Donald Trump

May 5 (UPI) — Israel’s security cabinet voted over the weekend to reportedly increase military operations in Gaza, and to establish a permanent presence.

Sources familiar with plan shared details and the results of the vote with CNN, NBC News and ABC News.

An Israeli official told CNN the new plan for Israel’s war in Gaza involved “the conquest of territory and remaining there,” to displace the Palestinian population to southern Gaza and conduct “powerful strikes” against Hamas.

Officials also said the expansion of the conflict will be implemented gradually and provide opportunities for a new cease-fire and hostage release deals before U.S. President Donald Trump visits the region later this month. Trump is slated to land in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar next week, but Israel is not part of the planned itinerary.

The cabinet meeting also reportedly involved a possible lift on the blockade Israel has placed on humanitarian aid deliveries into Gaza, which has been in place for over eight weeks.

Both an Israeli source and a U.S. State Department official told CNN the United States and Israel have discussed a method to deliver aid to Gaza that would bypass Hamas, and that a related announcement could be made “in the coming days.”

The Palestinian Ministry of Health says over 52,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began, which includes more than 2,400 since mid-March when a cease-fire that had been in place for two months was broken.

May 5 (UPI) — Footwear giant Skechers, the world’s third-largest footwear company, announced Monday it had reached a deal to be bought out by the private equity firm 3G Capital.

3G will acquire the southern California-based Skechers for $63 per share in cash which represents a 30% premium to the shoe company’s current public valuation. It was unanimously approved by Sketchers’ board of directors.

“With a proven track-record, Skechers is entering its next chapter in partnership with the global investment firm 3G Capital,” company chairman and CEO Robert Greenberg, 85, said Monday in a release.

Stock shares in Skechers — only third behind other bigger companies like Nike and Adidas — bounced Monday morning over 25% after the announcement.

Greenberg, its founder, has been Skechers’ chairman and CEO since 1992 when he stepped down from the same roles at L.A. Gear, Inc.

“Over the last three decades, Skechers has experienced tremendous growth,” he added, giving a nod to the New York-headquarted 3G Capital and its “remarkable” history of “success” with other iconic global brands like Heinz in a $28 billion deal with Warren Buffett‘s Berkshire Hathaway, Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen, Firehouse Subs and a 2010 deal to grab Burger King in a $4 billion buyout.

“We believe this partnership will support our talented team as they execute their expertise to meet the needs of our consumers and customers while enabling the Company’s long-term growth,” stated Greenberg.

Meanwhile, Skechers singed onto a letter last week by the trade group Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America singed by 76 footwear brands, include Adidas and Nike, which requested exemptions from President Donald Trump‘s staggering international tariffs.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Skechers and look forward to working with an entrepreneur of Robert’s caliber and the talented Skechers team,” wrote 3G Capital’s co-founder and co-managing partner, Alex Behring and Daniel Schwartz, co-managing partner.

However, a source told CNBC that Trump’s growing trade war did not force Greenberg’s Skechers into a deal which 3G Capital has had its eye on for several years with 3G company officials looking at a long-term outlook with Skechers well positioned for future growth.

Behring and Schwartz called Skechers an “iconic, founder-led brand” with a track record of “creativity and innovation,” saying the 3G team is “built to partner” with companies like Sketchers.

“We have immense admiration for the business that this team has built, and look forward to supporting the company’s next chapter.”

May 5 (UPI) — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Monday announced an incentive for undocumented immigrants to leave the country: a $1,000 stipend.

DHS described it as a “historic opportunity for illegal aliens to receive both financial and travel assistance to facilitate travel,” according to a news release.

There are an estimated 11.6 million unregistered migrants in the United States, according to the Center for Migration Studies. In 2020, it dropped to 10.1 million when Trump was in office the first time.

This new process also gives them a chance to re-enter the United States legally in the future.

Those who want to self-deport must use the Customs and Border Protection Home App then return to their home country. When out of the United States, they will get $1,000, according to a news release.

“Self-deportation is a dignified way to leave the U.S. and will allow illegal aliens to avoid being encountered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” the agency said in a news release. “Even with the cost of the stipend, it is projected that the use of CBP Home will decrease the costs of a deportation by around 70 percent.”

The average cost to arrest, detain and remove an unregistered immigrant is $17,121, the agency said. The process can be lengthy, including hearings before immigration judges.

On Monday, President Donald Trump told CNN, “We’re going to get them a beautiful flight back to where they came from and have a period of time and, if they make it, we’re going to work with them so that maybe someday — with a little work — they can come back in if they’re good people. If they’re the kind of people that we want in our country — industrious people that love our country. And if they’re not, they won’t.”

The CBP Home App was known as CBP One during the Biden administration. In March, the app was changed.

Travel assistance was “already proven successful,” the agency said.

One person received a ticket for a flight from Chicago to Honduras.

More tickets have been booked for this week and the following week.

“If you are here illegally, self-deportation is the best, safest and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest,” said Secretary Kristi Noem. “DHS is now offering illegal aliens financial travel assistance and a stipend to return to their home country through the CBP Home App … Download the CBP Home App TODAY and self-deport.”

Those who submit their intent to voluntarily self-deport on the app also will be “deprioritized for detention and removal ahead of their departure as long as they demonstrate they are making meaningful strides in completing that departure.”

In February, DHS launched a multimillion dollar advertising campaign warning undocumented migrants that they will be deported if they are in the United States.

One is directed at migrants in the country and the other targeted at those in a foreign nation thinking of attempting to illegally enter the United States.

The Trump administration has been ramping up deportations and cutting the number of people crossing the border, mainly from Mexico.

Illegal border crossings have plunged to the lowest level in decades.

In March, there were 7,181 encounters at the border, which is a 95% reduction from 136,473 in the same month a year ago and 97% from 2022 of 211,181.

In April, it was roughly 8,400.

The Trump administration through the end of March arrested more than 158,000 unregistered immigrants, including more than 600 suspected members of the Tren de Aragua gang. Of the arrests, 75% had convictions or pending charges, DHS said.

Border czar Tom Homan said they are “targeting the worst of the worst, which we’ve been doing since day one, and deporting them from the United States through the various laws on the book.”

The Trump administration also has been using the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. But courts have said it is unlawful because it was designed to be used during times of war.

Deportations have received renewed focus with this president’s administration recently. In “Operation Tidal Wave,” 800 undocumented migrants were apprehended over four days in Florida, DHS said last week.

Homeland Security on April 29 detailed “100 Days of Making America Safe Again.”

Trump ended broad humanitarian parole and returned the program to a case-by-case basis. Terminated were programs of those from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Trump also restored the Temporary Protected Status immigration program “to its original status: temporary,” the DHS said.

Trump has instituted a “gold card” that allows wealthy people who want to obtain a U.S. visa to pay $5 million to get a pathway to citizenship. This would the EB-5 visa program, which offers a route for permanent residency for rich foreign investors.

Pentagon chief says cuts will maximise ‘strategic’ and ‘operational readiness’.

United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has announced steep cuts in the number of top-ranked officers in his latest move to streamline the world’s most powerful military.

In a memo on Monday, Hegseth ordered a 20 percent reduction in the number of four-star generals and admirals – currently the highest-ranked personnel in the US military – as well as a 10 percent reduction in the number of general and flag officers.

Hegseth’s memo also ordered a 20 percent cut in the number of general officers in the National Guard.

The US military had 38 four-star generals or admirals as of March 31, 2025, according to US Department of Defense data.

In a video explaining the “Less Generals More GIs Policy”, Hegseth said the US military currently has one general for every 1,400 troops, compared with one for every 6,000 during World War II.

“More generals and admirals does not equal more success,” Hegseth said in the video posted on X.

“Now this is not a slash-and-burn exercise meant to punish high-ranking officers. Nothing could be further from the truth. This has been a deliberated process, working with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with one goal: maximising strategic readiness and operational readiness by making prudent reductions in the general and flag officer ranks.”

Hegseth did not specify which positions would be cut.

The nearly 40 active four-star generals in the US military include the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the chief of staff of the army, the chief of naval operations, and the chief of staff of the Air Force, as well as the heads of US Africa Command, US European Command and US Forces Korea.

The cuts come as part of a broader drive by President Donald Trump’s administration to reduce the size of the federal government and purge perceived political enemies.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump or his underlings have fired several top military leaders, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Q Brown and Navy chief Admiral Lisa Franchetti.

US Education Department Secretary Linda McMahon halts funding in escalation of dispute centred around anti-Semitism claims.

The administration of United States President Donald Trump has announced that Harvard University will no longer receive public funding for research in a sharp escalation of its dispute with the top university.

In a letter to Harvard on Monday, US Education Department Secretary Linda McMahon said the elite university had made a “mockery” of higher education and should no longer seek federal grants, “since no will be provided”.

“Harvard will cease to be a publicly funded institution, and can instead operate as a privately-funded institution, drawing on its colossal endowment, and raising money from its large base of wealthy alumni,” McMahon wrote in the letter.

The move comes after the Trump administration last month froze nearly $2.3bn in federal funding to Harvard over what it claimed was its failure to tackle rampant anti-Semitism on campus.

The administration announced the freeze after Harvard rejected a series of demands that it said would subject the university to undue government control, including that it accede to external audits of faculty and students to ensure “viewpoint diversity”.

In her letter, McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, outlined a series of grievances often made by conservatives against the university, including that it had fostered lax academic standards and admitted foreign students who “engage in violent behaviour and show contempt toward the United States of America”.

“Where do many of these ‘students’ come from, who are they, and how do they get into Harvard, or even into our country – and why is there so much HATE?” McMahon wrote in the letter, emulating Trump’s use of all-capital letters to emphasise certain words.

“These are questions that must be answered, among many more, but the biggest question of all is, why will Harvard not give straightforward answers to the American public?”

Harvard, which is fighting the Trump administration’s earlier funding freeze in court, said in a statement that McMahon’s latest demands would have “chilling implications for higher education”.

“Today’s letter makes new threats to illegally withhold funding for lifesaving research and innovation in retaliation against Harvard for filing its lawsuit on April 21,” a university spokesperson said.

“Harvard will continue to comply with the law, promote and encourage respect for viewpoint diversity, and combat antisemitism in our community. Harvard will also continue to defend against illegal government overreach aimed at stifling research and innovation that make Americans safer and more secure.”

US universities have faced controversy over alleged anti-Semitism on their campuses since the eruption last year of nationwide student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.

In two reports released last month, separate Harvard task forces said that students and staff had faced both anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim bias on campus.

In response to the reports, Harvard President Alan Garber expressed concern that some students had been pushed “to the periphery of campus life because of who they are or what they believe”, and pledged to redouble efforts to ensure the university was a place where “mutual respect is the norm”.

Trump and prominent conservatives in the US have also long accused Harvard and other universities of propagating extreme left-wing views and stifling right-wing perspectives.

May 5 (UPI) — Harvard won’t receive any new federal grants until it meets demands from the Trump administration, the Education Department said Monday.

The requirements were spelled in a letter by Education Secretary Linda McMahon to Harvard President Alan M. Garber.

The Trump administration earlier froze $2.2 billion in multi-year federal grants, and President Donald Trump wants to revoke the Ivy League school’s tax-exempt status if it doesn’t make the changes. Also, the Trump administration has threatened to not allow international students to attend.

An Education Department official told reporters on Monday that Harvard will receive no new federal grants, of more than $1 billion, until it “demonstrates responsible management of the university” and satisfies federal demands on a range of subjects.

“Those investigations would need to lead to resolution agreements that bring Harvard back into compliance with federal law. They could also open up a broader negotiation if they were interested in accelerating that,” the official said.

The unnamed person accused Harvard of “serious failures” in four areas: anti-Semitism, racial discrimination, abandonment of rigor and viewpoint diversity.

They include banning masks at campus protests, requiring merit-based hiring and admissions, and giving foreign students’ discipline records.

It does not apply to federal financial aid students to help cover tuition and fees, including Pell Grants. Tuition at Harvard, which has an enrollment of more than 21,000, was more than $56,000 this year and the total cost of attendance was almost $83,000, according to its financial aid website.

Harvard announced last month that families with incomes of $200,000 and less will not pay tuition.

Harvard sued the Trump administration on April 21 after rejecting a letter on April 11 outlining the demands.

The 51-page lawsuit, which was filed in federal court of its home state of Massachusetts, asks a judge to block the funding freeze, arguing it is “unlawful and beyond the government’s authority.”

“All told, the tradeoff put to Harvard and other universities is clear: Allow the Government to micromanage your academic institution or jeopardize the institution’s ability to pursue medical breakthroughs, scientific discoveries, and innovative solutions,” Harvard’s lawyers wrote.

Garber, in a letter addressed to the Harvard community with the lawsuit announcement, said the actions “have stark real-life consequences for patients, students, faculty, staff, researchers, and the standing of American higher education in the world.”

Harvard is the oldest higher education schools in the United States, founded in 1636.

The school’s endowment is valued at $53.2 billion, but it’s considered a long-term investment and not a slush fund.

The Trump administration also has paused funding at other private schools, including Columbia, Cornell, Brown and Northwestern.

May 5 (UPI) — OpenAI said Monday its nonprofit wing will retain control over for-profit operations after initial plans to convert the company to a for-profit organization sparked pushback.

“OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit, and is today overseen and controlled by that nonprofit,” OpenAI Board Chairman Bret Taylor wrote in a company blog post, discussing the outside pressure for the company to stay not-for-profit.

“Going forward, it will continue to be overseen and controlled by that nonprofit,” he added.

OpenAI’s business side since 2019 has been under “capped-profit” control and the company, backed by Microsoft and founded in 2015 as a nonprofit, was valued recently to the tune of $300 billion in funding by SoftBank.

Company officials say a decision was made after going over the issue with California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Delaware’s AG Kathy Jennings.

“With the structure we’re contemplating, the not-for-profit will remain in control of OpenAI,” Taylor told reporters in a video call.

Taylor says OpenAI will be converting its status as a limited liability company, which is a subsidiary of the nonprofit entity, to a public benefit corporation. It followed backlash by civic and AI leaders in OpenAI’s quest to seek greater profits.

“By doing so, it will change the equity structure of that company so that employees, investors and the not-for-profit can own equity in that PBC,” he added.

He said outside financial advisers were consulted on its recapitalization.

Taylor said the nonprofit will have a majority stake in the company but did not specify.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on a call that the board and shareholders agreed and that he was “very happy that the nonprofit and the PBC will have the same mission.”

Altman touched on OpenAI’s ongoing legal battle with Elon Musk, who co-founded the nonprofit research lab group in 2015, in Musk’s bid to stop OpenAI from converting to a for-profit that would be in direct competition with his own AI startup.

He said that, while others are “obsessed” with Musk, U.S. President Donald Trump‘s DOGE adviser, “we are obsessed with our mission and what it takes to fulfill that.”

In March, a California judge denied a motion by Musk to stop OpenAI’s artificial intelligence research group from becoming a for-profit company but permitted it to go to a spring 2026 jury trial.

“But we are here to think about our mission and figure out how to enable that,” said Altman. “And that mission has not changed.”

On Monday, Altman wrote that OpenAI’s nonprofit will become a “big” shareholder in its new PBC “in an amount supported by independent financial advisors.”

He added the company will move to a “normal capital structure” in which “everyone has stock” and that officials are eager to unveil details with Microsoft and the newly-appointed “nonprofit commissioners.”

US President Donald Trump says he wants to work with his Turkish counterpart to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

United States President Donald Trump says he has had a “very good and productive” telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and they have discussed a wide range of topics, including how to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, Syria and Israel’s war on Gaza.

During the call on Monday, Trump said Erdogan had invited him to visit Turkiye and he had extended an invitation for the Turkish leader to visit Washington, DC. No dates were announced.

A readout of the call from the Turkish presidency confirmed Erdogan invited Trump for a visit.

The Republican president, who described his relationship with Erdogan as “excellent” during his first tenure at the White House, said the two countries would cooperate on ending the war in Ukraine.

“I look forward to working with President Erdogan on getting the ridiculous but deadly, War between Russia and Ukraine ended – NOW!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, his social media platform.

NATO member Turkiye has sought to maintain good relations with both of its Black Sea neighbours since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has twice hosted talks aimed at ending the war.

“Noting that he supports President Trump’s approach toward ending wars, President Erdogan expressed appreciation for the efforts exerted to maintain the negotiation process with Iran and stop the war between Russia and Ukraine,” Turkiye’s Directorate of Communications said in a statement posted on X.

Erdogan also raised the urgent need for a ceasefire in Gaza, warning that its humanitarian crisis had reached a “grave level”, the directorate said.

The Turkish president also stressed the importance of the “uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian aid and the urgent end to this tragic situation”.

On neighbouring Syria, Erdogan reaffirmed Turkiye’s commitment to preserving its territorial integrity and restoring lasting stability.

He said US efforts to ease sanctions on Syria and its new government would help move that process forward and contribute to regional peace.

Regarding bilateral ties, Erdogan said Ankara remained committed to strengthening cooperation with Washington, particularly in the defence sector.

Trump is due to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates next week.

Washington, DC – A bill in the United States Congress that aims to penalise the boycotting of countries friendly to the US is facing opposition from allies of President Donald Trump over free speech concerns, putting its passage in jeopardy.

According to Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a vote in the House of Representatives on the proposal, previously scheduled for Monday, has been cancelled.

Although Trump’s Republican Party has been leading legislative efforts to crack down on boycotts of Israel, over the past days, several conservatives close to the US president voiced opposition to the bill, dubbed the International Governmental Organization (IGO) Anti-Boycott Act.

“It is my job to defend American’s rights to buy or boycott whomever they choose without the government harshly fining them or imprisoning them,” Greene said in a social media post on Monday.

“But what I don’t understand is why we are voting on a bill on behalf of other countries and not the President’s executive orders that are FOR OUR COUNTRY???”

Charlie Kirk, a prominent right-wing activist and commentator, also said that the bill should not pass.

“In America you are allowed to hold differing views. You are allowed to disagree and protest,” Kirk wrote on X on Sunday. “We’ve allowed far too many people who hate America move here from abroad, but the right to speak freely is the birthright of all Americans.”

Steve Bannon, a former Trump adviser and influential right-wing media personality, backed the comments of Kirk and Greene, writing on the social media platform Gettr, “Fact check: True” and “Agreed” in response to their statements, respectively.

IGO Anti-Boycott Act

The proposed legislation was introduced by pro-Israel hawks in the US Congress, Republican Mike Lawler and Democrat Josh Gottheimer, in January, and it has been co-sponsored by 22 other lawmakers from both major parties.

The bill would expand a 2018 law that bans coercive boycotts imposed by foreign governments to include international governmental organisations (IGOs).

The original legislation prohibits boycotting a country friendly to the US based on an “agreement with, a requirement of, or a request from or on behalf” of another nation. It imposes penalties of up to $1m and 20 years in prison for violations.

Expanding the legislation to include IGOs risks penalising individuals and companies in the US that boycott firms listed by the United Nations as doing business in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

While the bill itself does not explicitly mention Israel, its drafters have said that it targets the UN and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement, which calls for economic pressure on the Israeli government to end its abuses against Palestinians.

“This change targets harmful and inherently anti-Semitic BDS efforts at IGOs, such as the UN, by extending protections already in place for boycotts instigated by foreign countries,” Lawler’s office said in January.

States and the federal government have been passing anti-BDS laws for years, raising the alarm about the violation of free speech rights, which are guaranteed by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

Numerous legal cases have challenged these laws, and some judges have ruled that they are unconstitutional, while others have upheld them.

Rights groups and Palestinian rights advocates have argued that anti-boycott laws aim to shut down the debate about Israel and criminalise peaceful resistance against its violations of international law.

Anti-BDS crackdown

Over the years, leading UN agencies and rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have accused Israel of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including imposing apartheid on Palestinians.

But supporters of anti-BDS laws say the measures are designed to combat discrimination against Israel and regulate trade, not speech.

Such laws have mainly faced opposition from progressive Democrats, but the IGO Anti-Boycott Act has generated anger from right-wing politicians, too.

“Americans have the right to boycott, and penalizing this risks free speech. I reject and vehemently condemn antisemitism but I cannot violate the first amendment,” Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican, wrote on X.

I agree with @RepMTG .
I’ll be voting No on this bill as well. https://t.co/YOPga59Xyc

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) May 4, 2025

The right-wing rejection of the Lawler-Gottheimer bill comes as the Trump administration continues with its push to target criticism of and protests against Israel, especially on college campuses.

Since Trump took office, the US government has revoked the visas of hundreds of students for activism against Israel’s war on Gaza.

Several students, including legal permanent residents, have been jailed over allegations of anti-Semitism and “spreading Hamas propaganda”.

Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University, has been detained since March, and the only known allegation against her is co-authoring an op-ed calling on her college to honour the student senate’s call for divesting from Israeli companies.

Trump has also frozen and threatened to freeze federal funding for several universities, including Harvard, over pro-Palestine protests.

The administration of US President Donald Trump says it is going to pay $1,000 to undocumented immigrants in the United States who return to their home countries voluntarily as it pushes forward with its plans for mass deportations.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a news release on Monday that it’s also paying for travel assistance and people who use an app called CBP Home to tell the government they plan to return home will be “deprioritized” for detention and removal by immigration enforcement.

“If you are here illegally, self-deportation is the best, safest and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest. DHS is now offering illegal aliens financial travel assistance and a stipend to return to their home country through the CBP Home App,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.

The stipend and airfare for people who voluntarily depart would cost less than an actual deportation, the agency said. The average cost of arresting, detaining and deporting someone without legal status is currently about $17,000, according to the DHS.

Trump took office in January pledging to deport millions of people but so far has trailed deportations under his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden. Biden’s administration faced high levels of undocumented immigration and quickly returned many people caught crossing the border.

The Trump administration has deported 152,000 people since it took office on January 20, according to the DHS, lower than the 195,000 deported from February to April last year under Biden.

Trump’s administration has tried to encourage migrants and asylum seekers to leave voluntarily by threatening steep fines, trying to strip away legal status, and deporting people to prisons in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and El Salvador.

Trump previewed the stipend plan in April, saying the US would consider allowing migrants and asylum seekers to return.

“If they’re good, if we want them back in, we’re going to work with them to get them back in as quickly as we can,” he said.

In the announcement on Monday, the DHS said people who choose to leave “may help preserve” the ability to return legally but did not cite any specific pathway or programme.

May 5 (UPI) — The board of Berkshire Hathaway voted to keep Warren Buffett as its chairman and appointed a new company president and CEO.

On Sunday, board members voted unanimously to name Greg Abel as Berkshire Hathaway’s president and CEO starting Jan. 1 of next year and to keep Buffett as chairman, according to a company release.

Buffett, 94, stunned shareholders with a surprise announcement of his pending retirement during an annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Neb., on Saturday in front of roughly 20,000 attendees.

“I could be helpful, I believe, in that in certain respects, if we ran into periods of great opportunity or anything,” he said over the weekend.

At the meeting Buffett asked the 12-member board to name Greg Abel, the current vice chairman of non-insurance operations, as its new company president and CEO.

Abel, 62, is also chair of Berkshire Hathaway Energy and since 2021 has been designated as Buffett’s successor.

On Friday, stock shares in Berkshire closed at a record market value of more than $1 trillion.

Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway’s largest shareholder, controlling approximately 31.2% of its voting interest, in February celebrated 60 years at the helm of the global company he helped create in the mid-1950s.

Meanwhile, the billionaire company chief said he believes the American economy will steady itself after the market turmoil created in the wake of the announcement of international tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump, reiterating his position that tariffs should not be used as “an act of war” with other nations.

May 5 (UPI) — Former Vice President Mike Pence credited leaders from both parties for coming together to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election amid the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol.

Pence delivered the remarks Sunday as he was presented the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his rejection of the pressure placed upon him by President Donald Trump and the actions of the rioters to complete the process of certifying the election results.

“Our institutions held that day, not because of any one person, but because leaders in both political parties, Republicans and Democrats, did their duties,” Pence said.

“So I came tonight to give credit where credit is due, but also to say in these divided times, in these anxious days, I know in my heart that we will find our way forward as one nation.”

Pence also said he felt “profoundly unworthy” to receive the award and gave credit to two of his advisors at the time as well as his wife Karen and daughter Charlotte, who both remained in the Capitol with him.

He further praised the U.S. Capitol Police for their actions amid the riots.

“When I think of that fateful day four years ago, the only heroes I saw were wearing uniforms,” he said.

Pence didn’t make mention of Trump’s pardons of more than 1,000 people involved with the attack on the Capitol and decision to commute the sentences of some found guilty on related charges, but did briefly touch on what Trump has done since his return to power.

“I believe in a strong defense, limited government, the right to life, and I’m going to go out on a limb and say that might put me in the minority in this room,” Pence admitted to the crowd at Kennedy’s presidential library in Boston. “But I also have differences with members of my own party, on spending and tariffs, and my belief that America is the leader of the free world and must continue to stand with Ukraine until the Russian invasion is repelled and a just and lasting peace is secured.”

“At the time, I thought Vice President Pence was just doing his job,” said Caroline Kennedy, daughter of John F. Kennedy at the presentation, “Only later did I realize that his act of courage saved our government and warned us about what could happen and is happening right now.”

Pence said in the past that former President Kennedy was a childhood hero of his who had helped inspire him to go into public service. “To be here tonight, bearing witness to a journey that Kennedy helped inspire in my small life is more meaningful than I can possibly express,” he said.

Pence oversaw Congress as it counted Electoral College votes to certify Joe Biden‘s victory when Trump supporters attacked the Capitol. He refused to submit to pressure from Trump overturn the results of the 2020 election.

“Jan. 6 was a tragic day,” Pence said. “But it became a triumph of freedom. And history will record that our institutions held.”

‘It’s the symbol of law and order’. US President Donald Trump has ordered officials to re-open and expand the infamous Alcatraz prison. The federal jail held notorious US criminals on a rocky island in California’s San Francisco Bay, before it was closed in 1963.

May 4 (UPI) — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that she had rejected an offer from U.S. President Donald Trump to send American troops to help fight drug cartels.

Sheinbaum, speaking on Saturday from the opening of the new Benito Juárez García University for Well-being in the Texcoco Lake Ecological Park, addressed a Friday report from the Wall Street Journal that said Trump had offered up troops during a lengthy phone call earlier this year.

“I want to say it’s true; that, in some of the calls, but not in the way they mention it, he said: ‘How can we help you fight drug trafficking? I propose that the United States military come in to help’,” Sheinbaum said in her speech as published by her office.

“And you know what I told him? ‘No, President Trump, territory is inviolable, sovereignty is inviolable, sovereignty is not for sale; sovereignty is loved and defended.'”

The Mexican presidency said in its news release that Sheinbaum told Trump that information could be shared, and the two countries could collaborate, but only with the authority each nation has within their own borders.

“And I told him one more thing. If you want to help us, President Trump, help us stop weapons from entering Mexico from the United States’,” Sheinbaum recounted.

Anna Kelly, the deputy press secretary at the White House, provided a written statement to Fox News on Saturday that highlighted the collaboration between the two countries on combating drug trafficking.

“President Trump has worked with President Sheinbaum to advance border security collaboration with Mexico to the highest levels ever,” Kelly wrote.

“This robust cooperation and information sharing is delivering tangible results, including the removal of numerous cartel leaders to the U.S. to face justice and creating the most secure border in history.”

Since returning to office, Trump has made cracking down on drug cartels a key tenet of his agenda including designating cartels as foreign terrorist organizations — a move that would give U.S. prosecutors broader authority and potentially open the door to military action. Trump first floated the designation during his initial presidency.

Meanwhile, the CIA is deploying MQ-9 Reaper drones over Mexico to search for fentanyl labs run by drug cartels.

Despite resistance from some lawmakers and concerns from foreign policy experts about sovereignty and unintended consequences, the Trump administration has insisted such tactics — and his tariffs — are necessary to curb the flow of fentanyl and stem migration at the southern border.

May 4 (UPI) — An Israel-based Patriot air defense system is being moved to Ukraine to help in its ongoing battle against a three-year long Russian invasion, officials announced Sunday.

The system will be sent after it is refurbished, and Western allies have said Germany and Greece could also send an additional one.

The deployment of the Patriot system is a continuation of the previous administration’s commitment to send more defense weapons to Kyiv. In September, Former President Joe Biden arranged a deal with Israel to send the missile defense system to Ukraine, before Donald Trump was re-elected.

Trump administration officials said “it continues to provide equipment to Ukraine from previously authorized” agreements, The New York Times reported.

The Trump administration has said in recent weeks that it wants an end to the war in Ukraine but the chances of a quick resolution have taken a hit in recent weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a drone attack on key Ukrainian infrastructure on the eve of a proposed ceasefire.

Kyiv media reported that four people have been killed and at least 30 more injured in a barrage of drone attacks in recent days, including 11 children.

“Air defenses shot down 69 drones, while 80 vanished from radars — likely used as decoys to overwhelm Ukraine’s defenses,” the Kyiv Independent reported. “The assault was countered with electronic warfare units, aviation, anti-aircraft missile systems, and mobile fire groups.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said “a real ceasefire is necessary … to bring the war to an end.”

Russia is calling for a ceasefire on May 9, the Independent reported.

US president makes claim after Mexican leader says her country’s sovereignty ‘not for sale.’

United States President Donald Trump has claimed that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum refused an offer to send US troops to the Latin American country due to her fear of drug cartels.

Trump on Sunday confirmed that he had suggested sending US troops to Mexico to combat drug trafficking, a day after Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her country’s sovereignty was “not for sale”.

“If Mexico wanted help with the cartels, we would be honoured to go in and do it. I told her that,” Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One.

“I would be honoured to go in and do it. The cartels are trying to destroy our country.”

Asked if he was disappointed over Sheinbaum’s decision, Trump claimed that she had refused the offer because she is “so afraid of the cartels, she can’t walk”.

“I think she’s a lovely woman. The president of Mexico is a lovely woman, but she is so afraid of the cartels that she can’t even think straight,” Trump said without offering evidence to support his claim.

On Saturday, Sheinbaum told a public event that she had told the US president that Mexico would never accept the presence of US troops on its territory.

“I told him, No, President Trump, our territory is inviolable, our sovereignty is inviolable, our sovereignty is not for sale,’” she said.

Sheinbaum made her comments after The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, reported that the Trump administration was pressuring her government to allow “deeper US military involvement” in the fight against Mexican drug cartels.

Trump has often accused Mexico of not doing enough to halt the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs across the US southern border.

In one of the first salvoes of his wide-ranging trade war, Trump in February announced that he would impose across-the-board 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada over what he said was their failure to crack down on the influx of drugs and undocumented migrants.

Trump subsequently announced that he would suspend the tariffs on goods falling under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the three-way free trade deal that his first administration negotiated to succeed the North American Free Trade Agreement.

May 4 (UPI) — President Donald Trump Sunday announced plans to reopen Alcatraz, the notorious prison in San Francisco that housed some of the nation’s most infamous and dangerous criminals in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge.

“For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering,” Trump posted Sunday on Truth Social.

Trump said he has directed the federal Bureau of Prisons, the Justice Department, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to reopen a larger and rebuilt facility, equipping it to house the United States’ most violent offenders.

“The reopening of ALCATRAZ will serve as a symbol of Law, Order and JUSTICE,’ he continued in his social media post.

The prison was closed in 1963 not long after the June, 1962 high profile escape of Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin who slipped away on a raft, leaving fake heads they created in a crafts class in their cell beds to fool prison guards.

The men were never discovered, however, experts have said they likely drowned in the frigid waters of San Francisco Bay, though their bodies have never been found.

“Despite the odds, from 1934 until the prison was closed in 1963, 36 men tried 14 separate escapes,” the FBI said in a webpage about the history of the prison and the daring escape. “Nearly all were caught or didn’t survive the attempt.”

Despite the odds, from 1934 until the prison was closed in 1963, 36 men tried 14 separate escapes. Nearly all were caught or didn’t survive the attempt.

Since then, the former prison, isolated on a rocky island in San Francisco Bay, has been operated as a tourist site.

Trump’s announcement comes as the administration has been sending accused criminals to prisons in Guatemala and El Salvador, which has been fraught with logistical and diplomatic challenges.

The president has said he aims to send foreign nationals, as well as criminal U.S. citizens, to the newly revamped Alcatraz.

He did not release a timeline for construction or reopening.

US president claims that Hollywood is undergoing a ‘very fast death’ despite raking in $30bn in revenues in 2024.

United States President Donald Trump has announced plans to impose a 100 percent tariff on foreign films, claiming that Hollywood is undergoing a “very fast death” due to overseas competition.

In a social media post on Sunday, Trump said he had directed the US Department of Commerce and the US Trade Representative to immediately begin the process of imposing the tariff on “any and all” films produced in “foreign lands”.

“Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

“This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!”

Asked by reporters about the tariff later on Sunday, Trump claimed that the US was making “very few movies now.”

“Other nations, a lot of them, have stolen our movie industry,” he said. “If they are not willing to make a movie inside the United States, we should have a tariff on movies that come in.”

Trump did not elaborate on how such a tariff would work in practical terms, including whether it would be applied to Hollywood features that involve shooting and production across multiple countries.

Trump’s announcement follows his appointment in January of actors Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson and Jon Voight as “special ambassadors” tasked with bringing back business that Hollywood has lost to other countries.

At the time, Trump said the actors would be “my eyes and ears” as he set about instituting a “Golden Age of Hollywood”.

Hollywood has faced tough business conditions in recent years amid the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2023 actors’ and writers’ strike.

Hollywood studios grossed about $30bn worldwide last year, down about 7 percent from 2023, according to Gower Street Analytics.

While last year’s performance was an improvement on revenues in 2020, 2021 and 2022, it was still about 20 below the pre-pandemic average, according to Gower Street Analytics.

United States President Donald Trump on Thursday removed Mike Waltz as national security adviser (NSA), a key policy-shaping role, and tapped Secretary of State Marco Rubio to take over the role in the interim.

Trump announced that he was nominating Waltz to be the next US ambassador to the United Nations. “Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our Nation’s Interests first. I know he will do the same in his new role,” he posted on his Truth Social platform.

“I’m deeply honored to continue my service to President Trump and our great nation,” Waltz posted on X Thursday.

The senior official’s reassignment comes in the aftermath of the so-called “Signalgate” incident and his leaning towards aggressive military action against arch foe Iran.

What were the main reasons behind Waltz’s removal?

The army veteran came under heavy criticism after creating a group on the Signal messaging app with other top officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, to discuss military attack plans on Yemen.

The group’s chat became public after the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic magazine, Jeffrey Goldberg, was added to the group mistakenly. After Goldberg published extracts from the chat, Waltz said he took “full responsibility” for the mistake.

The scandal cast a doubt on Trump’s national security team, with both Waltz and Hegseth coming under fire. Several Democrats called for their resignation in the immediate aftermath of the scandal.

While attending a cabinet meeting held by Trump last week, Waltz was also photographed using a modified and less secure version of Signal to text top officials.

According to The Washington Post, he also upset Trump after engaging in “intense coordination” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the possibility of launching military strikes on Iran.

As the Trump administration continues to pursue Omani-mediated talks with Tehran, Waltz reportedly frustrated the president by adopting an increasingly hawkish stance that favoured military aggression.

Netanyahu’s office, however, denied the daily’s report that claimed he had “intensive contact” with Waltz.

Moreover, he was reported to have built up tensions with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, who increasingly felt he was not fit for the Trump team.

Who else is Trump sacking?

Along with Waltz, the president is kicking out his deputy, Alex Wong, according to US media reports, becoming the first senior White House officials to be fired from the second Trump presidency.

A number of inspectors general, federal workers, and senior military officials, including Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti and Commander of Air Force Special Operations Command General James Slife, have also been fired.

During his first term, Trump sacked a large number of senior officials, including FBI Director James Comey, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, and NSAs John Bolton and Michael Flynn.

Why are MAGA supporters targeting Waltz?

Waltz has come under fire from some recognised figures in the Make America Great Again (MAGA) camp backing Trump, mainly for a perceived lack of loyalty to the president and a difference in policy approach.

Steve Bannon, a former chief White House strategist and influential figure, criticised Waltz for his hawkish foreign policy stance, particularly his support for military interventions.

Laura Loomer, a far-right activist, highlighted a 2016 video in which Waltz criticised Trump’s remarks about military service members as a sign of his disloyalty.

She also accused Waltz of appointing staffers with anti-Trump sentiments and targeted his deputy, Wong, for alleged ties to Chinese interests.

But JD Vance backed him, arguing that his reassignment was not a demotion but a strategic move that would allow Waltz to better serve the administration in a new diplomatic role.

What’s next for Waltz?

Waltz will now have to secure confirmation from the Senate to become the new US envoy to the UN, in what is expected to be a challenging path.

Waltz is a former army green beret with deployments to Afghanistan that earned him a bronze star for valour. He has written extensively about military strategy and robustly supports national defence.

The Republican is also a former member of the US House of Representatives and used to work as a counterterrorism adviser in the Pentagon during the George W Bush administration.

But the Signalgate controversy, his reported unauthorised communications with Israeli leaders, and opposition by Democrats in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee could work against him.

Who is Waltz’s replacement?

For now, and without any specific time period announced, Rubio is taking over as NSA.

Rubio, himself one of the more hawkish figures in the White House, is assuming more responsibility in a move that could be aimed at consolidating foreign policy leadership and streamlining the decision-making process.

This is the first time since the 1970s that the secretary of state is also acting as NSA.

Trump has not confirmed any potential replacements for Waltz in the future, but Stephen Miller, Steve Witkoff and Ric Grenell are some of the top figures in his circle.

Miller is a senior policy and homeland security adviser known for his hardline immigration and foreign policy stances. Witkoff is serving as special envoy, leading the talks with Russia, Iran, and the Palestinian group Hamas. Grenell is the acting director of national intelligence and a former ambassador to Germany.

May 4 (UPI) — President Donald Trump expressed his uncertainty in an interview when asked if immigrants have the constitutional right to due process.

Moderator Kristen Welker asked Trump in a sit-down interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” to respond to remarks from Marco Rubio, his secretary of state, who had affirmed last month that every person in the United States was entitled to due process.

“I don’t know. I’m not, I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know,” Trump responded.

Welker pressed that Fifth Amendment grants anyone the right to due process in the United States, as well as enshrines protections against double jeopardy and self-incrimination.

“Then we’d have to have a million or 2 million or 3 million trials,” Trump responded. “We have thousands of people that are some murderers and some drug dealers and some of the worst people on Earth.”

Welker again pressed whether Trump, as president, would need to uphold the U.S. Constitution even when responding to the challenges of migration.

“I don’t know. I have to respond by saying, again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me, and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said,” Trump said.

“What you said is not what I heard the Supreme Court said. They have a different interpretation.”

Trump’s comments refer to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a legal resident of Maryland who was erroneously deported to El Salvador, where he is being held in prison by President Nayib Bukele.

The Trump administration has admitted in court that he was wrongfully detained and deported due to an administrative error, despite a 2019 court order prohibiting his removal for safety reasons.

A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration had to arrange for Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States, but the administration has argued that it cannot since the Salvadoran prison where he is being held is outside the jurisdiction of the United States.

The Trump administration has also repeatedly alleged without evidence that Abrego Garcia is a member of the violent MS-13 street gang.

The U.S. Supreme Court later agreed with U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis’ ruling, which it said “properly requires the government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.”

In Sunday’s interview, Welker asked Trump if he would need to seek clarification from the Supreme Court about an issue with the word “facilitate” in Xinis’ order.

“We may do that. I was asking about that,” Trump said. “We may do that.”