine Action “has supported numerous acts of terrorism since July 2020, including acts that have physically injured U.K. law enforcement personnel, as well as acts intended to intimidate lawful commercial enterprises and coerce the U.K. government.

“The group’s action include multiple high-profile instances of breaking into defense infrastructure and British military installations and causing millions of dollars’ worth of damage to military equipment,” it said.

In March 2025, Trump’s golf course in Scotland was targeted by Palestine Action supporters who painted graffiti on the clubhouse and damaged the course, spraying “Gaza is not 4 sale.” Trump at the time called those responsible “terrorists.”

Other groups named global terrorist organizations by the United States include Hamas, al-Qaida and the Islamic State.

The groups sanctioned Wednesday also include Autistici Inventati, an Italy-based group “that supplies specialized digital architecture, tools and services for Antifa cells and other violent far-left extremists,” and Masar Badil, “which operates as a front for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine,” the treasury said.

Aug. 26 (UPI) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested nearly 50,000 people in July, an average of more than 1,500 people a day, according to newly released government data.

This sets a new monthly record for ICE in President Donald Trump‘s second term. ICE provided the information to the Deportation Data Project based at UC Berkeley and UCLA.

“The way people are being detained is far less flashy, but we are continuing to see arrests,” Melissa Shepard, director of legal services at immigrant services group ImmDef, told The Guardian. “It’s just on a quieter scale instead of, you know, 10, 12 officers making one arrest, you have a handful of officers pulling someone over.”

Markwayne Mullin took over as secretary of U.S. Homeland Security in March, succeeding Kristi Noem, and said he would fulfill Trump’s deportation goals without constant headlines.

“What we’re seeing is an expansion in all of the different ways that ICE is detaining people,” Graeme Blair, co-director of the Deportation Data Projection, told NPR. “They’re arresting people at airports, at ICE check-ins, at immigration courthouses, and this is the result of that.”

The 49,571 people detained in July mark the highest total since October 2022. A record number of those arrested had no criminal history, making up 51% of detainees, The Guardian said.

The number of those removed from the United States also hit a record high in July — nearly 34,000 people.

More than half the arrests were in Texas, Florida, Georgia and California. The prior three states take part in the 287(g) program, in which state and local police can do parts of ICE’s job in the field under ICE supervision. California and a number of other states, including New York, Maine and Vermont, ban 287(g) agreements.

Congress recently approved a $70 billion surge in funding for the Department of Homeland Security, including ICE, helping fuel these numbers. The figures also include the first arrests made after the Supreme Court allowed Trump to revoke Temporary Protected Status for Haitian immigrants last month.

California and a coalition of other Democratic-led states sued again Wednesday to block the U.S. Postal Service from implementing new nationwide rules for mail ballots, arguing they usurp state authority over elections at President Trump’s behest, expose voter information unnecessarily and threaten chaos in the rapidly approaching November election.

The Postal Service formally issued a 95-page “final rule” on Friday asserting that it was amending its mailing standards for mail ballots in federal elections to comply with Trump’s March executive order.

Trump demanded the rule changes as part of a broader plan to combat what he alleges — without evidence — is widespread voter fraud in the U.S., including by noncitizens voting through the mail. Election experts say there is zero evidence of such problems existing at scale.

“This mail-in voting rule is an unlawful overreach that shows just how far President Trump will go to control elections, but as I’ve said before, this fight is far from over and we are confident that the facts and the law are on our side,” California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said in a statement.

“Donald Trump does not run elections. States do. And his latest attack on democracy is proof of how weak he has become,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom. “California will continue to lead the way in defending democracy — using every tool at our disposal and every minute in our day. This perilous moment in history demands no less from us.”

The new postal rules require states to submit lists of eligible voters — including their names and addresses — to the Postal Service, and to use new ballot envelopes with digital barcodes that would allow the Postal Service to identify and reject ballots that don’t match those lists.

The rules do not give the Postal Service authority to dictate which voters may appear on state lists. However, the rules do acknowledge that the lists would provide state voter data to federal law enforcement for the first time, and would put those authorities in “a better position to identify any potential issues regarding compliance with federal law that may merit further investigation.”

Trump’s March executive order also required the Department of Homeland Security to use available federal data to compile its own state lists of eligible citizen voters, ostensibly to compare them with the mail voter lists provided by the states to the Postal Service, and identify and pursue any ineligible voters.

Wednesday’s lawsuit follows a Monday decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that found an earlier challenge from the states was premature, in part because it sought court relief to a rule-making process that required nothing of the states and before the Postal Service had moved to implement any changes.

“On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to fully close the door on the President’s attempt to interfere in our election administration. Today, we’re taking legal action to stop this unlawful rule in its tracks and ensure that voters can exercise their constitutional right to vote,” Bonta said.

The White House did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment on the latest lawsuit.

However, it has defended Trump’s executive order as overdue and badly needed to secure U.S. elections, and hailed the Supreme Court’s ruling allowing the rule-making to proceed as “a major win for the security of American elections.”

“These are commonsense measures that protect the security of mail-in ballots and ensure only Americans are electing American leaders,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said.

The high court allowed the Postal Service to move forward with its work to comply with Trump’s order, but explicitly noted that it had reached no conclusions as to the legality of the pending rules.

Trump administration officials have said they are pursuing fraudulent voters, and have warned state election officials that they could face legal consequences personally if they don’t do everything in their power to prevent voter fraud, including by noncitizens.

Critics contend Trump’s executive order was devised as an end run around laws and a slew of recent court rulings blocking the Trump administration’s demands for state voter rolls — which states, including California, have refused to provide.

States have argued the administration’s demands are in bad faith, intended to bolster Trump’s baseless claims that U.S. elections are compromised rather than enhance election security.

In issuing its new rules, the Postal Service rejected a slate of concerns from critics who submitted comments on the proposed rules, including that the changes are being proposed far too close to the November election and will cost states and localities a huge amount of money to comply with.

It also rejected concerns that creating a single nationwide voter database — which has never existed before — will provide a massive new target for foreign adversaries and other bad actors interested in disrupting U.S. elections.

The Postal Service concluded that the cost to the states is outweighed by the benefits of the changes. It said it has sufficient staffing to implement the changes, and is ready to safeguard the database it builds using “multi-layered security controls.”

The lawsuit, brought by 24 state attorneys general and the governor of Pennsylvania, asks for immediate court intervention to halt the Postal Service changes from being implemented while the litigation continues.

“Let’s be clear: the U.S. Constitution gives states the power to regulate elections — not the President and not USPS,” Bonta said. “Ballots are an extension of our voices and we’re asking the court to ensure that every person has the right to make theirs heard.”

Independent voting rights groups have also sued to block the Postal Service rules from being implemented.

Aug. 26 (UPI) — Three Secret Service employees have been put on administrative leave during an investigation into “potential misconduct,” the agency confirmed.

The three staffers are “non-law enforcement personnel,” including Chief of Communications Anthony Guglielmi and two others in the agency’s communications office, CNN, CBS News and The Hill reported. CNN first reported the investigation.

It isn’t clear what the “potential misconduct” was or why they were put on leave.

The employees lost their security clearances and access to work devices, which is common practice during internal investigations.

A Secret Service spokesperson said the investigation is being handled by the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility.

“The U.S. Secret Service is committed to upholding the highest standards of professionalism and integrity in fulfilling our zero-fail mission of protecting the President and other high-level government officials. Our critical work demands that our workforce maintain an unwavering commitment to duty, honesty, and courage in all aspects of their jobs. We will continue to pursue the level of excellence that is worthy of the mission which has been entrusted to us by the American people,” the spokesperson said.

On Tuesday, the Secret Service said it was “aware” of a video by Iran threatening Barron Trump’s life.

A week ago, the Secret Service launched a probe into a member of Vice President JD Vance’s security detail for allegedly leaking sensitive information.

The agency has faced intense scrutiny over several assassination plots and attempts on President Donald Trump‘s life.

JUNEAU, Alaska — A candidate with the same name as Alaska’s incumbent U.S. senator has advanced to the general election in what will be one of the most closely watched races in the country this fall.

Dan J. Sullivan, who goes by Dan Sullivan, was among the top four finishers after the Aug. 18 primary and on Tuesday moved on to the November matchup, which is a ranked choice contest. The incumbent, Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, and Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola also have advanced.

The challenger Sullivan, a retired teacher from the island community of Petersburg, sued for a spot on the ballot and succeeded after a judge invalidated a decision by a top state elections official who said he had filed his candidacy with an intent to confuse voters. The allegation was driven by claims raised by the senator and his GOP allies. The state Supreme Court ultimately ordered Dan J. Sullivan eligible for the ballot.

While the challenger sought to appear on the ballot as Republican Dan J. Sullivan, the Division of Elections listed him as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., with no party affiliation. The senator was listed as Dan S. Sullivan, Republican and incumbent.

A call seeking comment from the challenger was not immediately returned Tuesday, and emails to campaign staff for the senator also were not immediately returned.

President Trump endorsed Sen. Sullivan for reelection and called the other Sullivan’s candidacy an attempt to trick voters. Dan J. Sullivan criticized the incumbent for embracing Trump’s endorsement and said the president was “more interested in raising tariffs on our allies than in lowering the cost of groceries, housing and energy.”

It was too early to determine who would fill the fourth and final slot in the Senate general election race.

The Senate race was one of three major contests on Alaska’s primary ballot, which also featured races for the state’s lone U.S. House seat and governor.

In the congressional race, Republican Rep. Nick Begich, seeking a second term, advanced earlier to the general election along with independent Bill Hill. The other two spots remained too early to call.

Democrats Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and Tom Begich, former state lawmakers, advanced on election night in the race for governor, topping a field of mostly Republican candidates all vying to succeed Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy. Tom Begich is Nick Begich’s uncle. Republican Bernadette Wilson also advanced on Tuesday, with the fourth spot remaining too early to call.

The state accepts absentee and overseas ballots up to 10 days after the primary as long as they were postmarked by election day.

The incumbent Sullivan and Peltola are the leading candidates in the Senate race, after raising the most money and having statewide name recognition. It’s one of a handful of Senate races around the country considered competitive and pivotal for both parties’ hopes of controlling the chamber.

Dan J. Sullivan’s presence on the general election ballot adds a twist to the race because of Alaska’s ranked choice voting system. Under it, candidates who finish third or fourth in the general election can play a crucial role in deciding the eventual winner if their supporters rank other choices beyond them.

Bohrer writes for the Associated Press.

Aug. 26 (UPI) — A U.S. district court has blocked Texas from banning drag performances as unconstitutional, ruling that the solution to the problem is for those who find such events offensive to just not attend.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 12 into law in June 2023 to ban “sexually oriented performances” via civil penalties on businesses that host them and criminal penalties on performers.

It has been debated in the courts since, with a court ruling it unconstitutional in 2023 and an appeals court in February allowing it to take effect while sending the case back to the district court for review.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge David Hittner, a Reagan appointee who issued the 2023 ruling, declared Senate Bill 12 an unconstitutional restriction on speech and ordered that the state be permanently enjoined from enforcing it.

“Finally, for those who find such activities as described in this case offensive, the solution is relatively simple … just don’t go,” Hittner said.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running for the U.S. Senate with President Donald Trump‘s endorsement, called the ruling in a statement “flawed,” arguing without proof that it will endanger children while being “an affront to Texas values.”

“I will appeal this decision immediately and continue to fight to protect our kids,” he said online.

Meanwhile, civil rights and LGBTQ advocates celebrated the ruling.

“Today’s decision confirms that the legislature’s attempt to ban drag performances was unconstitutional from start to finish,” Brian Klosterboer, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, which filed the original lawsuit in August 2023, said in a statement.

“This law stifled free expression across our state and made people afraid to engage in or attend drag shows and other performances. But all Texans — no matter our gender or background — are guaranteed the right to free expression.”

Brigitte Bandit, a drag performer and a plaintiff in the case, said the ruling was “a relief.”

“As a lifelong Texan, I’m sick of this state trying to censor art and stoke hatred and violence against drag artists and the LGBTQIA+ community. No one should be punished for performing drag, and I wish lawmakers would take steps to protect kids from real dangers in our state instead of trying to divide and marginalize us.”

Aug. 25 (UPI) — The U.S. military killed four people Tuesday in its latest strike targeting an alleged drug-trafficking boat in the Caribbean, the second strike in a matter of days after a two-month pause.

U.S. Southern Command has killed at least 227 people in 68 publicly acknowledged strikes targeting alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and Pacific since the first strike on Sept. 2, according to UPI’s tally, which is based on SOUTHCOM press releases.

As with previous strikes, SOUTHCOM said intelligence confirmed the boat it struck Tuesday was involved in narco-trafficking and that it was “operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean.”

As it has done with previous strikes, SOUTHCOM did not provide proof.

A seven-second aerial video of the strike published online by SOUTHCOM shows a boat driving along the water before it is enveloped in a flash.

“We will hunt, disrupt and defeat these narco-terrorist networks,” Gen. Francis Donovan, commander of SOUTHCOM, said Tuesday in a statement.

“SOUTHCOM is resolved to neutralizing cartel terror and violence throughout the region and into the U.S. homeland.”

Earlier this month, SOUTHCOM replaced Joint Task Force Southern Spear, which had carried out Operation Southern Spear, with the broader Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere, a new command intended to provide unified command and control at the tactical and operational levels while integrating military capabilities with 18 partner nations of the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition, according to the Defense Department.

The Trump administration has said the task force’s purpose is to “synchronize” U.S. military operations with Caribbean and Latin American allies, such as Trinidad and Tobago.

Tuesday’s strike was the second by the joint task force after it killed two people SOUTHCOM accused of being narco-terrorists on Sunday.

The Sunday strike was the first since June 21. The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data conflict monitor told UPI in an emailed statement that Sunday’s strike ended the longest interruption in U.S. strikes on alleged drug-trafficking vessels since the campaign began.

The cause of the lapse was not immediately clear and UPI has contacted SOUTHCOM for an explanation.

The strikes have been widely criticized by legal and civil rights advocates as well as United Nations experts as illegal extrajudicial killings under international law. The Trump administration has argued that it is in “armed conflict” with the drug cartels, though a Justice Department legal memo justifying the strikes against people allegedly affiliated with a secret list of designated groups remains classified.

Despite the Trump administration’s claims that all those killed are narco-terrorists, evidence suggests that at least some of them were fishermen. A lawsuit filed against the U.S. government by the American Civil Liberties Union states that two people killed in the same strike in September were returning to their homes in Trinidad and Tobago after working as farmers and fishermen in Venezuela.

Earlier this month, Sen. Tim Kaine echoed this sentiment after reviewing classified documents on the operation.

In a letter to Trump, the senior Democratic lawmaker from Virginia and a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees urged him to examine whether military leaders had exceeded his order by targeting people the Justice Department did not say in its memo could be legally targeted and killed.

Aug. 25 (UPI) — An internal government watchdog said Tuesday that a Federal Emergency Management Agency crew violated the Hatch Act when it skipped houses with signs supporting President Donald Trump during Hurricane Milton recovery efforts in 2024.

The report comes from the inspector general’s office of the Department of Homeland Security. Officials determined that crew skipped 11 homes in Florida with Trump signs.

This “eroded public trust in FEMA’s ability to treat everyone impartially, offer unbiased and consistent assistance and ensure equal access to resources and tools,” the report said.

The Hatch Act, first passed in 1939, limits certain political activities by federal employees to make sure they’re administered in a nonpartisan way.

Trump has called for abolishing FEMA, later trying to downsize it and providing limited aid to states. The Office of the Special Counsel also found in 2025 that the same 2024 actions violated the Hatch Act.

Christopher Logan, FEMA associate administrator, said it no longer takes part in “FEMA-led door-to-door outreach efforts” and that agency staff now provides support “from fixed locations determined by state and local officials,” The Hill reported. Logan also said that after the 2024 case, FEMA gave staff mandatory Hatch Act and ethics training.

Michael Cohen, FEMA’s chief of staff at the time, told The Hill that the report reinforces that the “violations were not systematic and were isolated.” He said FEMA took appropriate action.

The Trump administration has also been accused of making disaster aid related to political leanings. Politico reported in March that it’s three times more difficult for Democrat-led states to obtain disaster aid for residents under the Trump administration.

The administration has also been accused of violating the Hatch Act, including in messaging on government websites.

Aug. 25 (UPI) — A federal judge on Tuesday denied Ghislaine Maxwell’s attempt to overturn her conviction and prison sentence, slamming the petition as “demonstrably meritless.”

In the the ruling, U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer said the petition by Maxwell, a co-conspirator of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was “generally based on speculation, distortions and/or outright falsehoods.”

“There is no fact that Maxwell fairly puts in dispute that has any potential to disturb the outcome of her trial,” Engelmayer wrote.

Maxwell sought to overturn her five felony convictions on the stance that her due process rights were violated, claiming the documents released by the Department of Justice this year supported this. She also made claims of juror misconduct, inaccurate evidence and “selective prosecution” on the part of the Justice Department.

Engelmayer wrote that Maxwell’s claim “incriminates her or reinforces the correctness of the legal rulings Maxwell challenges.”

Maxwell was convicted in 2021 and sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022. She had been found guilty of conspiring to lure underage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse. She is serving time in a minimum-security federal prison camp in Texas.

Epstein, already a convicted sex offender, was awaiting trial in 2019 when he died by suicide while in jail. Earlier this year, the Department of Justice released many documents related to Epstein’s activities under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed by Congress in November 2025.

The U.S. government has been criticized for the limited release of some of the files, in which names of alleged perpetrators were heavily redacted while many victim names were not.

Aug. 25 (UPI) — A man is facing federal charges for forging the signature of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and impersonating a federal agent.

Joshua M. Culver was indicted Friday in the Northern District of Indiana on four counts of falsely impersonating an officer of the United States and one count of forging the signature of a judge and court seal.

He was arrested in Colorado and has been assigned a public defender there.

The indictment alleges that Culver identified himself as a National Security Agency agent on at least two occasions in September 2025. He allegedly did so at the Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Office trying to get information about the location of a family member. The indictment also alleges that he made phone calls to someone at their employer threatening them and accusing them of breaking the law.

In January 2026, Culver allegedly claimed to be a “Special Master enforcing orders of the United States Supreme Court” to get a Lake County, Ind., judge to dismiss criminal cases and judgments against him.

He’s accused of forging Roberts’ signature and using a counterfeit seal on an order in September that told a Grant County, Ind., court to drop theft charges against him.

Aug. 25 (UPI) — On Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a device designed to continuously monitor both blood sugar levels and ketone levels in people with diabetes.

The Libre Duo 10-Day Continuous Dual Glucose Ketone Monitoring System is the first of its kind to be approved in the United States — both the first wearable device to monitor ketone levels and the first to combine monitoring of ketone and blood sugar levels, the FDA said. It’s approved for those ages 2 and older.

“Today’s authorization is a breakthrough for the safety of children and adults living with diabetes,” said Dr. Michelle Tarver, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. “Knowing that ketone levels are rising, and having that information in real time, around the clock, can be the difference between early intervention and a life-threatening emergency.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 40.1 million Americans live with diabetes. About 2.1 million of them have type 1 diabetes, which also makes it important to monitor the levels of ketone, an acid. The body creates this substance when, due to a lack of insulin, it uses fat instead of glucose to produce energy. Too much ketone can cause diabetic ketoacidosis, a dangerous complication.

“Early detection of rising ketone levels is critical,” the FDA said.

Until now, the agency said, people had to monitor ketone levels with separate tests that only provided a single measurement at one point in time. The new system combines blood sugar and ketone tests and monitors them continuously. Readings — and alerts in case of dangerous trends — are sent wirelessly to a smartphone app.

The FDA previously granted “breakthrough device” status to the system, which is meant to expedite the device’s development and review.

Aug. 25 (UPI) — In its 100th Falcon 9 launch of the year, SpaceX marked a record-setting 37 missions for the rocket’s first-stage booster, a reuse milestone.

The rocket launched early Tuesday from Cape Canaveral in Florida, carrying 29 Starlink internet satellites. There are already more than 11,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, making it the largest satellite constellation so far.

Falcon 9 rockets include extensive reuse of boosters, with nine of the company’s boosters making at least 30 flights. The one used Tuesday, B1067, entered service in June 2021. About 8.5 minutes after liftoff, the booster landed on a droneship in the Atlantic Ocean as the upper stage continued on to low Earth orbit.

Falcon 9 rockets flew 165 missions — all of them successful — in 2025. The reuse of the boosters makes the rockets cheaper and more efficient to use. While competitors have been working toward the same concept, SpaceX is so far the only one to manage it.

The next step for the company is the “megarocket” Starship, which is designed to be completely reusable multiple times a day. Only the Falcon 9 boosters are reusable.

Tuesday’s launch is expected to be the final one for Falcon 9 rockets in Florida. Kiko Dontchev, SpaceX vice president of launch operations, confirmed this in a social media post Tuesday.

“From here on, Starlink missions out of Florida will fly on Starship,” Dontchev wrote. “The West Coast team will continue regularly launching Starlink from Vandenberg.” This refers to Vandenberg Base in California.

SpaceX has not yet tested Starship in orbit. The next launch is expected in mid-September from Texas. If that one goes well, the next Starship launch will be from Florida.

“Once Starship is flying reliably several times a week, it makes sense to shift … production resources to Starship to get launch rate to several times per day,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a social media post Saturday.

Falcon 9 rockets launched for the first time in 2010. There have been nearly 700 launches since.

Aug. 25 (UPI) — China is angrily pushing back against the President Donald Trump administration on new sanctions against Iran that will harm it.

China said it would defend its interests against the United States and accused the administration of disrupting the global financial order.

On Monday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent set out plans to “sever every economic lifeline” to Iran, targeting countries that do business with the country.

China’s foreign ministry representative, Lin Jian, said China is firmly opposed to what it called “illegal unilateral sanctions” and would take “all necessary measures” to defend its rights.

“Cooperation between China and Iran has always been conducted within the framework of international law and should not be interfered with or disrupted,” Lin said.

China is the largest customer of Iranian oil.

The United States listed more than 60 brokers, companies and ships facing new sanctions. They included more than a dozen small businesses from Hong Kong and China, The New York Times reported. But larger companies in China weren’t on the list, which some have speculated means Washington was being careful not to antagonize the country.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is planning to visit the United States next month to meet with Trump and continue talks.

Iranian Economy Minister Ali Madanizadeh said Tehran was “fully prepared” for the broader sanctions, which he said would lead to “another defeat” for the United States.

“The government is and was ready and has a two-year plan to manage these events,” he told state television. “We also have our own tools and know how to play the game,” he said. He also said that Tehran had been “waiting for these plans for a long time.”

In an intriguing development, Poland has been named among the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers covered by a massive new U.S. contract with Boeing for the F-15 program. This has prompted renewed speculation that Warsaw could eventually acquire the F-15EX Eagle II. Poland’s Ministry of National Defense, however, says there is currently no such plan, but there is a precedent here, with the Polish order for AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopters following a very similar path.

The U.S. Department of War announced Monday that Boeing had received an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a ceiling value of $131.23 billion for the “F-15 Eagle Crest” program. The agreement covers production, systems integration, modernization, upgrades, retrofits, sustainment and the establishment of depot-level maintenance capabilities for F-15 aircraft. Work is expected to continue through August 2037, with orders initially permitted through August 2031 and an option to extend that period to 2036.

The distinction is significant. An IDIQ contract establishes a mechanism through which orders can subsequently be placed; it does not itself constitute an aircraft purchase by every country named within it. The $131.23 billion figure is therefore a maximum contractual ceiling for the wider F-15 program, rather than the value of aircraft already ordered by the United States and its foreign customers.

Importantly, the contract also covers Foreign Military Sales customers. The Pentagon specifically lists Japan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, and Poland.

Of these, it should be noted that Indonesia was once in line to be the first export operator of the F-15EX, but, earlier this year, Boeing confirmed the country had abandoned its plans to buy the jets. The deal had been in stasis for the previous two years.

Poland, however, had never formally announced plans to order the F-15EX, although Boeing eyes the country as a potential customer for the aircraft.

Boeing has actively promoted the F-15EX to Warsaw, while Polish military officials have previously visited the company’s facilities in the United States. In 2025, then-Inspector of the Polish Air Force Gen. Ireneusz Nowak flew an F-15EX at Boeing’s facilities.

The aircraft has frequently appeared in discussions about Poland’s requirement for additional fourth-generation fighters. Warsaw has already committed to a large expansion of its fifth-generation F-35 fleet, with Polish officials confirming plans for another 32 F-35As in addition to the 32 aircraft already ordered.

F35 – HUSARZ

As we have discussed in the past, the F-15EX could provide a compelling complement to the F-35, providing a large weapons payload, long range, and a substantial air-to-air weapons capacity. But there is currently no indication from Poland that such a procurement has entered a formal acquisition phase.

Poland’s Ministry of National Defence told Defence24 that the Polish Armed Forces “do not plan to acquire F-15EX aircraft” and that the country’s inclusion in the U.S. framework contract does not mean a decision has been made or that a procurement process has begun.

As it is, the wording of the U.S. announcement is best understood as identifying countries that can potentially participate in F-15 Foreign Military Sales under the new contractual framework.

For Poland, Washington has established a long-term contractual vehicle that could facilitate a future F-15EX purchase, even though Warsaw says it has no current plan to acquire the aircraft.

Whether that changes in the future remains a separate question. However, as Gareth Jennings, aviation desk editor at Janes, has pointed out, in 2017 the U.S. Department of Defense denied that Poland had selected the AH-64 after it was named in a similar contract, for sensors. Not long after, Warsaw became the largest international customer for the Apache, buying 96 examples of the attack helicopter.

Boeing today told Jennings that Poland has not yet made a decision about the F-15EX.

As for the Apache buy, this is just one part of an extraordinary military expansion underway since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Warsaw has pursued major acquisitions across nearly every part of its armed forces, including 48 FA-50 light combat aircraft, 180 K2 tanks and 250 M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams tanks, alongside its 32-aircraft F-35 order. Its existing fleet of F-16 fighters is also set for a major upgrade.

With the FMS case for Indonesia having expired earlier this year, an F-15EX sale to Indonesia now looks far less likely.

For now, there is no Polish F-15EX deal, and Warsaw is clear that no procurement process has begun. But the country’s inclusion in the U.S. framework, combined with Boeing’s continued interest and the Apache precedent, means the possibility is worth watching.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

TORONTO — Canada struck back at the United States on Tuesday with retaliatory tariffs on about $20 billion worth of American goods, including steel, dairy products, appliances and farm equipment, as the trade war between the once-friendly neighbors escalated sharply.

The tension threatened one of the world’s largest trading relationships. The new tariffs extended well beyond industrial goods, hitting everyday purchases such as seafood, cheese, clothing, cosmetics and toilet paper, with some facing duties as high as 50%.

“We did not choose this conflict, but when our economic integration is used as a weapon rather than the foundation for a win-win partnership, we need to stand up,” Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said in French, calling the situation “an unprecedented challenge imposed on Canada.”

Canada’s retaliation came after the Trump administration imposed 50% tariffs over the weekend on Canadian goods following the collapse of trade negotiations. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney accused Washington of trying to subordinate Canada and said U.S. demands during the failed talks showed that Americans wanted to “destroy our major industries.”

President Trump intensified the confrontation Monday, telling Canadian leaders to “fall in line” or face consequences “far WORSE” than existing tariffs and threatening new 50% tariffs on Canadian vehicles, auto parts and steel.

Trump added another provocation Tuesday, saying the United States was giving “serious consideration” to renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America” in a feud with Ontario Premier Doug Ford. Such a change would be reminiscent of the Republican president’s unilateral action last year by executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

The tariffs will take effect Sept. 8 at rates of 15%, 25% and 50%, with Canada matching the corresponding U.S. tariff rate on more than 700 products such as pulp and paper and electronics. The tariffs on many American products would double from 25% to 50%, with the largest share of the new measures affecting steel and aluminum.

Canadian officials said the goal is not to raise revenue but to protect Canadian companies and reduce U.S. imports.

U.S. steel imports, for example, have already fallen 30% since Canada imposed a 25% tariff, and the new 50% rate is expected to cut them further, Canadian officials said.

Goods facing 50% tariffs include some steel and aluminum products, furniture and clothing. Appliances, dairy products including cheese, fish and seafood, and certain steel and aluminum derivatives will face 25% tariffs. Existing Canadian countertariffs on U.S. autos will remain in place.

Canada also announced a support package for workers and businesses affected by the dispute worth $7.5 billion in Canadian dollars ($5.4 billion in U.S. dollars).

Canadian officials acknowledged the counter tariffs will raise costs for some businesses and consumers but said they expect the overall economic effects to be moderate.

They said the government has provided more than $30 billion Canadian dollars (US$21.7 billion) in tariff-related support since the beginning of 2025 — far more than it has collected in retaliatory duties — as it tries to cushion the blow from the trade fight.

Canada and the United States have deeply integrated supply chains across autos, energy, agriculture and manufacturing, making a prolonged trade fight potentially costly for businesses and workers on both sides of the border.

Businesses and consumers are caught in the middle, facing uncertainty about how much prices may increase.

Michael Howard II, owner of a furniture business in Warren, Michigan, outside Detroit, said the tariffs will hamper the “ability for us to put food on the table for our family” and affect “the ability for us to give back to our community.”

Howard and his wife started their business a decade ago. They make and sell everything from dining room tables to bookcases.

“To say that we don’t need Canada is just disingenuous,” he said. “It’s dishonest. And it’s just absolutely not truthful. We need our neighbor, but also they need us.”

Carney said Monday that Canada may need to move away from matching U.S. tariffs dollar for dollar and instead use more targeted retaliation aimed at protecting Canadian workers and businesses.

“An attitude at the negotiation table that Canada is a subsidiary of the United States” is “not something we’re going to accept,” Carney said.

Carney was even more blunt in French.

“We learned during the negotiations that the Americans want to destroy our major industries, including autos, steel and aluminum,” Carney said. “That was one of the main reasons we said no. It was a bad deal.”

On Monday, Carney said U.S. negotiators had raised the discoverability of French-language content on streaming platforms, along with French-language labeling rules, as trade irritants. He rejected the idea that those protections were negotiable, saying in French: “For the Americans, questions about the French language, Quebec culture, francophone culture and Canadian culture are irritants. Here in Quebec, here in Canada, they are rights.”

In a social media post early Tuesday, Trump wrote: “I would never interfere with Canadians speaking French! In fact, I have never even thought of doing such a stupid thing. This lie was made up by a weak and ineffective Prime Minister in an attempt to gain political support, which he has totally lost, from the people of Quebec. I love French Canadians!”

Gillies writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Seung Min Kim in Washington and Mike Householder in Warren, Mich., contributed to this report.

Aug. 25 (UPI) — The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Situational Awareness, the Artificial Intelligence-focused hedge fund run by a 24-year-old.

The fund nearly collapsed last month when it dipped from about $45 billion to $10 billion in a late-July tech sell-off.

The SEC sent subpoenas to banks that provided loans for leveraged trading, The New York Times reported. The subpoenas wanted details on the timing of the trades and communications with lenders. They also told the banks to save any information about Situational Awareness.

The SEC investigates any fund that has large losses, and Situational Awareness has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

“It is to be expected that regulators would closely examine any funds that are high profile, produce significant returns or have particularly dramatic drawdowns,” a Situational Awareness spokesperson said in a statement. “We are a highly regulated business and will cooperate to the fullest extent with any regulatory request.”

The fund, at its highest mark, managed more than $30 billion and borrowed billions more. It was a client of firms that included Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, according to a regulatory filing.

The fund was founded and is managed by Leopold Ashcenbrenner, a young German Columbia University alum who last worked as a researcher at OpenAI. Aschenbrenner founded the fund at age 22. He named it after an essay that he wrote about the future of AI.

When the fund’s value plummeted in July, Aschenbrenner was forced to sell much of its portfolio to Citadel at a large discount. Citadel founder Ken Griffin told investors in a letter Friday that it has since sold about 80% of the risk from the Situational Awareness portfolio. Two of the positions Situational Awareness sold, SK Hynix and CoreWeave, have since rallied, CNBC reported.

Canada will unveil retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. on Tuesday as tensions escalated with President Donald Trump pressing the Canadian government to “fall in line,” while Prime Minister Mark Carney accused Washington of offering a bad deal.

Canadian officials, including Finance

Aug. 25 (UPI) — On this date in history:

In 1609, Galileo Galilei exhibited his first telescope in Venice.

In 1718, the city of New Orleans was founded.

In 1944, allied forces and the French resistance freed the city of Paris from German occupation during World War II. United Press reporter James McGlincy was the first foreign correspondent in the capital amid the fighting. He reported the Parisians welcomed the Allies with kisses: “Lord, how they kissed us!“

In 1967, a sniper assassinated American Nazi leader George Lincoln Rockwell in Arlington, Va.

In 1982, U.S. President Ronald Reagan ordered the deployment of the Marines to Beirut amid the Lebanese Civil War. The troops were part of a multinational force that ultimately stayed in Lebanon until March 1984. More than 260 U.S. service members died during the deployment, most during a barracks bombing in 1983.

In 1985, Samantha Smith, 13, was killed with her father and six other people in a plane crash in Maine. Samantha’s 1983 letter to Soviet President Yuri Andropov about her fear of nuclear war earned her a visit to the Soviet Union.

Photo courtesy RIA Novosti archive

In 1989, Voyager 2, after a 4 billion-mile journey, made its closest pass over Neptune, sending back images of southern lights and its moon, Triton, to Earth.

In 2009, U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., a liberal fixture in the Senate for 46 years, died of brain cancer at the age of 77.

File Photo by CJ Gunther/UPI

In 2012, former astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, died in Cincinnati. He was 82.

In 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall on San Jose Island, Texas, as a Category 4 storm. Harvey killed more than 100 people and caused $125 billion in damage.

In 2020, the Africa Regional Certification Commission declared Africa free of wild polio after four years without a case. It returned less than two years later.

File Photo by Marshall Wolfe/EPA