Cruise control: 'Top Gun 3' officially in the works

If you still feel the need for speed, Paramount Pictures has good news for you -- "Top Gun 3" is officially happening, with Tom Cruise back as daring pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell.

The announcement came Thursday at the studio's showcase at CinemaCon, an annual week-long summit at which Hollywood studios present their biggest upcoming movies to theater owners and press.

Paramount film co-head Josh Greenstein said "Top Gun 3" was "officially in development with a script well underway," adding that Cruise would reunite with producer Jerry Bruckheimer on the project.

The original 1986 film helped propel Cruise to superstardom, and the 2022 sequel earned $1.5 billion worldwide.

Legendary director Steven Spielberg publicly credited Cruise with helping to get moviegoers back into theaters after the Covid-19 pandemic with the long-awaited sequel.

Cruise was not present at the presentation, but did narrate a film used to open the event, which focused on the studio's commitment to releasing films on the big screen.

At the end, Cruise -- sitting atop the water tower on the studio's lot -- says, "The future looks great from here."

Paramount Skydance chief David Ellison told attendees that the studio would guarantee a 45-day theatrical release window for its films before moving them to streaming platforms.

"Once we combine with Warner Brothers, we're going to make a minimum of 30 films annually," Ellison said in a pledge to theater owners. "Long live the movies."

Paramount has launched a massive $111 billion bid to take over Warner Bros, topping a rival bid from Netflix.

But many in Hollywood fear the mega-merger will lead to cuts that will forever change the film industry.

Also on Paramount's upcoming slate is a film adaptation of the popular video game "Call of Duty," due in theaters in June 2028.

Attendees also saw early footage from "Heart of the Beast," a thriller starring Brad Pitt as a military veteran who must survive a plane crash in Alaska with his combat dog.

And Johnny Depp showed up to offer a preview of "Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol," the latest adaptation of the classic Charles Dickens tale, in which he plays the grumpy Scrooge.

CinemaCon continues later Thursday with Disney's presentation.

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Spain's Vice President Carlos Cuerpo said Thursday that the resumption of relations between the International Monetary Fund and Venezuela should take place shortly.

"I believe we will secure a sufficient majority to make this happen," Cuerpo, who is also his country's economic minister, told reporters on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington.

"We will know in the coming days," he added.

The fund has undertaken internal consultations with its member states to decide whether it should recognize the government of interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who assumed power following the ouster of leftist strongman Nicolas Maduro by US forces in January.

Although the IMF continues to include Venezuela in its regular reports on Latin America and the Caribbean, relations were suspended in 2019, when the fund recognized the opposition -- which controlled the parliament -- as the legitimate government.

Even after recognition by the IMF, any new engagement between it and Venezuela would have to come at the request of the Venezuelan government.

US President Donald Trump's administration quickly began working with the Rodriguez government in January, and Washington recently recognized it as legitimate.

On Tuesday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said "the IMF is working on bringing Venezuela back in -- to make it look more like a normal economy."

At the heart of the negotiations lies access to Venezuela's reserves held at the IMF, a key issue for negotiating loans and aid programs.

Cuerpo explained that he has no meetings scheduled with members of the US government during his stay in Washington.

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French Finance Minister Roland Lescure told reporters Thursday that the Strait of Hormuz needs to reopen "but not at any price," adding that G7 leaders stand ready to mitigate the economic fallout from war.

The Middle East war erupted after US-Israeli strikes targeting Iran on February 28, prompting Tehran to virtually block the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation.

Energy prices have soared since, with the strait being a key waterway for oil and gas transit.

The conflict, alongside support for Ukraine and cooperation on critical minerals, were key topics discussed by the Group of Seven advanced economies at their first in-person meeting this year held in Washington.

"We need to make sure that we understand where the balance of risks is tilting in the next few weeks," Lescure said Thursday.

"We are meeting again in a month's time in Paris and we want to make sure that we monitor the situation, we evaluate the impact," he added.

"If we need to act, as we did with releasing inventories a few weeks back, we will," he said.

Lescure spoke on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings, which bring together finance ministers, central bankers and other leaders in the US capital this week.

Last month, the International Energy Agency, which includes G7 nations, released a record amount of oil from their strategic reserves to ease market turbulence.

Lescure said "the general feeling was gravity" among the G7 when it came to the war.

But he added of the Strait of Hormuz blockage: "We need this to open, but not at any price."

His comments come as French President Emmanuel Macron is hosting talks in Paris on Friday with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on navigation through the Strait of Hormuz once there is a ceasefire.

"I don't want to pay $1 to go through the Strait of Hormuz," Lescure added.

"We value the fact that negotiation seems to be going on, and I hope they produce a result," he said.

- 'Collateral damage' -

The G7 also vowed to support Ukraine ahead of next winter, following Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine, launched in 2022, has become the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II.

"Russia mustn't be getting benefits from what's happening in Iran," Lescure said, adding that Ukraine should not be "collateral damage" either.

The United States in March temporarily allowed the sale of Russian oil that was at sea, a move to soften global supply shocks from its war on Iran.

But US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday that Washington will not extend the waiver, which has expired.

Bank of France governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau added Thursday that central banks will act "without hesitation" to deal with the war's economic impact, but stressed that officials are not in a rush.

Besides France, which holds the rotating G7 presidency, the grouping comprises the United States, Canada, Britain, Germany, Italy and Japan.

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(The Center Square) – Department of Homeland Security agencies are requesting a total of $63 billion in fiscal year 2027 appropriations from Congress – even as Congress continues to withhold DHS funding for the current fiscal year.

The Homeland Security bill is the only fiscal year 2026 appropriations bill to remain unpassed. As of Thursday, DHS has remained shut down for over 61 days, yet U.S. lawmakers are still squabbling over the details of how to fund the department.

Given Senate Democrats’ refusal to pass any Homeland Security funding bill that fails to restrict ICE and Border Patrol operations, Senate Republicans finally passed an appropriations bill stripped of immigration enforcement funding and sent it to the House.

House Republicans, however, are waiting to approve that bill and reopen DHS until Senate Republicans move forward with a filibuster-proof budget reconciliation package that addresses annual ICE and CBP funding.

In the meantime, the House Appropriations Committee is already considering next fiscal year’s DHS funding, meeting Thursday with agency heads to discuss their annual budgetary needs.

The Trump administration’s fiscal year 2027 budget proposal requests $10 billion for ICE and $18.5 billion for CBP. Officials from those agencies not only reiterated those requests but also urged lawmakers to reopen DHS as soon as possible.

ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons told the committee that immigration detention and removal operations have continued under the current funding lapse due to an extra cash boost from Republicans’ “One Big Beautiful Bill” last year.

But to “assert that ICE is somehow unimpeded by the lapse in annual appropriations,” Lyons said, is “categorically false,” since the agency “cannot rely solely on the funding [the OBBB] provides.”

“The law provides resources for specific programs and activities — namely, to surge or expand ICE’s detention and removal operations. However, this is just one aspect of ICE’s mission and programs,” Lyons wrote in his prepared statement.

“The impacts of the ongoing failure to fund ICE through the appropriations process have been dire, as numerous ICE personnel and operations have gone unfunded, including much of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations.”

Lyon added that ICE also hasn’t been able to pay its contractors due to the shutdown.

While committee Republicans praised the agencies for successfully reducing border encounters by 96% since the Biden administration, most Democrats took a harsher tone.

Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-N.C., told Lyons and CBP Acting Director Rodney Scott that “your agencies are out of control” and “display patterns of reckless, incompetent, cruel, illegal, corrupt, and unconstitutional behavior.”

Underwood pointed to the 44 migrant deaths that have occurred in ICE detention centers since the second Trump administration began, as well as the deaths of two American citizens involving immigration enforcement officers during the Minneapolis protests.

“In my opinion these are leadership problems, not funding problems,” Underwood said. “Why would we appropriate more funding[?] …Now you’re here with your hand out, asking the American taxpayers for even more money. Enough is enough.”

Democrats took a softer stance toward the remaining major DHS agency directors – including TSA, FEMA, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Secret Service, and CISA – that testified before the committee Thursday afternoon.

Those agencies have felt the brunt of the shutdown’s impacts, having received no extra funding in advance like ICE and CBP did.

TSA Acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill told lawmakers that the current funding lapse and the full government shutdown Democrats triggered last October together resulted in nearly $1 billion in delayed paychecks to TSA employees.

“Due to our national security mission, 95% of our workforce was required to work without pay during the multiple shutdowns, causing great strain and financial hardship,” McNeill said.

“Paying these dedicated employees for the work they perform should never again be a point of debate,” she added pointedly.

TSA is requesting $11.7 billion for fiscal year 2027, while FEMA is requesting $38.5 billion and CISA is requesting $2.5 billion. The Coast Guard and the Secret Service are requesting $12.5 billion and $3.5 billion, respectively.

US President Donald Trump announced a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon Thursday, adding that he hoped to host a historic meeting between the leaders of the two countries in coming days.

Trump said that Hezbollah was included in the ceasefire, but according to the US State Department the truce committed Lebanon itself to dismantle the Iran-backed militant group.

The US leader announced the ceasefire would start within hours, after what he said were "excellent" phone calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.

"These two Leaders have agreed that in order to achieve PEACE between their Countries, they will formally begin a 10 Day CEASEFIRE at 5 P.M. EST," or 2100 GMT, Trump said on his Truth Social network.

Netanyahu said the ceasefire with Lebanon offered an opportunity for a "historic peace agreement" with Beirut -- but insisted disarmament of militant group Hezbollah remained a precondition.

The Middle East war began when the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, and Lebanon was pulled in when Hezbollah then attacked Israel on March 2.

Since then, Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed more than 2,000 people and displaced upwards of a million, while Israeli ground forces have invaded the country's south.

- 'Very exciting' -

Trump spoke about the ceasefire with reporters as he left the White House for a trip to Las Vegas.

"It's very exciting," Trump said in response to a question from an AFP reporter. "Today they're going to be having a ceasefire, and that'll include Hezbollah."

Trump later said Lebanon would "take care of Hezbollah," adding that he believed the Tehran-backed group would stick to the ceasefire.

The State Department said the ceasefire entails a committment by Beirut to prevent any Hezbollah attacks.

A Hezbollah lawmaker told AFP it would "cautiously adhere" to the ceasefire if Israel stopped attacks.

Ibrahim al-Moussawi thanked Iran for having applied pressure in Lebanon's favor -- adding that "the ceasefire would not have happened without Iran considering the ceasefire as equal to closing the Strait of Hormuz."

Netanyahu said Israel agreed to the truce but will maintain a 10-kilometre (6.2-mile) "security zone" along the border in southern Lebanon.

He added that Israel maintained two conditions for the ceasefire: Hezbollah's disarmament, and a lasting peace agreement "based on strength."

With the truce yet to take effect, Trump said he would be inviting Netanyahu and Aoun to the White House following the ceasefire deal.

It would be the first time the leaders of Israel and Lebanon have ever met.

"They'll be meeting -- probably coming to the White House -- over the next four or five days," Trump said.

- Iran deal 'very close' -

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam welcomed Trump's announcement of a ceasefire, saying a truce was a "key Lebanese demand that we have pursued since the very first day of the war" between Hezbollah and Israel. 

Ahead of the ceasefire, Aoun's office thanked Trump for his "efforts" to secure the truce. But the Lebanese president rejected Trump's request for a direct call with Netanyahu, an official source told AFP.

The ceasefire comes after the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors met in Washington this week -- the first meeting of its kind since 1993.

That truce could also boost Trump's continuing efforts to reach a deal to end the war with Iran.

Tehran has insisted that a Lebanon ceasefire must be part of any agreement.

Trump said Washington was "very close" to a peace deal with Iran after six weeks of war and might travel to Pakistan to sign any agreement.

But fighting continued right up until Trump's announcement.

The Lebanese army said Thursday that Israeli strikes which destroyed the Qasmiyeh bridge over the southern Litani River have cut off the area from the rest of the country.

Israel's military again urged civilians to evacuate the entire area of southern Lebanon up to the Zahrani River, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the border.

Meanwhile, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported clashes in Bint Jbeil, a town near the border where Hezbollah fighters are battling Israeli forces.

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Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest is asking a US federal court in Silicon Valley to hold Meta accountable for scam ads using his likeness without permission.

Forrest's legal team is asking a judge to rule that the social media colossus cannot hide behind Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act that spares internet firms from being accountable for content posted by users on its platform.

"This is the first case brought in any court, but in particular in California where a verdict can resonate that says Facebook was never intended to get the benefit of this immunity for their advertising business," the billionaire's attorney Simon Clarke told AFP.

A hearing Thursday focused on whether Meta wrongly ditched evidence, forfeiting its ability to take shelter behind Section 230, according to Clarke.

The judge is expected to rule on Forrest's motion in the coming weeks.

Meta has countered that the offending marketing messages were not its doing, and that it made reasonable efforts to preserve the desired data.

The social media giant is also standing behind Section 230 when it comes to being held to account for what the advertisers posted.

Earlier this year, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube liable for harming a young woman because of an addictive design of their social media platformsm rather than just their content.

The jury concluded that Meta and YouTube were negligent in the design and operation of their platforms and that their negligence was a substantial factor in causing harm to the plaintiff, focusing on their business models rather than content.

Forrest's attorneys are using a similar legal tactic to navigate around Section 230, accusing Meta's ad business and its tools with being complicit in the creation and distribution of the bogus marketing messages, according to Clarke.

Forrest "has been plagued for years by paid ads and sponsored content produced by Meta Ads and run on Meta's Australian social media platforms, in which he falsely appears to be promoting fake cryptocurrency and other fraudulent financial schemes," the complaint filed in US District Court argues.

Since 2019, thousands of deceptive advertisements on Facebook have used the likeness of the highly prominent figure in Australia to promote scams, racking up thousands of victims, according to the suit.

The billionaire's legal team argues that Meta's artificial intelligence tools optimized and personalized fraudulent ads before distributing them, thereby making Meta an active participant, rather than a mere intermediary.

Early this month, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that Section 230 does not protect Meta from the state's lawsuit concerning Instagram's design being addictive to children.

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Former NBA player and assistant coach Damon Jones is expected to plead guilty to sports gambling charges, a court filing showed Thursday, in a betting scandal that engulfed elite US basketball.

Jones, 49, was charged over his alleged role in a scheme that prosecutors say provided inside information on injuries and game absences to bettors between December 2022 and March 2024.

In one instance, he allegedly shared that LeBron James would not play due to injury in a Los Angeles Lakers game against the Milwaukee Bucks before that information was made public.

Jones initially denied the charges but, according to the filing, will change his plea at an April 28 hearing in New York City. 

He is the first of six defendants charged in the case, including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, to signal he will plead guilty.

Jones is also charged in a second, separate case in which he has pleaded not guilty.

That involves a national network of mafia-linked rigged poker games encompassing around 30 people and the use of highly sophisticated cheating equipment including X-ray tables.

Jones had a modest playing career across 11 different teams, notably the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2005 to 2008, where he played alongside four-time NBA champion James.

He later became an assistant coach, working again for the Cavaliers from 2016 to 2018 during James's second stint in Ohio. 

Jones served as James's personal coach during the 2022–2023 season after the star joined the Lakers, without being employed by the team.

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Where once there was ice, only rock remains.

One of the glaciers in a chain of snow-capped mountains in the Colombian Andes has vanished due to high temperatures driven by climate change. 

Satellite images show how the ice sheet covering the mountain gradually shrank from 2015 until it disappeared completely in March 2026.

Situated in the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy range, in the northeast of Colombia, the Cerros de la Plaza glacier was officially declared disappeared last week by the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM).

Its surface area shrank from five square kilometers (1.93 square miles) in the 19th century to zero today, according to the agency.

"Climate change is a reality that is already transforming our territories. And what is at stake is not only the landscape, but the very balance of these ecosystems," IDEAM said in a statement.

The Colombian Andes, like the country's other ecosystems, are incredibly biodiverse, home to condors and mammals such as the spectacled bear.

The Sierra Nevada del Cocuy, with peaks over 5,000 meters above sea level, is one of the last six remaining glacial systems in the country, where the area covered by ice has shrunk by 90 percent since the 19th century, according to the environment ministry.

Glaciers feed the Andes' freshwater sources, sustain mountain ecosystems and play a crucial role in crop irrigation, fishing, and other human activities. 

The last 11 years have been the hottest 11 on record, according to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service and Berkeley Earth, a California-based non-profit research organization.

A study published in Science magazine in January 2023 predicted that half the planet's glaciers will have melted by 2100 even if the world meets its goal under the Paris Agreement of limiting warming to 1.5C.

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The European Union expects to start releasing a new 90-billion-euro loan to Ukraine in the second quarter, the bloc's economy chief told AFP on Thursday.

EU economy commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis was speaking on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank's spring meetings, which brought finance ministers, central bankers and other leaders to the US capital this week.

"Our support for Ukraine, also continued pressure and sanctions against aggressor Russia, was very much part of the agenda of these meetings," Dombrovskis said.

He warned that Moscow was "emerging as a winner from this war in Iran, because it provides windfall profits to feed Russia's war machine."

War in the Middle East, support for Ukraine and cooperation on critical minerals were key topics of discussion in Washington this week, particularly among G7 finance leaders.

On the EU side, Dombrovskis said, "election results in Hungary allow us now to unblock our 90-billion-euro ($106 billion) support package for Ukraine for this year and next."

"We are aiming for the first tranche of our Ukraine support loan to be transferred to Ukraine still in the second quarter of this year," he added.

The loan is meant to address two-thirds of Ukraine's financing needs.

EU officials will visit Hungary on Friday for talks with Peter Magyar's incoming government, with his victory sparking hope that key EU initiatives blocked by Viktor Orban, such as support for Ukraine, will soon go through. Magyar is set to take power next month.

Following his meetings, Dombrovskis flagged willingness from other partners to provide assistance: "One can be quite confident that we will be able to cover the entire Ukraine financing need."

- 'High uncertainty' -

On the Middle East war, Dombrovskis said the economic outlook is "subject to very high uncertainty."

Fallout depends on how long the conflict will last, the degree of energy price shocks, and whether the strategic Strait of Hormuz is reopened.

US-Israeli strikes targeting Iran began on February 28, triggering Tehran's retaliation in virtually blocking off the strait, a key shipping route for oil and gas supplies. 

Oil prices have since surged.

Dombrovskis said he expects the EU economy could see a slowdown between 0.2- and 0.6-percentage points, with higher inflation.

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Missouri softball’s series opener against ranked South Carolina on Friday has been moved to noon due to inclement weather in the forecast.

Originally scheduled for 6 p.m., the game was moved because mid-Missouri's forecast for Friday called for severe storms from 3 p.m. to midnight. The Tigers enter the series after beating ranked Kansas 4-2 on Wednesday and will look to continue the momentum over the weekend against the Gamecocks.