The Trump administration has admitted to mistakenly deporting a father to El Salvador’s infamous mega prison, and claims it is unable to bring him back into the US.

Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia was granted protected status by a US immigration judge in 2019 and was living in Maryland. On March 12, as he picked up his son after work, Abrego Garcia’s car was stopped by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who told him his protected status had changed.

Three days later, Abrego Garcia was one of more 200 alleged members of Salvadoran and Venezuelan gangs that the Trump administration deported by plane to El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT).

ICE declared it removed Abrego Garcia ‘due to his prominent role in MS-13’. Meanwhile, his attorneys said he is not linked in any way to the gang, and that he originally fled his home country to escape gang violence.

But in a court filing on Monday, lawyers with the US government acknowledged that deporting Abrego Garcia had been a mistake.

‘Although ICE was aware of his protection from removal to El Salvador, Abrego Garcia was removed to El Salvador because of an administrative error,’ wrote the government in the filing obtained by The Atlantic.

Since the dad is in Salvadoran custody, Trump administration lawyers said they are not able to get him back.

‘Oopsie… Too late,’ wrote Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on X (formerly Twitter) on the morning of March 16.

Asked about the court filing, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday acknowledged the mistake, but claimed without evidence that Abrego Garcia has ties to MS-13.

‘The error that you are referring to was a clerical error. It was an administrative error,’ said Leavitt.

‘The administration maintains the position that this individual who was deported to El Salvador and will not be returning to our country was a member of the brutal and vicious MS-13 gang.’

Questioned about the evidence, Leavitt insisted: ‘There’s a lot of evidence, and the Department of Homeland Security and ICE have that evidence, and I saw it this morning.’

Abrego Garcia’s case appears to be the first time the administration has conceded to accidentally deporting someone with the right to stay in the US, after President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 allowing him to remove people from the country during war times.

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Elon Musk is once again the world’s richest man on Forbes’ billionaires list, despite some financial hits and scrutiny he’s taken for serving the Trump administration.

Meanwhile President Donald Trump, who put Musk in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), more than doubled his own net worth.

Forbes’ 39^th annual World’s Billionaires list features 3,028 billionaires, which is the highest number since the ranking started in 1987. The list released on Tuesday has a record 15 individuals with 12-figure wealth, up one from last year.

The billionaires together have a $16.1trillion collective net worth.

Musk, who is a Tesla and SpaceX chief executive and owns X (formerly Twitter), grew his net worth by 75% to about $342billion. He is the first person ever to exceed $300billion in worth.

The DOGE head also retook the top spot on the list from Bernard Arnault, the chief executive of the world’s largest luxury goods company, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA.

Musk enjoyed a jump with new valuations for SpaceX and xAI, and Tesla stock climbing for 12 months. For the 2025 list, Musk did not take a big hit from Tesla stock taking its biggest plunge in the first three months of this year – 36% – since 2022.

DOGE’s recommendations to cut excess spending in the federal government have been unpopular among some Democrats and unions, and there have even been acts of violence against Tesla including shots fired at a dealership in Oregon last month.

Trump, whose 2024 campaign accepted more than $277million from Musk, last month bought a new Tesla on the White House driveway in a bid to boost Tesla’s tumbling sales and stocks.

The US president’s net worth grew to about $5.1billion with shares of the Trump Media & Technology Group and successful new cryptocurrency ventures. He ranks No 700 on the list.

‘Donald Trump has presided over the most lucrative post-presidency in American history, selling his supporters NFTs, coffee-table books and, most importantly, shares of a money-losing social-media venture,’ states the Forbes list.

In second place is Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg worth $216billion, in third Amazon executive chairman Jeff Bezos worth $215billion, in fourth Oracle chairman Larry Ellison worth $192billion, and in fifth Arnault and his family worth $178billion.

‘It’s another record-breaking year for the world’s richest people, despite financial uncertainty for many and geopolitical tensions on the rise,’ stated Forbes Senior Editor of Wealth, Chase Peterson-Withorn.

‘And, from Elon Musk to Howard Lutnick and the other billionaires taking over the US government, they’re growing more and more powerful.’

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The American restaurant chain known for skimpily dressed waitresses, Hooters, has filed for bankruptcy and plans to sell 100 US locations in order to stay in business.

Hooters of America LLC on Monday announced it is signing a restructuring support agreement with a Buyer Group that already owns and operates more than 30% of franchised Hooters restaurants in the country.

The company plans to offload the locations to the group of Hooters franchisees under a voluntary Chapter 11 protection filing made with the North Texas Bankruptcy Court in Dallas on Monday.

It comes after reports in late February that Hooters was heading for bankruptcy.

‘Our renowned Hooters restaurants are here to stay,’ stated Hooters of America CEO Sal Melilli.

‘Today’s announcement marks an important milestone in our efforts to reinforce Hooters’ financial foundation and continue delivering the guest-obsessed hospitality experience and delicious food our customers and communities have come to expect.’

After the Chapter 11 process, all Hooters locations will be owned by franchisees.

Speaking for the Buyer Group, Hooters Inc CEO Neil Kiefer said they have more than 30 years of experience working with Hooters and know what it takes to exceed customers’ expectations.

‘As we look toward the future, we are committed to restoring the Hooters brand back to its roots and simplifying HOA’s operations by adopting a pure franchise model that will maximize the potential for sustainable, long-term growth,’ stated Kiefer.

The chain is famous for Hooters Girls waitresses, who wear low-cut tight tops with the brand’s owl logo and orange shorts. The first location opened in Clearwater, Florida, in 1983 and the company also became known for its wings and sports bar-style food.

Hooters of America grew to become the franchisor and operator of more than 410 restaurants in 38 US states and 24 countries. The company’s existing franchise operations and locations outside of the US will not be affected by the bankruptcy process.

‘I’ve seen firsthand the incredible value and opportunities our brand brings to life,’ Melilli stated, ‘And I look forward to continuing that momentum well into the future.’

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It’s funny which bits of the Constitution are taken seriously in America.

When a young Ruth Bader Ginsburg demanded equal pay for equal work in the US Supreme Court, she was initially told the Constitution doesn’t mention ‘women’ or ‘sex’ – so tough luck. 

When classrooms full of children were gunned down, multiple times, defenders of the Second Amendment insisted the Founders were clear: the right to bear arms is sacrosanct. 

But now, as Donald Trump and his allies talk up the idea of him having a third term in the White House, suddenly, we’re told that the 22nd Amendment, which unequivocally states ‘no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice’ is open to interpretation.

On Kamala Harris’s campaign last year, I repeatedly warned about three things that would happen if Trump took office again: he would criminalise abortion, abandon Ukraine, and scrap the democratic process.

In debates with everyone from Trump fanboy Nigel Farage to White House advisor Sebastian Gorka, I was dismissed as dramatic, alarmist, and out of my depth.

When I raised alarms about Project 2025 – the utterly chilling blueprint for authoritarian rule written largely by former Trump officials – I was told by Gorka it had ‘nothing to do with him.’

And yet, here we are – just 70 days into his second term, and already a third of women of reproductive age live under abortion bans. We all saw the sickening scenes with Zelensky in the White House. And at lightning speed, Trump has already enacted an estimated 42% of Project 2025.

Now, the idea of a Trump third term isn’t a punchline anymore – it’s a plan. I’ve been in rooms with strategists, overheard campaign staff, and studied these unhinged proposals more than I care to admit.

‘But how?’ I hear incredulous readers screaming.

Well, the theory from right-wing voices is simple: yes, they concede, the Constitution lays out that no one shall be elected president more than twice. But it says nothing about succession.

Trump, the theory goes, could run as vice president in 2028 – perhaps alongside his current VP, JD Vance. If they win, Vance could be sworn in as Commander-in-Chief and then resign, allowing Trump to assume the presidency through the line of succession.

This isn’t a legal argument – or one that makes much sense. But in MAGA-land, grievance is disguised as logic.

Steve Bannon – a former chief strategist to Trump who was convicted for defying a subpoena related to the January 6 Capitol riot investigation, and pled guilty to fraud – has floated the idea of ‘four more years after the next four.’ 

Former advisors talk openly about Trump being ‘restored’. Republican lawmakers table bills to ‘repeal the 22nd.’ At Trump rallies, I’ve seen T-shirts printed with ‘Trump 2024. 2028. 2032.’

Many assumed this was a reference to his children standing, or a joke. 

But now, they are preparing for Trump to complete over a decade in the Oval Office. 

Trump is surrounded by more loyalists and fewer checks and balances than ever before. The ‘grown-ups in the room’ (I use that term loosely) from his first term are long gone. This administration is stacked with MAGA loyalists who see constitutional norms as optional.

If they think they can force a third term – through lawsuits, executive orders, or sheer chaos – believe me, they will.

The movement isn’t trying to win on policy, governance, or compromise but through sheer brute force. They believe might is right and they’re high on power. Their plan isn’t to govern. It’s to outlast, outmaneuver, and outlive any opposition to its poisonous agenda.

This is how democracies slip: not always with tanks in the streets, but with technicalities, semantics, and very serious men in suits saying, ‘It’s actually more complicated than that.’

In Britain, we’ve been used to believing that America has institutions too sacred, a constitution too set in stone, to be broken. But opposition leadersin the US – especially those working to stop this – are under no such illusion.

The courts are politicised. Congress is broken. State legislatures are in hock to Trump. A President who tried to overturn an election and incited an insurrection is not only not in jail – he’s been re-elected.

We need to stop treating the Trump third term as hypothetical. The groundwork is being laid right now. And from where I’m sitting – just like I predicted nationwide bans on abortion and betraying Ukraine at every turn – it’s terrifyingly plausible.

For those watching from abroad, don’t make the mistake of thinking this is America’s problem alone. We know what can happen when authoritarianism gathers pace.

In the UK, we aren’t powerless. 

Rebuilding and strengthening our European alliances are essential in countering America’s democratic slip ‘n’ slide.

So the next time you hear talk of Trump’s third term, believe it. They’re not joking. They’re not testing the waters. They are planning for a third term.

And if you think the Constitution will save America from it – well, you haven’t been paying attention.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk. 

Share your views in the comments below.

US prosecutors will seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, the Ivy League graduate accused of shooting dead a UnitedHealthcare CEO.

Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday morning directed prosecutors to pursue capital punishment for Mangione, 26, who has a sizable fanbase supporting his alleged anti-insurance company greed message.

‘Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson – an innocent man and father of two young children – was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America,’ stated Bondi.

‘After careful consideration, I have directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in this case as we carry out President Trump’s agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again.’

One federal charge that Mangione faces, murder through use of a firearm, carries the death penalty if convicted. Federal prosecutors had been mulling whether to seek it since Mangione was accused of killing Thompson, 50, outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel on December 4.

Mangione has not entered a plea to the federal charges, but has pleaded not guilty to state charges which do not make him eligible for the death penalty if convicted. Mangione faces possible life in prison without parole for a first-degree murder charge brought by the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

President Donald Trump on the first day of his second term signed an executive order for the Justice Department to seek the death penalty for ‘crimes of a severity demanding its use’. By contrast, former President Joe Biden in 2021 placed a moratorium on executions at the federal level.

Mangione’s lawyers did not immediately comment on Bondi’s announcement.

A fundraiser for Magione’s legal defense has received more than $720,000 in donations.

Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after Thompson was gunned down while walking to his company’s investors’ conference at the New York Hilton Midtown.

Federal prosecutors in murder charges filed on December 14 alleged that Mangione ‘meticulously’ plotted the shooting. Authorities recovered a manifesto and notebook writings in which Mangione allegedly wrote of his intent to ‘wack’ an insurance company chief executive.

Mangione’s state case was expected to go to trial before his federal one, and it is not immediately clear if Bondi’s decision will affect that plan.

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Elon Musk has handed out two million dollar cheques ‘in appreciation’ of voters in a swing state who signed a petition to support ‘free speech and the right to bear arms’.

The tech giant did so in a cheese-shaped hat, a nod to Wisconsin’s famous NFL team, the Greenbay Packers, as he ‘rewarded’ two of the state’s voters.

Musk went as far as to declare the two winners ‘spokespeople’ for his political group.

The awards came ahead of a judicial race in Wisconsin, into which he has pumped more than £15.4 million, deeming it ‘vital’ to the country as two additional seats in the US House are up for grabs.

‘It’s a super big deal. I’m not phoning it in. I’m here in person,’ he said. ‘The House majority is now razor thin.

‘And if the (Wisconsin) Supreme Court can redraw the districts, they will gerrymander the district and deprive Wisconsin of two seats on the Republican side. Then they will try to stop all the government reforms we are getting done, for you the American people,’ he claimed.

Wisconsin’s Supreme Court refused to hear a last-minute attempt by the state’s Democratic attorney general to stop the giveaway, the ruling coming minutes before the planned start of the rally.

Two lower courts had already rejected the legal challenge by Josh Kaul, who argues that Musk’s offer to give $1,000,000 away to those voting for Republican candidates violates a state law.

‘Wisconsin law prohibits offering anything of value to induce anyone to vote. Yet, Elon Musk did just that,’ Kaul said.

However, Wisconsin’s Supreme Court declined to take the case as an original action. The court gave no rationale for its decision.

Musk’s lawyers claim he was exercising his free speech rights with the giveaways and any attempt to restrict that would violate both the Wisconsin and US constitutions.

The payments were ‘intended to generate a grassroots movement in opposition to activist judges, not to expressly advocate for or against any candidate’, Musk’s attorneys argued in court filings.

Before the 2024 election, Musk said he would be ‘awarding $1 million to people who signed the petition every day from now until the election’.

The petition asked for people to pledge their support for the first and second amendments – which support free speech and gun rights – and people were asked for their contact details.

Signers needed to be registered in key battleground states Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina.

Federal law states that anyone who ‘pays or offers to pay or accepts payment either for registration to vote or for voting’ faces a potential $10,000 fine or a five-year prison sentence. 

The law also covers anything of monetary value, like liquor or lottery chances. 

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A federal judge has ruled that Alabama’s attorney general can’t prosecute people who help women travel to other states to obtain abortions in a major win for women’s rights.

US District Judge Myron Thompson sided with an abortion fund and medical providers who sued Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall after he suggested they could face prosecution under ‘anti-conspiracy’ laws.

But the new ruling has found that any prosecutions against those who help women travel to get abortions in other states would violate the First Amendment and a person’s right to travel.

Mr Marshall said he would ‘look closely’ at whether facilitating out-of-state abortions is a violation of Alabama’s criminal conspiracy laws.

The ruling was a victory for Yellowhammer Fund, an abortion assistance fund that had paused providing financial assistance to low-income people in the state because of the possibility of prosecution.

Alabama bans abortion at any stage of pregnancy with no exceptions for rape and incest.

50% of states in America which have abortion bans do not have exceptions for cases of rape or incest.

These include Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio.

Mr Thompson wrote in the 131-page opinion: ‘It is one thing for Alabama to outlaw by statute what happens in its backyard.

‘It is another thing for the state to enforce its values and laws, as chosen by the attorney general, outside its boundaries by punishing its citizens and others who help individuals travel to another state to engage in conduct that is lawful there but the attorney general finds to be contrary to Alabama’s values and laws.’

Mr Thompson said it would be the same as the state trying to prosecute people from Alabama planning a Las Vegas bachelor party because casino gambling is also outlawed in the state.

The Yellowhammer Fund and others had filed lawsuits seeking a court declaration that such prosecutions are not allowed.

‘Today is a good day for pregnant Alabamians who need lawful out-of-state abortion care,’ Yellowhammer Fund executive director Jenice Fountain said in a statement.

‘The efforts of Alabama’s attorney general to isolate pregnant people from their communities and support systems has failed.’

A spokesperson for the Alabama attorney general’s office said ‘the Office is reviewing the decision to determine the State’s options.’

In June 2022 overturned its landmark Roe v Wade decision that established a constitutional right to abortion nationwide.

The ruling left abortion rights to be determined by the states.

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Paddy’s Day drinking landed a New Jersey mayor in handcuffs after she was allegedly caught driving her toddler home while drunk.

‘Oh I’m sorry’, Gina LaPlaca, 45, told officers outside her home when they told they’d had multiple calls claiming she ran a red light and was swerving.

Bodycam footage showed a smashed-up wing mirror and a scrape the length of her blue BMW parked behind her on the drive around 5.40pm on March 17.

‘What happened to your mirror here,’ an officer asked. LaPlaca replied ‘that’s not good’ while stumbling over to try and bend it back into shape.

Asked what she hit on the way there, the Mayor of Lumberton told police: ‘I don’t know.’

Crying, LaPlaca said ‘I’m sorry’ while police placed her handcuffed in the back their car.

She had allegedly been filmed on a mobile phone driving erratically and nearly colliding with a utility pole, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

LaPlaca has been charged with driving under the influence, child endangerment and neglect, and driving with an expired license. She is due to appear in court next month.

She has been mayor of Lumberton, a township home to 13,000 people 25 miles east of Philadelphia, since 2023.

Her husband, firefighter Jason Carty, said: ‘Millions of Americans struggle with addiction and never get help.

‘Gina is someone who has struggled, and is now getting the help she needs.

‘I ask that everyone keep her in their thoughts as she moves forward on her road to recovery.

‘Please ignore the exaggerated political hyperbole and keep in mind her passion for helping others. This should not erase all the things she has accomplished for our community.

‘Gina is a loving and caring mother and stepmom to our son and her stepson.

‘Our oldest is a teenager and can see the unkind things being said online. I ask simply that you respect our privacy, be better humans and please show some compassion, thank you.’

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A woman survived a car crash but mysteriously went missing and was found dead at the bottom of a deep well.

Shirley Obert, 67, got into a car accident on Saturday morning while wearing a Chick-fil-A uniform red shirt and black pants.

Amid an active search for her, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office posted on Facebook that she was last seen around Abercrombie and Oxford Road in Georgia.

A GPS Aviation Unit as well as the Department of Natural Resources joined in the search in the county near Atlanta.

On Sunday afternoon, the sheriff’s office provided a tragic update stating that they located Obert.

‘It is not the outcome that we were hoping for,’ wrote the agency.

‘She was found deceased at the bottom of a deep well that was surrounded by very thick brush, near where her car was found.’

A GoFundMe page for her states that ‘she was found deceased in a deep, unmarked well that was covered in thick brush nearby the area where her car went off the road’.

Images from the scene showed rescue crews gathered around a hole in a wooded area, with one man wearing a helmet getting hoisted down.

It appeared that Obert had ‘been trying to go for help when this accident occurred’, added the sheriff’s office.

‘This appears to be a tragic accident,’ wrote the agency.

‘Please keep her family and her co-workers in your thoughts and prayers.’

Anyone with information on Obert’s death is urged to contact the sheriff’s department.

Obert was a ‘devoted Christian, wife, mother, and friend to many’, according to the GoFundMe page.

She is survived by her husband, whom she was the sole provider for, four sons and a daughter. She did not have life insurance for her husband.

The GoFundMe had raised more than $7,700 as of Monday evening.

Obert died a few months after a grandmother is believed to have fallen into a sinkhole after parking her car to look for her cat in Pennsylvania.

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President Donald Trump invited Kid Rock to the Oval Office to watch him sign an executive order concerning the music industry – but almost forgot to sign the document.

The American signer and rapper on Monday evening stood next to Trump, who sat at the resolute desk to sign the order aimed at stopping exploitive ticket scalping that often involves bots buying sections of seats and reselling them to fans for more.

Kid Rock’s visit started with the musician explaining that scalpers often buy tickets in bulk and prevent loyal fans from getting them at reasonable prices and that artists do not make any additional money. He also mentioned that for decades, fans buying tickets will see exorbitant fees at checkout.

Trump appeared engrossed with Kid Rock, who wore a flashy American flag suit celebrating the country’s 250th anniversary. The outfit included red, white and blue designs including eagles and a white hat with a matching ribbon. It was so extravagant that a reporter asked Trump if he would ever wear one.

‘I don’t know, I was thinking about wearing it tomorrow,’ said Trump jokingly of April Fools Day. ‘We’ve got a big day coming up.’

Trump then took questions from reporters and addressed a wide range of topics including his plan to visit Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar as his first foreign trip.

After numerous questions the session was cut off and as reporters started to leave and say thank you to Trump, someone could be heard asking him if he was going to sign the executive order – which was the purpose of Kid Rock’s visit.

Trump threw both of his hands up and immediately picked up his signature thick black marker.

‘Boy, that was good,’ the president said. ‘OK ready everybody?’

Trump signed the document and passed the folder over to Kid Rock.

‘Oh you better do well with this,’ Trump told him. ‘He’s going to do it, make sure everything is nice and clean.’

Kid Rock replied: ‘Make America Fun Again.’

‘You’re not in a clean industry,’ Trump continued. ‘Hold that up. OK? Thank you everybody.’

In his remarks earlier, Kid Rock thanked Trump for getting the executive order in motion ‘at lightning speed’. He added that he hopes the US government can one day set a cap on the resale of tickets.

‘I can’t control the ticket prices right now, so hopefully this is a step to be able to make that happen,’ the singer said.

Amidst an eventful first two months back at the White House, Trump has invited multiple celebrities to the Oval Office who support his policies.

Earlier this month, UFC champion Conor McGregor visited Trump in the Oval Office as part of St Patrick’s Day celebrations and embarked on an unexpected anti-immigrant rant. Days later, he announced he would run to be the Irish president and donned a green ‘Make Ireland Great Again’ hat.

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A Mega Millions lottery winner scored a $349million jackpot but has not come forward to claim the prize with a deadline to collect coming fast.

The jackpot, which has been updated from the initial estimate of $344million, was won by the mystery player who matched six numbers on March 25, according to Mega Millions.

Matching the white balls 1, 5, 17, 39 and 62, and the gold Mega Ball 8, the ticket was purchased at Casey’s General Store in Cortland, Illinois.

State lottery laws dictate that a winner has one year from the drawing date to come forward and take home the money.

Under the law in Illinois, a winner will have until May 24 to contact Mega Millions officials in order to choose between annuity payments for the full amount or a lump sum of $161.4million.

After that 60-day period, the winner will have the option to receive annuity payments. If a year passes and no one steps forward, the prize could go to education.

State law allows lottery winners to request to remain anonymous.

The jackpot had been building since January 17 with a win in Arizona.

A winning ticket was recorded only two weeks before Mega Millions switches to a new version that ‘will feature bigger prizes at every non-jackpot prize tier, better odds to win the jackpot, better odds overall, larger starting jackpots, and faster-growing jackpots’, according to the game. The first drawing under the new format will be on April 8.

Illinois, which was one of the Mega Millions founding members back in 2022, has seen 16 jackpot wins including the very first two. The last time a jackpot winner came out of the Prairie State was in June 4 of last year.

The latest Mega Millions winner is not the only player who has not claimed a jackpot right away.

A year ago, a Mega Millions winner in New Jersey who won $1.13billion, which was the fifth largest jackpot in the game’s history, had lottery officials stating: ‘We wait for the winner to come forward to file their claim.’

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Donald Trump has decided to get a head start on the pranks – with April’s Fools just around the corner – except he insists this one is real.

The US president once again floated the idea of outstaying his welcome at the White House and running for a third term.

While the 22nd Amendment makes that impossible, at least legally, he has long treated it as more of a suggestion rather than the law.

In a Sunday morning phone call with NBC News, he said ‘I am not joking,’ when asked to clarify a remark on seeking another term, adding: ‘There are methods which you could do it.’

The 78-year-old’s comments were the most concrete in terms of referring to plans in place to achieve the goal.

So, can the president stand for a third term? Will he? And what could the consequences be?

What has Trump said about running for third term?

It is not the first time that the Republican has dangled the idea of a never-ending reign in the White House.

He has previously ‘joked’ about running for life, reminding of authoritarians like Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and China’s Xi Jinping.

‘We have almost four years to go and that’s a long time but despite that so many people are saying you’ve got to run again. They love the job we are doing,’ Trump said Sunday aboard the presidential jet, apparently referring to his political allies and supporters.

With his latest comment, he could be trying to test the Democrats’ and the media before ploughing ahead with searching for loopholes in the US legal system.

Can Trump run for president again?

Under the 22nd Amendment, no person can be president more than twice. It was added to the Constitution in 1951 after Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected four times in a row.

It reads: ‘No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.’

Any attempt to remain in office would be legally suspect and it is unclear how seriously Trump might pursue the idea.

His own attorney general Pam Bondi said during her Senate confirmation hearing that he is unable to run for a third term under the Constitution as it now stands.

Asked if Trump was allowed to run for a third term in 2028, she responded: ‘No senator, not unless they change the Constitution.’

How could the Constitution be changed or overturned?

Amending the US Constitution to allow a third presidential term would require a two-thirds majority in both the House of Representatives and Senate, which Trump’s Republican Party does not have, or a constitutional convention called by two thirds of the states that would propose changes to the charter.

Both routes appear to be unlikely, given the current number of states and Congressional seats under Republican control.

Whether he goes through Congress or the states, he would then require ratification from three-quarters of all state legislatures.

A constitutional convention has never been successfully called in the US where all 27 constitutional amendments have been passed by the congressional method.

In January, days after Trump took office, Republican Andy Ogles of Tennessee introduced a House joint resolution to amend the constitution to allow presidents up to three terms.

What will happen if Trump is allowed to run again?

Pushing for a third term would put Trump in line with other controversial world leaders who have managed to defy legal term limits.

Trump would be 82 at the end of his second term in 2028. This would mean that he would be at least 86 by the end of a third term.

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A US state has become the first to ban fluoride from public drinking water – going against advice from dentists and other national health organisers.

Republican governor Spencer Cox signed legislation barring cities and communities from deciding whether to add the mineral to their water systems – comparing it to being medicated by the government.

Florida, Ohio and South Carolina are considering similar measures, while in New Hampshire, North Dakota and Tennessee, politicians have rejected them.

The American Dental Association slammed the Utah law, saying it showed ‘wanton disregard for the oral health and well-being of their constituents’.

Cavities are the most common chronic childhood disease, the ADA noted, and fluoride helps to strengthen teeth and reduce cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear and tear.

The ban will go into effect on May 7, bringing into the mainstream concerns over fluoridation that for decades were once considered fringe opinions.

It comes weeks after water fluoridation sceptic Robert F Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as US health secretary.

Kennedy said in November that the administration of Donald Trump would advise water systems nationwide to remove fluoride.

‘As a father and a dentist, it is disheartening to see that a proven, public health policy, which exists for the greater good of an entire community’s oral health, has been dismantled based on distorted pseudoscience,’ the association’s president, Denver dentist Brett Kessler, said in a statement.

Utah politicians also said the ban was a matter of personal health choice and that putting fluoride in water is too expensive.

Last year, a federal judge ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate fluoride in drinking water because high levels could pose a risk to the intellectual development of children.

Federal officials determined last year ‘with moderate confidence’ that there was a link between higher levels of fluoride exposure and lower IQ in kids.

However, the National Toxicology Program based its conclusion on studies involving fluoride levels at about twice the recommended limit for drinking water.

The amounts of fluoride that can be added to water based on federal guidelines are below levels considered problematic, Kessler said.

The National Institutes of Health says very high doses of fluoride that can cause sickness are typically the result of rare accidents, such as the unintentional swallowing of fluoride used by dentists’ offices or supplements inappropriately given to children.

The agency says it’s ‘virtually impossible’ to get a toxic dose from fluoride that’s added to water or toothpaste at standard levels.

Since 2015, federal health officials have recommended a fluoridation level of 0.7 milligrams per litre of water. For five decades before that, the recommended upper range was 1.2 milligrams per litre.

The World Health Organisation has set a safe limit for fluoride in drinking water of 1.5 milligrams per litre.

More than 200 million people in the US, or almost two-thirds of the population, receive fluoridated public water.

Fluoride in drinking water can reduce cavities by at least 25% for all age groups, according to the Utah Dental Association.

Opponents of the Utah legislation to limit fluoridation warn it will have a disproportionately negative effect on low-income residents who may rely on fluoridated water as their only source of preventative dental care.

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After saying Greenland was ‘cold as shit’, US Vice President JD Vance slammed Denmark for ‘under-investing’ in the territory’s security.

He and Second Lady Usha Vance landed with a US delegation to visit the self-governing, mineral-rich territory of Denmark that Donald Trump has suggested the US should take over.

Initially Usha had announced a solo trip to the Avannaata Qimussersu dog sled race in Sisimiut. Vance then said he would join her, only to change the itinerary again – after protests from Greenland and Denmark – to a one-day visit of the couple to the military post only.

Vance visited US troops at Pituffik Space Base on the mineral-rich, strategically critical island.

He slammed the territory’s ruling nation in remarks, saying: ‘Our message to Denmark is very simple: you have not done a good job by the people of Greenland.

‘You have underinvested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful landmass filled with incredible people. That has to change.’

Vance also said the US has ‘no option’ but to take a significant position to ensure the security of Greenland.

‘I think that they ultimately will partner with the United States,’ he added.

‘We could make them much more secure. We could do a lot more protection. And I think they’d fare a lot better economically as well.’

Vance’s trip was overshadowed by angry Greenlanders and Danes, who expressed outrage that the original itinerary was planned without consulting them.

Friday’s one-day visit to the US Space Force outpost at Pituffik, on the north-west coast of Greenland, removed the risk of potentially violating diplomatic custom by sending a delegation to another country without an official invitation.

It also reduced the likelihood that Vance and his wife would cross paths with residents angered by Trump’s announcements.

Trump previously slammed Denmark’s control over Greenland after previously saying the US should take it over.

‘A boat landed there 200 years ago or something. And they say they have rights to it,’ Trump said. I don’t know if that’s true. I don’t think it is, actually.’

All five parties in Greenland’s parliament issued a joint statement last week rejecting Mr Trump’s remarks.

Denmark has recognised Greenland’s right to independence at a time of its choosing.

Beyond his focus on Greenland, Trump has refused to rule out military intervention in Panama to retake that country’s canal, saying that Canada should be America’s 51st state.

He also suggested that US interests could assume control of the war-torn Gaza Strip from Israel and redevelop it as a “Riviera”-like seaside resort.

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US President Donald Trump has U-turned his decision to cut funding for a team to track down Ukrainian children stolen by Russia.

Nearly 20,000 children have been abducted by Vladimir Putin’s forces since he launched his invasion in 2022, according to Ukraine.

The Yale School of Public Health Humanitarian Research Lab has spent years rescuing hundreds of these kidnapped children.

But the group’s funding was gutted by Elon Musk’s cost-cutting agency, the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, it was revealed this month.

Amid international outcry, the Trump administration has reversed this decision, officials told The Washington Post today.

Funding will be restored for at least six weeks.

Yale’s initiative, called the Conflict Observatory, sees experts use open-source information and commercial satellite imagery to find the children.

Exactly how many children have been taken is unclear, but campaigners say Russia may have carried out the largest state-sponsored kidnapping of children in modern history.

Yale researchers have pinpointed 6,000 children taken to Russia and more than 2,400 to Belarus.

Many have not only been torn away from their loved ones, but have been tortured, denied food and forced into militaristic education.

At least 314 youngsters have become trapped in Russia’s adoption and foster system and made Russian citizens, a move that Ukraine says is erasing their Ukrainian identities and indoctrinating them with Moscow’s agenda.

A Russian parliamentarian claimed last July ‘700,000 children had found refuge’ in Russia.

This information is shared with Europol and the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is trying to bring war crime charges against Russian officials.

In 2023, the court issued arrest warrants for Putin of Russia and the Kremlin’s children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, for deporting children from Ukraine.

But the Yale researchers have struggled to work since January after Trump signed an executive order freezing all foreign aid.

The news was criticised on both sides of the political aisle, with Democrats and Republicans in Congress and Christian groups urging Trump to spare the observatory.

Greg Landsman, a Democratic Representative in Ohio, said in a letter to the White House: ‘The termination of this contract never should have happened, but I’m grateful to see State change its mind.

‘This shows that bipartisan, bicameral pressure got the administration to change course, but this still isn’t good enough.’

With funding now resorted, for now at least, Yale researchers will continue sending their data to EU police officials, the State Department said.

What will happen once the provisional funding ends is unknown.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened the US against making any ‘encroachments’ on the Arctic as President Donald Trump continues to pursue Greenland.

Putin raised Trump’s interest in acquiring Greenland and said Russia will not stand idly and allow NATO to make advances in the Arctic.

‘We will not allow encroachments on the sovereignty of our country and will reliably protect our national interests,’ Putin said at the Arctic Forum in Russia on Thursday.

Putin said that Trump’s plan to annex Greenland is by no means new or unique to his administration.

‘It can look surprising only at first glance and it would be wrong to believe that this is some sort of extravagant talk by the current US administration,’ Putin said. 

‘It’s obvious that the United States will continue to systematically advance its geostrategic, military-political and economic interests in the Arctic.’

Trump has expressed time and time again his plans to acquire Greenland, and even refused to rule out using military force. He has argued that the world’s largest island is at a key geographic location for the US and that it holds a large source of natural resources that have been untapped.

Putin mentioned that Finland and Sweden are part of NATO and made it known that possible conflict in the Arctic region is on his radar.

‘Russia has never threatened anyone in the Arctic, but we will closely follow the developments and mount an appropriate response by increasing our military capability and modernizing military infrastructure,’ he said.

Putin vowed to boost his country’s military presence in the Arctic region. At the same time, he urged joint projects with the West.

‘The stronger our positions will be, the more significant the results will be and the broader opportunities we will have to launch international projects in the Arctic involving the countries that are friendly to us, and, possibly, Western countries if they show interest in joint work,’ he said.

Putin spoke on the issue a day before Vice President JD Vance and his wife were scheduled to visit a US military base in Greenland. 

A dad crashed his car while driving with his wife and kids before he ran off ‘trampling’ over them as he escaped, witnesses said.

The unknown man was speeding and turned into a gas station at 100mph before flipping the SUV on Yale Street in north Houston on Tuesday night.

CCTV footage shows another car making a right turn onto the forecourt before cutting the car off.

The driver of the other car said the driver then got out, leaving five members of his family behind.

The other driver, John McCoy told KTRK:’No lights. I looked at my mirror before I was going to turn.

‘I ain’t see nothing. Next thing I know, I got ready to turn, bang!

‘They drive up and down the road like it’s the freeway.’

He added: ‘Once I went down there to help, he came out of there. He trampled over the babies and the momma and all.’

‘She was bleeding everywhere. He took off running. He met another car down the street and got in the car and took off.’

All victims were taken to a nearby hospital in serious or critical condition. Emergency services said they are all expected to survive.

The father had another car pick him up, police said, and remains at large.

Police Captain Ryan Watson said: ‘I have no idea what’s going through his mind at the time.

‘I don’t know if there was some other reason that he felt he needed to flee.’

‘The investigators here are following down leads and they are going to track that down and see if they can talk to him and get some answers, find out what’s going on.’

Anyone with information on the crash and dad is urged to contact the police department.

It happened nearly six years after a South Carolina father left his one-year-old daughter to die in a burning car while he tried to escape from police.

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A babysitter checked underneath a bed after a child said there was a ‘monster’ there and made a shocking discovery.

The woman was watching over children at a Kansas home on Monday night.

‘When putting the children to bed, one child complained there was a “monster” under their bed,’ stated the Barton County Sheriff’s Office.

‘When the victim attempted to show the child there was nothing under the bed, she came face-to-face with a male suspect who was hiding there.’

The babysitter and the male intruder got into an altercation and a child was’knocked over in the struggle’, according to the sheriff’s office. The man then fled the home.

Deputies responded to the home on the 2000 block of Patton Road near Great Bend around 10.30pm.

The babysitter identified the man as Martin Villalobos Jr, 27. She said he previously lived at the home but was under a protection from abuse order to stay away.

Deputies looked for the suspect that night but were not able to find him. They spotted him the next morning on the same block of the residence and arrested him after a brief foot chase.

Villalobos has been charged with child endangerment, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary, aggravated battery, felony obstruction of a law enforcement officer and violation of a protection from abuse order.

He is being held at Barton County Jail on a $500,000 bond.

It was not immediately known what Villalobos’ relationship was to the child and the babysitter, who has not been named. It was not clear what if any injury the child who was knocked down suffered.

The incident happened nearly a decade after a Nashville woman who filed a restraining order against her ex-boyfriend found him under her bed with his two feet sticking out. She allegedly shot the man, who previously said ‘I will kill you, you stupid c***.’

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A Trump-loving Republican congresswoman who told a British journalist to ‘go back to your country’ because of her accent acted like she was in a ‘bad reality show’, an expert has said.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, from Georgia, ridiculed Sky News reporter Martha Kelner as soon as she caught wind of her British accent.

The 50-year-old Republican and Trump loyalist had just left a committee hearing on funding for public broadcasters when she began taking questions from reporters.

She was flooded with questions on the controversy over how a journalist was added to a group chat on air strikes in Yemen with top US officials, but when U.S. Correspondent Kelner decided to chip in all hell broke loose.

‘Should the Defense Secretary—,’ she asked before Green, known as MTG, interjected.

‘What country are you from?’ Greene asked as she rolled her eyes.

As sooner as Kelner answer ‘the U.K.’, MTG then ripped into the reporter saying: ‘Go back to your country.’ 

Greene continued her rant: ‘Okay, we don’t give a crap about your opinion and your reporting. Why don’t you go back to your country where you have a major migrant problem? You should care about your own borders.’

Judi James, a body language expert, told Metro: ‘Marjorie Taylor-Greene, in particular, is known to have no filter. In this video, you can really only describe her body language as pure contempt. It signalled someone that somebody was enjoying the sense of superiority – being able to sort of be so dismissive.

‘Her chin was raised. Her brows were raised. She was looking down her nose at the journalist. Her hand was outstretched, flattened, a dismissive gesture.

‘It was the type of gesture that you generally don’t really see unless it’s on a bad reality show. You don’t expect to see this in the political arena.’

But Ms James said she doesn’t think MTG ‘realises’ what she’s done after going on the tirade.

‘I think what she’s gonna find now is a journalist deliberately speaking to her to get her to swear or shout. If you know somebody overreacts like that, they will see if they can sort of get a rise out of her,’ she observed.

This isn’t the first time MTG has forcefully told a reporter from the USA’s closest ally where to go.

Last year she told Emily Maitlis, formerly of the BBC and now with The News Agents podcast, to ‘f**k off’ after the veteran broadcaster quizzed her on her support for conspiracy theories involving ‘Jewish space lasers’.

In the exchange at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Maitlis asked: ‘Can you tell me why so many people who support Donald Trump love conspiracy theories, including yourself? He seems to attract lots of conspiracy theorists.’

MTG replied: ‘You’re a conspiracy theorist, and the left and the media spread more conspiracy theories. We like the truth, we like supporting our Constitution, our freedoms, and America First.’

Pushed on her own support for conspiracy theories, MTG said: ‘No, why don’t you go talk about Jewish space lasers, and really, why don’t you f**k off.’

Why does MTG seem to take such a petulant approach to the media, including journalists from the UK? It’s all part of a strategy, Kelner wrote after her own run-in with the MAGA die-hard.

Last night, Kelner said: ‘Discrediting the messenger, rather than focusing on the message and what lessons can be learned, is the order of the day for the Trump White House.’

She had tried to force a reply from MTG on her questions about the Signal ‘war plans’ leak, attempting to shout over the politician so she could be heard.

She asked Greene: ‘Do you care about American lives being put at risk?’

But the Trump support screamed back: ‘I don’t care about your fake news.’

Greene then turned her attention to an American reporter, who wanted to get an answer to Kelner’s question.

MTG refused to be drawn on this however, and so the American asked a similar question about the Signal chat scandal.

For the past two days, top White House officials have faced relentless pressure from lawmakers and the press on the scandal.

Questions have been asked about why President Donald Trump’s national security team was sharing sensitive information in an unsecured manner.

Once Greene was probed on this again, she launched another furious reply: ‘You want to know about complete disregard about operational security?

‘You should talk about the Biden administration and how they ripped our borders open to terrorists, cartels, child sex trafficking, human trafficking, and drug trafficking across our borders for four years.

Greene similarly told a British journalist to ‘go back to your country,’ in 2022.

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A Turkish woman with a valid visa has become the latest victim of Donald Trump’s crusade to deport foreign students from the US who disagree with his policies.

Rumeysa Ozturk, who criticised her university’s response to Israel’s war on Gaza, was detained and had her visa terminated in what has been branded a ‘state sanctioned political kidnapping’.

Footage shows her being ambushed by plainclothes-masked Department of Homeland Security agents as she was on her way to break her Ramadan fast.

The 30-year-old had just left her home in Somerville, in Massachusetts, on Tuesday evening when she was surrounded.

Six people – dressed in black and their faces covered by masks – are shown handcuffing the PhD student and confiscating her phone as she screams for help.

Ozturk is heard asking if she can call police before one of the agents pulls out their badge.

‘We are the police,’ the agents are heard saying in the video, taken from an apartment window by a resident.

Neighbours said they were rattled by the arrest, which they said looked like a ‘kidnapping’.

Michael Mathis, a software engineer whose surveillance camera captured the arrest, said: ‘They approach her and start grabbing her with their faces covered.

‘They are covering their faces. They are in unmarked vehicles.’

The ICE locator database has listed the student as being held in the ‘South Louisiana Processing Center’ in Basile, Louisiana – more than 1,400 miles away from where she was detained.

Her lawyer, Mahsa Khanbabai, told reporters that her team is unaware of her whereabouts, has been unable to contact her, and that no charges have been filed against his clients that they are aware of.

He added in a statement: ‘Rumeysa Ozturk is a Turkish national who was maintaining valid F-1 status as a PhD student at Tufts University.

‘Rumeysa was heading to meet with friends to break her Ramadan fast on the evening of March 25 when she was detained near her home in Somerville, MA by DHS agents.’

Since her arrest, a DHS spokesperson has claimed – without evidence – that ‘DHS and ICE investigations found Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas’.

US District Judge Indira Talwani issued an order giving the government until tomorrow to answer why Ozturk was being detained.

Talwani also ordered that the student not be moved outside the District of Massachusetts without 48 hours advance notice.

A senior DHS spokesperson confirmed the incident and the termination of her visa.

‘DHS and (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) investigations found Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans,’ they said.

‘A visa is a privilege, not a right. Glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be terminated. This is common sense security.’

Ozturk cowrote article criticizing university response to Palestinian issues and was one of four students last March who wrote an op-ed in The Tufts Daily criticizing the university’s response to its community union Senate passing resolutions that demanded Tufts ‘acknowledge the Palestinian genocide’.

Friends said she was not otherwise closely involved in protests against Israel.

But after the piece was published, her name, photo and work history were featured by Canary Mission, a website that says it documents people who ‘promote hatred of the US, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses.’

The op-ed was the only cited example of ‘anti-Israel activism’ by Ozturk.

Students and faculty elsewhere also have recently had visas revoked or been blocked from entering the US because they attended demonstrations or publicly expressed support for Palestinians.

Trump ‘s administration has cited a seldom-invoked statute authorizing the secretary of state to revoke visas of noncitizens who could be considered a threat to foreign policy interests.

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A missing teenage girl was discovered murdered with her hands cut off and her father has been arrested after speaking about her on TV.

Keimani Latigue’s body was found in an abandoned and burned home in Toledo, Ohio, on Monday.

Cops who discovered her six days after her family reported her missing said it was ‘one of the most horrific cases’ they have seen.

Keimani’s hands were detached from her body and her head was almost completely severed, according to Columbus Police Lt Brian Steel.

‘This is an absolute animal that came into our town,’ Steel told WCMH.

Her dad, Darnell Jones, 33, was found by cops on Tuesday and he allegedly pulled a gun. An officer opened fire several times. He was hospitalized and underwent surgery and is in stable condition. It was not clear if Jones fired back.

‘You pull a gun at officers, as we’ve said many times, this is the outcome you could expect,’ Steel said.

Jones has been charged with murder in connection with her death.

Keimani’s autopsy died of multiple ‘incised wounds of the neck’, according to the Lucas County Coroner’s Office.

Keimani was days away from turning 14 years old. Her mother, Tiara Kasten, said she spent most of her time going to school, playing basketball and staying home.

‘I seen her on the 15th. Her dad brought her down to my house,’ Kasten toldWTVG.

‘Apparently my mother gave him permission and honestly it was just loving on my kid. We play video games,’ Kasten said.

She was a student at Spring Elementary School.

‘The students and staff at Spring Elementary are saddened by the loss of their friend and classmate, Keimani Latigue,’ a Toledo Public Schools spokesperson told the TV station.

‘Keimani will be remembered as being very personable and someone who got along well with others.’

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A woman allegedly left two children in a hot car while using a checkout trick to steal more than $80 worth of items from a Walmart.

Katherine Leone Gordon, 65, is accused of using a ‘banana trick’ to pay less for groceries at a store in Sebastian, Florida.

Loss prevention officers saw Gordon walking to the self-checkout and scanning items with the wrong barcodes and walking away to try to avoid paying full price, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by CBS12.

She allegedly placed lower priced barcodes over the original ones, and tried to get away with $83.67 in merchandise from the discount retail chain.

Cops arrested Gordon outside of the Walmart and refused to speak with officers. But one of the Loss Prevention Association officials mentioned that children were inside her car and cops went and found two kids inside of it with the windows rolled up.

Officers opening the vehicle felt a ‘rush of heat’ coming from inside and there was heavy moisture inside the windows due to carbon monoxide build-up and the lack of air flow, police said.

Both children were sweating profusely, according to the affidavit.

The local temperature on Thursday was around 85 degrees Fahrenheit between 5pm and 6pm.

Asked about her kids, Gordon allegedly said she ‘did not think it was a problem leaving the juveniles in the vehicle as long as it was not running, further adding that the juvenile’s parents do it all the time’, stated the affidavit.

When an officer told Gordon that the children appeared to be too weak to open the vehicle doors themselves, Gordon allegedly said, ‘They were fine.’

Her relationship to the children and their ages and identities were not immediately known.

Gordon has been charged with two counts of child neglect and a count of second-degree petit theft. She is being held on a $3,000 bond at Indian River County Jail.

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Measles are spreading at an alarming rate across the US, with the largest outbreak in western Texas leading to the death of a child who was not vaccinated.

So far this year, the US has already recorded the most measles cases in a year since a breakout of the disease in 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease that causes red rashes typically starting on the face and ears and spreading to the body down to the feet. It is most common among children and can be fatal.

The disease had not been widespread in the US for about two decades amid high vaccination rates.

Which US states have had a measles outbreak?

The measles outbreak in western Texas this week grew by 18 cases to 327 total, according to the Texas Department of State Health on Tuesday. The majority of patients have been children aged five to 17.

New Mexico has also recorded dozens of cases, 43, with the majority in Lea County which neighbors Texas’ Gaines County, the center of the outbreak.

Confirmed and probable measles cases have also grown in Oklahoma to nine.

A total of 378 measles cases have been confirmed this year in 17 states: Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont and Washington.

What has led to the rise in outbreaks?

The origin of the South Plains-Panhandle outbreak is still under investigation by Texas health authorities.

‘I cannot link this particular outbreak,’ Dr Jennifer Shuford of the Texas Department of State Health Services told the House Committee on Public Health earlier this month. ‘We don’t know what the link is.’

Most of the people infected with measles have not been vaccinated or have an unknown vaccine status. The CDC states that ‘when more than 95% of people in a community are vaccinated, most people are protected through community immunity (herd immunity).’

US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has a history of being a vaccine skeptic, in early March said he supported using the jab.

Who can get measles vaccine in the US?

The first dose of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine is usually administered to children no younger than 12 to 15 months old. The second dose completing the series is given at four to six years old.

Some parents are vaccinating their kids under one year old in order not to leave them vulnerable.

Kennedy has said that the US health department is making the vaccines available to communities in need.

Children traveling to places including Texas and theme parks like Disney World are urged to take the vaccine.

How common are deaths from measles in the US?

Two people have died of measles in the US so far this year. The first was an unvaccinated six-year-old in Gaines County. Measles is also the suspected cause of the death of an adult who was not vaccinated in New Mexico.

The last death in America of measles was a 37-year-old California man in 2019 who also suffered from meningitis.

Measles deaths are not very common, but the CDC found that up to three of 1,000 infected children will die of related neurological or respiratory complications.

‘That’s a lot of kids infected… death is rare, but tragic when it happens, but there are a lot of other sequelae, encephalitis, for example, and deafness,’ stated UTHealth Houston infectious disease epidemiologist Dr Catherine Troisi. ‘There’s a rare neurological disease that can happen. So, as you have more people infected, these sequelae become more common.’

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‘War plans’ shared by top Trump officials on an infiltrated Signal group chat have been published for the first time.

Ever since Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg revealed he’d accidentally been included in a group chat where plans for air strikes against Houthi militias were discussed, Trump’s team has denied the information was ‘classified’.

‘Nobody was texting war plans’, Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday.

President Donald Trump himself weighed in to say: ‘It wasn’t classified information.’

But the messages, published today by The Atlantic, tell a different story.

Opening the chat, national security adviser Mike Waltz said he was ‘establishing a principles group for coordination on Houthis’.

The Houthis are an Iran-backed militia in Yemen, from where they have been launching missiles against US ally Israel and western shipping through the Red Sea.

In the chat, Hegseth, Waltz, Vice President JD Vance, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, discussed whether to move ahead with air strikes against the Houthis in order reopen shipping lanes. They agreed.

Then came almost minute-by-minute detail of US military operations on March 15.

‘Weather is favourable’, Hegseth said at 11.44am. ‘Just CONFIRMED w/ CENTCOM we are a GO for mission launch.’

In half an hour, he said, F-18 fighter jets would set off to launch a strike on a ‘target terrorist’ two hours after his message was sent.

By 2.15pm, more F-18s would have been dispatched, and drones would be ‘definitely’ dropping bombs, he told the group.

‘I will say a prayer for victory’, Vance replied.

Later, Waltz revealed the ‘first target’ – the Houthis’ ‘top missile guy’ – had walked into a building before it collapsed from the US military’s first strike.

But it may not have gone to plan had Goldberg been ‘someone hostile to American interests—or someone merely indiscreet, and with access to social media’, the journalist wrote in The Atlantic today.

Maybe, as Trump’s team says, the information revealed to Goldberg wasn’t classified’, but this could have meant ‘the Houthis would have had time to prepare for what was meant to be a surprise attack on their strongholds’.

Goldberg said: ‘The consequences for American pilots could have been catastrophic.’

Dr Steve Hewitt, an expert in American security and intelligence at the University of Birmingham, was stunned when he first read the Signal messages.

He told Metro: ‘There was a mention of one target having entered a building where his girlfriend lived.

‘That speaks to maybe even human intelligence on the ground, which then potentially could put people at risk – US agents or wherever that information came from.

‘I imagine there’s a fair bit of anger in the intelligence community in the US, because obviously secrecy is of paramount importance.

‘I’m sure if these were junior officials who had done this, they would likely be facing disciplinary action or being fired, or even potentially being prosecuted, so to see senior people do this so casually, it’s really stunning.’

Waltz has sought to downplay the significance.

Responding to the publication of the messages, he wrote on social media: ‘No locations. No sources & methods. NO WAR PLANS. Foreign partners had already been notified that strikes were imminent. BOTTOM LINE: President Trump is protecting America and our interests.’

The US National Security Council has confirmed the text chain ‘appears to be authentic’.

Senator Gary Peters, the most senior Democrat on the Senate security committee, said: ‘This is a flagrant failure and a huge breach of national security.

‘Our servicemembers deserve more from those in command. The carelessness of this level is simply unacceptable.’

Members of the group chat appear to be shifting the blame to Hegseth.

‘The Secretary of Defense is the original classification authority for determining whether something is classified’, CIA Director John Ratcliffe testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee.

‘As I’ve understood from media reports, the Secretary of Defense has said the information was not classified.’

Classified or not, it was only last month that the National Security Agencywarned employees about the ‘vulnerability’ of using Signal.

An internal bulletin said: ‘The use of Signal by common targets of surveillance and espionage activity has made the application a high value target to intercept sensitive information.’

While the messages sent on the platform are encrypted, the phones individuals use it on are susceptible to hacking.

Government-grade software like Pegasus can track keys, while phishing scams can give hackers access to devices.

Even a simple phone snatching could give access to the platform if the device is unlocked.

‘It’s just carelessness’, Hewitt told Metro. ‘I don’t know if you can call it a rookie mistake.’

Testifying before the Senate today, Gabbard said: ‘It was a mistake that a reporter was inadvertently added to a Signal chat with high-level national security principles having a policy discussion about imminent strikes against the Houthis and the effects of the strike.

‘National security adviser has taken full responsibility for this, and the National Security Council is conducting an in depth review, along with tech, technical experts working to determine how this reporter was inadvertently added to this chat.

‘The conversation was candid and sensitive, but as the president, national security adviser stated, no classified information was shared.

‘There were no sources, methods, locations or war plans that were shared. This was a standard update to the national security cabinet that was provided alongside updates that were given to foreign partners in the region.’

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US Vice President JD Vance is visiting Greenland with his wife this week in the latest show of power since Donald Trump said he wants to buy the Arctic island.

Second lady Usha Vance was due to pop over with US officials to ‘celebrate Greenlandic culture and unity’ by seeing historical sites and a dogsled race.

That already drew the ire of politicians from this territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.

Outgoing Prime Minister Múte Egede called it ‘highly aggressive’, while his like successor called it ‘a lack of respect’.

But now Trump’s team are turning up the heat after JD Vance decided to tag along.

In a video posted to social media, he said: ‘I didn’t want [Usha] to have all that fun by herself, and so I’m going to join her.

‘I’m going to visit some of our guardians in the space force on the northwest coast of Greenland, and also just check out what’s going on with the security there of Greenland.’

Why does Donald Trump want Greenland?

Although the world’s largest island is home to just 57,000 – mostly indigenous Inuit – people, its natural resources and geographic position make it increasingly alluring for global powers.

‘I think Greenland is going to be something that maybe is in our future’, Trump recently said. He has refused to rule out using military force.

Trump has been eyeing up the island since 2019, but he’s not the first US President to want it.

The United States tried buying it in 1846, and again for the modern equivalent of £970million in 1946 when the Cold War was gathering pace.

Both times they were knocked back, but Greenland was seen has having such strategic importance in countering the Soviet Union, the US maintained a military presence there anyway.

With Denmark’s agreement, the US operate Thule Air Base, capable of sending American bombers across the Artic to strike the Soviet Union, and to detect missiles coming the other way.

There was also another base, a secret one, buried in a glacier 150 miles away.

Supposedly a research facility, Camp Century was actually supposed to house nuclear weapons able to launch through the ice sheet.

They were never put there in the end, and this outpost has since been abandoned.

While Thule still exists – albeit now called Pituffik Space Base – the fact Camp Century was lost 100 feet below the surface, until a team of Nasa scientists found it again last year, says something about changing international relations.

Even as the Cold War ebbed and flowed, maintaining nuclear weapons this far north wasn’t seen as vital.

But now the ice sheets are melting, making the surrounding waterways more navigable, and easing access to resources – uranium, iron, fossil fuels – hidden beneath.

Meanwhile tensions with Russia are higher than any time since the Cold War, and China – the USA’s new main rival – is seeking to invest in Greenland.

That might explain why Vance, ahead of his visit, said: ‘A lot of other countries have threatened Greenland, have threatened to use its territories and waterways to threaten the United States, to threaten Canada and of course to threaten the people of Greenland, so we’re going to check out how things are going there.

‘And I say that, speaking for President Trump, we want to reinvigorate the security of the people of Greenland because we think it’s important to protecting the security of the entire world.

‘Unfortunately, leaders in both American and in Denmark I think ignored Greenland for far too long.

‘That’s been bad for Greenland, it’s also been bad for the security of the entire world. We think we can take things in a different direction, so I’m going to go check it out.’

Who owns Greenland?

Trump might be insistent about buying Greenland for ‘national security’, saying in January: ‘I think Greenland will be worked out with us. I think we’re going to have it. And I think the people want to be with us.’

But the people of Greenland aren’t so keen. Roughly 85% oppose joining the USA, with nearly half seeing Trump’s interest as a threat.

‘What is the national security adviser doing in Greenland’, Prime Minister Múte Egede said in relation to US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz joining the Vance visit this week.

‘The only purpose is to demonstrate power over us. His mere presence in Greenland will no doubt fuel American belief in Trump’s mission – and the pressure will increase’

His party may have lost this month’s election, but his likely successor Jens-Frederik Nielsen agrees.

Nielsen said: ‘The fact that the Americans know very well that we are still in a negotiating situation and that the municipal elections have not yet concluded, they still capitalize on the moment to come to Greenland, once again, which shows a lack of respect for the Greenlandic population.’

Although Greenlanders are largely united in their opposition to US interference, they aren’t the only ones with a say.

Greenland has been ruled by Denmark – nearly 3,000km away – since several waves of colonisation in the 1700s.

Now a largely automous self-governing territory with representation in Denmark’s national parliament, Greenland has controlled its own internal affairs for decades.

But foreign relations are still overseen by Denmark, despite recent pushes for Greenlandic independence,

Denmark then, is likely to have some say in Greenland’s future. According to Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, that future appears not to be with the US.

‘Greenland is not for sale’, she said in a TV interview. ‘I want to make it very clear, that seen with the eyes of the Danish government, Greenland is for the Greenlandic people.

‘It is a very proud people, a language and culture, it is a people that is their own.’

Is Greenland part of NATO?

Yes. Greenland is a part of NATO, because it is a part of Denmark – which is a NATO member.

This means if Trump were to ‘not rule out military action’, as he’s previously said, and take Greenland by force, it could spark a war.

Article Five of the NATO treaty says if a member state is attacked, it’s considered an attack on all members – who will then assist the attacked member in the fight.

Is there a US base in Greenland?

Yes. Previously known as Thule Air Base, the US-operated Pituffik Space Base is one of the most remote US military bases and the only one in Greenland.

With 150 Air Force and Space Force personnel permanently stationed here, it has radar capable of detecting ballistic missiles almost as soon as they have taken off.

Sat on the northwest of Greenland, where temperatures drop below -34°C in winter, the closest settlement is 70 miles away in Qaanaaq, home to no more than 650 people.

What is ‘Red White and Blueland’?

A Republican Congressman introduced legislation that would authorize Trump to enter into negotiations to acquire the autonomous territory of Denmark and rename it based on the US flag.

‘America is back and will soon be bigger than ever with the addition of Red, White, and Blueland,’ stated Rep Buddy Carter, 67, of Georgia.

‘President Trump has correctly identified the purchase of what is now Greenland as a national security priority, and we will proudly welcome its people to join the freest nation to ever exist when our Negotiator-in-Chief inks this monumental deal.’

The Red, White, and Blueland Act of 2025 directs the Secretary of the Interior to oversee that Greenland is renamed in federal documents and maps within 180 days.

‘Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, or other record of the United States to Greenland shall be deemed to be a reference to
13 ‘‘Red, White, and Blueland’’.

The bill must first be studied by a committee before it can go for a vote in the House. It would then go to the Senate.

It is being considered by lawmakers even as Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has repeatedly said that the Arctic island is ‘not for sale’.

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A Democratic lawmaker suggested that President Donald Trump consider deporting his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, during a march protesting his immigration and other policies.

Rep Maxine Waters of California suddenly brought up Melania while ranting against cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

‘When he talks about birthright, and he’s going to undo the fact that the Constitution allows those who are born here, even if the parents are undocumented, they have a right to stay in America,’ said Waters of the president.

‘If he wants to start looking so closely to find those who were born here and their parents were undocumented, maybe he ought to first look at Melania.’

As the crowd at a Los Angeles rally cheered, Waters continued: ‘We don’t know whether or not her parents were documented. And maybe we better just take a look.’

The Congresswoman’s remarks from Saturday went viral among conservatives and continued to be a trending topic on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday.

A parody account for Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, wrote: ‘Maxine Waters is now calling for Melania Trump, an American citizen, to be deported for standing against her! Is anyone really surprised? Democrats are anti American POS traitors.’

Another X user said about liberals, ‘They can’t fix the economy. They can’t stop crime. So Maxine Waters wants to deport Melania? That’s where we’re at now.

‘Crazy ghetto-a** trash!’ a user remarked.

The first lady, who is accustomed to keeping a low profile but has made numerous official appearances over the past two months, did not immediately comment publicly or on X on Waters’ suggestion.

Melania was born in present-day Slovenia and moved to the US to pursue her modeling career. She became a naturalized US citizen in 2006 after marrying Donald, according to her government biography. Once she was granted American citizenship, Melania sponsored her parents for green cards and their citizenship.

Waters over the weekend bashed the president’s executive order signed on the first day of his second term banning birthright citizenship. The order attempts to cut out birthright citizenship to people born to illegal immigrant parents, and only give it to those born to parents in the US legally or on temporary non-immigrant visas.

The Democratic lawmaker spoke before hundreds who protested moves to downsize the federal government by Elon Musk’s DOGE, and marched to the VA hospital on Wilshire Boulevard.

‘We are here because we are not going to let Trump, we’re not going to let Elon Musk, his co-president, or anybody else take the United States Constitution down,’ stated Waters.

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More than 1,000 bottles of a popular imported shampoo have been recalled for having a bacteria that can be deadly.

Henkel recalled 1,068 units of its Tec Italy branded shampoo conditioner for dry and damaged hair after it tested positive for contamination by the Klebsiella oxytoca bacteria.

Klebsiella oxytoca is found naturally in the intestinal tract, nose and mouth and are considered healthy, but outside of the gut can lead to serious infections, according to Healthline. A study of patients very ill from the bacteria found a 21% mortality rate at 14 days, Medscape reported.

The company based in Germany sent the affected 33.81-ounce bottles to three distributors in the US – C & R Beauty, Caesar’s Professional Products Inc and Vero Beauty Distributors, according to a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announcement.

Those distributors then provided them to salons that sold them to customers.

‘Firm is working with 3 importer/distributors to obtain downstream customer sales info,’ wrote the FDA.

Henkel issued the voluntary recall on February 12 and the FDA on Thursday gave it Class II designation, indicating that consumers in contact with the product can experience temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences.

Affected products were shipped from the company’s facility in Huisquilucan, Mexico. The brand is sold by retailers including Walmart, Target and Amazon.

They have the universal product code 7501438375850, lot code 1G27542266 and expiration date of May 27, 2027.

Tec Italy states on its website: ‘We dreamed, developed and created a strong brand on a highly competitive industry.

‘Through innovative strategies and total support to our clients, we achieved a dynamic and different hair care line that combines the highest technology and best value.’

The announcement comes just weeks after L’Oreal recalled its Effaclar Duo acne treatment cream and cleanser sold under the La Roche-Posay brand, for possibly containing benzoyl peroxide, which can break down into benzene. Benzene can cause cancer and high levels of exposure for long periods of time can lead to leukemia.

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A woman who won a $83.5million lottery jackpot may end up empty-handed because of an app she used to purchase her ticket.

The woman used the Jackpocket app, which lets users purchase lottery and scratch-off tickets remotely and charges a service fee.

She bought $20 worth of Texas Lotto tickets and won the jackpot for the drawing on February 17.

But shortly afterward, Governor Greg Abbott ordered the Texas Rangers to investigate her win and a $95million jackpot won in 2023.

‘Sometimes there are reasons to investigate things, but I don’t think mine is one of them,’ the woman, who did not want to reveal her identity, told Nexstar this week.

‘I’m being treated as the bad guy.’

The woman is arguing that her case and the older winner are far different.

In 2023, a group purchased more than $25million in tickets using courier services and entered the drawing with nearly every combination of numbers. They bought the tickets from four retailers. At the time, local lawmakers were concerned over how many tickets were printed within 72 hours and the group was suspected of money laundering.

The Texas Lottery Commission did pay out the $95million jackpot to the Rock TX entity and moved to stop bulk purchasing – but did not shut down the courier services.

‘We played by all the rules, and we’re still playing by all the rules and we expect that my client should be paid,’ the woman’s lawyer, Randy Howry, told the news outlet.

The woman presented her ticket to the commission in Austin on Tuesday and was told that the organization’s general counsel would not decide on paying out the money until the Texas Rangers finished the investigation.

A Jackpocket spokesperson said they are suspending their lottery courier operations in the Lone Star State.

‘Despite our proven track record of compliance and commitment to responsible gaming, the Texas Lottery Commission has issued a new policy prohibiting our services, effective immediately,’ the spokesperson told Nexstar.

The woman was considering taking legal action if the jackpot was not paid within three days, according to her lawyer.

‘If they had any qualms about that they should have done something then,’ the woman said.

‘This is an opportunity for me to do other things with my life and I want to be able to go do those.’

It comes less than a year after the family of a Maine man who won a $1.35billion lottery jackpot sued him claiming he broke a promise to share the money.

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More than 10,000 cans of Coca-Cola have been recalled over concerns that they contain a ‘foreign object’.

Plastic contamination was identified in 864 packs of 12-ounce cans of Coca-Cola Original Taste, according to a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) enforcement report.

Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling initiated the recall on March 6 and the FDA on Monday designated it as a Class II recall, meaning that consuming the product could lead to temporary and medically reversible health affects.

‘Hard or sharp foreign objects in food may cause traumatic injury including laceration and perforation of tissues of the mouth, tongue, throat, stomach and intestine as well as damage to the teeth and gums,’ stated the FDA.

Affected batches were distributed by the Milwaukee-based company only in Illinois and Wisconsin.

‘The cases are being withdrawn because they did not meet our high-quality standards,’ a Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling spokesperson told Newsweek.

‘We are taking this voluntary action because nothing is more important to us than providing high-quality products to the people who drink our beverages.’

It was not immediately known if anyone has been sickened by drinking the soda.

The impacted items have the date code SEP2925MDA and time stamps from 11:00 to 12:53. The universal product codes for the single can and 12-pack are 0 49000-00634 6 and 0 49000-02890 4, respectively.

Purchasers are advised to not consume the cans and throw them away or return them for a refund if they have not been used.

It comes about two months after Coca-Cola issued an urgent update after recalling its Coke, Sprite, Fanta, Tropico and Appletiser products in the UK, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Netherlands.

The company found excessive levels of chlorate, a byproduct of chlorine. At high levels of exposure, the chemical can lead to thyroid issues, kidney failure and can even be deadly.

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A passenger plane with 257 people on board was forced to land suddenly after a pilot’s passport blunder.

Passengers on the United flight UA198 had just settled in for the 13.5-hour journey from Los Angeles to Shanghai when the plane unexpectedly headed in a different direction.

The Boeing 787 started to cross the Pacific Ocean for China on Saturday when one of the pilots realised they had forgotten one crucial item – their passport.

The plane made a U-turn to San Francisco instead after two hours in the air, the Independent reported.

Plane tracking website Flightradar24 shows how the plane took off from LAX, flew northwest for a couple of hours before making a sharp turn back to the US West Coast.

Paramjot Singh, a passenger on the plane travelling to Shanghai for work, said he couldn’t believe his eyes when the destination on the screen changed to San Francisco.

He told Metro: ‘After 10 minutes, there was an announcement by captain that one of the pilot forgot the passport at home and they decided to turn the plane back to SFO.’

As compensation, passengers were offered two £15 (£11) coupons, which is ‘definitely not enough,’ he said.

‘I was supposed to arrive 6:30 pm Sunday night at Shanghai, then another three hours by car to my final destination, but I only arrived 5am on Monday morning,’ he continued.

‘I couldn’t be in the office on the same day as I was exhausted. It was an important day for me to be in office but I couldn’t show up.

Angry passengers took to social media after they were stranded at San Francisco. One user said the passengers should’ve been given a free flight’ after the error.

The plane took off from San Francisco to Shanghai at about 8.30pm local time – after around three-and-a-half hours’ wait at the airport.

A United spokesperson said: ‘On Saturday, United flight 198 from Los Angeles to Shanghai landed at San Francisco International Airport as the pilot did not have their passport onboard.

‘We arranged for a new crew to take our customers to their destination that evening. Customers were provided with meal vouchers and compensation.’

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