PANAMA CITY: The Pentagon chief has said that it is for Iran to interpret whether the recent deployment of the B-2 bombers to a US-British base in the Indian Ocean is intended as a message, amid ongoing efforts to address the country’s nuclear programme.

As many as six B-2 bombers were relocated in March to a US-British military base on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, US officials told Reuters, amid a US bombing campaign in Yemen and rising tensions with Iran.

There are only 20 B-2 bombers in the Air Force’s inventory, so they are typically used sparingly.

Experts say the B-2s, which possess stealth technology and can carry the heaviest US bombs and nuclear weapons, are ideally placed to operate in the Middle East.

When asked if the B-2 deployment was meant as a message to Iran, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth responded: “We’ll let them decide.”

“It’s a great asset … it sends a message to everybody,” he told reporters during a visit to Panama.

“President Trump’s been clear … Iran should not have a nuclear bomb,” he said. “We very much hope – the President is focused on doing that peacefully.”

On Monday, Trump made a surprise announcement that the United States and Iran were set to begin direct talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme on Saturday. He warned that Iran would be in “great danger” if the talks failed.

Iran, which had resisted Trump’s demands in recent weeks, said indirect talks would take place in Oman, highlighting the gulf between the two sides.

On Wednesday, Trump reiterated a threat to use military force if Iran refused to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

“I’m not asking for much … but they can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told reporters. 

He declined to say when any military action might begin.

Although B-2 bombers have previously been used to strike Houthi targets in Yemen, many experts believe deploying the stealth aircraft there is overkill.

However, the B-2 can carry the 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator – a weapon designed to destroy deeply buried targets. Experts believe this could be used to target Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.

Western powers accuse Iran of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons by enriching uranium to levels beyond what is needed for civilian energy purposes.

Tehran insists its nuclear programme is purely for generating electricity and other peaceful purposes.

WASHINGTON: Strong storms in the central-eastern United States have pushed the death toll to 16,  officials said, with the National Weather Service warning on Saturday of “severe” flash flooding in the coming days.

A line of fierce storms stretching from Arkansas to Ohio has damaged buildings, flooded roadways and produced dozens of tornadoes in recent days.

Tennessee was hardest hit by extreme weather, with state authorities saying on Saturday that 10 people had died across the western part of the state.

Two people were killed due to floods in Kentucky, according to state Governor Andy Beshear, including a child who was “swept away by floodwaters.”

Photos shared on social and local media showed widespread damage from the storm across several states, with homes torn apart, toppled trees, downed power lines and overturned cars.

“Severe, widespread flash flooding is expected” into Sunday in parts of the central-eastern region, the National Weather Service (NWS) said, warning that “lives and property are in great danger.”

Two storm-related deaths were recorded in Missouri and one in Indiana, according to local media reports and authorities.

A five-year-old was found dead in a home in Little Rock, Arkansas “in connection to the ongoing severe weather,” the state’s emergency management agency said in a statement.

“Flooding has reached record levels in many communities,” Kentucky’s Governor Beshear wrote on social media Saturday, urging residents in the state to “avoid travel, and never drive through water.”

More than 100,000 customers were without power in Arkansas and Tennessee as of early Sunday, according to tracking website PowerOutage.us.

The NWS on Saturday said that moderate to severe tornadoes could form in parts of the Tennessee Valley and Lower Mississippi Valley on Sunday, along with “severe thunderstorms.”

Scientists say global warming is disrupting climate patterns and the water cycle, making extreme weather more frequent and ferocious.

Last year set a record for high temperatures in the United States, with the country also pummeled by a barrage of tornadoes and destructive hurricanes.

The US attorney general Pam Bondi on Sunday said that Donald Trump’s third term would be “a heavy lift” for the president to find a legal way to run for a third term in office. 

“I wish we could have him for 20 years as our president,” Pam Bondi told Fox News Sunday, “but I think he’s going to be finished, probably, after this term.”

In 1947, the US Constitution was amended and set to a two-year limit on the presidency, not long after Franklin Roosevelt died near the start of his fourth term in the White House.

But constitutional amendments require approval by two-thirds of both houses of Congress, as well as ratification by three-quarters of the 50 states, which political analysts say is extremely unlikely.

“That’s really the only way to do it,” Bondi said. “It’d be a heavy lift.”

Trump’s early talk of seeking a third term struck many as fanciful, but on March 31 the 78-year-old president told NBC News that he was “not joking” about the possibility.

He said there were “methods” that would allow it to happen.

The remarks by Bondi, a former Florida attorney general, about the difficulty of a legal third term appear to align with the views of most constitutional scholars.

But as a confirmed Trump loyalist holding the government’s top law-enforcement office, her comments take on greater significance.

Earlier in the interview with Fox’s Shannon Bream, Bondi spoke out against the broad legal pushback the still-young Trump administration has faced as he moves aggressively to put his policies in place.

“We’ve had over 170 lawsuits brought against us — that should be the constitutional crisis right there,” she said. “We’ll continue to fight” those cases as they move through the courts.

Bondi defended the administration’s decision to seek the death penalty in the case of Luigi Mangione, who is charged with the December 4, 2024 killing on a New York sidewalk of health insurance executive Brian Thompson.

“The president’s directive was very clear: we are to seek the death penalty when possible,” she said. “If there was ever a death case, this is one.”

Bondi exulted in one recent legal victory, when the Supreme Court on Friday sided with the administration in a dispute over the Education Department’s move to freeze so-called DEI grants — involving efforts to ensure diversity, equity and inclusion.

The right-leaning court allowed the administration to continue freezing $64 million intended for teacher training and professional development.

“We just got a great win,” Bondi said, “and we’ll continue to fight every day.”

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that China would have approved a TikTok deal if Washington hadn’t imposed new tariffs on Chinese imports just days earlier. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said, “The report is that we had a deal, pretty much for TikTok, not a deal, but pretty close, and then China changed the deal because of tariffs. If I gave a little cut in tariffs, they’d approve that deal in 15 minutes, which shows you the power of tariffs.”

The remarks came just two days after Trump slapped a 34 percent tariff on all Chinese imports, a move that prompted Beijing’s hesitation over the potential TikTok transaction. Trump extended the deadline for TikTok to find a non-Chinese buyer by 75 days to avoid being banned in the United States, giving more time for negotiations.

The video-sharing app, with over 170 million American users, faces a possible shutdown under a US law passed last year unless it cuts ties with its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. Trump indicated his administration was close to brokering a deal that involved several investors, but he did not provide details.

ByteDance acknowledged ongoing talks with the US government but highlighted that several important issues remain unresolved. “An agreement has not been executed,” the company said, adding that any potential outcome would be “subject to approval under Chinese law.” The future of TikTok in the US remains uncertain as trade tensions continue to influence tech negotiations.

BANGKOK: Phatsakon Kaewkla was terrified when he returned home to see wide cracks in the walls of his Bangkok flat on the 22nd floor, which had been rocked by a powerful earthquake just hours before.

The 23-year-old Thai decided to stay away for two days until specialists gave the high-rise the all-clear because he felt unsafe in the edifice that had been devastated by the largest tremors to strike the capital in decades.

The sales coordinator is now one of many Bangkok residents wondering if they should seek safer housing in a city where hundreds of residential buildings were damaged by the 7.7-magnitude quake that struck neighbouring Myanmar on March 28.

The owners of Phatsakon’s condominium assured him that engineers had checked every part of the building and concluded it was habitable.

But he is still spooked about the cracks.

“I feel a little bit scared. And also my mum told me to move out from here,” he said.

Over 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) away from the epicentre, the Thai capital — its skyline dotted with hundreds of towers and glinting high-rises — virtually never experiences such tremors.

Bangkok-based real estate consultant Owen Zhu, 40, told AFP that the impact on his sector had been “significant”.

“People seem to have realised that living in high-rise buildings might carry greater risks when it comes to earthquake resistance compared to two-story or low-rise structures,” the Chinese property expert said.

The earthquake prompted a flurry of enquiries from residents looking to relocate in the past week, he says, due to widespread “fear and anxiety” of living far above ground.

‘Gap in perception’

Yigit Buyukergun from Turkey was at home in Bangkok with his wife when the quake struck. After it subsided, they emerged from under a table to inspect the damage on their 22nd-floor flat.

“Everywhere is cracked, especially in the corridor. You can see all the roof is really bad condition,” the 25-year-old said.

Despite Buyukergun’s safety concerns, the owners of the block seemed unfazed.

They say it is “100% safe, but I don’t believe it,” he said.

A large number of studio apartments in Bangkok’s sprawling residential projects are rented out on annual leases requiring a two-month deposit.

Most condos do not permit short-term rentals for security reasons, and only hotels may lease for under 30 days.

Zhu says tenants and property owners often disagree over the habitability of quake-damaged apartments, with disputes becoming more common.

There is “a gap in perception and judgment between the two parties,” he told AFP.

“The landlord sees the unit as safe, while the tenant feels it’s unsafe and insists on moving out and getting their deposit back”.

Raising the bar

Earthquake safety standards for buildings in Thailand were “not particularly strict” before the disaster and not something property-seeking clients specifically asked about, Zhu said.

Heightening anxiety since the quake was the shocking total collapse of a 30-storey construction in Bangkok that trapped dozens of workers, most of whom remain unaccounted for over a week later.

City authorities are now investigating whether substandard building materials had been used in its construction.

Zhu says more of his clients are now opting for low-rises.

For house hunters still considering high-rises, they often require that the property sustained “minimal or no damage during the recent earthquake, or at least was not severely affected”.

He believes property prices will grow in the long-term as demand for safer buildings drives the adoption of costly seismic resistance measures, adding that “the bar for Thailand’s real estate sector has been raised”.

But for Buyukergun, talk of improving building regulations is not enough to calm his fears about the uncontrollable factors of geology.

While the prevalence of earthquakes in his home country of Turkey made him feel uneasy, he had not expected to feel the same way about Thailand.

“Thailand is safe,” he recalled thinking before.

“That’s why I couldn’t believe (the) earthquake (happened).”

TEXAS: Recent reports have revealed a wave of sudden visa cancellations of international students at prestigious universities in the United States, triggering significant anxiety among affected students.

Many of those impacted are Muslim and South Asian. Institutions like Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Texas in Austin have seen dozens of student visas revoked.

Other major universities, including the University of Michigan and multiple campuses of the University of California, such as Berkeley, San Diego, Irvine, Davis, and UCLA, are also affected.

At UCLA alone, six current students and six recent graduates have had their visas cancelled, while at UC Berkeley, one undergraduate, three graduate students, and two alumni were impacted.

At the University of Michigan, one student whose identity has not been disclosed has already left the country following the visa revocation, with the university pledging full support to ensure their academic progress continues.

The University of California has stated that it is closely monitoring the situation and offering legal and institutional support to those affected.

Harvard confirmed the revocation of visas for three current students and two recent graduates, while Stanford reported similar action against four students and two alumni.

In most cases, neither the universities nor the students were given prior notice, and the cancellations were discovered during routine checks of the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS).

While the US State Department and Department of Homeland Security have not officially commented on these actions, former Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed that more than 300 international student visas have been cancelled nationwide.

He suggested that many of these students were involved in political activism, particularly pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

At UCLA, Chancellor Julio Frenk assured students that the university stands by its international community, supporting their rights to study, work, and live without fear. He acknowledged that the sudden nature of these cancellations has created immense uncertainty and distress.

Similarly, seven international students at Ohio State University have had their visas revoked, and four students at the University of Michigan were affected, one of whom had to leave the US upon the university’s advice. These revocations are believed to be part of a broader crackdown by the Trump administration targeting politically active international students.

University officials, human rights advocates, and student organisations have raised serious concerns about the lack of due process in these visa cancellations.

In many cases, visas were revoked without formal notification or any legal proceedings, undermining the principles of fair treatment and transparency.

International students, many of whom contribute significantly to academics, research, and campus life, are now facing a heightened sense of vulnerability.

This evolving situation demands that both the US government and academic institutions provide clarity and ensure a fair and transparent process for international students.

The current climate is sending a troubling message to the global academic community: that studying in the United States may no longer be as safe or welcoming, especially for those who choose to express their beliefs or engage in peaceful activism.

The US Supreme Court has temporarily halted a lower court’s order requiring the return of a Salvadoran man who had been deported, granting an emergency request from the Trump administration. 

Chief Justice John Roberts agreed to pause the ruling, which had set a deadline of midnight on Monday for Kilmar Abrego Garcia to be brought back to the United States.

Mr Garcia, 29, was deported to El Salvador on 15 March in what the US government describes as an “administrative error”. However, officials have also alleged that he is affiliated with the MS-13 gang – a claim his lawyer strongly denies.

In its appeal to the Supreme Court, the administration argued that the Maryland-based judge who issued the order lacked the authority to do so and stated that the US government could not compel the sovereign nation of El Salvador to act.

“The United States does not control the sovereign nation of El Salvador, nor can it compel El Salvador to follow a federal judge’s bidding,” wrote US Solicitor General D John Sauer in court filings. He added: “The Constitution charges the president, not federal district courts, with the conduct of foreign diplomacy and protecting the nation against foreign terrorists, including by effectuating their removal.”

Mr Garcia is currently held in El Salvador’s maximum-security Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), along with hundreds of others deported over suspected gang or criminal involvement. His wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura – a US citizen – has called for his release.

Though a judge granted Mr Garcia deportation protection in 2019, his removal still occurred. “The equivalent of a forcible expulsion,” said the family’s lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg.

US District Judge Paula Xinis, who issued the return order, later ruled that Mr Garcia was held “without legal basis” and that the administration acted “without any lawful authority”.

The Supreme Court’s decision came just hours before the deadline, which the Trump administration had described as “impossible” to meet.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed that the government lawyer involved, Erez Reuveni, had been placed on paid leave over his handling of the case.

At least 20 people have died in a fire at a nursing home in northern China´s Hebei province, Beijing’s news agency Xinhua said Wednesday.

According to the Chinese news agency, the fire broke out around 9:00pm Tuesday at the nursing home in Longhua County, roughly 180 kilometres northeast of the Chinese capital, Beijing.

As of 3:00am Wednesday, it added, 20 people were confirmed dead.

“Other elderly people in the nursing home have been transferred to nearby hospitals for further observation and treatment,” the Chinese news agency said.

The cause of the blaze is under investigation, it said.

Deadly fires are relatively common in China due to lax building codes and an often slipshod approach to workplace safety.

In January, a fire at a vegetable market in Zhangjiakou city, northwest of Beijing, killed eight people and injured 15.

A month before that, nine people died in a fire at a construction site in eastern China’s Rongcheng city.

TAIPEI: A deep, 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck Taiwan’s rural northeastern county of Yilan on Wednesday, the island’s weather administration said, with no reports of damage.

The quake, which shook buildings in capital Taipei, had a depth of 72.4km (45 miles), the weather administration said.

Taiwan’s fire department said there had been no damage reported, including at the island’s science parks where much of Taiwan’s semiconductor manufacturing takes place.

Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is prone to earthquakes.

Taiwan’s last major earthquake was in April of last year, a 7.2 magnitude temblor that hit the east coast county of Hualien, killing at least 13 people.

More than 100 people were killed in a quake in southern Taiwan in 2016, and a 7.3 magnitude quake killed more than 2,000 people in 1999.

Since then, Taiwan has updated and enhanced its building code to incorporate quake-resistant construction methods, such as steel bars that allow a building to sway more easily when the ground moves.

Famous for its cutting-edge tech firms, Taiwan has built up an advanced early warning system that can alert the public to potentially serious ground shaking within seconds.

The system has been enhanced over the years to incorporate new tools such as smartphones and high-speed data connectivity, even in some of the most remote parts of the island.

---

— With additional input from AFP