'Wake-up call': Megan Thee Stallion falls ill during Broadway show

Republican leaders in the US Congress said Wednesday they had reached a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security and end a weeks-long partial government shutdown that has brought chaos to airports.

The agreement, brokered by House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, would restore funding for most of the agency while deferring the most contentious immigration enforcement spending to a separate measure.

The plan marks a sharp reversal for House Republicans, who rejected a similar Senate-backed proposal just days ago but moved to revive it after coming under pressure from President Donald Trump.

The agreement also ignores Democratic demands for limits on harsh immigration enforcement tactics that have angered many in America.

Under the deal, Homeland Security (DHS) would be funded through the end of the fiscal year, with agencies involved in Trump's immigration crackdown -- including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Protection -- relying on funds approved separately last year.

Republican leaders said they would pursue longer-term funding for border security and immigration enforcement through what is known as budget reconciliation, a party-line process allowing them to bypass Democratic opposition.

"In following this two-track approach, the Republican Congress will fully reopen the department, make sure all federal workers are paid and, specifically, fund immigration enforcement and border security for the next three years so that those law-enforcement activities can continue uninhibited," Johnson and Thune said in a joint statement.

The compromise could pave the way for a rapid vote as early as Thursday, when both chambers are scheduled to hold brief, largely procedural sessions that could allow the legislation to pass if no lawmaker objects.

The government shutdown -- the longest of any kind in US history -- has strained airport operations, with Transportation Security Administration workers missing paychecks and staffing shortages leading to long lines at metal detectors.

Democrats' objections were fueled in part by two fatal shootings of US citizens in Minneapolis earlier this year, when federal immigration agents killed Alex Pretti and Renee Good during enforcement operations. The incidents sparked nationwide protests and raised concerns about the use of force.

Democrats had refused to back funding for immigration enforcement agencies without new limits on their operations, including requirements for judicial warrants and restrictions on agents wearing masks.

Those demands were not included in the final agreement.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer claimed victory, however, saying Republican infighting had forced the compromise.

"For days, Republican divisions derailed a bipartisan agreement," he said, adding that Democrats had "refused to let Republican chaos win."

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The United States on Wednesday lifted sanctions against Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who took power after Washington ousted her predecessor Nicolas Maduro in a military operation in January.

Rodriguez's name was deleted from the "Specially Designated Nationals List," according to a post on the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control website.

Rodriguez welcomed the decision, writing on X that it was part of the "normalization and strengthening" of bilateral relations.

"We trust that this progress will allow for the lifting of the sanctions currently in force against our country, and make it possible to build and guarantee an effective binational cooperation agenda for the benefit of our peoples," she added.

Ties between Washington and Caracas have warmed since Maduro's ouster, with Rodriguez complying with US President Donald Trump's demands for Caracas to open up its energy industry to American companies.

Rodriguez served as Maduro's deputy and was sanctioned by Washington for being a key official in his government, alongside officials including former defense minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello.

Rodriguez fired Lopez in mid-March, but she has been walking a fine line between demands from Washington and those from her own backers since Maduro's toppling.

Cabello, who remains in office, is seen as one of her key backers. 

On Monday, the US Embassy in Caracas resumed operations after being closed for seven years, the State Department said.

The reopening came after the US military operation that seized Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores from Caracas on January 3, taking them to New York to face drug trafficking charges that they deny.

The operation killed around 100 people in Venezuela, according to authorities there.

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(The Center Square) – Boeing is partnering with the Department of War to triple its production of seekers for Patriot missiles, according to a joint announcement Wednesday. 

The U.S. has been working toward building up its supply of Patriot missiles for years, but the Trump administration announced earlier this year the specific goal of more than tripling the department’s annual production from roughly 600 missiles per year to 2,000. Each missile costs at least $4 million to build, according to a 2025 briefing from the Congressional Research Service.

Lockheed Martin will build the missiles themselves, while Boeing will make the seekers that enable the missiles to identify and track their targets. Both companies started accelerating production in 2024.

Patriot defense systems are “the U.S. Army’s most advanced air defense system” and an “integral component” of both U.S. air and missile defense, capable of intercepting both aircraft and missiles. But there have been reports of waning stockpiles. 

President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to quash rumors of diminishing munitions just days into Operation Epic Fury, saying that U.S. “medium and upper medium grade” munitions stockpiles have “never been higher or better.”

“We have a virtually unlimited supply of these weapons. Wars can be fought 'forever,' and very successfully, using just these supplies,” Trump wrote.

However, he did note that he would like to see the supply of high-grade weaponry enhanced.

“At the highest end, we have a good supply, but are not where we want to be,” he said, which he claimed was in part due to former President Joe Biden being too generous with it and not “[bothering] to replace it."

Patriot missiles are among the most advanced, sophisticated weapons systems in modern day warfare. 

A few days later, Trump again posted to social media describing a meeting with major U.S. defense manufacturing companies saying they had agreed to quadrupling their production of “‘exquisite class’ weaponry.”

As part of its announcement, the government touted its new Acquisition Transformation Strategy, which it has used to create seven-year frameworks for its agreements with Lockheed Martin and Boeing. 

“We will award companies bigger, longer contracts for proven systems so those companies will be confident in investing more to grow the industrial base that supplies our weapons systems more and faster,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said in a November speech.

Even though the strategy prioritizes “engaging directly with key suppliers at all levels of the industrial base,” the department says it still reduces “upfront government facilitization and capacity investments.”

Scientists have discovered a new species of miniature marsupial frog in the Peruvian Amazon that carries its young in a natural pouch on its back, a research institute reported Wednesday.

The new amphibian species, with the scientific name Gastrotheca mittaliiti, measures 2.7 to 3.3 centimetres (1 to 1.3 inches) and was discovered in a mountainous ecosystem in the Amazonas region bordering Ecuador.

The frog is bright green and has small protuberances on its back. The number of specimens in the wild is not known.

Its pouch enables the marsupial frog to nurture its young rather than, as other frogs, rely on aquatic environments for egg development. 

The study says the amphibian is at "high risk" because its habitat is suffering the effects of climate change and the impact of fires started by farmers clearing the region. 

"This is further evidence of the enormous natural wealth we possess... If we continue our research, there are many species still waiting to be discovered," Manuel Oliva, director of the Ceja de Selva Research Institute for Sustainable Development, part of the Toribio Rodriguez de Mendoza National University, told AFP.

The discovery was published in the New Zealand scientific journal Zootaxa and undertaken in collaboration with research departments at Florida International University and the University of Seville in Spain.

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Defending champion and top seed Jessica Pegula labored more than three hours to reach the round of 16 at the WTA Charleston Open on Wednesday with a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory over Yulia Putintseva.

Pegula, the world number five from the United States, had clawed back a set but was broken to trail 0-2 in the third before mounting a final fightback.

"All I just kept thinking was, like, welcome to the clay court season," Pegula said after grinding out the win on Charleston's green clay.

Pegula, who enjoyed a first-round bye, said the breezy conditions and challenging shadows made it hard to respond aggressively to the high, looping shots from 72nd-ranked Putintseva of Kazakhstan.

"She's a really tricky opponent in general," Pegula said.

"I feel like especially on clay she can be really crafty, use high balls, low balls, slices, drop shots, and I felt like she was just honestly toying with me there for quite a while," added the American, who was broken as she served for the match at 5-4 but broke back to give herself another opportunity to close it out.

Pegula is chasing her second title of the year, after a victory in Dubai in February.

Second-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova withdrew from the tournament before her second-round opener on Wednesday, saying she had "a bit of an injury" picked up in Miami.

The 13th-ranked Russian was replaced in the draw by Ekaterine Gorgodze of Georgia.

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(The Center Square) – The U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday scrutinized President Donald Trump's executive order to end birthright citizenship, raising skeptical questions in a pivotal hearing.

The justices heard arguments in Trump v. Barbara, challenging Trump's 2025 executive order denying birthright citizenship to children born in the U.S. to parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily. The 14th Amendment has long been interpreted as granting citizenship to nearly all born in the U.S., except children of diplomats or invading armies. Trump seeks to alter this with his order.

The president attended the oral arguments in person, a first for a sitting U.S. president, after he publicly criticized some of the justices who ruled against him in the tariffs case in February. None of the justices publicly acknowledged Trump's presence in the chamber. Trump stayed for a little more than an hour, hearing sharp questions about his interpretation of the 14th Amendment. He didn't stay for ACLU Legal Director Cecilia Wang's arguments.

The case focuses on the 14th Amendment, which reads: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." The challenge could hinge on the meaning of five words: "subject to the jurisdiction thereof."

"'Subject to the jurisdiction thereof' is the puzzle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a mystery," Justice Samuel Alito said.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that the 14th Amendment's phrase "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" excludes those in the country illegally. The amendment was passed to overturn the Supreme Court's 1857 Dred Scott decision.

"The clause thus does not extend citizenship to the children of temporary visa holders or illegal aliens," Sauer said. "Unlike the newly freed slaves, those visitors lack direct and immediate allegiance to the United States."

Wang argued on behalf of a group of immigrants challenging Trump's order.

"Ask any American what our citizenship rule is, and they'll tell you: Everyone born here is a citizen alike," Wang said. "That rule was enshrined in the 14th Amendment to put it out of the reach of any government official to destroy."

Chief Justice John Roberts questioned the government's argument.

"You know, children of ambassadors, children of enemies during a hostile invasion, children on warships," he said. "And then you expand it to the whole class of illegal aliens who are here in the country. I’m not quite sure how you can get to that big group from such tiny and sort of idiosyncratic examples."

Justice Neil Gorsuch noted that parentage wasn't mentioned at the time.

"It's striking that in none of the debates do we have parents discussed. That absence is striking," he said.

The Supreme Court will rule on the matter by summer. The outcome could significantly impact U.S. immigration.

After arguments ended, Trump posted on social media: "We are the only Country in the World STUPID enough to allow 'Birthright' Citizenship!"

ACLU President Deborah Archer said the case could have sweeping implications.

"The America [that] President Trump is working to create – one where a child's citizenship is dictated by their parents’ immigration status, not where they are born and raised – could compound this chaos," she wrote. "Revoking birthright citizenship would invite even more discriminatory assumptions about who is – and isn't – ‘really’ American."

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the birthright citizenship policy must change.

"We need to end this policy using whatever vehicle we can, whether that be a constitutional amendment, legislation, executive order, or the courts," he said.

Thirty-two other countries have birthright citizenship laws, according to a Pew Research Center report.

On day one of his second term, Trump signed an order denying citizenship to children born in the U.S. unless a parent is a U.S. citizen or green card holder. Several states challenged the order, and four federal judges have since blocked it.

(The Center Square) — Advocates sparred Wednesday over the Trump administration’s trade and national security policy, particularly with concerns over China.

Advocates and experts gathered at the American Institute for Economic Research’s Trade, National Security and American Prosperity Conference Wednesday in Washington, D.C.

The groups debated the implementation of the Trump administration’s trade policies and their effect on national security. Most advocates argued for a greater reliance on free trade in the economic marketplace.

Michael Faulkender, former deputy secretary of the Treasury Department, called for the United States to build a comprehensive coalition of countries to counter China’s growing economic influence. He said the U.S. needs to enable cooperation with allies to encourage innovation and compete with China.

Derek Scissors, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, agreed. He said the U.S. needs to engage in technological innovation at a greater scale to keep up with China.

Faulkender also called for a fundamental reform of the National Environmental Policy Act. The act requires federal agencies to assess and submit reports on the environmental effects of proposed actions before making decisions.

Gregg said overbearing regulations in the U.S. allow countries like China to get ahead. He urged a more relaxed approach to environmental regulations, alongside Faulkender.

“We’ve had some significant raw mineral discoveries in the United States over the past five years, but they’re still not up and running,” Gregg said. “Some of the problems we have have little to do with trade, they’re much more to do with things like excessive regulation.”

The advocates discussed whether to pursue economic and trade policies that regulate China or promote American growth. Faulkender said the U.S. can pursue both strategies.

Advocates at the conference also called for a free trade approach to economic policy. Samuel Gregg, president at the American Institute for Economic Research, said free trade is essential for America’s long-term economic interests and innovation.

“The more open a country’s economic orientation, the faster its economy grows, compared to nations with high trade barriers,” Gregg said.

He argued that allowing free trade to spur economic growth can help prevent military conflicts, allow the private sector to thrive and can help lower costs for those industries. Gregg said the U.S. does not need to sacrifice national security objectives in order to achieve freer trade goals.

“We shouldn't think of freer trade as a luxury that America can only afford in peacetime,” Gregg said. “It's capable of strengthening America's economy, fortifying our alliances and helping to deter America's adversaries.”

The World Bank is "extremely concerned" about the effect the war on Iran will have on inflation, jobs and food security, and is in talks with member states on how to address immediate needs in the crisis, a top official told AFP on Wednesday.

Managing Director Paschal Donohoe's comments came as his organization announced a new partnership with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and International Energy Agency (IEA) to coordinate aid responses to the war.

Donohoe flagged that countries in Asia and Africa were particularly vulnerable to the energy, price and supply-side shocks of the crisis.

"At the moment, we are consulting with many governments and countries in relation to what their needs will be, and I would anticipate within the next number of weeks that will become far clearer," Donohoe said.

The United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28, igniting a war that has engulfed the Middle East, snarled key supply chains and sent energy prices soaring.

The World Bank offers development assistance and immediate budgetary support to member nations in the form of loans and technical assistance.

Donohoe said the organization was currently offering both forms of support in talks with countries in need.

"We are extremely concerned regarding the effect that this will have on inflation, on jobs and on food security," he said. "That is why we will put in place responses that have a financing element and a policy element that can and will be of support.”

Discussions regarding financial options -- which could take the form of immediate loans -- were "underway," but were not expected to conclude for "a number of weeks."

On the policy advice front, Donohoe expected talks to wrap up "in a few days' time." 

- Risks go beyond energy -

Since the start of the war, Tehran has virtually blocked the key Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas -- and one-third of its fertilizers -- pass.

Much of that is bound for Asian countries, which have seen energy flows abruptly dry up, as prices spike and supplies shrink. 

Several countries -- including top World Bank borrowers Pakistan, Indonesia and Bangladesh -- have implemented widespread fuel-saving measures to address the crisis, saving what they have for use in key industries and sectors.

Vulnerable countries in Asia and Africa have flagged several issues of concern to the bank.

"They're calling out the income shock that will be created due to rising prices, what that will mean for households and businesses," said Donohoe.

In addition to the shock of lower energy availability -- which can lead to a drop in economic output -- there are also concerns about food security related to fertilizer supply chains being frozen.

Earlier this week, the IMF flagged that the war could have a serious effect on low-income countries if food prices rise significantly.

"People in low‑income countries are most at risk when prices rise because food accounts for about 36 percent of consumption on average, compared with 20 percent in emerging market economies and nine percent in advanced economies," said an IMF report.

In Africa, South Asia and the Middle East, the IMF warned that a number of countries were already struggling with meager foreign reserves and "limited market access," making them vulnerable to "dangerous" debt shocks.

Donohoe, of the World Bank, said the lender was "well positioned to assist countries in their economic response" and was engaged in "intense" talks with member states.

"While this challenge is going to begin in energy, it really has the ability to have consequences that go across entire economies," he said.

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American rapper Megan Thee Stallion said Wednesday that she had a "wake-up call" after she was taken to hospital in the middle of a Broadway performance of "Moulin Rouge!" in New York City. 

"I've been pushing myself past my limits lately, running on empty, and my body finally said enough. It honestly scared me," the 31-year-old wrote on Instagram. 

"I thought I was gonna faint on stage, I really tried to push through my performance but I just couldn't."

Megan Thee Stallion, who has been playing club owner Harold Zidler in the musical, was replaced halfway through the show Tuesday night after she fell ill. 

She said she would be back on stage Thursday after taking off Wednesday to rest.

A spokesperson for the artist, who has won three Grammy awards, said she was transferred to a hospital after experiencing "concerning symptoms."

"Doctors ultimately identified extreme exhaustion, dehydration, vasoconstriction and low metabolic levels as the cause of her symptoms," the spokesperson told AFP. 

"Megan has since been treated, discharged and is now resting."

One of the leading women in American rap alongside the likes of Cardi B and Nicki Minaj, Megan Thee Stallion is known for her powerful stage presence, freestyles and aggressive flow.

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Canada's defense of its territory and the Arctic are entering a new phase, the country's top military officer Jennie Carignan told AFP, saying that "geography" no longer offers protection "as well as it did in the past."

With only the United States -- long considered an ally -- on its physical borders along with two oceans and the vast Arctic region, Canada has never really had to worry much about its territorial security.

But climate change and the melting of Arctic ice caps have made its northernmost land more accessible -- and thus more coveted. This, along with rising tensions between Ottawa and Washington, has changed the status quo.

Canada's armed forces have been forced to "transform" themselves, Carignan said in an interview in Ottawa, calling it a "pivotal moment" for the country.

Citing the seismic shift brought by climate change, Carignan said it is crucial for Canada to "position itself differently" to "ensure that we are in control and taking responsibility for our defense."

"There has been a modernization of our infrastructure, the pre-positioning of materials and equipment... and an increasing number of exercises" and other military operation in northern Canada.

The Arctic, where temperatures are rising three to four times faster than elsewhere on the planet, has become a coveted area for multiple countries, the melting of sea ice has improved access to crucial natural resources such as minerals and fish, and new maritime routes are now open. 

- Defense investments -

More broadly, Canada has had to adapt to changing global realities and move on from the targeted missions of the last three decades, such as in Afghanistan.

Canadian forces must prepare for "larger-scale" conflicts, Carignan said, while also rebalancing its military supply chains to rely less and less on the United States.

The country has created an agency dedicated to defense-related investments to reinforce its own domestic industrial base. That has required budgetary changes.

Carignan says she is pleased that military spending has reached two percent of GDP, in line with a NATO target.

However, she said that "sustained and stable investments over the next 10–15 years" are necessary to carry out these transformation and modernization efforts.

Carignan, who was named Chief of the Defense Staff in July 2024, is the first woman to occupy such a post in a Group of Seven country.

She says she hopes her example can serve as a "model" for other women, noting that a recent influx of candidates shows that recruitment efforts are bearing fruit in Canada.

The country aims to invest CAN $500 billion (US $360.1 billion) in defense over the next 10 years.

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