News from Multiple Perspectives

Official intelligence report revealed that more than 1,000 citizens had been lured to fight for Russia in Ukraine.

Pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in downtown Washington, DC, outside Donald Trump’s Board of Peace event.

"Board of Peace" convenes after decades of inaction on Palestinian demands to end the Israeli occupation.

Jordan Stolz of the U.S. took a silver medal in the men's 1500 meters speedskating race at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno) 2026-02-19T19:45:55Z MILAN (AP) — U.S. speedskater Jordan Stolz’s late push wasn’t enough. The American star settled for silver in the 1,500 meters, missing a chance to secure a third gold medal at the Milan Cortina Olympics . China’s Ning Zhongyan won Thursday’s race in an Olympic-record time of 1 minute, 41.98 seconds. The 21-year-old Stolz, who won gold medals in the 500 and 1,000 at these Games, crossed 0.77 seconds later. As Stolz glided by, hands on his knees, Ning raised his country’s flag aloft with both hands and started a victory lap. Stolz, a Wisconsin native, will participate in the mass start on Saturday. Dutch skater Kjeld Nuis, who won the 1,500 at the past two Olympics, took bronze. freestar.queue.push(function () { window.fsAdCount = window.fsAdCount + 1 || 0; let customChannel = '/dynamic_' + fsAdCount; let adList = document.querySelectorAll(".fs-feed-ad") let thisAd = adList[fsAdCount]; let randId = Math.random().toString(36).slice(2); thisAd.id = randId; let thisPlacement = fsAdCount == 0 ? "apnews_story_feed" : "apnews_story_feed_dynamic"; freestar.newAdSlots({ placementName: thisPlacement, slotId: randId }, customChannel); }); Women’s hockey final: US vs. Canada They meet again. The United States and Canada are playing in the gold medal match in women’s hockey. It’s the seventh time the two powerhouses have faced off for Olympic gold since women’s hockey debuted at the 1998 Nagano Games. The Americans beat their rivals 5-0 in the preliminary round in Milan. The U.S. team, the defending world champion, is trying to avenge a loss to Canada in the Olympic final in 2022. Earlier Thursday, Alina Muller scored the bronze medal-winning goal in overtime in Switzerland’s 2-1 victory over Sweden. It came 12 years after Muller scored the clinching goal to deliver the Swiss their first Olympic medal in women’s hockey — a bronze at the 2014 Sochi Games. US and Canada reach women’s curling semifinals The United States and Canada advanced to the women’s curling semifinals . The Americans, skipped by Tabitha Peterson, beat Switzerland 7-6 in a match that went to an extra end. The teams will square off again in Friday’s semifinals. Peterson threw the decisive rock and her teammates swept it into position, just a hair closer to the button than the Swiss’ nearest stone. Canada beat South Korea 10-7 and will play Sweden on Friday. ___ AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics 获取更多RSS： https://feedx.net https://feedx.site

In this image from video circulating on social media, verified by the AP and posted on 17 February, 2026, attendees shout anti-government slogans in Abdanan, Iran, during a memorial known as "chehelom," Persian for "the 40th," marking 40 days since a man was killed during protests. Chehelom ceremonies are traditionally held by families 40 days after a death, but during periods of unrest they can take on a political dimension.(UGC via AP) 2026-02-19T17:04:04Z CAIRO (AP) — Standing on her balcony in the Iranian capital , Tehran, the teacher shouted out into the darkness, “Death to the dictator!” and “Death to the murderer, Khamenei!” on a recent night, joining the slogans coming from windows and rooftops around her relatively affluent neighborhood. A few voices in the darkness responded with slogans in support of Iran’s 47-year-old Islamic Republic. “Shut up! Choke on it!” her neighbors shouted back, drowning out the pro-government voices, the teacher recounted to The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity for her safety. Iranians across the country are still reeling with shock , grief and fear after massive nationwide protests were crushed by the deadliest crackdown ever seen under the rule of the 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei . Thousands were killed and tens of thousands are believed to have been arrested . freestar.queue.push(function () { window.fsAdCount = window.fsAdCount + 1 || 0; let customChannel = '/dynamic_' + fsAdCount; let adList = document.querySelectorAll(".fs-feed-ad") let thisAd = adList[fsAdCount]; let randId = Math.random().toString(36).slice(2); thisAd.id = randId; let thisPlacement = fsAdCount == 0 ? "apnews_story_feed" : "apnews_story_feed_dynamic"; freestar.newAdSlots({ placementName: thisPlacement, slotId: randId }, customChannel); }); But a vein of defiance persists. A seething anger at Iran’s rulers is evident in videos shared on social media and in conversations with protesters. At the same time, three protesters reached by the AP also expressed futility over what can be done after hundreds of thousands braved taking to the streets only to be met with overwhelming violence. The protesters all spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing retribution or arrest. Adding to the uncertainty is the United States’ threat to strike Iran . The U.S. has positioned warships and fighter jets nearby even as it holds negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. The defiance appears in the shouting of slogans from windows and rooftops at night, a ritual displayed in past waves of protests. It is also evident at memorial gatherings for those killed 40 days earlier. Such commemorations -- known as the “chehelom,” Persian for “the 40th” – are traditionally held by families for anyone who has died. But in times of unrest, chehelom can have a political dimension. freestar.queue.push(function () { window.fsAdCount = window.fsAdCount + 1 || 0; let customChannel = '/dynamic_' + fsAdCount; let adList = document.querySelectorAll(".fs-feed-ad") let thisAd = adList[fsAdCount]; let randId = Math.random().toString(36).slice(2); thisAd.id = randId; let thisPlacement = fsAdCount == 0 ? "apnews_story_feed" : "apnews_story_feed_dynamic"; freestar.newAdSlots({ placementName: thisPlacement, slotId: randId }, customChannel); }); Commemorations turn to protests This week marks 40 days since Jan. 8 and 9, the deadliest days of the crackdown, and multiple videos circulating online show 40-day ceremonies in towns and cities around Iran. Some appear to have drawn hundreds of people, who often break into anti-government chants. Often they are festive, with friends and loved ones of the slain protester singing and throwing flowers – a rejection of the solemn atmosphere encouraged by the state at official ceremonies. Most avoid calling the dead “shaheed,” or “martyr,” a term with Islamic religious connotations. Instead, they use the term, “javid nam,” a Persian phrase meaning, “Long live the name.” Videos posted this week and verified by the AP showed a crowd of hundreds at the main cemetery in the small western Iranian town of Abdanan, chanting, “Death to Khamenei” and pumping their fists at the chehelom of Alireza Seydi, a 16-year-old boy killed on Jan. 8. The videos show security forces firing from an armored vehicle, raising clouds of what appeared to be tear gas, sending men and women running. During the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the shah and brought the Islamic Republic to power , 40-day memorials for slain protesters often turned into rallies that security forces tried to crush, causing new deaths – which then would be marked 40 days later with new protests. freestar.queue.push(function () { window.fsAdCount = window.fsAdCount + 1 || 0; let customChannel = '/dynamic_' + fsAdCount; let adList = document.querySelectorAll(".fs-feed-ad") let thisAd = adList[fsAdCount]; let randId = Math.random().toString(36).slice(2); thisAd.id = randId; let thisPlacement = fsAdCount == 0 ? "apnews_story_feed" : "apnews_story_feed_dynamic"; freestar.newAdSlots({ placementName: thisPlacement, slotId: randId }, customChannel); }); Postings on social media have reported security forces trying to restrict people from attending some chehelom ceremonies. “For every person killed, a thousand more stand behind him,” a crowd of several hundred chanted Tuesday while gathered in the eastern city of Mashhad for the chehelom of Hamid Mahdavi, according to a video verified by the AP. When a few police officers harassed some people commemorating Mahdavi, a fireman shot to death in January protests, the crowd shouted, “Shameless! Shameless!” The government held its own chehelom for those killed, whom the Revolutionary Guard in a statement depicted as victims of violence caused by foreign-backed armed “terrorist” groups that exploited “legitimate public demands.” It said the 40-day commemoration was “a chance to renew commitment to national unity.” freestar.queue.push(function () { window.fsAdCount = window.fsAdCount + 1 || 0; let customChannel = '/dynamic_' + fsAdCount; let adList = document.querySelectorAll(".fs-feed-ad") let thisAd = adList[fsAdCount]; let randId = Math.random().toString(36).slice(2); thisAd.id = randId; let thisPlacement = fsAdCount == 0 ? "apnews_story_feed" : "apnews_story_feed_dynamic"; freestar.newAdSlots({ placementName: thisPlacement, slotId: randId }, customChannel); }); ‘Mass depression’ and anger “More than sad, people are angry. Everyone is so angry. Everyone is waiting for some kind of explosion,” said a resident of Karaj, a city just outside of Tehran. He joined street marches on Jan. 8 and Jan. 9 and said five of his relatives and family friends were killed when security forces opened fire on protesters. The Human Rights Activists News Agency has so far counted more than 7,000 dead and believes the death toll is far higher. Iran’s government offered its only death toll on Jan. 21, saying 3,117 people were killed; it has depicted many of the protesters as “terrorists.” “I don’t know anyone around me who doesn’t know someone who was killed, or someone who was arrested or wounded,” the 26-year-old teacher in Tehran said. Two of her acquaintances were killed and the husband of one of her co-workers arrested, she said. freestar.queue.push(function () { window.fsAdCount = window.fsAdCount + 1 || 0; let customChannel = '/dynamic_' + fsAdCount; let adList = document.querySelectorAll(".fs-feed-ad") let thisAd = adList[fsAdCount]; let randId = Math.random().toString(36).slice(2); thisAd.id = randId; let thisPlacement = fsAdCount == 0 ? "apnews_story_feed" : "apnews_story_feed_dynamic"; freestar.newAdSlots({ placementName: thisPlacement, slotId: randId }, customChannel); }); Iranians are also struggling with a rapidly worsening economy, as the value of their currency plummets. Every day, prices rise, said the Karaj resident. “We are getting near an economic collapse,” he said. “Buying fruit has become a luxury.” A resident of north Tehran who works in tourism and joined last month’s protests said that with the Persian New Year approaching in March, the bazaar would usually be full of shoppers, but not now. “It’s a combination of grieving, lack of money and inflation,” he said, describing people in the capital as being in a state of “mass depression.” The mood has dampened Iran’s normally vibrant cultural sphere . One prominent actor posted that she would no longer accept new roles “in this land that smells of blood.” Alireza Ostad Haji, who referees a popular television strongman competition, offered condolences to “all mourning families” in an Instagram post and resigned from two national athletic committees. He broke down in tears as he spoke of a former bodybuilding champion, Masoud Zatparvar, who was killed. “He was not a terrorist, he was a protester,” he said. ‘They see no alternative’ There is also a fear that street protests can’t bring change in the face of the state’s overwhelming use of violence. The Karaj resident and the Tehran protester who works in tourism both expressed support for the son of the ousted shah, Reza Pahlavi , who from exile has put himself forward as a leader of the fragmented Iranian opposition . Pahlavi has encouraged protests and called for the U.S. to strike Iran. The depth of support for Pahlavi around Iran is impossible to gauge. But during January’s wave of protests, chants in support of him were common, a notable change from the past, when the shah’s son drew scant attention within the country or was seen as out of touch. Some are even taking what was a previously unimaginable step for many -- expressing hopes for an American attack. “Every night, every hour, I wish I could hear (U.S.) strikes,” the protester who works in tourism said. “We cannot fight anymore with our fists against machine guns.” He said many of his friends who took to the streets alongside him in January say they won’t do so again because of the state’s violence. The teacher said that, while she joined past protests, she didn’t in January because she didn’t like the expressions of Pahlavi support. But she said some of her friends who also oppose the shah’s son joined the January protests and even repeated the slogan, “Long live the shah!” “People have become very tired, and they see no alternative,” she said. She worried a U.S. attack will bring war, civil strife and even more bloodshed. “I am afraid there will be more massacres,” she said. ___ Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Lee Keath in Cairo contributed to this report. KAREEM CHEHAYEB Chehayeb is an Associated Press reporter in Beirut. twitter instagram mailto 获取更多RSS： https://feedx.net https://feedx.site

In this image taken from video, Michael Black, a Rhode Island man who helped stop a shooter at a high school hockey game on Monday, holds up his injured hand during an interview with The Associated Press, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026 in Spartanburg, S.C. (AP Photo) 2026-02-19T16:31:55Z PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Sitting in the stands at a hockey game, Michael Black heard what he thought was popping balloons before quickly realizing it was gunfire . As dozens of people rushed out of the Rhode Island arena, Black told his wife to “run, run” and then lunged toward the shooter’s handgun. Black managed to get his left hand caught in the chamber of Robert Dorgan’s gun, jamming it and then briefly attempted to hold Dorgan down. But Dorgan, a former bodybuilder, hoisted Black into the air before at least two other bystanders rushed over to subdue the shooter. One of them could be seen on video putting Dorgan into a choke hold. Dorgan fell to the ground, with Black on top of him. The shooter died from a self-inflicted gunshot after pulling out a second gun as the two locked eyes. Black never heard Dorgan say a word. “The first thought was the safety of my wife. And the second thought was, because the bullets were coming out, was to focus in on the gun,” Black said. “Get the gun and then subdue the shooter.” freestar.queue.push(function () { window.fsAdCount = window.fsAdCount + 1 || 0; let customChannel = '/dynamic_' + fsAdCount; let adList = document.querySelectorAll(".fs-feed-ad") let thisAd = adList[fsAdCount]; let randId = Math.random().toString(36).slice(2); thisAd.id = randId; let thisPlacement = fsAdCount == 0 ? "apnews_story_feed" : "apnews_story_feed_dynamic"; freestar.newAdSlots({ placementName: thisPlacement, slotId: randId }, customChannel); }); Pawtucket police have said the shooter behind the deadly ice rink tragedy on Monday was Robert Dorgan, who also went by Roberta Esposito and Roberta Dorgano. Dorgan’s ex-wife Rhonda Dorgan and adult son Aidan Dorgan were killed in the shooting, and three others were injured: Rhonda Dorgan’s parents, Linda and Gerald Dorgan; and a family friend, Thomas Geruso, all of whom remained in critical condition Wednesday. Pawtucket police say the group of “courageous citizens” who rushed to intervene in the attack “undoubtedly prevented further injury and increased the chances of survival for the injured.” Along with Black, Robert Robert Rattenni, and Ryan Cordeiro are being credited as subduing the suspect. Separately, Chris Librizzi and Glenn Narodowy, both retired Rhode Island firefighters and EMTs, and nurse Maryann Rattenni provided first aid in the immediate aftermath. freestar.queue.push(function () { window.fsAdCount = window.fsAdCount + 1 || 0; let customChannel = '/dynamic_' + fsAdCount; let adList = document.querySelectorAll(".fs-feed-ad") let thisAd = adList[fsAdCount]; let randId = Math.random().toString(36).slice(2); thisAd.id = randId; let thisPlacement = fsAdCount == 0 ? "apnews_story_feed" : "apnews_story_feed_dynamic"; freestar.newAdSlots({ placementName: thisPlacement, slotId: randId }, customChannel); }); “I look at it as being fortunate, saddened tremendously in the loss, but fortunate that a small group of people could make a difference,” Black said in a zoom interview Thursday from South Carolina where he was on a college visit with his son. Authorities have not directly said that Dorgan was transgender and have said questions around Dorgan’s gender identity are not relevant to their investigation surrounding the case. However, court records from Dorgan’s past show that gender identity was at least one of the contributing factors to Dorgan’s wife filing for divorce in 2020 after nearly 30 years of marriage. Dorgan’s X account mention being transgender and sharing far-right ideologies. Black said Dorgan was walking down rows of seats determined to shoot more people. As he pinned the shooter’s head with his knee, Black said he noticed Dorgan had additional magazines holding “quite a few bullets.” With Dorgan dead, other bystanders rushed to provide treatment for the five people who had been shot and were lying between the bleachers. Blood was everywhere. Police arrived within in minutes and, Black with his injured hand, was escorted outside in the parking lot where he reunited with his wife. freestar.queue.push(function () { window.fsAdCount = window.fsAdCount + 1 || 0; let customChannel = '/dynamic_' + fsAdCount; let adList = document.querySelectorAll(".fs-feed-ad") let thisAd = adList[fsAdCount]; let randId = Math.random().toString(36).slice(2); thisAd.id = randId; let thisPlacement = fsAdCount == 0 ? "apnews_story_feed" : "apnews_story_feed_dynamic"; freestar.newAdSlots({ placementName: thisPlacement, slotId: randId }, customChannel); }); “My wife saw me and she ran underneath the yellow tape, kind of grabbed me from behind, and we gave a big hug,” Black said. “She said, ‘I heard you helped with the shooter. And she says, what’s all the blood? I said, ’I got my hand caught in the gun.’ And then she said, ‘Honey, I don’t know whether I should be proud of you, but I’m pissed off at you for putting yourself in that situation.’” As he was sitting in the hospital getting treatment on his injured hand, Black recalled a nurse calling him a hero — a label that has repeatedly been applied to all three bystanders in recent days. “I said I don’t feel like I’m a hero right now,” Black said. “I looked up and I was feeling for the family. So I started getting some tears in my eyes. And then she got tears in her eyes, too. It was just a moment of decompression at that point.” ___ Casey reported from Boston. MICHAEL CASEY Casey writes about the environment, housing and inequality for The Associated Press. He lives in Boston. twitter mailto

Trump said it "looks like" Hamas will disarm, even though there are signs the group is regrouping.

The Iranian leadership is weighing up whether resisting US demands is the best option for its survival.

The US is surging forces to the Middle East amid negotiations with the Islamic Republic over its nuclear programme.

NATO country and U.S. ally Poland warned its citizens Thursday to immediately flee Iran , with its prime minister saying the "possibility of a conflict is very real." The remarks from Donald Tusk come as the U.S. has been bolstering its military presence in the Middle East with tensions escalating over Iran’s nuclear program . "Please leave Iran immediately and under no circumstances travel to this country," Tusk said Thursday in the town of Zielonka outside of Warsaw, according to Turkey’s Anadolu Agency. "I do not want to alarm anyone, but we all know what I am referring to. The possibility of a conflict is very real." "In a few, a dozen, or several dozen hours, evacuation may no longer be possible," Tusk reportedly added. RUSSIA URGES IRAN, ‘ALL PARTIES' IN MIDDLE EAST TO SHOW RESTRAINT AMID US MILITARY BUILDUP The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford , and its strike group are moving from the Caribbean toward the Middle East. The move would place two aircraft carriers and their accompanying warships in the region. WORLD'S LARGEST AIRCRAFT CARRIER HEADS TO MIDDLE EAST AS IRAN NUCLEAR TENSIONS SPIKE DRAMATICALLY The USS Abraham Lincoln and three guided-missile destroyers arrived in the Middle East more than two weeks ago. On Wednesday, U.S. Central Command posted photos showing F/A-18 Super Hornets landing on the decks of the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea. "When launched from a catapult on an aircraft carrier, the Super Hornet can go from a full stop to airborne in under three seconds," CENTCOM said. Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.

The head of the U.S. Southern Command traveled to Venezuela to meet with the country’s acting president just weeks after U.S. forces captured former leader Nicolás Maduro. The trip on Wednesday, described as a surprise visit, was the first to Venezuela by a U.S. military delegation since the Jan. 3 raid to retrieve Maduro, according to Reuters. "The commander of U.S. Southern Command, Marine Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Chargé d’Affaires to the Venezuela Affairs Unit, Ambassador Laura F. Dogu, and U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary of War for Homeland Defense and the Americas Joseph M. Humire met with Venezuelan interim authorities in Caracas," U.S. Southern Command said in a statement. "During the meeting, the leaders reiterated the United States’ commitment to a free, safe and prosperous Venezuela for the Venezuelan people, the United States, and the Western Hemisphere," it added. VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADER MACHADO PRAISES TRUMP FOR DELIVERING ‘BERLIN WALL’ MOMENT FOR THE AMERICAS "Discussions focused on the security environment, steps to ensure the implementation of President Donald Trump’s three-phase plan – particularly the stabilization of Venezuela – and the importance of shared security across the Western Hemisphere," U.S. Central Command also said. The U.S. Embassy in Venezuela added in a post on X that it was a "historic day" in a push to "advance the objective of a Venezuela aligned with the United States ." TRUMP SAYS US PILOTS WERE ‘HIT PRETTY BAD IN THE LEGS’ DURING MADURO CAPTURE MISSION Venezuela’s government said the U.S. delegation met with interim President Delcy Rodriguez, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, with the two sides agreeing to coordinate on drug-trafficking, terrorism and migration, Reuters reported. The Associated Press also confirmed that Donovan, who is the head of American military operations in Latin America, met with Rodriguez. "The meeting reaffirms that diplomacy should be the mechanism for resolving differences and addressing issues of bilateral and regional interests," it also cited Venezuela's Communications Minister Miguel Angel Perez as saying on X. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Russia warned Iran and "all parties in the region to exercise restraint and caution" Thursday amid a U.S. military buildup in the Middle East. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the remark as the world’s largest aircraft carrier , the USS Gerald R. Ford, and its strike group are moving from the Caribbean toward the Middle East. "Russia continues to develop relations with Iran, and in doing so, we call on our Iranian friends and all parties in the region to exercise restraint and caution, and we urge them to prioritize political and diplomatic means in resolving any problems," Peskov said Thursday, according to Reuters. "Right now, we are indeed seeing an unprecedented escalation of tensions in the region . But we still expect that political and diplomatic means and negotiations will continue to prevail in the search for a settlement," he added. WORLD'S LARGEST AIRCRAFT CARRIER HEADS TO MIDDLE EAST AS IRAN NUCLEAR TENSIONS SPIKE DRAMATICALLY The move of the USS Gerald R. Ford would place two aircraft carriers and their accompanying warships in the region. The USS Abraham Lincoln and three guided-missile destroyers arrived in the Middle East more than two weeks ago. Negotiations between the United States and Iran over the latter’s nuclear program advanced Tuesday toward what Tehran described as the beginning of a potential framework, but sharp public divisions between the two sides underscored how far apart they remain. IRAN FIRES LIVE MISSILES INTO STRAIT OF HORMUZ AS TRUMP ENVOYS ARRIVE FOR NUCLEAR TALKS Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said the two sides reached a "general agreement on a number of guiding principles" and agreed to begin drafting text for a possible agreement, with plans to exchange drafts and schedule a third round of talks. Yet, Washington has publicly insisted that any agreement must result in the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program — including its enrichment capacity — along with limits on Tehran’s ballistic missile program and an end to its support for allied militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. Those demands go well beyond temporary enrichment pauses or technical adjustments. Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.

No description available.

King Charles III’s brother, who had already been stripped of his royal titles over ties to Jeffrey Epstein, was detained for several hours on Thursday on suspicions of misconduct in public office.

No description available.

One of New York’s largest health insurers is set to pay a multimillion-dollar fine for failing to fix a series of errors that made it harder for its customers to get mental health care. EmblemHealth this week agreed to a $2.5 million settlement with the New York attorney general’s office because of the large number of inaccuracies in its listings of in-network mental health providers, a problem that has persisted for years. The fine is the biggest secured by the state attorney general’s office in its yearslong quest to clamp down on the chronic problem of provider directory errors, also known as ghost networks. It’s an issue that has led customers to postpone treatment, forgo care and pay for more expensive out-of-network providers.  The office found that EmblemHealth overstated the availability of in-network mental health providers and failed to comply with state and federal laws requiring that insurers make mental health care as available as other kinds of medical care. “Health insurers cannot mislead consumers with inaccurate provider directories while families are left without care,” Letitia James, the state’s attorney general, said in a statement. EmblemHealth did not answer ProPublica’s questions. In a statement, a spokesperson said the insurer does “not admit” to the state attorney general’s findings but agreed to the settlement “to avoid time-consuming litigation.” The spokesperson added that the insurer has “focused on taking immediate steps to further support our members’ access to care.” ProPublica’s 2024 series “ America’s Mental Barrier ” examined the ways that ghost networks can limit patients’ access to mental health care. Our reporting showed that the investigation by the state attorney general’s office into the ghost networks was one of the rare instances nationwide where health insurers faced consequences from elected officials .  Between 2018 and 2024, more than 360 EmblemHealth customers complained to either the insurer, a subcontractor that administered mental health benefits for the insurer or the attorney general’s office about such errors, the settlement said. But EmblemHealth failed to address the issue, the settlement said, even though the insurer had promised to do so as part of a settlement agreement reached in 2011. A report from the office published in 2023 found that EmblemHealth and another dozen insurers had failed to keep their listings of mental health providers free of extensive errors. The office had contacted a sample of providers — nearly 400 listed in the 13 insurers’ directories — and most of them were “unreachable, not in-network, or not accepting new patients,” according to the report. The report found that 82% of the providers in EmblemHealth’s directory that were called were not available for an appointment.  This week’s settlement noted that EmblemHealth’s own investigations into the accuracy of its directory listings “have produced results similar to” those found by James’ office. Read More They Couldn’t Access Mental Health Care When They Needed It. Now They’re Suing Their Insurer. The insurer, which covers more than 3 million people in New York and in surrounding states, has now agreed to compensate customers who paid out of pocket for mental health care because they couldn’t secure an appointment with a provider listed as being in-network. EmblemHealth also has pledged as part of the settlement to take additional steps to fix the errors in its listings. The insurer promised to correct inaccurate listings within two business days of being made aware of an error and to check every 90 days that each listing is accurate.  The settlement further calls for an independent monitor to oversee EmblemHealth’s progress to ensure that it complies with the settlement’s terms. EmblemHealth is also the subject of a lawsuit filed in December by employees of the city of New York , who alleged that the errors in the insurer’s directory left them with a “deceptive” and “misleading” impression about the size of the company’s provider network. A spokesperson for EmblemHealth recently told ProPublica that the insurer does not comment on pending litigation. The post Insurer Agrees to Pay Millions for Failing to Fix Errors That Made It Harder for Customers to Get Mental Health Care appeared first on ProPublica .

For months, President Donald Trump has railed against Latin American narcoterrorists flooding the United States with “lethal poison.” He has used the scourge of drug trafficking as a rationale for dozens of military strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean, which have left more than 140 people dead . Last month, Trump cheered a military assault by U.S. forces that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and brought them to the U.S. to face charges related to cocaine trafficking. Maduro, Trump said , led a “vicious cartel” that “flooded our nation with lethal poison responsible for the deaths of countless Americans.” But when it comes to former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was tried and convicted in the U.S. in 2024 and sentenced to 45 years in prison for taking bribes and allowing traffickers to export more than 400 tons of cocaine to the U.S., Trump has taken a decidedly softer tone. Hernández, he said, has been “treated very harshly and unfairly” — so unfairly that on Dec. 1, Trump pardoned the former president after he served less than four of those 45 years. But the federal government’s magnanimity did not end there. On the day he was to be released, records show, Hernández had an immigration detainer — a request for law enforcement agencies to hold noncitizens for pickup by Immigration and Customs Enforcement — in place.   Here, too, the Trump’s administration’s treatment of Hernández differed from its public objectives. Other noncitizens caught up in recent immigration sweeps — the vast majority of whom do not have criminal records — have faced swift efforts to deport them, even to countries where they may face threats. But in Hernández’s case, the Federal Bureau of Prisons scrambled to get his detainer removed so he could walk free. And Hernández did not just walk out of the prison. Despite persistent budget and staffing shortages , prison officials paid a specialized tactical team overtime to drive Hernández from a high-security facility in West Virginia to the famed five-star Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City, according to records and three people familiar with the situation. Before he left, Hernández was allowed to use the captain’s government phone to talk to the federal prison system’s deputy director, Joshua Smith, who was convicted in a drug trafficking conspiracy before Trump pardoned him in 2021.  “The [prisons bureau] administration rolled out the red carpet for him,” said Joe Rojas, a retired prison worker and former union leader who has been speaking to the media on behalf of staff who fear reprisals for doing so since bureau leaders stopped recognizing the union last year. “The staff are disgusted.”  Renato Stabile, the court-appointed lawyer representing Hernández — who has long maintained his innocence — said his client’s treatment was appropriate.  “It would be particularly cruel to grant somebody a pardon and have them released from prison — only to have them immediately shipped back to a place like Honduras where they would’ve immediately arrested him or he would’ve been killed on site by criminal elements that wanted to do him harm,” Stabile told ProPublica. Through his attorney, Hernández declined to comment. ICE referred all questions to the White House, which responded with a link to a November social media post announcing the President’s intent to pardon Hernández. Smith didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment. A BOP spokesperson said in an emailed statement that the bureau does not discuss conditions of confinement or security procedures and that employee standards of conduct prohibit staff from giving any prisoners preferential treatment. “Violators may be subject to disciplinary actions, including removal from federal service and criminal prosecution,” the statement said. The investigation that ultimately ensnared Hernández stretched across several U.S. presidencies. Despite looming legal trouble stateside and widespread allegations of corruption in his country, Hernández — often known by his initials, JOH — was seen as a key U.S. ally under the Obama and first Trump administrations, ostensibly because of his apparent willingness to help tackle drug trafficking and migration issues.  In 2012, as president of Honduras’ National Congress, he famously pushed through a legal change allowing for the extradition of accused criminals to the U.S. — a reform that his attorney pointed out was ironically later used to extradite him.  But in 2018, less than halfway through Hernández’s second term as president, the Drug Enforcement Administration arrested his younger brother , former Honduran congressman Tony Hernández, in Miami for a series of weapons and drug trafficking charges. A jury found him guilty the following year at a Manhattan federal trial in which Emil Bove — the federal prosecutor who would later become Trump’s personal defense lawyer — gave a closing argument replete with allegations implicating the Honduran president in criminal schemes. (Bove could not be reached for comment.) Although the sprawling criminal case focused on narcotrafficking concerns, Juan Orlando Hernández’s political career was fraught in other ways. Dana Frank, a University of California, Santa Cruz history professor who studies Honduras , described him as a “repressive criminal on multiple fronts.” While in congress in 2012, he led a “technical coup” in overthrowing the supreme court , she said. Then, he ran for reelection to the presidency in 2017 “in complete violation of the constitution ,” she said. Amid the resulting protests, security forces shot and killed at least 16 people, including two children, among other human rights abuses, a United Nations report found . Hernández has said little publicly, but his government told the U.N. it would look into those cases. His party has tweeted that it has an “unwavering commitment to democracy and freedom.” Weeks after Hernández left office in 2022, he was arrested at his home in Honduras and extradited to the U.S. to face drug trafficking and weapons charges. Prosecutors said he funded his political career with millions of dollars he received from “violent drug-trafficking organizations” in exchange for allowing them to “move mountains of cocaine” out of the country.   Stabile told ProPublica the case against his client was always a weak one, relying heavily on the word of unreliable drug traffickers with outlandish stories and little in the way of hard evidence. Still, the government’s case was enough to convince a jury to convict Hernández after just over eight hours of deliberations , and in June 2024 he was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison. Afterward, Stabile and his client began working on an appeal , which at that point appeared to be Hernández’s only shot at freedom. Early last year, prison officials transferred Hernández out of the federal detention center in Brooklyn, which largely holds pretrial detainees , and sent him to the high-security Hazelton penitentiary in West Virginia. Dubbed “Misery Mountain,” the notoriously violent prison is the same facility where mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger was beaten to death in his cell hours after his arrival in 2018. Yet prison sources said Hernández seemed to do his time quietly, eventually landing in the coveted housing unit set aside for a therapeutic program used to treat drug addiction, mental illness and “criminal thinking errors.”  But after Trump returned to office last year, a much quicker route to freedom suddenly seemed possible: a pardon. Like Trump, Hernández was a member of his country’s right-wing party. And, like Trump, he believed he’d been targeted by leftist forces. He also had other reasons to be hopeful.  During his time in office, Hernández had championed the creation of special economic zones that could set their own taxes and regulations, a move that benefitted the Trump-aligned Silicon Valley titans who invested in them, including Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen . But the law was repealed by his successor, center-left party Libre member Xiomara Castro, putting plans for the zones in jeopardy. (Andreessen responded to a request for comment with a link to a social media post disavowing any involvement in the pardon. Thiel could not be reached for comment, though he has previously said he was not involved either .) Longtime political operative Roger Stone also suggested in a blog post co-authored with conservative activist Shane Trejo in January 2025 that pardoning Hernández could have political benefits for Trump. In the post, Trejo and Stone — who was pardoned by Trump five years ago after he was convicted of obstructing a congressional investigation into Russian election interference — urged the president to “crush socialism and save a freedom city in Honduras” with a “well-timed pardon” that “could be the final death blow to [Xiomara] Castro” in the 2025 elections. Eventually, Stone took on a more direct role in advocating for clemency when he gave Trump a four-page letter Hernández had written to the U.S. president, asking for a pardon and making the case that his conviction was a “political persecution” by the Biden administration. In a text message with ProPublica, Stone said he had received the letter from a journalist who’d gotten it from the family. He emphasized repeatedly that he was not compensated for his involvement. “I read the letter and then did my own research and elected to send the letter to President Trump,” Stone wrote. “I actually had no contact with JOH or anyone in his family until after the pardon.” On Nov. 28, two days before the Honduran presidential election, Trump announced his intent to pardon Hernández. Stabile said he didn’t learn the news until Ana García Carías, the former president’s wife, called him in tears: “He’s letting him out! Trump’s pardoning Juan Orlando!”  She sent Stabile a screenshot from Truth Social , where Trump had written that he would grant him a “Full and Complete Pardon.”  The decision met with bipartisan backlash from lawmakers. Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, called the unexpected reprieve “disgusting and incomprehensible,” while Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, described it as “horrible optics.” In his post, Trump also urged Hondurans to vote for the National Party candidate, Nasry “Tito” Asfura, who was trailing in multiple polls , adding what to observers of Latin American politics was a thinly veiled threat: If Asfura did not win, Trump said, the U.S. would “not be throwing good money after bad” in support of Honduras. The message was obvious, experts said. “That pardon was a clear green light for the National Party to manipulate the vote,” one former high-ranking U.S. diplomat told ProPublica.  In the end, Asfura narrowly edged out center-right candidate Salvador Nasralla and handily defeated the incumbent Libre party. But the count was plagued by delays, reports of voter intimidation and allegations of fraud , and Nasralla later formally challenged the outcome .  On Dec. 1 — while the votes were still being counted in Honduras — Trump posted again on Truth Social in support of Asfura. “Looks like Honduras is trying to change the results of their Presidential Election. If they do, there will be hell to pay!” The former president’s pardon officially went through that same day.  That evening at Hazelton, after the prisoners had already been fed dinner, corrections officers showed up at the housing unit to get Hernández. Smith, the bureau’s deputy director, wanted to speak with him. The newly pardoned inmate was escorted to the captain’s office, where he used the captain’s phone to talk to Smith, his fellow pardon recipient, according to a source familiar with the situation. The move shocked current and former prison staff.  Hernández was also allowed to talk with his family, who then phoned Stabile and told him the good news. Within the hour, Stabile said, he got a call from Smith, inquiring about a release plan.  “I’m in Manhattan and he’s in West Virginia,” Stabile told Smith. “It would take me six hours to come pick him up. Can you transport him?” Because most inmate releases are done during the daytime, prison staff had to be called back in to handle the paperwork and logistics of freeing an inmate. But there was a problem: Hernández had an immigration hold.  When noncitizens are convicted of crimes in the U.S., immigration officials routinely sign detainers asking prisons and jails to turn them over to ICE for possible deportation proceedings  following their release date. In Hernández’s case, records show immigration agents sent the prison notice of a detainer in February 2025, two months after he was sentenced in court. For several hours on the night of his release, prison officials scrambled to get the detainer removed so he could walk free, according to several sources familiar with the situation.       “It’s definitely special treatment. That’s not normally the way it goes,” said Lena Graber, a senior staff attorney at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. “Most people with drug convictions would never get their ICE detainer removed just because the conviction was pardoned.” Records show immigration officials lifted the detainer on Hernández just after 11 p.m.  Typically, according to a source familiar with the situation, prisoners who are released from Hazelton when there’s inclement weather or when it’s too late in the day to catch a plane or bus home are put up at the Microtel Inn and Suites at the bottom of the hill. It’s a two-star hotel where a room costs $69 per night. In the morning, they’re given a ticket and sent on their way.  But for Hernández, prison officials activated a four-man tactical team, paying at least three of them overtime to drive him to the luxury hotel in Manhattan, according to government records and law enforcement sources. A standard room there costs more than $1,000 per night. Stabile declined to comment on where Hernández stayed but said the government did not pay for it. It was another move that stunned prisons bureau staff. One official called it “absolutely fucking nuts,” adding, “I don’t even think that’s ever been done, not just for a pardoned inmate but for anyone who’s been released.” Another agreed that it was unprecedented: “Usually, they get a shitty bus ride or a cheap plane ticket. They don’t get the carpet rolled out for them.” As of now, the former president’s whereabouts are unknown. A few days after his release, Hernández said in Spanish in a social media post that he had “no intention of returning to Honduras” immediately because he and his family would be in “grave danger given the evident persecution and the weaponization of justice against me.”  If Hernández is in the U.S., it’s unclear what his immigration status is. Meanwhile, Honduran officials have issued a warrant for Hernández’s arrest over years-old fraud allegations and, in a social media post, asked Interpol and other international allies to honor it. But a law enforcement official familiar with the situation told ProPublica there is currently no pending Interpol red notice asking for law enforcement to detain him. The only request the network received to issue such a notice, the official said, was declined while Hernández was still in prison. The post Amid Mass ICE Arrests, Trump Pardon Recipient Juan Orlando Hernández Given Special Treatment appeared first on ProPublica .

The warning on the government website was stark. Some products and remedies claiming to treat or cure autism are being marketed deceptively and can be harmful. Among them: chelating agents, hyperbaric oxygen therapies, chlorine dioxide and raw camel milk.  Now that advisory is gone. The Food and Drug Administration pulled the page down late last year . The federal Department of Health and Human Services told ProPublica in a statement that it retired the webpage “during a routine clean up of dated content at the end of 2025,” noting the page had not been updated since 2019. (An archived version of the page is still available online.)  Some advocates for people with autism don’t understand that decision. “It may be an older page, but those warnings are still necessary,” said Zoe Gross, a director at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, a nonprofit policy organization run by and for autistic people. “People are still being preyed on by these alternative treatments like chelation and chlorine dioxide. Those can both kill people.”  Chlorine dioxide is a chemical compound that has been used as an industrial disinfectant, a bleaching agent and an ingredient in mouthwash, though with the warning it shouldn’t be swallowed. A ProPublica story examined Sen. Ron Johnson’s endorsement of a new book by Dr. Pierre Kory, which describes the chemical as a “remarkable molecule” that, when diluted and ingested, “works to treat everything from cancer and malaria to autism and COVID.” Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican who has amplified anti-scientific claims around COVID-19, supplied a blurb for the cover of the book, “The War on Chlorine Dioxide.” He called it “a gripping tale of corruption and courage that will open eyes and prompt serious questions.” A page recently pulled from the Food and Drug Administration’s website gave examples of “false claims” about treatments for autism and its symptoms. Internet Archive The lack of clear warning from the government on questionable autism treatments is in line with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s rejection of conventional science on autism and vaccine safety. Last spring, Kennedy brought into the agency a vaccine critic who’d promoted treating autistic children with the puberty-blocking drug Lupron. And in January, Kennedy recast an advisory panel on autism, appointing people who have championed the use of pressurized chambers to deliver pure oxygen to children, as well as some who support infusions to draw out heavy metals, a process known as chelation. Kennedy has embraced various unconventional measures in his fight against what he views as a government system corrupted by special interests. In October 2024, shortly before Donald Trump won the presidency again, Kennedy vowed on social media that the FDA’s “war on public health” was about to end.  “This includes its aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything else that advances human health and can’t be patented by Pharma,” he wrote. At his confirmation hearing, Kennedy praised Trump for his wide search for a COVID-19 remedy in his first term, which Kennedy said included vaccines, various drugs and “even chlorine dioxide.” The FDA, dating back to at least 2010, has urged consumers not to purchase or drink chlorine dioxide, frequently marketed as a Miracle Mineral Solution, because “the solution, when mixed, develops into a dangerous bleach which has caused serious and potentially life-threatening side effects.” The BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal) has previously reported on the removal of the FDA warnings page. The lack of a warning has also received attention in the Telegram channel Chlorine Dioxide Testimonies. “Don’t forget the FDA quietly removed warnings about Chlorine Dioxide on their website earlier this year,” read a forwarded post in late December, to which over 100 people reacted with an applauding emoji. The contributor added a wish for the future: that Kennedy and the FDA commissioner undertake official studies exploring chlorine dioxide’s effects in battling cancer. There currently are no warnings about chlorine dioxide on a consumer page on the FDA website. And HHS did not answer ProPublica’s questions about whether the agency endorses chlorine dioxide as a treatment for autism.  In his book, Kory also expresses optimism about what Kennedy will do. “What I really want is for the FDA to lift its restrictions on studying chlorine dioxide as a therapeutic,” he wrote. “That’s something I’m hoping might finally be possible under this new administration, especially with RFK Jr. as head of Health and Human Services.” Many autism researchers and advocates have been wary of Kennedy due to his long-held stance that vaccines cause autism. Peer-reviewed studies conducted worldwide, published over decades in leading scientific journals, have rejected such a link. Under Kennedy, however, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention overhauled its website on vaccines and autism to assert that studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities. The CDC page retained the headline “Vaccines do not cause Autism” but added an asterisk noting that the phrase remained “due to an agreement with the chair of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.” In order to win confirmation to his post, Kennedy had promised Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician, that he would not remove the statement.  Kennedy’s replacement of 21 members who were part of an interagency coordinating committee on autism provides another glimpse into where he wants to take federal policy.  The committee provides advice and recommendations on policies, research and services. It now includes people who have promoted unproven remedies for autism, including suramin, a drug developed to treat sleeping sickness in Africa caused by bites from a tsetse fly; hyperbaric oxygen therapy, typically used for decompression sickness and tissue damage; controversial language techniques ; and chelation therapy. A 5-year-old autistic boy died in Pennsylvania in 2005 after a chelation session. Another 5-year-old boy died in Michigan last year in a hyperbaric chamber fire; his parents wanted him treated for an attention disorder. The Autistic Self Advocacy Network published a statement on its website saying that the newly reconfigured HHS autism panel is now “overwhelmingly made up of anti-vaccine advocates and peddlers of dangerous quack autism ‘treatments.’” HHS told ProPublica in an emailed statement that such claims are “false” and that the new members are experienced in research and clinical care. “They are committed to advancing innovation in autism research, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention to align federal policy with current gold-standard science,” HHS said.  Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician and director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told ProPublica that Kennedy’s removal of committee members with solid expertise in favor of people who support alternative medicine shows that the secretary is “perfectly willing to embrace bogus therapies.” Another leading expert, Yale University professor emeritus Dr. Fred Volkmar, who edited the “Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders,” a definitive guide, said early diagnosis and proven treatments have led to dramatic improvements for people with autism. “These days, probably 70% to 75% of children on the autism spectrum will grow up to be fully independent or semi-independent adults.”  Sadly, however, he said, some parents fall prey to promises of easy and fast cures, when there are none. One of the dangers, he said, is that children are drawn away from treatments that are shown to be beneficial. “It’s a shame that the federal government is not being more helpful to parents in understanding what does and doesn’t work,” Volkmar said. The post Chlorine Dioxide, Raw Camel Milk: The FDA No Longer Warns Against These and Other Ineffective Autism Treatments appeared first on ProPublica .

The US military is stationing a vast array of forces in the Middle East, including two aircraft carriers, fighter jets and refuelling tankers, giving President Donald Trump the option for a major attack against Iran as he pressures the country to strike a deal over its nuclear programme. The deployment is unlike anything the US has done since 2003, when it amassed forces ahead of the invasion of Iraq. It dwarfs the military build-up that Trump ordered off the coast of Venezuela in the weeks...

US President Donald Trump on Thursday promised US$10 billion for a new “Board of Peace”, an amorphous new institution focused first on Gaza that is being launched just as he threatens Iran with war. While US warplanes and aircraft carriers headed towards Iran on his orders, Trump welcomed some two dozen allies from around the world to the gleaming Washington building of the former US Institute of Peace, which has been gutted and renamed after the 79-year-old Republican. Trump, who has sharply...

The US trade imbalance widened sharply in December 2025, highlighting continued challenges in America’s economic relationship with the world and with key economic competitor China, according to a release from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis on Thursday. For the full year 2025, the US recorded a goods and services trade deficit of US$901.5 billion, a modest decline of 0.2 per cent from 2024, one of the largest since 1960. The total goods and services deficit in 2024 was US$903.5 billion, the...

Opposition leader signals his Liberals will abandon net zero commitment entirely. Follow updates live Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast In Angus Taylor’s lengthy interview, Peta Credlin took the new opposition leader to a couple of other culture war issues including school curriculums, where he suggested children shouldn’t be “indoctrinated” in the classroom, and that “Australians are deeply concerned about it”. I think our our education system, our school system and our tertiary system, has been drifting on this over a long period of time ... we do need to give Australians the assurance that their kids are going to be educated, they’re going to be taught about our wonderful nation, warts and all, but they should be celebrating our country as part of their education, and they shouldn’t be receiving indoctrination. I think the starting point is to get that net zero ideology out of our system ... We have uranium, we have coal, we have gas, we do have renewables, of course, in people putting solar cells on their roofs at a rapid pace, it’s the mix that’s going to get us the solution. Continue reading...

Former duchess has stood by the former prince through waves of allegations and has yet to comment on his arrest While the spotlight has been on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, his arrest has prompted questions about what is next for his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson. Ferguson, known by the tabloids as Fergie, married the then prince Andrew in 1986 and was divorced from him 10 years later after an alleged affair with an American financial adviser. It was one of multiple scandals in the 1990s and 2000s involving the former duchess, who was widely considered an embarrassment to the royal family. Continue reading...

Second carrier strike group heads for region as US waits for Iran to respond after talks in Geneva Donald Trump has said it will be clear within “probably 10 days” whether he can reach a nuclear deal with Iran, as the US military buildup in the Middle East intensifies with the impending arrival of a second carrier strike group. The US president, speaking at the inaugural meeting of his Board of Peace in Washington DC, insisted Iran could not have a nuclear weapon and emphasised that “bad things will happen” if the country continued “to threaten regional stability”. Continue reading...