Trump draws criticism with fiery Easter message on Iran

(The Center Square) – The FBI has arrested a former U.S. Special Operations Command employee for allegedly leaking the downing of the F-15e fighter jet shot down over Iran late last week, the FBI announced Wednesday.

FBI Director Kash Patel described the suspected leaker as a former SOCOM employee, “who supported our top-level military warfighters, for allegedly transmitting classified information to a member of the media.”

During a Monday press conference at the White House, President Donald Trump told reporters that the government was “looking very hard to find that leaker,” describing the leaker as a “sick person.”

During the press conference, the president said his administration would go to the unnamed media company that broke the story, pressuring them to disclose the source of the leak, threatening jail time and citing national security.

For over two days, the administration and the Pentagon refused to confirm the crash and the subsequent report of the missing pilot, despite multiple media reports.

Trump claimed the leak placed the pilot and military rescuers at risk.

“There's some things you can't do, because when they did that, all of a sudden, the entire country of Iran knew that there was a pilot that was somewhere on their land that was fighting for his life, and it also made it much more difficult for the pilots and for the people going in to search for him,” said the president. “All of a sudden, they know that there's somebody out there. They see all these planes coming in. It became a much more difficult operation because a leaker leaked that we have one. We've rescued one, but there's another one out there that we're trying to get.”

Trump argued the leak led to Iran putting out a notice, “offering a very big award” to anyone who captured the downed pilot.

“So in addition to a hostile, very talented, very good, very evil military, we had millions of people trying to get an award,” the president added.

Despite the leak, the back seat weapons systems officer, a colonel, was rescued Sunday after a harrowing rescue operation, which included hundreds of military personnel, military aircraft, including some that took enemy fire.

The front-seat pilot of the downed jet was rescued shortly after it was shot down over enemy territory in southwestern Iran.

While SOCOM is headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., Patel thanked the Charlotte, N.C., field office for assisting in the investigation and warned future leakers.

“Let this serve as a message to any would-be leakers: we’re working these cases, and we’re making arrests. This FBI will not tolerate those who seek to betray our country and put Americans in harm’s way,” Patel posted on X.

(The Center Square) – At a Texas Stock Exchange roundtable in Miami, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins outlined his plan to return “first principles” to public markets. He believes this will also help Boom Belt states continue to drive the economy and more businesses to join the new Texas Stock Exchange (TXSE). 

The TXSE hosted a roundtable in Miami at which Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Citadel Securities President Jim Esposito and Texas Stock Exchange Founder & CEO Jim Lee spoke.

Abbott for years has led the effort for Texas to have its own stock exchange. The TXSE, based in Dallas, is the only national securities exchange built and headquartered in Texas. 

The goal from the beginning was to rival and surpass the New York Stock Exchange and cater to businesses in the south, Lee said when the stock exchange was announced in June 2024, The Center Square reported. Nearly one year later and that vision is materializing with more businesses from the south joining.

Eleven states in the Boom Belt are leading the economy, job growth and business rankings, Abbott said. He also praised Atkins, his law school classmate, saying, “I've never seen anybody come into a position appointed by the president with such a steam of power and such an intense focus to ensure dramatic and swift and robust change. It was desperately needed in the securities market.”

“The momentum taking place across the Boom Belt reflects a deeply American idea: that competition – among firms; among markets; and yes, among states – is the animating force behind a system that has produced more prosperity than any other in human history,” Atkins said. “Competition, as I noted recently in Texas, does not pause for tradition, nor does it defer to legacy jurisdictions. Over time, it compels systems, and States, to adapt – or to yield. Through competition, good ideas spread, poor ones fade, and the system itself grows stronger.”

DeSantis said that healthy competition among Republican-led southern states “has been really good, not just for the people of our individual states, but for the region as a whole. And I think we've shown a great framework for how you can succeed and really grow your economies and give people more opportunities.”

Eleven southeastern states “are outpacing every other American quadrant across the measures that matter most, among them gross domestic product, population growth, job creation, foreign investment, and private market activity,” Atkins said. “When capital, companies, and people all move in the same direction – with that kind of consistency, and at that kind of scale – it behooves us to ask why.”

He said the answer lies in “the region’s steady adherence to first principles, including those that rigorously protect investors without needlessly paralyzing companies.”

When announcing the formation of the TXSE, Lee pointed to ESG investment practices and other “woke” policies driving businesses out of investing in New York. Nasdaq Texas for the first time rang its closing bell at the Alamo in Texas on March 5, four months after announcing it was launching its own Texas financial exchange, Nasdaq Texas, The Center Square reported.

This was after the SEC last October approved the TXSE’s application to operate as a national securities exchange in Texas. 

The SEC is returning to the first principles that have made Boom Belt states thrive, Atkins said, “by renewing the conditions that make our public markets the natural destination for companies to raise capital and for investors to share in their success.”

He pointed to “decades of accretive rulemakings and regulatory adventurism” that “made the path to becoming a public company narrower – and the experience of remaining one encumbered with rules that can introduce more friction than benefit.”

In the mid-1990s, there were more than 7,800 companies listed on U.S. exchanges when Atkins was chief of staff at the SEC. By the time he returned last year as chairman, that number had dropped by 40%, he said.

“This trajectory tells a cautionary tale that we are working to rectify through the three pillars of my plan to make IPOs great again,” he said. 

The first pillar is to modernize, rationalize and streamline disclosure reports “so that they are meaningful, understandable, and not a repellant to investors,” he said. 

The second is to ensure the states, and not the SEC, regulate matters of corporate governance. “We must stay in our lane as a disclosure agency and not be a merit regulator.”

The third is to “allow public companies to have litigation alternatives while maintaining an avenue for shareholders to continue to bring forth meritorious claims. At the SEC, we have been hard at work on executing this plan so that we can shield the innovator from the frivolous – and protect the investor from the fraudulent.”

Taken together, he said the reforms “represent something larger than a regulatory agenda” and “herald the SEC’s return to first principles that have made this region’s ascent so remarkable. In many ways, the Boom Belt embodies the best of what we are working toward in Washington.”

After years of sidelining the Sahel's military rulers, the United States under President Donald Trump is shifting to engagement and prioritizing the quest for security and minerals over promotion of democracy.

The Trump administration has made little secret that Africa is not its top priority but has watched warily as China and Russia make inroads in countries rich in uranium, gold, lithium and other resources vital in the modern economy.

The United States had suspended the bulk of its security and other assistance to Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger after military takeovers from 2020 to 2023.

Niger booted out some 1,000 US troops, along with forces of former colonial power France, with the United States under former president Joe Biden obliged to shut down a remote base built at a cost of $100 million from which US forces flew drones across the vast, unstable region.

For Nick Checker, the Trump administration's top official in the State Department's Africa bureau, the United States needs to be "dealing with the world as it is" and should have no illusions that it can "impose our will" and create democracies.

"Just by engaging, that itself is a tool; it's not an endorsement of how these governments came to power," Checker told AFP in an interview in his office, a red Trump "Make America Great Again" baseball cap on display behind his desk.

"The alternative is really not purity, but irrelevance," he said.

Checker recently visited Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, which in recent years have all turned to varying extents to Russia.

"What I've tried to do in meeting with these governments is a sort of a radical correction on this moralizing, lecturing approach of the Biden administration that's created an enormous trust deficit," Checker said.

"It's destroyed our relationships, frankly."

The United States in February removed sanctions on Mali's defense minister, Sadio Camara, that had been in place over allegations of working with the Kremlin-linked paramilitary Wagner Group, which has been accused of abuses.

A UN report accused Mali's army and foreign fighters, suspected to be Wagner mercenaries, of killing at least 500 people during an anti-jihadist operation in 2022 in the town of Moura, a claim denied by the junta.

- 'Severe' trust gap -

Sahel states have been fighting Islamic State and Al-Qaeda extremists for more than a decade with limited success. France led a major offensive known as Operation Barkhane but withdrew its last troops in 2025 as both anti-French sentiment and Russian influence grew.

Checker said that the Sahel states have shown an "openness" to resuming security cooperation with the United States but that it would take time as there was a "severe, understandable trust deficit."

He said that the United States was interested in "burden-shifting" to African states to fight jihadist groups that primarily threaten their own countries, but with an eye on how the threat could evolve to hit the United States.

One key priority is rescuing an American missionary, Kevin Rideout, who was snatched in October in the Nigerien capital Niamey and is believed to be held in Mali by the Islamic State's Sahel branch.

A Malian security source voiced optimism for restoring cooperation but said the United States wanted exclusivity in operating in security areas where Russia and China may be involved.

"American cooperation on intelligence support is almost a done deal," the Malian said on condition of anonymity.

- Openness to US business -

The countries, among the world's poorest, have shown an openness to US investment despite their vows to protect sovereignty.

US company Flagship Gold Corp. signed an agreement with Mali in October to take over a gold mine in Morilla.

Trump has put a high emphasis on securing minerals, a key focus in his conflict diplomacy both in war-torn Ukraine and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Under Biden, the United States emphasized moving away from a military-led approach seen in the French operation and strongly backed regional bloc ECOWAS in rejecting coups.

Ebenezer Obadare, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said that democracy, including responsiveness to citizens, was in the interest both of Africans and the United States.

"It is never paternalistic to insist that countries treat their citizens well," he said.

"I think there's a lot of short-termism that the United States might regret -- this new emphasis of, we just want to do business with you and we don't want to care about any other thing."

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(The Center Square) – Medical group Do No Harm filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) against the American Medical Association Foundation, questioning whether the organization should lose its tax-exempt status due to several racially-discriminatory scholarships it offers.

Do No Harm Chief Medical Officer Kurt Miceli told The Center Square: “Racially discriminatory scholarships are unlawful and morally wrong, to say nothing of the negative impact they have on public confidence in our medical system.”

“Based on the evidence in our complaint, we believe the IRS should revoke the AMA Foundation’s tax-exempt status for operating a racially discriminatory program,” Miceli said.

“The AMA’s obsession with identity politics is no secret, and it should be held accountable for allowing race to dictate applicants’ eligibility for valuable and lucrative learning opportunities,” Miceli said.

“If the AMA Foundation wants to retain its federal tax advantage, it must open its scholarships to applicants of all races,” Miceli said. 

Neither the IRS, nor the American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation have responded to The Center Square’s individual requests for comment.

The AMA Foundation is “the philanthropic arm of the American Medical Association,” according to Do No Harm.

The racially discriminatory scholarships in question are found in the Physicians of Tomorrow Scholarship program, funded and overseen by the AMA Foundation, a Do No Harm press release said.

Several of the scholarships in the program “explicitly discriminate based on race and violate established public policy and civil rights laws forbidding racial discrimination,” the press release said.

The release said that “under Supreme Court precedent, having even one unlawful policy under 26 U.S.C § 501(c)(3), including a racially discriminatory policy, makes the entire organization ineligible for tax-exempt status.”

Scholarships in the Physicians of Tomorrow program are awarded to third-year medical students, while most of the scholarships include “prizes of up to $10,000 along with national recognition and access to resources and support.”

One of the scholarships – the Dr. Richard Allen Williams & Genita Evengelista Johnson/Association of Black Cardiologists Scholarship – awards “$5,000 to medical students interested in cardiology but only if they are ‘African American/Black,’” according to Do No Harm.

Meanwhile, the Underrepresented in Medicine Scholarship “awards $10,000 to winners who are ‘African American/Black, Latine/Hispanic or Indigenous (American Indian, Native Hawaiian, or Alaska Native)’” – excluding several large racial groups.

The The Patricia L. Austin Family Physicians of Tomorrow Scholarship “awards $10,000 to winners and explicitly requires applicants to be ‘of Eastern European descent,’” Do No Harm stated.

In its letter to the IRS, Do No Harm said that “there is no question that the AMA Foundation’s scholarships are racially discriminatory.”

Do No Harm called the AMA Foundation’s scholarships outlined above “textbook discrimination,” stating that they are “unlawful and contrary to public policy.”

“In sum, an investigation is warranted,” the letter said. “If the AMA Foundation wishes to avoid such an investigation and maintain its tax-exempt status, it can simply open each of its scholarships and any similar programs to all races.”

Prosecutors have requested medical records for all the prescription drugs Tiger Woods was taking when he crashed his car near his Florida home last month.

The subpoena notice came as Woods was formally charged with driving under the influence and refusing to submit to a urine analysis test following the accident on March 27.

Both drivers escaped injury after Woods's vehicle clipped a truck while attempting to overtake on a residential road, flipping onto its side before sliding to a stop. 

Florida prosecutors are seeking prescription drug dispensary records from Woods, including information on the type and amount of pills he was taking.

A court filing Tuesday also calls on Woods's lawyers to share any warning "for operating a motor vehicle while taking the prescription" that the golfer received.

The subpoena will be issued on April 22, according to the court filing, which allows Woods's lawyers 10 days for any objections.

Officers at the scene judged Woods to be impaired, and he was found with two "Norco" pills containing hydrocodone, an opioid painkiller, in his pocket.

Woods told deputies he had taken "a few" prescription medications earlier in the day.

He also informed authorities he had undergone seven back operations and more than 20 surgeries on his right leg, according to the arrest report.

Woods previously suffered severe leg injuries in a 2021 car crash in California.

He has undergone multiple other surgeries over the years, including several on his back and an operation to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon.

Woods, a 15-time major winner, has not competed in a PGA Tour-level event since missing the cut at the 2024 British Open.

He had been mulling a comeback at this weekend's Masters -- the first major of the year.

Instead, following the crash he has stepped away from golf indefinitely and is recovering at an overseas treatment facility, reportedly in Switzerland.

"We fully support Tiger's recent decision to focus on his health and well-being," Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley said on Wednesday.

"Our commitment to the TGR Foundation and to Tiger personally has not wavered. We wish him the very best."

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England's Aaron Rai birdied the last two holes to win Wednesday's Masters Par-Three Contest and risk the event's curse for the year's first major tournament.

No Par-Three Contest winner has ever captured the green jacket in the same year.

"I'm not sure if it's a good omen or not, but just really nice to play well, enjoy it and share the experience with my family," Rai said.

The 31-year-old from Wolverhampton grabbed the solo lead on five-under with his birdie at the eighth hole.

American Jacob Bridgeman birdied the ninth to match Rai at the top but the Englishman, whose wife Gaurika lined up his putts, sank a six-foot birdie putt at the ninth for the victory and winner's crystal bowl at six-under 21.

"The experience was phenomenal," Rai said. "Definitely didn't expect to play quite as well as I did. But my wife was incredible. She read my putts for me. She plays herself. So really good teamwork."

In stark contrast to the tension-packed challenge of the year's first major at adjacent Augusta National, the Par-Three Contest offers a relaxing outing on a special course with children serving as caddies and often hitting shots to make for a family outing unlike any other.

"We're out here to have fun, just to enjoy one of the most fun events in golf," said defending champion Rory McIlroy, whose daughter Poppy had her own putter.

World number one Scottie Scheffler, who welcomed son Remy on March 27, brought him and two-year-old son Bennett to the event.

"It's really nice," Scheffler said. "Major championships can be stressful as you prepare for them, and having an afternoon like this where you can come out and relax and have some fun with my family is really nice."

The atmosphere was especially touching for Gary Woodland, whose victory at Houston two weeks ago was his first since the 2019 US Open and since undergoing 2023 brain surgery that left him fighting an anxiety disorder just to play.

"This is what the fight is for," Woodland said. "To share this moment with my kids is everything."

- Chance to relax -

Two-time US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau played with actor Kevin Hart as caddie.

"I'm super excited to have Kevin out here to experience everything Augusta has to offer," DeChambeau said.

A big benefit is relaxing the minds of Masters contenders.

"We get so caught up in what we have to do it's nice to get our minds on something else," said five-time major winner Brooks Koepka.

"This helps a lot for sure, to do something so out of the ordinary, especially in a major," two-time major winner Jon Rahm said. "This lets you forget about things for a couple hours, have fun before the tournament starts."

Aces in the Par-Three Contest are rewarded with crystal vases and four this year boosted the total to 115 aces in the event's history, which dates to 1960.

Justin Thomas aced the 100-yard second hole, the first ace there since 2019. The American also made a hole-in-one at the fourth hole in 2016.

England's Tommy Fleetwood aced the 90-yard fourth hole while American Wyndham Clark made a hole-in-one at the 115-yard seventh and Keegan Bradley, last year's US Ryder Cup captain, aced the 120-yard eighth hole.

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(The Center Square) – Former Attorney General Pam Bondi is refusing to appear before the House Oversight Committee for her scheduled deposition April 14, an announcement that garnered a flood of condemnation from Democrats.

Bondi argues that since she no longer leads the Department of Justice, she is no longer obligated to honor the summons – a claim all Democrats and some Republicans reject.

“This isn't something you can opt-out of,” Rep. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, a member of the committee, said on X Wednesday. “Pam Bondi is trying to weasel out of accountability by refusing to testify about the Epstein files. Whether she's Attorney General or not, she will come before the Oversight Committee to reveal the truth about this White House cover-up.”

Committee Republicans have essentially shrugged off Bondi’s defiance, responding that they “are following up with Pam Bondi’s personal attorney about scheduling her deposition” and telling rankled Democrats on X to “touch grass.”

Democrats, however, are planning to hold Bondi in contempt of Congress – which could potentially result in criminal charges – if she does not appear.

“Our bipartisan subpoena is to Pam Bondi, whether she is the Attorney General or not,” Oversight committee Vice Chair Robert Garcia, D-Calif., said in a statement. “She must come in to testify immediately, and if she defies the subpoena, we will begin contempt charges in Congress.”

The DOJ and Bondi have been heavily criticized for their handling of the release of federal files on the late convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his close associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

The department failed to comply with the congressionally mandated release deadline and excessively redacted thousands of documents. 

Although the bipartisan Epstein Files Transparency Act forbid redactions of relevant information unless it could potentially jeopardize victim privacy, national security, or prosecution efforts, the DOJ apparently violated that edict.

As revealed on social media by political commentator Ed Krassenstein, one of the uncovered redactions included information on how Epstein attempted to pay off witnesses of his sex trafficking operations and destroy evidence of his crimes.

Though millions of files have been released and many prominent figures connected to Epstein have been questioned by the Oversight committee – including billionaire Les Wexner, former president Bill Clinton, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton – investigative efforts have not resulted in any criminal convictions. 

Besides Bondi, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, a former friend of Epstein, is also scheduled to testify before the committee, as well as a security guard on duty at the jail where Epstein died in 2019.

Brazil's renowned Amazonian tribal chief Raoni Metuktire told AFP on Wednesday he supported the reelection bid of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in October polls, despite criticizing him for expanding oil exploration.

Now in his nineties, the Indigenous leader who has spent decades rallying the world to protect the rainforest has forged close ties with the president, known widely as Lula.

At the start of Lula's third term, Raoni -- instantly recognizable with his large wooden lip plate -- walked alongside him up the ramp of the presidential palace for his inauguration.

"I am going to support him," in October, Raoni told AFP in the Kayapo language through an interpreter on the sidelines of a gathering of Indigenous people in Brasilia.

The Kayapo chief last year said he was prepared to give the president a "talking-to" if he ignored concerns over oil exploration near the mouth of the Amazon River.

He demanded the veteran leftist "listen to us...he must respect us."

Lula is seeking a fourth term in October and his main rival is Flavio Bolsonaro, son of the far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro whose government froze land demarcations -- official recognition of Indigenous land -- and facilitated deforestation in the Amazon.

Lula "has already demarcated some Indigenous lands, so I support him so that he may continue to be president," said Raoni.

Since 2023, Lula has approved the official demarcation of some 20 territories for the exclusive use of Indigenous communities, and has overseen a dramatic decline in deforestation in the Amazon.

Nevertheless, he has come under increasing pressure to do more from Indigenous groups who are protesting in Brasilia this week to demand the protection of more of their ancestral lands.

In recent months Indigenous groups have also protested the expansion of ports for grain transport along Amazon rivers, as well as plans to build a railway line through the world's largest forest.

"You non-Indigenous people harbor this destructive mindset of destroying nature and polluting rivers, which is what causes this climate crisis," said Raoni.

"This harms all of us in Brazil. It is not only Indigenous people who will feel the effects of climate change."

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Mizzou women’s basketball received its first commitment from the transfer portal with former Michigan guard McKenzie Mathurin. She announced the news on X on Wednesday.

Mathurin’s time in the portal was brief, as she announced her intention to enter on Monday, March 30.

She spent one season at Michigan, appearing in 25 games. Mathurin averaged 8.9 minutes, 3.5 points and 0.7 rebounds per game. She was the only freshman on the Wolverines to score double figures, doing so three separate times.

Mathurin’s best showing came against Penn State, when she scored a career-high 15 points on Jan. 8 on the road. She shot 5-for-8 from the field with an assist and a steal.

Mathurin was ranked as ESPN's No. 39 recruit in the class of 2025 out of Broken Arrow High School in Oklahoma. Mathurin was a four-star prospect and a McDonald's All-America Game nominee, committing to Michigan over programs like Baylor, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon and Ole Miss.

Missouri has lost four guards to the portal so far: Shannon Dowell, Chloe Sotell, Lisa Thompson and Ma’Riya Vincent. The Tigers lost Jayla Smith and Saniah Tyler to graduation.

Other departing players include forwards Hannah Linthacum (transfer portal) and Jordana Reisma (graduation). This gives Missouri coach Kellie Harper plenty of spots to fill while also bringing in five freshman.

While nothing is certain, it is likely that the Tigers will start returners Grace Slaughter, Abbey Schreacke and Averi Kroenke. That leaves two spots up for grabs, and time will tell where Mathurin fits.

Meta on Wednesday released an artificial intelligence model, Muse Spark, it touts as smarter and faster than what it offered before shaking up its Superintelligence Labs unit.

"Over the last nine months, Meta Superintelligence Labs rebuilt our AI stack from the ground up," the tech titan said in a blog post.

Muse Spark succeeds Llama 4, released by the Silicon Valley-based firm a year ago, and will power Meta's AI app and smart glasses along with Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger features.

For now, Muse Spark is only available in the United States.

The new AI model was described as being small and fast by design, capable of reasoning through complex questions in science, math and health.

It is the first in a new Muse series, with the next generation already in development. 

Llama 4 lagged in the fierce AI race as heavyweight rivals from China, France, and the United States produced improved models at a rapid-fire pace.

That prompted Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg to overhaul its AI team, which saw the departure of its research boss Yann LeCun.

LeCun spent 12 years leading the AI lab at Meta, where Zuckerberg has made the quest for "superintelligence" a priority.

Zuckerberg embarked on a major recruitment campaign last year to acquire talent for the Meta's efforts, poaching Scale AI co-founder Alexandr Wang and putting him in charge of a newly formed unit called Superintelligence Labs.

Zuckerberg subsequently recruited executives from rivals OpenAI, Anthropic and Google - often personally and at heady costs.

In doing so, the tech tycoon broke with the company's previous approach of prioritizing development of free, open-access AI models such as Llama.

"The future of Meta AI is rooted in the relationships and context already at the center of your life," the company said.

"We are building toward personal superintelligence - an AI that does not just answer your questions but truly understands your world because it is built on it."

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