- NEW YORK (AP) — The racial reckoning that followed George Floyd ‘s murder in 2020 carried hopes of new support for disproportionately underfunded, Black-led nonprofits. American companies stepped up donations to historically Black colleges and universities. Major climate funders pledged to give more toward minority groups. Large donors sought to narrow the racial wealth gap. […]
- TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Airstrikes hit two bridges and a train station in Iran on Tuesday, and Iranian officials urged young people to form human chains to protect power plants, as U.S. President Donald Trump warned that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Tehran does not meet his latest deadline for the Islamic Republic […]
- By Nicholas P. Brown and Emma Rumney BARDSTOWN, KY, April 7 (Reuters) – Like many whiskey distillers, Heaven Hill Brands is rolling back bourbon production this year, as demand lags. Yet, as the American spirit faced a tumultuous market in 2025, the Kentucky company built a new, $200 million distillery in the heart of bourbon […]
- By Ted Hesson and Kristina Cooke WASHINGTON, April 7 (Reuters) – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested more than 800 people following tips shared by federal airport security officials from the start of Donald Trump’s presidency through February 2026, internal ICE data reviewed by Reuters show, a figure far above what was previously publicly known. […]
- BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrived in Hungary on Tuesday in a bid to turn the tide of an election campaign where long-serving Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a close ally of President Donald Trump, is trailing in the polls. Vance’s two-day trip, where he is scheduled to hold an official visit […]
- Artemis II astronauts channel Apollo 8 with a striking Earthset photo
on April 7, 2026 at 3:18 pmHOUSTON (AP) — The Artemis II astronauts are now forever intertwined with Apollo 8. A day after the historic lunar flyaround, NASA on Tuesday released striking photos taken by the U.S.-Canadian crew. The four astronauts channeled Apollo 8’s famous Earthrise shot from 1968 with their own: Earthset, showing our planet setting behind the gray, pockmarked moon. Another photo captures the total solar eclipse that occurred when the moon blocked the sun from the crew’s perspective. The three Americans and one Canadian are now headed home, with a splashdown in the Pacific set for Friday. Apollo 8’s three astronauts became the world’s first lunar visitors, orbiting the moon on Christmas Eve 1968. Their Earthrise shot became a symbol of the modern-day environmental movement. Artemis II marks NASA’s first return to the moon with astronauts — a critical step toward a lunar landing by another crew in two years. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
- Indianapolis councilman says someone fired shots at his home and left a ‘No Data Centers’ note
on April 7, 2026 at 3:18 pmINDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indiana politician said he and his son were awakened when someone fired 13 shots at their front door, leaving behind a note reading “No Data Centers” on their doorstep. Indianapolis councilman Ron Gibson said he and his 8-year-old son weren’t harmed in the incident that occurred around 12:45 a.m. Monday, but the bullets struck just steps from the dining room table where his son played with Legos the day before. “That reality is deeply unsettling,” Gibson said. “This was not just an attack on my home, but endangered my child and disrupted the safety of our entire neighborhood.” The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement that officers called to a home on East 41st Street just after 9 a.m. Monday found evidence of gunshots being fired at a house, but no injuries were reported. Police said they believe it was an isolated, targeted incident and the FBI was assisting. “I understand that public service can bring strong opinions and disagreement, but violence is never the answer, especially when it puts families at risk,” Gibson said on Monday. “This will not deter me. I will continue to serve the residents of this district with integrity and respect for all voices.” Last week, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Development Commission approved a rezoning petition for a project for Metrobloks, a data center developer, in Gibson’s district. Some area residents and leaders opposed to the project attended last week’s hearing, raising concerns about the project’s impact on the community, news outlets reported. Gibson supported the commission’s decision in a statement last week. “The site has remained underutilized for years, and today’s action is an important step toward bringing it back into productive use in a way that benefits both the surrounding neighborhood and our city,” Gibson said. “As the district councilor, when this petition comes before the full Council, I do not intend to call it down.” Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
- UN to vote on watered-down resolution to open the Strait of Hormuz. Russia and China are key
on April 7, 2026 at 2:18 pmUNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a resolution aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz that has been repeatedly watered down because of opposition from Russia and China. But it remains unclear whether they will still veto the Bahrain-sponsored measure. The vote is scheduled just hours before an 8 p.m. Eastern deadline set by U.S. President Donald Trump for Iran to open the strategic waterway or face attacks on its power plants and bridges. One-fifth of the world’s oil typically passes through the strait, and Iran’s stranglehold during the war has sent energy prices soaring. It’s doubtful the resolution, even if adopted, would impact the war, now in its fifth week, because it has been significantly weakened to try to get Russia and China to abstain rather than veto it. The initial Bahrain proposal would have authorized countries to use “all necessary means” — U.N. wording that would include military action — to ensure transit through the Strait of Hormuz and deter attempts to close it. After Russia, China and France, all veto-wielding countries on the 15-member Security Council, expressed opposition to approving the use of force, the resolution was revised to eliminate all references to offensive action. It would have authorized only “all defensive means necessary.” A vote had been expected on Saturday. But instead the resolution was further weakened to eliminate any reference to Security Council authorization — which is an order for action — and limit its provisions to the Strait of Hormuz. Previous drafts had included adjacent waters. The resolution to be voted on Tuesday “strongly encourages states interested in the use of commercial maritime routes in the Strait of Hormuz to coordinate efforts, defensive in nature, commensurate with the circumstances, to contribute to ensuring the safety and security of navigation across the Strait of Hormuz.” This should include escorting merchant and commercial vessels, and deterring attempts to close, obstruct or interfere with international navigation through the strait, it says. The resolution also demands that Iran immediately halt attacks on merchant and commercial vessels and stop impeding their freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and attacking civilian infrastructure. In response to the U.S. and Israeli attacks beginning on Feb. 28, Iran has targeted hotels, airports, residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure in more than 10 countries, including the Islamic Republic’s Gulf neighbors, some of the world’s major exporters of oil and natural gas. Iran’s blockade in the strait is seen by Gulf nations as an existential threat. Bahrain, a Gulf nation that hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet and is the Security Council’s Arab representative and its president this month, has been pressing for U.N. action. At the same time, Trump on Monday demanded again that Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz after heaping praise on the U.S. military for the daring rescue of two crewmen of a fighter jet shot down in Iran. The Republican president warned Iran that the “entire country can be taken out in one night, and that might be tomorrow night.” He repeated the warning on Tuesday, saying a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Tehran does not meet his deadline to agree to a deal that includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia and China’s U.N. Ambassador Fu Cong have blamed the U.S. and Israel for starting the war and sparking an expanding global crisis. They told the Security Council last week that the most urgent priority now is to end military operations immediately. In response to Iran’s strikes against its Gulf neighbors, the Security Council adopted a Bahrain-sponsored resolution on March 11 condemning the “egregious attacks” and calling for Tehran to immediately halt its strikes. That resolution, adopted by a vote of 13-0 with Russia and China abstaining, also condemned Iran’s actions in the Strait of Hormuz as a threat to international peace and security and called for an immediate end to all actions blocking shipping. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
- Trump warns a ‘whole civilization will die tonight’ if a deal with Iran isn’t reached
on April 7, 2026 at 1:18 pmTEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian officials on Tuesday urged young people to form human chains to protect power plants, as U.S. President Donald Trump warned that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Tehran does not meet his latest deadline to agree to a deal that includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, airstrikes hit two bridges and a train station in Iran, and the U.S. struck military targets on the Iranian oil hub of Kharg Island. The attack marked the second time the island was hit by American forces. Trump has extended previous deadlines but suggested the one set for 8 p.m. in Washington was final, and the rhetoric on both sides reached a fever pitch, leaving Iranians on edge. Trump threatened to destroy all of Iran’s power plants and bridges if Tehran does not allow traffic to fully resume in the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil transits in peacetime. Iran’s president said 14 million people, including himself, have volunteered to fight. It was not clear if the latest airstrikes were linked to Trump’s threat to attack bridges. At least two of the targets were connected to Iran’s rail network, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli warplanes struck bridges and railways in Iran. Tehran fired on Israel and Saudi Arabia, prompting the temporary closure of a major bridge. While Iran cannot match the sophistication of U.S. and Israeli weaponry or their dominance in the air, its chokehold on the strait is roiling the world economy and raising the pressure on Trump both at home and abroad to find a way out of the standoff. Officials involved in diplomatic efforts said talks were ongoing, but Iran has rejected the latest American proposal, and it was unclear if a deal would come in time to head off Trump’s threatened attacks. World leaders and experts warned that strikes as destructive as Trump threatened could constitute a war crime. “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” if a deal isn’t reached, Trump said in a post Tuesday morning, while keeping open the possibility of an off-ramp, saying that “maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen.” Earlier, Iranian official Alireza Rahimi issued a video message calling on “all young people, athletes, artists, students and university students and their professors” to form human chains around power plants. Iranians have formed human chains in the past around nuclear sites at times of heightened tensions with the West. Some images of people surrounding power plants were posted by local Iranian media Tuesday, though it was unclear how widespread the practice was or if the photos were simply brief shows of government-encouraged defiance. President Masoud Pezeshkian posted on X that 14 million Iranians had answered campaigns urging people to volunteer to fight — and said he would join them — while a Revolutionary Guard general urged parents to send their children to man checkpoints. The Guard, meanwhile, warned that Iran would “deprive the U.S. and its allies of the region’s oil and gas for years” and expand its attacks across the Gulf region if Trump carries out his threat. In Tehran, the mood was bleak. A young teacher said that many opponents of Iran’s Islamic system had hoped Trump’s attacks would quickly topple it. Now, as the war drags on, she fears U.S. and Israeli strikes will spread chaos. “If we don’t have the internet, and if we don’t have electricity, water, and gas, we’re really going back to the Stone Age, as Trump said,” she said told The Associated Press, speaking anonymously for her safety. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot joined a growing chorus of international voices and calling for restraint, saying attacks targeting civilian and energy infrastructure “are barred by the rules of war, international law.” “They would without doubt trigger a new phase of escalation, of reprisals, that would drag the region and the world economy into a vicious circle,” the minister said on France Info television. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres also warned the U.S. that attacks on civilian infrastructure are banned under international law, according to his spokesperson. Such cases are notoriously difficult to prosecute, and Trump told reporters he’s “not at all” concerned about committing war crimes. A series of intense airstrikes pounded Tehran, including in residential neighborhoods. Such strikes in the past have targeted Iranian government and security officials. The Israeli military said it attacked an Iranian petrochemical site in Shiraz, the second day in a row it hit such a facility. The military later said it also struck bridges in Tehran, Karaj, Tabriz, Kashan and Qom that were being used by Iranian forces to transport weapons and military equipment. A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations, described the strikes on Kharg Island as hitting targets previously struck and not directed at oil infrastructure. Earlier in the war, American forces hit air defenses, a radar site, an airport and a hovercraft base there, according to satellite analysis by the Institute for the Study of War and the American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project. Saudi Arabia said it intercepted seven ballistic missiles and four drones launched by Iran. Saudi Arabia temporarily closed the King Fahd Causeway, the only road connection between Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, and the Arabian Peninsula. Iran also fired on Israel. More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began, but the government has not updated the toll for days. In Lebanon, where Israel is fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, more than 1,500 people have been killed. and more than 1 million people have been displaced. Eleven Israeli soldiers have died there. In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 23 have been reported dead in Israel, and 13 U.S. service members have been killed. Iran choked off shipping through the strait after Israel and the U.S. attacked on Feb. 28, starting the war. That stranglehold and Iran’s attacks on the energy infrastructure of its Gulf Arab neighbors have sent oil prices skyrocketing, raising the price of gasoline, food and other basics far beyond the Middle East. In spot trading Tuesday, Brent crude, the international standard, was above $108 per barrel, up around 50% since the start of the war. On Monday, Tehran rejected a 45-day ceasefire proposal and said it wants a permanent end to the war. But as Trump’s deadline neared Tuesday, an official said indirect communications between the United States and Iran remained underway. The official said mediators from Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey “are racing against time” to reach a compromise before the deadline. He said Iran has linked the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to sanctions relief, and the U.S. was open to easing some sanctions, especially on Iran’s oil sector, in part to stabilize the global oil market. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing diplomacy. ___ Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands, and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers David Rising in Bangkok, John Leicester in Paris, Rod McGuirk in Melbourne, Australia, Natalie Melzer in Jerusalem, and Seung Min Kim and Michelle Price in Washington contributed to this report. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
- US core capital goods orders, shipments increase in February
on April 7, 2026 at 11:45 amBy Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON, April 7(Reuters) – New orders for key U.S.-manufactured capital goods increased more than expected in February while shipments of those products rose solidly, suggesting business spending on equipment was on firmer footing before the war with Iran. The strength reported by the Commerce Department on Tuesday followed weakness in January, which some economists had blamed on harsh weather. The U.S.-Israel war with Iran, now in its second month, has boosted oil prices and snarled supply chains. “I suspect that firms turned cautious again in March, and likely April, waiting to see how high energy prices would move and for how long,” said Stephen Stanley, chief U.S. economist at Santander U.S. Capital Markets. “My base case remains that the spike in energy prices seen in March will last no more than a few months, which would suggest no worse than a pause in investment activity with little impact on the broader trend.” Non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending, rose 0.6% after a downwardly revised 0.4% drop in January, the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau said. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast these so-called core capital goods orders would increase 0.4% after a previously reported 0.1% gain in January. The Census Bureau is still catching up on data releases following delays caused by last year’s government shutdown. There were increases in orders for primary metals and fabricated metal products. Orders for machinery jumped 1.5%. Orders for computers and electronic products were unchanged as an increase in the computers and related products category was offset by a decline in communications equipment. Orders for electrical equipment, appliances and components dipped 0.1%. Core capital goods shipments increased 0.9% in February after being unchanged in January. These shipments are among the components that go into the calculation of the business spending on equipment component in the gross domestic product report. Business spending on equipment has grown for four straight quarters, though the pace slowed in the fourth quarter. DELIVERY TIMES ARE LENGTHENING Some economists are worried the Middle East conflict could hamper shipments. An Institute for Supply Management manufacturing survey last week showed supplier delivery times increasing to a four-year high in March. “With non-defense aircraft and parts shipments dropping 5.7% in February, there are modest downside risks to our forecast for business equipment investment growth to have accelerated to 7.5% annualized last quarter,” said Bradley Saunders, North America economist at Capital Economics. Business investment in equipment still remains supported by the rising popularity of artificial intelligence and the construction of data centers to power the technology. That trend is underpinning some segments of manufacturing, which accounts for 10.1% of the economy, and blunting some of the drag from import tariffs. Orders for durable goods, items ranging from toasters to aircraft meant to last three years or more, dropped 1.4% in February after falling 0.5% in January. They were weighed down by a 28.6% plunge in commercial aircraft orders. Boeing reported on its website that it had received only 21 civilian aircraft orders in February, sharply down from 107 in January. Orders for motor vehicles and parts shot up 3.1%, while those for defense aircraft fell 3.8%. Overall orders for transportation equipment decreased 5.4% after declining by 1.9% in January. Excluding transportation, durable goods orders increased 0.8% after gaining 0.3% in January. Shipments of durable goods advanced 1.3% after rising by 0.9% in January. Unfilled durable goods orders edged up 0.1%, matching the rise in inventories. “Durable goods spending does not like elevated uncertainty, less accommodative financial conditions, weaker sentiment, cost pressures, and supply chain problems – all of which are evident since the start of the conflict,” said Oren Klachkin, financial market economist at Nationwide. “AI investment is unlikely to be deterred by the current global macro backdrop and should offer a consistent tailwind to durable goods and topline GDP.” (Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Paul Simao) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
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