台湾外交部星期四（4月16日）在官网发布新闻稿称，“中华民国台湾”与中国大陆互不隶属，台湾总统出访符合国际惯例，大陆无权置喙。 （赖清德脸书）

台湾总统赖清德将出访在非洲唯一的邦交国斯威士兰（台译史瓦帝尼），随后中国大陆国台办在星期三（4月15日）称希望有关国家认清大势。台湾外交部星期四（16日）回应，“中华民国台湾”与大陆互不隶属，台湾总统出访符合国际惯例，大陆无权置喙。

赖清德时隔一年多后再出访，下周将率团访问斯威士兰。国台办发言人陈斌华星期三称，一贯以一个中国原则对待台湾对外交往问题，坚决反对任何企图在国际上制造“两个中国”、“一中一台”和“台湾独立”的行径。陈斌华表示，希望有关国家认清大势，尽快纠正错误，站到历史正确的一边。

对此，台湾外交部星期四通过新闻稿回应，“中华民国台湾”与大陆互不隶属，台湾总统出访既符合国际惯例，也是常态，大陆无权置喙。

台湾外交部称，台湾有权利自主选择与世界各国交往及发展关系，不接受任何国家以任何理由干涉或打压，更不会因为遭到恫吓或干预就自我设限。

台湾外交部也指出，大陆对台湾粗暴野蛮的打压，企图封锁台湾的外交空间，扼杀台湾国际人格，不仅无助于两岸关系良性发展，也伤害台湾人民的权益，“呼吁北京当局立即停止，不要一再成为国际社会的麻烦制造者，以及两岸关系的破坏者”。

延伸阅读

赖清德出访非洲友邦 不过境不飞越中东地区

赖清德自2024年5月上任以来，仅在同年11月访问过马绍尔群岛、图瓦卢和帕劳三个南太平洋邦交国，期间过境美国夏威夷和关岛。

去年8月一度传出赖清德拟访问巴拉圭，并过境美国本土的纽约和达拉斯。但据报美国总统特朗普拒绝让赖清德过境纽约，台湾总统府也否认有这项出访计划。

New Jersey voters decide who will fill Mikie Sherrill’s House seat

2026-04-16 10:05 GMT / Reuters

By Nolan D. McCaskill

April 16, 2026 10:05 AM UTC Updated 1 hour ago

节点运行失败

Item 1 of 2 New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill delivers a speech during her inauguration ceremony at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey, U.S., January 20, 2026. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

[1/2]New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill delivers a speech during her inauguration ceremony at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey, U.S., January 20, 2026. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

• Summary

• Democrat Mejia favored over Republican Hathaway for Sherrill’s vacated seat
• Mejia’s win would narrow Republicans’ House majority
• Democrats have overperformed in recent special elections

WASHINGTON, April 16 (Reuters) – Voters in northern New Jersey will choose their next representative in a special election on Thursday that could narrow Republicans’ grip on the U.S. ​House of Representatives heading into the November midterm elections.

Democrat Analilia Mejia, former national political director of Senator Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, is ‌favored over Republican Randolph Township Councilman Joe Hathaway to fill the seat vacated by former U.S. Representative Mikie Sherrill, who was elected governor in November.

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The special election comes days after two members of Congress – Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell of California and Republican Representative Tony Gonzales of Texas – announced their resignations following separate sexual misconduct allegations and a new member, Republican Representative ​Clay Fuller of Georgia, was sworn in.

Mejia has raised $1.1 million through March 27, according to recent campaign filings, more than double Hathaway’s $525,000. The ​filings show Mejia entered the final stretch of the campaign with three times as much money in the bank as ⁠Hathaway.

Mejia, a progressive outsider, won a crowded primary that featured millions of dollars in outside spending from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s super PAC. Hathaway ran ​unopposed for the Republican nomination.

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Former Vice President Kamala Harris won the district by nearly 9 percentage points in 2024, when Sherrill won reelection by nearly 15 ​percentage points. Sherrill carried the district by a similar margin in the 2025 gubernatorial election, en route to a 14-point win statewide.

MEJIA’S ELECTION WOULD SHRINK REPUBLICANS’ MAJORITY

If Mejia is elected, House Republicans will hold a 217-214 majority with one independent caucusing with Republicans and three vacancies to be filled later this year in Texas and California due to the pair of ​resignations this week and the death of former Republican Representative Doug LaMalfa.

United Democracy Project, the pro-Israel super PAC, has signaled it will spend to elect another ​Democrat over Mejia in the state’s June 2 primary. The winner of that race will be favored to win a full two-year term in November.

But none of the top ‌three candidates ⁠who ran against Mejia in the February 5 primary has filed to run against her in June. The three candidates who have filed paperwork are Chatham Borough Councilman Justin Strickland, who won 2% of the vote in February, former Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello and tech engineer Joseph Lewis.

DEMOCRATS HAVE OVERPERFORMED IN SPECIAL CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS

Democratic candidates have overperformed their party’s margins in the 2024 presidential election by an average of 18 points in six special congressional elections this cycle in Florida, ​Virginia, Arizona, Tennessee and Georgia. A ​seventh special election in Texas featured ⁠two Democrats in a runoff.

While the party hasn’t flipped any federal seats this Congress, the consistent overperformance suggests more enthusiasm for Democrats, who have rallied behind an affordability message, charging that President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are ​making life more expensive for Americans.

Democrats instigated a record-long government shutdown last year over expiring healthcare subsidies. Congress failed ​to extend the subsidies, ⁠leading to spiking healthcare premiums for millions of Americans. The president has since launched coordinated strikes with Israel against Iran, sparking a foreign conflict that’s affecting voters’ pocketbooks with rising gas prices.

Trump’s approval on the economy was just 29% as of a March 20-23 Reuters/Ipsos poll, as Americans have responded negatively to the surge in energy prices.

Democrats ⁠would need ​to flip just a handful of seats in November to win control of the House of ​Representatives for the final two years of Trump’s presidency. The president’s party traditionally suffers losses in the midterms, but Trump has pushed Republican state legislators to redraw congressional districts to buck historical ​trends. Democratic state legislators have moved to counter Republican gerrymandering by redrawing maps to benefit Democrats in their states.

Reporting by Nolan D. McCaskill; editing by David Gaffen

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

House showdown: Democrat backed by Sanders, AOC faces Republican trying to flip blue-leaning district

2026-04-16 05:00:19 EDT / Fox News

‘Test drive a Republican’: GOP congressional candidate makes bold pitch in Democrat-controlled district

By Paul Steinhauser Fox News

Published April 16, 2026 5:00am EDT

Republican Joe Hathaway tells Fox News Digital voters in the special U.S. House election in New Jersey will ‘choose common sense over socialism’

Joe Hathaway, the Republican in Thursday’s special congressional election in New Jersey, charges that his Democratic rival Analilia Mejia is running on ‘far left-wing ideology.’

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RANDOLPH, N.J.— Republican Joe Hathaway aims to flip a vacant U.S. House seat in a blue-leaning district in northern New Jersey.

“I think we have the right math, the right bipartisan coalition to come together to win this thing,” an optimistic Hathaway said this week in a Fox News Digital interview.

Hathaway is facing off against Democrat Analilia Mejia, who is backed by progressive champions Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of neighboring New York, in Thursday’s special election in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District. The winner will fill out the final eight months of the term of Gov. Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic representative who stepped down from Congress in November after winning New Jersey’s gubernatorial election.

FIRST ON FOX: HOUSE REPUBLICANS TARGET DOZENS OF ‘VULNERABLE’ DEMOCRATS ON EVE OF TAX DAY

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill prepares to speak after taking the oath of office during an inauguration ceremony, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, in Newark, N.J.(Seth Wenig/AP)

The special election comes as the GOP clings to a fragile House majority and would relish the opportunity to flip a suburban district Sherrill won by 15 points in her 2024 re-election and carried by roughly the same margin in last year’s gubernatorial election. But given a rough political climate and traditional headwinds for the party in power, it’s a tough task for a candidate with an R next to their name on the ballot.

To have any chance of winning, Hathaway will need the support of independents and crossover Democrats.

He said his message to those voters is, “even if you’ve never voted for a Republican before, you got the chance to test drive one for the next six months, send me to Washington. Let me prove to you I’m going to do what I say.”

Pointing to Mejia, Hathaway argued that voters in the district will “choose common sense over socialism in this race.”

Mejia, a progressive organizer who served as national political director on the 2020 Sanders presidential campaign, pulled off an upset in the February Democratic primary, narrowly edging out more moderate rival former Rep. Tom Malinowski in a field of 11 candidates. While Mejia was the clear choice of the party’s left flank, the rest of the field appeared to divide the moderate and center-left vote.

HOUSE SPEAKER JOHNSON GETS REINFORCEMENT AS GOP CLINGS TO RAZOR-THIN MAJORITY

Analilia Mejia secured the Democratic Party nomination in a special election to find out who will take over newly-elected New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s vacant House seat.(Heather Khalifa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Her victory was another boost for the left against the establishment after democratic socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani sent shock waves across the nation with his Democratic primary victory in June 2025.

Hathaway, a former Randolph Township mayor and current council member who was uncontested for the GOP congressional nomination, emphasized that the choice for voters is “between a common sense, practical independent leader who’s gotten things done at the local level in New Jersey and knows the issues, contrasted with someone who’s running on pure ideology, far left-wing ideology, Squad-backed ideology.”

Mejia recently appeared at a town hall with Malinowski and on Sunday teamed up with Sherrill on the campaign trail as she aimed to unite Democrats, who enjoy a sizable registration advantage in the district.

Hathaway claimed that Mejia is now trying “to hide from that a little bit in some of her rhetoric, because she knows that those policies are completely out of touch, but it’s not fooling voters. It’s certainly not fooling us.”

Jewish voters make up a key part of the district’s electorate, and Hathaway, in the only debate in the special election, claimed Mejia was antisemitic, noting that she has said Israel committed genocide in Gaza.

“She blamed Israel for the attacks by Hamas on October 7,” Hathaway said. “I think Jewish individuals across this district, Republican or Democrat, are very afraid of this kind of rhetoric.”

PROGRESSIVES NOTCH ANOTHER WIN OVER DEMOCRATIC MODERATES AS SANDERS-AOC ALLY NEARS CONGRESS

Republican congressional candidate Joe Hathaway speaks with voters at the Randolph Diner, on April 13, 2026, in Randolph, New Jersey(Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

Hathaway said, “I’ve spoken to more members of the Jewish community who have told me they’ve never voted for a Republican in their life, who are going to vote for me in this race. I mean, that shows you where the Jewish community is on the importance of this race and how they are not aligned with Mejia… and her platform.”

Mejia has pledged to “protect the rights of Jewish constituents,” and has said her criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza should not be conflated with antisemitism.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Mejia said that “Joe Hathaway’s inability to distinguish between criticism of a government or government official and bigotry is troubling and disgusting in equal measure.”

Mejia last week wrote that she was “honored” after being endorsed by the liberal pro-Israel political group J Street PAC. But her acceptance of the endorsement triggered pushback on the left, with the North Jersey Democratic Socialists of America calling her move a “heel turn.”

Hathaway, as he aims to win over independents and Democrats, is pointing out where he agrees and disagrees with President Donald Trump, who lost the district by eight points in the 2024 presidential election.

REPUBLICANS WIN BUT DEMOCRATS ALSO CLAIM VICTORY WITH BALLOT BOX SURGE IN TRUMP TERRITORY

U.S. President Donald Trump waves to the media after walking off of Air Force One at Miami International Airport on April 11, 2026, in Miami, Fla.(Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

“I’m always going to do what’s right for this district first. And I’ve been clear: If the president’s going to do things that are good for the district, increasing the SALT cap deduction, putting money back in people’s pockets, especially New Jersey, affordability is so tough here. If we’re doing things like border security, reducing fentanyl deaths like we’ve seen in our community. Those are good things. I support those policies,” Hathaway said.

“But on the other hand, if the president’s going to do things that aren’t in the best interest of our district, it’s my job to push back, and that’s exactly what I’ve done,” he spotlighted.

Hathaway pointed to Trump’s move last year to terminate billions of federal dollars for the Gateway Project, which is funding a new train tunnel under the Hudson River connecting New Jersey and New York, and the president’s plans to cut roughly 1,000 jobs and nearly $1 billion in funding for an Army base located in New Jersey.

“I’m going to call balls and strikes in this race. I’m not going to be a rubber stamp for anybody,” Hathaway said.

He touted, “I think we have the right math, the right bipartisan coalition to come together to win this thing on April 16.”

Campaign signs for Republican candidate Joe Hathaway and Democrat Analilia Mejia in the NJ-11 special congressional election, in Randolph, New Jersey on April 13, 2026.(Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

But Dan Cassino, a Fairleigh Dickinson University political science professor and pollster, calls Hathaway’s hopes of capturing crossover Democrats “a pipe dream.”

“Democrats as a whole do not seem interested in finding common ground with Trump,” he said as he predicted that most voters in the special election will be strong partisans. “Democratic turnout is through the roof and Republican turnout is depressed at this point.”

Cassino noted that “right now, national politics drives everything. We say all politics is local. Today, unfortunately, all politics is national.”

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Mejia, meanwhile, has tied Hathaway to Trump and Republicans in Congress.

“MAGA Republicans are driving up everyday costs with extreme policies my opponent supports. Healthcare and critical programs are being gutted just to fund tax breaks for the ultra-rich. We can’t afford another vote for Trump in Congress,” she wrote in a social media post.

Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the campaign trail from coast to coast.

黄循财总理致电祝贺越南总理上任 双方将拓展再生能源与数码合作

2026年4月16日 19:42 / 联合早报

黄循财总理同越南新任总理黎明兴（中）通话，向对方表示祝贺，并说两国作为关系紧密的亚细安伙伴，将继续携手合作，促进区域和平、稳定与繁荣。 （法新社）

新加坡和越南将在可再生能源与数码科技等领域加强合作，进一步深化双边关系。

黄循财总理星期四（4月16日）在社交媒体发文说，他已致电祝贺越南新任总理黎明兴，并与对方就拓展合作进行讨论。双方探讨如何在两国全面战略伙伴关系的基础上，进一步扩大合作空间，包括再生能源与数码科技领域。

新越去年10月签署全面战略伙伴关系行动计划，推进可再生能源、碳信用以及数码经济等领域的合作。

黄总理说，作为亚细安的紧密伙伴，新越两国也会继续携手，促进区域和平、稳定与繁荣。

“我祝愿黎明兴总理在新岗位上一切顺利，并期待不久后与他见面。”

延伸阅读

我国领导人致函祝贺越南国家主席总理当选

越南国会上星期二（7日）一致通过决议，推选越共总书记苏林出任国家主席。国会也投票表决，选出越共中央政治局委员、中央组织部部长黎明兴出任越南总理。

尚达曼总统和黄总理，已分别在上星期五（10日）向苏林和黎明兴致贺函。

飞一趟亏一趟 中国多家航空公司削减飞往新加坡航线

2026年4月16日 19:54 / 联合早报

五一黄金周原本是中国游客出国旅游的旺季，如今中国航空公司纷纷削减国际航班，料将直接冲击五一黄金周来新旅游的中国旅客人次。 （萧紫薇摄）

五一黄金周原本是中国游客出国旅游的旺季，如今中国航空公司纷纷削减国际航班，料将直接冲击五一黄金周来新旅游的中国旅客人次。 （萧紫薇摄）

中国航空公司最近纷纷取消飞往东南亚和大洋洲航线航班，当中包括多条往返新加坡航线，打乱了新中两地旅客4月及5月的出行计划，料也会对五一黄金周固有的访新中国旅客潮造成直接冲击。

据《联合早报》记者在“航班管家”数据平台上查询，多条从北京、上海、武汉、重庆等地往返新加坡的航班，4月下旬至5月上旬期间都已取消。

本地旅行社指出，自伊朗战火点燃引爆全球能源危机以来，中国航空公司逐步削减整合从中国各城市往返新加坡的航班，尤其是上座率偏低的航班。旅游平台显示，中国航空未来两周飞往北京的多趟航班取消。吉祥航空飞往上海浦东的HO1606航班则停飞至5月底。东方航空方面，从新加坡飞往武汉和上海的部分航班也已取消。

大通旅游市场部经理卓琼华受询时说，中东战事推高燃油价，陆续有多家中国航空公司取消航班。她指出，取消航班并无特定规律可循，航空公司会安排乘客改搭前后几天出发的班次，或改飞其他城市。

航班整合打乱本地赴中国旅游团行程

超级旅游集团副总裁黄海笑说，目前有几个已在武汉或北京的旅游团，接获了航班取消的通知。例如，一个原本由武汉回新的旅游团因为航班取消，须改由上海返新。

航班整合也打乱了旅游团的行程规划，例如须提早出发或延迟返新，以确保旅客能走完所有景点。

黄海笑指出，航空公司如果取消航班，一般会与旅行社配合改飞其他班次或城市，例如不飞北京就改飞上海，再转乘内陆航班抵达原定的目的地。不过，如需以陆路交通往返原定的目的地，这笔额外费用多由旅行社或中国的地接社共同分摊。

欧美假期中国市场经理刘宏波则指出，航空公司一般仅提供免费改签或退票服务，不涵盖改飞其他城市所产生的额外交通费用。为保障行程顺利，这部分额外费用欧美假期统一协调并承担。

刘宏波也指出，旅行社目前也已接获航空公司通知，5月间料还会有更多航班取消或更改出发时程。

航班取消冲击五一黄金周中国旅客潮

航班取消，不仅影响国人出游，也冲击到访新加坡的中国旅客潮。尤其下个月马上迎来五一黄金周，脸书和小红书等社交媒体上纷纷出现中国旅客形容自己出国的航班取消的相关贴文。

例如，有个准备从北京飞抵新加坡自由行的旅客原本已订了4月24日凌晨飞往新加坡的国航CA975航班，临行前航班取消，但因为酒店都已订好，不得不飞，只能放弃原来的机票改飞新航。

另一名重庆旅客原本订了新加坡豪亚酒店4月30日至5月4日的豪华间住宿，以及5月1日两张动物园门票。如今因为重庆往返新加坡的航班取消，只能在小红书上寻求转让酒店和景点门票。

《联合早报》通过旅游平台查询，未来两周出发到北京的国航CA976、CA890、CA970等航班都出现取消情况。吉祥航空飞往上海浦东的HO1606航班接下来两个月全数取消。东航飞往武汉和上海的部分航班也取消。（网络截图，取自“航班管家”平台）

中国大幅削减往返东南亚和新西兰澳洲航班

多家中国媒体报道，中国多条往返东南亚航线已暂时停飞，往返大洋洲的航班也大幅削减，其中广州至达尔文航班取消率达83.3%，杭州至奥克兰削减57.1%，武汉至悉尼航班减半。

媒体引述民航专家指出，当前航空燃油价格翻倍上涨，但国际机票票价并未同步上调，航空公司陷入“飞行班次越多、亏损幅度越大”的经营困境。

一名不愿具名的业内人士指出，取消或暂时停飞的，多是那些竞争激烈、利润分薄的航线，或者出发时间不理想的航班：“因为上座率太低，航空公司索性不飞了，省得飞一趟亏一趟。”

Partner held in Zanzibar after American influencer Ashly Robinson dies under mysterious circumstances

April 16, 2026 / 6:31 AM EDT / CBS/AP

Police in Zanzibar are holding an American citizen whose partner died under mysterious circumstances following a dispute at the hotel where they were staying.

Joseph Isaac McCann, 45, was questioned by police on Monday, four days after his partner, Ashly Robinson, better known online as Ashlee Jenae, was found dead in her room.

Investigators said they are holding McCann’s passport until autopsy results are complete. Authorities previously told local media that he was not suspected of wrongdoing.

The Deputy Director of Investigations in Zanzibar, Zuberi Chembera, refused to comment on Thursday, saying that investigations were ongoing.

Police said witness accounts indicate that the couple arrived at Zuri Hotel in Zanzibar on April 4 and had been quarreling frequently until the night of April 8, when hotel management separated them and asked McCann to move to a separate villa about a 10-minute walk away.

A few hours later, a hotel worker found Robinson unresponsive in a closet, with a belt around her neck, police said. She was taken to a hospital, where she died the following day.

Her family told CBS News that they are seeking transparency, adding that their daughter appeared happy in the days leading up to her death.

“They were in a gorgeous place in Africa and happy,” her mother, Yolanda Endres, said. “Everything that we knew was that she was supposed to be happy. She was engaged, she celebrated her birthday thereafter, and then she’s just gone.”

The family said they first learned something was wrong when McCann called to say Robinson was in the hospital, but details were limited.

“I asked him when it happened and where it happened, and he told me that something had occurred 11 hours prior to when he was reaching out to me,” Endres said.

They said communication then stopped. The next update, they said, came from the hotel, which informed them their daughter had died.

“The fiancé did not reach out to us at all. We found out from the hotel,” Harry Robinson said. “That’s devastating when your daughter’s halfway around the world. We just wanted to know where she was at, who she was with, and that she was OK. Just give us something.”

Robinson’s mother told news outlets that hours before her daughter was rushed to the hospital, she and McCann reportedly had an argument that led hotel staff to move them into separate rooms.

“There’s cameras everywhere at a resort and that will match the timeline,” Harry Robinson said. “Just do the investigation and let us know.”

The State Department says it’s monitoring the case.

Jericka Duncan and Ross DiMattei contributed to this report.

Dems block bid to defund Cesar Chavez monument despite child sexual abuse allegations

April 16, 2026 7:30am EDT / Fox News

Senate Democrats blocked an attempt to defund and abolish a monument to a prominent labor union activist who was recently hit with bombshell allegations of being a serial predator.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, tried to pass legislation that would have defunded the monument to Cesar Chavez, who co-founded the United Farm Workers. The monument sits in California on property that was once his home and where his labor movement was born.

Chavez was once a revered figure, particularly among Democrats, until a bombshell New York Times report in March detailed allegations of a pattern of sexual misconduct, including abusing and grooming minors. The alleged victims had stayed silent even after his death.

SENATOR GALLEGO SAYS LONGTIME FRIENDSHIP WITH SWALWELL ‘CLOUDED MY JUDGMENT’ AS RUMORS SWIRLED IN DC

Cesar Chavez, head of the United Farm Workers, makes a point in a press conference in Sacramento.(Getty Images)

“Due to Senator Heinrich’s shameful actions, the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument — a known crime scene where much of Chavez’s abhorrent abuse of women and girls occurred — will continue to operate on the American people’s dime, and it is sickening,” Cornyn told Fox News Digital.

But the effort was blocked by Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., who acknowledged the alleged abuse on the Senate floor Tuesday and said it “necessarily and profoundly changes Cesar Chavez’s legacy and how he should be remembered.”

While he agreed there should not be a monument named after Chavez, Heinrich warned that removing it would erase the stories of farm laborers and sweep his “violence under the rug.”

“When we learn shocking or terrible things about our history, the right answer is to tell the truth — never to hide it,” Heinrich said. “I’m concerned that what my colleague from Texas is proposing could do just that: Hide the truth about Cesar Chavez and, unfortunately, the incredible farmworker movement with it.”

SWALWELL OUT AMID SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS AFTER 13 YEARS IN CONGRESS

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, speaks to the media Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Austin, Texas.(Jack Myer/AP)

Heinrich’s move to block the legislation came the same day two members of the House — former Reps. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and Tony Gonzales, R-Texas — resigned from Congress over allegations of sexual misconduct.

Cornyn’s No Funding to Honor Crime Scenes Act, which made its way through the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee — where Heinrich is the top Democrat — is part of a broader push to erase Chavez’s name from several physical manifestations of his legacy.

“It is mind-boggling that anyone would want to keep Cesar Chavez’s name on a national monument honoring the very spot where he is accused of assaulting women and children,” Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Mike Lee, R-Utah, told Fox News Digital. “Democrats should be ashamed.”

GONZALES RESIGNS IN WAKE OF RENEWED EXPULSION THREAT AFTER SCANDAL

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) arrives to a hearing with the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on July 19, 2022 in Washington, DC.(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The bill would have abolished the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument, which was created by former President Barack Obama in 2012 to honor the late labor activist, by requiring Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to sell off the federal land on which it sits.

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That would include selling Chavez’s home and the contents of his personal office, where some of the alleged abuse occurred.

The legislation would also require that any federal funds allocated to the monument be redirected to provide law enforcement resources for forensic analysis of crime scenes and untested rape kits — a measure Cornyn worked on with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., to reauthorize in 2024.

Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.

Trump administration set to launch tariff refund portal. Here’s what to know.

April 16, 2026 / 5:00 AM EDT / CBS News

By Megan Cerullo Reporter, MoneyWatch
Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News 24/7 to discuss her reporting.

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The U.S. government is set to launch an online portal next week that lets businesses request refunds for tariffs deemed illegal by the Supreme Court. But payouts won’t be automatic, and legal experts said businesses could face other obstacles getting their money back.

A federal agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), will boot up the portal — known as CAPE, for Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries — so companies can submit claims for tariff refunds. CBP confirmed in a filing on Tuesday that CAPE will open for refund applications on April 20.

The government could owe businesses up to $175 billion after the Supreme Court ruled in February that President Trump had illegally issued tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA. Since the landmark decision, companies have filed thousands of lawsuits with the Court of International Trade (CIT) seeking tariff refunds.

“CAPE will simplify International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) duty refund requests made pursuant to court order and in accordance with appropriate statutory authority by providing an electronic pathway to submit valid IEEPA duty refund claims,” CBP states in guidance on its website.

Here’s what to know about the government tariff refund portal, including who is eligible to submit a claim and how soon businesses could receive payment.

Burden on the importer

Although CAPE will offer a mechanism for businesses to seek compensation for the illegal emergency levies, it places the onus for obtaining refunds on hundreds of thousands of U.S. importers, trade attorneys told CBS News. The system also limits refund applications to “unliquidated tariffs” — estimated duties that can still be amended — as well as to tariffs that were finalized by CBP within the past 80 days.

“It’s amazing that CBP has been cooperative as they’ve been,” attorney Lizbeth Levinson, co-chair of the international trade practice group at Fox Rothschild, told CBS News. “But one thing has been clear from the beginning — that customs is putting the burden on the importer. Customs is not figuring it out. It’s up to each individual importer.”

Who is eligible?

Two types of parties can use CAPE to apply for tariff refunds: businesses that paid IEEPA tariffs and customs brokers that paid duties on an importer’s behalf.

Only the so-called importer of record is entitled to money back, according to Levinson. For example, consumers who were hit with higher costs on an imported product are not eligible to submit claims for a tariff refund.

Are the refunds automatic?

No, businesses must opt in for refunds and wait for CBP to process and approve their claims.

“These are absolutely not automatic refunds,” Levinson said. “You have to jump through hoops, even though customs should have taken it upon themselves to do automatic refunds. They have all the information — they know who paid IEEPA duties and how to get in touch with people.”

Which tariffs are eligible for refunds?

Only IEEPA tariffs are eligible for refunds, and even then, there are limits to the kinds of duties CBP said it will refund. Initially, CAPE will accept requests for estimated tariffs, along with those that were finalized by CBP within the past 80 days.

That accounts for roughly 63% of all IEEPA duties, according to Sanne Manders, president of Flexport, a global trade and logistics company that helps businesses estimate the size of their refunds.

“The remaining 37% of entries that have already been liquidated or are being protested are excluded,” Manders said, adding that businesses face ongoing uncertainty over their eligibility for refunds. “A lot is still unclear about what the process will be.”

When will companies get refunds?

CBP has said it will issue tariff refunds for valid claims within 60 to 90 days of approving them.But it could take longer if claims contain errors or inaccuracies that require fixing.

Manders noted that it’s not uncommon for customs brokers to make mistakes in paperwork by, for example, applying the wrong tariff codes to a given import.

“The big message is that you have to clean up your act before you ask for a refund,” he said. “Assuming everything goes well, you’ll probably see the 63% of refunds potentially in months, while the other 37% could take years.”

Meanwhile, although the tariff refund portal is set to launch next week, some trade attorneys and other experts fear potential hitches.

“April 20 is when things are going to start to hit the fan,” Adam Hanover, managing director of restructuring and dispute resolution at CohnReznick Advisory, told CBS News. “I am still not sold that the system is going to work.”

Ernst & Young trade policy expert Blake Harden told CBS News that while she’s impressed by the progress CBP has made in standing up a refund system, time will tell how effective it is. “On paper this all looks pretty good. But is this system really going to operate as advertised?”

An alternative to refunds

Some importers may decide that the hassle of collecting and submitting paperwork for a tariff refund isn’t worth the effort, especially without a guarantee they’ll be made whole anytime soon.

Those businesses have an alternative. Some hedge funds and financial services firms are buying businesses’ tariff refund claims, putting money in importers’ pockets immediately, while taking on the administrative burden of applying for a refund, according to Flexport’s Manders.

“That is an option for importers who don’t want to wait to get their money back,” he said, noting that Flexport is itself offering to purchase such claims. “They can sell their claim now, get the money instantly and be done with it.”

This route could appeal to “anyone who needs cash now, because you know you will get your money in weeks, instead of months,” he added.

Rick Woldenberg, CEO of educational toy company Learning Resources, estimates the U.S. government owes his business up to $12 million in refunds for tariffs the company paid. It was his company’s 2025 lawsuit that the Supreme Court ruled on in striking down the Trump administration’s use of IEEPA to impose tariffs.

He told CBS News he plans to be “first in line” when the refund portal opens next week, although Woldenberg would’ve preferred that the government automatically reimburse businesses.

“Most people have the experience of getting a check in the mail when they pay more in taxes than they owe,” he said. “You don’t have to opt in to get money back. You don’t have to remind them or beg them — it’s not theirs.”

Edited by Alain Sherter

US will punish fraud, insider trading, derivatives regulator tells Congress

2026-04-16T10:06:47.064Z / Reuters

By Douglas Gillison

April 16, 2026 10:06 AM UTC Updated 54 mins ago

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Item 1 of 2 Michael Selig testifies in a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 19, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

[1/2]Michael Selig testifies in a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 19, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

WASHINGTON, April 16 (Reuters) – Washington’s top derivatives regulator is due on Thursday to reassure lawmakers that the United States will punish fraud as concern mounts on Capitol Hill that oil, stock and ​prediction market players are illicitly trading on inside information from the White House, ‌according to prepared remarks seen by Reuters.

The first congressional testimony by the current chair of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Michael Selig, comes a day after media reports that his agency is investigating a series of ​oil futures trades executed shortly before major policy shifts by President Donald Trump.

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The ​remarks are also a nod to the sudden spotlight in which the comparatively ⁠low-profile agency – which currently only sports one member, Selig, rather than its normal five – ​now finds itself.

“I want to be crystal clear, to anyone who engages in fraud, manipulation or ​insider trading in any of our markets, we will find you and you will face the full force of the law,” Selig said in a written statement. He is scheduled to appear before the House Agriculture ​Committee, which oversees the CFTC, at 10 a.m. EST (1400 GMT).

A Reuters review of trading ahead ​of major Trump administration decisions on tariffs, Venezuela and Iran that led to significant market moves showed at least four ‌instances where ⁠legal experts said it appeared investors knew what would happen shortly before it did.

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Many of these trades fall within the CFTC’s jurisdiction. The agency’s new enforcement director, David Miller, said last month that policing insider trading and market manipulation were priorities for the agency.

Selig is also likely ​to face questions from ​members of the House ⁠Agriculture Committee about his agency’s assertion of sole jurisdiction in overseeing prediction markets, which critics liken to state-regulated gambling, and its work with ​the Securities and Exchange Commission in embracing what the agencies say ​will be a ⁠new era for digital assets.

With a current budget of less than $400 million, the CFTC, created in 1974, is charged with policing an expanding and increasingly complex set of markets for futures, swaps ⁠and ​event contracts, and it is poised to take on a ​central role in overseeing trade in digital assets.

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The commission normally has five members, including two from the minority party, ​but Selig is currently its lone member.

Reporting by Douglas Gillison in Washington; editing by David Gaffen

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Analilia Mejia, left, and Joe Hathaway.

Analilia Mejia Campaign for Congress/Joe Hathaway for Congress

Two months after progressive Analilia Mejia won a special election in the Democratic primary for New Jersey’s 11th District, voters will decide Thursday whether they want to send her to Congress.

Mejia will face Republican Joe Hathaway, a member of the Randolph Township council.

In a district where there are about 65,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans, according to the state’s Department of Elections, Mejia is favored to win the special election for the seat Mikie Sherrill vacated after being elected governor in November. Mejia has united most of the Democratic Party behind her, including former Rep. Tom Malinowski, who ran in the special primary and lost after facing a barrage of spending from a group linked to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

A Mejia victory on Thursday would be a boon for progressives, notably Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who endorsed her after she was national political director for his 2020 presidential campaign. Hathaway, meanwhile, is hoping to win over Democrats who feel Mejia would be too far left for the district.

“I think on Thursday voters know they have a decision – an easy decision – to make,” Mejia told CNN. “Their pocketbook, the prices at the gas pump, the prices at the grocery store, are informing people about just how dangerous it is to send someone else to do Donald Trump’s bidding in Congress.”

Hathaway has run as a moderate, a self-described “commonsense, independent” former mayor willing to buck the Republican Party.

“For a lot of those Democrats out there, I say it kind of tongue in cheek, but I mean it too: They have an opportunity here,” he said. “If they’re really concerned about Analilia, there’s an opportunity to test drive a Republican for six months.”

The winner of Thursday’s election will have an immediate impact on the razor-thin US House majority. House Speaker Mike Johnson is now able to lose two GOP defections on party-line votes and still pass legislation. A Mejia victory would shrink that margin yet again.

Hathaway and Mejia are both also running in their party’s June primaries for a full two-year term that would start in January.

AIPAC’s attacks on Malinowski boosted a more strident Israel critic

A Mejia win would be a reminder of how AIPAC’s efforts to punish a former ally backfired.

Prior to February’s primary, Malinowski had raised the most money and was well known thanks to his two terms in Congress representing a nearby district. He campaigned as the candidate most ready to jump into the role.

Then the United Democracy Project, a super PAC aligned with AIPAC, spent $2 million on ads attacking Malinowski and portraying him as supportive of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, pointing to his 2019 vote for a bipartisan spending bill that funded the agency.

“If AIPAC had never gotten involved, Tom Malinowski would be going to Congress right now,” said Julie Roginsky, a Democratic strategist who ran a super PAC supporting the former congressman.

The campaign came as a surprise given that Malinowski – a self-described Zionist – had a strong pro-Israel voting record. AIPAC, however, took issue with the former congressman’s willingness to place conditions on aid to Israel. “I wouldn’t promise a blank check in advance for anything a prime minister would ask for,” Malinowski told The New York Times in January.

After his loss, Malinowski blasted AIPAC in an op-ed published by The Bulwark, arguing that the group’s attacks on him were meant to intimidate other Democrats. He warned that if AIPAC’s vision of being pro-Israel “requires smearing even the most moderate elected officials who ask questions” then “the number of Americans (and the number of members of Congress) who pass its test will be too small to sustain any kind of relationship with the Jewish state.”

The attacks on Malinowski likely aided Mejia, who was the only candidate during a forum to raise her hand when asked if they agreed with human rights groups that have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza in response to Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack. (Israel has denied genocide allegations.)

After the February race, a spokesperson for the United Democracy Project said the group would be monitoring the June primary for a full term, but a strong challenger to Mejia has not emerged. Former Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way, who finished third after being endorsed by Democratic Majority for Israel, another pro-Israel group, said in March she would not run again. And Malinowski endorsed and campaigned with Mejia ahead of Thursday’s election.

‘You meet people where they’re at’

Mejia says she advanced by running a grassroots campaign and focusing on voters’ economic concerns.

“I was able to connect with voters through that primary,” she said. “The closer we got to the election, I was trending. Why? Because, as an organizer, I know you meet people where they’re at.”

Though she’s never held political office, she spent several years working behind the scenes. She worked to help Democrats – including Malinowski and Sherrill – win Republican-held House seats in 2018 and pushed for a $15 minimum wage in the state as leader of the New Jersey Working Families Alliance.

Mejia has sought to broaden her appeal in the final weeks of the campaign.

“She’s done a very good job consolidating support since she won,” Roginsky said. “And if she continues to do that, when she’s in Congress, continues to listen to people in her district, which I’m sure she is, she’ll be fine.”

Asked if she sees herself as part of “The Squad,” the progressive group in the House that includes Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, Mejia said the squad she’s most focused on is the voters in her district.

“If you were going to define me as anything, it’s a scrappy New Jersey soccer mom that is willing to stand up for you,” she said.