Eight children dead in US domestic violence shooting

Mexican authorities said Tuesday that the man who killed a Canadian woman and wounded 13 others the day before at the famed Teotihuacan pyramids had planned the attack in advance.

As authorities grappled with the security breach that occurred midday Monday, just weeks before Mexico hosts several World Cup football matches, President Claudia Sheinbaum called for tighter gun controls at tourist areas.

The attack, carried out by a Mexican man who then took his life, "was not spontaneous," Mexico State Prosecutor Jose Luis Cervantes told reporters at a press conference alongside Sheinbaum.

The suspect, identified as 27-year-old Mexico City resident Julio Cesar Jasso Ramirez, "made preliminary visits on multiple occasions to the archaeological site, stayed in hotels near the site ahead of time, and from there planned his violent acts," Cervantes said.

The famed pyramids are located less than an hour's drive from Mexico City.

The gunman died by suicide after military personnel approached and began to engage him, authorities said.

At least 13 people were injured, including some who suffered gunshot wounds.

Among the wounded, who were taken to different hospitals, were a six-year-old boy and a woman from Colombia, another Canadian woman, a Brazilian man and two Americans.

According to the prosecutor, a backpack was found at the scene containing the gun the assailant used, a knife and 52 rounds of ammunition.

It also contained literature and images linked "to violent events that are known to have occurred in the United States in April 1999," Cervantes said, in an apparent reference to the infamous Columbine High School shooting.

Two students, aged 17 and 18, attacked the Colorado high school on April 20, 1999, killing 12 classmates and a teacher in a matter of minutes, before taking their own lives.

Several other mass shooters in the United States have subsequently cited the high-profile tragedy as inspiration for their attacks.

Sheinbaum stated that the assailant had "psychological problems" and "was influenced by events that had occurred abroad."

The president said it was the first time something like this had happened at an archaeological site in Mexico and called for increased security at tourist sites around the country.

"We need to have better security to make sure someone can't enter an archaeological site, a tourist site, with a firearm," she said.

Mexico City hosts the World Cup's opening match on June 11.

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With his sensational statements on Truth Social and serial phone chats with individual journalists, President Donald Trump has only added to the confusion surrounding his plans for Iran in recent days.

The US president has been commenting on the conflict almost in real time in seemingly off-the-cuff exchanges with reporters, including from AFP, who call his cell phone.

Twice in recent days the White House has had to correct statements the 79-year-old billionaire made in the calls.

On Sunday, Trump told broadcaster ABC that Vice President JD Vance would not be leading the US delegation for a second round of talks with Iran in Pakistan, a statement quickly pulled back by official sources.

On Monday, Trump told the New York Post that negotiators were en route to Islamabad. They were not. The vice president was still in Washington at midday Tuesday for "meetings."

The multiple conversations with reporters undermine well-established norms that the president's "time is precious" and that he "must always use secure communications," said Robert Rowland, a professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas.

- 'Exactly the opposite' -

Back in 2009, newly inaugurated president Barack Obama had a standoff with the Secret Service over surrendering his beloved BlackBerry, which his handlers thought would make him too accessible and was a security risk, Rowland recalled.

Previous presidents tried to adopt a unifying tone in times of conflict, but "Trump is exactly the opposite. He makes everything extremely partisan," the academic added.

The Republican lashed out at his political opponents yet again this week, calling Democrats "traitors" trying to undermine the military offensive in Iran, and attacking media outlets for their coverage of the conflict.

The Wall Street Journal revealed Monday that Trump neither consults nor notifies anyone before posting messages on Truth Social, where his posts -- cluttered with capital letters and exclamation points -- mix apocalyptic threats and casual, sometimes crude language. 

The newspaper also reported that Trump's inner circle kept him partially in the dark during the recent rescue of a US Air Force officer in Iran, for fear that his "impatience" might disrupt the high-stakes operation. 

That impulsiveness also manifests itself in "violations" of diplomatic protocol and solemn military ceremonies, Rowland said.

- Vietnam -

In March, Trump triggered bipartisan ire by wearing a "USA" cap during the repatriation of soldiers killed in the Middle East. At the time, a similar cap -- white, with gold embroidered letters -- was for sale on The Trump Organization website for $55.

He also outraged many American Christians by sharing an AI-generated image depicting himself as Jesus, accompanied by a soldier in uniform and a fighter jet. The post was quickly taken down, a rare communication retraction by the Trump administration.

The Republican president, who was exempted from fighting in Vietnam for medical reasons, even claimed on CNBC on Tuesday that he would have won that war (1954–1975) "very quickly," had he been in power at the time.

His erratic messaging on Iran is further diluted by increasingly frequent digressions on his favorite topic: the construction and renovation of buildings. 

During his CNBC interview, he launched into a detailed and animated critique of ongoing renovations at the headquarters of the Federal Reserve, whose current chair, Jerome Powell, he detests.

Then he returned to the construction project closest to his heart: a monumental new White House ballroom. "I build under budget, ahead of schedule," the former real estate magnate boasted.

According to the Washington Post, the US president has mentioned his famous ballroom on average once every three days since the beginning of the year.  

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(The Center Square) – U.S. Senate Republicans released a blueprint for their immigration enforcement funding bill Tuesday, paving the way to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, which has been shut down for 67 days.

The budget resolution directs the congressional Judiciary and Homeland Security committees to craft a budget reconciliation bill – a filibuster-proof vehicle for advancing federal spending – that pledges annual funds to ICE and U.S. Border Patrol for the next 3.5 years.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said the advance funding, up to $140 billion, is “to prevent another reckless attempt by Democrats to defund law enforcement when we next take up appropriations.”

“I suspect our Democrat colleagues will cry ‘partisanship,’” Thune said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “Democrats – and Democrats alone – have made this process partisan. Republicans bent over backwards to work with them. But it was never enough, and we’ve run out of time to play the Democrats’ games.”

For months, Democratic lawmakers have refused to provide the votes necessary for Senate passage of the Homeland Security funding bill – the last remaining fiscal year 2026 appropriations bill – unless Republicans incorporated a laundry list of immigration enforcement restrictions.

Republican leaders finally determined that the only way to cleanly end the DHS shutdown was by splitting immigration enforcement funding from the Homeland Security bill, then passing that stripped funding, plus extra, separately via budget reconciliation.

The hybrid Homeland Security bill has already passed the Senate and only needs the House’s approval to reach the president’s desk.

“Here’s the irony of it: Democrats are going to get absolutely nothing for their dangerous game they played here,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters Tuesday. “In the coming days, the House will be working closely with the Senate as they commence on that reconciliation process.”

Democrats and deficit watchdog groups condemned the budget resolution, the former for its lack of ICE and CBP reforms and the latter for its price tag.

“The budget process is already badly broken, and this resolution would make it worse by using reconciliation to sidestep the regular appropriations process and put even more spending on autopilot,” Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said in a statement.

“To make matters worse, this budget resolution allows twice as much spending as they say they need by allowing two different committees to each spend $70 billion, and it doesn’t require any offsets to finance the costs,” she added. “Lawmakers should be putting forward a real plan to govern and a real plan to improve the nation’s finances.”

(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump's Pentagon requested $50 billion from taxpayers on Tuesday for a budget so secret that the military will only say how much it costs.

The Trump administration is requesting $50 billion for the Military Intelligence Program in fiscal year 2027, a nearly 49% jump from the $33.6 billion requested in fiscal 2026 and a 79% increase from the $27.9 billion requested in fiscal 2023.

The Military Intelligence Program covers intelligence activity conducted by military departments and agencies within the Department of Defense in support of tactical U.S. military operations, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The Pentagon has publicly released the MIP top line budget figure annually since February 2012.

Despite the significant increase, the Pentagon said all other MIP budget figures and program information remain classified for national security reasons, leaving taxpayers with no visibility into what drove the nearly $16.4 billion single-year surge or how the money would be spent.

The Military Intelligence Program budget request comes as part of Trump's sweeping proposal to increase total defense spending to $1.5 trillion in fiscal year 2027, a 44% increase over current levels. The Department of War alone would see its budget climb to $441 billion under the plan, funding priorities including the Golden Dome missile defense system, military pay raises, new shipbuilding and the development of the F-47 sixth-generation fighter jet.

The budget proposal has drawn criticism for its lack of fiscal detail. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget called it "an astonishing lack of information," noting it omits key projections including total spending, expected revenue and future debt levels. The White House has defended the limited release, saying the document was intentionally restricted to near-term proposals.

Republican leaders on the Senate and House Armed Services Committees praised the spending increases, arguing the U.S. faces "the most dangerous global environment since World War II." Senate Democrats pushed back, with Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, calling it a "bloated, undisciplined budget." 

Churchill Downs Incorporated has entered an agreement to purchase the Preakness Stakes for $85 million, uniting two major events of American horse racing's Triple Crown, the buyers announced on Tuesday.

The deal, set to close after next month's Preakness, would bring together under one group the Kentucky Derby, raced annually on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs in Louisville, and the Preakness, traditionally staged two weeks later at Pimlico in Baltimore, Maryland.

Maryland would continue to be the site of the race under an outline released by CDI.

Together with the Belmont Stakes in June in suburban New York, the races form US flat racing's Triple Crown, the dream sweep for three-year-old thoroughbreds.

"This acquisition adds one of the most iconic brands in American sports to our portfolio and is consistent with our strategy of investing in premier Thoroughbred racing assets with long-term growth potential," CDI chief executive officer Bill Carstanjen said.

"In keeping ownership of the Preakness intellectual property in the racing industry, CDI will support efforts to fully realize the potential of a redeveloped Pimlico and Preakness Stakes within the Triple Crown and the broader sports and entertainment landscape."

The deal with 1/ST Maryland LLC, an affiliate of 1/ST Racing, also includes the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes race, an event for fillies on the eve of the Preakness.

CDI would lease back the rights to the Preakness, first contested in 1873, to the state of Maryland for an annual fee to continue to run the Preakness at Pimlico, which is being renovated, or whatever track the state selects, according to plans outlined by CDI.

"Bringing together two prestigious racing brands, the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, is a significant step toward the successful longevity and growth of the American Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing," 1/ST chairman and chief executive officer Belinda Stronach said in a statement.

"The agreement with Churchill Downs Incorporated to acquire ownership of the intellectual property rights of the Preakness Stakes, immediately following Preakness 151, closes our company's thoroughbred racing chapter in Maryland."

Stronach said the company remains focused on California and Florida properties and "supporting a strong and sustainable future for the sport."

Next week's 152nd running of the Kentucky Derby will launch the 2026 Triple Crown season, with the 151st Preakness to follow on May 16 at Laurel Park, a temporary site south of Baltimore being used while Pimlico undergoes renovations.

The treble will conclude on June 6 with the Belmont Stakes being staged at Saratoga while construction continues at its traditional home, Belmont Park.

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Artificial Intelligence pioneer Geoffrey Hinton insisted Tuesday on the need to strictly regulate the technology, warning that it remained unclear if humanity could co-exist with super intelligent AI.

Hinton, considered the "Godfather of AI", told the 2026 Digital World Conference in Geneva that there was a dire need to strengthen governance frameworks and ethical safeguards around the technology.

But, he warned via video link, huge investments were going into convincing the public that regulating the technology was akin to slowing down progress.

Those opposed to regulation say "unregulated AI is like the accelerator, and regulation is like a brake", said the British-Canadian computer scientist who won the 2024 Nobel Physics Prize for his work on AI.

"They want a very fast car with no steering wheel," he said.

His comments came at the end of the day-long Geneva conference on the importance of international cooperation in shaping the social dimensions of AI.

The participants raised concerns over how global debates on AI remain largely driven by technical advances and commercial applications, with less focus on social impacts in areas including labour markets, inequality and public services.

Hinton warned about the impact AI will have on job losses.

The technology can certainly improve productivity in areas like health care, where there is always a need for more.

But in other sectors, like call centres, AI can already do the jobs as well as people and soon will do it better, he said, saying it was clear that no amount of re-training will counter that.

And "if we get super intelligent AI, any intellectual job it will be able to do," he said, meaning that "even if new jobs are created, AI will be a cheaper way to do them".

Hinton, who made headlines when he quit Google in 2023 warning of the "profound risks to society and humanity", said he remains concerned as AI progresses at lightning speed.

"We don't know whether we can co-exist with super intelligent AI," the 78-year-old said.

"But we are constructing it."

Humans "still have a lot of control", he said, stressing that "we should be careful to construct in a way where we still continue to exist, and we can live in harmony with it."   

The problem is that there are "very few models of far more intelligent things allowing far less intelligent things to have freedom", he warned.

"We're at the point in history when it's urgent to try and solve this problem," he said, yet "very few resources are being put into it".

He suggested "maybe one percent" of work on AI was going into making it safer.

"It's crazy."

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(The Center Square) – Some say President Donald Trump’s new executive order on psychedelics goes too far, while others say it’s a good first step, but more action is needed.

The president signed an executive order over the weekend aimed at making psychedelic treatments for mental illness accessible to those who may need them. The order directs the Food and Drug Administration to expedite the review time for psychedelic drugs that have shown promise over existing treatments for mental health conditions such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse disorder. It also directs $50 million in existing federal funding toward state programs looking to advance psychedelic treatments for mental illness.

The battle over behavioral and emotional health affects many Americans, but veterans in particular “often suffer in greater measure” than other demographic groups, according to the order. More than 6,000 veterans commit suicide each year.

The executive director of Reason for Hope and policy counsel for the Veterans for Mental Health Leadership Coalition Brett Waters spoke to The Center Square on the impact of the executive order, calling it an “historic moment.” For decades, federal support for medical research on psychedelics has remained stagnant, and most psychedelics are classified as Schedule I drugs, meaning they are highly regulated and are considered to have no currently accepted medical use.

“Getting to this point really is pretty monumental,” Waters said. “Even if it was just a generic statement of support, I think it would have gone a long way in terms of setting direction and getting certain elements of the bureaucracy moving.”

But in expediting review times and pushing for rescheduling substances that have successfully completed Phase 3 clinical trials, the order does more than that.

“It’s definitely a lot more than rhetoric. There’s a lot of substance here that reflects several policy goals that many of us considered to be important…. but it really exceeds what we expected to make it over the finish line.”

The Controlled Substances Act already requires the Drug Enforcement Administration to reschedule a drug within 90 days after the FDA approves it for medical use and sends its scheduling recommendation to the DEA, but the order directs the DEA to begin its review process even earlier, after Phase 3 clinical trials have been completed. 

At least nine psychedelics have been designated as breakthrough therapies, and Waters thinks that likely two or three will be chosen for the expedited review the order calls for.

The idea behind psychedelic treatment of behavioral health illnesses is that these drugs – like esketamine, which has already been approved for medical use – are administered under supervision in a controlled clinical setting. It’s hypothesized that the drugs may increase or more rapidly enhance neuroplasticity than common anti-depressant or anti-anxiety medications, which can be helpful in processing trauma. For some patients, these drugs can lead to meaningful improvement in just a handful of treatments, reducing the need for long-term, daily medications.

While Waters welcomed the executive order, he does think that more should be done at the federal level to expedite the safe use of psychedelics for mental health treatment. The coalition has advocated for a bill called the Freedom to Heal Act, which would enable specially trained, qualifying physicians to use Schedule I investigational drugs that have completed Phase 1 safety trials to treat serious, persisting illnesses under federal Right to Try laws. Otherwise, promising drugs may still be relatively inaccessible due to existing regulatory barriers. 

The legislation, if signed into law, “reduces barriers for physicians to provide compassionate use of several innovative and potentially lifesaving treatments, including MDMA and psilocybin,” according to Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa. “Our loved ones, including our veterans who served and sacrificed, deserve to heal — Congress must work to make that recovery possible for more people.”

The bill was introduced in December and has bipartisan support.

The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies has also “long worked to lay the groundwork for implementing psychedelics into medicine,” and while it also welcomes federal action to make these substances more accessible, it urged caution as the government moves forward.

“As federal agencies move to reduce longstanding barriers to research, it is essential that progress across this broader class of compounds remains grounded in rigorous science, careful evaluation, and a commitment to patient safety,” the group said in a statement.

The executive order moves to advance the medical use of relevant psychedelics as a whole but it stipulates that this should include ibogaine compounds. Ibogaine is a psychedelic made from a plant in Central Africa, and multiple states are considering legislation supporting ibogaine research and development. 

A nonprofit advocacy organization called Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which works to decrease marijuana use, opposes the order. 

“The data around [ibogaine’s] alleged therapeutic effects is weak and in many cases comes from industry-linked researchers with serious conflicts of interest,” said Sam Munson, a spokesperson for the group, in a statement to The Center Square. “We support rigorous research for treatment discovery, but this is a terrible way to go about advancing that goal – this EO will fan the flames of interest and use and, quite literally, endanger Americans across the country."

A Democratic lawmaker resigned Tuesday, becoming the third member of the US House of Representatives to step down in just over a week as a wave of ethics scandals engulfs Congress.

Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida announced her immediate resignation ahead of a scheduled disciplinary hearing by the House Ethics Committee, which had been weighing potential sanctions over a string of campaign finance violations.

Her departure follows the recent resignations of Democrat Eric Swalwell and Republican Tony Gonzales, who stepped down amid separate sexual misconduct allegations, fueling a rare bipartisan reckoning over lawmakers' treatment of staff in Congress.

Cherfilus-McCormick had been accused of diverting millions of dollars in federal disaster funds for political purposes and is facing a federal criminal case. She denies wrongdoing and has pleaded not guilty.

In a statement, she denounced the process as unfair, saying the Ethics Committee "refused my new attorney's reasonable request for time to prepare my defense" and describing the proceedings as "a witch hunt."

"I simply cannot stand by and allow my due process rights to be trampled on, and my good name to be tarnished," she said, adding that she would focus on fighting for her community outside Congress.

The Ethics Committee had found Cherfilus-McCormick responsible for 25 violations, citing the scale and persistence of the alleged conduct.

The spate of cases has shaken a narrowly divided House, where pressure has mounted on leaders of both parties to enforce ethical standards even as political calculations complicate disciplinary action.

Her resignation shifts attention to Republican Cory Mills, who remains under investigation over allegations including sexual misconduct, campaign finance violations and misuse of his office, all of which he denies.

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Tourists flocked to an iconic Rio de Janeiro viewpoint on Tuesday, a day after a gunfight between police and drug gangs in a nearby favela trapped over 200 people on the hilltop.

Visitors were stranded for about two hours on Morro Dois Irmaos -- or Two Brothers Hill -- on Monday while fighting raged on a hillside below them between police and members of Comando Vermelho, one of Brazil's largest criminal groups.

Police said when officers arrived at the Vidigal favela, drug traffickers opened fire.

No injuries were reported in the police operation, in which three people were arrested.

The gunfire did not appear to faze tourists, who ascended Morro Dois Irmaos at dawn on Tuesday to watch the sunrise over Rio's sweeping panorama of mountains and curved beaches.

"At first we were a little worried, but we knew that coming here at dawn was an experience not to be missed," Matteo Protti-Barbieri, a 23-year-old French student, told AFP.

Nathan Ferdinands, a 23-year-old Australian student, said he had heard about the shootout but also ultimately decided to carry on with his visit.

"From what we've seen in South America so far, it's been a pretty safe place. Even walking around the favelas this morning, everyone has been super nice and we felt really safe," he said.

Rio received more than 2.1 million international visitors in 2025, a record for the seaside city. 

Monday's incident came almost six months after the deadliest police operation in Brazilian history, on October 28, which left more than 120 dead across favelas in Rio's North Zone.

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Diego Maradona's daughter Gianinna on Tuesday testified about what she called the "total manipulation" of the late player's family by doctors in the lead-up to his 2020 death.

She was testifying at the trial of Maradona's seven-person medical team, which is accused of gross negligence over the death of the Argentine football legend at the age of 60.

"The manipulation was total and horrible," Gianinna told the court in the northern Buenos Aires suburb of San Isidro, near where Maradona died while convalescing after surgery for a brain clot.

Gianinna said the medics convinced her and her siblings that their father could recuperate safely at his rented home in the suburb of Tigre.

She said the doctors presented this as a "serious" option and assured that his residence would be well equipped in medical terms.

"I trusted these three people, who only manipulated us and left my son without a grandfather," she added, referring to neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov and nurse Carlos Diaz.

A key question at the heart of the trial is whether the decision to allow Maradona to convalesce at home instead of a medical facility endangered his life. 

"They (the medical team) were the ones guiding us, his children, on how to proceed," Gianinna stressed.

The accused argue that the hard-living star, who battled cocaine and alcohol addictions, died of natural causes.

Testifying for over 90 minutes, Gianinna fought back tears as she described racing to her father's bedside on the day of his death to be told by the ambulance service that there was "nothing they could do" to resuscitate him.

The defendants face prison terms of between eight and 25 years if convicted of homicide with possible intent -- pursuing a course of action despite knowing it could lead to death.

The larger-than-life star of the 1986 World Cup died of heart failure and acute pulmonary edema -- a condition where fluid accumulates in the lungs -- two weeks after the operation.

The passing of the man, who was idolized for his preternatural talent and charisma, plunged Argentina into mourning in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tens of thousands of people defied social distancing rules to bid farewell to him as he lay in state at the presidential palace.

The first trial over his death was annulled last year following revelations that one of the judges took part in a clandestine documentary about the case.

A second trial, conducted by a new panel of judges, began last week. It is expected to last at least three months.

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