Iran may believe it has the upper hand as Trump seeks talks

(The Center Square) – Voters are concerned about government fraud and want to see lawmakers make sweeping changes, pass new laws and open new investigations to address the longstanding problem at the local, state and federal levels.

Despite years of anti-fraud initiatives and billions spent on prevention, American voters remain frustrated by what they see as persistent and costly government fraud. Fresh polling reveals a bipartisan demand for sweeping reforms, with the majority of voters calling for comprehensive changes to root out waste and restore trust in public institutions.

A new The Center Square Voters' Voice Poll found that 57% of registered voters believe governments need to make large, systematic changes to stamp out rampant fraud that drains taxpayer resources. An additional 37% said the problem could be addressed with a few new laws, changes to existing laws and more investigations. About 7% favored only minor changes to existing laws, while 4% said minor tweaks to government investigations would suffice.

Support for systematic change spans the political spectrum, with 61% of Republicans, 54% of Democrats, and 55% of independents expressing this view.

Fraud has remained a stubborn challenge at the federal level for decades, persisting despite ongoing investments in prevention efforts.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office's first-of-its-kind estimate of annual fraud costs, published in 2024, found that taxpayers lose between $233 billion and $521 billion annually. The White House questioned the accuracy of that figure at the time. The GAO fraud estimate's range represents 3% to 7% of average federal obligations.

Lawmakers have made a fresh push for changes after recent high-profile fraud cases in Minnesota, California and elsewhere. Democrats have argued that Trump and Republicans are only cracking down on fraud in blue states and programs favored by Democrats, which Republicans deny. Earlier this month, Trump launched an anti-fraud task force, led by Vice President JD Vance.

Trump took office in January 2025, determined to reduce government size and curb fraud. He launched the Department of Government Efficiency, which was briefly led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who appeared on stage with a chainsaw at the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference. However, the initiative lost momentum after Musk's departure, and Trump has since stopped promoting DOGE-funded rebate checks for taxpayers. While DOGE remains operational, it has not achieved the transformative impact Trump hoped at the start of his second term.

Trump compared DOGE to the "Manhattan Project" for government cost-cutting, promising an unprecedented crackdown on waste. Both Trump and Musk assured the public that DOGE would deliver a leaner, more efficient government by reducing waste, cutting regulations, and shrinking the federal workforce. Musk initially claimed DOGE would save $2 trillion, but later revised the target to $1 trillion. In April 2025, he reported that DOGE was on track to save $150 billion. According to its website, DOGE said it saved $215 billion, about $1,300 per taxpayer, through its work.

Voters weren't entirely convinced by DOGE. A poll conducted by The Center Square last year found that 46% of registered voters believed DOGE was effective at cutting federal government waste while 43% said DOGE wasn't effective. The results of that poll closely matched party affiliation, with Republicans more likely than Democrats and independents to say DOGE was effective.

The most recent The Center Square Voters' Voice Poll was conducted by Noble Predictive Insights between March 2 and 5. The poll sample included 2,659 respondents, comprising 952 Republicans, 934 Democrats, and 773 Independents, of whom 330 are true independents, those who, when asked whether they leaned toward one of the major parties, chose neither. It is among the most comprehensive tracking polls in the country.

The poll's margin of error is +/-1.9%.

Ousted Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro will appear Thursday in a New York court for the second time since his capture by US forces in an extraordinary nighttime raid.

Maduro, 63, and wife Cilia Flores have been held in a Brooklyn jail for almost three months after American commandos snatched the pair from their compound in Caracas in early January.

The stunning operation deposed the strongman who had led Venezuela since 2013 and has since forced the oil-rich country to largely bend to the will of US President Donald Trump.

Maduro has declared himself a "prisoner of war" and pleaded not guilty to his four counts of "narco-terrorism" conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.

Thursday's hearing at 11:00 am (1500 GMT) will likely see Maduro push for the dismissal of his case as lawyers tussle over who will pay the former leader's legal fees. 

Venezuela's government is seeking to cover the costs, but because of Washington's sanctions, his lawyer Barry Pollack must obtain a US license that has not been issued.

Pollack argued in a court submission that the license requirement violated Maduro's constitutional right to legal representation and demanded the case be thrown out on procedural grounds.

- 'Desperate' for justice -

A police convoy believed to be carrying Maduro and Flores left the jail at around 4:00 am (0800 GMT) to reach the Manhattan court, AFP journalists saw.

Several backers and opponents of Maduro gathered outside the courthouse, including some with a large inflatable doll depicting him in an orange prison jumpsuit with handcuffs. 

"We are desperate for any sort of justice regarding everything that we've been through," said Carlos Egana, 30, who supports the prosecution of Maduro. 

Detained in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal prison known for unsanitary conditions, Maduro is reportedly alone in a cell with no access to the internet or newspapers. 

A source close to the Venezuelan government said the incarcerated Maduro reads the Bible and is referred to as "president" by some of his fellow detainees.

He is only allowed to communicate by phone with his family and lawyers for a maximum of 15 minutes per call, the source added. 

"The lawyers told us he is strong. He said we must not be sad," said his son, Nicolas Maduro Guerra, adding his father told him: "We are fine, we are fighters."

- US pressure -

Maduro and his wife were forcibly taken by US commandos in the early hours of January 3 in airstrikes on the Venezuelan capital backed by warplanes and a heavy naval deployment.

At least 83 people died and more than 112 people were injured in the assault, according to Venezuelan officials. No US service members were killed.

At his first US court appearance in January, Maduro struck a defiant tone as he identified himself as the president of Venezuela despite being captured.

The South American country is now led by Delcy Rodriguez, who had been Maduro's vice president since 2018.

Under US pressure, she is grappling with leading a country saddled with the world's largest proven oil reserves but an economy in shambles.

Rodriguez has since enacted a historic amnesty law to free political prisoners jailed under Maduro and reformed oil and mining regulations in line with US demands for access to her country's vast natural wealth.

This month, the State Department said it was restoring diplomatic ties with Venezuela in a sign of thawing relations.

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A Paris court has ordered a former Catholic bishop to pay more than $200,000 in damages to a man who accused him of rape and sexual assault in the 1970s, a ruling seen by AFP on Thursday showed.

Jean-Michel di Falco, 84, was accused of sexual abuse while he was a priest and headmaster of the Saint-Thomas d'Aquin school in Paris between 1972 and 1975.

Prosecutors had dropped a criminal investigation into the allegations of sexual abuse against the now retired bishop because the statute of limitations had passed.

But a Paris appeals court ordered di Falco -- who refutes any wrongdoing -- to pay damages to Pierre-Jean Pages, 65, following a long legal battle after he brought a civil case against the clergyman in 2001.

The court ruled that the civil action was not subject to the same statute of limitations.

It "follows from the evidence presented that Mr. di Falco's wrongful conduct of a sexual nature caused Mr. Pages bodily harm, for which he is liable to pay compensation," the court said in its judgment.

Di Falco maintains his "perfect innocence" and would appeal the ruling to France's top court, his lawyer told AFP after the decision.

He was "extremely shocked" that the court could suggest that "the moral and psychological support provided by Jean-Michel di Falco to an orphaned boy... could be abnormal or inappropriate", Olivier Baratelli told AFP.

Once one of France's most prominent priests, the former Paris auxiliary bishop was ordered to pay Pages damages, including 10,000 euros (more than $11, 000) for sexual harm, 70,000 euros for professional impact and nearly 81,400 euros for temporary functional impairment.

Di Falco was ordained in 1968 and named a bishop at Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral in 1997. 

In 2000, he served as a communications consultant to the body advising then-pope John Paul II.

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Iran's decision to rebuff a 15-point peace proposal from US President Donald Trump and outline its own conditions for a ceasefire reflects growing confidence in its negotiating position after nearly four weeks of war, analysts say.

Despite US-Israeli airstrikes that have killed its top leaders and inflicted huge material damage, Iran's governing system remains in place and it retains the ability to fire missiles and drones at its neighbours and Israel.

Above all, it has demonstrated its ability to choke off the Strait of Hormuz shipping route, spiking oil and gas prices and underlining how it has a sizeable part of the world economy at its mercy.

Trump sprung a surprise on Monday by announcing "very good" talks with Tehran, but Iranian officials have insisted all week that no negotiations are taking place, even mocking the US leader for "negotiating with himself".

"At present, our policy is the continuation of resistance," Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on state TV late on Wednesday, adding: "Speaking of negotiations now is an admission of defeat." 

Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the ideological wing of the armed forces that has seen its influence grow thanks to the war, has insisted in various statements that they will determine when the fighting ends -- not Trump or Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The US leader warned Thursday that Iran "better get serious soon" with regards to talks or face unspecified consequences.

- Deterrence -

Ross Harrison, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute think tank and author of "Decoding Iran's Foreign Policy", said he detected that Iranian leaders "are getting quite confident in themselves right now in some ways".

Given their utter distrust of Trump, who has bombed Iran twice amid ongoing negotiations in the last year, Tehran is naturally sceptical about talks and looking to create deterrence against another attack, he said.

That would come in the form of inflicting "enough pain" on the United States, and the global economy more broadly, that Trump or Israel would think twice about bombing Iran again in the future.

Iran's strategy "is much simpler than it is for the Americans: it's regime survival and recreating deterrence so that this is not going to happen again six months from now, a year from now, two years from now," Harrison told AFP.

But he noted that there's "a lot of bravado going on on all the sides" at the moment, and cautioned that the Iranians "should worry about overplaying their hand".

Another factor driving Iran's response is the promotion of hardliners in Tehran power circles during the war, including the new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei and new security chief Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr.

The appointment of Zolghadr, a hawkish veteran of the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, signalled "a much more aggressive Iranian posture", wrote Vali Nasr, a prominent Iranian-American author and academic. 

- Struggle -

Guillaume Lasconjarias, a Middle East expert at the Sorbonne University in Paris, noted how Trump had gone from demanding "unconditional surrender" to proposing a 15-point peace plan.

"In negotiations, the one who extends their hand first appears to be in the weaker position," Lasconjarias told AFP, referring to Trump. 

"Appearances are probably deceiving, however, because Iran has been very much weakened," he added, warning about the risk of miscalculation by Tehran.

A large part of its political and military elite has been assassinated, while its missile sites, nuclear programme, domestic security forces and navy have been relentlessly targeted with airstrikes.

Its economy, already suffering from sky-high inflation and sanctions before the war, is at a near-standstill.

The outcome may boil down to how badly Trump wants a quick exit from a war that is unpopular at home, and how long Iran estimates it can hold out, even in the event of further escalation from the US.

The US leader set a five-day deadline that will expire on Saturday, threatening to "unleash hell" unless Iran met his demands on its nuclear and missile programmes, as well as re-opening the Strait of Hormuz. 

Robert Pape, a political science and military expert at the University of Chicago, believes the talks are a smokescreen as Trump moves thousands of airborne troops and marines to the Gulf for a possible ground offensive.

"If you want to understand where this war is going, ignore what is said. Watch what moves," he wrote on his Substack.

An Iranian military official, quoted by state media, signalled Wednesday that Tehran would retaliate to a ground invasion by activating its Houthi rebels in Yemen to attack shipping in the Red Sea, dramatically widening the conflict. 

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"Forever chemicals" pose a growing risk to health and the environment and should be broadly banned across the European Union, with some exceptions, EU experts said in findings published on Thursday.

Officially called PFAS, the substances are a group of more than 10,000 chemicals used in things like non-stick pans, stain-proof carpets, and other common products -- and often end up tainting food, water and wildlife.

Two committees of EU experts on Thursday published findings that highlighted their effects and that called for broad restrictions on the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). 

"PFAS pose growing risks to people and the environment. They are highly persistent, remaining in the environment for long periods, travelling long distances, contaminating groundwater and soil, while some cause serious health issues, such as cancer and reproductive harm," one of the committees said in a statement accompanying its findings.

The European Union is expected to put forward a proposal to ban PFAS, known as "forever chemicals", in everyday consumer products such as clothing and pizza boxes, with exemptions for strategic sectors, like the medical field.

A legislative proposal was initially promised for the end of 2025, but Brussels was waiting for opinions from the two committees set up by the European Chemicals Agency's (ECHA) -- one on the risks associated with 'forever chemicals', and one evaluating the economic and social impact of a ban.

The first committee, the Risk Assessment Committee (RAC), found the chemicals posed growing risks and said that the EU needed new regulations to address them.

- Balancing act -

But the two committees differed on how far the new restrictions should go.

Scientific risk assessment experts of the RAC said a total ban on "forever chemicals' would be the most effective way to minimise their impact, saying that exemptions would cause additional "emissions, leading to an uncontrolled risk." 

But, the Socio-Economic Analysis Committee (SEAC) said a blanket ban is "likely not proportionate," given the lack of alternatives to the chemicals in several fields.

The committee still supported a "broad restriction" but stressed the need for a "balanced approach" in light of the wide use of the chemicals, and recommended "targeted" exemptions.

It recommended that risks be minimised through clear labelling on products containing "forever chemicals" and site-specific management plans for each industrial facility.

Environmental NGO ClientEarth welcomed the findings.

"PFAS pollution is ubiquitous and the health impacts on EU citizens are becoming clearer every day," Helene Duguy, a lawyer working for the organisation, said in a statement.

"Our policymakers owe it to people and our ecosystems across Europe to act now and prevent this emerging large-scale public health disaster," she added.

The European Union has already taken sector-specific action against certain PFAS.

A directive imposed since January has set a maximum threshold of 0.1 micrograms per litre for the combined concentration of 20 PFAS for "water intended for human consumption".

The European Parliament has also adopted rules on food packaging, introducing maximum PFAS concentrations from August, and on toys, in which forever chemicals and endocrine disruptors will be banned by 2030.

Chronic exposure to even low levels of the chemicals has been linked to liver damage, high cholesterol, reduced immune responses, low birth weights and several kinds of cancer.

In Brussels, environmental organisations accuse the European Union of being slow to legislate, under pressure from industrial lobbies.

European Union environment chief Jessika Roswall also welcomed the findings.

"We support the transition away from forever chemicals. As always, any new rules need to be simple by design and give certainty, clarity and predictability for consumers as well as businesses," Roswall said in a statement to AFP.

In January, an EU-commissioned report found that continued use of PFAS could cost Europe up to 1.7 trillion euros ($2 trillion) by 2050 because of their impact on people's health and the environment.

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All Canadian leaders, including corporate bosses, should speak both official languages of English and French, the foreign minister said Thursday, after the Air Canada CEO failed to issue a condolence message in French for a fatal airport disaster.

Two pilots were killed in the deadly collision late Sunday between an Air Canada jet and a fire truck at New York's LaGuardia Airport.

According to media reports, one of the pilots killed was from French-speaking Quebec.

But in the video message to express condolences, Air Canada President and CEO Michael Rousseau used only English, sparking controversy.

"Canada is a bilingual country," Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand told AFP on the sidelines of the G7 foreign ministers meeting in France, repeating the same phrase in French: "Le Canada est un pays bilingue." 

"And we continue to advocate for the leaders of our country to be able to speak both official languages, including in the corporate sector," she added.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney earlier criticised the CEO's conduct saying he was "very disappointed, as others are, rightly so, in this unilingual message", saying it showed a "lack of judgement and a lack of compassion".

Anand expressed "deep condolences to the families of the two pilots whose lives were lost". 

"Every single day I wake up and think about their loss of life and how sad their families and friends of their communities must feel and I am grieving with them," she said.

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Italian authorities said Thursday they had seized 20 million euros of assets in Tuscany, including property, vineyards and olive groves, allegedly bought with money embezzled from Bond Girl actress Ursula Andress.

Andress, now 90, had filed a complaint in her native Switzerland alleging a "progressive and significant depletion of her assets" by individuals charged with managing her finances, Italy's financial crimes police said in a statement.

Prosecutors in the Swiss canton of Vaud built a picture of a "systematic misappropriation of financial resources" worth around 18 million Swiss francs (around 20 million euros) carried out through multiple, opaque transactions, it said.

The money was traced to Italy, where prosecutors in Florence took up the case and police began following the paper trail.

They tracked it to a real estate complex in San Casciano Val di Pesa, near Florence, consisting of 11 real estate units and 14 plots of land used as vineyards and olive groves, as well as works of art and other assets, the statement said.

"The Judge for Preliminary Investigations of the Court of Florence, fully endorsing the prosecution's position, ordered the seizure of the entire illicit profit, up to the amount of CHF 18,000,000, to be enforced against the identified assets," it added.

No suspects were identified.

Andress surged to fame thanks to a scene in 1962 James Bond movie "Dr NO", in which she emerged from the sea onto a Caribbean beach in a white bikini, knife at her hip and a seashell in each hand.

That performance opposite Sean Connery launched a career in film and television that lasted for more than two decades.

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The global trading system is experiencing the "worst disruptions in the past 80 years", World Trade Organization chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala warned as the WTO ministerial conference opened Thursday.

"The world order and the multilateral system we use to know has irrevocably changed," she said, adding: "We cannot deny the scale of the problems confronting the world today."

The World Trade Organization's 166 members appear deeply divided as trade ministers gather in the Cameroonian capital for the WTO's top conference, amid global economic turmoil linked to the Middle East war.

Over four days in Yaounde, WTO members will try to revitalise an institution weakened by geopolitical tensions, stalled negotiations and rising protectionism -- against the backdrop of the war in the Middle East, which poses a serious threat to international trade.

"The scale of the problems confronting the world today, even before the conflict in the Gulf, destabilised trade in energy, fertiliser and food," Okonjo-Iweala said.

"National governments and international institutions alike have been struggling to navigate rising geopolitical tensions, intensifying climate pressures and rapid technological change. 

"Accompanying these shifts has been an increasingly loud questioning of multilateralism."

Okonjo-Iweala said these disruptions were just one symptom of broader upheavals shaking the international order created after World War II to prevent a repeat of the disasters of the first half of the 20th century.

"It feels appropriate that at the moment when the world is in turmoil with conflict in the Middle East, Sudan, Ukraine, and elsewhere, at this time of great disruption and uncertainty, we have gathered in Africa to discuss the road ahead for the global trading system," she said.

"Africa is the continent of the future."

WTO ministerial conferences are typically held every two years. This is the second to be held in Africa, after Nairobi in 2015.

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The European Union accused four pornographic platforms on Thursday of allowing children to access adult content in breach of digital rules, putting the companies at risk of large fines.

At the same time, Brussels also launched a separate wide-ranging probe into Snapchat over suspicions it is failing to adequately protect children online.

The move comes as pressure is piling up globally on social media to ensure children's safety, with a US ruling this week that found Meta and YouTube liable for harming a young woman because of their platforms' addictive design seen as a possible turning point. 

There are also expanding efforts, especially in Britain and France, to force porn sites to check users' age to prevent children from accessing online smut.

The European Commission said it preliminarily found Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos failed to protect children's rights and wellbeing in violation of the Digital Services Act (DSA) under the investigation launched in May 2025.

The EU said minors could access all four platforms by a simple click confirming they are over 18, and accused the companies of prioritising their reputation over children's safety.

The commission told the porn platforms they need to implement age verification measures that preserve privacy but prevent children seeing harmful content.

"Children are accessing adult content at increasingly younger ages and these platforms must put in place robust, privacy-preserving and effective measures to keep minors off their services," EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said in a statement.

If confirmed to be in breach, the EU can fine the platforms up to six percent of their respective global turnover.

Pornhub is owned by Cyprus-based Aylo and Stripchat is also headquartered on the Mediterranean island. XNXX and XVideos are based in the Czech Republic.

- Transatlantic alignment on minors? -

As the EU announced its wide-ranging probe into Snapchat, the commission said it feared the platform was "exposing minors to grooming attempts" and information about the sale of illegal products like drugs.

"Snapchat appears to have overlooked that the Digital Services Act demands high safety standards for all users. With this investigation, we will closely look into their compliance with our legislation," Virkkunen said.

Snapchat has around 97 million monthly active users in the EU.

The company said its users safety and wellbeing was a "top priority".

"We have fully cooperated with the commission to date -- engaging proactively, transparently and working in good faith to meet the DSA's high safety standards -- and we will continue to do so," a Snapchat spokesperson said.

The EU's actions come after a Los Angeles jury on Wednesday found Meta -- the American parent company of Facebook and Instagram -- and YouTube liable for harming a young woman through the addictive design of their platforms.

Virkkunen welcomed the verdict, which handed plaintiffs in more than a thousand similar pending cases significant leverage,  saying it sent "a very clear message" that online platforms need to take seriously "the risks they are posing".

- More EU moves -

Facebook and Instagram are also under investigation in the EU in two separate probes, one of which is focused on how the platforms protect children.

Virkkunen indicated that there would be preliminary findings "soon" in the case, especially regarding the probe's focus on age verification.

In a watershed moment, the EU last month told Chinese-owned platform TikTok to change its "addictive design" or face heavy fines under the EU's DSA.

The EU is also developing an age verification app with pilot schemes ongoing in six member states including Denmark and France.

Brussels says when it is rolled out, it will be a "user-friendly and privacy-preserving age verification method".

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Hong Kong aviation giant Cathay Pacific announced Thursday it was raising fuel surcharges on all flights by 34 percent as a result of increasing oil costs due to the Middle East war. 

"The price of jet fuel comprises both the crude oil component and the refinery component, both of which have increased significantly in recent weeks," the company said in a statement.

It also shared a list outlining surcharge increases on short-haul flights of 34.1 percent, while medium- and long-haul would increase by 34 percent exactly.

The hike in fees will apply to tickets from April 1, the statement added.

Average jet fuel prices increased globally to US$197 per barrel last week, up from US$95.50 a month ago, according to data by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). 

"If the steep increase of fuel costs cannot be effectively mitigated, we would not be able to sustain the effective operations of our network," Cathay said.

It previously doubled fuel surcharges for most of its routes as a result of the war in the Middle East, and this week extended flight suspensions to and from Dubai and Riyadh until May 31.

It also said Wednesday it will operate extra flights to London, Paris and Zurich "to cater for an upsurge in market demand for Europe".

Many global airlines have implemented fuel surcharges in response to the increase in oil costs.

Cathay said it will review and revise its fuel surcharge every two weeks as a temporary measure because fuel prices remain volatile.

Analysts told AFP that while carriers all hedge a portion of their fuel costs, their margins could still be affected.

Cathay said Thursday its hedging covers only around 30 percent of the crude oil component, but does not apply to the refinery component.

The measure is insufficient "given the scale of the recent surge in jet fuel prices", it said.

The airline "is determined to manage this significant cost challenge as best we could, in order to maintain our network and frequencies during these unprecedented times".

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