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Myanmar’s earthquake devastated the war-torn nation. For its reviled military leaders, it has brought opportunity

Earthquakes are devastating for those who have lost loved ones, homes and livelihoods, but for military dictators clinging to power, such disasters can also bring opportunity.

Myanmar’s military rulers have spent the past four years waging a brutal civil war across the Southeast Asian country, sending columns of troops on bloody rampages, torching and bombing villages, massacring residents, jailing opponents and forcing young men and women to join the army.

The junta is headed by a widely reviled army chief who overthrew the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and installed himself as leader.

But like with most aspiring strongmen, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing’s rule is precarious. He and his cronies have been sanctioned and spurned internationally, the economy is in tatters, and his military is losing significant territory in a grinding, multi-front war against a determined resistance.

By some accounts, he barely controls 30% of the country.

So when a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar on March 28, killing more than 3,700 people and causing widespread devastation, the general moved rapidly to bolster his position with a rare plea for international help.

“Min Aung Hlaing is leveraging the earthquake for regional engagement and electoral legitimacy,” said Kyaw Hsan Hlaing, a PhD student in political science at Cornell University.

“The humanitarian crisis gives him a pretext to open channels he’d long shut.”

Those openings included a face-to-face meeting last month between the junta leader and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim of Malaysia, which currently holds the rotating chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The regional bloc had shunned high-level talks with Myanmar since the coup, to avoid legitimizing the junta.

Following the meeting in the Thai capital Bangkok, Anwar said he had a “frank and constructive discussion” with the general, focused on humanitarian assistance for quake-hit communities and the extension of a military-declared ceasefire to facilitate aid deliveries.

“For Min Aung Hlaing, securing even a veneer of regional legitimacy now lays political groundwork: He can argue ‘Look, neighbors trust me enough to talk,’ even as democratic leaders and exile groups remain excluded from the table,” said Kyaw Hsan Hlaing.

Specter of elections

Some say now is the time for countries to engage with Myanmar’s military rulers, to push for dialogue and peace.

Four years of war has ravaged the country; 3 million people have been displaced by the fighting and the earthquake has only deepened an already dire humanitarian crisis in which at least 20 million people need aid.

“The main concern is the humanitarian situation. Sometimes, when we have this kind of crisis, it’s an opportunity for all the parties to try to come together, to think of the interests of the people… maybe it could lead to some kind of dialogue process,” said Sihasak Phuangketkeow, a former deputy foreign affairs minister of Thailand who has been part of his country’s efforts to engage the State Administration Council, the junta’s official name.

In recent months, Min Aung Hlaing has enjoyed a series of diplomatic engagements.

As bodies were still being pulled from the rubble of the quake, the general was shaking hands with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of a regional meeting in Bangkok.

Rights groups and civil society organizations said his presence at the BIMSTEC summit amounted to the gathering lending legitimacy to a war criminal.

India said its bilateral meeting, set up to facilitate disaster relief, provided an opportunity to push the junta for “inclusive dialogue” and underline that there could be “no military solution to the conflict.”

That meeting came a month after Min Aung Hlaing’s high-profile state visit to Russia to boost cooperation with President Vladimir Putin, his longtime ally and main arms supplier.

Above all for the junta leader, domestic legitimacy is key in order to maintain his regime. And regional support for his planned elections, slated to be held later this year, is the first step in securing that.

Since seizing power, Min Aung Hlaing has repeatedly promised elections.

But with most of the democratic camp in exile or jail, Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy dissolved, and the military’s widespread repression of the people, such a vote would never be considered free or fair, observers say.

Min Aung Hlaing’s March invitation to election observers from Belarus – Europe’s last dictatorship – appeared to underscore their point.

“We have to make it very clear that for the election to be credible, it has to have inclusive dialogue,” said Sihasak, who is now secretary-general of the Asian Peace and Reconciliation Council.

“It is not a blank check,” he added. “It’s an opportunity for us to engage, but not engage in a way that supports legitimacy, but to impress upon the regime that they have to also make concessions.”

Stopping the violence

Some observers say the junta cannot be trusted to make concessions, when the military’s history is littered with false promises masking an unending stream of atrocities.

Even as Malaysia’s Anwar was touting the military’s so-called ceasefire to help quake-hit communities, the junta was restricting aid and intensifying its deadly campaign with airstrikes in opposition areas that have reportedly killed dozens of civilians.

Analysts warn that the military will use greater engagement as a pretext to normalize diplomatic ties and entrench its authoritarian rule.

“If you negotiate with the devil without red lines, that is complicity,” said Adelina Kamal, an independent analyst and member of the Southeast Asian Women Peace Mediators network.

Kamal said the international community risks being “deceived into the military’s stage performance,” where elections would be “an illusion of democratic transition.”

In 2008, when parts of the country were ravaged by powerful Cyclone Nargis, the military regime at the time pushed ahead with a constitutional referendum that paved the way for a semi-civilian government but cemented the military’s influence on the country’s politics.

With a new military-drafted constitution in place, the regime – called the State Peace and Development Council – held elections in 2010 widely regarded as a sham.

Today’s junta is “taking a page from the SPDC’s playbook to assert and retain its political role,” said Moe Thuzar, coordinator of the Myanmar studies program at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

“The people of Myanmar have made it amply clear since 2021 about their mistrust in the military’s statements about elections, and view elections in the current situation as potentially leading to more violence.”

Those who have firsthand experience of that violence say actions speak louder than words.

“Talking to Min Aung Hlaing will not bring any political solution and satisfy what the majority of people want,” said Khun Bedu, chairman of the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, which is fighting the military in the country’s southeast.

The Karen National Union, which has been fighting the military since independence from Britain more than 70 years ago, said inclusive dialogue cannot happen without first a ceasefire and the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

There is hope, however, from some quarters that progress could be made this year.

Following his talks with the junta leader, Malaysia’s Anwar also held a widely praised virtual meeting with Mahn Win Khaing Than, prime minister of the National Unity Government, in ASEAN’s first public face-to-face with Myanmar’s shadow administration of lawmakers deposed in the coup.

The NUG, which considers itself the legitimate government of Myanmar, has repeatedly insisted on engaging all stakeholders to solve the crisis.

“I see 2025 as the year, with the election coming in and with this crisis, that we can either win the peace or we can lose the peace,” said Sihasak, the former Thai minister.

To get there, international partners should “tie any dialogue to verifiable steps” including “genuine humanitarian corridors, release of political prisoners, and binding guarantees of inclusive talks,” said Kyaw Hsan Hlaing at Cornell.

“Otherwise, engagement simply extends the junta’s lifeline at the expense of the Burmese people’s aspirations for democracy,” he said.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

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Prince Harry says father, King Charles, no longer speaks to him but hopes to reconcile

Britain’s Prince Harry has revealed that his father, King Charles, no longer speaks to him and that he cannot imagine bringing his family back to the UK after losing a court case over his security arrangements on Friday.

In an explosive interview with the BBC after the court ruling, where at times he was visibly emotional, Harry described being “devastated” at the decision, which he said made it “impossible” for him to return to the UK with his wife Meghan and his two young children.

But he said that he would “love” to repair the rift with his family, which he said had broken down over the security issue. The king “won’t speak to me because of this security stuff,” he said.

The British government downgraded Harry’s security in 2020 after he and Meghan stepped down as senior royals. “When that decision happened, I couldn’t believe it. I actually couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I thought, with all the disagreements and all of the chaos that’s happening, the one thing that I could rely on is my family keeping me safe.”

Harry spoke with the BBC in California, where he has been living with Meghan and their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, since relocating to the United States in 2020.

Interviews like this are not common for the royal family, though Harry and his wife made headlines in 2021 after speaking to Oprah Winfrey, with Meghan sharing that life as a working royal made her contemplate suicide. In the interview, the couple also alleged that there were “concerns” from the royal family during her pregnancy about how dark their unborn baby Archie’s skin would be.

The case the Duke of Sussex lost on Friday was deeply personal to him. He had previously expressed how important it is to ensure his family has security when they visit the UK.

“The only thing I’ve been asking for throughout this whole process is safety,” Harry said in his interview Friday, calling the situation a “good old-fashioned establishment stitch up.”

For the duke, there has been a sense of not wanting history to repeat itself, and he has frequently drawn comparisons between the treatment of his wife to that faced by his mother, Diana. The late Princess of Wales died in 1997 after suffering internal injuries resulting from a high-speed car crash in Paris, while being pursued by paparazzi.

Harry said it was currently “impossible” to bring his family to his home country. “I can’t see a world in which I’d be bringing my wife and children back to the UK at this point,” he said.

The Duke of Sussex also discussed the years-long rift between him and the royal family, sharing that there have been “so many disagreements” between him and some of his family members, but that the situation surrounding his police protection is the “sticking point.”

“It is the only thing that’s left,” he said. “Of course, some members of my family will never forgive me for writing a book. Of course, they will never forgive me for lots of things. But, you know … I would love reconciliation with my family. There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore.”

The publication of Harry’s book “Spare” in 2023 ripped open old wounds in the family after he shared scathing and intimate details about his experience as a royal.

Later that year, the duke appeared briefly at the coronation of his father, sitting with his uncle Prince Andrew in the third row of the service. Both are non-working royals and did not perform any duties during the ceremony.

On Friday, Harry said that, despite their fractious relationship, he would like to make amends with the king, who last year was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer.

“I don’t know how much longer my father has,” he added. “He won’t speak to me because of this security stuff, but it would be nice to reconcile.”

This story has been updated with developments.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

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Singapore votes in test of ruling party’s monopoly

Singapore is holding an election on Saturday almost certain to perpetuate the unbroken rule of the People’s Action Party, in a test of public approval for its new prime minister as the city-state braces for economic turbulence from a global trade war.

The election is a bellwether for the popularity of the PAP, which has ruled since before Singapore’s 1965 independence, with attention on whether the opposition can challenge the ruling party’s tight grip on power and make further inroads after small but unprecedented gains in the last contest.

Though the PAP has consistently won in landslides with about 90% of seats, its share of the popular vote is closely watched as a measure of the strength of its mandate, with premier Lawrence Wong keen to improve on the PAP’s 60.1% in the 2020 election – one of its worst performances on record.

Wong, 52, became the Asian financial hub’s fourth prime minister last year, promising continuity, new blood and to lead Singapore his own way.

He took over at the end of the two-decade premiership of Lee Hsien Loong, the son of former leader Lee Kuan Yew, the founder of modern Singapore.

Polls opened at 8 a.m. and will close at 8 p.m. (8 a.m. ET), with a result expected in the early hours of Sunday.

Living costs and housing availability in one of the world’s most expensive cities are key issues for the 2.76 million voters and a continued challenge for Wong, whose government has warned of recession if the trade-dependent economy becomes collateral damage in the war over steep U.S. tariffs.

Lopsided contest

The PAP has long had the upper hand in politics, with a big membership to draw from, influence in state institutions and far greater resources than its untested opponents, which are each running in only a small number of constituencies.

The election will be a lopsided affair, with 46% of all candidates representing the PAP, which is contesting all 97 seats compared to 26 for its biggest rival, the Workers’ Party, which won 10 last time, the most by an opposition party.

But though a PAP defeat is extremely unlikely, some analysts say the election could alter the dynamic of Singapore politics in the years ahead if the opposition can make more headway, with younger voters keen to see alternative voices, greater scrutiny and more robust debate.

“It is to be expected that (its) overall electoral support will gradually, gradually dip from general election to general election,” said National University of Singapore political scientist Lam Peng Er.

“Would Singaporeans be that surprised if the PAP’s electoral support were to dip to 57% or 58%? It will surprise nobody. I don’t think it will even surprise the PAP at all.”

The PAP for its part is keen to avoid upsets and warned voters of the consequences of seat losses for key cabinet members, whom Wong said were critical to balancing ties between the United States and China and navigating Singapore’s highly exposed economy through potentially choppy waters.

“I have backups … sure. But everyone knows that the team cannot function at the same level,” Wong told the 1.4 million-strong labor union on Thursday.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

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These kibbutzniks used to believe in peace with Palestinians. Their views now echo Israel’s rightward shift

Sitting inside her new apartment in kibbutz Tzora, a leafy community just west of Jerusalem, Almog Holot ran her fingers over a bowl of crystals as the wind chime on her balcony blew in the breeze.

Eighteen months ago, she spent 12 hours gripping the handle of her safe room door in kibbutz Nirim as she, along with her mother and her children – then 6 and 8 years old – hid from Hamas militants, who threw grenades at their house, ransacked their home and terrorized their community.

Five people were killed and another five were kidnapped from Holot’s kibbutz on October 7, 2023, when Hamas and other militant groups launched a coordinated terror attack on Israeli communities and military posts, killing 1,200 and kidnapping 251 people.

Holot and her family survived. But her belief in peace did not.

Holot and her ex-husband, who is from Nirim, a kibbutz about 2 kilometers (approximately 1.2 miles) from the Gaza border, had decided to raise their family there, believing it was the best place for their children.

“Kibbutzes are like paradise on earth in many ways,” she said. “You live in a community where money is not the most important thing… people know each other, people care about each other, and people help each other.”

While her children grew up “in a reality in which in every single second of every single day, a rocket might hit them,” Holot said that before October 7, such attacks were rare.

Almog Holot, who survived the attack on her home in kibbutz Nirim, now lives in another kibbutz outside of Jerusalem.
Almog Holot

“Most of the time it was really peaceful,” she said. “My children knew to answer people that the people who threw rockets were just Hamas, and most of the people in Gaza are good – just like them.”

Like many residents of kibbutzim – or communal settlements – located near the Gaza border, Holot says she holds left-leaning political views. And like many so-called kibbutzniks, she too believed in, and advocated for, peace with Palestinians.

People from outside of her kibbutz used to tell her that her views were “naïve,” she said. Now she believes they were right.

“I can no longer say that 95% of them (Palestinians) want to live in peace,” Holot said, adding that many in her community were “surprised” by the attacks, but not because of the actions of Hamas.

“We thought (Gazans) were like us. And it turned out, no, they’re not,” she said, alleging that “common people of Gaza” were involved in the looting of October 7 and expressed support for the attacks.

It’s an attitude that Avida Bachar, from nearby kibbutz Be’eri also shares. Bachar lost his wife, his teenage son and his right leg in the attacks, in which 100 of the kibbutz’s 1,100 residents were killed.

Prior to October 7, Bachar believed that Palestinians and Israelis could coexist.

Now, he believes that Israel should raze Gaza and take complete control of it.

“We have to take the border, to move the border, and put potatoes and peanut fields there (in Gaza), until the sea. That is a different system, and we have to do it,” he said, acknowledging that his support of such an extreme idea would have surprised him prior to the war.

Such shifts in attitudes aren’t surprising for survivors of extreme trauma, said Merav Roth, a Haifa-based clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst.

“It takes most of your energy just to survive mentally. And that’s why they don’t have spare energy to think of ‘the other,’” Roth said, adding that they are often in “fight or flight” mode and react in “binary, primitive ways.”

“When you’re in chaos, when you’re intimidated, when you’re threatened, you split the world into two: total good and total bad… and revenge is an illusion of becoming strong,” Roth said.

So, by operating with a mentality of “I don’t want to think about them. I don’t want to solve anything,’” Roth said, survivors are able to create a sense of protection for themselves.

It’s the type of protection Holot seeks for herself and her children, who both suffer from PTSD.

While Holot said that she does not support US President Donald Trump or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu politically, their call to relocate Palestinians in Gaza to third countries – a “voluntary” emigration plan approved by Israel’s cabinet in March that critics say could amount to ethnic cleansing – has given her pause.

“Would I want to get up tomorrow morning, wake up and see that all the people in Gaza disappeared and everything is peaceful? Yes. On the same note, I would like to get up tomorrow morning and find out that all the people in Gaza want peace,” she said, before adding: “But do I think (either) is possible? No.”

A shift to the right

In the 1990s and 2000s, the conflict was a dividing line between left and right, split 50-50 along political lines, according to Tamar Hermann, a public opinion and polling expert at the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), a Jerusalem-based think tank.

Holot and Bachar’s views mirror a wider shift in attitudes among Israeli Jews to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the idea of a two-state solution since October 7.

But over the years, Jewish Israeli society has made a significant shift to the right, with only 13% of that population now self-identifying as on the left, compared with 30% in the center, and 55-60% on the right, Hermann said.

While the right remains staunchly against a Palestinian state, a view that has only hardened since the war began, the center is now much more aligned with the right than it used to be, she said.

But the major shift has been among those on the left, who used to support a two-state solution but now see a Palestinian state as unfeasible anytime soon, she said.

Meanwhile, across all political lines, very few Jewish Israelis (5%) believe that Hamas would end its struggle against Israel even if there was a Palestinian state, according to an IDI opinion poll conducted 13 months ago.

Holot, who still identifies as on the left, said she believes left-wing activists outside of Israel who demonstrate for a “Free Palestine” do not fully understand Hamas’ ideological stance, instead only focusing on images of Palestinian suffering.

Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 52,000 people since October 2023 – among them 16,000 children – according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. 2,100 Palestinians have been killed since Israel reignited its aerial and ground campaign last month, breaking a two-month-old ceasefire.

“I’m very sad for this reality, but I’m very stable about knowing that it’s not our fault and their leaders brought it upon them,” Holot said, echoing a wider national sentiment. Nearly all Jewish Israelis (94.5%) believe that Hamas bears a great deal of responsibility for the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, according to the IDI poll.

“Murderousness is infectious, aggression is infectious,” Roth said of the vicious cycle of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But Roth, who believes in a two-state solution, still has hope for peace. She said some of the returned hostages and survivors she’s worked with have told her: “’I will fight for the two-state solution. We still need peace.”

“They are amazing, and it’s inspiring,” Roth said. “They keep their higher selves, even after all that they went through.”

‘The only reality I knew’

In between lectures, 21-year-old Gili Avidor walks under trees on the perimeter of the Tel Aviv University campus. Like the survivors – and much of Israeli society – she, too, has undergone a profound personal and political transformation since October 7.

But her story is very different than most.

“I remember telling my sister that I want everyone in Gaza dead,” said Avidor.

“Now I am ashamed and frightened of the fact that these words came out of my mouth,” Avidor, who describes herself as being from a right-wing family, said: “I was completely inside the Israeli narrative. That’s the only reality I knew.”

As Israel escalated its war on Gaza, Avidor said something changed for her.

“I thought, there is probably some other girl on the other side of the gate in Gaza that is feeling exactly what I feel, that someone she loved got killed, and revenge is the answer…(but) revenge is what makes such things to happen in the first place.”

Avidor began to engage with left-wing activist groups that support Palestinian self-determination and volunteered as a “protective presence” for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, who have suffered an increasing number of attacks by Jewish settlers since the start of the war.

It’s hard to stand up to your own society, she said, adding that individual and collective trauma has been weaponized to empower extremists to perpetuate the conflict and dehumanize Palestinians.

Still, she remains committed to a different way forward, saying that it is her “duty” to advocate for “human beliefs in this very dark time.”

Avidor acknowledges that she did not experience the first-hand trauma that many kibbutzniks did, and expresses deep sympathy for them.

“I can understand that people who endure such a trauma (flips) their life upside-down,” Avidor said.

But she pushed back on the idea that October 7 is a reason for them to stop seeing a path forward to peace with Palestinians.

“I mean, they say: ‘Okay, we were the the good Jews who helped you and took you to the hospital when you’re sick…’ but now they strip them from their humanity,” she said.

“The notion that human rights is something that people need to gain and to be thankful for? That makes me angry. And I think they’re hypocrites,” Avidor added.

Not every survivor has faltered in their vision for peace.

At her father’s graveside at kibbutz Nir Oz several weeks ago, Sharone Lifschitz read one of his poems to friends and family attending his headstone-setting ceremony, as the sound of bombs exploded a mile away in Gaza.

Oded Lifschitz, a lifelong peace activist, was kidnapped age 83 from the kibbutz on October 7, along with his wife Yocheved, who was freed weeks after her capture.

She and her mother continue to embody Oded’s ideology, saying that peace with Palestinians is the only way forward.

Roth, the psychologist, believes Israel’s most “severe danger as a society is if we become the atrocity we experience.”

“This will be really the victory of Hamas, if the Israeli people will lose their values, their higher selves, their morality, (capacity for) seeing the other,” she said.

Back in kibbutz Tzora, Holot says she still holds liberal values, and is focused on healing herself and her children.

“I don’t want to teach them bad things about humanity. So, I prepare them to keep thinking that Hamas is bad and the people are good… even if I don’t feel it myself,” she said.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

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A US judge partially blocked Trump’s election integrity order from taking force. Is that legal?

Last month, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., blocked key parts of President Donald Trump’s executive order on election integrity – a move that underscores how deeply divided the country remains over what ‘election integrity’ really means..

Though the executive order Trump signed was titled, ‘Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,’ the Democratic National Party (DNC), which led a group of plaintiffs in challenging the order in federal court, argued that it was an attempt to encroach on elections and disenfranchise voters. 

In the end, both sides won out – sort of, and at least for now.  Here’s what to know about the case in question:

Why did the judge block a portion of the order?

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ultimately left in place three key parts of Trump’s executive order, including a provision requiring states not to count mail-in ballots received after Election Day, in a partial victory for the Trump administration. 

But she sided with Democratic plaintiffs in blocking, for now, both a new proof-of-citizenship requirement for federal voter registration forms and a provision directing election officials to verify the citizenship of would-be voters.

Does she have the authority to do so? 

Unequivocally, yes. That’s exactly the problem modern presidents face when trying to make lasting policy changes through executive orders – a tactic increasingly favored by both Democrats and Republicans.

It’s a risky way to govern for two reasons. The first is that these orders can just as easily be overturned by the next commander-in-chief (as has been on display under the last four administrations). 

They also risk being halted in federal courts, where U.S. judges are explicitly tasked with serving as a check on the president, and are free to pause or halt such orders from taking force, should they determine they are outside the scope of the executive branch’s authorities. 

That also doesn’t mean that district courts need to have the final say on the matter.

Kollar-Kotelly stressed last month that voter registration laws and the ability to regulate elections are set by Congress and by individual states, not the executive branch.

Both states and Congress can pass laws so long as they do not ‘needlessly impose’ an undue burden on voters under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. 

But the executive branch, which does not share in these abilities to make and pass election-related laws, is not entitled to the same standard of legal review, according to the judge. 

‘Our Constitution entrusts Congress and the States – not the President – with the authority to regulate federal elections,’ Kollar-Kotelly said in her ruling.

Next steps

The Trump administration is, of course, free to appeal the decision to higher courts, should it choose to do so. 

‘President Trump will keep fighting for election integrity, despite Democrat objections that reveal their disdain for commonsense safeguards like verifying citizenship,’ White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in response to the ruling last month.

But its next steps remain unclear. To date, the administration has not appealed the matter, and officials have not said definitively whether they plan to do so.

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Trump’s interior chief to unleash Gulf drilling with major rule change

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Friday will update a Biden-era federal rule regarding energy development as a major cost-saving measure to private firms, one day after taking a visit to a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility on the Gulf Coast.

A source familiar with the workings of the rule said it essentially will ‘massively deregulate’ a rule passed between the two Trump administrations and should further bolster Gulf Coast oil and gas production by providing lower startup costs for energy firms.

The rule outlines criteria that producers and grantholders must provide as financial assurance, with a 2024 Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) estimate that $6.9 billion in new supplemental assurance would be required to protect against oil lessees’ default.

The Interior Department said that $6.9 billion added up to the $665 million in estimated additional insurance premiums for energy companies, which stifled how much they could spend to expand their operations and pursue what President Donald Trump has called ‘American energy dominance.’

Burgum told Fox News Digital that the rule revision will ‘enable our nation’s energy producers to redirect their capital toward future leasing, exploration, and production all while financially protecting the American taxpayer.

‘Cutting red tape will level the playing field and allow American companies to make investments that strengthen domestic energy security and benefit Gulf of America states and their communities,’ he said.

BOEM will continue to require lessees on the outer continental shelf to provide financial assurances, while the Trump administration writ large works toward more balanced regulations, the department said in an exclusive statement.

During Burgum’s visit to the Gulf, he met with energy workers at the LNG facility and discussed how the department under his leadership wants to better support the industry.

The Gulf of America currently produces approximately 1.8 million barrels of crude oil daily and 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. 

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Pakistan warns of a ‘nuclear flashpoint,’ urges Trump to step in amid rising tensions with India over Kashmir

Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S. is warning of potentially catastrophic consequences if India follows through with what Islamabad claims could be an imminent military strike in response to a recent attack in the disputed Kashmir region.

War between the two nuclear-armed states could get ugly quickly, and Pakistan’s Ambassador to the U.S. Rizwan Saeed Sheikh is calling on President Donald Trump to leverage his self-professed dealmaker credentials to hammer out an agreement with India.

‘This is one nuclear flashpoint,’ the ambassador said in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital. ‘It could be an important part of President Trump’s legacy to attend to this situation — not with a Band-Aid solution, but by addressing the core issue: the Kashmir dispute.’

Saeed described India’s response to the attack in Pahalgam — which left several Indian security forces dead — as dangerously premature and inflammatory. ‘Within minutes of the attack, India began leveling accusations against Pakistan,’ he said, noting that a post-investigation report was filed just 10 minutes after the incident occurred, despite the remote and rugged terrain near the scene. 

Pakistan claimed this week to have ‘credible intelligence’ that an Indian counter-attack on its territory is imminent. The Indian Embassy in the U.S. did not respond to requests for comment on this story before publication time. 

The dust-up began with a tourist massacre on April 22 in Belgaum, Kashmir. All but one of the victims were Indian citizens, and India swiftly pointed the finger at Pakistan, which rejected the charge. 

The attack occurred in a remote valley only accessible on foot or by horse, and survivors claimed after the attack that the gunmen had accused some of the victims of supporting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

The ambassador warned that the region, home to over 1.5 billion people, is once again being held ‘hostage to the war of hysteria’ by India’s government and media, who immediately ‘began beating war drums.’ The pair of rivals have exchanged gunfire across their heavily militarized borders since the attack. 

He cited Pakistan’s request for evidence linking it to the attack and Islamabad’s offer to participate in a neutral, transparent inquiry — both of which he said have gone unanswered.

‘Any misadventure or miscalculation can lead to a nuclear interface,’ the ambassador said. ‘That is certainly not desirable in such a densely populated region.’

While Pakistan denies any involvement in the attack, the ambassador said those suspected are reportedly Indian nationals whose homes have already been raided. He questioned why India is looking outside its borders rather than addressing what he characterized as ‘administrative inadequacies’ in Jammu and Kashmir, a territory he repeatedly referred to as ‘illegally occupied.’

He also criticized India’s broader policies in Kashmir, including the alleged settlement of non-residents into the region, and what he called threats to unilaterally block water flows from Pakistan’s rivers — a move he said violates the long-standing Indus Waters Treaty.

‘That is as grossly illegal as it can get,’ said Saeed. ‘This is one treaty that has withstood wars between India and Pakistan.’ Pakistan has said they would consider the cutting off of water supplies an act of war — and made pleas to The Hague, accusing New Delhi of water terrorism.

The ambassador called on nations around the globe to help with a lasting settlement. 

‘Previously, when the situation has been at this level or the tensions have escalated, the international community has attended to the situation, but taken their eyes, their attention away, even before the situation could fully diffuse,’ said Saeed. ‘This time, perhaps it would be… timely in terms of the situation elsewhere on the globe, with similar instances, which one can note and see and are being attended to to perhaps not afford a Band-Aid solution, but to address the broader problem.’

India and Pakistan each control parts of the Kashmir region, but both claim it in full. They have fought three wars over the territory.

In 2019, a cross-border attack carried out by militants killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary personnel in Kashmir. India responded by bombing targets inside Pakistan. 

Modi’s government revoked Muslim-majority Kashmir’s autonomy in 2019, bringing it back under Indian control and prompting protests. 

Kashmir has been a disputed region since both India and Pakistan gained their autonomy from Britain in 1947. The region is now one of the most militarized in the world. Violence by regional militant groups has left tens of thousands dead. 

But Modi’s aggressive stance in Kashmir has precipitated relative peace over the past five years, boosting his popularity domestically. He may feel political pressure to respond with force to the most recent dust-up. 

Pakistan has been ravaged by terrorism for decades, and Saeed said the nation has lost anywhere between 70,000 and 90,000 lives over the past 20 years to terror attacks. 

‘We cannot afford any instability in the neighborhood,’ said Saeed. ‘We want a peaceful neighborhood. But as we have been repeatedly mentioning at all levels, leadership level and all the other levels, that we want peace, but that should not in any way be misconstrued as a sign of weakness. We want peace with dignity.’

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Top 5 most outrageous ways the government has wasted your taxes, as uncovered by Elon Musk’s DOGE

As President Donald Trump celebrated his 100th day in office this week, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) said it has cut at least $160 billion in waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government. 

When Trump signed an executive order establishing the agency on his Inauguration Day, DOGE set an ambitious goal of cutting $2 trillion from the federal budget. 

According to the Office of Government Ethics, ‘special government employees’ like Musk can work for the federal government no more than 130 days a year, which in Musk’s case will fall on May 30. He has already started pairing back his hours leading the controversial agency. 

Fox News Channel’s ‘Jesse Watters Primetime’ had the opportunity to see behind the curtain of Musk’s infamous DOGE, which Democrats have railed against and Republicans have celebrated since Trump returned to the White House this year. The ‘DOGE boys’ reminded Watters on Thursday of some of the most shocking savings secured by the department this year. 

Funding a former Taliban member

Earlier this year, DOGE discovered the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) had transferred $132,000 to Mohammad Qasem Halimi, a former Taliban member who was Afghanistan’s former Chief of Protocol. DOGE announced on March 31 that the contract was canceled. 

Halimi was detained by the U.S. and held at Bagram Air Base for a year beginning Jan. 2, 2002. He held several positions in Afghanistan’s government following his release and was appointed as the Minister of Hajj and Religious Affairs in Afghanistan in 2020. 

‘A small agency called the United States Institute of Peace is definitely the agency we’ve had the most fight at. We actually went into the agency and found they had loaded guns inside their headquarters — Institute for Peace,’ a DOGE staffer told Watters. ‘So by far, the least peaceful agency that we’ve worked with, ironically. Additionally, we found that they were spending money on things like private jets, and they even had a $130,000 contract with a former member of the Taliban. This is real. We don’t encounter that in most agencies.’

USIP did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s inquiry. 

Parties at Caesars Palace 

Fox News Digital reported earlier this year that the nation’s schools spent $200 billion in COVID-relief funds on expenses ‘with little oversight or impact on students,’ such as Las Vegas hotel rooms and buying an ice cream truck, according to DOGE’s audits. 

Granite School District in Utah spent their COVID-relief funds on $86,000 in hotel rooms for an educational conference at Caesars Palace, a ritzy Las Vegas casino, while Santa Ana Unified in California spent $393,000 to rent out a Major League Baseball stadium, according to a report by Parents Defending Education and shared by DOGE. Granite School District has since denied ‘any impropriety for having our educators participate’ in the Las Vegas conference.

The cost-cutting department also revealed that schools spent $60,000 of COVID-relief funds on swimming pool passes, while a California district used its funds to purchase an ice cream truck.

‘They were basically partying on the taxpayers’ dollars,’ Musk told Watters on Thursday. 

Millions for ‘Sesame Street’ in Iraq

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who is chairwoman of the Senate DOGE Caucus and who has collaborated closely with Musk to identify waste to cut, revealed that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) ‘authorized a whopping $20 million to create a ‘Sesame Street’ in Iraq.’ 

Ernst said that under the Biden administration, USAID awarded the $20 million to a nonprofit called Sesame Workshopto produce a show called ‘Ahlan Simsim Iraq’ in an effort to ‘promote inclusion, mutual respect and understanding across ethnic, religious and sectarian groups.’ 

Billions in ‘improper payments’ in 2024 alone 

DOGE received a hand from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), which released a report in March revealing that federal agencies wasted $162 billion in ‘improper payments,’ which was actually a decrease of $74 billion from the previous fiscal year. 

GAO’s analysis revealed that of the 16 government agencies reporting improper payments, 75% of the waste found was concentrated in five programs: $54 billion from three Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Medicare programs; $31 billion in HHS Medicaid; $16 billion from the Department of the Treasury’s earned income tax credit; $11 billion from the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; and $9 billion from the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Restaurant Revitalization Fund. 

Large amounts of DEI spending within the federal government

On the campaign trail and since taking office, Trump has made it clear he aims to slash diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) spending in the federal government, while making the case that a system of meritocracy should be the focus.

DOGE has announced over the last few months that it has cut hundreds of millions in DEI contracts. 

Earlier this month, DOGE announced it had worked with the U.S. National Science Foundation to cancel 402 ‘wasteful’ DEI grants, which will save $233 million, including $1 million for ‘Antiracist Teacher Leadership for Statewide Transformation.’

The Department of Defense could save up to $80 million in wasteful spending by cutting loose a handful of DEI programs, the agency announced last month.

The Defense Department has been working with DOGE to slash wasteful spending, DOD spokesman Sean Parnell said in a video posted to social media.

Parnell listed some of the initial findings flagged by DOGE, much of it consisting of millions of dollars given to support various DEI programs, including $1.9 million for holistic DEI transformation and training in the Air Force and $6 million to the University of Montana to ‘strengthen American democracy by bridging divides.’

The Trump administration announced earlier this month it is slashing millions of dollars in DEI grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as part of its overall DOGE push.

And in February, the Department of Education said it is canceling more than $100 million in grants to DEI training as part of DOGE’s efforts. 

Fox News Digital’s Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.

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Hegseth, Signal questions dog Waltz as potentially perilous UN ambassador confirmation hearings loom

The same day that National Security Advisor Mike Waltz exited his job at the White House, President Donald Trump announced a new job offer for the former Florida congressman: United Nations ambassador. 

But there are some hurdles Waltz must clear first before the New York job is his — including undergoing a Senate confirmation process amid scrutiny after the Atlantic magazine exposed a Signal group chat that his team had set up to discuss strikes against the Houthis in March. 

And receiving full support from the slim Republican majority in the Senate isn’t guaranteed, and not all Republicans got on board backing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Vice President JD Vance ultimately cast the tie-breaking vote securing Hegseth’s nomination. 

Democrats appear hungry to use Waltz’s nomination as a forum to air grievances against other foreign policy leaders in the Trump administration — particularly Hegseth. 

 

Still, Waltz’snomination to represent the U.S. at the U.N. will likely attract support from establishment Republicans in the Senate who weren’t on board with Hegseth in the Pentagon, given that the ideological divide between these Republicans and Waltz is much smaller than it was in Hegseth’s case, according to one Florida GOP source.

‘He’s been able to thread the needle really, really well between traditional conservative foreign policy voices and the more populist America First policy voices,’ the Florida GOP source said of Waltz.

HEAT ON WALTZ

Waltz, who previously represented Florida’s 6th congressional district, is a retired Army National Guard colonel and former Green Beret who served four deployments to Afghanistan and earned four Bronze Stars — the fourth-highest military combat award, issued for heroic service against an armed enemy. 

While Waltz and Hegseth both were embroiled in the Signal chat discussing strike plans against the Houthis, Hegseth has attracted more of the heat, at least publicly, stemming from the incident. Democrats have called for Hegseth’s resignation as a result of the chat, but staffers at the White House — including Waltz — have openly backed Hegseth and shut down reports that the administration is seeking his replacement. 

But Waltz could get his turn attracting the ire of lawmakers as Democrats find an opportunity to openly grill him in front of the Senate, amid displeasure with Trump’s foreign policy and national security agenda. 

‘The second hundred days of national security under President Trump will apparently be just as chaotic as the first hundred,’ Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said in a statement to Fox News Digital about Waltz’s departure from the White House. 

‘President Trump’s consistent hirings, firings and upheaval sap morale from our warfighters and intelligence officers, degrade our military readiness, and leave us less prepared to respond to threats from our adversaries,’ Coons said. ‘American citizens at home and around the world are less safe because of President Trump’s non-existent national security strategy.’

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., also took aim at Waltz — although she labeled Hegseth the worst offender affiliated with ‘Signalgate.’  

‘Took them long enough. Mike Waltz knowingly made an unclassified chain to discuss classified matters,’ Duckworth said in a Thursday X post ahead of Waltz’s U.N. ambassador nomination. ‘But of all the idiots in that chat, Hegseth is the biggest security risk of all—he leaked the info that put our troops in greater danger. Fire and investigate them all.’

In addition to the Signal chat, Waltz’s exit from the White House was tied to several other issues. For example, Axios reports that Waltz treated White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles like ‘staff,’ and his disrespect rubbed her the wrong way. 

‘He treated her like staff and didn’t realize he’s the staff, she’s the embodiment of the president,’ a White House official told Axios. ‘Susie is a deeply loyal person and the disrespect was made all the worse because it was disloyal.’

Waltz reportedly discussed different roles he could take on following his stint at the White House with Wiles, according to CBS News. Waltz was reportedly offered jobs, including the ambassador to Saudi Arabia, but ultimately settled on U.N. ambassador. 

A spokesperson for the National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

NEXT STEPS

With Waltz out as national security advisor, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will temporarily step into that role. 

While Trump originally nominated Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., to represent the U.S. at the U.N., he rescinded her nomination in March, citing that the House could not afford to lose another Republican seat. 

Stefanik’s nomination lagged in the Senate in comparison to other U.N. ambassador nominees, including Trump’s first U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. The Senate confirmed Haley in January, just after Trump’s first inauguration. 

While the exact timeline for a potential confirmation vote in the Senate is unclear, the first hurdle that Waltz must clear is a confirmation vote out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Although it is uncertain when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will schedule the nomination hearing for Waltz and the subsequent vote, the committee said his nomination is a ‘priority.’ 

‘The committee has been working at a historically fast pace and this nomination will be a priority moving forward,’ a GOP staffer on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee told Fox News Digital. 

The 80th session of the U.N. General Assembly is scheduled for September 9, so there are a few months for Waltz’s confirmation to play out, the Florida GOP source said. That means that Waltz could take a few months off, start the confirmation process in June or July and wrap up his confirmation by September at the latest, the source said. 

‘He’s got plenty of time. So, this isn’t a looming fight that’s going to happen next week,’ the Florida GOP source said. ‘This is going to play out probably in June or July, which by then, people are going to forget about the Signalgate stuff, or at the very, very least, they’re going to forget about Mike Waltz’s role in it.’ 

But there are a few Republican wildcards in the Senate who have voted against several of Trump’s nominees, most prominently Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who voted against Hegseth, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer.  

A spokesperson for McConnell did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Other Republicans who have opposed Trump nominees include Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, both of whomvoted against Hegseth, as well as Sens. Ted Budd of North Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky, both of whom voted against Chavez-DeRemer. 

Aside from former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., whom Trump initially nominated to serve as attorney general, Trump’s entire cabinet has been approved. Gaetz withdrew his nomination amid a House Ethics Committee investigation into sexual misconduct and drug-use allegations. 

Despite opposition from Democrats, and possibly a few Republicans, it appears unlikely that any fire that Waltz will face will sink his nomination. 

‘The reality of it is, the president can lose three votes in the Senate, and the vice president can still vote to break a tie,’ the Florida GOP source said. ‘There’s no way he’s probably going to lose three votes.’

Meanwhile, other Republicans have openly stated they endorse Waltz’s nomination, including Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Risch, R-Idaho, who lauded Trump’s decision to nominate Waltz for the role. 

‘Great choices. America is safer and stronger under President Trump and his national security team,’ Risch said in a Thursday X post. ‘I thank Mike Waltz for his service as NSA, and look forward to taking up his nomination in our committee.’ 

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also posted on X on Friday that Waltz would be confirmed ‘for sure.’ 

Vance also voiced support for Waltz and billed the nomination as a ‘promotion,’ pushing back on any suggestions that Waltz’s removal amounted to a firing. 

‘Donald Trump has fired a lot of people,’ Vance said in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier Thursday. ‘He doesn’t give them Senate-confirmed appointments afterward. What he thinks is that Mike Waltz is going to better serve the administration, most importantly, the American people in that role.’

Fox News’ Charles Creitz contributed to this report. 

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WATCH: AOC holds Queens town hall as 2028 White House talk swirls

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is hosting an in-person town hall in Jackson Heights, Queens, on Friday night amid speculation she is considering a 2028 presidential run. 

After speaking at a May Day protest in New York City on Thursday, rejecting Trump’s agenda and warning protesters that Republicans ‘are going after Medicaid next,’ Ocasio-Cortez is returning home to New York’s 14th congressional district to ‘share updates on her work in D.C., provide important constituent updates, and take questions from the audience.’

Ocasio-Cortez has been jet-setting across the United States with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on his ‘Fighting Oligarchy’ tour. The campaign confirmed to Fox News Digital that Friday night’s town hall was originally scheduled for the April congressional recess, but had to be rescheduled because Ocasio-Cortez was sick. She posted an Instagram story two weeks ago apologizing for canceling. 

Earlier this week, Ocasio-Cortez did not rule out 2028 presidential aspirations when asked by Fox News Digital about the viral video that had pundits guessing whether she were soft-launching her campaign. 

‘I think what people should be most concerned about is the fact that Republicans are trying to cut Medicaid right now, and people’s healthcare is in danger. That’s really what my central focus is,’ the New York Democrat said when asked whether she is considering a run for president, despite President Donald Trump’s assurances that he wouldn’t cut Medicaid. 

‘This moment isn’t about campaigns, or elections, or about politics. It’s about making sure people are protected, and we’ve got people that are getting locked up for exercising their First Amendment rights. We’re getting two-year-olds that are getting deported into cells in Honduras. We’re getting people that are about to get kicked off of Medicaid. That, to me, is most important,’ Ocasio-Cortez said on Capitol Hill on Trump’s 100th day in office. 

Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign account posted a video on X last week that invigorated those rumors as the four-term Democrat from New York City and a progressive leader proclaimed, ‘We are one.’

‘I’m a girl from the Bronx,’ Ocasio-Cortez said on a campaign-style stage in Idaho. ‘To be welcomed here in this state, all of us together, seeing our common cause, this is what this country is all about.’

Americans reposted Ocasio-Cortez’s video across X, pointing to the video as proof of her 2028 presidential ambitions. ‘Get ready America. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will almost undoubtedly run for president in 2028,’ political reporter Eric Daugherty said in response to the video. 

As rumors swirl over Ocasio-Cortez’s ambition for higher office, back at home in New York, a Siena College poll found that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s favorability is down, at 39% among New York state voters questioned in the poll, which was conducted April 14 through 16. Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez’s favorability soared to 47%.

The longtime senator from New York faced pushback from the Democratic Party in March for supporting the Republican budget bill backed by Trump that averted a government shutdown and stirred up outrage among congressional Democrats who planned to boycott the bill.

That growing disapproval among Democrats was reflected in the poll, and the shifting perception comes as DNC vice chair David Hogg, through his political arm, Leaders We Deserve, faced blowback from the DNC for investing $20 million into electing younger Democrats to safe House Democrat seats.

Ocasio-Cortez raked in a massive $9.6 million over the past three months. The record-breaking fundraising haul was one of the biggest ever for any House lawmaker. Ocasio-Cortez’s team highlighted that the fundraising came from 266,000 individual donors, with an average contribution of just $21.

‘I cannot convey enough how grateful I am to the millions of people supporting us with your time, resources, & energy. Your support has allowed us to rally people together at record scale to organize their communities,’ Ocasio-Cortez emphasized in a social media post.

Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment about the 2028 presidential speculation. 

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

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