Macron under fire over Iran, Hezbollah policy as Trump admin hosts Israel-Lebanon talks

April 14, 2026 6:30am EDT / Fox News

French politician says Macron’s government’s ‘must stop normalizing Hezbollah,’ as Israel said to view Paris an ‘unfair mediator’

By Benjamin Weinthal, Fox News

Israeli military strikes Hezbollah targets in Lebanon

The Israel Defense Forces said on Saturday, April 11, that “In the last 24 hours, the IDF struck more than 200 Hezbollah terror targets in Lebanon.”

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France’s President Emmanuel Macron is facing renewed criticism for his lack of support for President Donald Trump’s war against Iran and demands to include Lebanon in the current ceasefire as historic talks between Israel and Lebanon are set to begin Tuesday.

The historic meeting brokered by President Trump between Lebanon, a former French mandate, and Israel will take place at the ambassador level as hopes for an agreement evolve ­— most noticeably without French involvement. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to host both nations’ ambassadors.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel’s government requested that France be excluded from the talks. An Israeli official told the paper that “France’s conduct over the past year– including initiatives aimed at limiting Israel’s ability to fight in Iran, and a complete lack of willingness to take concrete steps to help Lebanon disarm Hezbollah – has led Israel to view France as an unfair mediator.”

IRAN’S TERROR PROXIES FROM IRAQ-TO-LEBANON SAY READY TO RESPOND TO US-ISRAEL ATTACKS

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a meeting with President Trump and other world leaders.(Win McNamee/Getty Images)

On Monday,Hezbollah chief Naim ​Qassem on Monday ‌called on the Lebanese government to ​cancel the ​Tuesday meeting in Washington, while ⁠describing the talks as pointless. In ​a televised ​speech, Qassem said the ‌armed ⁠group will continue to confront Israeli attacks on ​Lebanon.

Hezbollah violated a ceasefire to enter the war on its patron, Iran’s side, in March when it launched rockets into Israel after the U.S.-Israel joint attack on the Islamic Republic began, still Macron has demanded Israel stop attacking Hezbollah’s terror infrastructure in Lebanon.

Israeli Brig. General (Res.) Yosef Kuperwasser told Fox News Digital that Macron was “working against the best interests of the Lebanese state and government. This is a very problematic direction.” He accused Macron of “taking the side of Hezbollah and normalizing Hezbollah because he is focused on “narrow interests.”

IRAN THREATENS TO END CEASEFIRE OVER HEZBOLLAH’S EXCLUSION FROM TRUCE DEAL

Hezbollah al-Mahdi scouts parade with big portraits of Iran’s late leader Ayatollah Khomeini, foreground, and Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, background, during an event for Jerusalem day or Al-Quds day, in the southern town of Nabatiyeh, Lebanon, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2013. The last Friday of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan is observed in many Muslim countries as Al-Quds day, as a way of expressing support to the Palestinians and emphasizing the importance of Jerusalem to Muslims.(Hussein Malla/AP Photo)

The former head of research for the Israel Defense Forces’ Military Intelligence Directorate, Kuperwasser, added that the “Americans want us to engage with the Lebanese along with the military [in Lebanon]. Our expectations are very similar. We want to see Lebanon do something about Hezbollah, something real, not just issue statements and pledges. We believe we have helped them by weakening Hezbollah militarily since they decided to launch missiles on March 2. If there is a breakthrough, Lebanon has a lot to gain,” but said it has to”disarm Hezbollah.”

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

Macron has faced accusations over the years that he has normalized Hezbollah. His government, in contrast to Germany, the U.S., Canada, the Netherlands, Japan, Austria and many other Western and non-Westen countries, refuses to designate Hezbollah’s entire organization a terrorist entity. France has classified Hezbollah’s “military wing” a terrorist organization but declined to ban its “political wing.” Hezbollah considers itself a unified movement without branches.

The French politician François-Xavier Bellamy, who is a member of the European Parliament for the Republicans Party, said last week on French television that “France must stop normalizing Hezbollah.” Macron sparked outrage in 2020 when he reportedly held a private conversation with a top elected Hezbollah official, according to the Paris-based daily Le Figaro.

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 5, 2026.(Emilio Morenatti/AP)

Edy Cohen, an Israeli security expert on Hezbollah, who was born in Lebanon, told Fox News Digital, “France is forced not to come out against Hezbollah in order to legitimize its involvement in Lebanon.”

A French diplomat told the Times of Israel that “what we are hoping for is not a ticket to the meeting, but that Israel stops its offensive on Lebanon.”

When asked if France would pressure Lebanon to recognize Israel as a state, Pascal Confavreux, a spokesman for France’s Foreign Ministry, told Fox News Sunday that, “Iran has to stop terrorizing Israel through Hezbollah because Hezbollah chose to bring Lebanon into a war which is not Lebanon’s war… Lebanon has to be included in the ceasefire, something that we are pushing diplomatically,” He continued that we are in favor of direct talks between Lebanon and Israel.

It is not known if France asked for a seat at the talks. Fox News Digital sent multiple press queries to France’s embassies in Washington D.C. and Tel Aviv.

IDF UNCOVERS HEZBOLLAH WEAPONS STASH INSIDE HOSPITAL IN LEBANON

Hezbollah launches long-range missiles from Lebanon into northern Israel within 48 hours of strikes on Iran, escalating the widening conflict amid Operation Epic Fury.(Hadi Mizban/AP)

On Saturday, Macron again pushed his desire for a ceasefire and wrote on X that he had discussions with Iran’s President Massoud Pezeshkian: “I stressed the importance of full respect for the ceasefire, including in Lebanon. France extends its full support to the actions of the Lebanese authorities, who alone are legitimate to exercise the sovereignty of the State and decide the destiny of Lebanon.”

Walid Phares, an expert on Lebanon and the region, told Fox News Digital that while the talks are important, problems exist. “It is at ambassadors’ level, which means it is not destined to reach a top level of decision-making.”

He added, “Strangely, the Lebanese president and prime minister declined to invite the Lebanese foreign minister to the Washington talks, provoking a representation by Israel, also at ambassadorial level, showing that Hezbollah still has a strong influence on the Lebanese government. The militia is being rejected by the population on the ground and fears a meeting in D.C. would ostracize Hezbollah further.”

Iran rebuilds Hezbollah ties as Trump gives 10-15 day deadline.(Fadel Itani/NurPhoto)

Sethrida Geagea, a member of parliament from the Lebanese Forces party, posted on X ahead of the Israel-Lebanon talks an open letter to Nabih Berri, the powerful speaker of the Lebanese Parliament and leader of the Shiite Amal Movement. She issued indirect criticism of Hezbollah and its terrorist army within the state. Geagea appealed to Berri to unify the Lebanese to be “protected by a single army.”

Without naming Hezbollah, her letter stated that young Shiites have been plunged into war that has nothing to do with them and the conflict is really about an Iranian decision to retaliate for the joint U.S.-Israel war that assassinated the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, on February 28.

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The State Department did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital press query.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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

澳洲增45亿元投资 发展无人机和反无人机系统

2026年4月14日 16:42 / 联合早报

澳洲未来10年将在自主作战能力方面投入120亿至150亿澳元。图为澳洲研发的幽灵蝙蝠（Ghost Bat）无人机。 （法新社）

（悉尼法新电）澳大利亚防长马尔斯说，为应对中东地区战争形态的变化，澳洲将把无人机方面的支出增加多达50亿澳元（约45亿新元）。

他星期二（4月14日）接受澳大利亚广播公司电台访问时说，中东和乌克兰冲突中大量使用伊朗生产的低成本无人机，促使澳洲决定增加对小型无人机和反无人机系统的投入。

他说：“看看中东当前的局势——你也需要反无人机技术。”

马尔斯星期四（16日）将发布国防战略更新报告。他透露，澳洲未来10年将在自主作战能力方面投入120亿至150亿澳元。他说：“显然的，自主系统已成为决定竞争和战争如何展开的关键因素。”

澳洲绵延的海岸线和稀少的人口，促使政府把研发重点放在大型自主潜艇和战斗机上。马尔斯指出，鉴于澳洲的地理位置，其国防需要全方位的无人机能力。

他说：“小型无人机的优势在于数量，你知道，就是大量单位，而这一点已在乌克兰战场上得到充分体现。”

出于对中国海军扩军的担忧，澳洲近年来对国防力量进行了重组，重点加强导弹打击能力。

Los Angeles schools strike averted as deal reached; schools are open Tuesday

April 14, 2026 6:59 AM EDT / CBS News

A Los Angeles Unified School District strike has been avoided and schools are open Tuesday after the district and the Service Employees International Union reached a tentative agreement.

SEIU Local 99, which represents about 30,000 aides, bus drivers, custodians and cafeteria workers, said the deal with the district, LAUSD, includes a 24% wage increase.

The tentative agreement also increases work hours to ensure thousands of workers have health care benefits, rescinds layoffs for hundreds of IT technicians and expands health care benefits for teacher assistants and others, according to SEIU Local 99.

LAUSD said it will keep working with the union to finalize the details of the agreement, which SEIU Local 99 members must vote to ratify.

The deal announced early Tuesday comes after LAUSD and the unions for teachers and school administrators reached tentative agreements Sunday on new contracts.

Santos Robles, on SEIU Local 99’s negotiation team, previously said the two sides were arguing over a pay increase and more hours for part-time workers so they can qualify for health benefits.

“We have members that work two hours,” Robles said. “You can’t make a living there.”

He also said special education assistants often do physically demanding work that doesn’t show up on their timesheets, such as feeding and diaper changes.

A rally was held on Monday outside the Roybal Learning Center in downtown LA in support of SEIU.

澳洲未来10年将在自主作战能力方面投入120亿至150亿澳元。图为澳洲研发的幽灵蝙蝠（Ghost Bat）无人机。 （法新社）

（悉尼法新电）澳大利亚防长马尔斯说，为应对中东地区战争形态的变化，澳洲将把无人机方面的支出增加多达50亿澳元（约45亿新元）。

他星期二（4月14日）接受澳大利亚广播公司电台访问时说，中东和乌克兰冲突中大量使用伊朗生产的低成本无人机，促使澳洲决定增加对小型无人机和反无人机系统的投入。

他说：“看看中东当前的局势——你也需要反无人机技术。”

马尔斯星期四（16日）将发布国防战略更新报告。他透露，澳洲未来10年将在自主作战能力方面投入120亿至150亿澳元。他说：“显然的，自主系统已成为决定竞争和战争如何展开的关键因素。”

澳洲绵延的海岸线和稀少的人口，促使政府把研发重点放在大型自主潜艇和战斗机上。马尔斯指出，鉴于澳洲的地理位置，其国防需要全方位的无人机能力。

他说：“小型无人机的优势在于数量，你知道，就是大量单位，而这一点已在乌克兰战场上得到充分体现。”

出于对中国海军扩军的担忧，澳洲近年来对国防力量进行了重组，重点加强导弹打击能力。

土耳其一所高中发生枪击案 16人受伤

2026年4月14日 16:47 / 联合早报

土耳其南部一所高中星期二发生枪击案，导致包括师生在内的至少16人受伤。

法新社引述土耳其NTV报道，这起枪击案星期二（4月14日）发生在土耳其尚勒乌尔法省的锡韦雷克市（Siverek），当局出动了特种安全部队到事发高中疏散学生。

电视画面显示，当学生逃离校园时，救护车已在校外待命。

路透社引述尚勒乌尔法省省长西尔达克报道，一名19岁的前学生使用步枪在学校开枪，造成师生在内的至少16人受伤，随后自杀身亡。事件中的伤者被送院治疗，其中12人仍在医院留医。

西尔达克补充说，警方在现场试图抓捕枪手时，对方自尽身亡。

校园枪击案在土耳其相当罕见。

United CEO floated idea of United-American Airlines merger, sources say

April 14, 2026 / 7:17 AM EDT / CBS News

By Kris Van Cleave

Emmy Award-winning journalist Kris Van Cleave is the senior transportation correspondent for CBS News based in Phoenix, Arizona, where he also serves as a national correspondent reporting for all CBS News broadcasts and platforms.

Kris Van Cleave

United CEO Scott Kirby floated the idea to Trump administration officials of United merging with American Airlines, according to sources familiar with the situation.

That conversation with officials is surfacing now after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy hinted the Trump administration was open to further consolidation in the aviation industry, but United would have a challenging road to show such a combination would improve competition or not raise costs for flyers.

Such a combination would not be out of line with comments Kirby has made in the past about being better able to compete against other global airlines.

Kirby told CBS News in a September 2025 interview that about two thirds of the long-haul international seats to and from the United States are foreign-flag carriers, even though only 40% of the customers on airplanes are foreign citizens.

“Figuring out how to close that trade deficit with international airlines is one of the things we’re got to spend the next few years working on and trying to do,” Kirby said. “Figuring out how to create a great American airline that all Americans can be proud of that competes not just on schedules but on quality and product and service, is the mission for us, it’s not straightforward cause we’ve got to do it in a way that makes money, but that’s a goal that we have set for ourselves.”

United Airlines and American declined comment to CBS News.

Regulators may be wary of allowing such a merger as it would create a behemoth that would control close to half of the U.S. market share.

United is seen as possible, if not likely, to attempt to acquire JetBlue should market conditions force a sale. In an interview last month with CBS News, Kirby said the potential of lingering high fuel prices could be an opportunity for United to expand.

“I think that’s going to create a lot of stress on airlines that came into the crisis, if it is a crisis, they came in weaker, and that are being less proactive, is going to put them in a tough situation,” he said. “So we’re looking at this as, you know, an opportunity for United to maybe acquire assets, come out stronger on the other side.”

When pushed if assets meant acquiring another airline, Kirby said, “Well, those are both could well be the same. We’ll see.”

Captain Dennis Tajer, spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, the union representing 16,000 American Airlines pilots, told CBS News in a statement that a possible United-American merger is “certainly intriguing.”

“We have been very open about our concerns regarding American Airlines’ financial, operational and customer service underperformance under the current management team,” Tajer said. “We are always interested in and welcome ideas that will turn around our airline.”

Still, experts say such a merger is unlikely.

“United would have to agree to so many concessions that I’m unsure it would end up being worth it for United to buy American,” Atmosphere Research Group airline industry analyst Henry Harteveldt told CBS News. “I think what Scott really wanted to do with his comment is indirectly put AA into play to see what, if anything, happens.”

土耳其一所高中发生枪击案 16人受伤

2026年4月14日 16:47 / 联合早报

土耳其南部一所高中星期二发生枪击案，导致包括师生在内的至少16人受伤。

法新社引述土耳其NTV报道，这起枪击案星期二（4月14日）发生在土耳其尚勒乌尔法省的锡韦雷克市（Siverek），当局出动了特种安全部队到事发高中疏散学生。

电视画面显示，当学生逃离校园时，救护车已在校外待命。

路透社引述尚勒乌尔法省省长西尔达克报道，一名19岁的前学生使用步枪在学校开枪，造成师生在内的至少16人受伤，随后自杀身亡。事件中的伤者被送院治疗，其中12人仍在医院留医。

西尔达克补充说，警方在现场试图抓捕枪手时，对方自尽身亡。

校园枪击案在土耳其相当罕见。

Trump’s voting restrictions bill may fail, but parts live on in 23 states

2026-04-14 10:05:13 UTC / Reuters

By Julia Harte

April 14, 2026 10:05 AM UTC Updated 1 hour ago

A voting sign is displayed at the entrance of a voting precinct in Dalton, Georgia, U.S., March 10, 2026. REUTERS/Alyssa Pointer

• Summary

• State-level voting restrictions mirror SAVE America Act, but are rarely as extreme
• Experts and advocates say non-citizen voter fraud is extremely rare
• DHS voter roll screenings catch few non-citizen voters, but have wrongfully flagged citizens

April 14 (Reuters) – The SAVE America Act looks set to die in Congress, but 23 mostly Republican-led U.S. states have recently changed their voting procedures to mirror key aspects of President Donald Trump’s sweeping package of voting restrictions in time for ​November’s midterm elections, a Reuters analysis shows.

States from Wyoming to Georgia since 2024 have imposed new proof-of-citizenship requirements on Americans registering to vote and limited the types of photo ID accepted ‌at the polls.

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Officials in at least 17 of the states have opted to follow one of the SAVE America Act’s most controversial mandates: screening lists of registered voters for non-U.S.-citizens by running them through a federal system normally used to verify eligibility for public benefits.

Map showing which states are copying parts of the SAVE America act. It’s primarily in Southern and Midwestern states, though New Hampshire will require strict photo id and documentary proof of citizenship

Most of these state changes are not as extreme as the SAVE America Act when it comes to how voters can prove their citizenship and the types of photo ID accepted when casting a ballot, according to the Reuters analysis.

But voting rights advocates ​warn that these copycat measures could still disenfranchise citizens who lack certain forms of identification during this year’s elections, which will determine whether Trump’s fellow Republicans retain control over Congress.

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a ​Republican, did not mention the SAVE America Act in his opening address after Congress reconvened on Monday.

At a signing ceremony in March for an executive order to tighten ⁠mail-in voting rules, Trump called U.S. voter fraud “massive.” Trump’s executive order has been challenged in court and is unlikely to take effect in the near future.

Although most new state-level proof-of-citizenship and photo ID requirements are not as ​severe as those Trump has pushed, they “still have really serious impacts on voters,” said Danielle Lang, vice president for voting rights and the rule of law at the Campaign Legal Center.

The bipartisan political reform group Issue One analyzed ​an election fraud database maintained by the right-wing Heritage Foundation think tank and found 65 total convictions of non-citizen voting between 2000 and 2025, out of about 1.4 billion votes cast in federal elections.

The Heritage Foundation, which describes the database as a “non-comprehensive” sampling of election fraud cases on its website, did not respond to a request for comment.

MORE LENIENT STATE MEASURES

The SAVE America Act’s most well-known provision is its requirement that people registering to vote in a federal election provide proof of U.S. citizenship, such as a ​passport or birth certificate.

Of seven states that have imposed new proof-of-citizenship requirements in time to take effect in November’s election, only one – New Hampshire – is as strict as the SAVE America Act.

Chris Diaz, legislative tracking director at ​the non-partisan Voting Rights Lab, noted that many Americans are already required to provide documentary proof of citizenship when applying for a driver’s license or state ID, and that the 2005 Real ID Act requires states to retain digital copies of ‌such records.

“It ⁠just doesn’t make any sense for a state to not leverage the massive amount of information they already have about voters,” he said.

Similarly, most states recognize that the SAVE America Act’s limits on the types of ID voters could show at the polls – only unexpired U.S. passports, driver’s licenses, state IDs, military IDs or tribal IDs – are needlessly restrictive, Diaz said.

Of nine states that have recently tightened their photo ID rules in time for November’s election, some allow voters to show student IDs, expired IDs, or simply any ID with a voter’s name and photo. New Hampshire and Indiana are two exceptions where lawmakers have replicated the photo ID requirements in the SAVE America Act.

SENDING ​VOTER ROLLS TO DHS

The part of the SAVE America ​Act that officials in 17 states have copied more ⁠closely is its mandate that voter rolls be sent to the Department of Homeland Security to be run through a system typically used to verify the citizenship or immigration status of people applying for benefits.

Historically, election officials had occasionally used that “Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements” system to check specific voters whose citizenship status was unclear.

Last year, ​the Trump administration expanded the system to include additional types of personal information, such as data from the Social Security Administration, and invited states to upload their entire ​voter rolls to be screened ⁠for non-citizens.

Six states have since passed laws requiring their voter rolls to be run through the DHS system on a periodic basis. In 12 others, top election officials have opted to do so.

In Iowa, the process revealed 277 non-citizens among the state’s 2.1 million registered voters, of whom 40 had tried to vote in the 2024 election, according to the secretary of state’s office. In Utah, the DHS system flagged nearly 9,000 of the state’s 2 million voters as requiring ⁠further investigation – but ​manual verification found only one non-citizen, according to the state’s lieutenant governor.

“The initial results of those searches mostly just prove that there’s ​nothing to see here, that there isn’t a problem to be fixed,” said Sean Morales-Doyle, director of the Voting Rights program at the Brennan Center for Justice.

A ProPublica-Texas Tribune investigation in February found that state officials in Missouri and Texas incorrectly flagged dozens of voters as non-citizens after ​running their lists through the system, suspending their right to vote or initiating their removal from voter rolls altogether.

Reporting by Julia Harte. Editing by Paul Thomasch, Michael Learmonth anf Alistair Bell

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Early voting points to an edge for Virginia Democrats trying to enact a US House map that could flip four seats

2026-04-14T10:00:56.566Z / CNN

By Edward Wu

Updated 6 min ago

Updated Apr 14, 2026, 8:01 AM ET

PUBLISHED Apr 14, 2026, 6:00 AM ET

A person takes an “I Voted” sticker after voting early in the Virginia redistricting referendum, at the Fairfax County Government Center in Fairfax, Virginia, on April 3, 2026.

Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

Early voting data from Virginia suggests Democrats have an advantage in their push to enact a gerrymander that could net them as many as four US House seats in this fall’s midterms.

Groups backing the redistricting measure in an April 21 special election had long pointed to Saturday, April 11, as a date to watch, when many counties opened additional early voting sites. This included several population-heavy, Democratic-leaning counties in the Washington, DC, suburbs of Northern Virginia.

Next week’s referendum has major stakes for this fall’s midterms given the razor-thin House majority and the national redistricting battle launched at President Donald Trump’s behest last year.

House Speaker Mike Johnson campaigned this weekend with several Virginia Republicans whose seats would be sharply redrawn if the referendum succeeds. A day later, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries rallied supporters in Richmond, a sign of how both he and Johnson are aggressively fighting for a handful of seats that could help tip the House majority.

Nearly 63,000 early in-person votes were cast on Saturday, according to data from L2, slightly higher than the equivalent day ahead of last fall’s election in which Democrats swept all three statewide offices.

This year’s vote appeared more Democratic-leaning and more concentrated in Northern Virginia. Turnout in Northern Virginia was about 46% higher than the equivalent date last year, and roughly 57% of the statewide vote was cast in the region, up from 41% last year.

The early vote data overall finds that Saturday ended with partisan turnout across voting methods throughout the state basically unchanged from the equivalent point last year, when Democrat Abigail Spanberger cruised to victory by 15 points in the state’s gubernatorial race.

Partisan turnout is measured by comparing counts of voters who participated in only one party’s primaries over the last five major ones, since Virginia does not have party registration. Both last year and this year, Democratic primary participants had an 8-point lead in turnout early in-person or by mail over Republican primary participants.

There are some geographic differences. Despite the strong turnout in Northern Virginia on Saturday itself, the entirety of the shortfall in early votes relative to this point in 2025 comes from Northern Virginia. While the rest of the state had cast about 5,000 more votes through Saturday than it had in 2025 at this point, Northern Virginia still lags behind its 2025 turnout by about 39,000 votes.

CNN’s analysis found that this difference largely coincided with changes to access in early voting relative to last year.

Early voting access in Northern Virginia for much of the final three weeks before Election Day has been pared down compared with 2025, and it appears to be dampening pre-election turnout in the region. Prince William County, for example, had just one voting location open in the week ahead of April 11, compared with six locations during the same week last year. And Fairfax County, Virginia’s most populous county, expanded from three voting locations to 16 voting locations two days earlier last year than this year.

Northern Virginia voters who missed out on early voting due to access changes could shift to Election Day. But even if that area falls short of last year’s vote totals, opponents of redistricting face an uphill battle.

It would not be enough for the anti-redistricting side to simply outperform Republicans in last year’s election. A considerable improvement would be required to erase the 15-point statewide deficit notched by Republican gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears.

National headwinds for the ‘No’ campaign

The “No” campaign has been heavily outspent and faces an electoral environment that has decidedly favored Democratic-aligned causes. A win or even a close loss would buck national trends.

A strongly motivated Democratic base and persuasion among independent and Republican voters have led to consistently strong Democratic performances in elections since Donald Trump’s return to the White House. A similar redistricting push in California won by 29 points last November, nine points ahead of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris’ 2024 margin in the state.

A recent poll from the Washington Post and George Mason University’s Schar School on the ballot measure found Republicans with a considerable advantage in motivation to vote, with Republicans about 7 points likelier than Democrats to describe themselves as certain to vote. Even with that advantage, likely voters in the poll supported the amendment to redraw the state’s districts by a 5-point margin.

Aside from turnout shifts, another path to success for those who oppose the redistricting ballot measure could come via persuasion. But the Post-Schar poll found political independents in favor of the measure, with few defections among partisans and partisan-leaners.

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.

美国总统特朗普（左）与罗马天主教教宗良十四世（右）围绕伊朗战争的隔空争执没有缓解迹象，特朗普周一坚称教宗错了，自己没什么好道歉的。 （法新社）

（华盛顿综合电）美国总统特朗普周一拒绝为批评天主教教宗良十四世道歉，坚称错在教宗。教宗也表明，不畏惧特朗普政府，并会继续宣扬福音。两人的争端可能对11月美国中期选举产生重大影响。

特朗普周一（4月13日）在白宫回复媒体询问时说：“教宗良十四世说了一些错误的话……我们坚信法律和秩序，而他似乎对此有异议，所以我没什么好道歉的。”

教宗早前称，特朗普威胁让整个伊朗文明覆灭的言论不可接受。他也曾谴责特朗普大规模遣返移民的政策不人道，并批评特朗普在委内瑞拉的干预行为。

特朗普星期天在社交媒体上发文炮轰教宗，称他在打击犯罪上软弱无力，外交政策也一塌糊涂。特朗普还暗示，良十四世之所以能成为教宗，是因为他是美国人。

特朗普公然抨击教宗的做法，在美国国内引发争议，意大利总理梅洛尼也罕见地批评特朗普的言论令人无法接受。梅洛尼周一发声明说：“教宗是天主教会领袖，他呼吁和平并谴责所有形式的战争是合情合理。”

延伸阅读

不满教宗谴责伊朗冲突 特朗普抨击教宗“打击犯罪软弱无力” 教宗良十四世痛心伊朗战争“骇人暴力” 呼吁立即停火

良十四世周一在教宗专机上接受媒体访问时表明，自己不是政治人物，也不想与特朗普争论。他说：“我不害怕特朗普政府……我不只向他，也向世界上所有领导人说：让我们努力结束战争，推动和平与和解。”

教宗也提到，福音信息不应被滥用，就如某些人正在做的。

特朗普星期天在社交媒体上发布一张人工智能（AI）生成的图像，图中他身穿长袍，在医护人员和军人簇拥下治愈一名病人，疑似把自己比作耶稣。

此举引发强烈批评。曾任共和党全国委员会青年顾问委员会联合主席的霍利汉德（Brilyn Hollyhand）在社交媒体上写道：“这是严重亵渎。信仰不是道具。你没必要把自己塑造成救世主，你的政绩理应足以证明一切。”

这张图片已被删除。特朗普周一称，图中描绘了医生救人的画面。

特朗普不常上教堂，但凭借保守的本土主义理念得到美国福音派基督徒支持。随着战争加剧美国民众对经济的担忧，若特朗普因抨击教宗与发布疑似带有宗教意味的图片而惹怒宗教右翼选民，这可能会增加共和党在11月中期选举失去国会控制权的风险。

美国福特汉姆大学宗教与文化中心主任吉布森（David Gibson）指出，美国总统和美国天主教徒过去虽然也曾与教宗意见相左，但特朗普表现出的是不敬。吉布森告诉路透社：“这是一个分水岭时刻——美国天主教徒会选择教宗还是总统？”