The #US Central Command has asked to deploy the Dark Eagle hypersonic missiles to the Middle East for their potential use against Iran, Bloomberg said, citing sources.

According to the agency, if this request is approved, this will be the first time that the United States has deployed hypersonic missiles. The Central Command justified its request by stating that Iran had moved its missile launchers beyond the range of the Precision Strike Missile, a ballistic missile with a range of over 300 miles (approximately 482 kilometers), the agency’s source indicated. However, a decision to deploy hypersonic weapons during the operation against Iran has not yet been made, the source added.

The United States and Israel launched a military operation against Iran on February 28. On April 7, US President Donald Trump declared a two-week ceasefire with Iran. According to the Iranian side, as many as 3,375 people died in the US-Israeli attacks on Iran over 40 days of the war. On April 11, Iran and the US held several rounds of talks in Islamabad, however both sides later reported that they were unable to reach an agreement on a long-term settlement of the conflict due to a number of contradictions. On April 21, Trump announced his intention to extend the ceasefire with Iran. Meanwhile, according to the Iranian state television, Tehran does not recognize Washington’s unilateral ceasefire extension and will act as it deems necessary in its interests.

#Nigeria : A former student of University of Cross River State, Precious Akuma, has received her degree certificate following widespread attention generated by her viral TikTok videos over a five-year delay in the processing of her academic results.

Correspondents dinner shooter case raises concerns about U.S. train security.

A man acting erratically on a train headed for Chicago was spotted by a rail worker who called police. Officers found guns and a pamphlet about crowd control in his carry-on bag — and a plan for a mass casualty event.

Almost two years later, federal authorities say a different man charged with attempting to assassinate U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday was arrested with a shotgun and a semiautomatic pistol he brought with him to Washington, D.C., on an Amtrak train from California.

It’s just the latest security incident involving long-distance public ground transportation — and it won’t be the last unless Amtrak and other companies find a way to address passenger screening and security at their stations, union officials who represent on-train employees say.

An Amtrak spokesperson declined to discuss security or to say whether Cole Tomas Allen followed the company’s protocol for transporting firearms. Amtrak is working with federal investigators to provide his travel information, the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. A lawyer representing Allen notes he has no criminal record and is presumed innocent.
Policy for transporting firearms

Amtrak requires firearms on its trains to be declared, unloaded, secured in a hard case and to meet certain size and weight requirements. Those weapons are only allowed in checked baggage, similar to policies for firearms being transported via passenger airplane.

But unlike airports where passengers undergo Transportation Safety Administration screening of their carry-on bags and their person, train passengers are not screened by security officials, whether they board at the unstaffed station in unincorporated Lamy, New Mexico, or at the bustling Union Station in #Washington.

Sean Jeans-Gail, vice president of government affairs and policy at the Rail Passengers Association, said Amtrak and many other ground transportation companies barred weapons on trains and buses after 9/11, but none put security measures in place to detect or screen every passenger for firearms. In 2010, Congress passed a law requiring Amtrak and others to allow firearms to be transported as long as they are checked.

In most cases, that means weapons are secured and placed on baggage cars accessible only by employees. But not every train has dedicated baggage cars. Several former Amtrak employees said when they don’t have baggage cars, the bags are zip-tied and labeled to show a firearm is present so workers can see if they are tampered with.

“It is a little hard to take a train hostage, to say it is different than the post 9/11 concerns raised regarding an airplane,” Jeans-Gail said. “Amtrak has been safe from gun violence largely. The main incidents have been police shootings or interdictions.”
Incidents of concern

Railway worker unions started requesting Amtrak and other companies look at security during the COVID-19 pandemic, when enforcing a mask mandate on trains was difficult at best. They asked again after an influx of participants in the Jan. 6 riots came to Washington by train and rowdy behavior on the way home raised concerns.

Jared Cassity, the national safety and legislative director for the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers — Transportation Division union, or SMART-TD, said Amtrak conductors and other on-train workers often don’t speak publicly about incidents for fear of retribution from the company.

“Operator assaults are the most common conversations we have with our membership, but guns on trains is second or third in terms of concerns for workers,” Cassity said.

SMART-TD has had some luck pushing state legislation and has two bills pending before Congress. That legislation would clear up jurisdictional challenges making it easier to arrest and charge someone when a rail worker is assaulted during a trip and would make interfering with a rail worker during their duties a crime comparable to interfering with an airline employee on a flight.

Cassity said the conductor who identified the alleged potential mass shooter in 2024 had just taken union-sponsored security training. He received some recognition but the arrest didn’t get much news coverage.

A 2022 fatal shooting on an Amtrak train near Lee’s Summit, Missouri, did get media attention after the train didn’t stop for staff to seek medical attention for the victim until it reached a station — delaying medical care. A federal jury said in 2024 that Amtrak should pay 90% of a $158 million award to the man’s family, who had alleged negligence including failure to implement reasonable security measures.

Michael Callanan, a former Amtrak employee and now a rail safety consultant, said he’s heard of other security incidents involving smuggling drugs and other illegal items because of the lack of security screenings.

“They never want to spend money on infrastructure or security,” Callanan said. “Maybe this shooter will be a significant enough of an event to push Amtrak to fund things.”

Callanan said Amtrak police officers are not comparable to TSA agents. He said they are mainly charged with patrolling stations, doing track checks and sometimes riding lines and walking trains, but one officer can have a huge amount of territory.

“There’s one officer who I think patrols from Orlando to Miami,” he said. “Something has to be done to increase security.”
Geography presents a problem

Jeans-Gail said the Rail Passengers Association supports increasing Amtrak police patrols on trains, but isn’t in favor of adding TSA-style security before boarding at the roughly 500 stations across the country.

“The thought of expanding that, even outside of the logistical issues, if you look at the experience of riding the Amtrak network it’s very impractical because it ranges from New York’s Penn Station where it’s very active, many points of access to the station, unlike an airport where all traffic is filtered to specific points,” he said. “Then you have Whitefish, Montana, on the other side of the spectrum — a rustic structure with not a lot of traffic.”

Cassity said that difference in security needs doesn’t escape him. The union isn’t expecting a one-size fits every station solution like airports, but he wants the conversation to start.

“We have to change the narrative about safety and realize something has to be done to prevent guns from getting onto the trains freely,” he said. “We sympathize with the challenge this is for Amtrak. ... When you start talking about how you secure the most rural places, and those being the majority of stations, it becomes a daunting, daunting task. ... But we need to have the conversation.”

Claudia Lauer, The Associated Press

#Canadian company in the running for massive new #NATO purchase: reports

Hanwha’s improved submarine bid could help keep Canada’s auto industry afloat. AMPA president Flavio Volpe said in an interview with CTV News on Wednesday that Canadian auto plants are making 30 per cent fewer vehicles this year because of U.S. tariffs. But the partnership with Hanwha has the possibility of injecting new life into stagnant auto plants and creating thousands of jobs.

But there’s a huge caveat.

The deal is contingent on Hanwha being awarded the massive contract to build up to 12 diesel-electric submarines for the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN).

After submitting their initial requests for proposals in March, Hanwha and its German competitor ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS). were asked by the federal government to sweeten their bids. The winner is expected to be chosen in June.

Under the terms of the agreement, vehicle parts manufacturers would come together under a consortium named Project Arrow Defence. Volpe emphasized that this venture would be “51 per cent Canadian owned, with a Canadian CEO.”
What is ‘Project Arrow Defence’?

The consortium would build five types of Hanwha vehicles that are estimated to be worth $10 billion over two years.

“It’s equivalent activity to bringing one fully functional auto assembly plant here,” said Volpe.

He added that it took about a week and half to negotiate the joint venture with Hanwha. The deal came together at 2 AM Wednesday morning after the agreement was approved in both Seoul, South Korea and Toronto, Ont.

A news conference announcing the partnership took place eight hours later in an Ontario manufacturing plant.

In the memorandum of understanding, Hanwha would build five of its armoured vehicles in Canada, including the K-9 Thunder self-propelled Howitzer, which looks like a small tank.

A barge carrying Timmy the humpback whale journeys to the North Sea.

#BERLIN — A barge carrying a humpback whale that had been stranded in shallow waters near Germany since March has begun its journey toward the North Sea. It reached Danish waters on Wednesday, German authorities said.

Nicknamed Timmy by German media, the whale was spotted swimming near Germany’s Baltic Sea coast on March 3, far from its natural habitat in the Atlantic Ocean. The mammal’s health deteriorated as it became repeatedly stranded in shallow waters, and unsuccessful efforts to coax it toward deeper seas were livestreamed across the globe.

Rescuers on Tuesday pulled the whale to a flooded barge using straps and a channel previously dredged to create a passage to the vessel, the Germany press agency dpa reported.

The barge is now expected to go around the northern tip of Denmark via the strait of Skagerrak toward the North Sea.

“Something like this has never happened before in Germany, where a life-saving operation of this kind has been carried out,” Till Backhaus, minister for climate protection, agriculture, rural areas and the environment of the federal state of Mecklenburg Vorpommern, told a press conference. “And this was an experiment, and the experiment was a success, and that’s wonderful.”

The minister said the whale was resting peacefully and on Tuesday night it vocalized, which meant it was doing well.

The minister had given the green light for the latest attempt to save the whale, proposed by a private initiative, despite some warnings from the scientific community that it may be too much for the animal.

The debate about whether to let it die in peace or try to assist its return to the Atlantic Ocean has gone on for weeks. Activists have staged protests on the beach in Wismar calling for its liberation, while others have supported new ideas about how the whale could be transported.

Thilo Maack, a marine biologist at Greenpeace, told the The Associated Press earlier this month that efforts to save Timmy have caused the animal severe stress.

“I believe the whale will die very soon now. And I would also like to raise the question: What is actually so bad about that?” he said. “Yes, animals live, animals die. This animal is really, really very, very, very sick. And it has decided to seek rest.”

Some scientists believe the whale had searched especially for shallow waters because it was weak and needed rest. The veterinarians of the private initiative, however, consider the animal fit for transport.

#W5 investigation prompts proposed Criminal Code changes targeting rape videos. Conservative MP Burton Bailey has introduced a private member’s bill called Melanie’s Law, named for a woman featured in the W5 documentary Sleeping With the Enemy.

“Hearing their story, I felt compelled to bring justice for Melanie and do whatever I can to help heal their hurt,” Bailey told Parliament as he introduced the bill.

In the documentary, Melanie described seeing video of herself after she had been drugged and raped.

“It looked just like a dead body. I knew it was me, but I looked like a dead body because I was so lifeless,” she said in the W5 documentary.

For years, Melanie’s boyfriend had been secretly drugging and raping her, then selling and sharing videos of the crimes.

He is now behind bars. But W5’s investigation exposed a wider global network of predators and led to the arrests of two men, one in Switzerland and another in Hamilton, Ont.

Bryan Hayward, the Hamilton man arrested after the W5 investigation, is now facing more than 60 charges related to alleged crimes against more than a dozen women. None of the allegations against him have been proven in court.

Melania Trump and Queen Camilla play supporting roles during state visit

More than fashion: A pin worn by Venezuela's Rodríguez on state visits riles #Guyana.

The pin, which Rodríguez wore on her attire, is in the shape of Guyana’s resources-rich Essequibo region that makes up two-thirds of its territory that’s at the heart of a centuries-old territorial dispute with #Venezuela, which neighbors Guyana to west.

The pin has been increasingly worn by Venezuelan government officials, state television anchors, lawmakers and members of the ruling party following the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro in a stunning nighttime raid on his residence in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, in early January.

In a note to Terrance Drew, the prime minister of St. Kitts and Nevis and chairman of a Caribbean trade bloc known as Caricom, Guyanese President Irfaan Ali said the pin asserts “Venezuela’s claim to Guyana’s territory.”

Rodríguez wore the pin when she visited Barbados on Monday, and previously, during a visit to Grenada earlier in April, her first overseas trip since she took over after Maduro’s seizure.

In his note, Ali said he fears Rodríguez’s use of the pin on official trips could be misinterpreted as her hosts’ “acquiescence or tolerance” of Venezuela’s territorial claims.

“Caricom’s principled support for Guyana must be reflected not only in declarations but in the context and conduct of official engagements,” he added, referring to the bloc.

Venezuela has long argued that an 1899 international boundaries commission cheated it out of the area during British colonial rule. The land dispute is currently before the International Court of Justice in the Netherlands.

For her part, Rodriguez questioned the focus on her choice of official attire and said Tuesday the pin reflects “the only map of Venezuela that I’ve known in my life.” She reiterated Venezuela’s claim to Essequibo and expressed confidence that the international court would soon “ratify our historic stance.”

In his note, Ali also reminded the trade bloc that it has unequivocally supported Guyana’s claim to the region at key meetings and insisted Venezuela should not be allowed to display “symbols and maps” of Essequibo as it would only undermine the case before the international court.

Caricom issued a statement later Tuesday acknowledging Ali’s letter and saying that “platforms and engagements should not be used, whether directly or indirectly, to advance or appear to legitimize claims that are the subject of ongoing judicial proceedings.”

The bloc expressed “longstanding and unequivocal support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Guyana, and for the peaceful resolution of the controversy.”

Ali, Guyana’s president, also railed against the inclusion of Essequibo on official maps of Venezuela, calling it a ”calculated and provocative assertion of a claim” that Guyana has persistently rejected.

In recent years, Venezuela has sent gunboats to U.S.-run offshore oilfields licensed by Guyana, demanding that oil production there be halted, threats that the rigs have ignored.

In Caracas, government officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

Bert Wilkinson, The Associated Press

#Russian superyacht crosses blockaded Strait of #Hormuz, Nord - a 142-meter (465-foot) yacht worth over US$500 million - left a #Dubai marina at around 1400 GMT on Friday, crossed the strait on Saturday morning, and arrived in Muscat early on Sunday, according to data on the MarineTraffic platform.

It is not clear how the multi-deck pleasure vessel gained permission to use the route. Since February, Iran has severely restricted traffic through the strait, which typically handles around one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.

A representative of steel magnate Mordashov declined to comment on Monday.

Just a few, mainly merchant vessels, have been passing daily through the crucial ‌waterway at the entrance to the Gulf as Washington and Tehran maintain an uneasy ceasefire. This represents a fraction of the average 125 to 140 daily passages before the Iran war began on February 28.

In a countermeasure, the U.S. has imposed a blockade of Iranian ports.

Russia and Iran are longstanding allies and have become closer in recent years, including via a 2025 treaty that strengthened intelligence and security cooperation.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi arrived in Russia to meet President Vladimir Putin on Monday after discussions with mediators in Pakistan and Oman over the weekend.

Mordashov, known to be close to Putin, is not officially listed as the owner of Nord. But shipping data and Russian corporate records from 2025 show the vessel was registered to a Russian firm owned by his wife in 2022. This firm is registered in the Russian town of Cherepovets, where Mordashov’s steelmaker Severstal is also registered.

Mordashov was among a number of Russians sanctioned by the United States and European Union after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for their links to Putin.

One of the largest yachts in the world, Nord has 20 staterooms, a swimming pool, a helipad and a submarine, according to industry publisher Superyacht Times.

(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis and Gleb Stolyarov; Additional reporting by Anastasia Lyrchikova and Jonathan Saul; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Ros Russell)