TOP NEWS

Injured civilians in towns in Indian-administered Kashmir were treated in hospital on Wednesday following cross-border artillery strikes between Pakistan and India. Several people were reported killed on the Indian side.

May 6 (UPI) — Nearly 20 years after the passage of the REAL ID Act, the deadline to update to a compliant identification card arrives on Wednesday.

About 81% of U.S. travelers who come to Transportation Security Administration checkpoints currently possess a state-issued REAL ID or acceptable form of identification, such as a passport, a TSA spokesperson told UPI.

After Wednesday’s deadline, airline travelers who do not present a compliant form of identification will be asked to pass through additional security screenings to board a plane.

A REAL ID or compliant identification will also be required for access to other federal facilities, such as military bases and federal courthouses.

The purpose of the REAL ID requirement is to strengthen security at airports. The TSA spokesperson said it is the documents required to acquire a REAL ID that make it a stronger form of identification and enhance security.

A REAL ID can be obtained at a state department of motor vehicles or similar agency that issues licenses. The requirements for a REAL ID vary slightly by state but most require an in-person appearance at the issuing office.

The minimum federal requirements for a REAL ID ask for proof of an applicant’s full legal name, date of birth, Social Security number, two documents with proof of address or residence and proof of lawful status. Some states may require additional documentation.

“Those requirements go back to 9/11 and avoiding the things that we saw with the 19 hijackers having 30 separate driver’s licenses and ID cards with them,” he said. “It really does strengthen it in a lot of ways to ensure that the person standing in the checkpoint is the person on their identification.”

Instituting the REAL ID requirement fits with broader trends in security and identity verification in that it creates a greater level of uniformity across state-issued identification cards. Along with enhancing security in federal facilities, it is meant to increase protection against identity theft, due to the higher standards for proving one’s identity when obtaining a card.

“States have done tremendous work bringing this to fruition and really have overhauled 50 different states’ systems for issuing state-issued driver’s licenses,” the TSA spokesperson said. “We’re coming to the point of implementation after a great deal of collaborative work from states, airports and airlines that have gotten this, and people in general, to get their REAL ID.”

The REAL ID Act was passed in 2005 but implementation of the requirements for travelers has been delayed multiple times. It was first meant to take effect in 2008 but some states were slow to comply, citing the costs associated with implementation and challenges related to its rollout.

It was set to take effect in 2020 but the deadline was paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2022, the deadline was extended for 24 months, again due to backlogs caused by the pandemic.

“The TSA and DHS have pushed it back during the COVID years, recognizing people wouldn’t be able to get to the DMV during the pandemic years,” the TSA spokesperson said. “We’re beyond that now.”

May 7 (UPI) — Pakistan has the right to retaliate against India’s “act of war,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Wednesday, after New Delhi launched strikes against alleged terrorists within Pakistan’s borders.

“The cunning enemy has carried out cowardly attacks on five locations in Pakistan,” Sharif said in a statement on X. “Pakistan has every right to respond forcefully to this act of war imposed by India, and a forceful response is being given.”

No specifics of a retaliation were given, but Attaullah Tarar, Pakistan’s minister for information and broadcasting, announced in a statement that “Pakistan has befittingly retaliated against Indian Aggression.”

He said the Pakistani military had downed at least three Indian fighter jets and an Indian drone.

“The entire nation stands united in prayers and solidarity with our brave officers and soldiers,” Tarar said.

India launched Operation Sindoor over Tuesday night, attacking what it called terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the Pakistan-controlled western region of Kashmir, whose sovereignty is disputed by both Pakistan and India.

The Indian Armed Forces said in a statement that it attacked nine alleged sites in retaliation for the deadly April 22 massacre of 26 tourists in the mountainous Pahalgam region of India-administered Kashmir. The Indian government has described the targets as “terrorist camps.”

“Our actions have been focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature,” the Indian Armed Forces said. “No Pakistani military facilities have been targeted. India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution.”

India has blamed Pakistan for the Pahalgam attack, alleging it was conducted by Pakistan-based terrorists.

Late last month, Tarar said Pakistan had credible intelligence showing India intended to attack it over the Pahalgam massacre.

“Indian self-assumed hubristic role of judge, jury and executioner in the region is reckless and vehemently rejected,” he said in a statement on X. “Pakistan has been the victim of terrorism itself and truly understands the pain of this scourge.”

New Delhi has previously launched strikes into Pakistan after Pakistan-based terrorists attacked it on accusations that Islamabad was harboring the militants.

In 2019, India fighter jets conducted airstrikes against Jaish-e-Mohammed camps in Pakistan after the terrorist group killed more than 40 Indian Central Reserve Police Force personnel in a suicide bombing in India’s Jammu and Kashmir.

“The world must show zero tolerance for terrorism,” Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India’s external affairs minister, said Wednesday on X.

May 7 (UPI) — A federal jury in California has ordered Israeli cybersecurity firm NSO to pay WhatsApp nearly $170 million in damages for using the smartphone messaging application to spy on nearly 1,500 human rights activists, journalists and political dissidents in 2019.

“Today’s verdict in WhatsApp’s case is an important step forward for privacy and security as the first victory against the development and use of illegal spyware that threatens the safety and privacy of everyone,” WhatsApp said Tuesday in a blog post.

NSO, infamous for its Pegasus malware, was ordered Tuesday to pay WhatsApp $167 million in punitive damages and an additional $440,000 in compensatory damages, The Hill reported.

Meta, then known as Facebook, filed the lawsuit against NSO Group Technologies Limited in 2019, accusing it of infecting the smartphones of some 1,400 users with its Pegasus malware between April and May of that year over its WhatsApp messaging service.

Targets included attorneys, journalists, human rights activists, dissidents, diplomats and senior government officials. The targets were from several countries, including Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Mexico.

The lawsuit never stated who had hired NSO.

According to WhatsApp, during the six-year litigation, it was learned that Pegasus, once installed on a smartphone, had the ability to suck up information from any app on the device — information from financial and location to emails and text messages — as well as control their microphones and cameras.

A judge in December had ruled in WhatsApp’s favor, with the jury deciding on compensation Tuesday.

“The jury’s verdict today to punish NSO is a critical deterrent to the spyware industry against their illegal acts aimed at American companies and our users worldwide,” WhatsApp head Will Cathcart said on X.

“The fight isn’t over. Our next step is to secure a court order to prevent NSO from ever targeting WhatsApp again.”

WhatsApp said in its blog post that the trial also showed that WhatsApp was not NSO’s only target and that it has had “many other spyware installation methods” to exploit technologies of other companies to gain access to customers’ phones.

“Given how much information people access on their devices, including through private end-to-end encrypted apps like WhatsApp, Signal and others, we will continue going after spyware vendors indiscriminately targeting people around the world,” it said.

Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir were rocked by multiple missile attacks by India early on Wednesday morning, in which at least eight people, including a three-year-old child, died.

Pakistan’s military said Indian missiles struck six cities. That included four different places in Punjab province — the first time that India has hit Pakistan’s largest state since the 1971 war between the neighbours. The remaining two places targeted were Muzaffarabad and Kotli, cities in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

India claimed that its operation, called Sindoor, targeted nine sites with “terrorist infrastructure”.

Pakistan scrambled its own jets in response and claimed it had brought down five Indian planes – an assertion that India has not yet responded to.

The Indian attack came 15 days after the deadly attack on tourists in the picturesque Pahalgham town in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22, for which India blamed armed groups which it claimed were backed by Pakistan. Islamabad denied any role in that attack.

Now, the nuclear-armed neighbours stand on the precipice of a full-blown military conflict.

Here is what we know about India’s attack, Pakistan’s response, and the background of this conflict so far.

Where did India hit Pakistan?

Pakistani military spokesperson Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, in an early morning news conference, said Indian missiles targeted four locations in Punjab and two in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

The attack took place at about 1am (20:00 GMT)

The biggest attack was in Ahmedpur Sharqia, near Bahawalpur city in Punjab province. According to Chaudhry, a mosque compound was hit and five people were killed, including a three-year-old girl.

Other attacks took place in Muridke city, a village near the city of Sialkot, and Shakar Garh, all in Punjab province.

Two locations in Pakistan-administered Kashmir – Muzaffarabad and Kotli – were also hit and two mosques were destroyed, according to Pakistani authorities . A 16-year-old girl and an 18-year-old boy were among those killed in the attacks, they said.

Chaudhry said that at least eight Pakistanis were killed in all and at least 35 more were injured in the attack.

Pakistan’s Punjab province declared a state of emergency, with hospitals and security forces on high alert, and schools shut on Wednesday.

How did Pakistan respond?

Soon after the Indian attacks, Pakistan’s leadership, both political and military, said the country had engaged its defences and its fighter jets were “air borne”.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in a post on social media platform X said that a reply was “being given” to India.

Overnight, several claims were made by the Pakistanis, including shooting down up to five fighter Indian jets, including three Rafale jets, the modern fighter planes which India procured from France in recent years.

Besides Chaudhry, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar as well as Defence Minister Khawaja Asif also claimed on international news outlets that Pakistan had downed multiple Indian jets.

However, Pakistan’s military also said that India had fired all of its missiles from Indian airspace. In other words, if Pakistan shot down Indian planes, it fired at them while they were in Indian air.

Indian authorities have yet to comment on the claims or whether all Indian Air Force planes that participated in the strikes returned securely to their respective bases.

Why did India strike Pakistan?

The latest round of conflict between the two nuclear-armed nations came following the attack in Baisaran valley in the Pahalgam region of Indian-administered Kashmir. Gunmen killed 26 men – 25 tourists and a local pony rider – after segregating them from women.

India has for years blamed Pakistan for supporting, arming and training the armed groups which it accuses of fomenting trouble in the valley. Pakistan has insisted that it only provides moral and diplomatic support to Kashmir’s secessionist movement.

Following the attack last month, India blamed an obscure group, The Resistance Front, and claimed that it was a Pakistan-backed group with a haven there. Pakistan, while issuing a condemnation, also vehemently denied its involvement and demanded a “transparent, credible, impartial” investigation into the incident.

India, which also targeted Pakistan in 2019 and 2016 following attacks on its troops, said that it would retaliate, with PM Modi saying the country would pursue the Kashmir attackers to “the ends of the earth”.

However, more than two weeks later, Indian soldiers are still combing the forests of Kashmir, searching for the gunmen — even as it has now hit targets across the border.

Why is Kashmir important to India and Pakistan?

This is not the first time South Asia’s two largest countries – which have a combined population of more than 1.6 billion people, about one-fifth of the world’s population – have gone to war over the region.

Indeed, the picturesque valley of Kashmir is at the heart of their tensions.

The two neighbours fought three of their four previous wars over Kashmir, spanning 22,200 square kilometres (85,800 square miles). Both countries currently control parts of Kashmir – with China controlling another part of it – but continue to claim it in full.

How have tensions escalated since the Pahalgam attack?

Since April 22, tensions have escalated, culminating in already limited diplomatic relations taking a further hit.

• India has suspended its participation in the Indus Waters Treaty, under which they share waters from six rivers – three each – in the Indus basin. Because India is the upper riparian state, it could in theory restrict Pakistan’s access to water it is entitled to and that it depends on. India also revoked visas for Pakistani nationals.
• Pakistan threatened to suspend the Shimla Agreement.
• Both countries have expelled each other’s diplomats and nationals, while the nations also closed their borders and shuttered airspace.

Within Indian-administered Kashmir, authorities have detained more than 2,000 residents, some of them under anti-terrorism laws, demolished homes of alleged fighters and imposed strict security measures.

Why did India call it Operation Sindoor?

The Indian military has dubbed its missile strikes in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir ‘Operation Sindoor’. That name’s significant.

Sindoor is the Hindi word for vermilion, a red pigment which married Hindu women often apply to their forehead. The name of India’s military operation is an apparent reference to the manner in which gunmen shot their victims in Pahalgam on April 22.

Multiple survivor accounts have detailed how the gunmen segregated male tourists from the women, and then pointedly identified those who were non-Muslim before shooting them dead, leaving their Hindu wives widowed. The sindoor is typically no longer worn after a woman’s husband passes away.

May 6 (UPI) — The Yemen-based Houthis have “capitulated” and stopped attacking commercial and military shipping, President Donald Trump announced after meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday.

“They’ve announced to us at least that they don’t want to fight anymore,” Trump told media.

“They just don’t want to fight, and we will honor that,” Trump said. “They have capitulated. But, more importantly, they … say they will not be blowing up ships anymore.”

Trump said Houthi representatives approached his administration Monday night seeking a halt to nearly two months of continuous airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, Politico reported.

U.S Central Command has said military strikes have hit at least 800 targets and killed hundreds of Houthis after the aerial campaign against the organization that controls significant parts of Yemen.

The strikes began on March 15 and were intended to stop the Houthis from continuing to attack commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The Houthi strikes caused many commercial shipping outfits to stop using the Suez Canal and instead sail around the southern end of Africa to avoid waters near Yemen.

Trump said an informal agreement has ended the hostilities between the U.S. military and the Houthis.

It’s unclear if the Houthis agreed to stop attacking all shipping or only U.S.-flagged vessels.

Special envoy Steve Witkoff helped to negotiate the cease-fire over the weekend, with Oman officials acting as a mediator, Politico reported.

“Efforts have resulted in a cease-fire agreement between the two sides,” Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said Tuesday in a post on X.

“In the future, neither side will target the other, including American vessels, in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait, ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping,” he said.

The Houthis will continue their strikes against Israel, though.

Houthi senior official Mohammed al-Bukhaiti said the Houthis “will definitely continue our operations in support of Gaza” until hostilities end there, Bloomberg News reported.

May 6 (UPI) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has a permissive approach to Tren de Aragua activities there but does not control them in the United States, a federal report concluded last month.

“The Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States,” the National Intelligence Council said in a memorandum dated April 8.

The report says TDA was formed in 2007 in Venezuela’s Tocoron Prison in Venezuela’s Aragua State and has several people who act as its core leaders.

Recent setbacks have weakened the gang, including being removed from the Tocoron Prison in 2023, but it has several political leaders and military members who support its activities in Venezuela.

Maduro is not among the supportive political leaders, according to the report, but he does tolerate some TDA activities.

The regime also knows that fighting TDA and other armed groups “often results in personnel losses,” which further contributes to cooperating with them at times.

The inability to maintain control throughout the country gives the Maduro regime an interest in cooperating with armed groups in relatively lawless areas.

The report also says Venezuela’s security services are incapable of fully controlling the nation’s territories.

“The Maduro regime generally does not impede illegal armed and criminal groups from operating in Venezuela,” the report says, “but it does combat and seek to contain them when it fears they could destabilize the regime or when corrupt deals sour.”

The report acknowledges increased TDA activity from 2021 to 2024 while President Joe Biden was in office.

“There was a spike in Venezuelan encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border in which some TDA members could have been present as they have generally moved with Venezuelan migrant communities and profit from human trafficking and migrant smuggling,” the report says.

The gang’s small size, its focus on low-skill criminal activities and its decentralized structure make it “highly unlikely that TDA coordinates large volumes of human trafficking or migrant smuggling,” according to the report.

President Donald Trump in March declared TDA a “terrorist organization” and accused Maduro of “perpetrating an invasion and predatory incursion into the United States,” the Miami Herald reported.

He said TDA operates in conjunction with Cartel de los Soles, which Trump called a “Maduro regime-sponsored narco-terrorist enterprise.”

May 6 (UPI) — India’s military launched missile strikes against what it called “terrorist targets” in Pakistan early Tuesday morning following the recent deadly attack on Indian tourists in Pahalgam, Kashmir.

The Indian military launched Operation Sindoor by striking nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered areas in Jammu and Kashmir, ABC News, the Times of India and Al Jazeera reported.

Pakistani officials in Islamabad acknowledged the missile strikes and said there will be a response.

Pakistani Army officials said the missile attacks targeted Bahawalpur, Muzaffaabad and Kotli in eastern Pakistan and killed three people and injured 12 others.

The Indian Army declared “justice is served” after the missile strikes and blamed Pakistan for the deadly April 22 attack that killed 26 tourists in Pahalgam, which is known as the “Switzerland of India” due to its proximity to the Himalayan Mountains.

Several gunmen emerged from a wooded area and fired on a group of tourists before disappearing back into the wooded area.

The attack occurred in a remote valley that is accessible only by horse or on foot.

President Donald Trump called the missile attack a “shame” when asked for comment on Tuesday.

“Just heard about it,” Trump told reporters. “I guess people knew something was going to happen based on a little bit of the past. They’ve been fighting for a long time.”

Trump said he hopes for a quick end to the hostilities between India and Pakistan, ABC News reported.

U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released a statement in which she said, “I implore the two governments to exercise restraint and prioritize diplomatic engagement. The world can ill afford instability in South Asia.”

A State Department official said they are aware of the reports but have no assessment to offer at the time.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been among U.S. officials who are working to minimize any retaliation by India after the terrorist attack.

Israeli Prime Minister says Palestinians in Gaza will be relocated to the south during a ‘new phase’ of intense military operation, with reports suggesting that Israel is considering occupying the entire enclave and taking control of aid distribution.

May 6 (UPI) — Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins on Tuesday accused Democrats of fearmongering while they oppose proposed cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs workforce.

Reports have suggested Collins wants to eliminate more than 80,000 VA jobs, but he told the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs that number is a goal and not a hard target.

Collins told the committee he wants to reduce the VA’s workforce by 15%, which would mean firing more than 80,000 workers, but that goal has not become a reality.

Democrats have suggested such a workforce reduction would harm services for veterans, but Collins said no one is looking to fire doctors or nurses who work for the VA, the New York Times reported.

The VA so far has fired 2,400 workers and intends to end 585 contracts, NBC News reported.

Collins told committee members he would like to eliminate another 70,500 non-essential positions within the department to make it more efficient.

“The department’s history shows that adding more employees to the systems doesn’t automatically equal better results,” he said.

The agency would keep its health care workers but fire interior designers and staff whose jobs involve administering diversity, equity and inclusion policies that President Donald Trump eliminated via an executive order.

The quality of VA-provided health care and benefits would not harm veterans and other beneficiaries, Collins told the committee.

He said reducing the size of the VA’s workforce would increase the agency’s productivity and get rid of waste.

For example, removing DEI initiatives would save the VA an estimated $14 million, Collins said.

The VA has about 470,000 employees who provide services for 9.1 million people.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., accused the VA of “totally lacking” accountability and said the proposed workforce reduction could be a disaster for the people it serves.

“It is a disaster that is on the horizon, approaching us as surely as a thunderstorm in the nation’s capital,” Blumenthal said.

Friedrich Merz receives 325 votes in the second round of voting, hours after a shock defeat in the first ballot.

Conservative leader Friedrich Merz has been elected Germany’s chancellor in a second round of parliamentary voting after his new alliance with the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) was dealt a surprise defeat in the first attempt.

Merz’s failure to win parliamentary backing in the first round of voting was a first for post-war Germany.

Merz received 325 votes in the second round of voting on Tuesday.

He needed a majority of 316 out of 630 votes in a secret ballot, but only received 310 votes in the first round, well short of the 328 seats held by his coalition.

After the vote, the 69-year-old headed to the nearby Bellevue Palace to be formally nominated by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Later, Merz will return to the historic Reichstag building in the heart of Berlin to take the oath of office to become Germany’s 10th chancellor since the end of World War II.

The Merz-led conservative alliance of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU) had topped in the national elections in February with 28.5 percent of the vote, but it still required at least one coalition partner to form a majority government.

On Monday, the CDU/CSU reached an agreement with the Social Democratic Party (SPD) , which secured 16.4 percent in the elections after the collapse of Olaf Scholz’s government last year.

Their agreement has mapped out plans to revive growth, such as reducing corporate taxes and lowering energy prices. It is also promising strong support for Ukraine as it battles to repel Russia’s invasion, and higher military spending.

The new chancellor’s in-tray would also include the confrontational trade policy of US President Donald Trump and domestic issues such as the rise of the far-right, anti-immigrant party Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Coalition ‘not united’

Al Jazeera’s Dominic Kane, reporting from Berlin, said Merz’s failure to win in the first round of voting suggests that “all is not well in those three … now governing parties”.

“He [Merz] starts in this new position, knowing that members of his own coalition voted against him,” he said.

Experts say Merz’s failure to win backing for his chancellorship at the first attempt is an embarrassment for a figure who has promised to restore German leadership on the world stage.

“The whole of Europe looked to Berlin today in the hope that Germany would reassert itself as an anchor of stability and a pro-European powerhouse,” said Jana Puglierin, head of the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank. “That hope has been dashed. With consequences way beyond our borders.”

Party insiders said on Monday that Merz would swiftly secure a majority despite grumbling in both coalition parties about cabinet nominations, policy compromises and a huge borrowing package pushed through the old parliament in its final days.

“This shows that the coalition is not united, which could weaken his ability to pursue policies,” said Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank in London.

The abrasive and erratic style of Merz, who has never held government office, has also failed to convince some that he is chancellor material.

“The relationship between the parties will be severely damaged because of this and [it will] exacerbate the conflicts that are already bubbling beneath the surface,” said Philipp Koeker, a political scientist at the University of Hanover.

May 6 (UPI) — More than a dozen people were arrested and a “record-breaking” quantity of fentanyl seized with other illicit items across several states in a blow to one of the largest and “most dangerous” drug cartels in America, according to U.S. officials.

“Our communities are safer today because of the tireless dedication and coordination among federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement,” U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison for the District of New Mexico said Tuesday in a release.

Federal authorities arrested 16 individuals as part of a multi-state, multi-agency coordinated effort across New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Arizona and Nevada that uncovered millions of dollars in cash, ammo and dozens of items of weaponry such as ghost guns. They also seized illegal drugs such as heroin, cocaine and meth.

On Tuesday, DEA Acting Administrator Robert Murphy confirmed it was the “largest single seizure of fentanyl pills to date” by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in what U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi called “historic.”

According to Bondi, federal agents seized about $4 million worth of illicit substances.

New Mexico’s Ellison said the effort to dismantle “one of the largest and most dangerous fentanyl trafficking organizations in U.S. history” ultimately removed “millions” of possibly lethal doses of fentanyl from the streets, adding that “the fight continues” but the successful sting marked a “decisive first step” to protect more families across the western United States and beyond.

Heriberto Salazar Amaya, 36, was named as the alleged leader of the drug trafficking syndicate and with his accomplices was charged with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and various other alleged drug-related crimes.

27-year old Cesar Acuna-Moreno and Bruce Sedillo, 26, along with 35-year-old Vincent Montoya were also charged with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl. They were also joined by 27-year-old Francisco Garcia; David Anesi, 42; George Navarette-Ramirez, 25; Alex Anthony Martinez, Jose Luis Marquez, Nicholas Tanner, Brian Sanchez, Kaitlyn Young, Alan Singer and David Altamirano Lopez as alleged co-conspirators in the bust.

Amaya also faces additional charges for alleged illegal re-entry after deportation, hiring an unauthorized alien and “conspiracy to harbor unauthorized aliens.”

Three other individuals — Roberta Herrera, Phillip Lovato and Misael Lopez Rubio — were arrested and charged by criminal complaint on drug charges.

Lovato, 39, is a convicted felon with similar drug-related charges following his 2015 arrest by the FBI in Santa Fe, N.M. that included firearms. He was reported to have at least 110,000 fentanyl pills stashed away when federal agents executed a search warrant on April 29 at his residence in the 3200 block of Sante Fe authorized by U.S. District Judge Karen Molzen, according to court documents.

It arrived as evidence in March showed fentanyl was evidently getting cut with the horse tranquilizer xylazine after a batch was found near the U.S.-Mexico border.

DOJ says this “historic” recent bust signals a “significant blow” to the Sinaloa Cartel that “removes poison from our streets and protects American citizens from the scourge of fentanyl.”

Meanwhile, a CDC report in February shed some encouraging news on the opioid crisis in the United States, where nearly 200 people die a day via fentanyl.

It showed signs of subsiding with a decrease in drug overdose by 4% between 2022 and 2023, according to the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.

“When we continue to have 100,000 people a year dying from fentanyl and other drug overdoses, we have to evaluate what have we been doing,” Murphy told WSB-TV in Atlanta in February when he took over the DEA’s day-to-day ops.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on the U.S. opioid epidemic.

Video captured the moment of an Indian military strike in Bahawalpur, Pakistan. The Indian Ministry of Defence says it struck multiple sites in what it calls “Operation Sindoor.” Pakistan’s military says at least 2 people were killed in the strikes. India has blamed Pakistan for an attack that killed 26 people last month in Pahalgam.

May 6 (UPI) — The Trump administration does not have to await the outcome of a federal appellate court challenge to enforce its ban on transgender military members, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday.

“The preliminary injunction … is stayed pending the disposition of the appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, if such a writ is timely sought,” the one-page ruling says.

“Should certiorari be denied, this stay shall terminate automatically,” the unattributed ruling says.

The ruling notes Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson would deny the application.

Seven transgender military members filed a federal lawsuit to block the enforcement of President Donald Trump‘s executive order banning transgender service members.

Navy Commander Emily Shilling is the lead plaintiff in the federal case challenging the ban’s legality.

“Today’s Supreme Court ruling is a devastating blow to transgender service members who have demonstrated their capabilities and commitment to our nation’s defense,” officials with the Lambda Legal and Human Rights Campaign Foundation said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

The joint statement says the ban “has nothing to do with military readiness and everything to do with prejudice.”

U.S. District Court for Western Washington State Judge Benjamin Settle on March 27 ordered a temporary nationwide injunction stopping the Trump administration from enforcing its ban on transgender members in the U.S. military.

Solicitor General John Sauer on April 24 filed an emergency application asking the Supreme Court to overrule Settle and end the injunction.

Former President George W. Bush appointed Settle to the federal district court.

Trump during his first term banned transgender members in the U.S. military, which eventually was ended after President Joe Biden entered office in 2021.

The latest ban applies to “service members who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria” and requires their removal from military service, CNN reported.

A senior defense official previously told CNN the military has 4,240 active-duty, reserve and National Guard members who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

Gender dysphoria is defined as “psychological distress that results from an incongruence between one’s sex assigned at birth and gender identity,” according to Psychiatry.org.

The Department of Defense discharged active duty personnel and banned transgender individuals from enlisting shortly after Trump banned their inclusion in the military, NPR reported.

Israel’s military unleashed a second wave of attacks on Yemen, claiming to have “fully disabled” Sanaa’s airport in response to a Houthi missile that targeted Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport on Sunday.

May 6 (UPI) — Center-right politician Friedrich Merz was elected as German chancellor Tuesday in a second vote just hours after his historic defeat in a bid to lead the country.

“I accept my election as Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany with gratitude and respect for the task,” the newly elected Merz posted on X, saying he will approach the work ahead with “courage and confidence.”

The leader of Germany’s center-right Christian Democrat-Social Democratic coalition, Merz suffered an initial shock defeat during the day in his bid to become Germany’s 10th chancellor after he failed to secure a majority vote in the Bundestag, the German parliament, in Berlin.

But in Tuesday’s second vote after a series of political machinations, Merz received 325 votes — 9 more than required — with 289 against, one abstention and three invalid votes.

“Because we are a strong country — and our country can do more!” he added in the afternoon on social media after the secret ballot vote.

On Tuesday, Merz stated that he wanted to send a message that “Germany is back” as he was sworn in and met with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and reconfirmed this week’s travel itinerary.

“We sincerely hope that Germany will become even stronger and that we will see even more German leadership in European and [trans-Atlantic] affairs,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted on X in a congratulatory note to Merz.

“This is especially important now, when the future of Europe is at stake, and it will depend on our unity,” said Zelensky, adding how Germany has “saved thousands and thousands of Ukrainian lives” since Russia began its deadly three-year-long war with its much smaller neighbor.

Merz, whose election had been expected to be formality a day after the two centrist parties formally entered into a coalition, first won 310 votes — six short of the 316 he needed to be chancellor in the wake of a snap national election in February in which no party secured an overall majority.

“After the coalition agreement between CDU, CSU and SPD was signed yesterday, Friedrich Merz is officially elected federal chancellor today,” the CDU declared on X early Tuesday, only to walk it back hours later.

It marked the first time any leader had fallen short in the first round in more than seven decades and likely will hinder Merz’ ambition to draw a line under the perceived failures of the previous government of Olaf Scholz, which was the country’s last majority government toppled in December by a no-confidence vote.

Merz, a conservative, has called for stricter border control measures and was widely looked at to be Germany’s next chanceller after snap elections in February.

In March, he unveiled his party’s plan to boost defense spending by hundreds of billions of dollars by 2030 by relaxing strict so-called “debt brake” rules in part due to recent moves by the United States.

“I wish (Merz) strength and continued determination — both in leading Germany through important transformations and in supporting Ukraine,” Vitaliy Klychko, the mayor of Kyiv and leader of Ukraine’s UDAR party, added on social media.

The CDU and SDP have a comfortable margin with 328 seats out of 630 between them but Merz was derailed in the first round vote after 18 MPs who were expected to back him, decided otherwise.

SDP co-leader, Lars Klingbeil, who was to be vice chancellor in the new coalition government, denied SDP MPs were behind Merz’ defeat, with the implication that Merz faced a revolt within the ranks of his own party.

Bundestag rules permit other candidates to run for chancellor and there is no restriction on how many times a vote can be repeated, subject to a 14-day time limit after which a leader can be elected with a simple majority.

The Elon Musk-backed AfD, designated days ago as an “extremist” group by German intelligent officials, called for a general election.

Its joint leader Alice Weidel wrote in post on X that the debacle demonstrated “the weak foundation on which the small coalition between the CDU/CSU and the SPD, which was voted out by the voters, is built.”

Pakistan says Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) armed group targeted vehicle with an improvised explosive device.

Seven Pakistani army soldiers have been killed when their vehicle was targeted by an improvised explosive device in the southwestern province of Balochistan, Pakistan’s military says, blaming India for the attack amid rising tensions.

Pakistan’s military said members of the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) armed group targeted the vehicle carrying the soldiers in the province bordering Iran and Afghanistan on Tuesday.

It described the group as an “Indian proxy”, but it did not provide any evidence to support its claim. There was no immediate comment from New Delhi or the BLA.

An unnamed senior local government official told the AFP news agency the vehicle that was hit was part of a convoy on its way to a security operation.

He said five people were wounded and taken by helicopter to a military hospital in the provincial capital, Quetta.

More than 200 people, mostly members of the security forces, have been killed in 2025 by armed groups in Balochistan and neighbouring Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, according to an AFP tally.

At least 31 people, many of them soldiers, were killed in March when the BLA hijacked a train carrying more than 400 passengers while travelling from Quetta to the northern city of Peshawar.

The bombing of the military convoy was carried out amid heightened tensions between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India after a shooting attack in India-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam region on April 22 that killed 25 Indian tourists and one Nepalese citizen.

India blamed Pakistan for backing the “terrorist” group that carried out the attack, a charge Islamabad has denied.

After the Pahalgam attack, India and Pakistan have taken a series of steps against each other with Pakistan warning that India may be preparing to launch military attacks.

The two countries have suspended trade, shut down a land border crossing, closed off their airspace to one another, expelled citizens and diplomats, and India has suspended a key water treaty.

On Tuesday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif along with the deputy prime minister, foreign and defence ministers, and the military chiefs visited the headquarters of the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, the country’s top spy agency, to attend a security briefing.

Pakistan has conducted two missile tests in three days while India has announced plans for civil defence drills across several states on Wednesday that will include air raid sirens and evacuation plans.

The two countries also aired their grievances during a United Nations Security Council meeting in New York on Monday.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has emphasised the need to avoid a military confrontation that could “easily spin out of control”.

“Now is the time for maximum restraint and stepping back from the brink,” he said on Monday.

May 6 (UPI) — Britain and India announced a trade agreement Tuesday following three years of negotiations.

The british government said it had “secured the best deal [to which] India has ever agreed,” and will provide “businesses with security and confidence to trade with the fastest-growing economy in the G20.”

“Today Britain has agreed [to] a landmark trade deal with India,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer posted to X Tuesday. “Fantastic news for British business, British workers, and British shoppers, delivering on our plan for change.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also shared on social media Tuesday that he was “delighted” to speak with Starmer on the deal.

“In a historic milestone, India and the U.K. have successfully concluded an ambitious and mutually beneficial free trade agreement, along with a Double Contribution Convention,” Modi said.

“These landmark agreements will further deepen our comprehensive strategic partnership, and catalyze trade, investment, growth, job creation, and innovation in both our economies.”

The agreement was locked in by a final hard-pressed effort by trade officials last week. A pact had become an urgent economic concern for both nations after the Trump administration levied tariffs on countries around the world in April.

The deal, known as the Double Contribution Convention, or DCC, is a lucrative one for Britian, the most valuable since it left the European Union as the British government expects the agreement will up Britian’s GDP by more than $6.4 billion by 2040.

It may take more than a year, but once in effect, the British Department for Business says consumers can expect tariffs on goods from India to decrease, on products like food, jewelry, clothing and footwear. The forecast also emphasized how expansion of exports to India will lead to British job creation and economic improvement.

Britain also expects tariffs in its whisky, gin, technologies, cosmetics and food will drop to 75%. Further reductions will then take effect in later years.

The DCC also includes a three-year exemption on the social security paid by Indian employees who work in Britian on short-term visas and will guarantee that social security contributions are not made in more than one country. India, which is expected to become the world’s third-largest economy in the near future, has a target of export expansion growth of $1 trillion by 2030.

“Our landmark agreement with India is the largest ever trade deal secured by the U.K.,” said British Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds in a social media post Tuesday, “This deal will help deliver our plan for change, putting more money in working people’s pockets, boosting our economy and bolstering British business.”

The British Labour Party took to social media Tuesday to announce that “We are going further and faster to strengthen the U.K.’s economy and put more money in working people’s pockets.”