Paranoid Putin has ordered tactical nuclear weapons testing as Russia directly warns the West to back-off as fears of an all-out-war with Nato surge.

Russia’s latest threat comes as the Kremlin tells Western officials if they continue to support Ukraine then a “worldwide catastrophe” will break out as even those in Downing Street were told they can’t hide anymore.

Putin told his Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu to prepare military drills “in order to increase the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to fulfil combat missions”, it has been reported.

This is believed to involve land, air and sea practice and preparations, say the defence ministry.

The drills are thought to be linked to the US, UK and France in particular after French President Emmanuel Macron declared he will send his troops to Ukraine if Putin breaks through the frontline.

If France was to send their troops into Ukraine’s backyard then it could cause major issues.

The French would prove to be the first set of troops with Nato links to step up to Putin’s war machine and go head-to-head with the Russian army.

Nato has consistently wanted to keep the idea of an escalation of a larger conflict minimal.

The reason why it could cause a potential major issue is as Article 5 in Nato’s handbook states that all members are obliged to defend each other if there is an attack.

Russia are thought to be well aware that if they attack and kill French troops then it could draw in UK, German and even US troops into the battle.

Ukraine have also been using Storm Shadow missiles provided to them by Nato allies in the war with Russia.

A raging Putin has previously slammed some of Lord David Cameron’s comments as “dangerous and worrying” after he said British missiles could be used to blitz Russian territory.

Moscow even summoned British ambassador Nigel Casey to the Russian Foreign Ministry today, according to state media.

The French ambassador Pierre Lévy was also seen.

British sources denied it was an official summons for Casey, and said the session was to cover bilateral issues.

Top Kremlin crony and ex-president Dmitry Medvedev said the fresh tests should be taken as a real threat.

Medvedev accused Western leaders of being “scoundrels” before slamming them “for sending their troops to a non-existent country”.

He pinpointed the US, France and the UK of being involved as well as “individual madmen from the Baltic states and Poland”.

It was labelled as a “cynical calculation for political dividends and a total degradation of the ruling class in the West”.

He warned Russia will not hesitate to fight against whoever they need to and will do so in any country.

Medvedev claimed his men will “have to respond” if troops are sent into Ukraine and clearly stated they will not look to just kill the foreign troops but also seek revenge on the countries who sent them.

His chilling speech ended with him saying: “A world catastrophe will come… But the current infantile morons who have seized power in the West do not want to understand.

“None of them will be able to hide either on Capitol Hill, or in the Elysee Palace, or in 10 Downing Street.”

Russia’s defence ministry spoke about the missile testing and agreed with Medvedev about why Russia was gearing up for potential strikes.

They said: “The exercise is aimed at maintaining the readiness of the personnel and equipment of units for the combat use of non-strategic nuclear weapons.”

They have been done “in order to respond to and unconditionally ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian State”.

The ministry accused Western officials of making “provocative statements and threats” against them.

The nuclear weapons being tested have devastating consequences for those that they hit but don’t cause widespread destruction and radioactive fallout like typical nukes.

Putin and the Kremlin value these nukes as some of the best items in their war arsenal.

Russia’s Revenge

A Russian propagandist has previously warned Putin will sink Britain under a nuclear tidal wave if Nato ever sends troops to Ukraine.

Top Putin crony Dmitry Kiselyov warned that any bid by the West to “inflict a strategic defeat on Russia” would result in Armageddon.

Europe was also said to be gearing up to forge a bubble of nuclear protection from Russia made up of 300 French ballistic missiles.

Macron suggested the submarine-launched warheads are fanned across the continent to shore up collective defence regardless of Nato allegiances.

It comes after PM Rishi Sunak jetted off to Poland along with Nato chief Yens Stoltenberg for urgent security talks.

Sunak seized the moment to pledge to raise the UK’s defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030 as he said Britain was on a “war footing”.

It marks the biggest defence boost in a generation with a cash injection of £75billion across the next six years.

Sunak hailed it as the “biggest strengthening of national defence in a generation” to combat a growing axis of evil between Russia, Iran, China and North Korea.

A record £500million was earmarked for President Zelensky’s war effort, as the PM warned Putin will not stop at the Polish border should the despot win in Ukraine.

The power-package will include further ammunition, air defence and drones and take the UK’s support for Kyiv to £3billion this financial year.

It comes as British-made bombs are set to be used by US fighter jets under plans to boost Ukraine’s air force.

The UK has pledged to arm the jets with Paveway IV bombs that weigh 500lb and cost £30,000 each.

The weapons are part of a package of 1,600 bombs and missiles announced by Britain last week.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the F-16 deal as a “breakthrough moment” in the war against Russia.

A raging Putin slammed Lord Cameron’s comments as “dangerous and worrying” after he said British missiles could be used to blitz Russian territory.

Jack Dorsey resigned from the board of his social networking startup, Bluesky — even as he gave an impromptu endorsement Elon Musk’s X, calling it “freedom technology”.

Dorsey revealed his resignation from Bluesky — which he had championed in the wake of selling the other social network he co-founded, Twitter, to Elon Musk — in an X post, where he responded to a question about whether he was on the board of Bluesky with a simple “no.”

Dorsey went on to share a cryptic message about the necessity of “open protocols,” a term that refers to open-source software coding that allows anyone to view it and suggest changes to the system, similar to how blockchains operates.

“Don’t depend on corporations to grant you rights,” Dorsey posted to the site on Saturday. “Defend them yourself using freedom technology. (you’re on one)”.

The X post, earlier reported on by Bloomberg, suggested that Dorsey is mending his relationship with Musk after claiming last year that the billionaire Tesla chief hadn’t proven himself to be the best possible owner of the social media site.

When asked about it, Dorsey said: “No. Nor do I think he acted right after realizing his timing was bad. Nor do I think the board should have forced the sale,” referring to Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of then-Twitter, according to Bloomberg.

He had also posted on Bluesky a year ago that “it all went south,” after Musk’s radical transformation of Twitter — which is now set to expand into an app “identical” to YouTube’s TV offering for smart televisions as part of Musk’s quest to create “the everything app.”

no

— jack (@jack) May 4, 2024

Musk is now just one of three people Dorsey follows on X — which touts roughly 550 million monthly active users.

The other two accounts belong to Edward Snowden, the American computer contractor who fled to Russia after leaking highly classified information, and Stella Assange, wife of the imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher facing criminal charges over espionage.

While still at the helm of Twitter in 2019, Dorsey began working on Bluesky as a side project using funding from Twitter.

The new app promises a future-thinking “social internet” that allows users more choices and frees people from platforms, according to its website.

It wasn’t until February 2023 that it was first rolled out to iOS users.

A version for Andriod launched in April that same year.

Many users have said Bluesky is similar to a pared-down copy of Twitter. One big difference, however, is that the app’s developers aim to give users “algorithmic choice,” which would allow them to choose how content is fed onto their screens, instead of a one-fits-all algorithm controlled by the app developers.

Bluesky is just one of several alternatives to Twitter that began popping up after Musk purchased the social media giant and began making changes to both the site and the company.

While it made a splash in its early days, when its beta version was available via invite-only, it has since been largely overshadowed by the launch of Meta’s Threads as the most viable X alternative, Bloomberg reported.

A Texas mom told her 3-year-old son to “say goodbye to Daddy” on camera just moments before she shot the boy in a ditch and then turned the gun on herself — a day before she was due in court for a custody hearing with her ex-husband, cops said.

Savannah Kriger, 32, and her son Kaiden were found dead with gunshot wounds to their heads at a San Antonio park back on March 19, but authorities have spent weeks piecing together their harrowing final hours as they probed the murder-suicide.

In the hours before the slayings, authorities determined Kriger shot at her old wedding photos, trashed her ex-husband’s home and taunted him with a slew of FaceTime videos and texts warning him, “You won’t have anything at all by the end of the day.”

The grim ordeal started to unfold when Kriger left work the afternoon of March 18 and headed straight to her ex’s home while he was at work, the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said.

After damaging the ex’s furniture and some personal items, the mother drove to her own home, where cops later found her wedding dress and portraits laid out on the bed.

“We believe that she fired two shots into her wedding portraits,” Sheriff Javier Salazar said.

Kriger subsequently picked her son up from daycare and then started inundating Kaiden’s father with the harrowing messages, authorities said.

“You don’t have anything to go home to now. You really don’t,” Kriger said on one FaceTime call. “You won’t have anything at all at the end of the day.”

The final text to her ex read, “Say goodbye to your son.”

A 21-second video recovered from her phone showed Kriger and her son sitting in the ditch in the park where their bodies would later be discovered.

In the clip, authorities said the mom told her son to “say goodbye to Daddy” before she apologized to the boy that his father wasn’t there and then kissed him.

Her phone records show she then looked up videos of children’s cartoons on her cell while they were still sitting in the ditch, according to authorities.

Although the video didn’t capture the fatal shootings, Kriger’s intentions were “pretty clear,” the sheriff said.

Their bodies were discovered some 19 hours later after an Amber Alert was issued and authorities scoured the area.

The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office quickly labeled the two deaths a murder-suicide.

Authorities at the time had also revealed the little boy was at the center of a custody battle.

Kriger had filed for a divorce and a temporary restraining order against her ex on March 7, MySA reported.

The former couple were due in court on March 19 — the day the bodies were discovered — for a custody hearing.

ABC News President Kim Godwin stepped down Sunday night, months after a corporate restructuring that effectively stripped away much of her management autonomy.

“I have decided to retire from broadcast journalism,” Godwin said in the email sent to staff Sunday night.

“Anyone who’s passionate about what we do knows there’s no other business like it, so this was not an easy or quick decision. But after considerable reflection, I’m certain it’s the right one for me as I look to the future and prioritize what’s most important for me and my family.”

No successor has been named for Godwin, who was named president of the division in 2021.

Godwin’s retirement comes after a restructuring in February that gave her a new boss in Debra OConnell, who serves as president of parent Disney’s news group.

OConnell is a company veteran who is familiar with ABC News, having scrutinized operations across Disney’s networks as part of a corporate review.

When Godwin joined ABC News from CBS, she had her work cut out for her.

Though the news division was a ratings leader, many in the news division said it was suffering from a cutthroat and toxic culture.

She instead became a polarizing figure inside the network.

Detractors say she and her inner circle stifled discussion and dissent while failing to rise up to challenges facing the unit—including a decline in ratings at “Good Morning America.”

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Whatley called for party unity as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) continues to threaten to force an ouster vote against Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).

“We need to flip the Senate, and we need to expand our majority in the House. We’re not going to do that if we’re not unified,” Whatley told NBC News in an interview.

“We need to make sure that all of the Republicans understand the gravity of this election cycle, and they do, and we need to make sure that we are on the same page as we’re moving forward,” he added in the interview.

Greene said she would force a vote this coming week on her looming motion to vacate resolution against Johnson, sparking concerns among some in the party who worry such a move would throw the chamber into chaos and make Republicans appear incapable of governing just months before an election.

Greene introduced her motion to remove Johnson from power more than a month ago, but her latest move is a sharp escalation of that effort, compelling the House to consider the measure within two legislative days after she activates her motion this coming week.

Greene has sharply criticized Johnson for cutting a number of deals with Democrats on critical legislation, including funding the government, approving billions of dollars in aid for Ukraine and reauthorizing the U.S.’s warrantless surveillance powers.

She accused Johnson of “betraying” his conservative roots — and GOP voters more broadly — and warned that keeping him in power would discourage Republicans from going to the polls in November and ensure that Democrats will control the House next year.

Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), chair of the House Freedom Caucus, railed against Greene in an interview Sunday, saying, “She’s not acting in the best interests of President Trump. I don’t think this is a good move six months before an election. She’s always been about herself primarily.”

Israel is preparing to launch what is expected to be a massive ground operation inside Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where some 1.5 million Palestinians have taken shelter. The Israeli army has begun ordering tens of thousands of Palestinians living in the city to evacuate.

On Monday, Israel’s Defense Forces ordered an evacuation of Rafah, signaling that a long-promised ground operation could be imminent. The Israeli army has described Rafah as the last significant Hamas stronghold after seven months of war, and its leaders have repeatedly said clearing Rafah is necessary to defeat the Islamic militant group.

Overnight, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin that Israel was left with no choice but to act in Rafah after Hamas terrorists carried out a deadly rocket attack from Rafah earlier in the day that left four Israeli soldiers dead.

A potential ground operation comes as last-ditch efforts by international mediators, including the CIA, to broker a cease-fire have failed to produce a deal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to carry out a military operation in Rafah. According to Israel’s army, forces are beginning with a “limited scope operation.”

Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesman, said some 100,000 people were being ordered to move to a nearby Israel-declared humanitarian zone called Muwasi. He said Israel published a map of the evacuation area.

These orders have been issued through air-dropped leaflets, text messages and radio broadcasts so that Palestinians could get the information.

“Anyone found near (militant) organizations endangers themselves and their family members. For your safety, the (army) urges you to evacuate immediately to the expanded humanitarian area,” one flyer read.

He said Israel has expanded humanitarian aid into Muwasi, including field hospitals, tents, food and water.

Israel’s army said on the social media platform X that it would act with “extreme force” against Hamas terrorists, and urged the population to evacuate immediately for their safety.

The move also comes as the Biden administration reportedly put a hold on a shipment of U.S.-manufactured ammunition to Israel for the first time since the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack.

Two Israeli officials told Axios that the weapons shipment was stopped last week, leaving officials within the Israeli government scrambling to understand why.

About 1.5 million Palestinians – more than half of Gaza’s population – are sheltering in Rafah, as they have been forced to evacuate other areas in the Gaza Strip, amid Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas.

Four IDF soldiers were killed and at least three others were seriously wounded after Hamas fired ten rockets toward the Kerem Shalom area along the Israel-Gaza border on Sunday afternoon.

The four slain soldiers were identified as St.-Sgt. Ruben Marc Mordechai Assouline, 19, from Ra’anana; St.-Sgt. Ido Testa, 19, from Jerusalem; St.-Sgt. Tal Shavit, 21, from Kfar Giladi; and Sgt. Michael Ruzal, 18, from Rishon Lezion. Assouline and Testa served in the Shaked Battalion in the Givati Brigade. Shavit and Ruzal served in the 931st Battalion in the Nahal Brigade.

Soroka Medical Center stated that it received 10 people wounded in the attack, including three in serious condition, two in moderate condition, and five in light condition.

Shortly after the attack, the IDF closed the Kerem Shalom crossing located in the area, halting the entry of humanitarian aid trucks through the crossing which serves as the main entry point for aid.

Several people received medical treatment on the spot for injuries sustained from the rocket fire, and were evacuated to hospitals for immediate medical care.

The Eshkol Regional Council announced that one of the people wounded was a resident of the Eshkol Regional Council.

Hamas fired the rockets toward Kerem Shalom from right near the Rafah humanitarian crossing, with the IDF striking the launch site in response. Ten people have been reported wounded by the Hamas rocket fire. pic.twitter.com/tds3zXSheC

— Tzvi Joffre (@TzviJoffre) May 5, 2024

Additionally, a home in Kibbutz Kerem Shalom was hit and damaged, according to the Eshkol Regional Council. No injuries were reported in the impact in Kibbutz Kerem Shalom.

Hamas took responsibility for the rocket fire, saying their Al-Qassam Brigades targeted the Kerem Shalom area with 114 mm short-range “Rajoum” rockets.

The rockets were fired from only a couple hundred meters from the Rafah humanitarian crossing, one of the few areas where IDF soldiers still have not entered since the October 27 invasion of Gaza. The IDF said it had some generic intelligence warnings about intent to launch such attacks on IDF soldiers and that there was some kind of rocket alert warning in real-time.

Responding to the rocket attacks, the air force increased its attacks on Hamas command centers and other sites in Rafah, as well as against the locations of the rocket attacks themselves, which it appears came from underground attack platforms.

IDF strikes Rafah area in response

Shortly after the attack, Palestinian media reported a series of Israeli airstrikes in the Rafah area.

.

Over the last few days, in separate incidents:

Hamas shot mortars at the corridor for humanitarian purposes
Hamas disrupted aid from…

— Dr. Arnold Clevs b2839 #HowArnoldSurvived (@Israel) May 5, 2024

“Hamas is intentionally preventing aid from reaching the people of Gaza,” wrote the Foreign Ministry on X, pointing to the rocket fire toward Kerem Shalom, disruptions of the movement of aid from southern to northern Gaza, and the firing of mortars at a corridor used for humanitarian purposes.

President Isaac Herzog responded to the Hamas attack on Sunday afternoon, posting on X: “Hamas attack humanitarian aid because they don’t care for humanity. The world must act to release the hostages and free the people of Gaza from Hamas’s vicious rule.”

Unclear what effects Hamas’s attack will have on Rafah plans

It was unclear what impact Hamas’s latest attack would have on Israeli plans to invade Rafah.

More specifically, whether Israel would move forward sooner to invade Rafah or would still give ongoing hostage negotiations a chance to resolve before taking broader action.

It was also unclear whether if no ceasefire is reached, how prepared IDF soldiers in Gaza, and especially near humanitarian aid centers, would be for additional similar Hamas rocket attacks.

There were questions as well about whether Israeli civilians returning to the Kerem Shalom area in July as scheduled would be impacted and delayed by the current incident.

An attorney who represented the two Boeing whistleblowers who died in recent months said that the men were “heroes.”

Brian Knowles told The New York Post: “These men were heroes. So are all the whistleblowers. They loved the company and wanted to help the company do better. They didn’t speak out to be aggravating or for fame. They’re raising concerns because people’s lives are at stake.”

Joshua Dean, a former quality auditor at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems turned whistleblower, died last week after contracting a sudden illness, his family said. His death came less than two months after a second Boeing whistleblower, John Barnett, was found dead with a gunshot wound that authorities said appeared to be self-inflicted.

Suspicions were exacerbated when a self-described family friend of Barnett’s claimed in a media interview that he had said: “If anything happens to me it’s not suicide.”

Knowles, who was Barnett and Dean’s attorney, told The Post that he was unsure what to make of Barnett’s death.

“I knew John Barnett for seven years and never saw anything that would indicate he would take his own life,” Knowles said. “Then again, I’ve never dealt with someone who did (commit suicide.) So maybe you don’t see the signs. I don’t know.”

The Post noted that attorneys for the men hope that their deaths won’t scare away 10 other Boeing whistleblowers.

Knowles noted that the Charleston, South Carolina, police are still finishing the investigation into Barnett’s death and that testing will soon reveal more information about Dean’s death.

Company Under Pressure

Boeing has been under pressure following a series of safety incidents with its aircraft earlier this year. Its CEO, Dave Calhoun, announced in March that he will step down at the end of the year following the crisis.

The company came under increased scrutiny last month when several witnesses, including two whistleblowers, testified before the Senate about the company’s practices.

Boeing is today due to launch its long-awaited first crewed flight of its Starliner spacecraft, which will take off from Cape Canaveral in Florida with two NASA astronauts on board.

Liftoff is scheduled to be at 10:34 p.m. local time and comes at a tense moment for the aviation company.

A church service in North Braddock, Pennsylvania was upended Sunday when a man pulled a gun on the pastor in the middle of his sermon.

Pennsylvania State Police have charged 26-year-old Bernard Polite of Braddock and say he entered and attempted to shoot pastor Glenn Germany while the pastor was delivering a sermon at Jesus’ Dwelling Place Church on Sunday just after 1 p.m.

Video taken by the church’s deacon, and posted online by the Pastor Glenn Germany, shows the moment the pastor suddenly found himself staring down the barrel of a gun.

“I was like, this is not happening,” Pastor Germany said.

Yet somehow, it was, but no shot was fired.

“I thank God because only God stopped and jammed this gun,” Germany said.

As the pastor ducked out of the way, church Deacon Clarence McCallister leaps in front of the camera, tackling the man with the gun to the ground.

McCallister told us it was just how his mind reacted.

“There’s something that needs to be done and I jumped up and handled my business,” McCallister said.

“He’s a hero,” Germany said of McCallister.

McCallister and Germany were able to keep Polite subdued until police arrived and then he was taken into custody.

While in police custody, Germany spoke to Polite.

“This guy was just dealing with spirits he said, and he came in and wanted to shoot somebody,” Germany said, adding Polite said their were voices in his mind.

It was apparent to Germany that Polite faces a form of mental illness, he said.

“He said you ducked a taco today, that’s what he told me, and I guess that’s slang for you ducked a bullet.

Polite apologized to Germany, he said. Germany forgave him, but says he hasn’t processed what happened.

“The thing that hurts me the most and brings tears to my eyes because I couldn’t watch my daughter break down.”

His 14-year-old daughter was sitting among the pews during the service.

“I still had to be strong, because I had to be strong for her, but I couldn’t take it, and just seeing her, that’s the part that’s hard for me to digest,” Germany said.

Before the attempted shooting, Germany said Polite smiled at him.

Germany is hoping to use the story and stress to his parishioners that mental illness is real. The man had walked in and out of the room several times, Germany said.

Polite now faces multiple charges, including aggravated assault and attempted homicide.

Bail was denied for Polite and he is set to face a preliminary hearing on the charges next week.

Police investigating deadly shooting at home of suspect

Allegheny County Police are investigating after a man was found shot to death inside the home where Bernard Polite lives.

Police say that officers from the Eastern Regional Mon Valley Police Department were called about a shooting along Stokes Avenue around 8 p.m.

When police arrived at the scene, they found a man shot to death inside the home.

Detectives from the Allegheny County Police Department’s homicide unit were called and are now handling the investigation.

The victim inside the home has been identified as 56-year-old Derek Polite.

A neighbor told KDKA they heard a gunshot earlier in the day, but weren’t sure where it had come from.

The pro-Palestinian, antisemitic protests on university campuses across the nation are funded by President Joe Biden’s own political donors — which could explain why he hesitates to condemn them and won’t investigate them.

Biden equivocated last month when asked to react to the protests, saying that he condemned the antisemitism but also condemned those “who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians,” which puzzled observers.

Research by NGO Monitor and others into the donors behind the protests has turned up familiar names from the Democratic Party bankroll — including George Soros’ Open Society Foundations and other liberal philanthropies.

Biden’s Department of Justice has notably refused to investigate the civil rights abuses being committed by the “encampments” — against Jews, journalists, and others — and has also refused to consider RICO conspiracy charges.

The reason may be that he does not want to subject his own political donors to investigation or embarrasment.

Politico reported Sunday:

Two of the main organizers behind protests at Columbia University and on other campuses are Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow. Both are supported by the Tides Foundation, which is seeded by Democratic megadonor George Soros as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and it in turn supports numerous small nonprofits that work for social change.

Several other groups involved in pro-Palestinian protests are backed by a foundation funded by Susan and Nick Pritzker, heir to the Hyatt Hotel empire — and supporters of Biden and numerous Democratic campaigns, including $6,600 to the Biden Victory Fund a few months ago and more than $300,000 during the 2020 campaign.

The fact that Democratic Party mega-donors are behind the antisemitic protests may also spur Jewish voters — roughly 70% of whom vote Democratic — to consider changing their votes in 2024.

As Caroline Glick notes at the Jewish News Syndicate, Biden has been obsessing over losing Arab- and Muslim-American votes in Michigan — but there may be more Jewish votes to lose in key swing states like Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and others.

According to the statistics, the three big wins racked up in the women’s Division III track & field events by college transgender runner Sadie Schreiner would have placed Schreiner at the bottom of the heap in the men’s divisions.

Running for the Rochester Institute of Technology on Saturday, Schreiner won the 400 meters with a 55.07 and the 200 meters at 24.14, Fox News reported.

Schreiner was also awarded a school record in the women’s category with the 200-meter time, now a Liberty League conference women’s record. It is also a record-beating Schreiner’s past 24.50 sent this season.

However, both finals would have left Schreiner in last place in the men’s categories during the weekend’s events, Fox added.

Schreiner was born Camden Schreiner in New Jersey and competed as a boy at Hillsborough High School. There, he earned the 20th-best 100-meter time (11.72) for boys. That time, though, would have made him the leader in the girls category.

Despite these results, Schreiner insists that he has no “automatic advantage” despite his biology.

“Out of all the hate that’s been shared of me, ‘cheater’ is the most common word used… In my eyes, the discussion of trans inclusion in athletics shouldn’t even be a debate…” Schreiner wrote on social media, Fox News reported. “As more research is done the more evident this becomes. There’s a reason I’m only as fast as I was in middle school, and the only variable that’s changed over my 9 years of running is my medication.”

“Even as Olympic studies prove the disadvantages of trans athletes, it’s not enough,” he insisted. “Policies are being changed before research is done, and the only way to stay educated in this process is to talk to the few trans athletes that are competing and hear their stories, bring them into the conversation. The only way to make an educated decision on a small handful of athletes is to hear their voice, not speak for them.”

His proclamations, though, do not take into account a growing number of studies that show that transgender therapies are not enough to take away advantages of a male body over a female body.

Most of the rules put in place by sports organizations govern testosterone levels, but testosterone alone is far from the only difference between men and women where it affects sports.

For instance, researchers Emma N. Hilton and Tommy R. Lundberg published a study in Sports Medicine that found “current evidence shows the biological advantage, most notably in terms of muscle mass and strength, conferred by male puberty and thus enjoyed by most transgender women is only minimally reduced when testosterone is suppressed as per current sporting guidelines for transgender athletes.”

The authors of that study go on to say that transgender “women” have between a 10 and 50 percent advantage over women in sports, regardless of testosterone levels.

A similar study by Timothy A Roberts, Joshua Smalley, and Dale Ahrendt, published by the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found that men who transition to women maintain some of their physical advantages over women despite all the medical tomfoolery of their “transition.”

Yet another study finds that muscle strength, size, and composition are still stronger in transgender women for at least a year after gender-affirming treatment.

Women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines blasted the NCAA for Schreiner’s success as a female track & field star.

“Sadie Schreiner, male competing with the women, won the women’s 200 & 400m today at the Liberty League championship meet. He broke the 400m women’s record in the process,” Gaines wrote, adding, “He would’ve finished last amongst the other boys by 2 full seconds.”

Sadie Schreiner, male competing with the women, won the women’s 200 & 400m today at the Liberty League championship meet. He broke the 400m women’s record in the process

He would’ve finished last amongst the other boys by 2 full seconds

This is exactly why we’re suing the @NCAA pic.twitter.com/1FIv1DMmib

— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) May 4, 2024

The Biden administration last week halted a shipment of US-made ammo that was slated to go to Israel — a decision that reportedly sent members of the Israeli government into a tizzy as they tried to figure out why the delivery has been withheld.

The move marks the first time since Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 terrorist attack that the United States has hit the brakes on a weapons shipment to its longtime Middle East ally, according to Axios, which learned of the decision from two Israeli officials.

When questioned, a White House National Security Council spokesperson told Fox News that the administration has supported Israel since Hamas’ assault, which left 1,200 Israelis dead.

“The United States has surged billions of dollars in security assistance to Israel since the October 7 attacks, passed the largest ever supplemental appropriation for emergency assistance to Israel, led an unprecedented coalition to defend Israel against Iranian attacks, and will continue to do what is necessary to ensure Israel can defend itself from the threats it faces,” the statement said.

Neither the Pentagon, the state department nor the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office immediately responded to questions from Axios, the outlet said.

The Biden administration’s choice comes as US officials are increasingly worried that Israel will invade Rafah, a city in southern Gaza that has absorbed more than 1.5 million Palestinian refugees since the war began.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to move into the city, which has become one of Hamas’ last remaining strongholds, according to Fox.

Netanyahu has also said he plans to invade regardless of whether Israel and Hamas reach a ceasefire deal, or Hamas agrees to release the remaining hostages the terrorist group seized during its October assault.

But Western officials – including Biden – worry that a ground assault would kill many civilians and send an already dreadful humanitarian crisis spiraling out of control, Fox added.

Last Wednesday U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel and had a “tough” conversation with Netanyahu regarding a possible Israeli operation in Rafah, two sources briefed on the meeting said.

Blinken told Netanyahu during their meeting that “a major military operation” in Rafah would lead to the U.S. publicly opposing it and would negatively impact U.S.-Israel relations.

A day later White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Israeli leaders understand that President Biden “is sincere” when he talks about the possibility of changes to U.S. policy regarding the Gaza war “should they move ahead with some sort of ground operation in Rafah that doesn’t take into account the refugees.”

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said at a Financial Times conference in Washington on Saturday that the Biden administration made clear to Israel that the way it will conduct an operation in Rafah will influence U.S. policy towards the Gaza war.

Meanwhile, Biden has faced intense blowback from college students throughout the nation, many of whom have held sit-ins and established encampments to protest the United States’ role in the war.

More than 100,000 illegal immigrants protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program will soon become eligible to receive federal health care coverage for the first time since DACA was implemented over a decade ago.

The Biden administration will announce a new federal rule Friday allowing DACA recipients to enroll in a qualified health plan through the Affordable Care Act insurance marketplace or become eligible for coverage through a basic health program.

An estimated 580,000 young adults who lack legal immigration status and have lived in the U.S. since they were children are currently working or studying without fear of deportation under DACA. An overwhelming majority of DACA recipients were born in Mexico and other Latin American countries.

Even though the program has helped them access better-paying jobs and educational opportunities since it was first implemented in 2012, DACA beneficiaries had been barred from accessing federally funded health insurance despite contributing billions in federal taxes, pouring funds into the nation’s federal health insurance system for years.

While many DACA recipients get health insurance through their jobs, more than a quarter are estimated to currently be uninsured.

By implementing a federal rule expanding the definition of “lawful presence” to include DACA recipients, they are “no longer excluded from receiving coverage from a quality health plan and financial assistance as well,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra told reporters in a press call Thursday.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that over 100,000 illegal immigrants who lack health insurance will now have a shot at accessing affordable health care.

“DACA recipients are currently three times more likely to be uninsured than the general U.S. population, and individuals without health insurance are less likely to receive preventative or routine health screenings. They delay necessary medical care, and they incur higher costs and debts when they do finally see care,” Becerra said, adding the new expansion “will improve their health and will strengthen the health and well-being of our nation.”

The new federal rule does not make DACA recipients eligible for the Medicaid program, according to senior administration officials, but gives them coverage through the Affordable Care Act and its marketplaces and financial assistance programs.

The announced rule is expected to go into effect Nov. 1, which coincides with the Affordable Care Act’s open enrollment period for 2025 health insurance plans, allowing newly eligible DACA recipients to have access to federal health care as early as December, according to HHS.

Friday’s announcement comes about a year after President Joe Biden first announced his administration’s plan to expand health care coverage to DACA recipients. The administration’s original plan aimed to implement the federal rule by November 2023.

Senior administration officials declined to comment this week on why the implementation of the rule was delayed.

However, White House domestic policy adviser Neera Tanden stressed that “the president will continue to fight” for DACA recipients, adding that “only Congress can provide them permanent status and a pathway to citizenship.”

While the program has been around for a decade, it faced legal challenges during the Trump administration and from Republican-led states. DACA has been closed to new registrants since July 2021 as lawsuits challenging the program continue making their way through the courts.

Former President Donald Trump surrounded himself with potential running mates and other allies on Saturday during the Republican National Committee (RNC) spring retreat at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

Among those who joined Trump on stage in the Grand Ballroom for a lunch event were Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Tim Scott (R-SC), entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, all former 2024 presidential rivals now considered to be in the running for vice president, according to a post to X from his campaign.

House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), and Reps. Byron Donalds (R-FL) and Wesley Hunt (R-TX), who have all been mentioned as part of the Veepstakes this election cycle, also attended.

Other Republicans who were present included House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Reps. Jim Banks (R-IN), who is running for Senate; Michael Waltz (R-FL); Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dave McCormick; and Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno.

During the event, Trump recognized the RNC’s fundraising efforts and “enthusiasm” for his “Make America Great Again” movement, per his campaign.

He spoke for around 90 minutes about the presidential race, election integrity, the economy, the border, and protests taking place on university campuses. He also touted Johnson’s work as a speaker and advocated for party unity.

Trump recently suggested that he may select a running mate in the next couple of months before the Republican National Convention, which is scheduled to take place in Milwaukee in mid-July. “We’ll be making that decision I think closer to Wisconsin time,” Trump told FOX6 News Milwaukee last week. He added, “It’s very early right now.”

In the 2016 and 2020 elections, Trump ran with former Vice President Mike Pence, a former governor of Indiana.

Pence led his own presidential campaign in the 2024 election cycle but dropped out in late October before the start of the GOP primary contests.

Trump recently met with one of his other former 2024 Republican primary rivals, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Both indicated they had a productive conversation and made plans to defeat President Joe Biden in the November election.

Only months after taking the job, Republican National Committee chief counsel Charlie Spies has resigned from the role.

“Working full time at the RNC wasn’t the right fit with my law firm-client commitments, but I will remain focused on getting President Trump and Republicans at all levels elected in November,” Spies said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.

RNC spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez also cited “potential time commitment conflicts” as a reason for Spies’s departure in a statement to NBC News published earlier on Sunday.

“Charlie approached RNC Chief of Staff, Chris LaCivita, about potential time commitment conflicts and it was agreed that, while we appreciate and value Charlie’s expertise and professionalism, he cannot do this role full time and still maintain the obligations to his law firm that he has spent years successfully building,” Alvarez told the outlet in a statement.

However, according to the NBC News report, which cites an anonymous source, alleges Spies was “pushed out” of the job.

Spies was hired earlier this year while RNC leadership changed over to former President Donald Trump’s preferred picks of chairman Michael Whatley and co-chair Lara Trump.

He was part of a bevy of new hires made as the RNC was staffed for more Trump-aligned actions, including readying potential legal challenges in swing states. Reports suggested that Spies was skeptical of Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

Democratic National Committee spokesman Alex Floyd bashed the move as an example of how Trump is allegedly purging the RNC of those who dissent from him.

“Donald Trump’s MAGA takeover of the RNC has already led to mass staff firings and an election denier litmus test for new hires — and now the committee’s top lawyer is the latest GOP official purged for disagreeing with Trump’s dangerous conspiracy theories about the 2020 election,” Floyd said in a statement.

“Trump continues to push the Big Lie along with the rest of his extreme MAGA agenda while trying to bend the Republican Party to his will.”

“His own staff don’t believe his unhinged conspiracy theories, and neither do the American people, who are ready to reject Trump and his attacks on our democracy once again this November,” he added.

Former President Trump was greeted with cheers and applause on Sunday afternoon as the former president arrived at the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.

Photos from the event showed the GOP presidential candidate walking around the paddock, visiting the McLaren team garage and waving at passersby.

🚨 Trump arrives at the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix

pic.twitter.com/QNZolJwpMA

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) May 5, 2024

https://twitter.com/ULTRA_MAJESTY/status/1787195082594046393

Trump backer Steve Witkoff reportedly planned a fundraiser from one of the event’s suites, but the plans were shut down by race organizer and Miami Dolphins CEO Tom Garfinkel.

“Political campaigning has its place, and it is not at our race. We welcome you and your guests to attend our event and enjoy your suite.”

“However, we respectfully request it be done in compliance with our very clear license agreement,” race organizers wrote Witkoff in a letter, first reported by radio host Andy Slater.

Trump was in Florida over the weekend for the Republican National Committee’s spring meeting, largely seen as an audition for potential 2024 running mates.

The guest list included many of those who are rumored to be on the list of finalists, including South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R), Ohio Sen. JD Vance (R), House GOP conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.).

A Wyoming man has made it his life’s mission to help rescue girls in Colombia who have fallen victim to sex trafficking.

Tyler Schwab was first introduced to sex trafficking while on a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Dominican Republic.

He started to notice a lot of young girls with older men but didn’t think much of it until he took a human trafficking seminar at Utah State University.

‘It was an injustice I couldn’t ignore,’ Schwab told Cowboy State Daily.

In 2014 he started the non-profit Libertas International, which has gone on to save more than 3,000 girls from tourist pedophiles in Colombia.

‘Colombia is a very beautiful country for tourists, but over the span of time, we’ve had an influx of sex tourism, especially after the pandemic,’ Schwab said.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Libertas International (@libertasinternational)

‘There were kids, especially young girls reporting that they had been abused by American tourists.’

Maj. Johan Aldana from the Colombian National Police, told Cowboy State Daily that sex tourism has been on the rise in cities like Medellin, Cali, Cartagena and the county’s capital, Bogotá.

In 2023, there were 1,259 possible sexual exploitation cases of minors in Bogotá, Colombia, 60 percent higher than the previous year, the Associated Press reported.

Around 1.4million tourists visited the country last year as crime and violence has dropped down following the leadership of the notorious Pablo Escobar.

Many of those tourists were Americans, and though Escobar has been dead for more than three decades, the prostitution culture that he normalized has lingered in the country.

In January, a 19-month-old girl was rescued by Schwab and his team after former NYPD officer, Agmad Beharry, 46, sexually exploited her.

The little girl is the youngest survivor that the non-profit has saved.

‘We are committed to supporting this survivor as she grows, learns to speak, etc,’ Libertas International said in a Facebook post.

Beharry was also charged, along with his accomplice, Gisainet Cristina Chirinos Viloria, with sexually exploiting photographs of a nine-year-old girl, the US Attorney’s Office said.

Following his arrest, Beharry, who was assigned to the NYPD’s terrorism unit, was suspended without pay and was charged in the US attorney’s office in Manhattan with one count of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of possession of child pornography.

On April 3, Federico Gutiérrez, the Mayor of Medellín, implemented a temporary prostitution ban after an American man was found with two Colombian teens, ages 12 and 13.

The President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, has also been involved in trying to decrease prostitution in the country.

One girl, who goes by the name Milagros, was recently caught up in a sex trafficking string, and through the help of Schwab and his non-profit, she was able to get the help she needed.

A police officer gave her Schwab’s information on a written note after she and three other women were violently abused by an American man.

With his support, Milagros testified at her abuser’s trial in US Federal court in May 2023.

She is now in school studying to be a social worker and runs a small business from home. She dreams of working for the non-profit one day.

Michael Roberts, 41, a Texas teacher who worked at an all-girls school, was then charged with illicit sexual abuse of minors and was sentenced to seven years in US federal prison.

Last year, Operation Archangel was launched, as Liberates International, Colombian law enforcement and the US Department of Homeland Security worked together to bring down more American sex tourists.

Since the operation started, more than a dozen men have been arrested and there are 30 open cases still pending.

Just last week, a pharmacist from Miami was arrested at an airport as he tried to board a flight to Bogotá to have sex with minors, aged 10 and 12.

In exchange for $300,000 in Colombian pesos, around $77 American dollars, the man abused children and promised them iPhones if they ‘didn’t cry.’

Another predator, MMA fighter Jaymes Schulte, was also caught and indicted in November on suspicion of sex trafficking and distributing illegal videos that involved victims as young as 13.

To make matters worse, a lot of the girls are being exploited by family members in exchange for money, Aldana said.

‘From a professional standpoint, I’ve worked organized crime and drugs, but sexual exploitation is such a different animal because they’re real people,’ he said.

‘They’re girls that have had these horrific lives and they’re blameless victims who are being exploited.’

He and Schwab both agreed that a lot of the offenders are white-collar professionals with no criminal records.

‘They come out here with their money and their white skin and believe that they can find the most vulnerable girls in the country and use them as sexual object,’ Aldana said.

Schwab referred to the tourists as ‘hidden monsters.’

‘Many of these people are professional law enforcement, teachers, taxi drivers, pharmacists, ex-military, bankers, etc. They have no criminal background here in the U.S., but when they travel, they turn into the worst kind of monsters who inflict true horror on vulnerable kids around the world,’ Schwab said.

Despite the alarming amount of sex trafficking, both Schwab and Aldana are confident that their work will continue to make a difference.

‘We will find you. It’s only a matter of time, and now, we have strategic partners in place,’ Aldana said.

In addition to them, Libertas International has a large team of people who help rescue helpless girls, including a ‘Survivor Board.’

Schwab said that once a girl is rescued, they receive ongoing help and care from Libertas International.

He was recently awarded the prestigious ‘Shield of DIPRO,’ the highest honor an American can receive, by the Colombian government for his tremendous work.

More than three quarters of rapes on the streets of Paris last year were committed by foreign nationals, according to shocking data from French authorities.

97 rapes were recorded in public spaces in France’s capital in 2023 – fewer than a third of which have been solved, local outlet Europe 1 reported.

Of the 97, 36 were arrested, 28 of whom were of foreign nationality – a staggering 77 per cent of those accused – while 30 cases were solved by the authorities.

Stats from Paris police headquarters said the crimes were largely committed at night, in tourist hotspots, and near “points de deal” – places where drug deals happened.

More shocking figures revealed that 20 rapists had already been known to the police, while four others had been on authorities’ radar for other sex offences.

Europe 1 said the crimes had been “mainly” committed by men, most of whom were addicted to drugs, homeless, or unemployed.

The number of crimes had risen by two per cent since 2022 – a near-constant rate of increase since 2018.

Reacting to the figures, Grégory Joron, the general secretary of police union Unite SGP Police-Force Ouvriere, said: “It’s still a rape every three days on Parisian soil and in public spaces.

“This poses a real question since it has been stable since almost 2018 and overall, we can clearly see that it is a phenomenon that we cannot extinguish.”

Joron drew attention to crime worries ahead of this year’s Olympic Games in the city; he said: “These are supposed to be places with a zero per cent crime rate, since we are expecting to welcome millions of tourists for the Olympic Games.

“But, for now, these are still places where, unfortunately, there are still a huge number of problems.

“After a certain hour, at night, there is unfortunately still a risk that a woman will be walking alone on her way home from an evening out or even from work.”

Authorities are attempting a large-scale crack-down ahead of the Olympics – last month, police introduced their “Place Nette XXL” operation, which, though mainly drug-focused, has much wider security implications.

The French Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin had said at the time that “the fight against drugs is not only a fight for security; it is a fight for society”.

Alongside drugs, France has made moves to curb terrorist efforts over the last few months; in the wake of the Crocus City Hall attack in Moscow, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced an increase of his country’s terror threat level to “attack emergency”.

With such concerns in mind, the Olympics’ opening ceremony, slated to take place on the city’s River Seine, has already scaled back for security reasons.

A senior French interior ministry official said French President Emmanuel Macron had demanded halving the number of spectators from 600,000 following crowd control and security concerns, according to Politico.

The official said the “main threat” to the Games was “Islamist terrorism” – but conceded French intelligence had not yet identified specific plots, and groups like Isis and Al-Qaeda did not have the financial capacity to carry out attacks in France.

Madonna put on a free concert on Copacabana beach Saturday night, turning Rio de Janeiro’s vast stretch of sand into an enormous dance floor teeming with a multitude of her fans.

Her performance was laced with nudity and sexually explicit acts.

65 year old Madonna performs vulgar explicit act on stage during her Rio de Janeiro concert, attended by 1.6 million people- including children. pic.twitter.com/sZjgtHjnaL

— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) May 5, 2024

Muita gente tentando cancelar a Madonna por causa do show. Galera, a igreja católica já tentou 3 vezes, não vai ser a turma do sofá que vai conseguir. Superem!
https://t.co/onHDr0Mm1x

— Ball-N (@BauenyBarroco) May 5, 2024

It was the last show of The Celebration Tour, her first retrospective, which kicked off in October in London.

The “Queen of Pop” began the show with her 1998 hit “Nothing Really Matters.”

Huge cheers rose from the buzzing, tightly packed crowd, pressed up against the barriers.

Others held house parties in brightly lighted apartments and hotels overlooking the beachfront.

Helicopters and drones flew overhead, and motorboats and sailboats anchored off the beach filled the bay.

“Here we are in the most beautiful place in the world,” Madonna, 65, told the crowd. Pointing out the ocean view, the mountains and the Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking the city, she added: “This place is magic.”

Madonna performed her classic hits, including “Like A Virgin” and “Hung Up.” For the introduction to “Like A Prayer,” her head was completely covered in a black cape, a rosary gripped in her hands.

The star paid an emotional tribute to “all the bright lights” lost to AIDS as she sang “Live to Tell,” with black and white photos of people who died from the illness flashing behind her.

Later, she was joined on stage by Brazilian artists Anitta and Pabllo Vittar.

Rio spent the last few days readying itself for the performance.

An estimated 1.6 million people attended the show, G1 reported, citing Rio City Hall’s tourism agency.

That is more than 10 times Madonna’s record attendance of 130,000 at Paris’ Parc des Sceaux in 1987.

Madonna’s official website hyped the show as the biggest ever in her four-decade career.

In recent days, the buzz was palpable. Fans milled outside the stately, beachfront Copacabana Palace hotel, where Madonna is staying, hoping to catch a glimpse of the pop star.

During the sound check on the stage set up in front of the hotel, they danced on the sand.

By midday Saturday, fans crowded in front of the hotel. A white-bearded man carried a sign saying, “Welcome Madonna you are the best I love you.”

Flags with “Madonna” printed against a background of Copacabana’s iconic black and white waved sidewalk pattern hung from balconies.

The area was packed with street vendors and concert attendees kitted out in themed T-shirts, sweating under a baking sun.

“Since Madonna arrived here, I’ve been coming every day with this outfit to welcome my idol, my diva, my pop queen,” said Rosemary de Oliveira Bohrer, 69, who sported a gold-colored cone bra and a black cap.

“It’s going to be an unforgettable show here in Copacabana,” said Oliveira Bohrer, a retired civil servant who lives in the area.

Eighteen sound towers were spread along the beach to ensure that all attendees can hear the hits. Her two-hour show started at 10:37 p.m. local time, nearly 50 minutes behind schedule.

City Hall produced a report in April estimating that the concert would inject $57 million into the local economy.

Hotel capacity was expected to reach 98% in Copacabana, according to Rio’s hotel association.

Fans hailing from across Brazil and even Argentina and France sought out Airbnbs for the weekend, the platform said in a statement.

Rio’s international airport had forecast an extra 170 flights during May 1-6, from 27 destinations, City Hall said in a statement.

A crash happened Saturday evening outside the White House, leaving one person dead, according to police.

The Metropolitan Police Department responded at about 10:45 p.m. Saturday night to reports that a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed collided with an outer perimeter gate on the White House complex.

Security protocols were implemented, but the driver was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a statement released by the Secret Service.

“Security protocols were implemented as officers cleared the vehicle and attempted to render aid to the driver who was discovered deceased,” according to the Secret Service.

There is no threat to the White House.

The fatal crash portion of this will be turned over to the Washington Metropolitan Police Department Crash Investigation Unit and the Secret Service investigation continues.