早人物：仁人家园资深顾问杨达明——扶贫筹款面子何价 穷我一生服侍穷人

2026年4月26日 05:00 / 联合早报 傅丽云

曾带团到灾区为无数灾民搭建住屋的仁人家园前总干事杨达明，戴着多顶跨界重量级头衔的帽子，他现任牧师，也一名是资深传译员。本期《早人物》带你走进自喻“专业乞丐”的杨达明一生充满张力、跨界多元的精彩经历。

杨达明是远东机构的兼职教牧，相信也是本地企业界唯一的教牧。在他后方的巨幅《爱》（LOVE）是他带领员工完成的卷纸艺术社区项目，作品提醒员工，“爱”应成为生活与职场中共同践行的价值，在工作环境中真诚关怀每一位共事的人。 （叶振忠摄）

在2024年8月18日，黄循财总理首次发表国庆群众大会演说。幕后的电视同步传译团队中，出现了一张顶替退休常驻传译的生面孔——杨达明（64岁）。

这名中英双向、翻译快而准的老将，15岁便踏入翻译领域，如今还戴着多顶跨界帽子：远东机构的兼职教牧、教会牧师与传译，以及仁人家园前总干事与资深顾问。

原以为，顶着这么多重量级头衔的人物，性格必然严肃拘谨。然而，在远东机构办公楼见到本人时，发现外貌比实际年龄看起来年轻的杨达明，个性十分活泼，一见面便天南地北地说个不停，妙语连珠，访谈全程笑声不断。

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中国特稿：张雪机车鸣响国际 重庆摩都引擎重燃？

2026年4月26日 05:00 / 联合早报

张雪机车上月底在世界顶级赛事中夺冠后，使得重庆作为“摩托之都”再获关注。这座山城曾见证中国摩托产业高速扩张的辉煌，也经历过“禁摩”的政策收紧，以及出海受挫的阵痛。在娱乐化与电动化的新趋势下，中国摩托产业能否借助张雪的光环再突破？

4月15日，海南省海口市举行第六届消费品博览会。张雪机车作为国潮精品代表在会场上亮相，展现品牌创新突破姿态。 （新华社）

“我当时看到张雪心想，这小子怎么跑到重庆来了？他说他要造车，要完成自己的梦想。”

重庆的老顶坡摩托（新加坡称电单车）配件市场外，重庆汽车摩托车运动协会机车教练唐子松告诉联合早报，他十余年前就是在这附近和张雪重逢。

中国摩托品牌张雪机车上月底在世界顶级赛事WSBK（世界超级摩托车锦标赛）葡萄牙站夺冠，打破了欧美日摩托厂商在这一领域长达百年的垄断，创始人张雪迅速破圈，成为炙手可热的焦点人物。

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Iran’s good cop, bad cop game implodes as experts warn regime views US as ‘evil’

April 25, 2026 5:19pm EDT / Fox News

Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei fired back, claiming ‘a fracture has occurred in the enemy’

By Benjamin Weinthal, Fox News

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, discusses the escalating U.S.-Iran tensions and the effectiveness of U.S. sanctions and diplomatic pressure. He also reacts to a Fox News poll revealing 45% of Americans now support military action against Iran.

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5 min

Days after Iran’s leadership projected a unified front, undermining the long-cited moderate-vs.-hardliner divide, President Donald Trump canceled planned talks with Tehran in Islamabad, Pakistan, citing “infighting and confusion” inside the regime.

Iranian American experts argue that social media posts from Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, President Masoud Pezeshkian and other key officials reveal that the “good cop, bad cop” tactic that the regime exploited to deceive adversaries and secure generous concessions in nuclear negotiations has collapsed.

In a Truth Social post Saturday, Trump announced he canceled the trip, citing “too much time wasted on traveling” and “too much work!”

“Besides which, there is tremendous infighting and confusion within their ‘leadership,’” the president added, noting “nobody knows who is in charge, including them.”

President Donald Trump speaks from the Cross Hall of the White House in Washington, D.C., April 1, 2026, updating the nation on the war in Iran.(Getty Images)

EXILED PRINCE LOOKS TO LEAD IRANIAN PEOPLE IN ENDING ISLAMIC REPUBLIC: ‘OUR BERLIN WALL MOMENT’

“Also, we have all the cards, they have none!” Trump wrote. “If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!”

The implosion of the hardline-moderate dichotomy within the regime could have profound consequences for Trump’s approach to the atomic talks in Islamabad, experts said.Trump appeared to allude to a blurry divide between factions within Iran last week.

“Iran is having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is! They just don’t know! The infighting is between the ‘Hardliners,’ who have been losing BADLY on the battlefield, and the ‘Moderates,’ who are not very moderate at all (but gaining respect!), and it is CRAZY!” Trump wrote in an X post Thursday.

Mojtaba Khamenei, the new supreme leader of Iran and second son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, attends a meeting in Tehran, Iran.(Hamed Jafarnejad/ISNA/WANA/Reuters)

MORNING GLORY: PRESIDENT TRUMP LEADS THE WEST TO A BIG WIN AGAINST IRAN

Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei quickly fired back, claiming “due to the strange unity created among compatriots, a fracture has occurred in the enemy.”

“With practical gratitude for this blessing, cohesion has become even greater and more steel-like, and the enemies will become more wretched and diminished,” Khamenei wrote. “The enemy’s media operations, by targeting the minds and psyches of the people, intend to undermine national unity and security; may our negligence not allow this sinister intent to come to fruition.”

Mariam Memarsadeghi, a senior fellow at The Macdonald-Laurier Institute and founder and director of the Cyrus Forum for Iran’s Future, told Fox News Digital the Islamic Republic has, for decades, fooled Western policymakers by sending moderates to negotiations as a “window dressing for its terror and subjugation.”

A poster of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei is pasted on a motorcycle windshield as government supporters gather in Tehran on April 9, 2026, marking the 40th day since the killing of his father, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.(Vahid Salemi/AP)

KHAMENEI’S DEATH OPENS UNCERTAIN CHAPTER FOR IRAN’S ENTRENCHED THEOCRACY

The officials would then tell their counterparts that they are under pressure from hardliners, implying that the West must make concessions to strengthen them internally.

“Because of the war, the Trump administration is in a remarkably advantageous situation vis-à-vis the imperial terror state, one never before attempted, much less achieved,” Memarsadeghi said.

“But every time Trump says regime change has already happened, he denies America the opportunity to finally, truly be rid of the world’s top sponsor of terror and the existential threat it poses not just to the people of Iran but to all the world.”

Navid Mohebbi, who worked as a Persian media analyst for the State Department’s Public Affairs Bureau, cautioned that while rivalries and factions do exist within the Islamic Republic, they are united on the regime’s core principles.

YALE HOSTS CONTROVERSIAL SPEAKER TRITA PARSI ACCUSED OF PROMOTING IRANIAN REGIME INTERESTS

“Their disagreements are primarily over tactics, not fundamental direction,” Mohebbi told Fox News Digital, stressing that real decision-making power in Iran has always rested with the supreme leader and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

“So-called moderates have never had the final say on key strategic issues and are often used to soften the regime’s image abroad,” he said. “From the perspective of the Iranian people, there has been little difference. Across administrations labeled ‘moderate’ or ‘hardline,’ the system has consistently relied on repression.”

Mohebbi cited the example of Iranian regime President Hassan Rouhani, who presented himself as a moderate but whose security forces violently killed 1,500 protesters during the November 2019 uprising.

Members of security forces watch over the crowd during a funeral procession for IRGC Navy Chief Alireza Tangsiri and other senior naval commanders killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes in late March in Tehran, Iran, on April 1, 2026.(Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER SAYS NUCLEAR TALKS WITH TRUMP ADMIN WOULD NOT BE ‘WISE’

“The same pattern has continued under Masoud Pezeshkian in the January 2026 protest massacre, reinforcing the reality that these labels have not translated into meaningful change on the ground,” he said.

A regional official, however, insisted there are clashes between moderates and hardliners in Iran. The official told Fox News Digital that Pezeshkian is a moderate, but he “could not even make good on his campaign promise regarding internet freedom. To be honest, he’s not even been able to do s—.

“The joint reaction by the heads of the three branches of power was in response to Trump’s reference to the issue of rift and also to the fact that there are indeed hardliners and moderates,” the official added.

“Look, whenever Iran wants to make concessions, they throw moderates under the bus so that the moderates make a deal, and then, the hardliners blame them for the same concessions all of them had agreed to make.”

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Lawdan Bazargan, who was imprisoned by the Islamic Republic in the 1980s for her political dissident activities, told Fox News Digital that what officials are seeing now is not the disappearance of the divide, but the exposure of what that divide actually was.

“In reality, all of these figures — Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf speaker of Iran’s parliament, Saeed Jalili [member of the Expediency Discernment Council], Pezeshkian, Ahmad Vahidi [head of the IRGC], Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei [head of Iran’s judiciary] — operate within the same ideological framework,” Bazargan said.

“They are all committed to the preservation of the system, the projection of power in the region and confrontation with what they define as ‘the forces of evil,’ namely the United States and Israel.”

Benjamin Weinthal reports on Israel, Iran, Syria, Turkey and Europe. You can follow Benjamin on Twitter @BenWeinthal, and email him at benjamin.weinthal@fox.com

威尔逊（右二）的这记绝杀球让西哈姆战胜埃弗顿，继续留在保级安全区。 （路透社）

（伦敦法新电）英超保级战星期六（4月25日）上演惊心动魄的剧情，西哈姆（West Ham）凭借威尔逊（Wilson）补时阶段的绝杀球，在联赛仅剩四轮的情况下，继续以两分优势力压“热刺”托特纳姆（Tottenham），在保级生死战中占据主动权。

在伦敦体育场，西哈姆对阵埃弗顿（Everton）的比赛波折不断。当埃弗顿在第88分钟扳平比分，而另一边热刺在客场取得领先时，西哈姆一度跌入降级区。然而，替补上场的威尔逊在第92分钟挺身而出攻入制胜球，让球队2比1击败埃弗顿重返第17位。

帕利尼亚（右）的进球让托特纳姆拿下关键的胜利。（法新社）

由德泽尔比（De Zerbi）执教的托特纳姆此前自12月以来未尝胜绩，本轮客战已确定降级的狼队（Wolves）。尽管进攻端乏力，但帕利尼亚（Palhinha）第82分钟的进球助热刺以1比0战胜对手，让随队球迷看到了希望，无奈威尔逊的绝杀让热刺空欢喜一场。

目前，狼队和伯恩利（Burnley）已确定降级，最后一个降级名额估计将在排名18的热刺（34分）与西汉姆（36分）之间产生。积39分排名第16的诺丁汉森林（Nottingham Forest）日前5比0大胜桑德兰（Sunderland）后已基本保级无忧。

利物浦重返前四

在积分榜前端，“红军”利物浦（Liverpool）主场以3比1击败水晶宫（Crystal Palace），报了本赛季前三次交锋均不敌对手的一箭之仇，并反超同日一球败给富勒姆（Fulham）的阿斯顿维拉（Aston Villa）升至第四。

伤愈归来的伊萨克（9号）在第35分钟攻入利物浦的首个进球。（路透社）

此前因腓骨骨折长期缺阵的伊萨克（Isak）在第35分钟攻入自12月以来的首个进球，随后罗伯逊（Robertson）五分钟后扩大领先优势。尽管水晶宫凭借穆尼奥斯（Munoz）在第71分钟扳回一球，但维尔茨（ Wirtz）在补足时间的进球为红军锁定胜局。斯洛特（Slot）执教的球队目前与维拉、曼联（Manchester United）同积58分，领先第六名的布赖顿（Brighton）八分，基本锁定欧战资格。

Trump vows to ‘get to the bottom’ of Fed’s multibillion-dollar building renovation after probe shift

2026-04-25T18:26:55-04:00 / Fox News

Inspector General Michael Horowitz takes over the investigation from federal prosecutors

By Brie Stimson Fox News

Published April 25, 2026 6:26pm EDT

Trump discusses DOJ probe of Fed Chair Jerome Powell on CBS

President Donald Trump defends the DOJ investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell during an interview on “CBS Evening News.”

A day after U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced she had directed her office to close its investigation into the Federal Reserve over a building project, President Donald Trump said he wants to know what happened.

“Well, I want to find out,” the president told reporters before boarding Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida on Saturday, after a journalist asked if he agreed with Pirro’s decision.

“You know, it’s not dropped,” he continued. “They’re looking into the whole thing about the crisis. What I want, with the IG, what I want to look at is how can a building that I could have done for $25 million cost $4 billion. That’s a big thing.”

Trump also mentioned Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, saying, “he was in charge.”

TRUMP ADMIN URGES RESTORING BALLROOM CONSTRUCTION IN EMERGENCY MOTION: ‘TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE’

President Donald Trump and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell tour the Federal Reserve’s $2.5 billion headquarters renovation project in Washington, D.C., in July.(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“So we’ll get to the bottom of it,” he added. “Yeah, I think Jeanine is fantastic. And she worked with other people on that. I tell you, I want to find out, I have an obligation to find that — this was done during Biden, but I have an obligation to find out how does it — I would have done that building for $25 million and had money left over. And it would have been open a long time ago.”

The Fed had an approved budget of $2.46 billion for the renovations, but went over budget because of things like more asbestos than expected and costs going up during the course of the renovation, the Fed says on its website.

Pirro said Friday the Fed’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz, would take over the investigation, moving it from the hands of federal prosecutors into those of a longtime government watchdog.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S FEDERAL RESERVE HQ PROBE ESCALATES WITH UNANNOUNCED SITE VISIT BY PROSECUTORS

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced her office was closing the investigation into the Federal Reserve on Friday.(Nathan Howard/Reuters)

Powell was under investigation over statements he made to Congress related to the management of the renovation costs.

Powell revealed in a video announcement in January that the Department of Justice had opened an investigation into the Fed, calling it an unprecedented attempt to use “intimidation” to force him to lower interest rates.

In the lead-up to the investigation, Trump and Powell’s relationship had grown increasingly rocky, as Trump became frustrated over interest rates and began targeting Powell, whom he nominated in 2017. Trump called Powell a “fool” and demanded in March that he drop rates “immediately.”

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who has a background in finance and sits on the Senate Banking Committee, had vowed to block Kevin Warsh’s confirmation because of the DOJ’s investigation, after Trump nominated Warsh to replace Powell, whose term was set to expire on May 15.

Tillis had claimed the DOJ’s investigation was political and would improperly interfere with markets, and he accused Pirro of seeking “brownie points” with Trump by opening it. “It’s not cute,” Tillis said during a television interview in February.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in January claimed the investigation was political.(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

During his confirmation hearing this week, Tillis told Warsh, who previously served on the Fed’s Board of Governors, that he had “extraordinary credentials” but that he could not vote to advance his nomination in the Senate until the DOJ ended its investigation.

Horowitz, who will now investigate the Fed building renovation costs, has drawn a mix of praise and criticism from Republicans while serving as DOJ inspector general for more than a decade. He was one of the few high-profile inspectors general spared during Trump’s historic cull of government watchdogs last year and has found allyship in key figures like House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

Pirro closing the investigation could pave the way for Warsh’s nomination.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., says he couldn’t vote to advance Kevin Warsh’s nomination to head the Federal Reserve in the Senate until the DOJ ended its investigation.(Al Drago/Bloomberg)

Trump said he wanted to see the investigation through “for the country.”

“It’s much tougher, much more expensive to build a hotel than an office,” the president said, mentioning his Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., that he sold in 2022 and was renamed the Waldorf Astoria.

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He continued, “I want to find out how can a building of that size cost for whatever it’s going to be. Nobody knows, by the way, what it’s going to be. Kevin is going to be fantastic. Kevin Warsh, he may never get to be in that building.”

Trump told reporters that his nomination should now going smoothly,“but whether it is or not, somebody has to find out why that building that should have cost $25 million is costing billions of dollars. And you know why they have to find it out? For other buildings, because that’s not the only one. I think that’s the most egregious example.”

Fox News’ Ashley Oliver and Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.

Mexico says 2 CIA agents killed in crash weren’t authorized to participate in local raid

April 25, 2026 / 7:27 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Mexico’s government said Saturday that two U.S. federal agents recently killed in a car crash in the country’s northern region were not authorized to participate in operations in Mexico.

The two Americans killed in the crash were employees of the CIA, multiple people familiar with the matter told CBS News earlier this week. The CIA declined to comment.

The role of the two CIA agents, who were returning from destroying a clandestine drug lab in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, remains unclear.

Local government officials have said they were part of a convoy when their car drove off a ravine last weekend and the vehicle exploded. Two Mexican officers were also killed.

A statement from Mexico’s Ministry of Security said one U.S. agent entered Mexico as a visitor while the other entered with a diplomatic passport.

“None had formal accreditation to participate in operational activities in national territory,” the security ministry said.

It also asserted that Mexico’s government was not aware of foreign agents operating or planning to participate in an operation on its soil. The ministry said it is reviewing the case with local authorities and the U.S. Embassy in Mexico.

“Mexican law is clear: it does not permit the participation of foreign agents in operations within the national territory,” the ministry said in a statement.

It added: “The Government of Mexico reiterates its willingness to maintain a close, serious, and respectful relationship with the Government of the United States for the benefit of the security of both countries.”

Officials from both countries have offered contradictory accounts on the issue, with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum admitting on Wednesday that federal forces were involved after Mexico’s government said it had no knowledge of any operation or U.S. involvement.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/mexico-demands-answers-cia-employees-die-car-crash-drug-lab-raid/

国际特稿：核电站沦为战场新标的 核能复兴前路危机四伏

2026年4月26日 05:00 / 联合早报 苏玉兰

40年前的切尔诺贝利核事故，让世界对核能心生戒惧，也推动各国建立起更严密的安全规范。40年后的今天，战事再次把核电站推向前线，俄乌和伊朗战场不时传出核电站出现险情的消息。与此同时，气候与能源危机迫使各国重新审视核能的角色——欧洲开始探讨回归核能，日本逐步重启机组，亚洲多国也加速核电布局。然而，当核电站日益成为战争阴影下的脆弱目标，全球核安全体系是否真的已为战时风险做好准备？

能源危机促使各国重新评估核能这一曾被疏远的能源选项。图为位于比利时安特卫普港附近的杜尔（Doel）核电站。 （路透社）

1986年4月26日，位于乌克兰北部的切尔诺贝利核电站按预定计划关闭4号核反应堆，进行发电机能力测试。

不料，反应堆在七秒后突然爆炸，强大的冲击力把重达1000吨、约相当于三架747客机总重量的反应堆钢盖炸飞，并向大气释放近520种危险的放射性核素。

灾难所释放出的总辐射量超过第二次世界大战广岛原子弹爆炸的400倍，核污染扩散至苏联大部分地区。

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Trump cancels Witkoff, Kushner’s Pakistan trip for Iran talks, says regime is suffering from ‘infighting’

April 25, 2026 1:54pm EDT / Fox News

President Donald Trump tells Fox News, ‘We have all the cards’

By Greg Norman-Diamond Fox News

Correspondent Alex Hogan reports on President Donald Trump cancelling his delegation’s trip to Pakistan for peace talks with Iran. Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer joins ‘Saturday in America’ to weigh in.

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President Donald Trump revealed to Fox News on Saturday that he unilaterally canceled U.S. negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner’s planned trip to Pakistan for talks with Iran.

The president said in an exclusive interview with Fox News’ White House correspondent Aishah Hasnie that it’s not worth the U.S. delegation making the 18-hour flight to Pakistan when the U.S. holds all the cards in the conflict with Iran.

“I’ve told my people a little while ago they were getting ready to leave, and I said, ‘Nope,you’re not making an 18-hour flight to go there. We have all the cards. They can call us anytime they want, but you’re not going to be making any more 18-hour flights to sit around talking about nothing’,” Trump said.

“And I canceled the trip, and I said, anytime they want to phone us, we’re ready, willing and able, but we’re not going to waste a lot of time,” Trump told Fox News.

LIVE UPDATES: TRUMP CANCELS US TRIP TO PAKISTAN FOR IRAN NEGOTIATIONS

Vice President JD Vance speaks during a news conference in Islamabad, Pakistan, on April 12, 2026, after meeting with representatives from Pakistan and Iran. Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff listen during the event.(Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

Then in a post on Truth Social, Trump said Iran is suffering from “tremendous infighting and confusion within their ‘leadership.’”

“Nobody knows who is in charge, including them,” Trump wrote.

U.S. special envoy Witkoff and Kushner, who is Trump’s son-in-law, were supposed to travel to Pakistan this weekend for the second round of U.S.-Iran negotiations during Operation Epic Fury.

US TURNS TO DRONES AFTER RETIRING MINESWEEPERS TO REOPEN STRAIT OF HORMUZ

Vice President JD Vance spoke during a news conference after meeting with representatives from Pakistan and Iran in Islamabad, Pakistan, on April 12, 2026. Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, special envoy for peace missions, listened during the event.(Jacquelyn Martin/Pool)

Prior to the cancellation, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Friday that “We’ve certainly seen some progress from the Iranian side in the last couple of days” regarding a potential deal to end the conflict.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Saturday to meet with Pakistan’s prime minister.

“Very fruitful visit to Pakistan, whose good offices and brotherly efforts to bring back peace to our region we very much value,” he said on X following the trip.

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi speaks during the opening ceremony of the First Caspian Governors’ Forum in Rasht, Iran, on Nov. 18, 2025.(Shadati/Xinhua)

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“Shared Iran’s position concerning workable framework to permanently end the war on Iran. Have yet to see if the U.S. is truly serious about diplomacy,” he added.

Vice President JD Vance was supposed to travel to Pakistan earlier this week for a second round of talks, but he was called back to the White House for meetings, and the trip was postponed indefinitely.

Vance, Witkoff and Kushner were in Pakistan earlier this month for the first round of talks with the Iranian, but no deal was reached after their in-person meeting.

Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.

Trump says he canceled Kushner, Witkoff trip to Pakistan for Iran talks: “We have all the cards, they have none!”

April 25, 2026 / 1:28 PM EDT / CBS News

By Mark Osborne

President Trump said Saturday he called off plans for U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to travel to Pakistan for Iran peace talks. He cited wasted time and confusion over Iran’s leadership, adding, “we have all the cards.”

“I just cancelled the trip of my representatives going to Islamabad, Pakistan, to meet with the Iranians,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “Too much time wasted on traveling, too much work!”

“Besides which, there is tremendous infighting and confusion within their ‘leadership,’” he said. “Nobody knows who is in charge, including them. Also, we have all the cards, they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Friday the duo would head to Islamabad for “direct talks” in pursuit of a lasting peace deal more than 50 days after the U.S. and Israel started bombing Iran.

President Donald Trump prepares to board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Friday, April 24, 2026. Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in Islamabad on Friday and Saturday, and spoke with Pakistani Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif. He later departed for Oman. The Pakistanis have been serving as intermediaries for discussions between Iran and the U.S.

The war continues to disrupt shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which one-fifth of the world’s oil supply normally flows. Oil prices have jumped as a result, and the conflict has pushed inflation in the U.S. to its highest level in nearly two years.

A U.S. blockage of Iranian ports and vessels is also continuing, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saying Friday it will stay in place “as long as it takes.” He indicated the Trump administration is in no hurry to reach a peace deal with Iran and echoed Mr. Trump’s recent comments that the U.S. is in control of the timeline for Operation Epic Fury.

In Iran, the president there urged people to reduce electricity use, after U.S.-Israeli strikes damaged energy infrastructure, state media reported Saturday.

“Instead of turning on 10 lights at home, turn on two lights. What is wrong with that?” President Masoud Pezeshkian said, The Associated Press reported.

Trump expected to make his first appearance as president at White House Correspondents’ Association dinner

April 25, 2026 / 3:17 PM EDT / AP

Donald Trump’s expected attendance at Saturday’s annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington for his first time as president will put his administration’s often-contentious relationship with the press on full public display.

Mr. Trump will be watched closely at the event held by the organization of reporters who cover him and his administration. Past presidents who have attended have generally spoken about the importance of free speech and the First Amendment, adding in some light roasts about individual journalists.

The Republican president did not attend during his first term or the first year of his second. He came as a guest in 2011, sitting in the audience as President Barack Obama, a Democrat, made some jokes about the New York real estate developer. Mr. Trump also attended as a private citizen in 2015.

Past dinners have also featured comedians who poke at presidents. This year, the group opted to hire mentalist Oz Pearlman as the featured entertainment.

Mr. Trump’s planned appearance is rekindling a longer running debate about the dinner and events like it — in particular, whether it is poor form for journalists to be seen socializing with the people they cover. The New York Times, for example, stopped attending the dinner more than a decade ago for that reason.

“What was once (a fairly long time ago) a well-intended night of fundraising and camaraderie among professional adversaries is now simply a bad look,” wrote Kelly McBride, ethics expert at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank.

A contentious relationship

Between berating individual reporters, fighting organizations like the Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press in court and restricting press access to the Pentagon, the administration’s animus toward journalists has been a fixture of Mr. Trump’s second term.

On the eve of the dinner, nearly 500 retired journalists signed a petition calling on the association “to forcefully demonstrate opposition to President Trump’s efforts to trample freedom of the press.”

“The White House Correspondents’ dinner reinforces the importance of the First Amendment in our democracy,” said the WHCA president and CBS News’ senior White House correspondentWeijia Jiang. “As we mark America’s 250th birthday, our choice to gather as journalists, newsmakers and the president in the same room is a reminder of what a free press means to this country and why it must endure. Not for the media or the president, but for the people who depend on it.”

Many reporters who attend, however, consider it a valuable opportunity to get story ideas and establish personal connections with those in government, one that may pay dividends with returned telephone calls in the future.

Some news organizations invite sources as guests

Journalists often invite sources as guests at the dinner. It will be noticed Saturday whether administration officials who have also expressed hostility to the press will attend, and with whom they will be sitting.

The AP has invited Taylor Budowich, a former White House deputy chief of staff who left last fall for the private sector. The invitation is notable because Budowich, in his role crafting White House communications policy, was a named defendant last year when the AP sued the administration after it reduced its access to the president because the news outlet did not follow Mr. Trump’s lead in renaming the Gulf of Mexico.

“We maintain professional relationships with people across the political spectrum because we are nonpartisan by design — focused on reporting the facts in the public’s interest,” AP spokesman Patrick Maks said.

The White House correspondents will also hand out awards for exemplary reporting. That includes some stories that displeased Mr. Trump, such as one from the Journal about a birthday message Trump once sent to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The story led to a presidential lawsuit.