CONTRARY TO TRUMP'S CLAIM, IRAN LOOKS FAR FROM BEING FINISHED ... AND IRANIAN MISSILES CONTINUE TO GET THROUGH ISRAELI DEFENSES

Iran ballistic missile hits Israeli city in terrifying strike near top-secret facility that is key to country's atomic weapons program

 

By Dan Woodland 

 

Daily Mail

Mar 21, 2026

 

 

Emergency response personnel work after an Iranian missile strike on Dimona

 

An Iranian ballistic missile has injured a 10-year-old old boy and around 38 other people in the Israeli city of Dimona. 

Footage of the strike was posted on social media, showing the projectile hurtling towards a residential area and exploding in a huge fireball. 

The Israeli army said there was a 'direct missile hit on a building' in Dimona and it was reviewing how the impact happened after videos also showed an interceptor trying and failing to down the missile seconds before the impact.

Israel's emergency service Magen David Adom said 39 people had been injured by shrapnel from the blast, including a 10-year-old boy who is in serious condition and a 40-year-old woman in moderate condition with injuries from glass fragments.

The other 37 casualties are in moderate condition and they have all been taken to Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva around 30km away from Dimona. 

Israel's Home Front Command has also dispatched search and rescue forces to impacted areas. Israeli police also released pictures of officers in a building with a large hole blown in the wall.

Iranian state TV has since claimed the attack was a 'response' to an earlier strike on its own nuclear site at Natanz, which Israel has denied responsibility for. 

Iran's atomic energy organisation said earlier today that the 'Natanz enrichment complex was targeted this morning', though there was 'no leakage of radioactive materials reported', according to a statement carried by local media.

The city of Dimona is located around 13km from Israel's Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center - a top-secret nuclear weapons facility - in the Negev desert.

 

The moment an Iranian ballistic missile hurtles towards the Israeli city of Dimona, injuring a 10-year-old old boy and around 19 other people

Moments later a huge fireball can be seen engulfing the ground 

Israel's Negev Nuclear Research Center in the Negev desert

 

While Israel says the Dimona plant officially focuses on research, it is widely believed to possess the Middle East's sole, if undeclared, nuclear arsenal.

The country has never officially confirmed its nuclear power, but it is believed Israel has possessed a significant number of nuclear weapons since the 1960s.

Earlier this month, Iran threatened to target the site if ⁠Israel ​and the ​US sought regime change ​in ​the Islamic Republic. 

Following the strike, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it had not received 'any indication of damage' to the research centre.

'Information from regional States indicates no abnormal radiation levels have been detected,' it added in a statement. 

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi also stressed that 'maximum military restraint should be observed, in particular in the vicinity of nuclear facilities'.

It comes after two ballistic missiles were fired towards Diego Garcia, a base in the Indian Ocean jointly operated by the US and the UK, on Friday night. 

Sources reported that one of the missiles failed in flight, while the other was intercepted by a US warship in what is believed to be the first ever strike on the military base.

The precise timing of the incident is as yet unknown, though the Government confirmed on Saturday that it took place before Keir Starmer gave the go-ahead to for Donald Trump to use UK-based bombers threatening the Strait of Hormuz.

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has accused the Prime Minister of a 'cover up' on the details and questioned why the public were not told 'sooner'.

The IDF confirmed the Diego Garcia attack was the first time Iran had launched a long-range missile, capable of reaching a distance of around 4,000km, since the start of the war. 

'The Iranian terrorist regime poses a global threat. Now, with missiles that can reach London, Paris or Berlin,' it added.

Hours after the strike, Iran declared it had 'missile dominance...over the skies of the occupied territories' and warned its 'new tactics and launch systems' would leave the US and Israel 'astonished'. 

 

Israeli soldiers work at the scene of damage after Iranian missile barrages struck Dimona on Saturday

An Israeli soldier uses a torch to inspect the damage after an Iranian missile in Dimona

 

Diego Garcia lies around 3,800km (2,360 miles) from Iran - undermining the regime's previous assertion that its ballistic missiles could only reach 2,000 km (1,240 miles).

The strike on Diego Garcia took place just seven days after Israeli forces struck Iran's main space research center in Tehran, amid fears it was being used to 'develop satellite attack capabilities in space.'

 

Photo of Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean and the site of a major US military base leased from Britain in 1966.

 

Experts have warned that if Iran has greater military prowess, the missile threat could now extend well beyond the Middle East and within distance of most capital cities in Western Europe.

This includes Paris, which is 4,198km (2,609 miles) from Tehran, while London lies on the 'edge of vulnerability' at around 4,435km (2,750 miles).

Despite the strike, Keir Starmer has vowed not to use  its bases in Cyprus for any offensive action following a phone call with the country's president Nikos Christodoulide. 

'The British Prime Minister reiterated ... that the security of the Republic of Cyprus is fundamental to the United Kingdom and, to that end, a decision has been taken to enhance the means contributing to the preventive measures already in place,' a Cypriot government spokesperson said.

'Finally, the Prime Minister reiterated that the British Bases in Cyprus will not be used for any offensive military operations.'

An Iranian-type Shahed drone caused slight damage when it hit facilities at Britain's Akrotiri airbase in southern Cyprus on March 2, with two others later intercepted. There have been no further known security incidents.

Britain retained sovereignty over two bases on the island when it granted its colony independence in 1960.

COP HEADED TO THE PEN FOR NOT DISCLOSING HE HAD HIV

Mom-to-be finds out cop who got her pregnant has HIV after baby mama's text... as he is charged with felony

 

By James Gordon 

 

Daily Mail

Mar 21, 2026

 

 

Pierce Cotton, 32, a Pensacola police officer, has been charged with a third-degree felony under Florida law. The charge alleges he had sex without disclosing he was HIV-positive

 

A Florida police officer is facing a felony charge after a pregnant colleague allegedly found he had HIV only after she was already expecting his child.

Pierce Cotton, a 32-year-old officer with the Pensacola Police Department, is accused of engaging in a sexual relationship without disclosing that he had tested positive for HIV - a violation of Florida law that can carry serious criminal penalties.

According to authorities, Cotton has been charged under a Florida Statute which makes it a crime for a person who knows they are HIV-positive to have sexual intercourse without first informing their partner and obtaining consent.

The case took a dramatic turn when the woman who also works at the department discovered she was pregnant.

The report states that the mother of Cotton's first child reached out to the pregnant woman after learning of the relationship. 

She warned her to be concerned for her health after allegedly finding medication among Cotton's belongings that is commonly prescribed for people living with HIV.

Investigators say they obtained screenshots of text messages between the woman and Cotton. 

In those exchanges, when asked about his condition, Cotton allegedly replied: 'I'm sick. It's under control, and that's been proven. You can't contract it.'

 

Authorities say Cotton tested positive for HIV in July 2025. Investigators allege he began a sexual relationship with the woman in October 2025. Pensacola's new police chief Eric Winstrom is pictured

 

The woman pressed further -  'Sick with what?'

Cotton allegedly responded by telling her she had already tested negative and reassured her: 'I made sure I was safe so as to keep you from getting it. You and the baby can't get it from me.'

Authorities later confirmed through medical records that months before the relationship began Cotton had tested positive for HIV in July 2025.

According to the arrest report, the relationship itself started to form in July 2025 and became romantic by October. 

The two first had sex on October 14, 2025, records indicate with the woman falling pregnant shortly afterwards. 

Investigators allege that Cotton did not disclose his HIV status for at least four months after the sexual relationship began.

The situation escalated publicly earlier this year when the couple shared news of the pregnancy online. 

According to the report, the announcement alerted the mother of Cotton’s first child, ultimately triggering the chain of events that led to the criminal investigation.

 

Officer Cotton is seen during his during his swearing in ceremony in August 2020

Cotton’s received a commendation in 2023. The Life Saving Award was awarded to him after resuscitating a drowning victim at a hotel pool

 

Police say a search warrant was executed to obtain Cotton’s medical records from the Florida Department of Health, confirming his diagnosis and forming the basis of the felony charge.

The Pensacola Police Department has placed Cotton on administrative leave while an internal affairs investigation runs parallel to the criminal case.

Jail records show he was arrested and later released on a $10,000 bond.

If convicted of a third-degree felony, Cotton could face up to five years in prison.

I BELIEVE THAT IF WE GET INTO A WAR WITH CHINA AND RUSSIA, IT WILL BE A CATASTROPHIC NUCLEAR WAR ..... NONE OF THE SIDES ARE GOING TO SEND THEIR MISSILES THOUSANDS OF MILES JUST TO DAMAGE THE KREMLIN, TIANANMEN SQUARE OR NEW YORK'S FREEDOM TOWER

What happens after the bombs drop: Scientists reveal the terrifying global aftermath of nuclear war

 

By Rob Waugh 

 

Daily Mail

Mar 21, 2026

 

 

As the threat of a nuclear war intensifies, the terrifying reality of what could happen after the bombs explode may cause more fear than the initial cataclysm.

For decades, worst-case scenarios have projected that tens of millions could perish within minutes as nuclear warheads struck major metropolitan areas such as New York, Washington, Chicago and Los Angeles.

However, each of those fireballs have long-lasting consequences for the planet and everyone within range of their deadly radiation clouds.

Scientific research has suggested that the conditions caused by a series nuclear detonations around the planet would be catastrophic for human health, the environment and almost all other living organisms that some might consider being vaporized in the atomic blast a less painful fate.

Specifically, years of studies on the effects of nuclear explosions and the ensuing fallout have found that such a war, even an isolated conflict, would burn away the ozone layer, spread disease from unburied corpses and expose millions to a fatal illness called Acute Radiation Syndrome.

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, a Chicago-based nonprofit that created the infamous Doomsday Clock, warned in January that the world has never been closer to total annihilation.

Recent events have only moved that timeline further along, with the war in Iran threatening to spiral out of control as nuclear-armed Russia has allegedly begun supplying Iran with military intelligence on US forces.

Meanwhile, the last remaining nuclear arms treaty between the US and Russia, called New START, officially ended on February 5, leaving no barriers on either nation's ability to build and test weapons of mass destruction.

 

The US, Israel, Iran, and Russia have all warned that a catastrophic global war could be nearing as the crisis in the Middle East escalates (Stock Image)

The 'Ivy Mike' nuclear test on November 1, 1952 (Pictured) was one of the largest surface detonations ever, completely destroying Elugelab Island in the Marshall Islands

 

Diseases ravage the planet 

Following a nuclear war, diseases such as salmonella, dysentery, typhoid, malaria, dengue fever and encephalitis would spread widely among the survivors, according to a 1981 report in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Not only would survivors not have clean water, but insects would multiply rapidly, feeding on the corpses littering the streets.

Along with untreated sewage carrying more diseases, the rise of trillions of radiation-resistant insects would allow these pathogens to be carried from dead humans and animals to those who still living around the globe.

Medical equipment running on electricity may also be useless without generators in areas struck by blackouts. 

A 1986 report entitled The Medical Implications of Nuclear War warned: 'Many familiar barriers to the spread of communicable disease... will be seriously compromised in the post-attack environment In their absence.'

'A host of enteric diseases not yet encountered by most Americans may be expected to spread widely,' the report continued.

According to the National Library of Medicine, these illnesses would include hepatitis, a viral liver infection that can cause inflammation and jaundice, and E. coli, a potentially fatal bacterial gut infection often leading to severe diarrhea, cramps and dehydration.

 

The idea of 'nuclear winter' first came to the world's attention in an article by scientist Carl Sagan in 1983 (Stock Image)

Russia's Sarmat-2 intercontinental nuclear missile, in a successful test launch on April 20, 2022

 

The ‘ultraviolet spring’ 

Nuclear war could strip away the ozone layer, leaving survivors to be blasted by cancer-causing ultraviolet radiation from the unfiltered sun. The sun’s intense rays could also kill off much of the remaining food supply.

Researchers first realized in 1970s that nuclear fireballs would produce nitrogen oxides, which would be carried high into the stratosphere and chemically destroy ozone molecules.

A 1975 study by the National Academy of Sciences, nuclear explosions could reduce the ozone layer by up to 70 percent in an all-out nuclear war where 10,000 megatons of weapons detonated.

However, that amount of damage is far beyond what the combined nuclear arsenals on Earth currently possess.

John W. Birks of the University of Colorado wrote: 'Once most of the smoke and dust was removed from the atmosphere and sunlight began to break through, the biosphere would not receive normal sunlight but, rather, sunlight highly enriched in ultraviolet radiation.'

The resulting increase in UV-B radiation would cause more skin cancers among surviving humans, and also have devastating effects on crops and wildlife.

Recent research suggested that the effects of even a ‘small’ nuclear war between, such as a hypothetical conflict between India and Pakistan, could potentially destroy up to 40 percent of the ozone layer.

Michael Mills, chief study author from CU-Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics said: 'We would see a dramatic drop in ozone levels that would persist for many years.' 

'At mid-latitudes the ozone decrease would be up to 40 percent, which could have huge effects on human health and on terrestrial, aquatic and marine ecosystems.'

 

Tests of early US nuclear weapons during the Manhattan Project in World War II

 

The ‘black rain’ 

In Hiroshima, Japan, fires created by the first atomic bomb dropped in World War II carried ash and radioactive material into the clouds. The result was 'black rain,' which falls with an oily consistency almost like tar.

The rain fell on the city in the hours after the bomb exploded, leading to severe radiation burns in some cases.

The effects of the weather on radiation can be unpredictable, with the 1953 Nevada bomb tests leading to 'hot spots' where large amounts of radiation lurked.

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found that lethal amounts of fallout could spread hundreds of miles from the site of an explosion.

Fallout is the radioactive dust and particles that fall back to Earth after a nuclear explosion. Carried by wind, it can mix with dirt or debris from the blast site and contaminate everything it touches.

Researchers writing in The Medical Implications of Nuclear War suggested that up to seven percent of the US could be covered in enough fallout to deliver a dose of radiation large enough to kill within two days.

 

Black rain fell on the victims of the US atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945

 

Global starvation 

Up to five billion are projected to die of hunger after a full-scale nuclear war.

Soot from burning cities would soar high into the air, encircling the planet. The vast cloud of smoke would rapidly cool the planet, reflecting sunlight back into space.

This would cause crops to wither and make it impossible to plant those same foods at least for the next year, according to a 2022 Nature study.

Firestorms would kill people even in bomb shelters

Doomsday preppers and other survival experts have long noted that the safest place to be during a nuclear attack is in a well-shielded fallout shelter or some type of underground basement.

However, scientists have argued that those in shelters could actually be killed by the fires started in the explosions.

Collapsing buildings and ruptured fuel tanks or gas lines could combine to ignite what researchers called a 'firestorm.' This type of 'fire wind' would rapidly rise to gale force, blowing inwards from all directions.

The research in the Journal of Public Health Policy suggested that even in bomb shelters and basements, temperatures would rapidly rise to fatal levels during the firestorm on the surface.

The fire would completely consume available oxygen, the researchers added, meaning that those who were not burnt to death would suffocate.

TRUMP IS A NO-CLASS LOW-LIFE ..... ROBERT MUELLER, WHO WAS WOUNDED WHILE LEADING A MARINE RIFLE PLATOON IN VIETNAM, DESERVES BETTER THAN TO HAVE HIS DEATH CELEBRATED BY VIETNAM DRAFT DODGER DONALD TRUMP

Robert Mueller dies aged 81: Donald Trump fumes 'I'm glad he's dead' as he launches scathing attack on former FBI director

 

By Alyssa Guzman 

 

Daily Mail

Mar 21, 2026

 

 

Former FBI Director Robert Mueller has died at the age of 81. Mueller died from unknown circumstances on Friday night

 

President Donald Trump rejoiced 'I'm glad he's dead' just minutes after it was announced former FBI director Robert Mueller had died at the age of 81. 

Mueller died from unknown circumstances on Friday night, his family told The New York Times' Michael Schmidt. 

'With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away last night. His family asks that their privacy be respected,' they said in a statement. 

No more information surrounding his death has been released. 

On Saturday, President Donald Trump celebrated the news of Mueller's passing, writing on Truth Social: 'Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!' 

Trump has disliked Mueller since the latter was in charge of the investigation into the Russian interference in the 2016 election, which the president won. 

Trump labeled the investigation a 'witch hunt' and frequently attacked Mueller. The former FBI director spent two years investigating, concluding that Russia had interfered with the election to benefit Trump. 

Mueller's team had not charged Trump for the collusion, but said he could not exonerate him either.  

 

President Donald Trump celebrated the news of Mueller's passing, writing on Truth Social: 'Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!'

Trump was quick to react to the announcement Mueller died 

 

Trump called the report 'total bulls**t' at the time. 

His death comes after his family told The Times in September that the former government worker had Parkinson's Disease. 

The revelation came after the House Oversight Committee had requested Mueller appeared before them to testify about the government's investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. 

His family told The Times he was not well enough to do so. 

A statement at the time said: 'Bob was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in the summer of 2021. He retired from the practice of law at the end of that year.

'He taught at his law school alma mater during the fall of both 2021 and 2022, and he retired at the end of 2022. His family asks that his privacy be respected.'

Mueller had been living in a memory care facility. 

Last year, Mueller was scheduled to sit with the House Oversight Committee investigators regarding the FBI's work relating to Jeffrey Epstein. 

 

Mueller, a former U.S. Marine, served as the sixth director of the FBI from 2001 until 2013

Mueller with his wife Ann Cabell Standish in 2019

 

The committee was seeking information Mueller may know about Epstein from overseeing the FBI during the pedophile's 2005 Florida prostitution case, a matter in which the FBI eventually intervened. 

Mueller served as the sixth director of the FBI from 2001 until 2013. He was the second-longest serving FBI director in history, behind J. Edgar Hoover. 

He transformed the FBI into the nation's premier law enforcement agency and a terrorism-fighting force after the September 11, 2001 attacks. 

At the FBI, Mueller set about almost immediately overhauling the bureau’s mission to meet the law enforcement needs of the 21st century, beginning his 12-year tenure just one week before the September 11 attacks and serving across presidents of both political parties. 

He was nominated by Republican President George W. Bush.

The cataclysmic event instantaneously switched the bureau’s top priority from solving domestic crime to preventing terrorism, a shift that imposed an almost impossibly difficult standard on Mueller and the rest of the federal government: preventing 99 out of 100 terrorist plots wasn’t good enough.

Mueller retired from the FBI in 2013. He had agreed to stay on after his 10-year term was up when President Barack Obama asked. 

In an extraordinary vote of confidence, Congress, at the Obama Administration’s request, approved a two-year extension for Mueller to remain at his post. 

 

Mueller was appointed to the FBI under President George W. Bush 

 

After several years in private practice, Mueller was asked by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to return to public service as special counsel in the Trump-Russia inquiry. 

Mueller was born in New York City and grew up in a well-to-do suburb of Philadelphia.

He received a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a master’s degree in international relations from New York University. 

He then joined the Marines, serving for three years as an officer during the Vietnam War. He led a rifle platoon and was awarded a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and two Navy Commendation Medals. 

Following his military service, Mueller earned a law degree from the University of Virginia.

Mueller became a federal prosecutor and relished the work of handling criminal cases. 

He rose quickly through the ranks in US attorneys’ offices in San Francisco and Boston from 1976 to 1988. 

Later, as head of the Justice Department’s criminal division in Washington, he oversaw a range of high-profile prosecutions that chalked up victories against targets as varied as Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and New York crime boss John Gotti.

In a mid-career switch that shocked colleagues, Mueller threw over a job at a prestigious Boston law firm to join the homicide division of the US attorney’s office in the nation’s capital. 

There, he immersed himself as a senior litigator in a bulging caseload of unsolved drug-related murders in a city rife with violence.

Mueller was driven by a career-long passion for the painstaking work of building successful criminal cases.

Even as head of the FBI, he would dig into the details of investigations, some of them major cases but others less so, sometimes surprising agents who suddenly found themselves on the phone with the director.

'The management books will tell you that as the head of an organization, you should focus on the vision,' Mueller once said. 

But 'for me there were and are today those areas where one needs to be substantially personally involved,' especially in regard to 'the terrorist threat and the need to know and understand that threat to its roots.'

Two terrorist attacks occurred toward the end of Mueller’s watch: the Boston Marathon bombing and the Fort Hood shootings in Texas. Both weighed heavily on him, he acknowledged in an interview two weeks before his departure.

'You sit down with victims’ families, you see the pain they go through and you always wonder whether there isn’t something more' that could have been done, he said.

IT APPEARS AS THOUGH THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTIONARY GUARD CORPS IS IN CHARGE

Khamenei's disappearance fuels uncertainty over who rules Iran

Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public and did not deliver a Nowruz address for the Iranian New Year, and the rumor mill is in full swing. "This is more than strange," a senior US official told Axios. "We have no proof he is holding the reins." An Israeli official added: "We have no evidence he is the one giving orders." The elimination of Ali Larijani and the military command echelon has effectively left the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in control.

 

Israel Hayom

Mar 21, 2026

 

 

The new commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Ahmad Vahidi, a former Quds Force commander and defense minister, may be the actual leader of Iran

 

 

Despite intelligence indicating that Iran's supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is alive, the CIA and the Mossad are still working to assess his location and condition, Axios reported, citing senior US and Israeli officials. 

The mystery surrounding Khamenei deepened after he failed to appear for a Nowruz speech on Friday, breaking with a tradition his father observed every year. Instead, he issued only a written message on Telegram. "We expected to see Mojtaba in some form," a US official said. "He didn't use the opportunity or the tradition. That is a major red flag."

 

 

Supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei's disappearance is a mystery.

 

"This is more than strange," the US official added. "We don't think the Iranians would go through all this trouble to choose a dead man as supreme leader, but at the same time we have no proof he is holding the reins." According to the report, the CIA is trying to verify whether images published on Khamenei's Telegram channel for Nowruz are recent. His absence stands out, the site noted, especially as Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian released a video for the holiday.

Rumors about his death

The uncertainty over Khamenei's health was also discussed at a US House Intelligence Committee hearing on Thursday. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Mojtaba was "very seriously injured" in an Israeli strike and that decision making within Iran's leadership "is not clear." In addition to his father, the strike reportedly killed his wife, Zahra Haddad Adel, his son and his mother.

Western reports paint a complex picture. Israeli officials told The New York Times he had sustained leg injuries and was staying in a secure location with limited communications. CNN reported a fractured foot, trauma around his left eye and facial cuts.

At the same time, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Jarida reported last Sunday that Khamenei had been secretly flown to Moscow on a Russian military aircraft for surgery, after Russian President Vladimir Putin offered treatment to President Pezeshkian in a phone call. The Kremlin declined to comment, and Iran's ambassador to Moscow later denied the report.

More extreme claims have circulated in recent days on Iranian opposition social media channels, without verification. An opposition channel called @mamlekate published an unverified claim Friday that Mojtaba died that morning after being taken off a ventilator when his lungs failed. Another source described by the channel as verified said Khamenei underwent surgery at Sina Hospital in Tehran, where his leg was amputated, and was later hospitalized with brain edema and impaired consciousness.

A generals' regime

"We have no evidence he is actually the one giving orders," an Israeli official told Axios. In the apparent leadership vacuum following a series of assassinations, led by that of the supreme leader, National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani and the military command echelon, the prevailing assessment is that political decision making has shifted to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which also backed Mojtaba's selection.

Gabbard confirmed at the hearing that Mojtaba is close to hardline commanders in the Revolutionary Guards, but stressed that while the decision making mechanism "is not clear," the Iranian regime "remains largely intact, though significantly damaged."

The question of who makes decisions in Iran is now central. Although President Pezeshkian ostensibly holds broad powers, it is clear he is not directing the military campaign. This was underscored by the public humiliation he faced when he apologized to Gulf states over attacks, only for the strikes to continue immediately afterward, following anger from senior Revolutionary Guards commanders.

Within the military echelon, the figure emerging as most senior is the new commander of the Revolutionary Guards, Ahmad Vahidi, a former Quds Force commander and defense minister.

According to Western reports, the Revolutionary Guards were behind Mojtaba's appointment, pressuring anyone who sought to choose a different candidate who might pursue negotiations with the US or reforms to calm protesters. The reports say the Guards forced the decision by exerting pressure on members of the Assembly of Experts, which had to convene in secret after its offices in Qom were bombed. The announcement was delayed for many hours due to internal opposition, and some members were not invited at all.

Mojtaba is believed to have cultivated deep ties over the years with Revolutionary Guards commanders, particularly with midlevel officers who stepped into the roles of senior figures killed in the war.

GERMANY CAVES IN TO NICARAGUAN ACCUSATION BY WITHDRAWING SUPPORT OF ISRAEL AT ICJ

As Germany accused at ICJ for aiding Israel, it pulls support for Jewish state before UN court

“We are now part of a process at the International Court of Justice initiated by Nicaragua,” Berlin said. “We have decided to focus on this process.”

 

By Mike Wagenheim 

 

Israel Today

Mar 20, 2026 

 

 

International Court of Justice

 

Germany said that it is withdrawing its backing of Israel in a genocide case that South Africa brought against the Jewish state before the International Court of Justice, as Berlin faces its own charges before the court for aiding Israel.

The court, which is based in The Hague, is the principal judicial arm of the United Nations.

Germany said in early 2024 that it would file a third-party intervention in South Africa’s case against Israel in the wake of the Hamas-led Oct. 7 terror attacks.

At the time, Berlin rejected South Africa’s claims as “baseless” and a “political instrumentalization” of the Genocide Convention, while supporting Israel’s right to self-defense.

Multiple German government officials said this week that the country is now withdrawing that support, as Berlin defends itself in a separate case that Nicaragua brought before the International Court of Justice.

Nicaragua alleges that Germany is violating international law, including the Genocide Convention, by supporting Israel politically, financially and militarially in its war against Hamas.

The court turned down Nicaragua’s request for emergency measures, but the case was allowed to proceed and remains active.

Germany has argued that the court cannot logically make a determination on its actions until it decides the case against Israel. An intervention on behalf of Israel could serve to undermine Germany’s reasoning.

“There will not be an intervention at the International Court of Justice,” stated Josef Hinterseher, deputy spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry.

“We are now part of a process at the ICJ initiated by Nicaragua, and we have decided to focus on this process,” he said.

Germany is Israel’s second-largest arms supplier and fifth-largest export partner. It has rarely exercised criticism of Israel amid the war and lifted a suspension of some arms export licences to Israel in November.

Earlier this week, Israel filed its response to South Africa’s case, following two time extensions.

South Africa is now debating whether to reply to Israel’s response or advance the case to oral hearings.

Paraguay filed an intervention last week on behalf of Israel. Eighteen countries back South Africa’s application, including the staunchly anti-Israel governments of Ireland and Spain.

Any country party to the Genocide Convention can take another to court over that subject at the ICJ.

MUSK'S EMPTY GESTURE ... FEDERAL LAW GEERALLY PROHIBITS GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES FROM RECEIVING OUTSIDE COMPENSATION TIED TO THEIR OFFICIAL DUTIES

Musk wades into DHS shutdown, floats paying TSA salaries 

 

by Sophie Brams

 

The Hill

Mar 21, 2026

 

 

Billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk is offering to pay the salaries of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees as the partial government shutdown stretches into another week.

“I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country,” Musk wrote on social platform X, which he also owns, early Saturday morning.

It was not immediately clear how that process would work, or whether it would be legal, given that federal law generally prohibits government employees from receiving outside compensation tied to their official duties.

TSA workers could miss their second full paycheck next week as lawmakers remain deadlocked over funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), seeming no closer to an agreement.

Democrats have dug their heels in on demands for sweeping changes in immigration enforcement operations, refusing to support any funding bill that does not include reforms within Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

The White House offered some concessions this week, agreeing to expand the use of body-worn cameras and limit immigration enforcement operations around “sensitive locations,” such as schools and hospitals. 

But Republicans have held firm against other demands, including a ban on ICE officers and CBP agents wearing masks and requiring them to obtain a judicial warrant before entering private property, rather than the administrative warrants routinely used.

GOP lawmakers have also rebuffed recent Democratic attempts to force a vote to fund all other agencies within DHS, such as TSA, the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) and U.S. Coast Guard, while excluding the immigration agencies.

The shutdown has strained air travel, with staffing shortages contributing to increasingly long lines at security checkpoints and fresh warnings that some smaller airports could be forced to temporarily close if the funding lapse persists.

A growing number of TSA officers are calling out sick or quitting, according to officials, who point to financial struggles as the leading factor.

More than 360 TSA officers have left the force since the shutdown began in mid-February, DHS reported on Tuesday. The administration also said that callout rates spiked above 50 percent in Houston and 30 percent in New Orleans and Atlanta earlier this week.

Some airports, such as Philadelphia International Airport, have already closed terminal checkpoints due to staffing problems, and senior TSA officials warned this week that the likelihood of more changes rises with each day.

“Small airports may be particularly impacted because they have fewer lanes and they have fewer people, and so, if a certain three or four out of 10 employees call out, we may, to ensure we’re not degrading security, we may have to temporarily suspend operations at those airports,” Deputy TSA administrator Adam Stahl said Thursday during an appearance on NewsNation.

“This is going to get worse before it gets better, particularly if we don’t have a resolution within the coming days and weeks,” he added.

ISLAMIST MAMDANI VISITS WITH MUSLIM CRIMINALS, BUT NOT WITH THEIR VICTIMS

Mamdani ignites social media outrage after photo-op at notorious NYC jail: 'F---ing ridiculous'

Zohran Mamdani broke his fast with Muslim inmates during his first visit to Rikers as mayor, prompting questions about victims from critics online

 

By Alec Schemmel and Leo Briceno  

 

Fox News

Mar 21, 2026 

Mayor Zohran Mamdani surrounded by Muslim men incarcerated at the Rikers Island jail facility, where he prayed and shared an iftar meal.

 

As New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has been embracing his Muslim faith amid Ramadan, he decided to break his religious fast with inmates who share his faith in New York's notorious Rikers Island jail, calling it "one of the most meaningful evenings" he's had as mayor. 

Although Mamdani has visited Rikers Island in the past as a state legislator, this marked his first visit as mayor of New York City. 

Shortly before arriving, he reiterated his pledge to shut down the jail and have the city absorb the incarcerated population into its borough-based jails. He also hinted at plans to hire a facilitator to expedite those plans.

"This is me just being a Muslim New Yorker," Mamdani said during the visit to Rikers, according to NPR. "There are some for whom that is a political act." 

Mamdani was joined during the visit by Yusef Salaam, a member of the so-called "Central Park Five" who were exonerated of a 1989 rape and assault. Salaam currently serves as a member of the New York City Council.

Social media erupted after Mamdani's X post, with many critics questioning his decision to visit inmates at Rikers, which is notorious for its violent criminals.

Mystery novelist Daniel Friedman, who according to his bio on Macmillan Publishers' website, lives in New York City, noted, "You have to be an absolute monster to be sent to Rikers Island these days."

"Offenders on Rikers all have long histories of doing things so horrible that even the woke, pro-crime judges and prosecutors in NYC don’t want to be responsible for what they’ll do if they let them go," Friedman added.

Moshe Hill, a long-time Long Island resident and candidate for the Nassau County legislature, agreed with Friedman.

"Criminals in prison are just ‘New Yorkers in custody,’ according to Mamdani. Why are they in custody? You don't go to Rikers Island for nothing!" Hill quipped. 

 

 

Rikers Island

 

"Mayor likes to hang out with the people who victimize us. F---ing ridiculous," Newsmax's Rob Schmitt posted on X.

Meanwhile, Emmy-Award winning producer and columnist Daniella Greenbaum Davis made her own post, asking the New York City mayor if he had also visited the victims of the inmates he was meeting with.

"Visiting people in jail is admirable but just wondering if you've also visited their victims / the families of their victims?" she questioned. "Seems like there is a bizarre progressive determination to invert victimization I can't quite understand."

Among Mamdani's celebrations during Ramadan was an iftar, or a daily fast-breaking, at the Museum of the City of New York. That also triggered some responses, including from a former college football coach and lawmaker, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., 

 

 

U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama

 

Tuberville shared a photo of Mamdani at the iftar alongside a photo of the Twin Towers on fire after planes hit them on Sept. 11, 2001. "The enemy is inside the gates," Tuberville captioned the post. 

Tuberville has faced backlash over the post, but the GOP senator stood firm and defended his social media post. 

"I just go by his rhetoric," Tuberville said.

"He’s made a lot of statements about his stance with Islam and radical Islam, all the things that go along with what he preaches every day. And I’m just kind of repeating what he’s saying," the senator told D.C. News Now’s Reshad Hudson.

"We don’t need a division in this country. We need everybody to go with the Constitution, understand we have moral values. And if we all stick with those — I don’t care if you’re Muslim or Catholic or Baptist, it makes no difference," he continued.

He added, "We need to make the country better; we don’t need to divide it. That’s what he’s doing in New York."

I DON'T PUT MUCH WEIGHT INTO CONFESSION BY INMATE NOT SENTENCED TO DEATH IN HIS ATTEMPT TO SAVE CRIME PARTNER'S LIFE

Texas inmate seeks to stop looming execution after codefendant confesses to double murders

In his appeal, James Broadnax, who also wants a new trial, included a signed confession by his cousin saying he committed the 2008 Garland murders. 

 

 

by Ayden Runnels

 

The Texas Tribune

Mar 19, 2026

 

 

 

From left to right: James Broadnax, Cedric Ricks, Edward Busby Jr., and Charles Thompson. All are scheduled to be executed in Texas in 2026. 

 

With 42 days until his scheduled execution, James Broadnax filed a new appeal in his capital murder conviction on Thursday with a signed confession from his codefendant claiming he, not Broadnax, had committed the killings.

In his confession, Demarius Cummings, Broadnax’s cousin, took full responsibility for the planned robbery and deadly shooting of music producers Stephen Swan, 26, and Matthew Butler, 28, in 2008. Cummings’ statement said he persuaded Broadnax, then 19, to publicly claim he committed the killings because he had no criminal history, while Cummings had already been convicted of other crimes.

Cummings said his decision to confess to the killings was influenced by Broadnax’s looming execution date, which is scheduled for April 30 at 6 p.m., and his becoming “more spiritual.”

“I want to clear my conscience and do not want James to be executed for shooting two people when I was the one who committed those acts,” Cummings wrote in his confession.

Cummings is currently serving a life sentence for his part in the double capital murder the two were convicted of in 2009. His confession was first reported by the Dallas Morning News on Thursday morning.

The confession was included in Broadnax’s new appeal claiming the state presented no evidence during trial that Broadnax had shot the two other than statements he made to the media, and that DNA evidence on the murder weapon had always indicated Cummings had fired the weapon. The appeal asks the court to stay Broadnax’s execution, remand his conviction back to trial court and ultimately to strike his death sentence.

The appeal was filed in Dallas County and with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. A Dallas County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson said the office would respond to the appeal.

Thursday’s filing also reiterated similar claims that previous appeals from Broadnax assert — one of which is awaiting action by the Supreme Court — that prosecutors used “racially insinuating inferences” and misrepresented rap lyrics Broadnax wrote to secure his conviction. Last week, several nationally recognized rappers including Houston artist Travis Scott filed amicus briefs with the Supreme Court in a separate appeal from Broadnax, arguing the inclusion of lyrics Broadnax wrote depicting violence was erroneous and racially charged.

Under Texas’ law of parties, defendants can still be sentenced to death if they helped commit a crime in which a capital murder occurred, even if they did not kill anyone themselves. But prosecutors explicitly declined to use that law in Broadnax’s case, and the appeal claims that it would have been unlikely for it to have applied to Broadnax if the confession had been available.

Cummings was charged under the law of parties, but the state chose not to seek the death penalty.

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If his appeal is successful and Broadnax’s execution is stayed, it would be the third stay granted in Texas by the court in just over a year. Last March, David Wood’s execution was stayed by the CCA before his case was remanded back to trial court in July. Robert Roberson’s execution, which had been opposed vehemently by several members of the state Legislature, was also stayed for a second time in October following an appeal with new evidence found with the assistance of state Rep. Lacey Hull, R-Houston.

If his appeal is rejected and the execution proceeds as scheduled, Broadnax would be the second inmate in Texas put to death in 2026. He is one of three men in the state with executions currently scheduled.

WAIT TILL THE FIRST TIME A SUSPECT CROAKS DURING THIS TECHNIQUE

North Texas police recruits learn new restraint technique aimed at improving safety

Police recruits in North Texas are training in a new restraint technique called SafeWrap, designed to reduce risk to both officers and suspects during arrests.

 

By Tiffany Liou  

 

WFAA

Mar 10, 2026

 

 

 

Police recruits in North Texas are training in a new restraint technique called SafeWrap, designed to reduce risk to both officers and suspects during arrests.

 

ARLINGTON, Texas — Police recruits across North Texas are learning a new way to restrain suspects — one instructor says could improve safety for both officers and the people they arrest.

At the North Central Texas Council of Governments Regional Police Academy, recruits from 27 departments, including Bedford, Carrollton and Farmers Branch, are now being trained in a method called SafeWrap.

The technique focuses on controlling a suspect while keeping them on their side, rather than handcuffing them face down.

“I think it’s a really useful tactic,” said recruit Mariah Castro, who is currently training at the academy.

SafeWrap is based on principles from jiu-jitsu and techniques originally used in health care settings, according to Charlie Fernandez, director of Gracie Survival Tactics with Gracie University.

“In police work, there are no joint locks, no strikes, no chokeholds, no thoracic compression,” Fernandez said. “Nothing is going to interfere with breathing.”

 

The method was developed about two years ago and is already being adopted by about 200 law enforcement agencies nationwide, Fernandez said.

Instructors say the technique allows officers to maintain control of a suspect while reducing the risk of injury during a struggle. The Regional Police Academy in North Texas is the first academy in the country to implement SafeWrap training for recruits, according to instructors.

For Castro, who is set to graduate from the academy in May, the training is another step toward a career she says has always felt like a calling.

“I’ve always wanted to help people,” Castro said. “I felt it was something I was called to do.”

Recruits hope the technique will help them safely handle difficult situations once they take to the streets.