Trump signs order to pay TSA employees after Congress fails to agree on DHS funding
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has signed a promised executive action to pay Transportation Security Administration employees after a bid to end the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security abruptly fell apart in Congress. Trump signed the action Friday with an eye toward easing long security lines at many of the nation’s top airports. “America’s air travel system has reached its breaking point,” Trump said in the memo authorizing the payments. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin says TSA workers “should begin seeing paychecks as early as Monday.” Trump’s action came after House Republicans rejected a Senate-passed bill to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security.
Israel hits Iranian nuke facilities and Tehran strikes base in Saudi Arabia, wounding US troops
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Attacks have appeared to intensify in the war in the Middle East including strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and an Iranian missile attack that wounded U.S. service members and damaged planes at a base in Saudi Arabia. Earlier Friday the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva said Tehran has agreed to “facilitate and expedite” humanitarian aid through the Strait of Hormuz. The aid plan would be the first breakthrough at the crucial shipping waterway after a month of war. In the United States, President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Saudi Arabia and Israel to normalize ties when the war ends, though significant obstacles remain.
Wall Street drops again to close its 5th straight losing week and its worst since the Iran war
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks deepened their drops as Wall Street finished off a fifth straight losing week, its longest such streak in nearly four years. The S&P 500 fell 1.7% Friday to close its worst week since the war with Iran began. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.7% and fell more than 10% from its record set last month, while the Nasdaq composite sank 2.1%. President Donald Trump’s latest delay in his threat to obliterate Iranian power plants saw oil prices pull back briefly late Thursday, but they resumed their rise Friday as fighting continued in the Middle East.
Frustrated travelers hear a new message from airports: Don’t get here so early
The sight of travelers suffering through long security lines at U.S. airports this week have many people showing up way before their flights. But now some airports where the wait times have been manageable despite the partial government shutdown are telling travelers to stop arriving so early. In Ohio, John Glenn International Airport in Columbus says the early birds are only making things worse. The airport says getting there too early can create longer lines and says it’s better to space out arrival times to keep the lines moving smoothly. That’s welcome news for some travelers. But many wait times at airport security checkpoints remain unpredictable with long lines.
Vance holds first meeting of a new anti-fraud task force targeting benefit programs
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President JD Vance has held the inaugural meeting of a new anti-fraud task force he’s leading as the Trump administration seeks to show it’s cracking down on potential misuse of social programs. Vance spoke on Friday before the task force's closed-door meeting. The Republican vice president says the federal government for decades had not taken fraud seriously and it needed to be tackled with “a whole-government approach.” President Donald Trump has made the crackdown on fraud a chief domestic focus as voters have expressed concern about affordability ahead of November’s midterm elections. Vance cites allegations of fraud in Minnesota, whose Democratic governor says Trump wants to “punish blue states.”
Older and younger conservatives at CPAC are split over Trump's war in Iran
GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) — A sharp generational split over the Iran war is opening up at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference. Younger attendees tell The Associated Press they feel disappointed and even betrayed by President Donald Trump’s launch of strikes against Iran. They say his actions clash with his America-first promises. Older conservatives defend Trump and call the war a pragmatic response to threats. Some younger voters say their support has slipped, and they worry about troops deploying. Prominent conservatives in the media are also divided on the conflict. CPAC leaders are pushing for unity with tough midterms ahead.
Plot to firebomb Palestinian activist's home disrupted by NYPD undercover operation, authorities say
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal law enforcement officials have disrupted a plot to fire bomb the New York City home of a prominent Palestinian activist. Nerdeen Kiswani, co-founder of the group Within Our Lifetime, says she was informed by an FBI official late Thursday that there was “a threat on my life." She says she was told that the man had been apprehended. According to a criminal complaint, Alexander Heifler was arrested in his New Jersey home late Thursday after an undercover operation revealed that he planned to throw a dozen Molotov cocktails at Kiswani’s home. The complaint says he spent weeks discussing the plot with an undercover law enforcement official.
Pro-Iranian group claims credit for hack of FBI Director Kash Patel's personal account
WASHINGTON (AP) — A pro-Iranian hacking group is claiming to have hacked an account of FBI Director Kash Patel and has posted online what appear to be years-old photographs of him, along with a work resume and other personal documents. The group Handala posted a message Friday taking credit for the breach. The message was accompanied by more than a half dozen photos of Patel, including ones of him standing beside an antique sports car and another with a cigar in his mouth. The FBI said in a statement that it was “aware of malicious actors targeting Director Patel’s personal email information” and said the information in question is historical in nature and involves no government information.”
Savannah Guthrie to return to 'Today' show on April 6 after mother's disappearance
Savannah Guthrie will return to NBC's “Today” show on April 6. The longtime morning show co-anchor has been absent since her mother's disappearance nearly two months ago. Guthrie says in an interview that aired Friday that experiencing joy will be her protest. Guthrie talked with Hoda Kotb, who has been filling in for her in emotional interviews released this week. Guthrie says she's not sure she's up for it but wants to try because NBC, too, is her family. Authorities believe Guthrie's mother, Nancy, was kidnapped, abducted or otherwise taken against her will from her Arizona home.
He suddenly couldn't speak in space. NASA astronaut says his medical scare remains a mystery
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The astronaut who prompted NASA's first medical evacuation earlier this year says doctors still don't know why he suddenly fell sick at the International Space Station. Four-time space flier Mike Fincke said in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday that he was eating dinner after prepping for a spacewalk the next day when he went into distress. He couldn't talk and remembers no pain. The medical episode lasted 20 minutes and he felt fine afterward. The 59-year-old Fincke says doctors have ruled out a heart attack, he wasn’t choking, but everything else is on the table and could be related to his 549 days of weightlessness.
