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You Got This: Amidst the Carnage, A Beautiful Moment
Needing a break, we honor the rare sweet sliver of comity during Monday's Boston Marathon when two runners, both on course to achieve their personal best, instead stopped to help Ajay Haridasse, collapsed on the ground and unable to stand back up, over the finish line just ahead - because, they explained, "This is what it's all about...Two is better than one." Hallelujah: For now, still human after all these years.
The "beautiful moment" of compassion and sportsmanship came almost at the end of the grueling, 26.2-mile marathon known as "the runner's Holy Grail" for its tough qualifying standards and steep terrain, including Newton's iconic "Heartbreak Hill." The world's oldest marathon was inspired by the inaugural 1896 Olympics and begun the next year; widely considered one of the most difficult races anywhere, it attracts 500,000 spectators and over 20,000 dogged participants from 96 countries. "It’s a slog. It’s a grind. It’s brilliant," said one aspirant. Another: "Nothing is like it. Runners train and train and train for this race."
So did Ajay Haridasse, a 21-year-old senior at Northeastern running his first Boston Marathon having grown up nearby and faithfully watched it for years. Haridasse had passed the 26-mile mark when, he later said, "the wheels kinda fell off." After running almost three hours and struggling against cramps, his legs abruptly gave out 1,000 feet from the finish line, when he wobbled and fell to the ground. As runners streamed by, he painfully tried to stand up again, fell, tried to stand up, fell. "You got this!" a woman yelled from the sidelines, as others joined in. "You were made for this! You can do it! You got it!"
"After falling down the fourth time, I was getting ready to crawl," Haridasse later recalled. That's when Aaron Beggs, a 40-year-old runner from Northern Ireland, suddenly appeared at his left. Beggs stopped, pulled Haridasse to his feet and tried to hold him upright; Haridasse began collapsing again, only to be caught from behind on his right by Robson De Oliveira, a 36-year-old runner from Brazil who swooped in. Beggs and De Oliveira quickly lifted Haridasse’s arms around their shoulders and put their arms around his waist; then the three men jogged and stumbled toward and over the finish line as the crowd roared.
"No marathon is easy - there's no fooling this distance," says one runner of a two, three, four hour challenge run on grit and blisters, and those who embrace it often cite the importance of "athletes taking care of each other." "It's not always about crossing the finish line first, but lifting others when they fall," said one. "We do it together." When Beggs, a member of North Down Athletic Club, paused to help Haridasse, sacrificing his own time and standing, he "embodied everything our club stands for - integrity, compassion and true sportsmanship," said Club chair Jamie Stevenson, who hailed him as "a superstar (who) couldn't pass an athlete in distress. What a gentleman!"
Beggs later said he saw Haridasse fall a couple of times out of the corner of his eye, and "my instinct was just to go over (and) do the right thing." He doesn't blame those who ran past: "It’s a once-in-a-lifetime achievement. You have to put yourself in front of others. This time, I just happened to put somebody else in front of me...It's one of those things in life - you've got an option at any moment in time. It could be me on my next marathon." As they crossed the finish line, a wheelchair "flew past." He thought it was for Haridasse, but it was for De Oliveira, who'd passed out: "He used everything in him to get Ajay across the line."
"It was a split-second decision," De Oliveira later wrote of stopping when he saw Haridasse collapse. “I knew I wouldn’t have the strength to help him on my own. In that moment, I thought, ‘God, if someone stops, I’ll stop too and help him. And God was so generous...because two are stronger than one." In the end, De Oliveira's time was 2hr 44min 26sec, followed by Haridasse at 2:44:32 and Beggs at 2:44:36. All three qualified for next year's race, and all plan to run again - "God willing," said De Oliveira. Haridasse later thanked his two rescuers; despite his own near-obliteration, he called the race "the greatest experience ever."
In a searing piece about the 2013 Boston Marathon terrorist bombing that killed five and wounded almost 300 - "All My Tears, All My Love" - Dave Zirin contrasted that tragedy with the historic joy of the Marathon. In 1967, Kathrine Switzer became the first woman to run it, registering as K.V. Switzer and dressing in loose sweats. Five miles in, when a rabid official noticed her and tried to force her out, male runners fought him off: "For them, Kathrine Switzer had every right to be there." The moment, Zirin wrote, "gave us all a glimpse of the possible...of the world we'd aspire to live in." This week, Beggs and De Oliveira gave us another.
"If you are losing faith in human nature, go out and watch a marathon." - Kathrine Switzer
Mike Johnson to Unleash 'Catastrophic' Attack on Endangered Species Act
Conservationists warned Monday that "Earth Day could become Extinction Day" if Republican leaders in the US House of Representatives get their way.
Elected Republicans have long set their sights on the historic Endangered Species Act of 1973—and wildfire defenders sounded the alarm in December, when the Republican-led House Natural Resources Committee advanced Chair Bruce Westerman's (R-Ark.) ESA Amendments Act.
"If this bill passes, protections for species like the Florida manatee, monarch butterfly, and California spotted owl would immediately decrease," Earthjustice legislative director for lands, wildlife, and oceans Addie Haughey warned at the time.
Since then, President Donald Trump has continued his war on endangered species with his budget request for the 2027 fiscal year, and his administration's so-called "God Squad" unanimously approved an "unprecedented" exemption allowing fossil fuel operations in the Gulf of Mexico to ignore ESA protections.
Now, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) plans to take up Westerman's bill this week—potentially on Wednesday, Earth Day.
"At a time when wildlife is already under immense pressure from habitat destruction, climate change, pollution, and industrial development, Congress should be strengthening the Endangered Species Act, not tearing it apart," said Jewel Tomasula, policy director of the Endangered Species Coalition, which has hundreds of member organizations.
"If Rep. Bruce Westerman and Speaker Johnson have their way, Earth Day will become Extinction Day," Tomasula warned. "The urgency is real. This bill is catastrophic for threatened and endangered species."
Susan Holmes, the coalition's executive director, emphasized that "the Endangered Species Act works because it is rooted in science and because it recognizes a simple truth: Once a species is gone, it is gone forever."
"We should not allow politicians to dismantle protections that have saved bald eagles, gray whales, peregrine falcons, and so many other species from disappearing forever," she declared.
Holmes also noted that "the American people overwhelmingly support the Endangered Species Act" and "understand that protecting wildlife is not a partisan issue. It is about responsibility, stewardship, and ensuring that future generations inherit a world still rich with wild species and wild places."
Polling commissioned by IFAW and conducted online last year by Beekeeper Group found that over three-quarters of Americans say they are concerned about the environment, the welfare of animals, and conserving nature, and specifically support the goals of the ESA. That aligns with figures from surveys conducted over the past three decades, according to a 2025 analysis.
The U.S. House is scheduled to vote on the so-called "ESA Amendments Act" (H.R. 1897) on Earth Day, April 22. H.R. 1897 would drastically weaken the Endangered Species Act and decrease protections for threatened and endangered species.TAKE ACTION >>> wildernesswatch.substack.com/p/the-extinc...
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— Wilderness Watch (@wildernesswatch.bsky.social) April 20, 2026 at 3:23 PM
"Protecting the nation's wildlife and habitats has never been an issue of right or left—it is a shared value and a commitment to future generations," said Cassie Ferri, legislative analyst at Defenders of Wildlife, in a Monday statement. "Instead of honoring Earth Day, Congress is turning it into 'Destroy Earth Day' by attempting to dismantle one of our nation's most foundational conservation laws. We all depend on healthy ecosystems to thrive, and the vast majority of Americans want to preserve wildlife through a strong Endangered Species Act—yet time and again Congress blatantly disregards their voices."
The advocacy group director of legislative affairs, Mary Beth Beetham, said that "shameless attempts by some members of Congress to dismantle the Endangered Species Act demonstrate a profound disregard for how valuable this law is to wildlife conservation."
"The Endangered Species Act isn't just rhetoric—it's proven effective and has safeguarded imperiled species for more than 50 years," Beetham stressed. "This bill could be the driving force behind future extinctions and would set a dangerous precedent for wildlife legislation moving forward."
The U.S. House is expected to vote on H.R. 1897 next week—the most dangerous bill facing endangered species right now! It prioritizes profits over science-based safeguards and blocks judicial review. ACT NOW and tell your lawmakers #NOHR1897!ACT NOW at TeamWolf.Org!
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— Team Wolf (@team-wolf.bsky.social) April 17, 2026 at 4:01 PM
Defenders of Wildlife is among nearly 300 groups that have signed on to a Monday letter—shared with Common Dreams by another signatory, Humane World for Animals—urging US House members to "vote NO on HR 1897, which is a damaging bill that would dramatically weaken the ESA and make it harder, if not impossible, to achieve the progress we must make to address the alarming rate of extinction our planet now faces."
Westerman's bill, the letter says, "would significantly rewrite key portions of the ESA to prioritize politics over science and inappropriately shift responsibility for key implementation decisions from the federal government to the states, many of which do not have sufficient resources or legal mechanisms in place to take the lead in conserving listed species."
"It would place significant new administrative burdens on already overburdened agencies," the letter continues. "It would turn the current process for listing and recovering threatened and endangered species into a far lengthier process that precludes judicial review of key decisions."
While Republicans can pass legislation along party lines in the House, they usually need at least some Democratic support in the Senate—due to chamber rules, which can be changed—to send a bill to Trump's desk.
Risk of 'Significant and Severe' Food Crisis If Strait of Hormuz Remains Shut, Says Top UN Official
A top United Nations official on Tuesday warned that there is a real risk of a global food crisis if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed to shipments of fertilizer.
Jorge Moreira da Silva, executive director of the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), said in an interview with UN News that roughly one-third of global fertilizer shipments flow through the Strait of Hormuz, and its closure has caused "a massive disruption in the supply chain of fertilizers," and "clearly we are seeing a crisis emerging" in the agricultural industry.
The UN official also emphasized the need for a fast resolution to the crisis to prevent catastrophic food shortages as tensions continued to escalate in the strait in recent days, with both the US and Iran seizing vessels in the area.
"We can’t wait until everything is fixed to at least get something fixed in time for the planting season," he emphasized. "The planting season has already started, and in most countries in Africa it will end in May. So, if we don’t get some solution immediately, the crisis will be very significant and severe, particularly for the poorest countries and for the poorest citizens."
While poorer nations are most vulnerable to fertilizer supply shocks, wealthy nations like the US are taking a hit as well.
A survey released last week by the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) found that 70% of US farmers say the price of fertilizer has grown so high that they will not be able to afford all they need for the 2026 planting season.
Analysis conducted by AFBF found that, since President Donald Trump illegally launched his war with Iran in late February without any congressional approval, "nitrogen fertilizer prices have risen more than 30%, while combined fuel and fertilizer costs have increased roughly 20% to 40%."
AFBF also found that the cost of widely used urea fertilizers "have increased by 47% since the end of February, marking the largest month-to-month percentage increase" ever.
Zippy Duvall, president of AFBF, warned that "without the necessary fertilizers, we’ll face lower yields and some farmers will reduce acres altogether, which will impact food and feed supplies."
An analysis published by Bloomberg's Tracy Alloway on Wednesday found that "all the signs are already pointing to higher prices" for food in the coming weeks thanks to Trump's Iran War.
"Bank of America’s Commodity Inflation Trendspotter for food and beverage companies shows March input costs up a whopping 373 basis points to 7.9% year-on-year," explained Alloway. "That jump was driven mostly by diesel and heating oil, meaning we haven’t even seen much impact from things like higher plastics prices or fertilizer just yet."
Alloway pointed to the skyrocketing price of urea as particularly worrisome for food prices, as once Midwestern farmers start paying more for the fertilizer, "you start seeing higher prices for everything from actual grains to beef, chicken, eggs, ethanol," and more.
The bottom line, Alloway wrote, is "rising fertilizer prices are now hitting farmers, and eventually those will translate into higher wholesale food prices which will (assuming higher costs are passed onto consumers) eventually land at grocery stores too."
"The inflationary impulse doesn’t arrive all at once," she added, "it builds."
'Unprecedented Kleptocracy': Sanders Slams Trump Family's Presidential Profiteering
Amid renewed scrutiny of self-dealing by President Donald Trump and his relatives ahead of this weekend's Mar-a-Lago gala for top investors in the $TRUMP meme coin—whose value has plummeted more than 90% from its high—Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday took aim at the First Family's corruption.
"The Trump family has made $4 billion off the presidency," Sanders (I-Vt.) said on X following reporting by New Yorker staff writer David Kirkpatrick and others detailing how Trump and relatives have profited from his position during his second term.
Sanders listed sources of Trump family presidential profiteering, including more than $3 billion from cryptocurrencies like $TRUMP and $MELANIA—the latter whose value has plunged by over 99%—Persian Gulf deals worth over $425 million, $150 million in the form of a luxury jumbo jet gifted by Qatar, and various business ventures and deals the senator slammed as part of an "unprecedented kleptocracy."
In addition to the two meme coins, many of those crypto gains are linked to ventures including American Bitcoin and World Liberty Financial—which has raised eyebrows for being co-founded by Trump’s sons, with disclosures showing 75% of its token sales going to a Trump-linked entity.
Democrats on the US House Oversight Committee have published their own running tally showing nearly $2.5 billion in "Trump family digital grift profits"—including more than $634 million from foreign sources—and $6 billion in "Trump family digital grift wealth."
"While Americans struggle to buy groceries and pay rent, Donald Trump is making his family richer through digital grift schemes—collecting profits through digital wallets and granting pardons to the highest bidders," the House Oversight Democrats said.
Sanders isn't the only US lawmaker to denounce what Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) last year called Trump's "superhighway of crypto corruption."
Also last year, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, released a report detailing how "Trump and his family have transformed the presidency into a personal money-making operation, adding billions of dollars to his net worth through cryptocurrency schemes entangled with foreign governments, corporate allies, and criminal actors."
"President Trump and his family kept lining their pockets while he and his allies in Congress closed down the federal government—refusing to extend tax credits to make healthcare affordable for American families, putting continued food benefits for women and children in doubt, and placing active-duty military personnel in danger of missing their next paycheck," House Judiciary Democrats said.
Trump is the only president to ever be convicted of felony crimes. In 2024, while he was running for a second term, a New York jury found him guilty of 34 felony charges related to the falsification of business records regarding hush money payments to cover up sex scandals during the 2016 presidential election.
Last year, a New York appeals court tossed a $355 million civil fraud judgment—which increased to more than half a billion dollars with interest—against Trump and his two eldest sons in a separate case in which the trio exaggerated the wealth of their business organization. The ruling upheld the fraud finding and banned Trump and his sons from leading businesses in the state for 2-3 years.
DOJ Denaturalization Referrals Spark Fear of 'Expansive' Effort to Strip Citizenship From Americans
The US Department of Justice has referred hundreds of citizens for denaturalization, beginning what some fear will be a massive effort to strip Americans of their citizenship.
Months ago, it was reported that the Trump administration would seek to enlist the DOJ in its effort to revoke the citizenship of hundreds of people each month.
On Thursday, The New York Times reported that the effort to carry out what DOJ spokesperson Matthew Tragesser called "the highest volume of denaturalization referrals in history” had begun.
The paper reported that the DOJ had identified 384 foreign-born Americans whose citizenship it wants to take away and had assigned the cases to prosecutors in dozens of US attorneys' offices across the country.
President Donald Trump is trying to dramatically expand a process that Sameera Hafiz, policy director at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, told the Houston Chronicle is typically reserved for "very rare extreme circumstances."
Federal law allows the government to ask courts to strip citizenship from those it can prove obtained it fraudulently. In some rare cases, people found to have committed egregious offenses like war crimes or the financing of terrorism have also been stripped of citizenship.
Between 2017 and the end of 2025, the federal government attempted to denaturalize just 120 citizens, less than a third of the number the Trump administration referred for denaturalization in just this first batch.
According to the Times, it is not clear why the 384 individuals referred to federal courts have been singled out. Tragesser said the administration was "laser focused on rooting out criminal aliens defrauding the naturalization process."
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, said that these cases "are not exactly easy for the government to win," because "they have to go to a bench trial in front of a federal judge and prove material fraud."
But the DOJ has indicated that the range of people targeted for denaturalization could be much broader than just those found guilty of fraud.
The Trump administration's plans to pursue mass denaturalization first came to light last June when Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate issued an internal memo calling on the DOJ's Civil Division to "prioritize and maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings in all cases permitted by law and supported by the evidence."
In addition to the fraudsters and human rights violators who have typically been subject to denaturalization, Shumate urged the department to go after those “who pose a potential danger to national security” and "any other cases... that the division determines to be sufficiently important to pursue," which suggested that much broader categories of people may be targeted.
"The way the memo suggests they're going to apply it is very broad and expansive, and it's shockingly dramatic because that's not the intention behind denaturalization," Hafiz said.
The Trump administration has frequently targeted protesters and activists, including those with legal status in the US, for deportation for expressing political opinions opposite those of the government.
Last year, hundreds of foreign-born students who participated in protests against US support for Israel had their visas stripped by the US State Department. Some—like Columbia student activist Mahmoud Khalil—were deemed a danger to "national security" based solely on their articulation of beliefs out of step with the Trump administration's foreign policy.
Trump and several members of the Republican Party have also called for the denaturalization of foreign-born political opponents, including the Somali-American Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and the Ugandan-American New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Earlier this week, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) introduced legislation titled the "MAMDANI Act," which would deport and denaturalize any immigrant who "advocates for socialism, communism, Marxism, or Islamic fundamentalism.”
Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), who has also pushed for the deportation of Mamdani, who is Muslim, recently said that non-Christians should not be allowed in America.
"We're not a melting pot," he said. "If you're building temples or mosques and undermining Christianity, you're not assimilating."
Trump, meanwhile, has expressed a desire to go after certain ethnic groups, particularly Somali-Americans, whom he has said have "low IQs" and described as "garbage". Most people of Somali descent living in the US are citizens, but Trump has said "I don't want them in the country" and said they should "go back where they came from."
Many Somali-American citizens were detained, often brutally, during US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) massive operation in Minneapolis earlier this year.
Around the same time, the US Department of Homeland Security endorsed the idea of pursuing "100 million deportations," which would entail the removal of tens of millions of American citizens from the country, including many who were born in the United States. Ex-Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, who oversaw Trump's mass deportation crusade for months, recently said he had a "master plan" to make this sweeping purge a reality.
Hafiz said the Trump administration's conduct has raised the possibility that the denaturalization push will be carried out in a "very broad and expansive way."
"That's very concerning," she said. "And we've seen in so many of the tactics that the Trump administration is using, what a slippery slope it is, how they say, 'This policy is to target one set of individuals,' and how that set of individuals just becomes broader as it's applied."
PEN America Sounds Alarm Over Pentagon's Firing of Stars and Stripes Ombudsman
PEN America, one of the nation's leading free expression groups, voiced alarm Friday at the Pentagon's firing of the ombudsman for the military newspaper Stars and Stripes, warning the move marks yet another blow to US press freedoms amid the Trump administration's war of choice in Iran and other lawless actions across the globe.
"Even as the nation is at war, Pentagon leadership is silencing independent voices that uphold credible reporting, part of a broader pattern of restricting press access to evade scrutiny," Tim Richardson, PEN America's journalism and disinformation program director, said in a statement. "Congress must defend the statutory independence of Stars and Stripes so that service members can continue to rely on it for independent reporting.”
Jacqueline Smith, who was tasked with upholding the Stars and Stripes' editorial independence from the Pentagon—which partially funds the newspaper—publicly announced her firing on Thursday in a defiant editorial, writing: "Apparently the Pentagon... doesn’t want you to hear from me anymore about threats to the editorial independence of Stars and Stripes."
Smith, who has served in the congressionally mandated ombudsman role since December 2023, wrote in Stars and Stripes that while she was not given a reason for her firing, "no one should be surprised" by the decision.
"For nearly a year, Pentagon leadership has placed more and more restrictions on the mainstream media. The New York Times sued and when the Defense/War Department lost in court, instead of following the judge’s ruling Secretary [Pete] Hegseth and company pivoted, finding another way to restrict journalists. The judge rejected that attempt, too," Smith wrote. "The laser beam turned to Stars and Stripes on Jan. 15 when Sean Parnell posted on X four paragraphs announcing a 'refocus' of the newspaper. Parnell is Assistant to the Secretary of Defense/War (Public Affairs); my firing notice came from his office."
"Since his 'refocus' post, I’ve been outspoken in my columns, media interviews, talks with national free press groups and communications with Congress about the Pentagon’s moves to take control of Stripes’ content," Smith added. "This newspaper has a long history of commitment to the military community and to journalistic values. Please don’t let it be controlled by Pentagon brass."
"My responsibility to Stripes and the First Amendment was paramount."
In January, the Pentagon announced plans to overhaul Stars and Stripes with the stated goal of moving its content "away from woke distractions that syphon morale"—without offering any examples of such content.
Weeks later, the Pentagon issued a memo declaring that the newspaper was "prohibited" from using "news stories, features, syndicated columns, comic strips and editorial cartoons from commercial news media." The directive barred the paper from reprinting material from The Associated Press and Reuters.
Smith criticized the Pentagon directive as another blatant and "unacceptable" attempt to infringe on the newspaper's editorial independence.
"What is happening with Stripes is within the broader context of the Pentagon attempting to restrict the mainstream media," she wrote in an April column. "At first it was by closing off areas of the complex where journalists previously had been able to go unescorted, then it followed last fall with the demand for the press to sign an agreement essentially saying it would not use any information not authorized by the department. That’s when more than two dozen journalists from mainstream media turned in their press badges and walked out. They still cover the news."
In a message to Stars and Stripes staff following her firing, Smith said she "knew it was risky to speak out."
"But my responsibility to Stripes and the First Amendment was paramount," she added.
'More Destruction of Science': Trump Fires Every Member of US National Science Board
"This is the latest stupid move made by a president who continues to harm science and American innovation."
US President Donald Trump on Friday quietly fired every member of the independent board that governs the National Science Foundation, a move seen as an escalation of the administration's destructive war on science.
Members of the National Science Board (NSB) were notified in a brief email "on behalf of President Donald J. Trump" that their "position as a member of the National Science Board is terminated, effective immediately." One fired board member, chemist Willie May, told The New York Times that he was "disappointed" but not "entirely surprised," adding, "I have watched the systematic dismantling of the scientific advisory infrastructure of this government with growing alarm, and the National Science Board is simply the latest casualty."
The NSB sets the policies of the US National Science Foundation (NSF), approves major funding decisions for NSF, and advises Congress and the president on "policy matters related to science and engineering."
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, said in a statement Saturday that "this is the latest stupid move made by a president who continues to harm science and American innovation."
“The NSB is apolitical," said Lofgren. "It advises the president on the future of NSF. It unfortunately is no surprise a president who has attacked NSF from day one would seek to destroy the board that helps guide the foundation. Will the president fill the NSB with MAGA loyalists who won't stand up to him as he hands over our leadership in science to our adversaries? A real bozo the clown move."
Alondra Nelson, an academic who resigned from the NSB last May over concerns of political interference, wrote on social media that "history will not look kindly on this administration for many reasons, but the systematic silencing of independent expertise is particularly troubling."
Since the start of his second term, Trump and his deputies have assailed science across the federal government, including by eliminating the Environmental Protection Agency's scientific research arm and firing experts en masse.
In the coming fiscal year, Trump has proposed cutting NSF's budget by nearly 55%. Additionally, the president's budget would "eliminate funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research," Scientific American reported. The White House plan, if approved by Congress, would also slash NASA's budget by nearly 25%.
"This is how the US loses its scientific leadership—with a reckless budget line," Leigh Stearns, a glaciologist at the University of Pennsylvania, told Scientific American.
Iranian Group Submits Evidence of US-Israeli War Crimes to International Criminal Court
"All cases of attacks on civilians are being legally pursued based on the Geneva Conventions," said the head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society.
The head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society said Saturday that his organization has submitted evidence of US-Israeli war crimes to the International Criminal Court and other global bodies, seeking accountability for massive attacks on civilian infrastructure and other violations.
"The ICC prosecutor announced that the documents provided by the IRCS are accepted as official evidence," said Pir-Hossein Koulivand, the head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society. "All cases of attacks on civilians are being legally pursued based on the Geneva Conventions."
The IRCS estimates that US and Israeli airstrikes have destroyed more than 132,000 civilian structures throughout Iran, including hospitals, apartment buildings, universities, research facilities, and bridges. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to destroy all of Iran's bridges and power plants if the country's leadership does not succumb to his administration's demands in negotiations to end the war.
Luis Moreno Ocampo, the founding chief prosecutor of the ICC, said earlier this month that Trump could be indicted if he follows through on his threats.
“My suggestion: You read the indictment of the Russians, change the name, and it is very similar,” said Ocampo, referring to ICC arrest warrants issued against senior Russian officials in 2024 for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
In a series of social media posts on Saturday, the IRCS provided video footage and photographic evidence of what the group described as war crimes committed by the US and Israeli militaries.
"Among the most bitter war crimes of America and Israel in Iran is the attack on the home of 19-month-old Helma in Tabriz, in which four members of her family were martyred," the IRCS wrote Saturday. "The only survivor of this family is Helma."
از: جمعیت هلال احمر جمهوری اسلامی ایران
به: همه مردم دنیا
موضوع: سند جنایت جنگی - شماره ۱۴
از تلخ ترین جنایات جنگی آمریکا و اسرائیل در ایران، حمله به خانه حلمای ۱۹ ماهه در تبریز است که ۴ نفر از اعضای خانوادهاش شهید شدند. تنها بازماندهٔ این خانواده، حلما است… https://t.co/mMw77THEyH pic.twitter.com/FIjIbMyBiw
— جمعیت هلالاحمر ایران (@Iranian_RCS) April 26, 2026
The ICC is tasked with investigating and prosecuting individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other grave violations of international law. Iran is not currently a party to the Rome Statute, which established the ICC—so the court does not have jurisdiction over war crimes committed on Iranian territory.
Human rights organizations and advocates have implored Iran to grant the ICC jurisdiction to pursue justice for war crimes committed during the illegal US-Israeli assault that began on February 28. On the first day of the war, the US bombed an elementary school in southern Iran.
"From the killing of over 150 students and teachers to strikes on hospitals full of newborns, every day more and more evidence emerges pointing to the commission of grave war crimes in Iran since the start of the war," said Omar Shakir, executive director of DAWN. "Victims deserve justice. The mechanisms exist, and the US has no veto over them."
Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, wrote earlier this month that "the Iranian government could join the court now and grant it retroactive jurisdiction, similar to what Ukraine did to allow prosecution of Russian war crimes."
Last month, the IRCS formally requested that the ICC initiate "an investigation into war crimes arising from attacks by the United States of America and the Israeli regime against civilian objects."
"According to field reports from relief workers, operational documentation, and data recorded by the Iranian Red Crescent Society, a wide range of residential areas, medical facilities, schools, humanitarian facilities, vital urban infrastructure, and public places were directly or indiscriminately targeted during the recent military attacks," the group wrote in a letter to the ICC's top prosecutor.
Trump Uses Shooting Outside White House Correspondents' Dinner to Boost Corrupt Ballroom
President Donald Trump was evacuated from the White House Correspondents' Dinner after a gunman charged a security checkpoint at the hotel hosting the event.
US President Donald Trump used a lone gunman's storming of the lobby outside the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday night to promote his $400 million White House ballroom project, which is riddled with glaring conflicts of interest.
Speaking at a press conference after being evacuated from the Washington Hilton hotel hosting the White House Correspondents' Dinner, Trump declared that "this is why we have to have all of the attributes of what we're planning at the White House." The president added that "we need the ballroom," saying, "We need levels of security that probably nobody's ever seen before."
President Trump says tonight’s shooting at the WHCD is a clear example of why we need a need a new ballroom for The White House pic.twitter.com/a6dzeH9nyB
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 26, 2026
A man armed with multiple weapons, including a shotgun, charged a security checkpoint outside the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday night, setting off a chaotic scramble to evacuate Trump and members of his administration who were present at the private event.
The chief of the Washington, DC police said at a press conference that the suspect, later identified as 31-year-old Cole Allen of Torrance, California, "exchanged gunfire" with law enforcement and a US Secret Service officer "was struck in his vest." The suspect was not shot and was taken into custody, the police chief said.
CBS News White House reporter Jennifer Jacobs noted on social media that the shooting "happened on the level above the ballroom where the White House Correspondents Association dinner was."
"I don't think people hearing about this—or even those of us in the room—realized how far from the president, VP, and other guests this incident was," Jacobs added. "It was on another floor, up some stairs, and several sets of security away. Because the Washington Hilton's hotel and other public spaces were open for other functions, the entire building wasn't secured by the Secret Service, just the specific areas where the WHCA dinner was held."
Trump, who skipped the annual dinner during his first term as his administration assailed press freedoms, said the event would be rescheduled "within 30 days." Some White House reporters boycotted the event, citing the president's relentless attacks on journalists.
The scene was described as "absolute chaos," with Secret Service officers rushing through the ballroom to evacuate Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and other administration officials and attendees ducking under tables in confusion and panic.
This is the moment we realized what was happening and got down on the stage. Seconds before, all we could see was a throng of law enforcement barreling toward us from the doors at the back of the room.
Secret agents swept VP Vance, who was seated next to me, into the back. I… pic.twitter.com/ZaxFeZu5p0
— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) April 26, 2026
The White House ballroom project that Trump touted at his press conference after being evacuated from the correspondents' dinner has received funding from massive corporations with interests before the federal government. Other donations to the project are shrouded in secrecy.
Public Citizen noted in a recent report that "two-thirds of corporate donors—16 out of a total of 24—have entered into government contracts."
"Lockheed is the largest of these government contractors, having received $191 billion in contracts over the last five years. Altogether, the corporate donors benefited from nearly $43 billion in contracts last year and $279 billion over the last five years," the watchdog group observed. "Most of the corporate donors—14 out of 24—are facing federal enforcement actions and/or have had federal enforcement actions suspended by the Trump administration. These include major antitrust actions involving Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and T-Mobile; labor rights cases involving Amazon, Apple, Caterpillar, Google, Lockheed, and Meta; and SEC matters involving Coinbase and Ripple."