TVG Daily Brief 23 APR 2025

23 APR 2025

Stay informed and ahead of the curve with today’s top headlines, breaking stories, and the latest updates shaping our world. Get the BLUF (bottom line up front!) on defense, national security, economy, business development, technology, American manufacturing, school safety, 2A issues - and more. Prep for the whiplash and stay engaged. Know better - do better. Be the somebody!

DEFENSE

-Pentagon says leak probe may lead to U.S. prosecutions: U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned on Tuesday of possible prosecutions of former senior advisors who were fired during a probe into leaks of Pentagon information to the media, saying evidence would be handed over to the Department of Justice once the investigation is completed. Dan Caldwell, who was one of Hegseth's top advisors, and two other senior officials were fired on Friday after being escorted out of the Pentagon. But they have denied any wrongdoing and said they have been told nothing about any alleged crimes. (Reuters)

· Hegseth, who has come under fire for using unclassified messaging system Signal to discuss plans to attack Yemen's Houthi group, left open the possibility that individuals could be exonerated during the investigation but played down those chances. "If those people are exonerated, fantastic. We don't think -- based on what we understand -- that it's going to be a good day for a number of those individuals because of what was found in the investigation,” Hegseth told Fox News.

· Hegseth said there had been a number of leaks that triggered the investigation, including about military options to ensure U.S. access to the Panama Canal and Elon Musk’s visit to the Pentagon. “We said enough is enough. We’re going to launch a leak investigation,” Hegseth said. “We took it seriously. It led to some unfortunate places, people I have known for quite some time. But it’s not my job to protect them. It’s my job to protect national security.”

· He said evidence would eventually be handed over to the Department of Justice. “When that evidence is gathered sufficiently—and this has all happened very quickly -- it will be handed over to the DOJ and those people will be prosecuted if necessary," Hegseth said.

-Info Hegseth shared with wife and brother came from top general's secure messages: Minutes before U.S. fighter jets took off to begin strikes against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen last month, Army Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, who leads U.S. Central Command, used a secure U.S. government system to send detailed information about the operation to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. (NBC News)

· The material Kurilla sent included details about when U.S. fighters would take off and when they would hit their targets — details that could, if they fell into the wrong hands, put the pilots of those fighters in grave danger. But he was doing exactly what he was supposed to: providing Hegseth, his superior, with information he needed to know and using a system specifically designed to safely transmit sensitive and classified information.

· But then Hegseth used his personal phone to send some of the same information Kurilla had given him to at least two group text chats on the Signal messaging app, three U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the exchanges told NBC News.

· The sequence of events, which has not been previously reported, could raise new questions about Hegseth’s handling of the information, which he and the government have denied was classified. In all, according to the two sources, less than 10 minutes elapsed between Kurilla’s giving Hegseth the information and Hegseth’s sending it to the two group chats, one of which included other Cabinet-level officials and their designees — and, inadvertently, the editor of The Atlantic magazine. The other group included Hegseth’s wife, his brother, his attorney and some of his aides.

· Hegseth shared the information on Signal even though, NBC News has reported, an aide warned him in the days beforehand to be careful not to share sensitive information on an unsecure communications system before the Yemen strikes, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter.

· “No classified material was ever shared via Signal,” said the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, Sean Parnell, who called the allegations “an attempt to sabotage President Trump and Secretary Hegseth.”

· Appearing Tuesday morning on “Fox & Friends,” the Fox News show whose weekend edition he previously hosted, Hegseth said: “What was shared over Signal, then and now, however you characterize it, was informal, unclassified coordinations for media coordination, other things. That’s what I’ve said from the beginning.”

-Trump unlikely to dismiss Hegseth, but officials are troubled by disarray in Pentagon chief's inner circle: A defiant Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth booked himself on the television network where he used to work as a host Tuesday morning in a bid to address the fallout over revelations that he discussed military plans in a second Signal group chat, this time with his wife and brother. (CNN)

· But after Hegseth faced multiple direct questions in the Fox News interview about his inner circle being in disarray, the appearance was seen by some officials as only calling more attention to the story rather than tamping down the coverage, according to two people familiar with how the interview was perceived within the administration.

· Yet President Donald Trump is unlikely to dismiss Hegseth and has spoken to him twice since The New York Times and CNN reported on the second Signal group on Sunday night. In their first call, Trump said he had Hegseth’s back and voiced frustration at “leakers” he said were trying to damage his administration, according to a person familiar with the conversation.

· Trump has since been soliciting feedback from people around him about Hegseth’s performance during conversations, according to two people familiar with the comments. So far, most, if not all, has been positive about the Pentagon chief. Trump is extremely hesitant to fire any Cabinet official at this point in his term, much less Hegseth, given how hard his team fought to get him confirmed in the first place.

· Yet the state of affairs in his inner circle has troubled some senior officials who want to see changes made to how the secretary’s team in the front office of the Pentagon operates. The chaos prevailing at the Pentagon has not been lost on the White House, where officials have watched with concern as Hegseth struggles to contain the dysfunction and as his inner circle implodes.

· Hegseth’s most trusted advisers are now his wife, his lawyer and his junior military aide, who may soon be appointed his new chief of staff, multiple people familiar with the matter said.

· Others close to Hegseth, including his adviser, retired Army Sgt. Maj. Eric Geressy — who served with Hegseth in Iraq and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross last month — have gotten so frustrated by the turmoil that they have indicated to colleagues that they may resign, two of the sources said. CNN has reached out to Geressy.

· Some of Hegseth’s closest former advisers have issued warnings this week about turmoil inside the Pentagon. They include his former spokesman John Ullyot and three former senior officials Hegseth fired last week: top adviser Dan Caldwell; deputy chief of staff

-How a Lloyd Austin aide became Pete Hegseth’s ‘only guy standing’: In early April, after Pete Hegseth returned from a trip to Panama, the last person to step off the plane before the defense secretary himself was a colonel wearing slacks and a pullover. This was Ricky Buria, Hegseth’s junior military assistant and one of the only holdovers from the last secretary’s team. (Military Times)

· Buria, who has sharp black hair with a gray streak in the front, has gained unique status in the last three months — not only in the secretary’s inner circle but perhaps the entire Pentagon. He was appointed under the last administration but has rapidly gained Hegseth’s trust, and with it newfound power.

· Last week, Buria resigned his post in the Marine Corps and is now transitioning into a new role as one of Hegseth’s senior civilian advisors. Multiple sources who spoke for this story said he’s being considered for a higher position, potentially even chief of staff.

· And yet, his ascendance remains a mystery to many current and former defense officials, some of whom were allowed to speak anonymously for this story to avoid retaliation.

-Pentagon to ask Supreme Court 'very soon' to allow removal of transgender troops: lawyer: The Trump administration plans to ask the Supreme Court “imminently” to allow the Pentagon policy banning transgender servicemembers, after two federal judges blocked the contentious policy. The revelation came during D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals arguments April 22 about whether to lift one block on the policy. The appeal to the high court would deal with another case blocking the policy in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. “It will be very soon,” said Jason Manion, a Justice Department lawyer. (USA Today)

· While awaiting guidance from the high court, the appeals judges focused on the government failing to show what harm the military suffered by allowing transgender troops to serve openly for the past four years under the Biden administration. Judge Cornelia Pillard said the government provided no evidence of problems with privacy or fairness.

· “There’s nothing provided by the government about whether and how those issues proved to be problematic – nothing,” said Pillard, who was appointed by Barack Obama. “How has the military worked when a different policy than the one the current administration prefers was in place?” Pillard asked later. “Right there, you’d go and say, ‘There is this problem, this problem, this problem, this problem.’ You don’t need much. But it’s striking to me that the government apparently has not studied that.”

· Manion said the government isn’t required to provide such evidence and that courts are supposed to defer to the military on policy questions. But Manion added that President Donald Trump’s policy is basically similar to one from his first term that was upheld by the Supreme Court and is based on a 40-page study featuring expert testimony. “It’s just not the case that this was a starting-from-scratch policy,” Manion said.

-Trump Tells Congress Military Actions on Houthis Will Continue: President Donald Trump says he has directed the Defense Department to move additional forces for combat into the Middle East and to commence large-scale strikes in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, according to a letter from Trump to Congress. “We will continue these decisive military operations until the Houthi threat to United States forces and navigational rights and freedoms in the Red Sea and adjacent waters has abated,” Trump says. Trump says he provided the report under the War Powers Resolution. (Bloomberg)

-Rapid Strike On Smuggling Ship Off Africa Highlights Increased Authorities Given To Commanders: When an unflagged vessel smuggling advanced arms to the al-Shabaab jihadi group was spotted in the waters off Somalia last week, there was no time to send a boarding party to interdict it, a U.S. defense official told The War Zone Tuesday morning. So, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) made a rare decision, calling in an airstrike. (War Zone)

· The ability to do so was, in large measure, made possible by new authorities given to commanders to act, the official told us. This is meant to speed up critical kill chains and increase the effectiveness of the force that has to keep ahead of enemies on a fast-moving modern battlefield. But even with the clear benefits of increased authorities down the chain of command and forward in the field, there can be added risks.

· “This was a time-sensitive issue,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operational details. “They have to do things quickly. They did not have time to pull in boats.”

· “In coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) conducted airstrikes against advanced conventional weapons aboard a flagless vessel and a smaller supporting vessel inside Somalia territorial waters on April 16, 2025,” the command announced. “The weapons were en route to al Shabaab terrorists inside Somalia and posed an imminent threat to partner and U.S. forces in Somalia. AFRICOM’s initial assessment is that no civilians were harmed.”

-New Transcom commander embraces digital tools amid global challenges: Early into his tenure as head of U.S. Transportation Command, Air Force Gen. Randall Reed is keen to expand the hub’s application of data analytics and artificial intelligence, including via the Maven Smart System, to inform decision-making and enhance operational efficiency, he told DefenseScoop. Reed — a command pilot with more than 3,500 flight hours — held a variety of joint, headquarters, and base-level roles, and steered a numbered air force, wing, expeditionary operations groups, and a flying training squadron before he assumed leadership at Transcom late last year. (DefenseScoop)

· He’s in charge at a time when the command’s assets, workforce and close commercial partners are in high demand to move Defense Department equipment and personnel by rail, road and waterway in support of a broadening range of contemporary missions.

· On any given day, Transcom has more than 400 airlift sorties inflight, roughly 200 railcars and 1,500 freight shipments en route, 15 or more ships underway, and an estimated 10 patients in air evacuation, according to its most recent statistics.

· “I frequently get the question, ‘how is Randall Reed doing, and how does he feel about Transcom?’ And I tell them that as a warfighting commander, I cannot imagine commanding anything else, anywhere else, or serving with anybody else. And one of the things that makes this such an incredible opportunity is the nation needs us — and we’ve always been there,” the commander told DefenseScoop in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the recent Sea-Air-Space summit.

· During the discussion, Reed shed light on his near-term technology priorities and some of the command’s most recent high-stakes operations, including those in support of the Trump administration’s mass deportation missions.

-Female Soldiers Will Have to Pass ‘Sex-Neutral’ Physical Test, U.S. Army Says: Women in U.S. Army combat roles will be expected to pass the same “sex-neutral” physical test as male soldiers, that military branch announced on Monday, weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the elimination of lower physical fitness standards for women in combat. The change could hinder the Army’s ability to recruit and retain women in particularly dangerous military jobs. (NYT)

· The new test, the Army Fitness Test, will replace the Army Combat Fitness Test, and “is designed to enhance Soldier fitness, improve warfighting readiness, and increase the lethality of the force,” the Army wrote in its announcement. The new scoring standards will be phased in beginning on June 1, the Army said.

· Like its forerunner, the new test will be administered to active duty soldiers twice a year, and once per year to National Guard and Reserve troops. If soldiers fail the test two times in a row, they may be removed from the Army.

· The new fitness test is very similar to the previous one. It consists of five events: dead lifts, push-ups, planks, a two-mile run and a workout where soldiers sprint, then drag a weighted sled and carry kettlebells.

· The new Army Fitness Test eliminates the standing power throw, an event sometimes called the ball yeet, which is widely disliked by service members; it requires soldiers to throw a 10-pound medicine ball backward over their heads. The biggest overall change will be in how the test is scored for 21 close combat occupations that are likely to be involved in heavy fighting in wartime: Women in those categories will be graded on the “male” scale, which is likely to significantly reduce the number of them who meet the requirements.

-Army to replace athletic trainers with strength coaches on H2F teams: The Army is swapping athletic trainer positions from its Holistic Health and Fitness teams for more strength and conditioning coaches. Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James Mingus told Army Times that the move will keep control of instructors in the Army’s chain of command, and allow for the service-wide rollout of the plan to continue on schedule. The move, reported April 16 by Military.com from a leaked internal staff memo, will take effect in the coming months. (Military Times)

-New Army 155mm facility opens in Arkansas to boost artillery shell production: The Army and General Dynamics on Tuesday opened a new artillery production facility in Arkansas, which will produce roughly half the service’s 155mm artillery shells once it is fully operational, according to service officials. The new load, assemble and pack facility in Camden is expected to produce some 50,000 shells per month, according to the Army. Service officials since 2022 have sought to boost production of the Army’s 155mm artillery shells to 100,000 per month as it sent millions of rounds to Ukraine to bolster that nation’s defenses against Russian military invaders. (Stars and Stripes)

· In a statement Tuesday, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll made no mention of the efforts to support Ukraine’s defense, but he said the new plant would be critical in ensuring U.S. troops are outfitted with the best “war-winning capabilities.” “The Camden load, assembly, and pack munitions facility is just one of several modernization investments the Army is making to reinforce and strengthen our defense industrial base,” Driscoll said. “The Army remains committed to delivering relevant munitions at speed and scale to our soldiers, the joint force, and allies and partners. It is not lost on us that a key component of victory on the battlefield starts in our production facilities.”

-Unmanned undersea vessels eyed by Pentagon as key part of Navy growth: As pressure rises on the U.S. Navy to boost its shipbuilding capacity, the Pentagon has released a call for a new type of undersea vessel called the Combat Autonomous Maritime Platform, or CAMP, an unmanned system built “to maximize operational effectiveness in contested environments,” according to the solicitation released by the Defense Innovation Unit. (Defense News)

· This new class of remotely operated vessel aims to take the Navy’s capacity for undersea warfare to the next level — maneuvering in GPS-denied environments at a range greater than 1,000 nautical miles and diving to more than 200 meters underwater during missions, one of which would include dropping “various payloads to the sea floor.”

· The nation’s shipbuilding industry has been trailing far behind China and recently gave rise to concern about whether the U.S. would be able to replace disabled or sunken ships in a near-peer combat environment. The Navy plans to boost its number of battle force ships over the next three decades from 296 to 381 vessels.

· While the CAMP initiative is expected to be cost effective and “minimize surface expression and duration,” it must also be designed for transport, deployment and recovery with “commonly available commercial freight and transport equipment,” the solicitation stated.

-Navy port calls in Libya end half-century lull as US seeks to fortify North Africa presence: The Navy’s first port calls to Libya in more than five decades this week likely are intended to send a clear message to Russia and China about U.S. resolve across the Mediterranean region, analysts say. Visits to Tripoli and Benghazi on Sunday and Monday, respectively, were the first for the Navy in 56 years and included the amphibious command ship USS Mount Whitney and Vice Adm. Jeffrey Anderson, commander of U.S. 6th Fleet, the Navy said in a statement Monday. (Stars and Stripes)

· The presence of the 6th Fleet flagship and the service’s second-highest-ranking officer in Europe and Africa is a notable message to competitors that the United States remains interested and involved in North Africa, said Bradley Martin, a retired Navy surface warfare officer and director of the Rand Corp. National Security Supply Chain Institute. “It’s a signal to the world that we are there, we are not walking away from it,” Martin said. “And that we have an ability to form relationships even in places like Libya where previously (relations have) been very troubled.”

-Bribery Prosecution of 4-Star Admiral Opens Window into Navy Cultural Issues, Defendants Say: In the waning days of the Biden administration, the Justice Department undertook a rare prosecution of a recently retired four-star Navy admiral, alleging he was bribed with a job in exchange for steering lucrative contracts to a company charged with training top leaders. (Military.com)

· The case conjures comparisons to the Fat Leonard scandal -- the sprawling investigations and prosecutions that snared U.S. naval officers as part of a civilian defense contractor’s decade-long bribery scheme. Now, the new ongoing corruption prosecution, which is much more limited in scale and largely rests on a single, problematic witness, may be faltering.

· Two corporate executives who are on trial and are alleged to have bribed retired Adm. Robert Burke recently spoke exclusively with Military.com. As they look back on Burke, their relationship with the Navy and the trial, they say the case reminds them of Fat Leonard but also of a deadly tragedy -- the collisions of two destroyers in the Pacific nearly a decade ago -- and how little the Navy seems to have learned from either.

-Air Force activates new electronic warfare squadron: The Air Force has reactivated an electronic warfare unit that aims to more quickly respond to changes in the spectrum. The 23d Electronic Warfare Squadron was activated in a ceremony April 18 and falls under the 350th Spectrum Warfare Group. Its predecessor, Detachment 1, which was deactivated, was created in 2023 to focus on reprogramming mission data files for command-and-control and combat rescue platforms. (DefenseScoop)

· The mission of the 23d will be to support mission data file reprogramming for command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C2ISR) platforms, combat rescue platforms and expendables for the combat Air Force, including the High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile, according to an Air Force release.

-Governors Blast National Guard Reassignment to Space Force: The National Governors Association is raising alarm about DOD plans to pluck National Guard units from several states and assign them roles in the US Space Force, without consulting the governors. “Governors are Commanders-in-Chief of our states’ National Guards, and as such co-equal partners in the American system of government,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D), the chair, and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R), said in a statement. (Bloomberg)

· Polis and Stitt, who serve as the association’s chair and vice chair respectively, added there’s been no formal notification to, coordination with, or consent obtained from the impacted states. “This violates federal law and undermines the principles of cooperative federalism and the essential role that Governors play in maintaining the readiness of the National Guard,” they said.

· Governors from all 55 states and territories have repeatedly urged Congress to reject the policy proposal, which would reassign specified Air National Guard units to the US Space Force without the legally required consent of governors.

VETERANS

-Supreme Court to hear combat-injured Marine veteran’s case challenging compensation limits: The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments starting Monday involving a medically retired Marine Corps veteran who did not receive his full combat-related special compensation after his military service that included two tours in Iraq. Simon Soto, a retired corporal, is claiming the federal government incorrectly imposed a time limit for filing a compensation claim to receive full benefits. The outcome of the class-action suit against the U.S. government will likely determine the amount of combat-related special compensation that thousands of other medically retired combat veterans receive from the government, according to court documents. (Stars and Stripes)

· Attorneys for Soto argue the federal government misapplied a six-year statute of limitations for awarding full combat-related special compensation though Soto was entitled to higher payments. The tax-free monthly payments are for eligible retired veterans with combat-related injuries. “Whether thousands of combat veterans now and into the future lose all or part of the special compensation they earned through service to and sacrifice for our nation is an exceptionally important question that merits this court’s review,” attorneys for Soto said in court documents.

· Soto joined the Marine Corps in 2000 and had two deployments to Iraq. His job was in mortuary affairs and involved searching for, identifying and recovering the remains of war casualties, according to court documents. But Soto began receiving medical treatment for nightmares, depression and suicidal thoughts related to his work documenting the deaths of fellow soldiers. He was medically retired in 2006.

· In 2009, Soto received a disability rating from the Department of Veterans Affairs based on his medical diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, a mental-health condition that results from witnessing terrifying events. But he did not apply for combat-related special compensation until 2016, according to court documents.

-VA asks employees to report ‘anti-Christian discrimination’ to new task force: The Department of Veterans Affairs is asking its employees to report “any instance of anti-Christian discrimination” to a newly launched task force. VA Secretary Doug Collins, in an email sent to employees Tuesday, said the department launched a task force to review the Biden administration’s “treatment of Christians.” Collins is a former Air Force chaplain. (Federal News Network)

· “The VA Task Force now requests all VA employees to submit any instance of anti-Christian discrimination to Anti-ChristianBiasReporting.@va.gov,” the email obtained by Federal News Network states. “Submissions should include sufficient identifiers such as names, dates, and locations.”

· President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Feb. 6 focused on “eradicating anti-Christian bias.”

· The email states the department will review “all instances of anti-Christian bias,” but is specifically seeking instances in which employees believe they were denied promotions for “religious reasons,” or faced retaliation for seeking a religious exemption to vaccine mandates.

-WA Democratic Senator upset after VA is ‘no show’ at veterans round table: This state’s senior Democratic Senator is crying foul after the VA was a no-show at her veteran’s event in Ballard. Now, she’s demanding answers. Senator Patty Murray says she is “furious” after the Veterans Administration refused to send a representative to her roundtable on female veterans. So angry, she dashed off a letter to VA Secretary Doug Collins demanding to know why. (KIRO)

· The roundtable about female veterans went on as planned at a Seattle-area VFW hall this afternoon, without anyone from the VA. It is her signature cause, the plight of veterans in the U.S. Armed Forces. And since she was elected to the U.S. Senate some 32 years ago, Patty Murray has come back home to Washington State to talk to local veterans about their most important issues. “I have done ‘Veteran Town Halls’ all over the state, a lot of times,” Murray said.

· “Dozens of times.” And always, she says, the Veterans Administration has been at the table, too, “so that they can get the information they need and we can share that.” But this time, with the plight of female veterans on the agenda, the VA was a no show. “And I’m really furious,” she said. When pressed for what was said, Murray said, “They would not participate.”

· For her part, Murray sent a blistering letter to Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins demanding to know why the VA skipped this roundtable for the first time in her decades-long career. “To what do you attribute this?” Murray was asked. “I attribute it to an administration who has gone inside itself and figured they do not need the input of the members of Congress or their constituents,” she said. “I’m one thing. But not to hear from veterans is really outrageous.”

· VA Press Secretary Pete Kasperowicz released a statement, saying, “Senator Murray – and all members of Congress – are welcome to visit VA facilities. But the department doesn’t typically host lawmakers’ events at VA facilities so as not to impact service to Veterans. We have spoken with Sen. Murray’s office and made this clear.”

-Sen. Kelly holds veteran-focused town hall: Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly criticized proposed Department of Veterans Affairs staffing cuts during a town hall Monday, saying they threaten the care and benefits veterans have earned. Kelly took questions from a group of local veterans just weeks after a leaked Trump administration memo instructed VA administrators to begin reorganizing the department to reflect 2019 staffing levels — potentially eliminating tens of thousands of positions. (KGUN)

· “We’re hearing about 80,000 people being cut from the VA,” said retired Air Force veteran Fred Miclon. “This is the wrong time I feel, to be cutting back benefits and care that veterans need.”

· The event, held at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 549 near the intersection of Old Spanish Trail and Broadway, highlighted growing concerns from veterans about the future of services they rely on.

· One audience member recounted the story of a man who “took a lower-level job so he could be at home with his wife who’s suffering from cancer — and he got canned!”

· In response, Kelly reaffirmed his support for VA workers and introduced legislation aimed at protecting them. “My view is the government should have a sacred pact with veterans,” Kelly said. “People that are willing to go out there and give their lives for our country.”

· Kelly is co-sponsoring a piece of legislation called the Protect Veterans Jobs Act, which aims to prevent layoffs and reinstate recently terminated employees, many of whom work directly with veterans on medical and mental health care. “We’re struggling, because the administration is firing VA employees that provide these kind of services,” he said.

· Kelly pointed to how VA staff are critical in treating physical injuries and addressing mental health needs, including reducing veteran suicide rates. “We need people to do those jobs to provide them with this treatment that we promised them,” Kelly added. “So my office, Ruben Gallego’s office — we’re gonna keep pushing on this administration to not do dumb things and get rid of VA health care workers.”

-Congressman Neal discusses budget cuts by Trump administration at Veterans Roundtable in Ludlow: Congressman Richard Neal was in Ludlow on Tuesday, meeting with veterans from across western Massachusetts regarding the impact of policies and actions taken by the Trump administration. Veterans across the United States are voicing their concerns over actions taken by the Trump administration over the past couple of months. (WWLP)

· Since January 20, the Trump administration has been making policy changes to several government departments, including the Department of Veterans Affairs. Congressman Richard Neal met with veterans to hear how they are impacted by these cuts and their concerns for the future.

· “This is a big deal for these families,” Congressman Neal said. “And I think we shouldn’t lose sight of the service they rendered to America, considering the fact that we entered into a contract with them to provide services that we should not renege on, and the PACT Act has been really important legislation.”

-WMass veterans complain of disappearing doctors, threatened services: The Springfield VA outpatient clinic is down to two doctors – from its usual count of four or more. And new doctors aren’t taking jobs there, fearing they’ll fall prey to Trump-led budget cuts in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. “Morale is low,” said Scott Hiorns, a Navy veteran from Ludlow who volunteers driving fellow veterans to VA medical appointments in the region. “Everyone is terrified about losing their job.” (MassLive)

· In a Tuesday visit with U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, veterans shared observations about changes within the system that concern them. With return-to-work orders, VA staffers are meeting with veterans and discussing sensitive information in building lobbies because there is no office space.

· Many vets voiced fears suicide rates will rise.

-Veterans Therapeutic Court Celebrates Four New Graduates in Benton County: Family, friends, and court officials gathered at the Benton County Justice Center this week to celebrate four veterans who completed the Veterans Therapeutic Court (VTC) program, marking a significant milestone in their journey toward rehabilitation and recovery. (Apple Valley News Now)

· The VTC, which launched in 2019, provides veterans facing legal challenges with an alternative to incarceration through a voluntary program focused on rehabilitation, support, and accountability. The program specifically addresses the unique challenges many veterans face, including mental health issues and substance abuse that can sometimes lead to involvement with the criminal justice system.

· “I’m really proud as a combat vet myself, I struggle with mental health disorders just as well as they do. We can work together and get through this mission together to overcome mental health and or drug abuse,” said James Torres, Behavioral Specialist and Probation Officer for Benton County, who has been with the program for four years.

· The court was established through the vision and dedication of Judge Dan Kathren and former prosecutor Andy Miller, with additional support from the well-known Mattis family. Their collaborative efforts resulted in a program that acknowledges the distinct circumstances and needs of veterans who encounter the criminal justice system.

· Since its inception, the Veterans Therapeutic Court has seen 20 veterans complete the program and graduate, including the four most recent graduates, who were celebrated at this week’s ceremony. These successes demonstrate how specialized court programs can effectively address underlying issues that contribute to criminal behavior while honoring the service of veterans.

-Wichita named best city in the U.S. for veterans’ health care: A new report ranks Wichita as the No. 1 city in the nation for veterans’ health care, highlighting both the Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center and the community’s role in serving those who served. The recognition comes from Trajector Medical’s 2025 rankings, which analyzed data from 132 VA hospitals across the country. Wichita earned a perfect score of 100 based on low wait times, high patient satisfaction, and strong access to specialty and mental health care. (KAKE)

· Dr. Samah Moawad, Chief Medical Officer at the Dole VA, said the report’s findings reflect the work being done in Wichita every day. “This article was not a surprise by any means because it highlighted Wichita as the number one city for veterans access to healthcare which is very consistent with our information here at the Dole VA healthcare center,” Moawad said.

-U.S. Tells Vietnam Envoys to Skip Events Marking 50 Years Since War's End: The Trump administration has told its senior diplomats in Vietnam not to take part in events marking the 50th anniversary of the end of the war. Four U.S. officials who insisted on anonymity to describe sensitive diplomatic decision-making said that Washington had recently directed senior diplomats -- including Marc Knapper, the U.S. ambassador to Vietnam -- to stay away from activities tied to the anniversary on April 30. That includes a hotel reception on April 29 with senior government leaders and an elaborate parade the next day—gatherings hosted by Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City, also known as Saigon, where the war ended with South Vietnam’s surrender. (NYT)

· Veterans returning to Vietnam have also been told they’re on their own, for public discussions they organize on war and reconciliation, and anniversary events. For many, it amounts to a sudden reversal after months of anticipation.

· “I really don’t understand it,” said John Terzano, a founder of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation who served two tours in Vietnam and has attended anniversary events for decades. “As a person who has dedicated his life to reconciliation and marveled at how it’s grown over the last 20 years or so, this is really a missed opportunity.” “It really doesn’t require anything of the United States to just stand there,” Mr. Terzano added, in an interview after landing in Hanoi. ''This is all ceremonial stuff -- that's what makes it sound crazy and disappointing.''

GLOBAL

-Trump to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE from May 13: US President Donald Trump will visit the Middle East next month on a three-country tour, his spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday. It will be his second foreign trip since returning to office, following his planned attendance at the Vatican for Pope Francis's funeral on Saturday. Trump "will travel to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates from May 13 until May 16," Leavitt told a White House press briefing, without elaborating. (AFP)

-Trump Says Aligned With Netanyahu After Call on Iran, Trade: US President Donald Trump said he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are aligned on trade and Iran after a Tuesday call, which came amid signs of disagreement. “I’ve just spoken to Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, relative to numerous subjects including Trade, Iran, etc.,” Trump said in a post to his Truth Social network. “The call went very well—We are on the same side of every issue,” he added, without providing additional details on their conversation. (Bloomberg)

· The two leaders face a number of global challenges, including trade, how to respond to Iran’s nuclear ambitions and Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

-Mediators work on proposal for long-term truce as Israeli strikes on Gaza kill 9: Arab mediators are working on a proposal to end the Israel-Hamas war that would include a five to seven year truce and the release of all remaining hostages, officials said Wednesday. Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip killed nine people overnight, according to local health authorities. Egypt and Qatar are still developing the proposal, which would include the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the entire strip and the release of Palestinian prisoners, according to an Egyptian official and a Hamas official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media. (AP)

-Israel steps up Gaza strikes; polio vaccination halted by blockade: The Israeli military launched one of the biggest waves of strikes in Gaza for weeks on Tuesday, residents said, and health officials issued a new warning that healthcare faced total collapse from Israel's blockade of all supplies. Gaza's health ministry said a U.N.-backed polio vaccination campaign meant to target over 600,000 children had been suspended, putting the enclave at risk of the revival of a crippling disease that once had been all-but eradicated. (Reuters)

-Israeli military says it 'most likely' intercepted missile coming from Yemen: The Israeli military said it "most likely" intercepted a missile launched from Yemen early on Wednesday, following alarms that sounded in several areas in Israel. Israel's national ambulance service Magen David Adom (MDA) said that no calls have been received regarding rocket impacts or casualties. (Reuters)

-Trump's return boosts Israel's pro-settlement right: experts: US President Donald Trump's return to power has emboldened Israeli leaders' push to increase military presence in Gaza and reinvigorated right-wing ambitions to annex the occupied West Bank, experts say. After a phone call Tuesday with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said on social media: "We are on the same side of every issue." (AFP)

· In Gaza, where the war sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel has raged for more than 18 months, Trump's comeback meant "big changes" for Israel, said Asher Fredman, director of Israeli think-tank Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy. "The arms embargo imposed by (former President Joe) Biden's administration has essentially been lifted," Fredman said. "That, together with the fact the northern front (Lebanon and Syria) now is quiet and we have a new defence minister and a new (army) chief of staff, is allowing Israel to move forward in achieving its military goals in Gaza."

· Fredman said Trump has a good grasp of the situation in Gaza and understands Israel’s fight against Hamas. “If Israel decides to stop the war and have a ceasefire with Hamas, he’ll support it... but he also listened closely to released hostages who told him how terrible Hamas treated them, and his instinct is to get rid of Hamas,” Fredman said.

· Trump has made clear statements on Gaza, demanding the release of Israeli hostages and making plans for the territory, but he has remained silent on Israeli actions in the occupied West Bank, which have escalated since the war in Gaza began. Just days after taking office, Trump proposed removing Gaza’s 2.4 million Palestinian residents to Jordan or Egypt, drawing international outrage.

· Although he has since appeared to backtrack, the remarks emboldened Netanyahu and Israeli far-right ministers who continue to advocate implementing the plan. Analysts say Trump’s silence on the West Bank has encouraged hardline ministers who openly dream of annexing the territory, which Israel has occupied since 1967 and Palestinians see as part of their future state.

-UN to review the impact of its agency helping Palestinian refugees in Gaza and elsewhere: The United Nations chief appointed a British human rights activist on Tuesday to carry out a strategic review of the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees to assess its impact under the"present political, financial, security and other constraints.” Israel has banned the agency, known as UNRWA, from operating on its territory, but its Palestinian staff have still been key to delivering aid and running medical clinics in Gaza, even though Israel has cut off all humanitarian deliveries since March 2. (AP)

-Syria Makes Rare Arrests of Palestinian Militant Group Leaders: Syrian authorities made a rare arrest of two senior members of the Palestinian armed faction Islamic Jihad, the group said on Tuesday, a move that signaled the shifting of alliances in the Middle East. The group, Islamic Jihad, is an Iran-backed ally of Hamas that took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel from Gaza, which triggered the war there. The group said on Tuesday that Khaled Khaled, its leader in Syria, and Yasser al-Zafari, another senior figure, had been in Syrian custody for five days. (NYT)

· Syria’s interior ministry confirmed their detention, but provided no reason for their arrest. Islamic Jihad said the two officials had been detained “without any explanation” and “in a manner we would not have hoped to see from brothers.” The arrest of senior Palestinian officials signaled a pendulum swing for Syria, which under President Bashar al-Assad was closely allied with Iran and historically served as a critical base of operations for several Palestinian armed groups.

-Syria’s Jihadist-Turned-President Seeks New Allies: When Syrian President Ahmed al-Shara sat at the helm of a small, rebel-held enclave in the country’s northwest, his alliances were simpler. Turkey was a supporter, while the Assad regime and Iran were his main enemies. Political support from other countries was welcome, but their financial aid was not essential to survive. Since his rebel coalition toppled President Bashar al-Assad in December, Mr. al-Shara, who spoke to The New York Times this month, has been navigating more complex geopolitical waters. And that foreign support is not just welcome, it is critical to his government’s survival. (NYT)

· To bring Syria’s economy back from the brink, he must persuade U.S. and other Western officials wary of his jihadist past to lift sanctions. To keep the country from plunging back into civil war, he needs military assistance to build a new army. And to keep the government functioning and the country from spinning into total disarray, he needs foreign financing to pay public workers.

· The case he is presenting to the West, Europe and the wealthy Gulf monarchies is straightforward — Syria’s stability affects the entire Middle East. “Any chaos in Syria will damage not just neighboring countries but the whole world,” Mr. al-Shara said in a wide-ranging interview in the capital, Damascus.

· A former Al Qaeda affiliate who now presents himself as a statesmen, Mr. al-Shara said his government is negotiating deals with both Turkey, a longtime political backer, and Russia, a stalwart supporter of Mr. al-Assad when he was in power. He alluded to the possibility of future military support from both.

· “Turkey has a military presence in Syria and Russia also has a military presence. We’ve nullified past agreements between Syria and other countries, and are in the process of developing new ones,” he said. Mr. al-Shara appeared open to procuring additional weapons from Russia and other countries.

-French FM makes first visit to Iraq: France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot will meet officials in Baghdad on Wednesday as part of a regional tour to push for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The French foreign ministry said in a statement that Barrot, who will also visit Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, is on a tour to help "prepare for the international conference for the implementation of the two-state solution" that Paris will co-organise in June with Riyadh. (AFP)

-Trump administration unwinds efforts to investigate Russian war crimes: The Trump administration has been engaged in a concerted effort to undo initiatives aimed at holding Russia and its leaders and allies accountable for alleged war crimes in Ukraine. Since taking office, the administration has moved to withdraw from an international group led by the European Union that was created to punish Moscow for violating international law in its invasion of Ukraine. The White House has also reduced the work of the Justice Department's War Crimes Accountability Team and dismantled a program to seize assets of sanctioned Russian oligarchs. (WP)

· And in a previously unreported move, it has vacated a coordinator position — mandated by law — to gather intelligence from across the government on Russian atrocities committed in Ukraine, according to two people familiar with the matter, who like others interviewed for this story spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.

· That position was created by legislation co-written by Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colorado) and former congressman Michael Waltz (R-Florida). Waltz is now President Donald Trump’s national security adviser. “The atrocities coordinator position is . . . tasked with holding Putin responsible for the crimes he’s committed against the Ukrainian people,” Crow told The Washington Post in a statement. “This position was created by Congress on a bipartisan basis, and the administration must empower whoever serves in this position to carry out their duties as required by law.”

· Crow said that if Trump and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard “want to achieve lasting peace, they must be willing to hold Putin accountable for the crimes he’s committed in Ukraine. So far, this administration has shown they’re willing to let Putin off the hook.”

-Rubio Skipping Ukraine Talks as Zelensky Rebuffs U.S. on Crimea: Secretary of State Marco Rubio decided on Tuesday to skip the next stage of the Ukrainian cease-fire talks, while Ukraine rebuffed one of President Trump’s key proposals for a deal that would halt the fighting with Russia. Negotiators from the United States, Europe and Ukraine will still meet in London on Wednesday to continue hammering out a cease-fire proposal. But the back-to-back developments are a double blow, raising fresh questions about how much progress is being made toward winding down the three-year war. (NYT)

· Mr. Rubio took part in a meeting on Ukraine last week in Paris, but afterward warned that Mr. Trump was growing impatient with the peacemaking process and might move on to “other priorities.” While in Paris, two European officials said, the negotiators were briefed on the Trump administration’s framework for a cease-fire deal, which includes demands that Ukraine recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea and rules out NATO membership for Ukraine.

-Vance issues Ukraine ultimatum after Rubio snubs key London meeting: A major meeting in London aimed at bringing about an end to Russia's war in Ukraine has been downgraded after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he would skip the summit, escalating a clash between Washington and Kyiv over the future of Russian-occupied territory. Rubio had been expected to take part in the discussions with Ukrainian, UK and European officials, but State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Tuesday that he would no longer attend due to "logistical issues." (CNN)

· The developments throw new uncertainty over the diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s war. The United States has become increasingly steadfast in its push to force Kyiv to an agreement, but Ukraine is adamant that it will not give up Crimea, which has been occupied by Russia since 2014, or parts of eastern Ukraine that were captured following Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

· US Vice President JD Vance threatened to abandon negotiations on Wednesday, telling reporters during a visit to India: “We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and Ukrainians, and it's time for them to either say yes or for the US to walk away from this process. We've engaged in an extraordinary amount of diplomacy, of on the ground work."

-Ukraine presses for ceasefire as Russia reported to offer concession: President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday Ukraine was ready for talks with Russia "in any format" once a ceasefire is set, while the Financial Times reported President Vladimir Putin had offered to halt Russia's invasion at the current front lines. Both sides are trying to demonstrate progress towards ending Russia's war in Ukraine, now well into its fourth year, after U.S. President Donald Trump said he could walk away from efforts to make peace if there is no breakthrough. (Reuters)

· “We are ready to record that after a ceasefire, we are ready to sit down in any format so that there are no dead ends,” Zelenskiy told reporters in the presidential office in Kyiv. He stressed that any discussions regarding the terms of a peace deal should only happen once the fighting has stopped and that it would be impossible to agree on everything quickly. The Ukrainian president said his delegation would have a mandate to discuss a full or partial ceasefire at talks with European and U.S. officials in London on Wednesday in a follow-up to last week’s Paris meeting.

· At the same time, the White House said Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff will again travel to Russia later this week to hold talks with Putin. Citing people familiar with the matter, the Financial Times reported that Putin offered at a meeting with Witkoff in St. Petersburg this month to halt Russia’s invasion across the front line and relinquish its claims to full control of four Ukrainian regions.

· Russia only partially controls Ukraine’s Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions it claimed as its own during the full-scale invasion. Putin has publicly demanded that Ukraine withdraw its forces from Kyiv-held areas in the regions.

· The FT said the proposal was the first formal indication Putin has given since the war’s early months that Russia could step back from some of its maximalist demands. It cited European officials briefed on U.S. efforts as saying Russia’s apparent concession could be a negotiating tactic.

· The Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the deliberations, that Washington had proposed recognising Russia’s annexation of Crimea and freezing the war’s front lines as part of a settlement. The Crimean peninsula, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014, is not one of the four regions in Putin’s offer reported by the FT.

· Zelenskiy has long said Ukraine will not recognise Russia’s occupation of Crimea and other territories as that would violate the country’s constitution. However, he has also suggested that Ukraine could win back control over the areas diplomatically over time, rather than by military force.

-Europeans outlined non-negotiable issues to US for Ukraine-Russia peace deal, French minister says: European powers told the United States last week which aspects of a potential peace deal between Ukraine and Russia would be non-negotiable for them, ahead of a new round of discussions on Wednesday, France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said. Ukraine, the U.S., France, Britain and Germany held their first joint talks since President Donald Trump came to power on Thursday in Paris, sharing their views on ways to end the more than three-year-old war. (Reuters)

-Officials from Ukraine, US and UK meet in London in latest push to stop the war: Officials from Britain, the U.S., European nations and Ukraine are due to meet in London to push for a peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv. British Defense Secretary John Healey said Wednesday's meeting will include “what a ceasefire might look like and how to secure peace in the long term.” But a plan for the talks to involve foreign ministers was scrapped at the last minute after the U.S. State Department said Secretary of State Marco Rubio was unable to come because of a scheduling issue. Those attending include retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, President Donald Trump’s envoy for Ukraine and Russia. (AP)

-Zelenskiy says Chinese citizens working at drone production site in Russia: President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday that Chinese citizens were working at a drone production site in Russia and suggested that Moscow may have "stolen" drone technology from China. The Ukrainian leader made the comment at a news conference in Kyiv days after he said China was supplying weapons and gunpowder to Russia, the first time he has accused Beijing of direct military aid to Moscow, something China staunchly denies. (Reuters)

· Zelenskiy, in suggesting that Russia may have obtained drone technology from China without Beijing actually knowing, appeared to be softening his tone towards China, which casts itself as neutral on the war.

· The flurry of Ukrainian allegations directed at China, the world’s second largest economy, in recent days has been particularly striking at a sensitive moment for Kyiv in the U.S.-led diplomatic effort to end the war.

· Zelenskiy said earlier this month that Russia was recruiting Chinese nationals via social media to fight in its armed forces and that Beijing officials were aware of that. He added that Kyiv was trying to assess whether the recruits were receiving instructions from Beijing.

· China has reaffirmed its support for peace efforts in Ukraine and said relevant parties should avoid “irresponsible remarks,” in an apparent jab at Zelenskiy’s comment about Chinese citizens fighting there for Russia.

-Ukrainian foreign ministry expresses concern over Chinese involvement in war alongside Russia: Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday it had summoned China's ambassador and told him of "serious concern" over Chinese involvement on Russia's side in the more than three-year-old war pitting Kyiv against Moscow. The ministry said Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhen Perebyinis expressed "serious concerns about the facts of the participation of Chinese citizens in military action against Ukraine on the side of the aggressor-state and also the involvement of Chinese companies in the manufacture in Russia of military goods." (Reuters)

-Russia destroys energy facility in Ukraine's Kherson, governor says: Russian forces destroyed an energy facility in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson early on Wednesday, the regional governor said. Oleksandr Prokudin said the facility, which provided the city of Kherson with electricity, had come under Russian artillery and drone attacks for more than 24 hours. (Reuters)

· Russia launched 134 drones in overnight attacks targeting Ukraine, Ukraine's air force said on Wednesday.

· Ukraine's air force said it had downed 38 out of 77 attack drones Russia launched starting early on Tuesday morning. It said on the Telegram messaging app that another 31 did not reach their targets, likely due to electronic warfare.

-Explosions at Russian military base east of Moscow 'gradually ending,' regional governor says: Ammunition explosions at a military unit in Russia's Vladimir region that started on Tuesday as result of a fire have been "gradually ending," Alexander Avdeev, governor of the region, said on social media on Wednesday. Schools and several businesses, as well as roads in Vladimir's Kirzhach district, where the detonations have been taking place, will remain closed on Wednesday, Avdeev said. The Russian defence ministry said on Tuesday that the fire had been caused by a breach of safety requirements and had resulted in the detonation of ammunition stored in a warehouse. (Reuters)

-Russia's Putin discusses US-Iran nuclear talks with leader of Oman: Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed Iran's nuclear programme on Tuesday with the visiting leader of Oman, Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said, a Kremlin official was quoted as saying. Oman has been mediating between Iran and the United States as President Donald Trump seeks an agreement that would curb Iran's nuclear programme, which Washington believes is aimed at developing a nuclear weapon. (Reuters)

· "We discussed the progress of negotiations between Iranian and American representatives," Interfax quoted Kremlin foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov as saying. "We will see what the result will be. We maintain close contact with our Iranian colleagues. Where we can, we help."

-'China Track' bank netting system shields Russia-China trade from Western eyes: Major Russian banks have set up a netting payments system dubbed "The China Track" for transactions with China, aiming to reduce their visibility to Western regulators and mitigate the risk of secondary sanctions, banking sources told Reuters. Russia's trade with China hit a record $245 billion last year despite payment problems and commissions running as high as 12%, as Chinese banks had grown too cautious to do business with Russia and jeopardise their ties with the United States. (Reuters)

· The issue had become so important that Russian President Vladimir Putin and China's President Xi Jinping discussed it during Putin's visit to China in May 2024, which was aimed at cementing the two countries' 'no limits' partnership. Xi is set to take part in Russia's Victory Day parade on May 9, but his visit is now taking place amid China's trade war with the United States, making the booming trade with Russia and other non-Western nations more important. "I do not rule out that the Chinese partners will no longer be afraid of secondary sanctions," said Alexander Shokhin, the head of the powerful RSPP business lobby group, who takes part in trade negotiations with China.

-German army approaches big firms for NATO logistics aid, Handelsblatt daily says: The German army has asked several large firms about whether they could provide logistics support if the country needs to deploy soldiers and equipment to NATO's eastern border during a crisis, the Handelsblatt newspaper reported on Tuesday. Germany - a logistical hub due to its central location in Europe - has committed to contributing 35,000 soldiers and over 200 aircraft and ships within 30 days of any major conflict as part of NATO's new model to address growing threats, particularly from Russia. (Reuters)

· The army is approaching the firms primarily for help in moving soldiers, ammunition and military equipment in the event of an attack on NATO territory by Russia, Handelsblatt reported. The newspaper also cited industry sources as saying discussions were underway on whether Lufthansa's flight school could take over basic training for fighter jet pilots.

· Defence giant Rheinmetall, airline group Lufthansa and state-owned railway operator Deutsche Bahn were among the firms approached by the army, according to Handelsblatt. It said the army relies on commercial transport services to a considerable extent in crisis areas.

-Sweden eyes purchase of combat vehicles with Norway, Lithuania, Finland: Sweden, Lithuania, Norway and Finland are considering a coordinated acquisition of hundreds of CV90 infantry combat vehicles made by BAE Systems, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Tuesday. The four countries are now drafting a statement of intent on cooperation for a purchase of the military vehicles, Kristersson told a joint press conference with his Lithuanian counterpart Gintautas Paluckas. (Reuters)

· Countries in the Nordic and Baltic region, five of which border Russia, are sharply raising defence spending due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and U.S. demands that European NATO members take on more responsibility for their own security.

-Wary of Russia, Denmark to spend $600 million on surveillance vessels: Denmark will spend about 4 billion crowns ($614 million) on building and procuring 26 navy vessels for patrolling, oil spill response and surveillance of undersea cables, Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said on Tuesday. Countries bordering the Baltic Sea are on high alert after a number of outages of power cables, telecom links and gas pipelines since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, including sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines. Russia has denied it was behind the outages. (Reuters)

-Russia is ramping up hybrid attacks against Europe, Dutch intelligence says: Russia is increasing its hybrid attacks aimed at undermining society in the Netherlands and its European allies, and Russian hackers have already targeted the Dutch public service, Dutch military intelligence agency MIVD said on Tuesday. "We see the Russian threat against Europe is increasing, including after a possible end to the war against Ukraine," MIVD director Peter Reesink said in the agency's annual report. "In the Netherlands, we saw the first (Russian) cyber sabotage act against a public service, with the aim of gaining control of the system. It was thwarted, but it was the first time." (Reuters)

-Spain says it will meet NATO's defense spending goal of 2% of GDP this year: Spain will meet NATO's defense spending target this year, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Tuesday, as pressure grows on the eurozone's fourth-largest economy to boost its military expenditure. Sánchez said the government will raise defense spending by 10.5 billion euros ($12 billion) to reach NATO's target of 2% of GDP. The spending will go toward telecommunications, cybersecurity and buying military equipment, he said, as well as raising salaries and adding troops. (AP)

-Four Czech troops to stand trial over 2018 death of Afghan soldier: Four Czech soldiers will face trial for alleged crimes relating to the death of an Afghan soldier after he was detained and interrogated in 2018, Czech prosecutors said on Tuesday. The Czech state attorney's office said in a statement that four members of the 601st special operations forces group would stand trial on charges including extortion, insubordination, violation of guard duty obligations and failure to provide aid. (Reuters)

· Czech public radio reported on its website that the accusations relate to the death of 19-year-old Wahidullah Khan after he was detained by Afghan forces over an attack on troops at the Shindand base in western Afghanistan in 2018 in which one Czech soldier was killed and two injured.

· The New York Times first reported the incident in 2018. It said Khan had been beaten after being taken into custody by U.S. and Czech troops, was unconscious when he was returned to Afghan troops the same day and died shortly afterwards. It said U.S. and Czech troops were being investigated over the incident.

-Pope Francis' body to lie in state before funeral on Saturday: Pope Francis' funeral will be held on Saturday in St. Peter's Square, Roman Catholic cardinals decided on Tuesday, setting the stage for a solemn ceremony that will draw leaders from around the world. Francis, 88, died on Monday after suffering a stroke and cardiac arrest, ending an often turbulent reign in which he repeatedly clashed with traditionalists and championed the poor and marginalised. (Reuters)

-The North Korean nuclear nightmare hasn’t gone away: Are “love letters” to North Korea back on the menu? RAFAEL GROSSI, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned that North Korea’s nuclear weapons program has expanded “exponentially” and that the international community has no visibility on it. He said the problem needs presidential-level diplomacy to tackle it. (Politico)

· “You cannot have a country like this, which is completely off the charts with this nuclear arsenal, … with such a big nuclear program, with all these facilities, without us having any clue of any safety or security measures which are being applied to it,” Grossi sad at a Council on Foreign Relations event in Washington today. The stark warning underscores how alarmed the nuclear nonproliferation world is with North Korea’s weapons program — even as Washington’s eyes are focused on Iran’s nuclear talks today.

· Grossi suggested that Trump should re-engage with North Korean leader KIM JONG UN directly to tackle the growing problem. “I know that for some — and I understand, I have great respect for them — it’s only ‘they disarm or we don’t talk.’ Well, unfortunately, things are a bit more complicated in international life, and you’re not going to get everything you want, especially when a country has acquired such a big nuclear arsenal,” he said of talks with North Korea.

· “Presidential diplomacy is important,” he said, citing what Trump called his “love letters” to Kim during his first administration ahead of his summits with the North Korean leader. Those talks ended at an impasse.

· No country formally recognizes North Korea as part of the privileged club of states with nuclear weapons, a tier in international diplomacy held by the likes of the United States, Russia, China and France. But not so secretly, North Korea has amassed a significant arsenal of nuclear weapons despite crushing international sanctions.

· North Korea has anywhere from 30 to 50 nuclear warheads and enough fissile material for 70 to 90 nuclear weapons, according to data from the Arms Control Association and Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. Iran, by comparison, is sitting on the cusp of a nuclear breakout but has no plans yet to take the leap and actually build a nuclear weapon, according to publicized U.S. intelligence assessments.

· The Biden administration’s approach to North Korea was opening the door for talks anywhere, anytime, without any preconditions. North Korea responded by effectively ghosting them for four years. Now the problem is Trump’s.

· So far, we haven’t seen any appetite from Trump to restart North Korea talks that, during his first term, were a fixture of his foreign policy agenda. To be fair, his administration has a lot on its plate between Ukraine, the Mideast, China and efforts to sort out its other big nuclear proliferation headache, Iran.

· But North Korea is steadily increasing its nuclear capabilities and expanding its arsenal of long-range missiles that could deliver those nuclear warheads, and leading nations are taking note. In 2023, Japan assessed that North Korea had built a homegrown intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach the U.S. homeland. Each missile test they conduct, failed or not, inches them closer to more capable missiles. Grossi at CFR also said North Korea already has one nuclear enrichment facility and is working on a second and potentially third.

· Another headache here the Trump administration has to grapple with is the Russia factor. Russia’s security ties with North Korea have blossomed in recent years as it exchanges military technology and know-how with the hermit kingdom in exchange for sending North Korean troops and ammunition to shore up its frontlines in Ukraine.

-Philippines to receive second batch of BrahMos missile system from India: The Philippines is set to receive its second batch of BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles from India, its defence secretary said on Wednesday, which should bolster the country's coastal defence capabilities amid escalating tensions with China. The expected arrival of the missile system will be the second of three BrahMos missile batteries Manila agreed to purchase under a 2022 deal with Brahmos Aerospace worth $375 million. The first batch arrived in April 2024. (Reuters)

-Myanmar junta extends ceasefire to support earthquake relief, state media says: Myanmar's ruling military has extended a temporary ceasefire in its conflict with rebels to April 30, in a move to expedite relief and rebuilding efforts following a devastating earthquake last month, state media reported on Tuesday. Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who chairs the 10-member ASEAN regional bloc, last week held rare high-level talks with junta chief Min Aung Hlaing and a key resistance group in an effort to pause the ongoing fighting and support humanitarian aid operations. (Reuters)

-China sends team to Myanmar to monitor ceasefire, foreign ministry says: China has recently sent a team to Myanmar to monitor the ceasefire between the Myanmar junta and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday. China will continue to push forward peace talks and jointly maintain stability along border areas with all parties in Myanmar, ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a regular press conference. (Reuters)

-Vance warns of 'very dark time' without close US-India ties: The United States wants to sell more energy and defence equipment to India to build closer ties, Vice President JD Vance said on Tuesday, praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi repeatedly as talks over a trade deal progress. Visiting the northwestern Indian city of Jaipur, Vance hailed what he called India's vitality over the "sameness and flatness" of some Western nations. His remarks followed criticism by U.S. President Donald Trump of steep Indian tariffs on cars, farm goods and other products. (Reuters)

-Attack on tourists in India's Kashmir kills 26, injures 17, police say: Twenty-six people were killed and 17 were injured when suspected militants opened fire at tourists in India's Jammu and Kashmir territory, police said on Wednesday, the worst such attack in the country in nearly two decades. The attack took place on Tuesday in a meadow in the Pahalgam area of the scenic, Himalayan federal territory and the dead included 25 Indians and one Nepalese national, police said. It was the worst attack on civilians in India since the 2008 Mumbai shootings, and shattered the relative calm in Kashmir, where tourism has boomed as an anti-India insurgency has waned in recent years. (Reuters)

-Australian leaders vow to stand firm on social media age limits as election nears: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he expects to receive pressure from social media giants to ease Australia's impending ban on children using their platforms, with opposition Liberal leader Peter Dutton keen to agree with him in an election debate on Tuesday. President Donald Trump's U.S. administration has already raised the issue on behalf of the firms, mostly U.S.-based, in relation to trade tariff negotiations. (Reuters)

-Australia's conservative opposition leader Dutton pledges defence boost if elected: Australia's conservative opposition party leader Peter Dutton, trailing in polls related to the May 3 election, has pledged to boost defence spending to 3% of gross domestic product within a decade, as the Trump administration pushes allies to spend more on security. "You don't achieve peace through weakness," Dutton said in Western Australia state on Wednesday, outlining his Liberal Party's defence policy, echoing U.S. President Donald Trump's line of "peace through strength". His party would offer the United States military greater access to northern Australia, he added. (Reuters)

-Carney appeals for support in Quebec, promises protection from Trump: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney took his election campaign to Quebec on Tuesday, saying only he could protect the predominantly French-speaking province from U.S. President Donald Trump. Polls show the ruling Liberals have a narrow lead over the Conservatives ahead of an April 28 election that Carney says is one of the most crucial in Canada's history. (Reuters)

-Six Bolsonaro aides to stand trial in coup plot case: Brazil's Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered a trial on coup charges for six aides of ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, also in the dock for an alleged bid to hold onto power after losing elections in 2022. The inner circle of the far-right former leader are alleged to have collaborated with Bolsonaro in the plot to get rid of leftist election winner Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, now in office. Last month, the same court ordered Bolsonaro and seven allies, including former ministers and an ex-navy commander, to stand trial in a case that could torpedo his hopes of making a Donald Trump-style political comeback. (AFP)

-Uganda army chief in talks with DR Congo militia: Uganda's army chief met Tuesday near Kampala with leaders of a militia from northeastern DR Congo following deadly clashes last month, the military said. General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, a son of President Yoweri Museveni, "held a high-level meeting this morning in Entebbe with the leaders of the Lendu militia CODECO ... a group that has repeatedly clashed with the Ugandan People's Defence Forces," said an army statement. (AFP)

BORDER

-Top Military Officer Visit To Border Marks Priority: Gen. Dan Caine, the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made an unannounced visit to the southwestern border over the weekend for a firsthand look at the military's growing role in helping to stem migrant crossings, a top priority for President Trump. That General Caine made his first official trip to the border as chairman underscores the importance of the mission to the White House, and the Pentagon, even as crossings have dropped precipitously during the Trump administration. (NYT)

· General Caine, a former Air Force F-16 fighter pilot, visited the military headquarters for the operation at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., on Saturday. He then took a 30-minute Blackhawk helicopter ride to a Border Patrol station at Douglas, Ariz., where he received briefings, the Joint Staff said on social media on Tuesday.

· The Pentagon has dispatched nearly 7,000 active-duty troops along the border from California to Texas, including armed infantry and support troops from the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson in Colorado. The military is also flying surveillance drones and other reconnaissance aircraft and has ordered two Navy ships to conduct patrols along the Pacific and Gulf coasts.

-President Trump blasts courts for getting in the way of deportation agenda: Speaking at the White House Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump blasted courts standing in the way of his administration’s immigration agenda of deporting "some very bad people," who he said include "killers, murderers, drug dealers." (Fox News)

· The president touted his administration’s progress in shutting down the border and cracking down on illegal immigration, saying, "Honestly, it's one of the great successes; we have virtually nobody coming in illegally." He noted, however, that certain rulings against his deportations pose a threat to his efforts to secure the country.

· "I hope we get cooperation from the courts, because, you know, we have thousands of people that are ready to go out, and you can't have a trial for all of these people," he said. "It wasn't meant–the system wasn’t meant–and we don't think there's anything that says that."

-'Main hotspot' at northern border records 95% drop in illegal migrant apprehensions in March: White House: The number of illegal immigrants caught along one northern border sector that was once "overrun by illegal migrants" has dramatically declined under the Trump administration after it saw thousands of unlawful crossings last year, the White House said Tuesday. (Fox News)

· Only 54 illegal immigrants were apprehended last month in the Swanton Sector, which stretches more than 300 miles, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, citing U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “This is a drastic 95% drop from the more than a thousand border crossings that were caught in March 2024,” she said. “This is a main hotspot area that recorded more than 80% of all apprehensions along the northern border during the 2024 fiscal year.”

-Orders to leave the country -- some for US citizens -- sow confusion among immigrants: Hubert Montoya burst out laughing when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security emailed to say he should leave the country immediately or risk consequences of being deported. He is a U.S. citizen. “I just thought it was absurd,” the Austin, Texas, immigration attorney said. (AP)

· It was an apparent glitch in the Trump administration’s dismantling of another Biden-era policy that allowed people to live and work in the country temporarily. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is quietly revoking two-year permits of people who used an online appointment app at U.S. border crossings with Mexico called CBP One, which brought in more than 900,000 people starting in January 2023.

· The revocation of CBP One permits has lacked the fanfare and formality of canceling Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands whose homelands were previously deemed unsafe for return and humanitarian parole for others from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who came with financial sponsors. Those moves came with official notices in the Federal Register and press releases. Judges halted them from taking effect after advocacy groups sued.

· CBP One cancellation notices began landing in inboxes in late March without warning, some telling recipients to leave immediately and others giving them seven days. Targets included U.S. citizens.

-Judges extend Venezuela deportation blocks, question Trump's use of wartime law: Two U.S. judges on Tuesday extended temporary blocks on some deportations of Venezuelan migrants and signaled that President Donald Trump's invocation of a 1798 law historically used in wartime to speed up their removal from the United States may not survive judicial review. Denver-based U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney wrote in a ruling that Trump's administration must give Venezuelan migrants detained in Colorado notice 21 days in advance before any deportations under the Alien Enemies Act and must inform them of their right to challenge their removal. (Reuters)

-An Immigrant Held in U.S. Custody ‘Simply Disappeared’: In late January, Ricardo Prada Vásquez, a Venezuelan immigrant working in a delivery job in Detroit, picked up an order at a McDonald’s. He was heading to the address when he erroneously turned onto the Ambassador Bridge, which leads to Canada. It is a common mistake even for those who live in the Michigan border city. But for Mr. Prada, 32, it proved fateful. (NYT)

· The U.S. authorities took Mr. Prada into custody when he attempted to re-enter the country; he was put in detention and ordered deported. On March 15, he told a friend in Chicago that he was among a number of detainees housed in Texas who expected to be repatriated to Venezuela.

· That evening, the Trump administration flew three planes carrying Venezuelan migrants from the Texas facility to El Salvador, where they have been ever since, locked up in a maximum-security prison and denied contact with the outside world.

· But Mr. Prada has not been heard from or seen. He is not on a list of 238 people who were deported to El Salvador that day. He does not appear in the photos and videos released by the authorities of shackled men with shaved heads.

-US invokes RICO law in charging more alleged Venezuelan gang members: More than two dozen people whom the U.S. government says are current or past members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua have been charged with murder, sex trafficking and other crimes under a federal law created to combat organized crime, the U.S. Justice Department said on Monday. The Justice Department said in a written statement that it was the first time alleged members of the criminal gang that originated in Venezuelan prisons had faced charges under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO. (Reuters)

-International students stripped of legal status in the US are piling up wins in court: Some international students in the U.S. who have had their legal status terminated in recent weeks have found a measure of success in court, with federal judges around the country issuing orders to restore students’ status at least temporarily. More than a thousand international students have had their visas revoked or their status ended, with their academic careers — and their lives in the U.S. — thrown into doubt in a widespread crackdown by the Trump administration. Judges have issued temporary restraining orders in states including Georgia, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Montana, Oregon and Washington. Judges have denied similar requests in some other cases. (AP)

-Detained Palestinian activist in Vermont prison says he's 'in good hands': A Palestinian man who led protests against the war in Gaza as a student at Columbia University and was recently arrested during an interview about finalizing his U.S. citizenship says he's “in good hands” at the Vermont prison where he is being held. Mohsen Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident, was arrested April 14 in Colchester, Vermont. He met Monday with Democratic U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, of Vermont, who posted it on X. (AP)

-EPA chief demands that Mexico stop Tijuana sewage from flowing into California: The head of the Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday that Mexico must stop the flow of billions of gallons of sewage and toxic chemicals from Tijuana that has polluted the Pacific Ocean off neighboring Southern California, closing beaches and sickening Navy SEALs who train in the water. (AP)

· Lee Zeldin made the demand during an Earth Day trip to the California-Mexico border, where he toured a plant in San Diego County that treats the sewage as a secondary facility and flew along the frontier to see the Tijuana River. He also was scheduled to meet with SEALs.

· Zeldin said that in the next day or so, his agency will present Mexico a to-do list of projects to resolve the decades-long environmental crisis, but he stopped short of specifying how the Trump administration would hold Mexico accountable if it does not act.

-Mexico’s President Punches Back Against Kristi Noem’s Anti-Migrant Ads: The D.H.S. secretary’s appearances on Mexican television blaming migrants for societal ills in the U.S. have drawn a sharp rebuke from Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum. The ads broadcast on Mexican television, during soccer games and prime time viewing hours, show Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, blaming migrants for violent crime and drug trafficking in the United States as she delivers a blunt warning: “We will hunt you down.” (NYT)

· For Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, who has yielded to one demand after another from President Trump in a bid to avert or lessen tariffs, Ms. Noem’s appearances on Mexico’s television screens amount to a line in the sand. Ms. Sheinbaum hit back by calling Ms. Noem’s ads “discriminatory” on Monday and asking Mexican broadcasters to remove them. She went further on Tuesday, saying she will ask Mexico’s Congress to approve a measure to ban such ads from ever appearing again in Mexico.

· “We are going to change the law to prohibit foreign governments from carrying out political and ideological propaganda in our country,” Ms. Sheinbaum said during her daily news conference. The pushback from Ms. Sheinbaum points to the limits to what her government is willing to accept from the Trump administration as she responds to Mr. Trump’s tariffs, which are already taking a toll on Mexico’s export-driven economy, and his threats to take unilateral military action within Mexico against drug cartels.

-US inflation making dent on remittances to Mexico: The amount of cash Mexico received last year from its citizens abroad reached another record. At $64.7 billion, remittances remained one of that country’s primary sources of income in 2024 and just under 4% of its gross domestic product. But trouble may be brewing in a horizon clouded by threats of U.S. tariffs, inflation and law enforcement pressure on Mexican immigrants, and new rules to scrutinize who wires what money to whom outside of the United States. (Border Report)

· Remittances fell for a second consecutive month in February, according to Banxico – Mexico’s central bank. They went to from $5.2 billion in December, to $4.66 billion in January and $4.45 billion in February. The average remittance also is down from $393 last year to $383 in the first two months of 2025.

GUNS

-Why Trump's DOJ targeted L.A. County over gun permits — and who might be next: At a meeting of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in July 2022, former Supervisor Sheila Kuehl called for a "deep dive" into the L.A. County Sheriff's Department's gun permitting process. (Los Angeles Times)

· Weeks prior, the U.S. Supreme Court had invalidated as unconstitutional a New York law requiring people to show “proper cause” for why they needed to carry a concealed firearm. Similar processes in California and nationwide were suddenly being scrapped in favor of more lenient policies.

· Kuehl was among those who feared more guns in public would lead to more shootings, and wanted the sheriff’s department to proceed with caution.

· “We need to be creative about how to address the very real and escalating public health emergency that is gun violence,” she said, referencing a related proposal to use permit fees to expand anti-crime initiatives.

· Less than three years later, the county’s gun permitting process is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, which announced last month that it had “reason to believe” the county was subjecting permit applicants to unconstitutionally long wait times.

· “This Department of Justice will not stand idly by while States and localities infringe on the Second Amendment rights of ordinary, law-abiding Americans,” Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi said in a statement.

· Bondi cited a pending lawsuit in which gun owners and advocacy groups sued the county over alleged wait times of 18 months. Court records show the county is in the middle of negotiating a settlement in that case.

· Constitutional experts, gun enthusiasts and gun control advocates say what happens next — both in court and under the DOJ probe — could have profound implications for gun permitting in communities far beyond the sheriff’s territory.

· Trump has made bolstering gun rights a national priority, Bondi has indicated similar probes could be announced against other jurisdictions, and the litigants suing the county have already signaled they are going after other local jurisdictions and law enforcement agencies next — including the Los Angeles Police Department.

· How L.A. County handles this moment could help set a new standard for gun permitting, experts said, particularly in similarly big, blue-state jurisdictions that have been reluctant to issue permits in the past.

-Secret Service’s Mass Shooting Review: The Secret Service’s latest analysis of mass casualty attacks aims to draw lessons for communities to root out similar violence across the US. First reported by Bloomberg Government, the Secret Service is unveiling a case study today of a 2017 shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. The agency found community members and law enforcement failed to address mounting warning signs before a gunman killed 26 people. (Bloomberg)

· Secret Service Reorganization Weighed: The release also spotlights a little-known part of the service, the National Threat Assessment Center, as Congress and the administration weigh reorganization ideas following the agency’s failures around the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump on the campaign trail last year.

-Survivors of 2022 July Fourth parade mass shooting to address gunman before his sentencing: Survivors and relatives of people killed in a 2022 mass shooting at an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago are set to address the gunman Wednesday at his sentencing hearing. (AP)

· Robert E. Crimo III, 24, pleaded guilty last month to the shooting that left seven people dead and dozens more injured. His plea change, just moments before opening statements at his trial, came as a shock even after years of unpredictable legal proceedings.

· Crimo is certain to spend the rest of his life in prison. Each count of first-degree murder carries a maximum natural life sentence in Illinois. Prosecutors and attorneys for survivors say addressing Crimo is an important step.

-Children As Young as 10 Are Advertised Guns on Social Media: Autumn Fry is not a typical influencer. To more than 270,000 YouTube subscribers and 49,000 Instagram followers, the beaming Pennsylvanian 11-year old shares videos and photos of her latest purchases and makes suggestions for what her fans should buy too. But it is not dolls or makeup that interest the tween. Instead, Fry exclusively reviews guns and gun paraphernalia. (Newsweek)

· It is a striking example of how America's firearms culture has permeated to younger generations, but Fry is not alone in possessing a precocious awareness of Glocks and Colts. Indeed, children as young as 10 say they are seeing firearm content online, including advertising.

· According to polling conducted by Sandy Hook Promise and KRC Research, exclusively shared with Newsweek, 82 percent of boys between 10 and 17 said they have seen at least one gun advert online, while social media is flooded with firearms branded with children’s cartoon characters and influencers like Fry promoting guns to children.

· Federal law prohibits people under the age of 18 from possessing a handgun but there are no nationwide regulations regarding who firearms can be advertised to, despite some intervention from lawmakers.

· The U.S. has one of the world’s highest rates of firearms deaths outside a war zone. According to latest available data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 48,830 people died from gun-related injuries in the U.S. in 2021, including nearly 21,000 homicides as well as more than 26,000 suicides.

AMERICAN MANUFACTURING

-Trump Tariffs Show Mixed Impact on Big Economies: Business activity in Europe weakened in April, in contrast to pickups in Japan and India, underlining the diverse ways in which higher U.S. tariffs are affecting economies around the world. While the rise in tariffs and uncertainty about the future of international trade have knocked business confidence around the world, the impact appears to be less pronounced than in financial markets, which have seen big falls in asset prices since U.S. President Trump announced big increases in import duties on April 2. (WSJ)

· The eurozone’s composite purchasing managers’ index, a measure of activity across the private sector, fell back slightly to 50.1 in April from 50.9 in March , a survey compiled by Hamburg Commercial Bank and S&P Global showed Wednesday. The reading above 50 suggests businesses in the 20-member currency area saw even slower growth in their activity over the month.

· By contrast, the PMI for Japan pointed to a return to growth, while that for India indicated a fresh acceleration. The Australian survey recorded a slight slowdown, but a continued expansion.

· In the U.K., activity unexpectedly declined despite the country facing lower tariffs than the EU. The composite PMI dropped to 48.2 from 51.5 in March, and the manufacturing sector saw a sharper downturn as new export orders dropped to their lowest point since May 2020, amid the brunt of the global pandemic.

-US Treasury secretary says trade war with China is not 'sustainable': U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a Tuesday speech that the ongoing tariffs showdown with China is unsustainable and expects a “de-escalation” in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies. But in a private speech in Washington for JPMorgan Chase, Bessent also cautioned that talks between the United States and China had yet to formally start. President Donald Trump placed a 145% import tax on China, which countered with 125% tariffs on U.S. imports. Trump has placed tariffs on several dozen countries, causing the stock market to stumble and interest rates to increase on U.S. debt as investors worry about slower economic growth and higher inflationary pressures. (AP)

-Rand Paul Fights Trump on Tariffs as Other Republicans Duck: Many Republican lawmakers lie low when they have differences with President Trump. Sen. Rand Paul has taken the opposite approach. "Congress needs to grow a spine, and Congress needs to stand up for its prerogatives," the Kentucky Republican told reporters, complaining that Trump relied on a national-emergency law to impose tariffs that Paul believes should be controlled by lawmakers. His comments came just days after he was one of only two GOP senators to vote against the party's budget framework that is key to Trump's tax cuts, saying it didn't do enough to reduce the deficit. (WSJ)

· The libertarian known for sometimes quixotic battles at the fringes of Capitol Hill is now at the center of the biggest fights in Washington. Paul's moves have irritated the president, whom Paul never endorsed in the 2024 election, and now major parts of Trump’s agenda could hinge on whether the senator sticks to his guns or folds.

· The conflict over tariffs could come to a head soon. A measure Paul is co-sponsoring to end Trump’s tariffs is set to come to the floor when the Senate returns next week. The effort is seen as having no chance of passing, but it will put fellow Republicans on the record as financial markets continue to reel and could pressure the administration to change course.

-China urges UK and EU to uphold multilateral trade in face of US tariffs: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged Britain and the European Union on Tuesday to safeguard multilateral trading systems, as Beijing seeks to rally support from trading partners to counter U.S. tariff measures. China and the United States have remained locked in a deepening trade war, with tit-for-tat tariff hikes that have significantly disrupted bilateral commerce. (Reuters)

-China urges Japan to help fight US tariffs together, Kyodo reports: Chinese Premier Li Qiang has sent a letter to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba calling for a coordinated response to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff measures, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported on Tuesday. The letter, sent via the Chinese embassy in Japan, stressed the need to "fight protectionism together", Kyodo said, citing multiple Japanese government officials. (Reuters)

-China Has an Army of Robots on Its Side in the Tariff War: Factories are being automated across China at a breakneck pace. With engineers and electricians tending to fleets of robots, these operations are bringing down the cost of manufacturing while improving quality. As a result, China's factories will be able to keep the price of many of its exports lower, giving it an advantage in fighting the trade war and President Trump's high tariffs. China is also facing new trade barriers by the European Union and developing countries ranging from Brazil and India to Turkey and Thailand. (NYT)

· Factories are now more automated in China than in the United States, Germany or Japan. China has more factory robots for every 10,000 manufacturing workers than any other country except South Korea or Singapore, according to the International Federation of Robotics. China's automation drive has been guided by government directives and backed with huge investment. And as robots replace workers, automation positions China to continue to dominate mass production even as its labor force ages and becomes less willing to take industrial jobs.

-Musk says Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots affected by China's export curbs on rare earths: Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Tuesday that the production of its Optimus humanoid robots had been affected by China's export restrictions of rare earth magnets. He said China wants assurances that its rare earth magnets are not used for military purposes, adding that the automaker is working with Beijing to get an export license to use rare earth magnets. "China wants some assurances that these are not used for military purposes, which obviously they're not. They're just going into a humanoid robot," he said during an earnings conference call, adding that it's not a weapon. (Reuters)

-Regeneron to invest over $3 billion to boost US manufacturing: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals said on Tuesday it has signed a deal worth more than $3 billion with contract drug developer Fujifilm Diosynth, potentially doubling its U.S. manufacturing capacity and bringing its total investments in the country to over $7 billion. Major U.S. drugmakers, including Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson, have recently announced additional investments in their U.S. production as they prepare to deal with potential drug import duties from President Donald Trump's administration. (Reuters)

ECONOMY

-Stock Futures Surge Higher as Trump Eases China, Powell Fears: U.S. stock futures jumped higher early Wednesday as the market looked set to continue its rebound after President Donald Trump eased fears on two fronts–the U.S.-China trade war and the threat to Federal Reserve independence. (Barron’s)

· Futures on the S&P 500 were up 2.5%, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 1.9%, or 752 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures were up 2.49% ahead of the open Wednesday. All three major indexes climbed more than 2.5% Tuesday after falling by similar amounts Monday.

· In a double boost for stocks, Trump said he has no intention of firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell and suggested 145% tariffs on imported goods from China will come down “substantially” once the two countries negotiate a deal.

· Separately, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he expects the U.S. and China to start de-escalating hostilities in the “very near future” in comments made at an event in Washington, D.C., a person in the room told Barron’s_.

· “Hopes for a reprieve in the trade war are leading to a small swell of investor confidence,” Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter said. “While there’s been no concrete decisions to hang the hat of optimism on, Trump has indicated that he is in a mood for negotiation,” she added.

· Trump’s comments helped U.S. bonds and the dollar, which struggled at the start of the week. The U.S. Dollar Index rose 0.2% to 99.08 early Wednesday after hitting a three-year low Monday, while the yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.358% from 4.4% Tuesday.

· Earnings will be in focus Wednesday as investors look for signs of any impact from Trump’s tariffs regime and the subsequent macroeconomic uncertainty. Tesla’s earnings late Tuesday missed expectations but the stock climbed as CEO Elon Musk said he would spend less time in Washington working with the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

· Musk also said tariffs “are tough” on Tesla but that the electric-vehicle maker is the least affected among major auto makers.

· AT&T, Boeing, and Philip Morris International are among the companies set to report before the market opens, while Chipotle Mexican Grill and Alaska Air release earnings after the bell.

-Stocks Rebound as Wall Street Latches Onto Hope for Tariff Easing: Stocks recovered on Tuesday after a steep sell-off the day before, bolstered by investors’ hope for a potential de-escalation in President Trump’s trade wars, though signs of anxiety remain. (NYT)

· The S&P 500 rose 2.5 percent, reversing its losses from Monday, when the index fell 2.4 percent. Mr. Trump’s tariff policies are still driving sentiment on Wall Street. The stock market rally on Tuesday gained steam after Bloomberg reported that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said during a closed-door investor summit that he expected the tariff standoff with China to de-escalate.

· Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, later told reporters that the Trump administration was “setting the stage for a deal with China.”

· The gains signified a reversal from Monday’s sell-off, which accelerated after Mr. Trump again targeted Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, this time in a social media post, urging him to cut interest rates and suggesting that an economic slowdown would be Mr. Powell’s fault. Mr. Trump’s comments have unnerved investors who see the independence of the central bank as critical to the health of the American economy.

· Gold, which briefly rose above $3,500 an ounce on Tuesday for the first time before pulling back, has set a series of records in recent weeks, during a largely ugly stretch for the markets. It has been soaring since early April when investors, alarmed by Mr. Trump’s tariffs, starting selling Treasury bonds. Investors often see gold as a safe haven during times of turmoil, and its price has surged more than 30 percent since the start of the year.

-Trump steps down from threat to fire Fed's Powell, market jumps: President Donald Trump on Tuesday appeared to take threats to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell off the table after days of intensifying criticisms of the central bank chief over not cutting interest rates. "I have no intention of firing him," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday. "I would like to see him be a little more active in terms of his idea to lower interest rates," he added. (Reuters)

-$1 Trillion of Wealth Was Created for the 19 Richest U.S. Households Last Year: The wealthiest have gotten richer, and control a record share of America’s wealth. New data suggest $1 trillion of wealth was created for the 19 richest American households alone in 2024. That’s more than the value of Switzerland’s entire economy. (WSJ)

· It took four decades for the top 0.00001% of Americans’ share of total U.S. household wealth to grow from 0.1% in 1982—when 11 households made up that rarefied group—to 1.2% in 2023, according to an analysis by Gabriel Zucman, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Paris School of Economics.

· In one year, by the end of 2024, the share of total U.S. household wealth for the modern 0.00001%—those 19 households—jumped to 1.8%, or about $2.6 trillion. That is the biggest one-year increase on record, according to Zucman.

· Total U.S. household wealth stood at about $148 trillion at the end of 2024, according to a measure Zucman used that subtracts the value of big-ticket items such as appliances as well as unfunded pensions from the Federal Reserve’s estimate of household wealth.

· The average net worth of all groups has climbed since the third quarter of 1990 as the U.S. economy has grown. The growth in wealth of the richest Americans has far outpaced that of all other U.S. wealth groups.

-US Inflation Path Depends on Corporate America’s Tariff Response: With profit margins close to record levels, Corporate America has some room to absorb costs from higher tariffs. How much it decides to cushion the blow will determine how high inflation goes in 2025. After-tax profits rose in the fourth quarter by the most in more than two years, according to the latest government data. Bloomberg Intelligence expects upcoming earnings releases to show profitability began to deteriorate in the first three months of 2025, just before the Trump administration imposed massive levies on imported goods. (Bloomberg)

· As consumers show signs of fatigue after years of coping with elevated inflation and signs point to rising recession risks, the extent to which businesses can pass along higher costs remains a wide open question.

· “The majority of what we’re seeing is absolutely no price increases until you absolutely have to do it,” said Adrienne Yih, a managing director at Barclays Plc who covers retailers. “There’s no sense in trying to take advantage of the situation when you have a declining consumer backdrop.”

· Estimates of the impact on prices from tariffs vary widely. Some Wall Street economists see a key gauge of underlying inflation rising a bit above 3% by the end of the year, and others predict it will reach closer to 5%. That in turn means a wide range of possible outcomes when it comes to what the Federal Reserve will do with interest rates.

· Fed Governor Christopher Waller said in an April 14 speech that “competitive forces, including the desire to hold on to customers, may induce businesses to pass along only a fraction of higher costs.” Tom Barkin, president of the Richmond Fed, recently likened the situation to a “cage match” between frustrated consumers in one corner and businesses feeling the squeeze in the other.

· President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada — the largest US trading partners — shortly after taking office. This month he put a baseline 10% duty on imports from most other countries while raising the levy on Chinese goods to 145%.

· Early signs from economic data, based on duties that were already in place before the April announcements, suggest companies absorbed at least some of the costs. Monthly government releases on producer prices showed wholesaler and retailer margins in February and March posted the biggest back-to-back declines on record in data from 2010, collapsing at a 10.5% annualized rate.

-Global Growth Expected to Sputter Amid Trade War Fallout Fears: President Trump’s trade war is expected to slow economic growth across the globe this year, in large part because his aggressive use of tariffs is likely to weigh heavily on the United States, the world’s largest economy. The economic projections were released on Tuesday by the International Monetary Fund, in the wake of Mr. Trump’s decision to raise tariffs to levels not seen since the Great Depression. (NYT)

· The president has imposed a 10 percent tariff on nearly all imports, along with punishing levies of at least 145 percent on Chinese goods that come into the United States. Mr. Trump also imposed what he calls “reciprocal” tariffs on America’s largest trading partners, including the European Union, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, although he has paused those until July as his administration works to secure bilateral trade deals.

· Mr. Trump’s approach has created paralyzing uncertainty for U.S. companies that export products abroad or rely on foreign inputs for their goods, dampening output just as economies around the world were stabilizing after years of crippling inflation. China and Canada have already retaliated against Mr. Trump’s tariffs with their own trade barriers, and the European Union has said it is prepared to increase levies if the United States goes ahead with its planned 20 percent tax.

· The World Economic Outlook report projects that global output will slow to 2.8 percent this year from 3.3 percent in 2024. In January, the fund forecast that growth would hold steady in 2025. The I.M.F. also expects output to be slower next year than it previously predicted.

· Much of the downgrade for this year can be attributed to the impact of the tariffs on the U.S. economy, which was already poised to lose momentum this year. The I.M.F. expects U.S. output to slow to 1.8 percent in 2025, down from 2.8 percent last year. That is nearly a full percentage point slower than the 2.7 percent growth that the I.M.F. forecast for the United States in January, when it was the strongest economy in the world.

· “The global economic system that has operated for the past 80 years is being reset,” Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the I.M.F.’s chief economist, said in a briefing with reporters this week. “The U.S. effective tariff rate has now surged past levels reached at the turn of the 20th century. Beyond the tariffs themselves, the surge in policy uncertainty — related to trade policy but also more broadly — is a major driver of the economic outlook.”

· The I.M.F. forecasts also make clear that the tariffs could complicate the efforts to keep inflation contained. The fund has raised its inflation forecast for the United States to 3 percent from 2 percent this year.

· Mr. Gourinchas said on Tuesday that the increase in price pressures from the tariffs would most likely be temporary in the U.S. but that the reduction in productivity and output would be permanent. Although the I.M.F. is not projecting a recession in the United States, the risk of such a downturn has increased to 40 percent from 25 percent in October.

-Trump tariffs have increased financial stability risks: IMF: US President Donald Trump's stop-start tariff rollout has "significantly" increased global financial stability risks, the International Monetary Fund said in a report published Tuesday. The IMF's Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR) was published as world financial leaders gather for meetings in Washington under the cloud of policy uncertainty triggered by Trump's tariff announcements. (AFP)

· The administration's tariff plans "triggered a bout of policy uncertainty," which was only exacerbated by the retaliatory measures unveiled by China, the IMF said. Against this backdrop, the GFSR's authors found that "global financial stability risks have increased significantly, driven by tighter global financial conditions and heightened economic uncertainty."

· Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, IMF financial counselor Tobias Adrian identified three vulnerabilities to financial stability. These were: High asset valuations in key equity and corporate debt markets; highly-leveraged financial institutions including some hedge funds; and the possibility of additional turbulence in sovereign bond markets in countries with high debt levels.

-US defense contractors mostly maintain forecasts despite Trump tariffs: Major U.S. defense contractors are mostly maintaining their financial forecasts for 2025, saying it is too soon to understand the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs. Lockheed Martin, the largest defense firm, reaffirmed its forecasts for the year on Tuesday, buoyed by resilient demand for its missile systems and fighter jets. Similarly, Northrop Grumman said its profit margins may narrow, but stuck with its sales prediction, indicating some confidence in the face of trade tensions. (Reuters)

· RTX Corp, formerly known as Raytheon Technologies, broke ranks by expressing concern about potentially $850 million in reduced profits from new levies on metals and China. This divergence highlights the varying impacts of trade policies across the defense and commercial aerospace sectors.

· The defense industry, like other sectors with complex manufacturing operations, is grappling with the potential effects of a global trade war. The situation has pressured an already strained supply chain, forcing companies to reassess their strategies and cost structures.

· Despite these challenges, the sector continues to benefit from a surge in global weaponry demand, fueled by the Russian war in Ukraine and conflict in the Middle East. This increased demand has helped offset some of the uncertainties stemming from trade disputes.

· However, RTX’s concern signals the industry is not immune to trade pressures, highlighting the complex interplay between defense spending, international relations, and economic policies.

-Elon Musk Vows to Spend Less Time in Washington as Tesla’s Profit Drops 71%: Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, said on Tuesday that he would spend less time in Washington working for President Trump after the automaker reported a profit drop of 71 percent in the first three months of the year. (NYT)

· Mr. Musk told Wall Street analysts in a conference call that he would continue to spend “a day or two per week” on Washington matters, probably for the duration of Mr. Trump’s presidency. The billionaire executive is one of Mr. Trump’s closest confidants and has played a leading role in the president’s efforts to slash government spending and cut tens of thousands of federal government jobs.

· He spoke less than two hours after Tesla said it had earned $409 million, down from $1.4 billion in the first quarter of 2024. The company previously reported net profit of $1.1 billion last year, but revised the figure to reflect changes in the way cryptocurrency assets are valued.

GOVERNMENT NEWS OF NOTE

-Lawmakers urge FAA to address safety issues at Washington airport after incidents: Three senior Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday urged the Federal Aviation Administration to address significant safety issues at Reagan Washington National Airport and maintain reduced air traffic after a series of troubling incidents. Representatives Rick Larsen and Steve Cohen and Senator Tammy Duckworth in a joint letter to the FAA seen by Reuters also urged the FAA to keep the hourly aircraft arrival rate at Reagan at reduced levels, at least until the Washington air traffic control tower is fully staffed up and fully addresses safety risks identified from the agency’s ongoing review. (Reuters)

-Republican Senator asks RFK Jr. to save health unit that protects coal miners: West Virginia Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito asked U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. on Monday to reinstate programs aimed at protecting coal miners that were hit with layoff notices. Capito, chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, said the work done by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a division of HHS, is critical to her coal-producing state and does not duplicate any other government program. (Reuters)

-Florida Republican congressman faces anger over Musk Doge cuts: Billionaire Elon Musk's drive to slash federal programs and the size of the federal workforce came under attack at a town hall meeting held by Representative Byron Donalds, as Republicans in the U.S. Congress find themselves increasingly having to defend President Donald Trump's agenda. Donalds, who represents a southwest Florida district, faced a sometimes angry crowd on Monday night in Estero, which is located between Naples and Fort Myers. (Reuters)

-How Trump waged war on his perceived foes in first 100 days: Hours after swearing an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution on January 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing his attorney general to scour the Justice Department and other agencies for evidence of political "weaponization." (Reuters)

· The same day, Pentagon staff took down a portrait of Mark Milley, a Trump critic who as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had been the highest-ranking military officer during Trump’s first term. That evening, Trump stripped his former national security adviser, John Bolton - who wrote a memoir critical of Trump - of the protective Secret Service detail he had been given after the Justice Department said Iran had threatened Bolton’s life.

· In his first 100 days, Trump has wielded the levers of presidential power against a panoply of perceived enemies. These include former intelligence officials who investigated alleged Russian ties to his 2016 election campaign and major law firms as well as former Biden administration members and prosecutors who worked on criminal cases against him while he was out of power.

· Trump’s actions served notice that his campaign promise of political retribution was anything but rhetorical, after he repeatedly telegraphed his intentions as a candidate. But the speed and sweep of his actions have caught many by surprise, with even the smallest slights drawing reprisals.

· The Republican president has used the machinery of the state and the power of the presidency to go after people and institutions that have aggrieved him in more expansive ways than any of his predecessors, historians said.

-As controversies pile up, Trump allies increasingly turn on one another: The infighting and backstabbing that plagued President Donald Trump’s first term have returned as a threat to his second, with deepening fissures over trade, national security and questions of personal loyalty. (AP)

· The latest turmoil threatens to engulf the Pentagon, where Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has pushed out top advisers and faces fresh controversy over sharing sensitive information about airstrikes in Yemen outside of classified channels. A former Pentagon spokesperson who was ousted last week wrote in Politico that Trump should fire Hegseth for presiding over a “full-blown meltdown.”

· Hegseth lashed out on Tuesday on Fox News Channel, where he was a weekend host before joining Trump’s administration, by faulting the people who used to work for him. “Those folks who were leaking, who have been pushed out of the building, are now attempting to leak and sabotage the president’s agenda,” he said.

· The interpersonal drama is not — at least yet — a dominant plot line of Trump’s return to the White House. But its reemergence after a period of relative discipline in his ranks reflects a turbulent management style that has been suppressed or papered over, not reformed.

· Trump’s national security team was recently rattled by an Oval Office visit from Laura Loomer, a far-right conspiracy theorist who has been questioning his staff’s trustworthiness. The Republican president fired some of the officials, emboldening Loomer to continue scrutinizing people across the administration. In an interview with independent journalist Tara Palmeri released on Monday, Loomer mocked the idea that the White House is “one big happy family.” “The advisers don’t get along with each other,” she said. “The heads of agencies don’t get along with each other.”

· Much of the tension is connected to Trump’s determination to use tariffs to rebalance the global economy, with officials often contradicting each other and occasionally turning to insults. Trump adviser Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur whose companies could suffer from higher costs brought on by import taxes, sharply criticized Peter Navarro, Trump's top counselor on trade, as “dumber than a sack of bricks."

-White House says not taking aim at green group tax status: The White House has no immediate plans to strip climate-focused non-profit organizations of their tax exempt status, a White House official said on Tuesday, as those groups marshalled efforts to prepare for a slew of executive orders. "No such orders are being drafted or considered at this time," a White House official told Reuters. (Reuters)

-Trump looking at cutting US drug prices to international levels, sources say: Drugmakers have been warned that the Trump Administration is considering linking U.S. medicine prices to lower amounts paid by other developed countries, according to two company sources who called the option the pharmaceutical industry's top concern. Both sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly, said they expected the policy to come from the agency that oversees Medicare and Medicaid health programs. (Reuters)

-New Trump task force vows to root out 'anti-Christian bias': US Attorney General Pam Bondi hosted the opening meeting of an "anti-Christian bias" task force Tuesday, as the government pressed federal workers to inform on work colleagues engaging in discriminatory behavior. Although the United States has the world's largest Christian population, President Donald Trump -- who counts evangelicals among his most fervent supporters -- deemed it necessary to sign an Executive Order creating the task force to counter "persecution" of the faithful. Despite a criminal conviction for hush money payments in a porn star scandal, two divorces and a string of sexual assault allegations, Trump has long made himself a champion of right-wing Christians. (AFP)

-US Justice Department reassigns about a dozen civil rights attorneys amid shakeup, say sources: The U.S. Justice Department is reassigning about a dozen senior career attorneys from its civil rights unit, four people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, as President Donald Trump's administration steers the division away from its historic priorities. (Reuters)

· At least three senior career attorneys—nonpolitical employees who typically remain in their jobs from administration to administration—who managed offices that investigated abuse by police and handled violations of voting and disability rights, have been ordered to take other assignments, said three of the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss moves that had not been made public.

· The changes are part of a wave of reassignments and resignations affecting at least another nine attorneys, including people who worked on probes of employment or educational discrimination, abuses inside correctional facilities, and voting rights cases, the people said.

-Rubio Announces Major Cuts at State Dept., Accusing It of ‘Radical’ Ideology: Secretary of State Marco Rubio unveiled a plan on Tuesday to make major cuts to the State Department as part of a restructuring, calling the government’s diplomatic agency “bloated, bureaucratic” and “beholden to radical political ideology.” Mr. Rubio released the plan in the form of an organizational chart and a brief official statement. The move is the latest by the Trump administration to reduce and reshape the government to a degree unseen in generations, which critics call a shortsightedly blunt assault on the federal bureaucracy. (NYT)

· The announcement on Tuesday is only the first step in an overhaul of the department. It focused on changes to operations in Washington, but the cuts will affect the work of embassies and consulates overseas. Closures of diplomatic missions and layoffs abroad are expected later, according to U.S. officials and earlier leaked memos.

· The most dramatic change is the elimination of the office of the under secretary for civilian security, democracy and human rights, which is charged with advancing American values around the world. Trump administration officials call the office a hotbed of liberal activism.

-US to phase out many synthetic food dyes, Kennedy and FDA head say: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said on Tuesday that the agency plans to remove synthetic food dyes from the U.S. food supply by revoking authorizations of some and working with industry to voluntarily remove others. They cited concerns about a possible link between consumption of the dyes and health conditions like ADHD, obesity and diabetes, an area many scientists say requires more research. (Reuters)

-RFK Jr. Questions Covid Shots for All Children: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. questioned the need for all children to get Covid shots, in what could be the longtime vaccine critic’s most notable move yet on inoculations. “The recommendation for children was always dubious,” Kennedy told Fox News when asked to comment on considerations by the Trump administration to modify the CDC’s childhood vaccine schedule. (Bloomberg)

· Revoking Under Consideration: The comments from Kennedy, who leads the Health and Human Services Department, come amid reports that the US government is considering revoking its current vaccine recommendations. The vaccine schedule currently recommends the Covid immunization for children as young as six months old.

-Consulting Firms Offer to Cut Up to $20 Billion From Federal Contracts: Some of the biggest U.S. consulting firms have offered billions in additional cuts to their contracts after the Trump administration told firms that they needed to pony up deeper price concessions—or face consequences. Seven of the 10 largest consulting firms to the government have now offered up to $20 billion in savings by proposing to either terminate existing contracts or reduce the scope of their work within federal agencies, according to a person familiar with the negotiations. Some firms are now proposing to offer credits toward their work or artificial-intelligence services free of charge. (WSJ)

· For weeks, officials within the General Services Administration, which helps oversee procurement for the federal government, have pushed companies including Accenture, Booz Allen BAH 2.84%increase; green up pointing triangle Hamilton, Deloitte, IBM and others to justify their work with the government and to propose substantial cost savings. While companies met a deadline last month to identify potential cuts to existing projects, administration officials later told firms that they were unimpressed with the size and scope of the reductions proposed.

· “Faulty reasoning, financial obfuscations and gamesmanship” within the consulting proposals were called out in a letter to executives earlier this month sent by Josh Gruenbaum, the GSA’s procurement chief who is overseeing the review of contractors. If firms didn’t offer more meaningful cost savings, Gruenbaum’s letter noted, contracts could be terminated and put up for new bids to competitors. The Financial Times earlier reported on the letter to executives. Earlier proposed cuts were smaller, but some firms are now offering more substantial savings.

-Judge Blocks Trump Effort to Dismantle Voice of America: A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from dismantling Voice of America, a government-funded news organization that President Trump has accused of being biased against him, and mandated that its journalists be allowed to resume their work. The judge, Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, also ordered the administration to halt its effort to shut down two other federally funded outlets, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks. (NYT)

· The judge’s carefully worded decision appeared aimed at closing loopholes in previous court rulings that allowed Trump officials to keep the Voice of America newsroom shuttered and its programming on hold. Voice of America, founded in 1942, had operated without interruption until March 15, a day after Mr. Trump signed an executive order seeking to gut its parent organization, the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

-US Supreme Court grapples with Obamacare preventive care case: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday considered the legality of a provision of the Obamacare law, formally called the Affordable Care Act, that helps ensure that health insurers cover preventive care such as cancer screenings at no cost to patients. The court heard arguments in the federal government's appeal of a lower court's determination that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which under Obamacare has a major hand in choosing what services will be covered, is composed of members who were not validly appointed. Its 16 members are appointed by the U.S. secretary of health and human services without Senate confirmation. (Reuters)

-US Supreme Court leans toward parents who object to elementary school LGBT storybooks: The U.S. Supreme Court appeared inclined to rule in favor of Christian and Muslim parents in Maryland seeking to keep their elementary school children out of certain classes when storybooks with LGBT characters are read in the latest case involving the intersection of religion and LGBT rights. The nine justices heard arguments on Tuesday in an appeal by parents with children in public schools in Montgomery County, located just outside of Washington, after lower courts declined to order the local school district to let children opt out when these books are read. (Reuters)

OTHER DOMESTIC NEWS OF NOTE

-DC weighs layoffs and other cuts as House Republicans leave the city budget in limbo: Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser tried to keep the focus on a groundbreaking ceremony for a new mixed-used development. But she couldn't help fielding a string of questions about the budget crisis hanging over the nation's capital city. (AP)

· Asked Monday about the risk of layoffs and furloughs, she said: “We’re hoping that we don’t get to that stage. If it comes to that, I can assure employees that they will be treated fairly … and I want to emphasize to them that this is not something that the D.C. government has done wrong and is not a case where we don’t have the money.”

· Bowser and the District of Columbia Council are scrambling to address the crisis created by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. When Congress recessed April 10, it adjourned without addressing a $1.1 billion hole in the city’s 2025 budget that was created when the House eliminated a little-known provision in a budget resolution.

-Environmental lawyers get ready to pounce on Trump’s energy deregulation moves: U.S. environmental groups say they are hiring lawyers and preparing for a major legal showdown with President Donald Trump's administration over its rapid-fire and sweeping efforts to sidestep federal regulations on oil, gas and coal development. The preparations will pose a test for the Trump administration’s strategy since January of relying mainly on emergency authorities and executive orders to slash what it views as obstructions to a surge in fossil fuel energy production. (Reuters)

-Measles cases in Texas rise to 624, state health department says: The Texas health department reported 624 cases of measles in the state on Tuesday, an increase of 27 from April 18, as the United States battles one of its worst outbreaks of the childhood disease. Cases in Gaines County, the center of the outbreak, rose to 386 from 371 reported on Friday, the Texas Department of State Health Services said. (Reuters)

-Walgreens to pay $300 million in US opioid settlement: Walgreens has agreed to pay $300 million to settle U.S. prosecutors' allegations that it illegally filled millions of invalid prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances, the U.S. Justice Department said on Monday. The money, plus 4% interest annually, will be paid out over six years under the terms of the agreement. Walgreens will also owe the U.S. an additional $50 million if the company is sold, merged, or transferred prior to fiscal year 2032, the Justice Department said. (Reuters)

-Pope Francis' US legacy defined by growing divisions as Catholic Right surges: When Pope Francis visited the United States in 2015, cheering crowds of Catholics and non-Catholics turned out in New York, Washington and Philadelphia to greet him, lifting hopes that the U.S. church was about to enter a new, vibrant era. It turned out to be a period of deep discord. (Reuters)

-Jury finds NY Times not liable in Sarah Palin defamation case: A federal jury in Manhattan on Tuesday found the New York Times not liable for allegedly defaming Sarah Palin in a 2017 editorial about gun control, dealing the former Republican U.S. vice presidential candidate a second loss at trial. The verdict came in a retrial of Palin's case, after a federal appeals court threw out a 2022 verdict in the Times' favor. (Reuters)

-CBS '60 Minutes' top producer Owens to step down, cites editorial concerns: Bill Owens, the long-time executive producer of CBS News' "60 Minutes," is stepping down over concerns about editorial independence, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters on Tuesday. Owens' departure follows a months-long legal battle with U.S. President Donald Trump, who sued CBS in October over a "60 Minutes" interview with his Democratic rival for the White House, former Vice President Kamala Harris. Earlier this month, the case entered mediation. (Reuters)

-Three prosecutors in corruption case against NYC Mayor Eric Adams resign: The three remaining federal prosecutors who brought criminal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams resigned in protest on Tuesday, saying the Justice Department pressured them to admit wrongdoing when they refused to drop the case, according to a letter seen by Reuters. "It is now clear that one of the preconditions you have placed on our returning to the office is that we must express regret and admit some wrongdoing," the three prosecutors wrote in their letter to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. "We will not confess wrongdoing when there was none." (Reuters)

-New Jersey forest fire prompts thousands of evacuations and closes a major highway: A wildfire burning in New Jersey has forced thousands of people to evacuate and closed a stretch of a major highway. The New Jersey Fire Service says the Garden State Parkway has been closed between Barnegat and Lacey townships. Authorities say more than 1,300 structures have been threatened and power is out to most of Barnegat Township. About 3,000 residents have been evacuated. There have been no immediate reports of injuries. The cause of the fire is under investigation. (AP)