A high school music teacher, a cancer survivor and a new father with two baby boys have been identified by family members as victims of a weekend skydiving plane crash in Missouri that killed 12 people.
According to the Bates county department of emergency management, the aircraft, a Pacific Aerospace P750XL, was carrying nine experienced skydivers, two tandem jumpers and a pilot.
All died when the plane – which had just taken off from the Butler, Missouri, airport south of Kansas City – took an unexpected turn and nosedived into the ground 300 yards from the runway.
Music teacher Dave Hershberger, named as one of the 12 victims, was being mourned by students at Oak Park high school, and Antioch middle school where he also taught, as reported by ABC News affiliate KMBC.
The popular educator, who worked for the North Kansas City school district for 11 years, was also a veteran skydiver whose account on Facebook was filled with images of him on tandem jumps.
Hershberger, who taught band and orchestra, was “not only a passionate educator and talented musician, but one of the kindest humans”, the principals of both schools said in a joint statement.
The mother of Matthew Swope, 39, paid tribute to her son in a Facebook post that requested prayers for his family, including three sisters and two brothers. Dorcie Swope, a widow, said her son “died doing what he loved best”.
KMBC cited friends and family members who said Matthew Swope was a survivor of cancer who had completed more than 750 parachute jumps – and was an “expert” skydiver.
The outlet spoke to the father of another victim, who it did not name. “My son was on the plane. He had a new business, two new baby boys and everything was going good for him,” the person said, adding that his son had “been getting into skydiving” and had made up to 500 jumps.
“[It’s] just something he loved to do,” he said. “You just never start the morning thinking you’re going to die, you know. He had two new baby boys. It’s tough.”
At least four of the victims were about to make their final jumps before becoming skydiving instructors, KMBC said. Among them was Will Fischer, 23.
“Nothing can describe the grief I feel … To my annoying little brother, I will miss you forever,” his sister posted on Facebook, according to the Kansas City Star.
Fischer’s friend Kevin Stone, a skydiving instructor in Chicago with whom he made his first jump, told the newspaper he took a group up on Monday in the same type of plane that crashed in Missouri.
“I was breathing a little bit heavier on my first couple loads today [but] I think that if this stopped me from jumping today, Will would be insulted,” Stone said.
“I think that he would consider that an insult to his memory. This was the thing that he loved.”
Other victims were identified as Marcus Miller, also an experienced jumper; and Jen Sharp, who was director of technology for the US Parachute Association, a 41,000-member group for skydiving enthusiasts.
“Jen was a remarkable force whose passion for the skies was matched only by her dedication to the people in our sport,” the group’s executive director, Albert Berchtold, said in a tribute on its website.
“Her loss leaves an unfillable void in our office, our community, and our hearts. We are incredibly grateful for the years of laughter, innovation, and friendship we shared with her.”
KMBC gave the names of Nick Nash, Mike Shanahan, Dane Cordes and Dustin McKinney, among the other victims.
A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation into the cause of the crash was continuing on Tuesday, with preliminary findings expected in the coming weeks. A full report was not expected until at least 2027.
The Associated Press reported that the NTSB has said in past investigations that weak oversight of the skydiving industry can allow problems with poor aircraft maintenance to go unnoticed.
The agency also cited an incident from the same Butler airport in May 2024 in which six skydivers and a pilot safely parachuted from a plane that went on to crash with nobody left onboard.
The NTSB said after a 2019 crash that killed 11 people in Hawaii, that the Federal Aviation Administration’s regulatory system was not robust enough to ensure the safety of skydiving flights.
In the crash on the island of Oahu, investigators found that the wing of the plane was twisted during a previous incident several years earlier and was never repaired.
The Associated Press contributed reporting

Toy Story 5 is in theaters on June 19.
Woody, Buzz and the gang are back in theaters for Toy Story 5, a fourth sequel to Pixar’s flagship franchise that proves no matter how well you wrap up a story, there’s always room for more. This time, the now-very-antique toys are faced with their most dangerous challenge yet… screen time.
But how necessary was this sequel? And how can the brain trust at Pixar successfully pull these toys out of the attic again? To find out, I took both my film critic hat and my kids (7 and 11) to a press screening of Toy Story 5.
What’s the best Toy Story movie?
Toy Story
Toy Story 2
Toy Story 3
Toy Story 4
I’m waiting to see Toy Story 5 before I answer!
Right off the bat I can say that the movie does Pixar proud in the visual department. It isn’t quite the revolutionary jump in graphics that Toy Story 4 had over its predecessors, but the usual Pixar bump is there. In fact one scene that starts with an establishing shot of the sky and trees and a school bus had me thinking for a split second that they’d actually shot some real footage for the film before kids from the uncanny valley came running into frame.
My son had a quote about that as well… “better grafics.” He almost got it. To be fair, he took my notebook in the middle of the theater and wrote it in the dark, so there’s a chance he knows how to spell it right.
My kids were very excited to tag along to this press screening, but less so when I started asking them questions on the ride home. My daughter, who just finished fifth grade, said it was starting to feel like homework, and I had to remind her that this was, in fact, my job and yeah, it’s a little like homework.
For starters, it’s difficult to talk about Toy Story 5 without a heavy dose of context for the entire franchise. Obviously it’s a sequel and there are four movies worth of story to keep in mind, but more than that this is a franchise that has had two separate occasions to wrap up in a pretty satisfying way. There are crowds of people who would agree it should have just been a trilogy, ending on Bonnie’s porch at the end of Toy Story 3. And while Toy Story 4 started the conversation of “why are we still doing this” for some, it defied the odds and put a decently neat bow on the franchise again, and with even more finality.
So “why do we need a Toy Story 5?” is a bigger question here than it has been even for other long-running franchises. That is, fair or not, the hole that this movie was starting in for me. For my kids, though? Not so much. In fact, their least favorite entry in the franchise is the widely beloved Toy Story 3. But my daughter had a very interesting reason for that – one that leads me back into this review proper.
First and foremost, a Toy Story movie, and I would argue a Pixar film in general, needs to be fun, and Toy Story 5 certainly trots out some fun moments. The animation style of Bonnie’s imagination and the scenarios she concocts while playing with her favorite toys is maybe the strongest of any such sequence in the whole series. And from a battalion of stranded next-gen Buzz Lightyears trying to find their way back to Star Command to forgotten toys wasted in the wake of tech, there are plenty of memorable laughs. Conan O’Brien in particular is hilarious as Mr. Smarty Pants, a potty-training assistant.
In fact, the trio of new characters – including Smarty Pants, the kids-first digital camera Snappy, and Atlas, a map device that’s, for some reason, a hippo – were my daughter’s favorite characters in the entire movie, and I can’t really argue with that. They’re a blast. (They also do one of my favorite Toy Story things, which is questioning their own existence in a legitimately terrifying way.)
However, on the balance this movie may be more of a downer than it was fun. There’s a maudlin sense of dread that hangs over most of the first half of the movie, where a real sadness revolves around Bonnie and her inability to make friends that can meet her where she’s at. Now, this was something that my daughter and I had an interesting conversation about. After Bonnie’s parents get her Lillypad (Greta Lee), her first tablet nervously purchased as a way to help her connect with all the other kids in her orbit who already have one, Bonnie’s online dynamic in a chat group goes pretty immediately bad. My kid and I talked about who was to blame for it – the bullies who were being mean, or Lillypad, who served as an easy conduit, providing access to Bonnie for the bullies. She actually blamed Lillypad, saying, “It’s important to know who good people are in real life.”
There’s wisdom beyond her 11 years in that, and I’m proud of her, but also she agreed it was the iPad’s fault, so joke’s on her – she’s getting less screen time from now on. Meanwhile, my 7-year-old son said, “I like how the tech took over,” so… I guess for sure less screentime for him too.
And, to finally get back to my daughter’s point, the other thing a Toy Story movie needs is a good villain. To quote her thoughts on Toy Story 3… “I hated that the villain was just evil the whole time.” I thought that was an interesting take because Lillypad, for her part, is doing what she thinks is best for Bonnie which, based on the conversation my daughter and I had, makes placing the “villain” label on her a little more difficult. She’s a stand-in for the idea of technology causing kids to grow up too fast, not necessarily the antagonist in and of herself.
Now, I think that’s in the Pro column for this movie, as some of the franchise’s best moments are from villains who see the error of their ways and are big enough to pivot. I would argue Tom Hanks’ Woody actually represents the best version of that in the original Toy Story because he was straight-up the bad guy of that movie, but that’s probably a different article.
Toy Story films also need a relatable phase of life at their center – something universally experienced, like growing up, leaving home or letting go. These are all things just about everybody can relate to without any extra direction from the filmmakers, and Toy Story 5, for at least the first half, is very much missing that universality. Growing up with social media is a modern and I suppose widely relatable experience that wasn’t around 30 years ago when the first Toy Story came out. But instead of being about “remember how it can be difficult to be a kid?”, a lot of Toy Story 5 is more focused on “kids these days and their screens, amirite?” The difference there is that Toy Story 5’s statement feels like it’s the filmmakers’ telling us about it instead of letting us get there emotionally ourselves. The result is an out of touch-ness that is, quite frankly, surprising to see from Pixar. For a lot of the film’s runtime Toy Story, very uncharacteristically, doesn’t have much to offer to the conversation about young people’s relationship to their screens and there’s not a lot of the real emotional stakes this series has been trading in for four movies prior to this.
To be fair it doesn’t let parents off the hook either. As a remote worker myself, I felt properly seen and criticized by a scene where a parent is just shouting “you’re muted” while parked in his home office on zoom. It’s difficult though to take the critique too seriously coming from Pixar, a company sprung from the same Steve Jobs that brought us the iPad in the first place. But that also might just be me being defensive. But I followed up about this scene with my kids and if it reminded them of me, to which my son said “oh 100% totally. It wasn’t funny because it was work.” So the movie does have its finger on the pulse of human connectivity in, lo, these modern times to some extent.
I know I’ve been more negative than not about this movie for like 1500 words now, but really the second half of Toy Story 5 is much better. A lot of what I like about it and how the movie lands gets into some spoiler territory, so it’s just harder to get into detail about it. Before I attempt to though, I feel like I have to call out everybody’s favorite cowboy. This movie did not need Woody. It’s a testament to the job the franchise has done of ending in a satisfying way twice now that he feels so tacked on in this one. In fact, it’s enough to make me wonder if he wasn’t even in the early drafts of the movie, until an exec got hold of it and said, “put the cowboy in, you maniacs.”
You could lift Woody straight out of the movie and there would only be two differences. Number 1, the movie would be maybe two minutes shorter. He’s got no business to do off on his own that affects the plot in any meaningful way. And number 2, it would actually help out Buzz (Tim Allen). This movie wants so badly to be a two-hander between Buzz and Jessie (Joan Cusack), and it almost pulls it off. But when Woody comes back and starts hatching plans, it takes away Buzz’s agency. Buzz could’ve taken a next step into responsibility, adulthood, leadership, whatever box needed to be ticked for one of those universally relatable life phases that Toy Story has always hung its hat on. Instead, he just kinda keeps following orders and it feels like an opportunity was missed in favor of rehashing some of his and Woody’s old dynamic.
Now, again, pretty much all of my issues with this film are in its first half, but I think that’s also in part because I was dreading how they were going to attempt to stick the landing. But happily, the second half of the movie manages it a lot better than I’d feared.
From the midpoint of the movie, Toy Story 5 really starts to nail the things Pixar does best. It’s adventurous, with well-choreographed and stylish action, and just a lot funnier. The heart of the movie finally shows up to deal with things like what it means to really make meaningful connections or the distinction between games and actually playing. Woody also starts to fade into the background, leaning into more of a comic-relief role than being front and center, and, surprise surprise, the film is better for it.
Most importantly, after all the hemming and hawing about “what’s to be done with tech,” the film finally takes a stand. It’s not an overly ambitious one, or even one that will surprise you, but it was very necessary to walk out of the theater feeling good about it. Ultimately, Toy Story 5 does have something to add to the conversation beyond old guys shaking their fists at clouds about “kids and their tablets these days.”
But speaking of kids and their tablets, mine apparently have not had enough of Toy Story. I asked them what they’d like to see in a Toy Story 6 and my son just started yelling about needing Spoony to join Tony Hale’s Forky and his knife bride Karen Beverly (Melissa Villaseñor). He kept getting louder and doing different goofy voices every time my daughter would try to chime in. But finally she was able to articulate just wanting more Toy Story. Couldn’t get more detail out of her than that. Maybe it’s the idea that she, like Andy or Bonnie or, it would seem, Pixar, just can’t bear the idea of leaving these toys behind.

Donald Trump’s $14.2m bid to turn the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool from what the US president described as a “filthy” and “dirty” site into a “beautiful” monument has encountered a hitch.
The water is green again.
Days after the renovation was finished, algae has frustrated Trump’s attempt to transform the shade of the pool to “American flag blue” in time for the country’s 250th birthday.
The reflecting pool – one of Washington DC’s most historically symbolic attractions, and the scene of Martin Luther King’s 1963 “I have a dream” speech – has been one element of Trump’s efforts to recondition the country’s capital during his second presidency.
A no-bid contract to waterproof and repaint the site, which dates back over a century, raised eyebrows. It was awarded to a Virginia-based company, Atlantic Industrial Coatings, which had previously carried out work on a swimming pool at one of the president’s golf clubs.
The administration had claimed “residual” algae would be cleared in the immediate aftermath of the renovation. But it has proliferated amid warm weather.
The US Department of the Interior has claimed in recent days that the installation of a water treatment system which a spokesperson described as “nanobubbler technology” would help address the algae issue.
“The nanobubbler technology has successfully destroyed the algae bloom that has plagued every pool reopening since 1922,” a spokesperson told the Guardian on Tuesday. The spokesperson claimed the pool had been “broken and disgusting” days after a project that took place while Barack Obama was president.
“Now, due to deploying the advanced nanobubbler technology, the algae is dead and being vacuumed up as we speak,” the spokesperson added. “We thank President Trump for fixing the reflecting pool for good.”
In a 5 June post on his Truth Social platform, Trump claimed the renovation he ordered of the reflecting pool would stand the test of time. “This was not a paint job,” he said. “This was highly sophisticated material, industrial strength, that could last for 100 years, applied by very talented people.”
Administration officials have repeatedly claimed that other presidents tried and failed in years gone by to beautify the pool with “extremely costly” projects.
While Trump initially put the cost of this latest effort at about $1.8m, it quickly rose beyond $14m.
National Park Service employees were seen using skimmers on Monday in a bid to clean algae from the reflecting pool and return to it to the intended hue.

21 mins ago
Pinned
Fox News gets exclusive look inside historic drone boat Strait of Hormuz rescue of downed pilots
Fox News got an exclusive look at Saronic, the Texas-based defense startup behind the drone boat platform used in the autonomous rescue of two American pilots after their Apache helicopter went down near the Strait of Hormuz.
President Donald Trump hailed it as an American first, a major milestone for unmanned military technology.
“The U.S. military does not leave people behind,” Saronic CEO and former Navy SEAL Dino Mavrookas said. “We were able to rescue them with an autonomous platform without putting additional sailors or soldiers in harm’s way. That’s massive.”
The mission comes as the Pentagon looks to expand autonomous naval technology that can be produced at scale and used in high-risk missions without putting more U.S. troops in danger.
Fox News also got a first look at Saronic’s next-generation autonomous ship, the Mirage, which is designed to travel farther, carry heavier payloads and handle more complex missions.
Fox News’ Brooke Taylor contributed to this report.
Posted by Eric Mack
27 mins ago
World’s middlemen: Swiss to host US-Iran MOU signing Friday at Bürgenstock
Switzerland has pitched itself as the world’s neutral room — the place warring powers go when they are not ready to trust each other, but are finally ready to talk.
Now, that role is back in the spotlight, with the U.S. and Iran set to put pen to paper above Lake Lucerne.
Swiss foreign ministry officials said Tuesday that a signing ceremony for a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the United States and Iran will take place Friday at the Bürgenstock resort near Luzern.
The site, perched above Lake Lucerne in central Switzerland, was proposed by Pakistani and Qatari mediators, along with the U.S. and Iran.
The ministry said it has been in close contact with all four countries about the possible signing, which follows announcements over the weekend by U.S. and Iranian officials that they had reached an understanding.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Posted by Eric Mack
39 mins ago
Trump open to sending MOU to Congress for approval: ‘Who wouldn’t approve it?’
President Trump said Tuesday he is open to sending his emerging Iran agreement to Congress for review, a move that could help lock in Republican support but also expose the still-secret deal to sharper scrutiny on Capitol Hill.
“I like the idea, send it to Congress please,” Trump said during a Tuesday meeting with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the sidelines of the G7 summit in the French Alps.
“I mean who wouldn’t approve it.”
The remark comes as lawmakers in both parties press the administration for details about what Trump has described as an agreement to end the war in Iran.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., who has failed to pass some of Trump’s key agenda items like the Save America Act, is raising opposition on Trump cutting an Iran deal while cutting out Congress.
Republicans are signaling they want more than verbal assurances.
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., argued that a lasting agreement should be approved by Congress, saying executive agreements last only as long as the president who signs them. Sen. John Kennedy, meanwhile, voiced skepticism about Iran’s trustworthiness.
Democrats are also demanding the text. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the “devil is in the details” and criticized Trump for not yet revealing the substance of the memo of understanding (MOU).
The administration says more details are expected in the coming days, potentially around a formal signing ceremony in Switzerland.
This story included excerpts from Fox News’ Alex Miller’s reporting. The Associated Press also contributed to this report.
Posted by Eric Mack
1 hour ago
Trump wants to destroy Iran’s enriched uranium, not take it
President Donald Trump said the U.S. is not looking to keep Iran’s enriched uranium, but to destroy it.
“We’re not looking to take it,” Trump said during a bilateral meeting at the G7 in France. “We’re looking to destroy it. We have plenty of it.”
Trump said the uranium is being monitored and suggested there is no immediate rush to remove it.
“We have cameras from space on it,” Trump said. “We know everybody that goes there, which is like nobody.”
Trump said B-2 bombers struck the site and claimed “the entire mountain collapsed inside it,” making excavation difficult.
“It’s a very tough excavation,” Trump said. “Nobody else can do it but us and probably China. They have the equipment. We have the equipment.
“We’re in no rush, but we get it, and when we get it, we’ll destroy it.”
Posted by Eric Mack
1 hour ago
Vance says Trump Iran plan could reshape Middle East for generations
Vice President JD Vance said President Donald Trump’s Iran peace plan could have “transformative impacts” on the Middle East for generations.
Vance said Gulf Arab countries opposed the Obama-era JCPOA because they believed it empowered Iran, but he said they view Trump’s plan differently.
“Do you know what they think about the President Trump peace plan? They love it because they think that it’s turning over a new leaf to a new Middle East,” Vance said in an interview Tuesday on “Fox & Friends.”
“What we’ve done here is actually unite the Gulf together,” he added.
Posted by Eric Mack
1 hour ago
Vance: Trump offering Iran ‘hand of peace’ if regime changes behavior
Vice President JD Vance said President Donald Trump is offering Iran a path toward a better relationship with the United States, but only if Tehran changes its behavior.
“What the president is trying to do is actually extend the hand of peace,” Vance told Tuesday’s “Fox & Friends.”
Vance said Iran’s leaders must “step up and change their behavior” if the Iranian people want “greater prosperity.”
“If they do, great,” Vance said. “If they don’t, the United States has already gotten a lot from what we need.”
Posted by Eric Mack
1 hour ago
Vance in Fox News exclusive sit-down: Iran deal gives Tehran 60 days to prove it has changed
Vice President JD Vance told Fox News Digital in an exclusive sit-down interview that Iran is entering a 60-day test period under President Donald Trump’s agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, arguing Tehran must show through its actions that it has abandoned nuclear weapons development and support for terrorism.
“The thing I’ve learned from the President of the United States is whether friend or foe, you shouldn’t trust anybody, you should trust people’s actions,” Vance said.
Vance said Iran has “two pathways”: behave like a “normal country” and receive benefits such as sanctions relief and renewed international ties, or attempt to rebuild its nuclear program and continue backing terrorism, forfeiting any benefits under the deal.
He said the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz strengthens the U.S. hand by allowing oil and gas to flow again and helping bring energy prices down for Americans.
“It fundamentally allows us to see are they serious or not,” Vance said.
These quotes came in Ashley DiMella’s Fox News Digital exclusive sit-down with the vice president.
Posted by Eric Mack
2 hours ago
Vance: ‘Not a single cent of American money’ goes to Iran under deal
Vice President JD Vance vowed “not a single cent of American money” will go to Iran under President Donald Trump’s proposed peace deal, pushing back on reported dollar figures and calling them “Iranian propaganda.”
“Not $300 billion, not $24 billion, not any of the money, the dollar figures that I’ve seen floating around,” Vance told Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.”
The deal centers on a “firm commitment backed up by verifiable action” that Iran will not develop or buy a nuclear weapon, Vance stressed.
“We’re not giving them a red cent of American money,” Vance said, contrasting the deal with the Obama-era JCPOA.
Vance said Gulf Arab countries could invest in Iran only if Tehran “perform[s] their end of the obligation,” adding that any benefits depend on Iran “behaving properly.”
Posted by Eric Mack
2 hours ago
Trump: My MOU is ‘wall against nuclear weapon’ for Iran; Obama ‘paid a fortune, we pay nothing’
President Donald Trump said his Iran memorandum of understanding is “a wall against a nuclear weapon,” contrasting it with the Obama-era JCPOA being a “road map” for Iran’s nuclear enrichment.
“Mine is a wall against a nuclear weapon,” Trump said. “He paid a fortune for it. We pay nothing.”
Trump said he plans to release the memorandum of understanding (MOU) and may hold a press conference to read the document aloud, saying he wants the press to cover it accurately.
“I will actually not only release it, I’ll probably have a press conference and read it to you word by word,” Trump said, rebuking the “fake news.”
Posted by Eric Mack
2 hours ago
CENTCOM shows USS Delbert D. Black replenishment in Arabian Sea
U.S. Central Command said the USS Delbert D. Black completed a vertical replenishment-at-sea with the USNS John Lewis while transiting the Arabian Sea on June 15.
The operation allows sailors to receive supplies, mail and other needed items without the ship having to pull into port, according to CENTCOM.
The update comes as U.S. naval assets continue operating in the region amid heightened Middle East tensions before a potential memorandum of understanding (MOU) signing ceremony Friday.
Posted by Eric Mack
2 hours ago
Trump signals Ukraine peace is next, meets with Zelenskyy at G7
President Donald Trump said he had a “good meeting” with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, urging Russia to move toward a deal to end the war.
“Ukraine is losing a lot of people,” Trump lamented at the bilateral meeting with Qatar at the G7 on Tuesday morning in France.
“So, yeah, I’m going to do whatever I can.”
Trump added, “Russia should make a deal.”
“Russia’s lost tremendous amounts of people, and so has Ukraine,” he continued.
“I don’t like to see 25,000 young people die every month,” Trump said. “The whole thing is ridiculous.”
Trump said he recently spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and, after making peace in the Middle East, the U.S. would now turn more focus toward the war in Ukraine.
Posted by Eric Mack
Breaking News3 hours ago
Trump warns Iran of ‘ultimate consequences’ if regime obtains nuclear weapon
President Donald Trump warned Iran would face “ultimate consequences” if the regime obtains a nuclear weapon, saying during a G7 news conference that Tehran “will not” be allowed to develop, purchase or otherwise acquire one.
“And if they do, they suffer unbelievable consequences,” Trump said during a bilateral meeting with Qatar early Tuesday morning. “Not just a little bit — I won’t even tell you the consequences, but the consequences are the ultimate consequences.”
Trump said the issue was central to his memorandum of understanding on Iran, stressing that the agreement language had to go beyond barring Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon.
“They will not develop, purchase, buy or any other thing,” Trump said. “They’re not going to acquire a nuclear weapon. If they do, all hell will rain down on them.”
The president added that he hopes the U.S. can have “a very good relationship” with Iran, but said preventing the regime from obtaining a nuclear weapon remains the priority.
Posted by Eric Mack
3 hours ago
Iran slaughter of protesters ‘took place during the first and second regimes’ more, Trump says
President Donald Trump said the U.S. has discussed Iran’s killing of its own people, calling the killing of the regime protesters “a terrible thing.”
“We talked to them about it,” Trump said at a bilateral meeting with Qatar.
“The majority of that took place during the first and second regimes, much more so than them. It was much more severe, but it’s a terrible thing.”
Trump said the U.S. is dealing with Iranian officials he described as “very rational people,” adding that they were “strong” and “smart” during negotiations.
“The first group, they’re all dead; the second group, they’re dead,” Trump said. “A part of the third group is gone. And we’re dealing with people that I think are very rational people, and they were nice to deal with. They were strong people, smart people.
“I think actually they’re smarter than the first and second group, but they’re not radicalized and they’re, you know, looking to help their country.”
Trump said he was not focused on regime change, arguing that past efforts have failed.
“I never cared about regime change,” Trump said. “I’ve watched regime changes for years. They never work.”
Posted by Eric Mack
3 hours ago
Trump: Netanyahu must be ‘more responsible’; ‘don’t knock down’ a building looking for someone
President Donald Trump said he is not frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but criticized Israel’s handling of Lebanon and Hezbollah.
“I’ve had a great relationship with Bibi, but now Bibi has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon,” Trump during a bilateral meeting with Qatar.
Trump said he was “not happy” with the way Israel has handled the situation, saying the conflict “goes on forever” and creates complications for broader regional diplomacy.
“When you ask me about Bibi, an unbelievable relationship,” Trump said, while adding that Israel “would have been blown up a long time ago had I not gotten involved.”
Israel’s campaign to root out Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon pales in comparison to the threat of a nuclear Iran.
“I consider that the minor war – Iran the big one – but we have that a little pinprick out there that constantly rears its head, and that’s Hezbollah,” Trump said.
“And I’ll tell you what, Israel’s fighting Hezbollah too long and too many people are being killed.
“And you don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody, because there are a lot of people in those apartment houses, and they’re not all Hezbollah that I can tell you.”
Posted by Eric Mack
3 hours ago
Trump praises Qatar on ‘front line’ of Iran war, touts major investment in US
President Donald Trump praised Qatar for its handling of recent tensions in the region, saying the country was “really on the line” amid the closure of the Hormuz Strait and the Iran war.
“We’re very, very impressed with Qatar and the way they’ve handled things,” Trump said. “They were in the front line.”
Trump also said Qatar is expected to make major investments in the United States.
“Qatar is going to be investing much more than $1 trillion in the United States,” Trump said. “Qatar has been a great investor.”
Trump said the U.S. has “the hottest country in the world right now” and credited Qatar with helping strengthen investment ties.
Posted by Eric Mack
3 hours ago
Trump: Iran ‘would have done tremendous damage’ under Obama nuclear deal
President Donald Trump said Iran would have posed a greater threat had the U.S. not withdrawn from the Obama-era nuclear deal, arguing the agreement put Tehran on a path toward obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“They can’t have a nuclear weapon. That’s a big thing,” Trump said at a bilateral meeting with Qatar. “If they had a nuclear weapon, they would have blown up Israel. They would have blown up the Middle East, and they probably would have taken a shot at us.”
Trump said canceling the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) prevented Iran from doing “tremendous damage.”
“You would have had them having a nuclear weapon five years ago,” Trump said. “That expired. That was a road to a nuclear weapon.”
Posted by Eric Mack
4 hours ago
Trump beats back ‘fake news’: US is ‘not investing any money’ in Iran deal
President Donald Trump said the U.S. is “not investing any money” in an Iran deal, despite what he has rebuked as “fake news” reports of a payoff in the yet-to-be released memorandum of understanding (MOU).
“We can talk about the Iran deal all day long, and we’re not investing any money,” Trump said at a bilateral G7 meeting with Qatar. “We have the right to if we want, but we’re not investing any money.”
Trump said he is not going to repeat former President Barack Obama’s mistakes in his handling of Iran’s nuclear weapons aspirations.
“We didn’t pay for it like Obama did: He paid billions of dollars,” Trump added. “He paid $1.7 billion from an airplane, all green cash. He was crazy, I watched that, I couldn’t believe it.
“But the one thing that’s happening that’s of note, frankly, the only thing that really matters to me is Iran will never have a nuclear weapon, and it says it loud and clear. They’re not going to develop it. They’re not going to buy it. They’re not going to do anything with it.”
Posted by Eric Mack

Wall Street rallied today, with the Nasdaq climbing 3% and the Dow marking a record-high close after the United States and Iran struck a preliminary agreement to end the Middle East war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, leading to an easing of inflation fears as crude oil prices dropped.
The deal framework — expected to be formally signed in Switzerland on Friday — did not address key issues such as Tehran’s nuclear program and the Israel-Lebanon conflict.
Still, U.S. crude futures settled down 4.9% following the news and hit their lowest level since March, aiding shares of energy-sensitive airline and cruise stocks and hurting energy shares.
Rate-sensitive technology stocks rallied as investors were more comfortable taking on riskier bets with lower oil prices easing inflation fears.
“Markets are higher on a classic relief rally. We have a U.S.-Iran deal that’s driving oil sharply lower. This is easing inflation fears and basically pushing investors back into risk assets like technology,” said Gene Goldman, chief investment officer at Cetera Investment Management, in El Segundo, California.
The three main indexes marked their third consecutive session of gains, recovering after Middle East tensions and a pullback in AI-related stocks had put Wall Street’s record climb on pause more than a week ago.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 468.77 points, or 0.92%, to 51,671.03, while the S&P 500 gained 122.83 points, or 1.65%, to 7,554.29.
The Nasdaq Composite gained 795.10 points, or 3.07%, to 26,683.94 for its strongest one-day percentage gain since March 31.
One hope among investors is that a resumption of oil flows from the Middle East and easing crude prices could give the Federal Reserve, which is grappling with inflation, room to hold interest rates steady instead of raising borrowing costs.
Along with the Iran deal, another big focus for the week is the central bank’s next policy update, which is due on Wednesday, after Chair Kevin Warsh’s first policy meeting since he took over from Jerome Powell last month. The meeting follows May inflation data that showed higher energy costs filtering into consumer prices.
Traders expect the Federal Reserve to leave interest rates unchanged this week, but are still pricing in a nearly 42% probability for a 25-basis-point hike by the end of the year, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool.
Among the 11 major S&P 500 industry sectors, the S&P 500 tech index led the gainers with a 3.4% advance. The S&P 500 energy index was its biggest laggard, finishing down 3.6%.
In individual stocks, SpaceX shares rallied 19.6% in their second day of trading after the Elon Musk-led firm’s blockbuster IPO pushed its valuation above $2 trillion. The stock’s $192.46 close today compared with its $135 IPO price.
Investors had been relieved by its strong market debut on Friday as they hoped that its landmark Nasdaq launch would bode well for the broader market and for the highly anticipated OpenAI and Anthropic IPOs expected later this year.
Elsewhere, airlines were among the leading transport sector gainers with United Airlines rallying 3.9% on hopes for cheaper jet fuel with oil prices falling. Cruise companies also rallied, with Norwegian Cruise adding 3.7% and Carnival Corp climbing 3.2%.
The CBOE Volatility Index, Wall Street’s fear gauge, slipped for its third day in a row after rising to a more than two-month high the previous week.
The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index finished up more than 5% for a record-high close after dropping more than 12% below its most recent record before staging a three-day comeback rally.
Big boosts today came from chip giant Nvidia, which rose 3.5%, and Micron, which soared 10.5%, after at least two brokerages sharply raised their price targets for the stock.
In other movers, shares in Fox tumbled 16.8% after the company said it would buy Roku in a $22 billion deal. Roku shares fell 1.9%.
On U.S. exchanges, 21.29 billion shares changed hands compared with the 20.82 billion average for the last 20 sessions.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.77-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, where there were 502 new highs and 90 new lows. On the Nasdaq, 3,034 stocks rose and 1,900 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.6-to-1 ratio.
The S&P 500 posted 41 new 52-week highs and three new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 202 new highs and 89 new lows.