The Petersburg Post
Top News Stories for Saturday, April 4th 2026
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
Trump fires US Attorney General Pam Bondi US President Donald Trump has announced that he is removing Attorney General Pam Bondi from her post as head of the Justice Department. The president posted on Truth Social that Bondi would be "transitioning" to a new role in the private sector. It is less than a month since Trump fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem . Here is what we know: What happened to Pam ...
Source: aljazeera.com
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
Nasa has shared the first high-resolution images of the Earth taken by the Artemis II crew as they head on their trip around the Moon. The mission's commander, Reid Wiseman, took the "spectacular" images, Nasa says, after the crew completed a final engine burn that set them on a trajectory towards our closest celestial neighbour. The first image, called Hello, World, shows the vast expanse of blue that is the ...
Source: bbc.com
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
Welcome to From the Politics Desk , a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team's latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail. In today's edition, Kristen Welker digs into what comes next for the Trump administration after the latest Cabinet shake-up. Plus, we report on what appears to be the first U.S. aircraft that has gone down inside Iran during the ...
Source: nbcnews.com
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
Over 20 attorneys general challenge the executive order and say it's an unconstitutional move to disenfranchise voters More than 20 Democratic attorneys general filed a lawsuit Friday challenging Donald Trump's Tuesday executive order to restrict who can vote by mail. In his order, Trump directed the US Postal Service to abstain from sending mail-in or absentee ballots to people who are not on a pre-ordained list ...
Source: theguardian.com
Trump threatens to destroy Iranian infrastructure, saying its government 'knows what has to be done'
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
Donald Trump threatened Iranian bridges and power plants as rhetoric escalated. His words come as a recently constructed bridge near Tehran was destroyed in an airstrike. China, Russia and France vetoed a resolution calling for military action against the country. Significant sections of the B1 Bridge are seen destroyed after an airstrike attributed to the United States and Israel targeted the site near Tehran, in ...
Source: cnbc.com
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
After February's losses, March gains do little to reverse a slowing and unstable labor market Today's jobs report shows the labor market added 178,000 jobs in March, and February's losses significantly revised down, revealing a decrease of 133,000 jobs. The unemployment rate remained mostly unchanged at 4.3%, with unemployment at its weakest pace since 2020. As hiring stalls, the share of workers who say it's ...
Source: commondreams.org
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
Bodycam footage of Tiger Woods's arrest for DUI shows the golfer looking surprised when he was handcuffed by police officers at the scene of a vehicle crash last week and telling a deputy he had spoken to 'the president' on the phone after the incident. Woods told officers he was looking down at his phone and changing the radio station before the incident, in which his Land Rover clipped a truck and rolled on to ...
Source: theguardian.com
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
Proposal, a win for RFK Jr's Maha movement, is a 'first step' toward tackling plastic pollution, advocates say The Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) proposed on Thursday to include microplastics and pharmaceuticals on a list of contaminants in drinking water for the first time, a step that could lead to new limits on those substances for water utilities. Lee Zeldin, the EPA administrator, said the agency was ...
Source: theguardian.com
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ousted the Army's top uniformed officer and two other generals, the Pentagon said Thursday without giving a reason for the departures while the United States is waging a war against Iran . Gen. Randy George "will be retiring from his position as the 41st Chief of Staff of the Army effective immediately," said Sean Parnell, the Pentagon's top ...
Source: wfla.com
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
Judge threw out 10 of Lively's 13 claims against her It Ends With Us director and co-star on Thursday as trial nears Justin Baldoni's lawyers have responded after most of Blake Lively 's claims against the director were dismissed by a federal judge on Thursday. Judge Lewis Liman threw out 10 of the 13 claims that Lively had made against Baldoni and others, including allegations of sexual harassment, conspiracy and ...
Source: theguardian.com
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is slapping a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge on third-party sellers using its platform starting later this month amid a spike in fuel prices since the war in Iran started. The temporary charge is effective April 17 for many of the sellers who use Amazon's fulfillment services, the online behemoth confirmed to The Associated Press in an email Thursday. "Elevated costs in fuel and ...
Source: apnews.com
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... By RIO YAMAT, AP Airlines and Travel Writer Most travelers flying with United Airlines will pay $10 more to check their luggage beginning on Friday, as higher jet fuel costs driven by the war in the Middle East push another major U.S. carrier to increase fees. The first piece of checked luggage will now cost customers $45 on flights within the United States, ...
Source: orlandosentinel.com
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli announced that federal officials arrested eight people – including three nurses, a chiropractor, and a psychologist – accused of several health care fraud schemes totaling $50 million from Medicare and other insurance companies throughout Southern California. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the arrests were conducted in coordination with an anti-fraud ...
Source: floridianpress.com
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
HAVANA — The Cuban government said Thursday it would release 2,010 prisoners in a move that comes while the Trump administration puts extreme pressure on the island's government with a suffocating oil blockade. The announcement said the pardons were a "humanitarian gesture" in connection with Holy Week and didn't mention mounting pressures with the U.S. The government said the prisoners affected are ...
Source: npr.org
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
Follow Earth on Google What if love could happen without even seeing each other? In the mysterious world under the ocean, octopuses show that connection can go far beyond sight. A new study by Harvard biologists reveals a surprising and almost romantic story about how these creatures find their mates using touch and taste combined. Octopuses find mates without seeing Octopuses live mostly alone and meet others only ...
Source: earth.com
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
President Donald Trump is asking Congress to spend nearly $1.5 trillion on the military next year—a 43 percent increase to the Pentagon's budget. The White House included that massive increase in military spending in a budget request sent to Congress on Friday. It formalizes the proposal that Trump has been teasing for months. In percentage terms, it would be the largest year-over-year increase in military ...
Source: reason.com
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
Eugene Mirman appears to be in good spirits after being injured in a fiery car crash . The comedian and " Bob's Burgers " actor shared an Instagram update Friday to reassure fans he is "doing relatively alright, all things considered." Mirman was hospitalized for serious injuries on Tuesday after being pulled out of the window of his Lucid Gravity that had caught fire after crashing into the Bedford Toll Plaza in ...
Source: latimes.com
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
Amid bipartisan backlash to AI from federal lawmakers, nearly a dozen states are considering legislation that would prohibit new data center construction for a period of months to years. Maine is poised to be the first state to pass such a bill. On Tuesday, the Maine House of Representatives passed House Bill (H.B.) 307 , largely along party lines , to prohibit "approval for the development, construction or ...
Source: reason.com
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
A juvenile has been arrested in the case of a 12-year-old Reseda girl who died after she was hit in the head with a metal water bottle during an alleged bullying incident at Reseda Charter High School, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The suspect, whose age and gender have not been disclosed, was arrested on suspicion of the murder of Khimberly Zavaleta Chuquipa, according to a department ...
Source: latimes.com
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
More than 3.1 million bottles of eye drops sold at major retailers, including Walgreens and CVS, are being recalled due to concerns about their sterility, according to a notice from the Food and Drug Administration. The eyedrops have been recalled by their manufacturer, K.C. Pharmaceuticals, according to the March 3 alert. The products were sold under a number of brand names, including Dry Eye Relief Eye ...
Source: cbsnews.com
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
OpenAI is making an unexpected media move, buying Silicon Valley tech talk show TBPN in a deal reportedly valued in the low hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the Financial Times . The acquisition stands out because it pushes the ChatGPT maker beyond software and deeper into the business of shaping the public conversation around artificial intelligence. According to the FT, OpenAI has acquired the ...
Source: pymnts.com
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
The DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion this week that purports to absolve President Donald Trump from having to "comply" with a Richard Nixon-era records preservation law. The legal opinion penned by Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser, a former clerk to Justice Samuel Alito, explained that the office was responding to the question of whether the Presidential Records Act (PRA) is ...
Source: lawandcrime.com
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
Microsoft just shipped the clearest signal yet that it is building an AI empire without OpenAI Six months after renegotiating the contract that once barred it from independently pursuing frontier AI, Microsoft has released three in-house models that directly challenge the partner it spent $13 billion cultivating. MAI-Transcribe-1, MAI-Voice-1, and MAI-Image-2 are now available in Microsoft Foundry, and they do not ...
Source: thenextweb.com
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
Follow Earth on Google Life on Earth has a long and fascinating history, but scientists still uncover surprises that change what we know. A recent fossil discovery in China has revealed that complex animal life began earlier than previously believed. Scientists from Oxford University 's Museum of Natural History, the Department of Earth Sciences, and Yunnan University have uncovered a remarkable fossil site in ...
Source: earth.com
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
April 3 (UPI) -- The war in Iran has driven up global food prices and freight costs in March for the second month in a row, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. The prices have risen mostly because of energy-related pressures due to the war in Iran, the U.N. FAO Food Price Index report said. The report tracks monthly changes in international prices of globally traded food commodities. ...
Source: upi.com
Friday, Apr 3rd, 2026 -
International law experts allege violations in Iran war More than 100 experts on international law have signed an open letter expressing "profound concern" about what they see as serious violations of international law by the US, Israel and Iran in the Middle East war. They say the US-Israeli decision to attack on Iran was a clear breach of the United Nations Charter, which prohibits the use of force outside of ...
Source: bbc.com
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
The national average 30-year fixed mortgage rate has increased 0.08% to 6.46%, according to the latest data from Only a month ago, the 30-year rate was just 6%. In fact, it had dropped below 6% to 5.98% the week prior. Now, it's nearing 6.5%. Federal Reserve hiked the fed funds rate, and gradually decline over the last year. Now, I've seen interest rates bounce back up in response to the conflict in Iran. As the ...
Source: bradenton.com
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
A Colorado appeals panel has tossed out a nine-year prison term for Tina Peters , the first election official found guilty of a felony in connection with 2020 election conspiracy theories, and ordered that she be re-sentenced — declaring that the lower court violated her First Amendment right to free speech and "went beyond relevant considerations for her sentencing." In a 78-page opinion released Thursday, ...
Source: lawandcrime.com
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
The Trump administration will impose tariffs of as much as 100% on certain imported medicines, albeit with several major exemptions, a maneuver to pressure drugmakers to manufacture more in the US. The new levy, which President Donald Trump authorized on Thursday, applies to patented drugs made in countries that lack tariff deals with the US by companies that don't have most-favored-nation-pricing agreements with ...
Source: news.bloomberglaw.com
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
April 2 (UPI) -- The National Capital Planning Commission voted Thursday to approve President Donald Trump 's plans for a White House ballroom in the now-demolished East Wing. Most of the 12-person commission voted in favor of the plans and there were several "present" votes. The only no came from Phil Mendelson, chair of the Council of the District of Columbia. Before the vote, Mendelson said he felt the ballroom ...
Source: upi.com
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
Built from the same research as Gemini 3, the new family spans a 2B edge model that runs on a Raspberry Pi to a 31B dense model currently ranked third on the Arena AI open-model leaderboard. The Apache 2.0 licence is a significant shift from previous Gemma releases. Google has released Gemma 4 , the latest generation of its open-weight model family, in four sizes designed to cover everything from on-device ...
Source: thenextweb.com
Thursday, Apr 2nd, 2026 -
While no longer in stores, the product may still be in freezers across the country If you have dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets in your freezer, federal officials say you may want to check the packaging. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) on Wednesday issued a public health alert for certain frozen, ready-to-eat chicken nuggets that may contain "unsafe levels of lead." ...
Source: foxbusiness.com