Earlier, Bahrain’s Interior Ministry had issued an alert over a potential threat and urged citizens and residents to remain calm and move to the nearest safe location.
A US official said the strikes were carried out under a new “tanker for tanker” policy approved by President Donald Trump to deter Iranian attacks on tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
The tankers were anchored off Iran’s coast north of the US naval blockade line, and US drones launched missiles that hit their engine rooms, according to Axios.
US officials said around 100 targets were struck Tuesday, including Revolutionary Guards air defense sites, radar systems, mine-laying capabilities, communications sites, anti-ship cruise missile launchers and attack-drone launchers.
Axios said the tanker strikes marked the first time the US military had targeted Iranian tankers in retaliation for Iranian attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, rather than to stop vessels from violating the naval blockade.
On Monday, the Trump administration's top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles revealed that California's voter ID rules are so lax that nobody was checking whether voters were American citizens, with what he says is at least half a million voters on the rolls who never provided documentary proof of identification.
The prosecutor, Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, made the case in an interview with Bill Melugin on Fox News. He said the state runs voter registration on the honor system, with no one in government confirming citizenship and the state accepting an applicant's word instead. Essayli's interview came in the wake of the arrest of Darwin Rivera Flores, a Honduran national, on charges of illegally registering to vote in California.
Fox News co-anchor Bill Melugin walked through the case with Essayli. Rivera is a noncitizen born in Honduras, and prosecutors at the Department of Justice obtained the voter registration form he filed last year. On it, Rivera checked the box attesting he was a U.S. citizen born in the United States. He signed the form under penalty of perjury.
Prosecutors say Rivera never actually cast a ballot; the registration itself, and the citizenship attestation on it, are the charged crimes.
"There's no one checking this, right? It's entirely the honor system, unless the Feds check it," Melugin asked.
"This case really highlights the vulnerability in California's voter rolls," Essayli said. "They basically allow anybody to register to vote on the honor system. There's nobody in government that is checking to confirm you're a citizen, and in fact, in this case, he, on the form, [put] down a California driver's license and a Social Security [number], which he had, because he has a visa, [but] that does not prove you're a citizen. And according to the Secretary of State, they say at least half a million people don't even provide that information when they register to vote."
In a post on X, he put the exact number at 400,000 California voters who registered without providing any identifying information at all.
According to Newsweek, 36 states require some form of identification at the polls, whereas 14 states and Washington, D.C. verify voter identity by other means. The requirements range from strict rules on photo IDs to alternative methods, such as signed affidavits or election officials verifying the information. In California, no proof of citizenship is required, no passport is needed, and no birth certificate is necessary in order to register to vote. People applying for the right to vote must provide their California driver's license or state ID number, or the last four digits of their Social Security number. A unique identifier is given to anyone who provides neither of these. Immigration status is not included in the process.
The registration process leaves little room for scrutiny. An applicant can list a fake address, check a box stating they have no ID, check another stating they have no Social Security number, and the state processes the form regardless.
A driver's license or Social Security number might sound like sufficient proof. Rivera had both. He obtained them through a visa, and neither document establishes citizenship. The documentation the state accepts does not answer the question the state is supposed to be asking.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta fired back, accusing Essayli of ignoring election-interference accusations aimed at his own boss.
"While ICE Homeland Security Investigations is not able to comment on any active investigations, HSI is actively rooting out and investigating election fraud wherever it can be found," a DHS spokesperson told Newsweek. "We have repeatedly demonstrated that illegal aliens can and do vote in our elections. Under President Trump, HSI is committed to restoring integrity to our election systems and ensuring that American citizens and only American citizens are electing American leaders."
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/california-let-400000-voters-register-without-providing-any-id
by Frank Fang via The Epoch Times,
A Chinese national studying at a Canadian university has been charged with lying to American officials to conceal that he took photographs at a Chicago airport cargo facility at the direction of a suspected Chinese official, according to a federal complaint filed in Detroit on Aug. 26.
Zeng Weiheng, born in 2004, is charged with making false statements in a matter under federal jurisdiction. An undergraduate student at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, Zeng was issued a B1/B2 visitor visa in October 2022 and has entered the United States 24 times since then, according to an affidavit filed with the complaint by an FBI agent.
He was arrested on Aug. 26.
Authorities stopped Zeng for an initial screening on Aug. 23 at the Ambassador Bridge border crossing in Detroit, after linking his vehicle to a security incident at a FedEx cargo facility at Chicago O'Hare International Airport on April 21.
That day, FedEx employees saw an Asian male spending roughly 20 minutes at the facility. Surveillance footage showed the man climbing onto a construction forklift to take photographs and attempting to open a parked delivery truck and shipping trailer before driving off in a minivan bearing an Ontario license plate.
Zeng underwent three interviews with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials during secondary screening, during which his account of his April trip changed. according to court documents.
In his first interview, Zeng claimed that he had visited tourist sites during his April trip, and the photos of planes in his phone were "pictures of model aircraft being tracked for a flight radar website," authorities said. When pressed in a second interview, Zeng allegedly admitted going to the FedEx facility to take photos of planes and revealed that he had also trespassed at a FedEx facility at Toronto Pierson Airport in 2025.
By the third interview, Zeng revealed that a contact in China had "assigned him specific planes and their tail numbers to photograph" and he was paid $20 to $30 per photograph, the court documents allege.
In his subsequent interview with the FBI, Zeng admitted that the aircraft photography was a cover story devised by his handler, and the "true task was to obtain interior photographs of the FedEx facility," according to the affidavit.
His Chinese contact "was primarily interested in information on transportation and logistics in the United States" and "asked for information of flight freight logistics, bus routes, and trains routes and schedules," the affidavit said.
Zeng also told the FBI that he suspected his Chinese contact was a Chinese regime official working for one of China's security departments, in part because the contact had provided him with "videos of scenes that only security officials would have access to."
For his communication with the Chinese contact, Zeng said he was mailed SIM cards from China's state-run China Telecom, which allowed him to "by-pass Canadian cellular network and connect directly with the Chinese provider network" to send text messages, according to the affidavit.
Zeng was instructed to use the SIM cards only in a Huawei-made phone, swapping in a new card every few months and destroying the old one. He was also told never to bring the phone with him on trips to the United States.
The United States has blacklisted Chinese tech company Huawei over security concerns and banned it from doing business with American suppliers, selling new network or consumer hardware in the country, or providing its equipment to U.S. telecom networks.
Zeng also told the FBI that the Chinese contact wanted him to travel to Orlando, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles "to obtain photographs of specific locations surrounding airports." Zeng said he declined, but completed "two taskings" and received a total of 500 yuan (about $74) for the photographs he took in Toronto Pearson International Airport and O'Hare International Airport.
As for his motivation, Zeng told the FBI that he thought it would be "cool" and wanted "to have the opportunity to work with someone like [agents] at the FBI," according to the affidavit.
The Epoch Times was unable to contact Zeng's lawyer for comment.
In a separate case, a Chinese exchange student was sentenced in 2019 to a year in federal prison after pleading guilty to photographing defense installations at the U.S. Naval Air Station Key West in Florida.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a major update to its guidelines on reducing the risk of cognitive decline and dementia.
The second edition of the original 2019 report was updated to “reflect the latest evidence and advances in dementia risk reduction.”
The following seven additional health conditions and exposures were added to the list.
Dr. Daniel Amen, physician and founder of Amen Clinics in California, has his own formula for reducing Alzheimer’s risk factors, following an acronym called BRIGHT MINDS.
This stands for blood flow, retirement and aging, inflammation, genetics, head trauma, toxins, mental health, immunity and infections, neurohormones, diabesity (co-occurrence of obesity and type 2 diabetes) and sleep. The WHO’s updated guidelines offer similar advice.
Amen spoke with Fox News Digital about the new additions to the WHO’s list of risk factors.
The WHO does not recommend menopausal hormone therapy specifically to prevent dementia in postmenopausal women 65 and older. For younger women, it says there is not enough evidence to determine whether MHT affects dementia risk.
Amen agreed that there is not enough evidence to support using MHT specifically to prevent dementia. He said hormonal changes during menopause may affect mood and memory, although the relationship between MHT and dementia risk remains uncertain.
“For women, as they go through menopause, lower progesterone makes them anxious, and [with] lower estrogen, they start to have memory problems,” he said. “Hormone replacement early on is helpful, and that’s what we see on the brain imaging work that we do.”
Experts note that while menopause-related hormonal changes can be associated with mood and cognitive symptoms, these effects can vary widely.
A stroke occurs when blood flow to part of the brain is blocked or when a blood vessel in or near the brain bursts, according to the American Stroke Association.
Conditions that affect the heart and blood vessels can also affect brain health and are associated with a higher risk of dementia, according to Amen.
That can include conditions such as heart disease, heart rhythm problems, stroke and transient ischemic attacks. Erectile dysfunction can also be associated with underlying vascular disease, he said.
“And 40% of 40-year-olds have erectile dysfunction, 70% of 70-year-olds. So, if I’m an older person, I’m thinking if I get my brain right, my love life could be better, too,” Amen added.
Amen surmised that the WHO is “late to the party” in emphasizing the importance of head trauma as a dementia risk factor. TBI can range from a mild concussion to a severe brain injury.
“One of the big lessons from the brain imaging work we do is that mild traumatic brain injury ruins people’s lives,” he said. “They end up seeing psychiatrists because they have temper problems or … depression or anxiety, and it’s really from a snowmobiling accident in [their] 30s.”
Amen added that failing to protect the brain — which he described as “very soft” and having the consistency of “soft butter” — is “not the smart thing to do.”
A significant portion of the brain is dedicated to vision, according to Amen.
“So, if your vision becomes troubled, your brain’s troubled,” he said.
Amen said vision impairment may place additional demands on the brain. While the condition has been linked with cognitive decline, the WHO says there is insufficient evidence to recommend vision treatment specifically for dementia prevention.
Sleep appears to support the brain’s waste-clearance processes, Amen noted.
Sleep challenges affect tens of millions of Americans. In 2024, 30.5% of U.S. adults reported getting less than seven hours of shut-eye per day, according to the CDC.
For those with sleep problems such as sleep apnea, it can cause changes in the brain that resemble the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease, the expert said.
Research suggests that sleep may help the brain clear beta-amyloid, although the relationship between sleep and dementia remains complex and is still being studied.
Inflammation and infections can affect brain health. Untreated HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) can affect the central nervous system and is associated with HIV-related cognitive impairment.
Amen said he has scanned “hundreds of people” with HIV, stating that the virus is “clearly a risk factor.”
Untreated HIV is known to affect the central nervous system and is associated with HIV-related cognitive impairment. Effective antiretroviral therapy has greatly reduced the incidence of severe HIV-associated dementia.
Exposure to any toxins, from alcohol and marijuana to lead, mercury or air pollution, could be detrimental to brain health, according to Amen.
The WHO recommends reducing exposure to household and outdoor air pollution, particularly fine particulate matter. Research has linked long-term exposure to air pollution with a higher risk of cognitive decline and dementia, although the WHO characterizes the evidence as low to very low certainty.
Dementia risk rises sharply with age. A recent U.S. analysis estimated that about one in five people had developed dementia by age 85, with risk increasing further at older ages.
While those with a genetic predisposition to the disease have a higher risk, Amen noted that certain lifestyle factors can increase the risk for anyone.
“We should be on a dementia prevention program our whole lives,” the doctor said. “It’s not something to start when you’re 65.”
Amen urged everyone to ask themselves the question: “Is what I’m doing good or bad for my brain?”
“Social activity is one of the prevention strategies. New learning is a prevention strategy,” he added. “So always working on being connected with other people and then just making better decisions.”
“If you love and care for your brain, you’re going to love your life a whole bunch more.”
ICE nabbed nearly 2,200 illegal migrants, including convicted murderers, rapists and drug traffickers, in New York in the past month alone — and more agents and sweeps are on the way, the feds said Tuesday.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency caught up to 2,197 criminals in the Empire State between July 27 and Aug. 29 as part of “Operation Rotten Apple” — which Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin noted was conducted “with no help” from either New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani or Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“These arrests included gang members, rapists, murderers and child predators — which I believe there is a special place in hell for those individuals,” Mullin told reporters at a press conference.
“Operation Rotten Apple did what sanctuary politicians in New York City and the state of New York refuse to do: made the Empire State safer,” he added in a statement.
Asked by a reporter if he was prepared to send more federal agents to New York for round-ups, Mullin replied, “Absolutely.
“Because they refused to work with us … we will send as many people as we have possible to make sure we are restoring law and order,” he said.
While celebrating the operation, Mullin told reporters that the need for the mass round-up stemmed from the fact that the mayor and governor passed legislation this year severely limiting local government cooperation with ICE.
Mamdani “is extremely out of touch with what the American people want and what public safety actually looks like,” Mullin railed.
“These are individuals that we took off the streets of New York to protect the people here because you have a mayor here that refuses to work.”
Those arrested included Bogdan Detrovich Gren, a Ukrainian national in the US illegally with convictions for murder, kidnapping, abduction resulting in death, and criminal possession of a weapon, according to DHS.
Andreas Bernal Chiquito, an illegal migrant from Colombia who was also caught, has past arrests for sexual conduct against a child and injuring a child under age 17.
Also taken into custody were Palvinder Singh, an illegal migrant from India who was convicted of rape in Germany, and Carlos Mendez-Acosta, a Venezuelan migrant convicted of rape, according to the feds.
Mamdani signed an executive order shortly after he assumed office in January, reinforcing sanctuary protections against what he called “abusive immigration enforcement” by the Trump administration.
The move severely limits local agencies and law enforcement from working with ICE to put and keep many illegal migrants in custody.
Hizzoner has since passed additional legislation making it harder for local law enforcement to cooperate with President Trump’s illegal-immigration crackdown.
Hochul also successfully pushed through legislation preventing state cops from partnering with federal immigration authorities to catch people and barring ICE agents from most public places such as hospitals and parks.
According to DHS, such “radical sanctuary policies” have resulted in more than 13,000 criminal aliens back onto New York streets.
“Democratic politicians in New York and elsewhere say that they care about public safety, but won’t let immigration law enforcement officers into their jails to take criminals into custody; instead they release them to their streets,” said Trump administration border czar Tom Homan in a statement.
Mullin said the federal government should not send a single cent to New York until it complies with immigration authorities. President Trump is looking into options, he said.
“I don’t think we should be sending one federal penny to sanctuary states and sanctuary cities. And I know President Trump is looking at options there. In my opinion, I don’t think taxpayer dollars from the great people of Oklahoma or any other red state should be funding a state that embraces these criminals like New York,” Mullin said.
