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A man deported to Mexico has claimed that officers not only refused to see his documents but accused him of fraud

A U.S. citizen has been deported to Mexico despite telling arresting officers that he had proof of citizenship at home, according to a new report.

According to Univision’s Lidia Terrazas, 25-year-old Denver-born Brian Morales was threatened with either deportation or prison time following a traffic stop in Texas by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents.

This is the latest in a string of incidents involving U.S. citizens and Department of Homeland Security agents during the first 18 months of Trump’s second term in office. In addition several American children have been deported alongside their parents, including a child undergoing cancer treatment in the U.S.

The messaging from China’s Communist government may once have been dogmatic and rigid — not anymore. Having largely tamed the internet at home with tight censorship, Beijing is now tapping the power of social media and artificial intelligence to tell its story — and often to skewer the U.S. and its president.

In a five-minute AI-generated animation modeled after classic martial arts movies, China’s state media frames out an allegory for the war in Iran. A white eagle in regal attire representing the U.S. unleashes an evil laugh before his army attacks a group of Persian cats draped in black cloaks standing in for Iranians, who vow to fight after losing their leader and close off a crucial trading route.

Touching on injustice, revenge and worldly wisdom, the metaphor-rich short is the latest example of several AI-generated animations created by China’s state media in recent months to mock the U.S. as a global bully, including Donald Trump’s threat to take over Greenland and his plan to exert U.S. predominance in the Western Hemisphere.

The deft use of AI animation comes after Xi Jinping has pushed for years to boost the country’s abilities to spread its messages globally, gain a greater say on world affairs and counter Western narratives that Beijing often sees as biased or even derogatory about China. Pro-Iran groups similarly have used sleek, AI-generated memes to taunt the U.S. and Trump.

Donald Trump's Board of Peace has received only a tiny fraction of the $17 billion pledged for Gaza, preventing him from pushing ahead with his plan for the shattered Palestinian enclave's future, sources told Reuters.

The Board of Peace denied in a statement on Friday posted on ​social media after the Reuters story was published that it had funding problems.

A war-driven jump in gas prices helped push US inflation to 3.3% in March, marking the fastest annual pace in nearly two years, new Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed Friday.

On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.9%, triple the 0.3% pace seen in February, when inflation was 2.4%, the latest Consumer Price Index data showed.

Gasoline prices, which rose a record 21.2% during the month, accounted for nearly three-quarters of the overall monthly increase.

Economists had expected prices to jump 0.9% from the month before and for the annual rate to climb to 3.4%, according to FactSet.

US intelligence indicates that China is preparing to deliver new air defense systems to Iran within the next few weeks, according to three people familiar with recent intelligence assessments.

It would be a provocative move considering Beijing said it helped broker the fragile ceasefire agreement that paused the war between Iran and the US earlier this week. President Donald Trump is also set to visit China early next month for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The intelligence also underscores how Iran may be using the ceasefire as an opportunity to replenish certain weapons systems with the help of key foreign partners.

The most plausible explanation for first lady Melania Trump’s out-of-the-blue address on the Jeffrey Epstein drama was that she was trying to make it go away.

But her stunning on-camera statement Thursday from the White House Cross Hall — the spot where her husband last week spoke to the nation about the Iran war — will almost certainly have the opposite effect.

“I am not Epstein’s victim. Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump,” she said, in a statement that was all the more remarkable since there had been no widespread public speculation about the matter in recent days.

New rules approved by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could blunt the impact of a federal judge’s order freezing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee and putting many of its decisions on hold, experts say.

The changes were posted online Thursday in a new charter for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP — the document that lays out how the panel is supposed to operate. The CDC is required to review and renew the charter every two years, although it rarely makes significant changes.

The charter was posted nearly a month after a Massachusetts federal judge, in a lawsuit brought by the American Academy of Pediatrics and several other medical organizations, halted Kennedy’s remade ACIP and reversed many of the vaccine policy changes the panel had made over the last year — a move that adds further confusion over vaccine policy in the U.S. The judge said the committee’s members, many of whom are critical of vaccines, appeared to be “distinctly unqualified” to serve on the panel. The Department of Health and Human Services hasn’t yet appealed the ruling, but it has 60 days to do so.

Car ownership has long been integral to the American dream. But as automakers slash the production of inexpensive models to cater to customers who can afford oversized pickups and sport utility vehicles, buyers find themselves facing sticker shock at the same time they are already frustrated by the lingering effects of high inflation.

Consumer prices rose 3.3% in March, the biggest yearly increase since May 2024, while new car prices were up 12.6% from a year ago, the Labor Department reported Friday.

New vehicles now sell for an average of nearly $50,000, up 30% in six years, and average monthly payments — based on 10% down and a 6-year note — recently hit $775. Looking for something on the cheap end? The share of vehicles listing for less than $30,000 is about 13% — down from 40% five years ago, per the car review site CarGurus.

A new survey of Southeast Asian opinion leaders shows they prefer China to the United States as a partner, while the region’s biggest geopolitical concern is U.S. global leadership.

The United States may have struck a fragile ceasefire deal with Iran, but the war has inflicted damage on U.S. relationships in Asia that were already strained after more than a year of Donald Trump’s unpredictable approach to foreign policy. A new survey of leaders in Southeast Asian countries highlights the weakness of U.S. influence in the region, even among allies and partners.

The annual State of Southeast Asia survey report produced by the Singapore-based think tank ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute is hotly anticipated by regional experts, policymakers, and other opinion leaders. It surveys a range of Southeast Asian elites from academia, think tanks, research institutes, the private sector, governments, and civil society. Though it is not a complete public poll, the survey is generally considered the best gauge of Southeast Asian sentiment on a wide range of issues, including external powers’ influence in the region.

A U.S. appeals court on Friday declared unconstitutional a nearly 158-year-old federal ban on home distilling, calling it an unnecessary and improper means for ​Congress to exercise its power to tax.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of ‌Appeals in New Orleans ruled in favor of the nonprofit Hobby Distillers Association and four of its 1,300 members.

They argued that people should be free to distill spirits at home, whether as ​a hobby or for personal consumption including, in one instance, to create ​an apple-pie-vodka recipe.

The ban was part of a law passed during ⁠Reconstruction in July 1868, in part to thwart liquor tax evasion, and subjected violators ​to up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Former allies of Democratic contender withdraw support after accusations in San Francisco Chronicle and on CNN

Congressman Eric Swalwell, a leading candidate to be California’s next governor, forcefully denied allegations of sexual assault on Friday night, as he faced escalating calls to withdraw from the race from prominent supporters, rivals and his won colleagues in Congress.

In a video statement shared on his Instagram and posted by his official congressional account on X, the California Democrat vowed to fight the allegations with “everything I have”.

Earlier on Friday, the San Francisco Chronicle published an account of a woman who said she was sexually assaulted by Swalwell on two separate occasions.