G7 says nature talks a success as climate sidelined for US

Republican US Senator Thom Tillis said Sunday that he would support Kevin Warsh's nomination as Federal Reserve chairman after the investigation into the current Fed chief was dropped.

Tillis had warned that he would oppose Warsh's confirmation unless a Department of Justice probe into Jerome Powell was stopped.

The move was the last major obstacle to a confirmation vote before Powell's term ends on May 15.

"The U.S. Attorney's Office criminal investigation into Chair Powell was a serious threat to the Fed's independence, and it needed to end before I could support Kevin Warsh's confirmation," the senator from North Carolina wrote on social media.

The investigation concerned Powell's handling of the renovations to the Federal Reserve headquarters in Washington, whose budget is now estimated at $2.5 billion, up from the initial $1.9 billion.

Powell revealed the existence of the investigation in early January, seeing it as a "threat" from President Donald Trump and his administration to pressure the institution into lowering its key interest rate.

A Tillis vote against Warsh would have been enough to block the Senate Banking Committee from advancing the nomination to a confirmation vote on the Senate floor.

On Friday, Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, announced the end of the investigation.

Pirro indicated that she had instructed the Fed's inspector general, Michael Horowitz, to take over and conduct his own investigation, a standard procedure for an administrative, non-criminal inquiry.

But she left the door open to restarting the investigation "if the facts warranted it." 

On Saturday, Trump refused to acknowledge the end of this legal saga, stating that he had an "obligation to find out" why the renovation costs had skyrocketed. 

Tillis wrote on Sunday that he had received "assurances" that the criminal case would only be reopened if the inspector general's findings warranted it.

Warsh "is an outstanding nominee, and it is time for the Federal Reserve to move beyond this distraction and return its full attention to its mission," the senator said.

tu/abx/mjf/mlm

Mali has been plunged into an unprecedented security crisis after an alliance of Tuareg rebels and a jihadist group carried out synchronised attacks against the West African country's military leadership.

The two groups are the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) coalition and the al-Qaeda-linked Jihadist Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM). The FLA is made up of mainly Tuareg groups who want independence for Azawad, a territory in northern Mali.

Defence Minister General Sadio Camara, a key figure in the military regime, was killed in one attack, his family and government sources said Sunday.

Mali's army says it has been engaged in fierce fighting against the attackers since Saturday morning.

Here is what we know:

- Tuareg rebels in Kidal -  

FLA fighters said Sunday they had full control of Kidal, a key town in the north. 

Fighting appears to have stopped for the moment in Gao, another northern town, with rebels positioned on the outskirts.

The situation remains "confusing" in Sevare, central Mali, where gunfire was still ringing out in some areas, said one local official.

On Sunday afternoon, calm returned to Kati, a junta stronghold just 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the capital Bamako, after gunfire in the morning, one resident told AFP.

- Defence minister killed - 

General Camara, 47, was killed Saturday when an explosive-laden car detonated outside his home, an attack claimed by the jihadist JNIM group.

- Tuaregs cut deal with Russians -  

FLA fighters said they had reached an agreement to allow Russian Afrika Korps soldiers to withdraw from a camp where they had been entrenched since Saturday. 

"The Russian fighters in Kidal have decided to leave their position," a diplomatic source told AFP. "They are coordinating their departure with the FLA rebels."

A resident of Kidal told AFP he had seen a military convoy leave the town.

- The junta leaders - 

General Assimi Goita, the head of the junta, has neither been seen nor heard from since the attacks began. 

A Malian security source told AFP he had been "evacuated from Kati on Saturday and is in a safe location" at a "special forces camp" near Bamako. 

Security sources said head of intelligence General Modibo Kone and military Chief of Staff General Oumar Diarra were wounded during Saturday's attacks in Kati.

- 'Hunt' -  

Mali's army said statement Sunday: "The hunt for armed terrorist groups continues in Kidal, Kati, and other locations across the country." 

The military has imposed curfews, stepped up patrols and reinforced checkpoints across the country.

On Saturday evening, Mali's military rulers said the attacks had resulted in 16 civilian and military injuries and "limited material damage".

mk-sd-lar-str-bdi/gv/jj

(The Center Square) – The California man accused of storming security at Saturday night's White House Correspondents’ Dinner and shooting a Secret Service officer before being detained, likely was targeting Trump administration officials, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday.

President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and members of Trump's cabinet were at the event and were rushed out of the banquet hall of the Washington, D.C. Hilton.

“It does appear that he did in fact set out to target folks who work in the administration, likely including the president,” Blanche said on NBC’s “Meet the Press. "But I want to wait and not get ahead of us on that."

A long gun and shell casings were recovered at the scene.

No one else but the Secret Service agent, who Trump said he spoke to and was doing OK, was injured in the attack.

The New York Post reported Sunday that it received a copy of a "manifesto" the suspect, Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California, sent to family members just minutes before the attack.

"Administration officials (not including Mr. [FBI Director Kash] Patel): they are targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest," the Post reported the manifesto read.

Allen, media outlets reported, was a tutor and amateur video game developer. He attended the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, where he graduated in 2017. He donated $50 to the campaign of then presidential candidate Kamala Harris through ActBlue. 

According to the Post, Allen's manifesto said he wanted to minimize casualties at the hotel but, "I would still go though most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary (on the basis that most "chose" to attend a speech by a pedophile, rapist and traitor, and are thus complicit) but I really hope it doesn't come to that." 

Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, Trump said the manifesto shows the suspect was a sick guy.

Colombia's forensic institute said Sunday it was examining 19 bodies after a massive roadway explosion the day before, which authorities have blamed on an armed group ahead of next month's elections.

Buses and vans were left mangled in the blast Saturday on the Pan-American Highway, in the restive southwestern Cauca department.

Several cars were flipped over by the force of the explosion and a large crater was blown out of the roadway.

The department's governor on Saturday evening provided a death toll of 14, with more than 38 injured, but the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences said Sunday morning it had begun the examination of "nineteen (19) bodies."

Military chief Hugo Lopez told a news conference on Saturday that the bomb had exploded after assailants stopped traffic by blocking the road with a bus and another vehicle.

"It is a terrorist attack against the civilian population," Lopez said.

The attack comes just over one month ahead of national elections, in which voters will pick a successor to leftist President Gustavo Petro.

"Those who carried out this attack... are terrorists, fascists and drug traffickers," President Gustavo Petro said on X. 

"I want our very best soldiers to confront them," he said.

Petro blamed the bombing on Ivan Mordisco, the South American country's most-wanted criminal, whom the president has compared to late cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar.

The violence came after a bomb attack Friday on a military base in Cali, Colombia's third-largest city, injured two people and set off a string of attacks in the Valle del Cauca and Cauca departments.

According to Lopez, 26 attacks have been recorded in the two departments over the past two days.

Authorities have boosted military and police presence in the areas, Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said Saturday.

Colombia has a history of armed groups -- which finance their operations through drug trafficking, illegal mining and extortion -- attempting to influence elections through violence.

FARC remnants who rejected a 2016 peace deal with the government have been actively trying to disrupt stalled peace talks with Petro.

Security is one of the central issues of the May 31 presidential election. Political violence was brought into sharp focus last June, when young conservative presidential frontrunner Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot in broad daylight while campaigning in the capital Bogota.

Leftist Senator Ivan Cepeda, an architect of Petro's controversial policy of negotiating with armed groups, is ahead in polls.

He is trailed by right-wing candidates Abelardo de la Espriella and Paloma Valencia, both of whom have pledged to take a hard line against rebel groups.

All three have reported receiving death threats and are campaigning under heavy security.

bur-des/bgs

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said Sunday he would join forces with former premier Naftali Bennett ahead of this year's elections, in a move aimed at unseating incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu.

Lapid, himself a former premier, said they would run on a joint list in the parliamentary election due in October, with a formal announcement expected later on Sunday.

In a post on X, Lapid said the pair would "announce today the first step in the process of repairing the State of Israel: the merger of Yesh Atid and 'Bennett 2026' into a single party led by former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett".

"The move brings about the unification of the Repair Bloc, enabling all efforts to be focused on leading Israel toward the necessary repair."

Both have been outspoken critics of Netanyahu's handling of the country's wars since October 2023, with Lapid going so far as to label the recent two-week ceasefire agreed with Iran a "political disaster".

Right-winger Bennett, a longtime supporter of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and centrist Lapid previously formed a coalition government in June 2021.

It was replaced at the end of 2022 by the current administration led by Netanyahu, after Bennett said in June of that year that his coalition was no longer tenable and Lapid served a brief stint as caretaker prime minister.

Opinion polls suggest Bennett is the candidate best placed to defeat Netanyahu in the October vote.

The 54-year-old son of American immigrants and a former high-tech entrepreneur, Bennett sold his start-up in 2005 for $145 million (110 million euros).

As a former Israeli commando officer, he has a profile that resonates with part of the country's younger generation after more than two years of the Gaza war.

Once a Netanyahu adviser, Bennett has over time become a staunch opponent of his former mentor's policies.

He led several right-wing parties before forming a broad unity government in 2021.

His new running mate, 62-year-old Lapid, is the son of the late journalist and minister Tommy Lapid, a Holocaust survivor, and acclaimed author Shulamit Lapid.

A prominent television journalist, Lapid entered politics in 2012 by founding Yesh Atid, which went on to become the country's second-largest political force.

He has since served as opposition leader, aside from his brief stint as prime minister.

Netanyahu plans to lead his party's list in the general election that must be held no later than the end of October.

At 76, the leader of the right-wing Likud party is Israel's longest-serving prime minister, with more than 18 cumulative years in office across multiple stints.

mib-jd/hmw/jfx

(The Center Square) – Nearly two dozen state attorneys general are asking the three top ratings agencies to explain their “ESG-driven” downgrades of fossil-fuel companies.

In a letter to the agencies, the 23 attorneys general allege the agencies promote a radical climate agenda. 

Executive director of Consumers’ Research Will Hild told The Center Square that ratings agencies – Fitch, Moody's and S&P – "should be providing objective financial analysis for consumers and investors to rely on, not using their market power to push woke ideology.”

“As the state attorneys general expose in this letter, these ratings groups have been weaponizing their credit ratings in an effort to push a radical ESG agenda,” Hild said.

“Instead of providing analysis through the lens of fiduciary duty and financial prosperity, these woke activists are colluding with UN-backed climate activists and using flawed methodologies to meet arbitrary net-zero and ESG goals,” Hild said.

“Thanks to leadership by the AGs, the depths of collusion by the woke cartel continues to be exposed,” Hild said.

In their letter, the Attorneys General wrote that the ratings agencies have used “flawed methodologies to downgrade, or to threaten to downgrade, states and municipalities with fossil-fuel production revenues,” and “yet [the agencies] largely have not reversed the [d]owngrades after highly speculative ESG predictions proved to be wrong.”

The letter additionally stated that the “[d]owngrades materially contravened the Ratings Agencies’ stated methodologies and are consistent with undisclosed material conflicts of interest.”

For instance, “all three agencies have pledged to a United Nations-backed group that they will ‘incorporat[e] ESG into credit ratings and analysis in a systematic...way,’” the letter said.

Additionally, “Moody’s and S&P pledged to help ‘achieve’ net zero,” the letter said.

The attorneys general requested in their letter that the ratings agencies complete five actions, which are: “explain ESG-driven downgrades,” “withdraw from or disclose ESG commitments,” “revise sector-specific methodologies,” “eliminate or disclose ESG consulting conflicts,” and “certify internal controls review.”

“Failure to take these corrective actions will inform the undersigned attorneys general’s assessment of whether enforcement action under state UDAP laws, antitrust investigation, referral to the SEC’s Office of Credit Ratings, or coordination with the U.S. Department of Justice is warranted,” the attorneys general wrote.

CEO of the American Energy Institute Jason Isaac told The Center Square that the attorneys general’s allegations against the three ratings agencies in question “confirm what many have warned for years: ESG is not about risk assessment, it is about reshaping markets through financial coercion.”

“Credit rating agencies appear to have abandoned objective, data-driven analysis in favor of speculative, politically aligned assumptions that penalize reliable American energy while rewarding favored industries,” Isaac said. 

“That kind of distortion doesn’t just mislead investors, it raises costs for states, undermines domestic production, and ultimately hits consumers with higher prices,” Isaac said. 

“If these claims hold, regulators and attorneys general should treat this as a serious breach of trust and restore integrity to the ratings process,” Isaac said.

The attorneys general’s letter also spoke of a CCP advantage, as founder, CEO and chairman of State Armor Michael Lucci told The Center Square.

"It is absurd that ratings agencies claim to measure environmental, social, and governance performance while awarding stronger marks to a CCP-owned company tied to an authoritarian regime with a well-documented human-rights record than to major U.S. energy firms,” Lucci said.

“That contradiction becomes even more glaring when China has expanded coal capacity at a pace exceeding much of the rest of the world combined, undermining any serious claim that these scores are rooted in consistent environmental standards,” Lucci said.

“Outcomes this detached from reality underscores why the entire ESG ratings system deserves every ounce of scrutiny it gets,” Lucci said.

When reached, an S&P spokesman told The Center Square: “S&P Global is aware of the letter sent to its office by the 23 State Attorney Generals.” 

“We take these matters very seriously and do not have further comments at this time,” the spokesman said. 

Neither Fitch nor Moody’s responded to The Center Square’s request for comment. 

The 23 state attorneys general that signed the letter to S&P, Fitch, and Moody’s hail from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

President Donald Trump on Sunday used a shooting at a gala he attended in Washington to push his plans to construct a huge ballroom next to the White House that has faced legal challenges.

Shots were fired Saturday evening as Secret Service agents subdued the gunman who tried to storm the White House Correspondents Dinner, attended by Trump, top government officials and hundreds of journalists.

The annual event -- a private, not government, function -- was at the Washington Hilton, a few blocks north of the White House, where it has been held for decades.

"What happened last night is exactly the reason that our great Military, Secret Service, Law Enforcement and, for different reasons, every President for the last 150 years, have been DEMANDING that a large, safe, and secure Ballroom be built ON THE GROUNDS OF THE WHITE HOUSE," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

The $400-million ballroom has become a passion project for Trump during his second term and he has addressed it often in public appearances, press conferences and meetings.

In his Sunday post, Trump lauded the security features of the proposed ballroom, which has faced widespread public criticism for its outsized scale and the lack of consultation.

"This event would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House," Trump wrote. "It cannot be built fast enough! While beautiful, it has every highest level security feature there is."

Trump also mentioned the ballroom during a hastily called press conference Saturday evening after the shooting, and many of his political and online allies voiced support for its construction.

The future of the project, which has already seen the historic East Wing of the White House abruptly torn down, is being fought over in the courts.

The street outside the Washington Hilton was also the site of the 1981 assassination attempt on former president Ronald Reagan.

mjf/bgs

(The Center Square) - The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on Wednesday in two cases that could determine the temporary protected status for Haitian and Syrian immigrants.

Justices on the court will hear Trump v. Miot and Mullin v. Doe. The two cases challenge an order from the Trump administration that terminated the special immigration status for Haitian and Syrian immigrants living in the United States.

Temporary protected status is granted to immigrants who are fleeing war or natural disasters in their home countries. Haitian and Syrian nationals challenged the Trump administration’s orders.

Kristi Noem, former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, terminated the protected immigration status indiscriminately, a lower court judge said.

Justices on the court will decide whether lower court judges have the authority to stop the Trump administration from stripping temporary protected status for the Haitian and Syrian migrants.

James Rogers, senior counsel for America First Legal, said he thinks the justices will not uphold the lower court’s authority to review the secretary’s decisions.

“The statute vests unreviewable determination of the secretary to make these decisions,” Rogers said.

Haiti was first granted temporary protected status in 2010, after an earthquake severely damaged the country’s infrastructure. In 2024, the Biden administration extended temporary protected status for Haiti, based on general concerns about security and humanitarian concerns in the country.

Advocates for the Haitian immigrants said conditions in the country are not safe enough to return. Tirana Hassan, CEO of Doctors Without Borders, said access to water, sanitation and medical care has steeply declined over the past several years.

She said staff members in Haiti were trapped in homes over the weekend of April 18 and 19.

“Armed groups are continually battling the government and its supporters for territorial control,” Hassan said. “Residents are subjected to violence on all sides, caught in the crossfire, killed at checkpoints or attacked in their homes.”

Lawyers for the Haitian immigrants argued that the country is not safe for migrants to return. They also argued that the policy could cause damage to public safety in the United States.

“Stripping TPS holders of their status may discourage them from reporting crimes or seeking medical care due to fear of detention or deportation,” the lawyers wrote.

Syria was first designated temporary protected status in 2012, after the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War. In 2024, the Biden administration extended the cutoff date for Syrian migrants and gave amnesty to anyone who arrived in the U.S. since 2012. Approximately 6,100 Syrian migrants live in the United States under temporary protected status.

Lawyers for the Trump administration cited ongoing diplomatic negotiations between the U.S. and Syria following the end of the civil war in 2024.

“Thwarting the Secretary’s determination of TPS thus undercuts the Secretary’s judgment as to how best to protect the public and how best to further the government’s foreign-policy goals,” lawyers for the Trump administration wrote.

Justices will hear the cases on Wednesday and make a decision by July on temporary protected status for Haitian and Syrian migrants.

Investigators on Sunday said the gunman who tried to storm a gala dinner attended by US President Donald Trump planned to target top government officials, as scrutiny grew over the event's security.

Trump, who was rushed out of the hotel ballroom in Washington by Secret Service agents, posted surveillance camera footage of the gunman attempting to sprint past a security checkpoint as guards drew their weapons.

After an exchange of gunfire, the suspect was detained at the scene and was being questioned Sunday before he is due to appear in court on Monday.

"He's not actively cooperating. I expect that he will be formally charged tomorrow morning in federal court in Washington," acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche told CBS's "Face The Nation."

"We do believe, based upon just a very preliminary start to understanding what happened, that he was targeting members of the administration."

Blanche added no further motive was known for the attack, confirming the suspect -- who was armed with a shotgun, handgun and knives -- was staying at the Washington Hilton hotel where the black-tie dinner was held on Saturday evening.

"We believe that he traveled by train from Los Angeles to Chicago, and then from Chicago to Washington," Blanche said. "It appears he purchased these firearms in the past couple years."

Attendees dove under tables in chaotic scenes as Secret Service agents swarmed into the glitzy White House Correspondents' Association dinner, held annually in the US capital.

Crowded into the ballroom were Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, several cabinet members and top lawmakers, and hundreds of guests in black tie.

- 'Lone wolf'? -

Trump said at a hastily arranged late-night news conference at the White House that he first thought the noise was a tray being dropped, before realizing it was gunfire. He said he hoped the media gala would be rescheduled within a month.

"They seem to think he was a lone wolf, and I feel that too," the president said. One officer was shot at close range in his safety vest and appeared to be not seriously harmed.

Trump added that the venue was "not a particularly secure" facility, as questions swirled about the president's safety.

An AFP photographer saw FBI tactical agents on Sunday evening entering a two-story, brown house in Torrance, California associated with the suspect.

Multiple US news outlets identified him as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen from the southwestern Los Angeles suburb.

Trump was the target of an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania in 2024. A gunman fired several shots, killing an audience member and lightly wounding the president in the ear.

A few months later, another man was arrested after a Secret Service agent saw the barrel of a rifle poking from the bushes on the perimeter of the West Palm Beach golf course where Trump was playing a round.

The Washington Hilton where Saturday's gala was taking place was the site where Republican President Ronald Reagan was shot by a would-be assassin in 1981.

The White House Correspondents' Association invited Trump this year despite his repeated attacks on the media.

Before this year and unlike all other presidents from the past 100 years, Trump had never attended while in office.

The dinner brings together journalists and the who's who of Washington to raise funds for scholarships and awards.

The incident late Saturday came less than 48 hours before King Charles III and Queen Camilla begin a four-day state visit to the United States.

des-bgs/des

(The Center Square) – A retiring Republican congressman plans to confront Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth this week over how $2.6 billion appropriated by Congress for military housing assistance was redirected to fund "Warrior Dividend" bonuses paid to 1.45 million service members before Christmas.

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., a retired Air Force brigadier general and member of the House Armed Services Committee, says the money, drawn from a $2.9 billion Basic Allowance for Housing appropriation in the One Big Beautiful Bill, was intended to help service members living off base.

He is calling on Hegseth to restore the funds and plans to raise the issue before the full committee on Wednesday.

"The barracks budget has been looted for many years for other priorities," Bacon told The Center Square. "We brought in $2.5 billion to increase housing allowances for people living off base in the reconciliation bill. The [Department of Defense] took that money and paid the entire force $1,776 in bonuses, but it was targeted to help those living off base."

President Donald Trump said the funds were from tariff revenue, but the Pentagon used money from the Housing Allowance budget.

Bacon previously chaired the HASC Military Quality-of-Life Panel, leading a year-long inquiry into military pay, housing, childcare and healthcare access.

Congress appropriated $2.9 billion in taxpayer funds for military housing in the One Big Beautiful Bill. An estimated $2.6 billion was allocated to bonuses, leaving $300 million for actual BAH needs.

Trump announced the surprise check for military members on Dec. 18, saying it was a reward funded in part by tariff revenue and his signature funding bill.

"Because of tariffs, along with the just-passed 'One Big Beautiful Bill,' tonight, I am also proud to announce that more than 1,450,000 military service members will receive a special, we call 'Warrior Dividend' before Christmas," Trump said during an address to the nation.

A Pentagon official confirmed to The Center Square that the funding came from the BAH appropriation in the One Big Beautiful Bill.

"Congress appropriated $2.9 billion to the Department of War to supplement the Basic Allowance for Housing entitlement," the official said, adding that the department used an estimated $2.6 billion of those funds for the one-time payment, with the remaining $300 million being used "to support BAH requirements."

Hegseth, in a Dec. 18 video posted to social media, described the payment as a "direct investment in the brave men and women who carry on the legacy of our Armed Forces" and said it was intended to "improve the quality of life for our military personnel and their families."

The House Armed Services Committee convenes at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Rayburn 2118 for a full committee hearing on the Department of Defense's $1.5 trillion budget request. Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are set to testify.

"This money should be restored," Bacon told The Center Square.

Bacon announced in June 2025 that he would not seek reelection in 2026.