https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/three-vessels-hit-by-gunfire-strait-hormuz-crews-safe-2026-04-22/
DUBAI/ATHENS, April 22 (Reuters) - Iran said it had captured two container ships seeking to exit the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday after firing on them and another vessel, its first seizures since its war with the United States and Israel began in February.
Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported the seizures, adding that its Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy had warned that any disruption to order and safety in the strait would be considered a "red line."
The country's actions to bottleneck the strait, used to transit about one-fifth of the world's daily oil and gas supply, have caused the worst disruption in energy supplies in history. The strait usually sees about 130 vessels a day enter and exit the Gulf, but that has dwindled to just a few ships passing through every day.
After several weeks, the U.S. began a blockade of Iranian ships as well. With peace talks currently on hold, the fate of shipping through the vital artery remains up in the air.
"The latest seizures make clear, even an ‘open’ Strait of Hormuz is not a safe Strait of Hormuz for seafarers, ships and cargo,” said Peter Sand, chief analyst at ocean and air freight intelligence platform Xeneta.
The seizure of one of the ships, the Panama-flagged MSC Francesca, was confirmed by Montenegro's minister of maritime affairs, who said four Montenegrin seafarers were on board and that they and the rest of the crew were safe.
"Negotiations between the shipping company and the Iranian side are ongoing, and the relevant state authorities are in constant contact with the crew," the minister, Filip Radulovic, said on X.

The IRGC accused the MSC Francesca and the Liberia-flagged Epaminondas of operating without required permits and tampering with their navigation systems.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/23/doj-soldier-polymarket-bets-venezuela-maduro.html

A U.S. Army Special Forces master sergeant was arrested for allegedly using classified information to make extremely profitable bets on the Polymarket prediction market related to the American military mission that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, the Department of Justice said Thursday.

The sergeant, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, “was involved in the planning and execution of Operation Absolute Resolve,” which apprehended Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in early January, the DOJ said.

Van Dyke, 38, wagered a total of about $33,000 in 13 or so bets in the week leading up to that operation, with the knowledge that the United States was secretly planning military action against Maduro, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

The bets won Van Dyke nearly $410,000, the indictment alleges.

His arrest comes as Polymarket and Kalshi have grown in popularity and as concerns have grown about people with inside information making wagers on those prediction market platforms.

https://apnews.com/article/rfk-jr-kennedy-congress-hearing-testimony-budget-c86ac9f33907f68bb1494523aa9a0ccc

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday faced federal lawmakers for the first time since September as he sought to defend a more than 12% proposed cut to his department’s budget and dodge arrows from angry Democrats along the way.

In his testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, kicking off an expected sprint of seven budget hearings he’ll attend across congressional committees and subcommittees over the next week, Kennedy emphasized the administration’s work to reform dietary guidelines and crack down on waste, fraud and abuse.

Republicans on the committee praised Kennedy as a “breath of fresh air” and asked him to promote his department’s recent actions. Democrats, who have been furious over Kennedy’s sweeping overhaul of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, largely had a different agenda.

They needled Kennedy on what they viewed as the Trump administration’s hypocrisy on fraud, demanded to know why he was cutting budgets for various programs and slammed his efforts to pull back vaccine recommendations and messaging, which they said have caused unnecessary deaths.

Kennedy fired back, often raising his voice as he accused the Democrats of misrepresenting his work and past statements.

Here are three standout moments from Thursday’s hearing:

A standoff over measles

One heated exchange early in the hearing came between Kennedy and Rep. Linda Sanchez. The California Democrat decried recent measles outbreaks across the U.S. and asked Kennedy to answer for the fact that under his leadership, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pulled back public health messaging supporting vaccination.

“As a mother, this horrifies me,” Sanchez said. “Did President Trump approve your decision to end CDC’s pro-vaccine public messaging campaign?”

https://apnews.com/article/trump-fake-math-drug-price-reductions-1c89714a4b60ead1485d1de31b27da92
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump, who helped push the term “ fake news ” into the mainstream, now seems to have a new favorite subject: fake math.

During a Thursday event announcing a deal with drugmaker Regeneron to lower the cost of its pharmaceutical products, Trump defended his past claims that prices on prescription medications had been cut by well over 100% — something that is mathematically impossible without manufacturers dropping prices to zero and then presumably paying consumers to use their product.

Trump acknowledged having boasted that his efforts to lower drug prices had reduced what consumers pay by “500%, 600%.” But he added, “We also sometimes say 50%, 60%” and called it a “different kind of calculation” that could go up to “70, 80 and 90%.”

“People understand that better,” Trump said. “But they’re two ways of calculating” and “either way, it doesn’t make any difference.”

There could indeed be two ways of calculating such things — but the difference is very important. One is correct. The other is nonmathematical.

It was one of several times Trump used his own — but incorrect — math during the drug pricing event. He claimed the 7 1/2-week-and-still-going Iran war actually fell within the four- to six-week timeline he predicted early on. The president also brought up the crowd size for his 2017 inauguration — a subject that led onetime top Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway to unwittingly make the phrase “ alternative facts ” famous.

American service members will no longer be required to get a yearly flu shot under a new Defense Department policy described by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth as an effort to “restore freedom and strength to our joint force.”

In a video posted on X, the Pentagon boss cited the Biden administration's Covid-19 policies as the impetus for ditching the unrelated but mandatory influenza inoculation, accusing his predecessors of having “waged an unrelenting war on our warriors on many fronts, including when it came to denying them simple medical autonomy and the freedom to express their religious convictions.”

Calling the Covid-19 vaccine mandate part of an “era of betrayal” that was now “over,” Hegseth said the Pentagon was discarding “absurd, overreaching mandates that only weaken our war fighting capabilities,” such as “the universal flu vaccine and the mandate behind it.”

“The notion that a flu vaccine must be mandatory for every service member, everywhere, in every circumstance at all times is just overly broad and not rational,” he said.

Hegseth emphasized that the Pentagon’s new policy was “simple.”

“If you, an American warrior entrusted to defend this nation, believe that the flu vaccine is in your best interest, then you are free to take it,” he said.

The defense secretary conceded that service members “should” receive the flu vaccine but said the Pentagon would not “force” them to do so because matters of health and conscience are “not negotiable.”

“It's the kind of common sense approach we're undertaking in this department,” he insisted.

>https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/military-flu-vaccine-requirement-hegseth-b2961944.html

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/15/critical-atlantic-current-significantly-more-likely-to-collapse-than-thought
The critical Atlantic current system appears significantly more likely to collapse than previously thought after new research found that climate models predicting the biggest slowdown are the most realistic. Scientists called the new finding “very concerning” as a collapse would have catastrophic consequences for Europe, Africa and the Americas.

The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc) is a major part of the global climate system and was already known to be at its weakest for 1,600 years as a result of the climate crisis. Scientists spotted warning signs of a tipping point in 2021 and know that the Amoc has collapsed in the Earth’s past.

Climate scientists use dozens of different computer models to assess the future climate. However, for the complex Amoc system, these produce widely varying results, ranging from some that indicate no further slowdown by 2100 to those suggesting a huge deceleration of about 65%, even when carbon emissions from fossil fuel burning are gradually cut to net zero.

The research combined real-world ocean observations with the models to determine the most reliable, and this hugely reduced the spread of uncertainty. They found an estimated slowdown of 42% to 58% in 2100, a level almost certain to end in collapse.

The Amoc is a major part of the global climate system and brings sun-warmed tropical water to Europe and the Arctic, where it cools and sinks to form a deep return current. A collapse would shift the tropical rainfall belt on which many millions of people rely to grow their food, plunge western Europe into extreme cold winters and summer droughts, and add 50-100cm to already rising sea levels around the Atlantic.

https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/trump-tried-use-nuclear-codes-1800145

Retired CIA analyst Larry Johnson claims that during an emergency White House meeting, U.S. President Donald Trump attempted to access the nuclear codes but was allegedly blocked by General Dan Caine
"One report coming out of that meeting at the White House is that Trump wanted to... use the nuclear codes, and General Dan Caine stood up and said 'No'. He invoked his privilege as the head of the military, so to speak. It was apparently quite a blow-up. There's some very bizarre things going on in DC." It comes amid growing concern about the president's erratic behavior - just days ago, Trump made a disturbing sex comment on stage that stunned his audience into silence.

The nuclear code allegations have not been verified, and it remains unclear what purpose the nuclear codes alone would serve if accessed. However, this follows reports that Trump was excluded from the Situation Room by military advisors during a crucial Iran rescue mission.

The U.S. President was allegedly kept out of deliberations due to worries about his explosive temperament. Senior administration officials feared his unpredictability could jeopardize the operation.

After the destruction of a US aircraft by Iranian forces earlier this month, Trump reportedly spent hours shouting at staff in the West Wing while being tormented by recollections of the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis.

Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf, Iran’s chief negotiator and parliament speaker, wrote in a post on X early Tuesday that “We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats,” and the Islamic Republic has been preparing “to reveal new cards on the battlefield.”

Iran, while not formally acknowledged as a nuclear-armed nation, is believed to possess uranium enrichment technology that could facilitate nuclear weapons development. It remains uncertain if or for what purpose the US nuclear codes would be deployed.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdxd1v0028vo
The US justice department is dropping its investigation into the Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell, over alleged building cost overruns.

US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said instead there would be an internal investigation led by the central bank's inspector general.

President Donald Trump has said the cost of the Fed's building renovations were too high, as part of a long-standing feud with Powell.

Powell's term is nearing its end and the US Senate is considering Trump's nominee for his replacement, Kevin Warsh. A key Republican, Thom Tillis, has withheld his support for Warsh unless the Trump administration would drop its investigation into Powell.

"American taxpayers deserve answers about the Federal Reserve's fiscal mismanagement, and the Office of the Inspector General's more powerful authorities best position it to get to the bottom of the matter," said White House spokesman Kush Desai in a statement.

"The White House remains as confident as before that the Senate will swiftly confirm Kevin Warsh as the next Federal Reserve Chairman to finally restore competence and confidence in Fed decision-making."

In her post on X, Pirro said she would not "hesitate to restart a criminal investigation should the facts warrant doing so".

The Fed declined to comment.
Trump called for the Fed to lower interest rates after returning to office last year, and then began floating the idea of firing Powell - a step some said could be illegal.

Amid months of attacks, he branded Powell a "knucklehead" and claimed he was "doing a lousy job" after his repeated calls for rate cuts were ignored.

Last summer, Trump criticised the ballooning costs of the renovations, arguing it will cost $3.1bn (£2.3bn), much higher than the Fed's $2.5bn forecast. The Fed has said the renovations will reduce its costs over time.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/medical-student-india-created-ai-185742864.html
https://www.wired.com/story/ai-generated-maga-girls/

A medical student who created an AI-generated conservative influencer has claimed the “dumb” MAGA crowd was easy to fool, according to a new report.

A 22-year-old medical student from northern India, identified only as Sam, told Wired he was behind a series of pro-MAGA social media accounts featuring Emily Hart, an AI-generated woman. Sam said he started posting about Emily Hart to generate some extra cash while studying, and made thousands of dollars every month.

“The MAGA crowd is made up of dumb people—like, super dumb people. And they fall for it,” he told Wired.

The Instagram and Facebook pages featuring Emily Hart appear to have been taken down. Posts, previously reviewed by Wired and the New York Post, touched on topics like immigration and abortion.

“Trump should tell all the illegals that he will give them citizenship if they vote Republican and see how fast Democrats want them out of the country,” one post, reviewed by the New York Post reads.