A cloud of black smoke covered parts of Tehran on Sunday morning following the overnight strikes that hit an oil depot and refinery. Iran's president has threatened to step up attacks on American targets throughout the Middle East as the U.S. and Israel press ahead with their air campaign. Masoud Pezeshkian appeared to be backtracking from conciliatory comments he made toward his Gulf neighbors on Saturday, in which he appeared to apologize for attacks on their soil, were quickly contradicted by Iranian hard-liners. A cloud of black smoke covered parts of Tehran on Sunday morning following the overnight strikes that hit an oil depot and refinery. Two women from the Iranian Red Crescent Society stand as a thick plume of smoke from a U.S.-Israeli strike on an oil storage facility late Saturday rises in the sky in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 8, 2026. Residents look on and take pictures as flames and smoke rise from an oil storage facility struck as attacks hit the city during the U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 7, 2026. A man carries shoes from his destroyed house that was hit by Israeli airstrikes hit several houses in Sir al-Gharbiyeh village south Lebanon, Sunday, March, 8, 2026. Israeli security forces inspect a damaged apartment building struck by an Iranian missile in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, March 8, 2026. Follow AP's live updates on the Iran war. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Iran war's targets widened dangerously into civilian infrastructure Sunday as Bahrain accused Iran of striking one of the desalination plants that are crucial for Gulf nations' drinking water. While Israeli-struck oil depots smoldered in Tehran after a late-night strike, prompting environmental warnings for citizens, Iran's president vowed to expand attacks on U.S. targets across the region on the ninth day of the war. Saudi Arabia reported its first deaths, saying a military projectile fell onto a residential area and killed two people of Indian and Bangladeshi nationality. Foreign residents and workers have made up most of the war's deaths in Gulf nations. Anger has grown in the region following hundreds of Iranian missile and drone strikes. Arab League chief Ahmed Abouel Gheit lashed out at Iran for a “reckless policy” of attacking Arab countries. U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have vowed to press ahead with the coordinated campaign against Iran, even as Washington's stated war aims have varied. Trump told ABC News he wants a say in who comes to power in Iran once the war is over, adding that new leader “is not going to last long” without his approval. The war, which Israel and the United States launched with airstrikes on Feb. 28 that killed Iran's supreme leader, has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, at least 397 in Lebanon and at least 11 in Israel, according to officials. The conflict has rattled global markets, disrupted air travel and left Iran's leadership weakened by several thousand Israeli and U.S. airstrikes. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian backtracked from conciliatory comments a day earlier in which he apologized for attacks on Gulf neighbors' soil. Iranian hard-liners had swiftly contradicted him, saying war strategy wouldn't change. “Our Iran, our country, will not bow easily in the face of bullying, oppression or aggression — and it never has.” Pezeshkian has urged neighboring states not to take part in U.S. and Israeli attacks. Mohseni-Ejei and Pezeshkian are part of the three-member leadership council overseeing Iran since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed. Iran awaits the selection of a new supreme leader. The Gulf nations of Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates also reported additional Iranian missiles launched toward them. Bahrain accused Iran of indiscriminately attacking civilian targets and damaging one of its desalination plants, though its electricity and water authority said supplies remained online. Home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, Bahrain also has seen hotels, ports and residential towers hit, with at least one person killed. He warned that in doing so “the U.S. set this precedent, not Iran.” Iranian authorities also said Israel's overnight strikes on four oil storage tankers and a petroleum transfer terminal killed four people. Witnesses in Tehran said the smoke was so thick that it looked as if the sun had not risen. The Iranian Red Crescent Society said about 10,000 civilian structures across the country had been damaged, including homes, schools and almost three dozen health facilities. It also warned Tehran residents to take precautions against toxic air pollution and the risk of acid rain after Israel's strikes. Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran's parliament, said the war's impact on the oil industry would spiral, warning it soon could become harder to produce and sell oil. Iran maintains sufficient fuel, Veys Karami, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company, told Iran's state-run news agency. Lebanon said over a half-million people have been displaced in the week of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Lebanon's count of 517,000 refers to those who registered on the government's online portal. Israel over the past week has called on residents in dozens of villages across southern Lebanon and the entirety of Beirut's southern suburbs to evacuate as fighting intensifies. Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine said 83 children and 82 women have been among those killed. The government said it would open a sports stadium to shelter thousands more. Israel's renewed offensive began last week after Hezbollah launched rockets toward northern Israel during the war's opening days. Israel has continued near-daily strikes, primarily in southern Lebanon, saying Hezbollah had been trying to rebuild its positions there. Hezbollah said last week that after more than a year of abiding by a ceasefire its patience has ended, leaving it with no option but to fight.

A cloud of black smoke covered parts of Tehran on Sunday morning following the overnight strikes that hit an oil depot and refinery. Iran's president has threatened to step up attacks on American targets throughout the Middle East as the U.S. and Israel press ahead with their air campaign. Masoud Pezeshkian appeared to be backtracking from conciliatory comments he made toward his Gulf neighbors on Saturday, in which he appeared to apologize for attacks on their soil, were quickly contradicted by Iranian hard-liners. A cloud of black smoke covered parts of Tehran on Sunday morning following the overnight strikes that hit an oil depot and refinery. Two women from the Iranian Red Crescent Society stand as a thick plume of smoke from a U.S.-Israeli strike on an oil storage facility late Saturday rises in the sky in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 8, 2026. Residents look on and take pictures as flames and smoke rise from an oil storage facility struck as attacks hit the city during the U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 7, 2026. People stand on the wreckage of destroyed houses that were hit by Israeli airstrikes in Sir al-Gharbiyeh village south Lebanon, Sunday, March, 8, 2026. Israeli security forces inspect a damaged apartment building struck by an Iranian missile in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, March 8, 2026. Follow AP's live updates on the Iran war. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Iran war's targets widened dangerously into civilian infrastructure Sunday as Bahrain accused Iran of striking one of the desalination plants that are crucial for Gulf nations' drinking water. As Israeli-struck oil depots smoldered in Tehran after a late-night strike, prompting environmental warnings for citizens, Iran's president vowed to expand attacks on U.S. targets across the region on the ninth day of the war. Saudi Arabia reported its first deaths, saying a military projectile fell onto a residential area and killed two people of Indian and Bangladeshi nationality. Foreign residents and workers have made up most of the war's deaths in Gulf nations. U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have vowed to press ahead with the coordinated campaign against Iran. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in his latest threat, backtracked from conciliatory comments a day earlier in which he apologized for attacks on Gulf neighbors' soil. Iranian hard-liners had swiftly contradicted him, saying war strategy wouldn't change. In Lebanon, intensifying Israeli strikes targeting the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah pushed the death toll higher as hundreds of thousands were displaced. The war, which Israel and the United States launched with airstrikes on Feb. 28 that killed Iran's supreme leader, has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, at least 397 in Lebanon and at least 11 in Israel, according to officials. The conflict has rattled global markets, disrupted air travel and left Iran's leadership weakened by several thousand Israeli and U.S. airstrikes. Pezeshkian said Iran's military response would only strengthen. “Our Iran, our country, will not bow easily in the face of bullying, oppression or aggression — and it never has.” A day earlier, Pezeshkian said Iran regretted regional concerns and urged neighboring states not to take part in U.S. and Israeli attacks. He accused the U.S. of trying to pit countries against one another. As multiple Gulf states continued to report intercepting incoming missiles and drones from Iran, Iranian hard-liners contradicted his remarks. Mohseni-Ejei and Pezeshkian are part of the three-member leadership council overseeing Iran since Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed. As Iran awaits the selection of a new supreme leader, Trump and Netanyahu said their war aim remains the replacement of Iran's leadership altogether. “We're not looking to settle,” Trump told reporters Saturday. The Gulf nations of Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates reported additional Iranian missiles launched toward them Sunday, including several that hit new categories of civilian infrastructure. The UAE said Iran launched more than 100 missiles and drones. Only four drones fell at unnamed locations, the defense ministry said. Bahrain accused Iran of indiscriminately attacking civilian targets and damaging one of its desalination plants, though its electricity and water authority said supplies remained online. Home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, Bahrain also has seen hotels, ports and residential towers hit, with at least one person killed. He warned that in doing so “the U.S. set this precedent, not Iran.” In Iran, authorities said Israel's overnight strikes on four oil storage tankers and a petroleum transfer terminal killed four people. The Iranian Red Crescent Society said about 10,000 civilian structures across the country had been damaged, including homes, schools and almost three dozen health facilities. It also warned Tehran residents to take precautions against toxic air pollution and the risk of acid rain after Israel's strikes. Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran's parliament, said the war's impact on the oil industry would continue to spiral, warning it soon could become harder to produce and sell oil. Iran maintains sufficient fuel, Veys Karami, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company, told Iran's state-run news agency. Israel renewed its assault early Sunday on parts of Lebanon. Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine said 83 children and 82 women have been among those killed. Israel's military has ordered large swaths of the country to evacuate, and Lebanese officials said over 400,000 people have been displaced. The government said it would open a sports stadium to shelter thousands more. Israel withdrew from most of southern Lebanon at that time but continued near-daily strikes, primarily in southern Lebanon, saying Hezbollah had been trying to rebuild its positions there. Hezbollah said last week that after more than a year of abiding by a ceasefire its patience has ended, leaving it with no option but to fight.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by LSEG. Fox News Flash top sports headlines are here. Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and his fiancée, Sarah Jane Ramos, reportedly broke up with their wedding around the corner. Prescott and Ramos' relationship had been "rocky" in the weeks leading up to the breakup and things exploded between the two at their joint bachelor and bachelorette parties, TMZ Sports reported on Saturday. Dak Prescott and Sarah Jane Ramos attend the Farrah Fawcett Foundation Tex-Mex Fiesta on Oct. 30, 2025 in Dallas, Texas. "I truly believe you can get through anything in life as long as you have really great friends. I love these girls so much," Ramos captioned the collage of snaps. Prescott was not pictured in any of the 16 photos and videos posted to her social media account. Sarah Jane Ramos and Dak Prescott pose for a photo before Dak Prescott's Faith Fight Finish Foundation Gala on May 17, 2024 in Dallas, Texas. Ramos also posted photos of her bridal shower back on Feb. 23. There were no photos of Prescott in the carousel either. "The most intimate and beautiful bridal shower of my dreams," she added on Instagram. "So grateful for my aunts who hosted it and my girlfriends and family that came to celebrate. I love you all so much and can't wait to marry the love of my life with all of you by my side." Fox News Digital reached out to Prescott's representative for comment. There's only a September advertisement posted on his account since. Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and Sarah Jane Ramos pose on the NFL Honors Red Carpet before Super Bowl LX at Palace of Fine Arts on Feb. 5, 2026. The NFL star and Ramos announced they were engaged on Oct. 18, 2024. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter. Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by LSEG. Fox News Flash top sports headlines are here. Jacksonville State Gamecocks men's basketball players were seen in a heated confrontation with a UTEP fan following the end of their final regular-season game on Saturday night. Conference USA logo on the floor at Liberty Arena before a game between the Liberty Flames and Jacksonville State Gamecocks on Feb. 27, 2025, in Lynchburg, Virginia. The ESPN broadcast showed one fan in a white UTEP sweater pointing and yelling at Gamecocks players. Jacksonville State guard Jaye Nash was seen confronting the fan with benches and chairs in between them. Another woman also got involved in the shouting. Jacksonville State basketball personnel were trying to calm the situation down. Conference USA is looking into the incident. "We are reviewing the incident in conjunction with both [athletic directors], but we do not have a statement at this time," a league spokesman told ESPN. UTEP athletic director Jim Senter said the school would "review the video" when they grab it. Jacksonville State said it would "defer" comment to Conference USA. It's unclear what sparked the incident. The Conference USA men's basketball tournament begins Tuesday. The Conference USA men's basketball tournament begins Tuesday. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter. Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by LSEG. Naseem Momtazi Bachinsky and her father, Moe Momtazi, who run Maysara Winery in Oregon, discuss their Iranian heritage, support for potential political change in Iran under the Trump administration and hope for freedom for the people of Iran. FIRST ON FOX — As scrutiny of Iran's leadership intensifies amid renewed attention, an Iranian-born Oregon winemaker told Fox News Digital his homeland "could progress" if the regime falls. Today, as an American citizen, he runs one of the world's top-ranked vineyards. Alcohol is banned in modern Iran under Islamic law, but Momtazi has built a globally recognized wine business in the United States. Maysara Winery means "house of wine" in Farsi. "If this regime is gone, we could progress and be the pride of the Middle East," said Momtazi, 74. Moe Momtazi was born in Iran and later became a United States citizen. Iran's restrictions on alcohol date back to the Islamic Revolution in 1979, when religious authorities outlawed production and sale for most citizens. "In Persian culture, wine has been and still is a very key component of society," Momtazi said. He, his wife and their three daughters see the family business as a continuation of that legacy, thousands of miles from their ancestral homeland. Momtazi's 98-year-old mother still lives in Tehran, as do two of his brothers. Momtazi, center, poses for a photograph with his wife, second from left, and the couple's three daughters at the family's Oregon vineyard. His middle daughter, Naseem Momtazi Bachinsky, told Fox News Digital she's communicated with her mother's relatives in Iran — and they're all safe. Momtazi left Iran with his wife, Flora, who was eight months pregnant at the time with their oldest daughter, in 1982. Tahmiene Momtazi was born later that year in Spain. "We had a really hard journey to get to the United States, but I'm really thrilled and happy that we did leave from there because, even then, life was unbearable for us," he recalled. It would be more than two decades before he returned to visit family. "They're very proud of us, which makes me proud that they're proud of what we're doing and what we've created," said Momtazi Bachinsky, who is also president of sales. Moe and Flora Momtazi are pictured in their native Iran before they got married and settled in the United States. Wine, they pointed out, is part of a cultural heritage that stretches back thousands of years — one that predates modern political divides. Persian poets wrote about wine as a symbol of joy, reflection and even spiritual connection, Momtazi said. For the Momtazi family, producing wine in America is both an expression of gratitude and a nod to history. "We're just really lucky and thrilled to be in this country." "The United States is not second to any other country, and we're just really lucky and thrilled to be in this country," Momtazi said. Naseem Momtazi Bachinsky, left, told Fox News Digital her mother and father, shown at right, raised her with the following principle: "Add value to where you are and who you are." That mindset shaped the winery — and their outlook on Iran's future. Moe and Flora Momtazi share a dance on their wedding day, Aug. 2, 1981, in Iran. Pictured in his vineyard, Momtazi hopes for a better future for his native land as he feels "lucky and thrilled" to be able to pursue the American dream in Oregon with his family. I don't have ties to the religion, but it's not the religion that [is] making people bad," she said. Noted Moe Momtazi about what's happened in Iran amid Operation Epic Fury, "I couldn't be happier that the head guy has been put out, because finally somebody had the guts to interfere. … We've gone through so many things over 40-some years." Peter Burke is a lifestyle editor with Fox News Digital. He covers various lifestyle topics, with an emphasis on food and drink. A look at the top-trending stories in food, relationships, great outdoors and more. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions.

Roy Cooper speaks at a primary election night watch party Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Matt Ramey) North Carolina Republican Senate candidate former RNC Chairman Michael Whatley speaks at a primary election night watch party Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Erik Verduzco) Supporters of North Carolina Democratic Senate candidate former Gov. President Donald Trump watches while Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley speaks to the troops in Fort Bragg, N.C., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina does not mind electing Democrats as governor, but it is a different matter when it comes to sending them to the U.S. Senate. Roy Cooper, who led the state for two terms, is trying to change that with a campaign that could reshape power in Washington. Standing in his way is Michael Whatley, who has Donald Trump's full backing after previously serving as the president's chosen Republican National Committee chairman. Republicans want to frame Cooper as too far left for a state that Trump won three times. That tried-and-true tactic echoes past victories over Democrats they cast as out-of-step rubber stamps for liberal leaders, and it will test Cooper's bond with voters established across four decades of winning campaigns as a state lawmaker, attorney general and governor. Cooper wants to turn that narrative on its head, charging his Republican opponent with being a tool of “well-connected friends in Washington” who cannot effectively represent the state. “Look, I'm going to be a strong, independent senator for North Carolina,” Cooper said Wednesday. Whatley does not shrink from his alliance with the president. Democrats have kept their grip on the governor's office for more than a century, ceding it to only three Republicans during that time. Since 1968, Republican presidential candidates have won the state in every election except for 1976 and for 2008 — the same year a Democrat last won a Senate race. Whatley needs those trends to make up for his lack of name recognition as a first-time candidate. As a former political staffer, lobbyist and party leader, he has deep ties in Raleigh and Washington, but less exposure to voters. Pat McCrory, a Republican who narrowly lost to Cooper in 2016. “We're going to see find out whether he has it or not.” Whatley and his supporters began an advertising campaign in the primary even though he did not face a serious challenge for the nomination. “I have lived the American dream right here in North Carolina.” Republicans in Washington say they are eager to mine Cooper's terms as governor, trying to turn his perceived strength into a weakness. Looser rules on campaign spending “have changed the game,” he said. “Roy Cooper chose criminal illegal aliens over North Carolina communities,” Whatley said during his nomination acceptance speech. The murder suspect had more than a dozen prior criminal arrests before his most recent charges in federal and state court. Meanwhile, Cooper already is trying to turn discussion of crime and immigration back on Trump and Republicans after two protesters, both U.S. citizens, were killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. He said Wednesday that he wants “secure borders” and would “insist on federal resources to deport violent criminals” and “fight violent crime.” But, he said, “I think this administration is losing focus on that.” Cooper is not criticizing Trump in harshly personal terms, as some Democrats are. Rather, Cooper criticizes administration policies that he says hurt the state, especially working-class and middle-class voters, and then hammers Whatley for supporting that agenda. Democrats see that as a way to capitalize on Trump's declining public support overall without Cooper risking alienating right-leaning voters he might be able to attract. “I don't think he has any choice but to bring him in,” McCrory said. That message is tailored to Republican voters such as Kevin Cattell, 71, who said he wants representatives in Washington who “support and see the value and the vision that President Trump is putting forward.” McCrory knows firsthand how powerful Trump's backing can be. In 2022, he unsuccessfully ran against Ted Budd for the Republican Senate nomination. Once Trump endorsed Budd, McCrory said, “I might as well have been at the beach.”

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by LSEG. US Air Force Olympian Kelly Curtis and Team Israel bobsled captain AJ Edelman spoke in support of Eileen Gu amid global controversy over Gu's decision to. U.S. Olympic figure skating sensation weighed in on the controversy surrounding American-born Team China skier Eileen Gu for choosing to represent China instead of the U.S. She's super nice, and her mom is from China. So, in my head, it's a bit hypocritical, because her mom is an immigrant. Now that they're back in China, you're mad," Liu said. Gold medalist China's Eileen Gu poses with her medals after winning the women's freestyle skiing halfpipe final at the Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Feb. 22, 2026. Sport is sport, and she has a love for competition, she has love for the game. There's no shame in going to where opportunity is." Gu was a target for global criticism during the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, as she won two silvers and one gold in freeskiing. "I have no idea what her status should be, I think that's ultimately up to the Olympics Committee, I won't pretend to wade into that," Vance said. "I certainly think that someone who grew up in the United States of America who benefited from our education system, from the freedoms and liberties that makes this country a great place, I would hope they want to compete with the United States of America. So, I'm going to root for American athletes, I think part of that is people who identify themselves as Americans. That's who I'm rooting for in this Olympics." Gu later responded to Vance's comment and went on to agree that she feels like a "punching bag for a certain strand of American politics." That's sweet," Gu said of Vance's comments, per USA Today. "So many athletes compete for a different country.... People only have a problem with me doing it because they kind of lump China into this monolithic entity, and they just hate China. Like if I wasn't doing well, I think that they probably wouldn't care as much, and that's OK for me. Throughout the Olympics, and especially after Liu made history as the first American to win Olympic gold in a women's individual figure skating competition since 2002 and the first American woman to medal at all in the event since 2006, the two athletes were relentlessly compared on social media for their similar backgrounds as American children of Chinese immigrants. Liu's father, Arthur Liu, fled China after participating in the Tiananmen Square protests in the summer of 1989, coming to America and having Alysa through a surrogate and anonymous egg donor. Meanwhile, Gu's mother, Yan Gu, was a student at Peking University studying chemistry and biochemistry, according to The New York Times. She came to the United States to earn a master's degree, eventually earning it from Stanford. At age 40, Yan gave birth to Eileen, and raised her as a single parent, according to Olympics.com. Not much is known about Gu's father. Eileen has not publicly commented on him and declined to answer questions about him with The New York Times. Then around 2018–2022, China accelerated a program aimed at recruiting foreign-born athletes, primarily with Chinese heritage, to boost competitiveness, notably for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and soccer, according to The China Project. Gu and Liu were top recruiting targets. Just months after competing in her first Freestyle Ski World Cup for the U.S. in January 2019, she competed for China for the first time in June of that year after requesting a change of nation with the International Ski Federation. In an announcement on Instagram, she said she made the decision "to help inspire millions of young people" in China and "to unite people, promote common understanding, create communication, and forge friendships between nations." The Lius remained loyal to Team USA. In an interview with Time Magazine, Gu was asked her thoughts on China's alleged persecution of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. I don't think it's my business. I'm not going to make big claims on my social media," Gu answered. "I'm just more of a skeptic when it comes to data in general.… So it's not like I can read an article and be like, ‘Oh, well, this must be the truth.' I need to have a ton of evidence. "Then I need to go see images. I need to think about how history affects it. Then I need to read books on how politics affects it. Liu and her family, on the other hand, found themselves in the crosshairs of China's government ahead of the 2022 Beijing Games amid her father's past and her own refusal to compete for China. Liu called the experience "a little bit freaky and exciting." You know what I mean like, that's crazy," Liu previously told Fox News Digital at a roundtable interview at the USOPC Media Summit in October. Alysa Liu displays her gold medal after competing in the women's free skate program in figure skating at the Winter Olympics, Feb. 19, 2026. Like, I must be some movie character. But, I mean, it was like it made sense to me, you know, from like everything my dad did back in his activist days." Since winning gold, Liu has surpassed Gu in social media followers. However, Liu has also pulled out of the upcoming World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, Czech Republic. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter. Jackson Thompson is a sports reporter for Fox News Digital covering critical political and cultural issues in sports, with an investigative lens. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by LSEG. Fox News host Mark Levin lists the qualities of a great leader, success of the mission in Iran and the 'genius' of U.S. and Israeli military technology on 'Life, Liberty & Levin.' The Iran-backed Houthi terrorist movement has yet to enter the conflict on Iran's side but in recent days has been ratcheting up its rhetoric in support of Tehran, with its leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, declaring that it was prepared to enter the war against the U.S. and Israel if necessary. "Regarding military escalation and action, our fingers are on the trigger, ready to respond at any moment should developments warrant it," al-Houthi said on Thursday. Especially after other axis members were degraded," Nadwa Al-Dawsari, an expert on Yemen and an associate fellow at the Middle East Institute, told Fox News Digital. Thousands of people gather at Sabeen Square, under the control of the Tehran-backed Houthis in Yemen, to protest the killing of Iran's leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Sanaa, Yemen on March 06, 2026. The official slogan of the Houthi movement (Ansar Allah) reads, "Allah is Greater. Al-Dawsari, who has written extensively about Yemen and the Houthis, said: "I think the Houthis will intervene at some point. I think what the Houthis want to do — and they have been itching for a while to do — is to attack the Saudis. Houthi terrorists walk over British and U.S. flags at a rally in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, on Feb. 4, 2024, near Sana'a, Yemen. Iran's axis coalition of Shiite and Sunni terrorist proxies, includes the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis, Shiite militias in Iraq, and the now-defunct Baathist regime in Syria. Smoke over Tehran, Iran, after explosions were reported on March 2, 2026. Biden's reversal of American support for the Saudi-led allies in their war against the Houthis was also coupled with his administration de-listing the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization. Al-Dawsari said another reason why the Houthis have yet to join the conflict is that it's not in the interests of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) "to drag the Houthis into a suicidal war." She argues "If the Iranian regime collapses, and if a new regime emerges, I think the IRGC will regroup in Yemen or Somalia. There has been discussion between the IRGC and Houthis about why the "Houthis' continued existence is of strategic importance to the IRGC," she said. Yemen is so important to them. This handout screen grab captured from a video shows Yemen's Houthi fighters' takeover of the Galaxy Leader Cargo in the Red Sea coast off Yemen, on Nov. 20, 2023. She noted that "Houthis have established themselves in the Horn of Africa. Intervention might be symbolic by the Houthis." She continued that Iran's "tactic now is to prolong the war and widen it across the region and to put more pressure on the U.S." In May 2025, Trump announced that the U.S. would stop its air bombing campaign against the Houthis because, he said, the Houthis "don't want to fight." "They just don't want to, and we will honor that. We will stop the bombings," Trump said. The Houthis had launched attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea, as well as the Jewish state, to support their ally Hamas in Gaza. "They know Trump does not joke. Benjamin Weinthal reports on Israel, Iran, Syria, Turkey and Europe. You can follow Benjamin on Twitter @BenWeinthal, and email him at benjamin.weinthal@fox.com By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by

At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can't do it on our own. We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today? I don't believe any of us has one true self, so I don't think you can “owe” it to a central self to act in this way or that. Instead, I offered an alternative way of approaching this dilemma in a recent installment of my Your Mileage May Vary advice column. But beyond the philosophical question of what you do or don't owe yourself, there are medical questions that might still gnaw at you. Some people worry, for instance, about the withdrawal symptoms they might experience should they try to taper off selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), the most commonly prescribed type of antidepressant. But one of the most interesting voices tackling these questions is Awais Aftab, a psychiatry professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. I came across him through his insightful newsletter, Psychiatry at the Margins, and a piece he wrote for the New York Times calling for psychiatry to engage honestly and transparently with patients' concerns about antidepressants, rather than ceding that conversation to those — like RFK Jr. and the MAHA movement — who would exploit it for political ends. Aftab is critical of the psychiatric establishment's failings, but he doesn't throw the baby out with the bathwater; he is very aware that for some people, antidepressants can be lifesaving. I reached out to him because I knew he'd have a nuanced take on all these questions — some of which have niggled at me as someone who's been taking an anti-anxiety medication for years. Our conversation, edited for length and clarity, follows. Why are so many people unsure how to think about the meaning of taking antidepressants, especially long-term? Are most psychiatrists failing us in some way? Or is ambivalence just an unavoidable feature of living at a time when medical progress keeps handing us choices that come loaded with tradeoffs? [The philosopher] Bill Fulford has articulated the idea that scientific progress creates new technologies which create new choices for us, and this increasingly brings the full diversity of human values into play. That's just the moral cost of living in a world where these options exist. “We can choose to take antidepressants or not, continue them or stop them, but we can't choose not to have the choice. We can choose to take antidepressants or not, continue them or stop them, but we can't choose not to have the choice. “Are the drugs helping?” “Do I still need them?” aren't always easy questions to answer for any specific person. That said, too few clinicians are attuned to any of this. Patients can feel relieved by symptom improvement and simultaneously detest feeling dependent on a pill. When clinicians don't anticipate and directly address that ambivalence, patients are left to navigate it alone. That requires a kind of clinical attention most people just aren't getting. If someone says to you, “Look, I've been on these meds for years, and at this point I honestly can't tell whether they're still necessary” — what would you advise them to do? A lot of people on long-term antidepressants feel this way. Someone who's had multiple severe depressive episodes with hospitalizations has a very different risk calculus than someone who started an SSRI for mild anxiety five years ago and has been stable since. Some patients would rather stay on a medication and minimize any chance of relapse or deal with withdrawal; others are determined to find out whether they still need it, even if that means going through some rough patches. Years pass while they wonder what their life would be like without the drugs, whether they'd feel more brightly, think more creatively, have a more intimate sense of their own resilience. If someone wants to stop their meds, it should be done carefully, with clinical help and with a slow taper. If someone has been on SSRIs for years, a cautious taper would take several months at least. But I also want to be honest: A slow, gradual taper is not easy because it often requires using doses that are not available in standard pills available at pharmacies, which means people at times have to use liquid versions of the medications or use expensive compounding pharmacies. There is also no agreement in the psychiatric field right now about the best tapering protocols, and patients will encounter all sorts of guidance online. How common is it for people who take antidepressants for years to form either a physical dependence or a psychological dependence on them? What does each kind of dependence look like? Physical dependence on antidepressants is a well-established phenomenon. Your body adapts to the presence of the drug, and when you stop or reduce the dose, you can experience withdrawal symptoms, like dizziness, nausea, “brain zaps” (an electric shock-like sensation in the head), vertigo, irritability, insomnia, and sometimes a rebound of anxiety or mood symptoms that can be difficult to distinguish from a relapse of the original problem. Most people who have been on antidepressants for years will experience some degree of withdrawal, although severe withdrawal appears to be less common. Some people have also reported protracted withdrawal online, lasting months or even years, though this remains poorly understood. Psychological dependence is more about the anxiety of going without it. Once you've internalized the idea that you need the pill to feel okay, it can feel almost impossible to stop. This is understandable, but it can keep people on medications for years and decades more out of fear and inertia than any active choice. My view is that such psychological dependence shouldn't be ignored by clinicians and any distorted worries and fears should be addressed. One thing that confuses some people is whether it makes sense to think of this dependence in terms of “addiction.” Some people reason that if they experience withdrawal symptoms when going off the pills, that means they're addicted to the pills in some way. Is addiction the wrong frame when thinking about antidepressants? Addiction in the clinical sense involves compulsive use of a substance despite harmful consequences, quickly escalating doses to achieve the same effect (tolerance in the classic sense), craving, and loss of control. If you experience withdrawal symptoms when you stop a substance, the intuitive conclusion is “I must be addicted.” But dependence and addiction are different phenomena medically. Many medications can produce physical dependence without being addictive. That said, I'm sympathetic to why people reach for the addiction frame. My own psychiatrist once told me that my SSRI is not the kind of drug where it makes sense to worry about addiction. She said that instead, I should put it in the mental category of “if you have high blood pressure, you take blood pressure medication.” Is that a more accurate way to think about it? Your psychiatrist is right about the core point: Antidepressants aren't addictive in the way that, say, opioids or benzodiazepines can be. Putting them in a different mental category from drugs of abuse is appropriate. But the blood pressure medication analogy is limited in its own way, and I think it can be misleading if taken too far. With most blood pressure medications, if you stop taking them, your blood pressure goes back up and possibly may even shoot up higher than what it used to be, but you don't experience a distinct withdrawal syndrome with symptoms you hadn't previously experienced. With SSRIs and other antidepressants, stopping can trigger symptoms that are distinct from a return of depression or anxiety. Like dizziness, brain zaps, nausea, electrical sensations, severe irritability. For some people, these symptoms are mild and brief. Feel free to fill out this anonymous form! Newsletter subscribers will get my column before anyone else does, and their questions will be prioritized for future editions. Why has the psychiatric establishment been slow to research withdrawal struggles? Federal research funding in psychiatry has been heavily tilted toward basic neuroscience and drug development, understanding the brain, finding new molecules, at the expense of studying the everyday clinical realities of how people actually experience medications, including what happens when they try to stop. Nearly four decades after the approval of Prozac, there is not a single high-quality randomized controlled trial that compares specific methods of tapering patients off antidepressants. There's been a prevailing attitude in psychiatry that withdrawal is rare and mild, “low on the list of priorities,” as a group of prominent psychiatrists once put it in a letter to the New York Times. Patients who experience severe withdrawal have been told it's just their depression coming back, or that what they're experiencing isn't real. The tools we have to measure withdrawal are inadequate. We don't have good ways to distinguish withdrawal from relapse. We don't know what tapering strategies actually work best under rigorous conditions. Fixing this would require making research into iatrogenic harm, that is, harm caused by medical treatments, a genuine funding priority. It would require developing better measurement tools, running proper tapering trials, updating clinical guidelines, and training clinicians to take deprescribing as seriously as prescribing. Deprescribing should be the bread and butter of every working psychiatrist, not outsourced to fringe critics of the profession. Is their war on antidepressants complicating psychiatry's ability to course-correct? I'm deeply concerned about the direction of that movement. RFK Jr. has said things about antidepressants that resonate with many people who've been harmed by them. He's echoing language that has circulated in prescribed-harm communities for a long time. They will, in all likelihood, lead to confusion, distrust, stigma, polarization, and possibly restricted access to medications for people who need them. Here at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you — threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country. Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change. We rely on readers like you — join us. Apply here to receive a free annual Membership, made possible by another reader. The very old law that might just save these beagles. The giant loophole that lets Big Dairy keep baby cows in solitary confinement

“This is your peace prize,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino. As Trump reached for the ribbon and poked his head through its loop, FIFA's words of praise were still ringing in his ears. “We honor a dynamic leader who has engaged in diplomatic efforts that created opportunities for dialogue and de-escalation and stability,” said the narrator of a four-minute video celebrating the first recipient of FIFA's brand-new honor. Less than three months later, Trump spoke with CNN's Jake Tapper to boast about his latest foreign policy initiative in the Middle East: A war with Iran. In between receiving FIFA's Peace Prize and unleashing Operation Epic Fury in the Middle East, Trump authorized military action against ISIS-affiliated forces in Nigeria on Christmas Day and his government executed a military incursion into Venezuela, capturing President Nicolás Maduro. He put NATO allies on edge with a threatened takeover of Greenland that was resolved at intense meetings at the World Economic Forum and went back to his trolling of Canada by calling Prime Minister Mark Carney “governor,” a callback to his wishes to make the US' northern neighbor the 51st state. But the action against Iran has trumped it all and put FIFA's honor under a harsh spotlight. When festivities kick off in the US, Canada and Mexico this summer, it will likely be complicated by hostilities near and far. Just a few days before the US teamed up with the Israeli military to pound targets in more than a dozen Iranian cities from Tabriz to Chabahar – killing Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei in the process – the Mexican government launched a daring assault on the infamous Jalisco New Generation cartel. Drug lord Nemesio Rubén Osegeura Cervantes, also known as “El Mencho,” was killed just a couple of hours away from Guadalajara, one of 16 World Cup host cities. Trump had long been pressuring his Mexican counterpart, President Claudia Sheinbaum, to crack down on the cartels, but the impact of El Mencho's death could now destabilize one of the World Cup host nations at a time when thousands of football fans are planning to visit. Infantino quickly declared his “complete confidence” in the Mexican authorities' ability to successfully stage their World Cup matches, but he couldn't deny the spontaneous carnage which had left at least 70 people dead. “Mexico is a great country, like in every other country in the world, things happen; we don't live on the moon or another planet,” he said. Mexico City will host the tournament's opening fixture between Mexico and South Africa on June 11, but the country's other host cities – Guadalajara and Monterrey – will also host the Intercontinental Playoffs later this month. Despite Infantino's assurances, speculation arose that perhaps those matches, coming so soon after the outbreak of such indiscriminate violence, could be played somewhere safer. Lusail in Qatar, which staged the last World Cup final between Argentina and France, was discussed as an option. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and possibly Iraq will play in the World Cup this summer; Iran has launched missiles at all three countries in recent days. “Team Melli,” as they are known, must now wrestle with uncomfortable prospect of being hosted by a country with which its government is at war. Mehdi Taj, president of Iran's Soccer Federation, says that their participation is now in doubt. “What is certain is that after this attack, we cannot be expected to look forward to the World Cup with hope,” he told sports portal Varzesh3. As a result of the US State Department's recently imposed travel restrictions, Iran's fans had been told that they would be denied visas to enter the country. Last December, the Iranian delegation almost boycotted the draw in Washington, DC, because they were only granted four visas out of the nine that they applied for; Federation President Mehdi Taj was denied a travel permit. Fans from Haiti, Ivory Coast and Senegal, the two most recent African champions, will also be denied entry visas. (According to analysis conducted by Sports Value, this World Cup will generate untaxed revenues of $10.9 billion for FIFA, an increase of 56% on the last tournament in Qatar.) Meanwhile, Infantino has become much more than just a senior sports administrator through his close association with Trump, popping up regularly as the US president hosts White House events or attends high-profile sporting events. He now presents himself as a global statesman. Infantino has been pictured in Mar a Lago and the Oval Office numerous times, he attended Trump's second-term inauguration, and he accompanied the president to the “Summit for Peace” in Egypt where the future of Gaza and Israel's war with Hamas was discussed. A photo of Infantino shown during that slow-motion video at the World Cup draw, giving an enthusiastic thumbs-up gesture, was described by The Guardian as like “a proud football dad.” FIFA's own code of ethics states that the organization should be politically neutral, but Infantino appears to be rather comfortable in the presence of one of the world's most divisive leaders. In February, he attended Trump's Board of Peace meeting, donning a red MAGA-style hat with the numbers denoting Trump's presidencies, 45 and 47, stitched onto the side. The US president has enjoyed displaying the iconic World Cup trophy in his office at The White House – “what a beautiful piece of gold,” he once remarked – and he has demonstrated his willingness to use athletes and sports teams to further his political agenda. Last summer, during FIFA's inaugural Club World Cup tournament, Trump hosted the Juventus team and, with the cameras rolling, he rhetorically asked the players if they thought a woman could be good enough to play on their team. Whatever happens on the field, this is guaranteed to be a highly politicized World Cup. It all comes together to force the tournament's governing body to face a difficult question: Is it unwilling or simply unable to prevent its tournament being hijacked by the world's most prominent leader and overshadowed by the world events that he has ignited?

The prospect of turning Texas blue is once again tantalizing Democrats. With the solid victory of state Rep. James Talarico in last week's US Senate primary, Democrats have found a young and media-savvy candidate who both excites party activists and offers an opportunity to recapture some of the voters who long favored Texas Republicans. The GOP, meanwhile, faces the likelihood of a bitter run-off campaign through late May between Sen. John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton, even if President Donald Trump endorses Cornyn, as the incumbent's allies hope. They have long struggled to translate favorable changes in the state's population — increasing diversity and urbanization — into electoral success. And Cornyn's unexpectedly strong performance in the primary's first round has lifted the hopes of Republican strategists who believe he would be a much stronger general election candidate than the scandal-plagued Paxton. “The primaries definitely leave the Democrats ahead of where they have been relative to any time since I've been working in politics, which is 2008,” says Dallas-based Republican pollster Ross Hunt. If he does, “Cornyn stands a very strong likelihood of winning the general (election).” But remaining competitive and actually prevailing are very different things. “I still have no reason to doubt it's going to be a good Democratic year nationally,” said James Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin. “But Republicans have a pretty good seawall here.” Rep. Jasmine Crockett, known for her slashing attacks on Trump and other Republicans, minimized the need to recapture former Trump supporters and argued that the key to Democratic victories was mobilizing mostly non-White nonvoters. “I don't agree that we are a conservative state. We are a nonvoting state,” Crockett told CNN during the primary campaign. Talarico acknowledged that Democrats needed to activate more voters but said it was misguided to assume they could flip the state solely through mobilization. “I think everyone can agree, even if you have the highest Democratic turnout imaginable, you're still gonna have to bring in some people from the other side,” Talarico told Politico. In 2024, only about 58% of eligible Texas adults voted, well below the share in other Sun Belt battlegrounds such as North Carolina, Georgia and Arizona, according to census figures. But while turnout is especially meager among eligible Hispanics (just 45%), it is relatively low for all major racial groups in Texas. In 2024, Black, Asian and White adults without a four-year college degree all constituted exactly as large a share of actual as eligible voters in the state, according to an analysis of census data by William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Metro think tank. Hispanic people represented 7 points less of the actual than eligible electorate, Frey found, and college-educated White people about that much more of actual than potential voters. Those patterns suggest the limits to a strategy centered on mobilization. Black, Asian American and college-educated White voters — three of the groups Democrats rely on most — are already present in the Texas electorate in numbers at least equal to their representation in the population. Most political strategists agree it is difficult to base a political strategy on the hope of energizing a large voting group to the point where it durably makes up a larger share of actual than eligible voters (beyond the traditional differentials that affect turnout, such as age and education). Improving Hispanic turnout is undoubtedly an important component of any potential Democratic revival in Texas, but Trump's gains among them since 2020 mean Democrats can't assume that activating more irregular Hispanic voters will necessarily benefit them. Texas Hispanics who don't reliably turn out “may be predominantly Democrats, but they are not predominantly liberal or progressive,” said Matt Angle, director of the Lone Star Project, a PAC that supports Democrats. Given all these constraints, Angle said, the debate between Crockett and Talarico represented a false choice for Texas Democrats. “But it is reasonable to think that you do need that type of energy and type of emotion to max out the Democratic turnout. That's why it is hard in Texas — you have to do both of those things.” Republicans have faced a mirror image of this debate. Cornyn's allies argue the nationwide Democratic eagerness to vote against Trump creates such a risk of losing the Senate seat that Republicans can't risk nominating someone as polarizing as Paxton. Paxton's allies in turn maintain that Talarico will ultimately prove no more viable than other Democratic hopefuls (largely because of his liberal views on social issues) and that warnings of his strength are just a ruse to scare both Trump and primary voters into supporting Cornyn. “The establishment wants you to believe … Talarico is a huge threat in Texas, and that only RINO John Cornyn — who was rejected by 58% of his own party yesterday — can defeat him,” one conservative group supporting Paxton posted on social media the day after the primary. They haven't controlled either state legislative chamber since 2002. Without power, the Democratic infrastructure and ability to fundraise has atrophied. “When you haven't won statewide elections for so long, there is no permanent in-state political apparatus,” said Hunt, the GOP pollster. But even during these lean years for Democrats, Texas has been reshaped by the same tectonic economic and demographic forces that have boosted the party in other Sun Belt states. One is growing racial diversity: From 2000 to 2024, when Texas added more than 10.4 million residents, people of color accounted for 92% of that growth, according to the Equity Research Institute at the University of Southern California. Another is increasing urbanization: The state's four largest metro areas —Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and San Antonio — accounted for more than 80% of the state's population and job growth since 2000, according to analysis by Richard Murray, a senior research associate at the University of Houston's Hobby School of Public Affairs. For much of the 2010s, Democrats felt optimistic that Texas appeared to be moving, albeit more haltingly, along a similar trajectory. He and his colleagues have divided the state into three large geographic buckets: the 27 counties that make up its four big metropolitan areas; 28 counties in heavily Hispanic South Texas; and 199 non-metro counties across the state. Democrats first marked notable gains in the big metros in the 2016 presidential race (when Hillary Clinton narrowly carried them against Trump), and then advanced further in 2018, when Democratic US Rep. Beto O'Rourke ran an electrifying Senate campaign that fell just 2.6 percentage points short of ousting Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. O'Rourke posted a solid margin over Cruz in the four large metro areas, winning 54% of their combined vote, Murray found. O'Rourke also ran well in heavily Hispanic South Texas, drawing about two-thirds of the vote there. But even that wasn't enough for O'Rourke because Cruz, according to Murray's calculations, carried over 72% in the state's sprawling expanse of smaller cities and rural places — enough to provide him an insurmountable cushion of more than 875,000 votes. O'Rourke's close call against Cruz turned out to be the modern high point for Texas Democrats. By 2024, Trump carried each of the big Texas metros except Austin and pushed back past 50% of their combined votes. “Biden was a classic East Coast guy who rarely, if ever, had visited Texas, knew nothing about it, and totally botched the immigration issue,” Murray said. The Biden years left Texas Democrats in a deep hole. But the rapid backlash against Trump's tumultuous second term has them eyeing Talarico's Senate bid with energy and optimism unmatched since O'Rourke's race in 2018. Compared with O'Rourke then, Talarico has several potential advantages — but also several enduring, and in some ways deepening, challenges. Trump's approval rating in University of Texas polling hasn't exceeded 45% since last June. And in contrast with Trump's first term, when voters mostly expressed satisfaction with the economy, today he is facing widespread disapproval of his economic record in Texas. (White people with and without a four-year college degree each provided almost exactly half of the remaining votes in 2024.) As of January, non-Whites now make up over 53% of all eligible Texas voters, up almost 3 points just since 2024, Frey found. More ominously for Democrats, their support among Texas Hispanics has nosedived. Virtually all Texas observers agree that Republicans this year are unlikely to match Trump's 2024 showing with Hispanics, when exit polls showed him winning a stunning 55% of them. The GOP's 2024 success with Texas Hispanic voters “was a moment in time, it was economics,” said Sergio Garcia-Rios, a professor at the University of Texas' LBJ School and former pollster for Univision. But while Garcia-Rios said, “I wouldn't now be surprised to see a swing back to Democrats, especially in the (Rio Grande) Valley,” he added, “I don't know if (Democrats) can get back” to matching the higher level of Hispanic support they enjoyed earlier this century. With his religious background and calm demeanor, Talarico appears well positioned to regain ground in the big metros, and his primary showing signals he can help Democrats climb at least partly out of their hole with Hispanic Texas voters. But even if he does both those things, he still must scale the state's vast expanse of staunchly Republican midsize and small communities, which together cast about one-fourth of all Texas votes. The equation for Talarico is no different from the math the party faces in other Sun Belt states such as Georgia, Arizona and North Carolina: Can he maximize support in the largest metros, and minimize his losses in smaller places, enough to squeeze out a win? Everything is indeed bigger in Texas — including the challenge for even the most talented candidate to build a winning Democratic coalition.

John Zola stands in an apple tree grove on his property on a spot where he says the local electric utility wants to build a 500-kilovolt line across his land, March 4, 2026, in Sugarloaf, Pa. (AP Photo/Marc Levy) The snow-covered corridor once used for a since-removed residential power line is visible behind the basketball court and barn on John Zola's property where the local power utility wants to build a 500-kilovolt power line on towers as tall as 240 feet across his land, March 4, 2026, in Sugarloaf, Pa. (AP Photo/Marc Levy) A 500-kilovolt electric transmission line crosses farmland in Mechanicsburg, Pa., on March 5, 2026. A sign protesting the local power utility's plan to build a 500-kilovolt power line nearby on towers as tall as 240 feet, March 4, 2026, in Sugarloaf, Pa. (AP Photo/Marc Levy) SUGARLOAF, Pa. (AP) — For John Zola, the 40 acres were like a paradise: apple orchards tucked into northern Pennsylvania's rolling hills, a barn, meadows and more than enough land for four houses: one for himself and his wife and each of his three adult children. It's been “hell,” however, since a contractor hired by the local power utility knocked on Zola's door in late 2024 and informed him that it planned to build a 500-kilovolt power line through his property. This line and others like it are being planned in accelerating numbers in the United States to deliver power, sometimes across hundreds of miles, to enormous data centers run by the world's biggest tech companies. Although advances in artificial intelligence are seen by President Donald Trump as critical to the nation's economic and national security, their energy needs are threatening to overwhelm the power grid — and people like Zola are caught in the middle. The local utility, PPL, said it did everything it could to balance the impact on people with its obligation to deliver electricity and protect grid reliability. Angry local opposition has sprouted against dozens of the behemoth data centers amid fears of rising electricity costs and irreparable damage to their communities. Opponents of transmission projects are similarly motivated: they say the lines are intruding on the sanctity of private land and threatening long-lasting harm to sensitive public lands, farms, property values and pristine waterways — all for electricity that they don't think benefits them. Utilities contend that any new transmission line — even those driven primarily by large customers, like data centers or industrial sites — benefits everyone by adding capacity to the grid. These transmission projects aren't local power lines on wooden poles. Rather, these are lines on steel towers five or six times as tall, carrying power in bulk across long distances. Some — like the Sugarloaf project that could cross Zola's property — require 200-foot-wide corridors. But the expansion is eliciting opposition from landowners, conservationists, local officials, consumer advocates and even states. The coalition's founder, Jada Jo Smith, calls it a “Goliath” that will be nearly impossible to defeat. To at least minimize the damage, the coalition is pressing state regulators to adopt a different, slightly longer path that follows existing highway corridors. “Why would you choose a route that would potentially harm our most iconic rivers that we have left in the state of Texas?” Smith said. He questions whether cheaper alternatives are available, whether the data center demand it's designed to serve will truly materialize and why grid operators want to import power into a state that, as a large power producer, normally exports it. West Virginians are also fighting a pair of proposed transmission lines connecting coal-fired power plants there to northern Virginia, home to the so-called “data center alley.” “I think you may see more of those,” said Todd Snitchler, president and CEO of the Electric Power Supply Association, which represents independent power plant owners. The Indiana-based Midcontinent Independent System Operator told federal regulators in a filing that the lines are necessary to address growing demand from manufacturing and data centers, and that the need for new power transmission “has never been greater.” In eastern Pennsylvania, Amazon and other developers have so many data center projects in the works that PPL projected its peak electricity demand will more than triple by 2030. The new line would run perhaps 100 feet from where Zola's grandkids sleep at night. In recent days, Zola said holdout landowners got higher cash offers from PPL.

North Korea's political system is built around the near-mythic authority and invulnerability of its leader. Publicly broadcasting the violent removal of another supreme leader would introduce a dangerous precedent. It would remind North Korean citizens that even the most powerful figure in a tightly controlled state can be tracked, targeted and eliminated. That is not a narrative Pyongyang has any incentive to circulate at home. Indeed, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may be asking himself if the time has come to pick up the phone and call US President Donald Trump. As the US and Israel press on with their military campaign that plunged the Middle East into crisis, Kim and his small circle of party and military officials who oversee national security are undoubtedly analyzing every aspect of the US military operation. Trump is expected back in Asia later this month for a summit with China's Xi Jinping. While there is no word of any plans for a meeting with Kim while in the region, Chad O'Carroll, founder and CEO of Korea Risk Group, a research group that closely tracks North Korea and publisher of NK News, says he would not rule it out. “(If I were Kim Jong Un) I would feel it strongly in my interest to engage in some form of talks with Trump this year, even if they're just superficial,” O'Carroll said. O'Carroll says that logic is more about Kim managing Trump's unpredictability. It certainly will not be lost on Kim and his inner circle that, little more than two months ago, US special forces shockingly captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. At the time, North Korea responded quickly with a missile launch that some analysts speculated could be linked to Maduro's arrest. On Wednesday, Kim oversaw a cruise missile test from North Korea's new Choe Hyon destroyer ahead of its commissioning, though it remains unclear whether the display of military power is linked to the war in Iran. After the US invaded Iraq in 2003 and former President George W. Bush placed North Korea in the so-called Axis of Evil, its then leader Kim Jong Il disappeared from public view for several weeks. When he resurfaced, most of his public appearances were at military sites. “The situation now, I think, is fundamentally different,” O'Carroll said. North Korea's Guard Command and internal security organs will now dissect every facet of the Iran operation as they attempt to ensure Kim will never share Khamenei's fate. South Korean and US intelligence assessments have long described North Korea as maintaining one of the most elaborate leader-protection systems in the world, and Pyongyang has spent many decades refining layered protection. In recent state media footage of Kim's public outings, security personnel are seen standing tightly clustered around him, some carrying distinctive ballistic briefcases designed to unfold into shields in the event of gunfire. I recall going through hours of exhaustive security screenings, only to see Kim's chair remain empty at official events. Kim has many reasons to be more confident today than his father was in 2003. North Korea is widely believed to have assembled dozens of nuclear warheads, a reality that fundamentally changes the strategic equation. Unlike Iran or Venezuela (or Libya, for that matter), North Korea claims to possess operational nuclear weapons and delivery systems capable of reaching anywhere in the mainland United States, although they have never been fully tested. It's been several years since Pyongyang codified the right to preemptive nuclear use into law and declared its nuclear status “irreversible.” North Korea's aging but formidable artillery force is still aimed squarely at Seoul, as it has been for decades. O'Carroll told me North Korea's ability to place “tactical or even strategic nuclear warheads” on its missiles fundamentally alters any adversary's risk calculus. Recent conflicts have shown how deeply modern intelligence services can still penetrate adversaries, identify leadership targets, disrupt communications, and suppress defenses with speed. The events surrounding Iran may also revive an uncomfortable memory for Kim: Hanoi. North Korean officials, according to sources I spoke with at the time, believed a deal was close. Kim “did not have a backup plan,” one source told me. But when Trump and his team abruptly walked away without a deal or joint statement, the lunch table sat empty, and Kim left Hanoi empty-handed. Last year, The New York Times reported that during that same period of high-level engagement, US Navy SEALs allegedly carried out a covert mission inside North Korea to plant a listening device ahead of the summit. The operation reportedly went awry and resulted in civilian deaths. If accurate, it would underscore a hard reality: diplomacy does not suspend intelligence gathering or contingency planning. Iran appears to have experienced a similar pattern, with talks underway even as military pressure mounted and intelligence about the movements of Iran's top leadership was quietly gathered. When negotiations stalled, overwhelming and deadly force followed, seemingly taking the Iranians by surprise. Engagement with Washington gradually faded and weapons testing eventually resumed, accelerating during President Joe Biden's term. In return, analysts say Pyongyang has received food, fuel and potentially sensitive military technology, along with battlefield data that helps North Korea refine its weapons. But Iran's regime also cultivated strong ties with both nuclear powers. Yet when the latest crisis escalated, neither nation intervened militarily. Some believe that reality could bring Kim back to at least considering the idea of reengaging with Trump. Trump later spoke glowingly of the “beautiful letters” Kim sent him and famously said at a rally, “We fell in love.” Kim evolved in Trump's rhetoric from “Little Rocket Man” to “my friend.” In April of 2019, during their last known meeting, Trump became the first sitting US president to step onto North Korean soil at the Korean demilitarized zone. For a time, Kim featured prominently in Trump's foreign policy narrative, as part of a diplomatic style that often places personal rapport at the center of statecraft. But in Trump's most recent State of the Union address, North Korea was not mentioned. At North Korea's Ninth Workers' Party Congress in late February, Kim left a narrow opening for talks with Washington, linking any reset in relations to US acceptance of North Korea's status as a nuclear-armed state. Kim said there was “no reason” the two countries “cannot get along well,” but only if the United States withdraws what he calls its “hostile policy” and respects North Korea's nuclear status as laid out in its constitution. But after recent events, Kim must be asking himself which option is riskier: calling Trump or choosing to stay silent.

President Donald Trump said it's inconsequential if Russia has provided Iran with information to help Tehran target U.S. military personnel and assets in the Middle East. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as White House Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, center, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listen while traveling aboard Air Force One en route from Dover Air Force Base, Del., to Miami, Saturday, March 7, 2026. DORAL, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday that it was inconsequential if Russia has provided Iran with information to help Tehran target U.S. military personnel and assets in the Middle East as the week-old war rages. Trump stopped short of confirming reports by The Associated Press and other news outlets that U.S. intelligence officials believe Russia has provided Iran with such targeting information. But if Moscow is passing on such details, he said Iran was getting little out of it. “If you take a look at what's happened to Iran in the last week, if they're getting information, it's not helping them much,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he flew to Miami, where he's spending the rest of the weekend. The president also waved off a question about how Russia assisting Iran in such a way might affect his view of the U.S.-Russia relationship. “They'd say we do it against them,” Trump responded. “Wouldn't they say that we do it against them?” Ukraine, in the four years since it was invaded by Russia, has received U.S. intelligence to help defend against incoming missiles from Russia as well as to help Kyiv hit certain Russian targets. Downplaying the significance of Russia handing off battlespace intelligence to Iran came after the U.S. Treasury Department announced earlier this week that it was temporarily allowing India to keep buying crude oil and petroleum products from Russia for a month, until April 4. Critics charge that Trump was giving Russia a break that will provide Moscow with badly needed revenue as it looks to keep funding its war machine. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., condemned the move, saying in a post on X that “weakness towards Russia is appalling.” Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., in his own X post directed at Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, also decried the administration's decision. “Reverse your decision to lift oil sanctions on Russia. It is traitorous conduct for you to help Russia,” Lieu said. “Meanwhile, Russia is assisting Iran in targeting American troops.” Trump has decided to give India leeway on oil purchases from Russia as global oil prices surge and investors across sectors worry about how long the Iran war will last. The waiver for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government followed Trump announcing weeks ago that he was cutting tariffs on India after their officials agreed to reduce its reliance on cheap Russian crude. Ships that carry roughly 20 million barrels of oil a day are unable to safely pass through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf that is bordered on its north side by Iran. The shipping disruption and damage to key Middle East oil and gas facilities has interrupted supplies from some of the world's largest oil producers. In total, when full, the SPR can hold more than 700 million barrels.