US judge to hear arguments on Pentagon compliance with press access ruling

2026-03-30 10:02:26 UTC / Reuters

By Mike Scarcella

March 30, 2026 10:02 AM UTC Updated 1 hour ago

The Pentagon logo is seen behind the podium in the briefing room at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., January 8, 2020. REUTERS/Al Drago/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

WASHINGTON, March 30 (Reuters) – A U.S. judge will hear arguments on Monday on whether the Pentagon has defied a court order protecting journalists’ access, in a ​closely watched clash over press freedom and executive power.

U.S. District Judge ‌Paul Friedman scheduled a hearing for 9:30 a.m. EST (1330 GMT) in Washington to weigh a request by the New York Times to compel the Pentagon’s compliance with the prior court ruling.

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The ​Pentagon under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in October said journalists could be ​deemed security risks and have their press badges revoked if they ⁠solicited unauthorized military personnel to disclose classified, and in some cases unclassified, information.

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Of ​the 56 news outlets in the Pentagon Press Association, only one agreed to sign ​an acknowledgment of the policy, with reporters who did not sign surrendering their press passes to the Pentagon.

On March 20 Friedman ruled that provisions of the Defense Department’s policy pertaining to Pentagon press ​credentials violated protections for news gathering and due process in the U.S. Constitution.

The ​judge issued an injunction requiring the immediate reinstatement of media credentials for reporters covering the Pentagon.

The New ‌York ⁠Times, the lead plaintiff that sued to challenge Hegseth’s policy, told Friedman last week that the Pentagon had not complied with his order but instead released what it called a new “interim” policy defying the court ruling.

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The policy, the Times said, bars reporters with press ​passes from entering ​the building without ⁠an escort, sets up rules governing when a reporter can offer anonymity to a source and leaves in place other rules ​that the court order rejected.

In a filing, opens new tab on Friday, the Pentagon denied ​violating Friedman’s ⁠prior order. “The Department was careful to address all of the legal defects that the court perceived in the prior policy,” it said.

The Pentagon Press Association said the Pentagon’s ⁠new rules ​are “a clear violation of the letter and spirit” ​of Friedman’s ruling. Reuters is a member of the association, which includes the Times, ABC News, Fox ​News and other outlets.

Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by David Bario and Howard Goller

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

NASA to launch Artemis II crew on flight around the moon this week. Here’s everything to know about the mission.

2026-03-30T05:00:11-0400 / CBS News

After weeks of delays, NASA is finally poised for launch of a historic flight this week to send a crew of four astronauts on a trailblazing nine-day trip around the moon and back.

The Artemis II mission — with commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, astronaut Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen — is scheduled to lift off Wednesday, April 1, at 6:24 p.m. EDT, atop a Space Launch System rocket, the most powerful operational booster in the world. Forecasters are predicting an 80% chance ofacceptable weatherfor launch.

“Hey, let’s go to the moon!” exclaimed Wiseman, speaking to a throng of reporters after he and his crewmates arrived at the Kennedy Space Center on Friday. “I think the nation and the world has been waiting a long time to do this again.”

They originally planned to launch in early February, but the flight was delayed, first by hydrogen fuel leaks and then later by problems with the upper stage propellant pressurization system. NASA says both issues have been resolved, finally clearing the way for blastoff.

A test mission, full of firsts

This will be the rocket’s first flight with a crew on aboard, and only its second flight overall. It will also be the first piloted flight of an Orion deep space crew capsule.

A major objective is to put the crew ship, named Integrity, through its paces.

“This is a test mission,” Wiseman said. “When we get off the planet, we might come right back home. We might spend three or four days around Earth. We might go to the moon. That’s where we want to go, but it is a test mission, and we are ready for every scenario as we ride this amazing Space Launch System in the Orion spacecraft, 250,000 miles away. It’s going to be amazing!”

A full moon rises behind the Space Launch System rocket, a reminder of what the rocket was built to do. NASA

Wiseman, Glover and Koch are NASA space veterans. Hansen, making his first space flight, will become the first Canadian to leave Earth orbit.

With their mission to circle the moon, they become the first crew to head for the moon since the Apollo 17 flight that landed there more than 50 years ago.

Big step toward a future moon landing

It’s a major milestone in a new NASA space race with China, which plans to put their own “taikonauts” on the lunar surface by 2030. NASA hopes to win that race by launching one and possibly two Artemis moon landing missions in 2028.

But first, the agency plans to thoroughly test the Orion capsule, making its first flight with a crew on board, during this Artemis II voyage around the moon.

The Artemis II astronauts, left to right: commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, astronaut Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. NASA

Then, next year, NASA plans for astronauts to rendezvous and dock in low-Earth orbit with new moon landers being built by SpaceX and Blue Origin to test critical systems and verify operating procedures. After that, NASA astronauts will embark on a moon landing near the lunar south pole in just two years.

In the meantime, NASA will be focusing on increasing the flight rate and designing a moon base where astronauts can spend weeks or months at a time carrying out research and technology development.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who announced the updated plans in February with an estimated cost of $20 billion over seven years, said this “step-by-step approach” is “exactly how NASA achieved the near impossible” with the Apollo program in the 1960s.

“But this time, the goal is not flags and footprints. This time, the goal is to stay,” he said, adding, “America will never again give up the moon.”

A “crazy first day” in space

Blazing a trail for the crews that follow, the Artemis II astronauts will climb away from Florida atop the SLS rocket’s nearly 9 million pounds of thrust.

Weighing 5.7 million pounds at liftoff, the rocket will accelerate the Orion crew ship on eight-minute climb to space, at which point it will moving at nearly 5 miles per second — fast enough to fly across some 70 football fields, end to end, in just one second.

NASA’s Space Launch System, the most powerful rocket in use, will launch the Artemis II flight to circle the moon. Graphic by AFP via Getty Images

Two rocket firings, one 50 minutes after liftoff and another about an hour later, will set the spacecraft on an elliptical orbit with a high point of 43,760 miles, higher than any astronauts have flown since the final Apollo moon mission in 1972.

The Orion capsule will separate from the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, or ICPS, three hours 23 minutes after launch.

All of those maneuvers combine to give the crew a 24-hour-long orbit, allowing plenty of time to check out their Orion capsule, making sure the communications, navigation, propulsion and life support systems are working properly before heading to the moon.

Those tests include “waste collection,” NASA’s way of referring to use of the capsule’s cramped toilet compartment. All of the testing will be carried out while the spacecraft is close enough to get home quickly in the event of any major problems.

Glover, assisted by Wiseman, also will test the Orion’s maneuvering system, approaching and flying around the spent SLS upper stage to mimic the sort of flying that will be required by future crews to rendezvous and dock with landers or NASA’s planned Gateway space station in lunar orbit. If time is available, Wiseman might get a bit of hands-on flying himself.

“It is a crazy first day,” Wiseman told CBS News. “We come off the pad here at the Kennedy Space Center, and we have about 90 minutes (for) one trip around the Earth at low Earth orbit … making sure everything looks really good at a basic level. And then we head out to (44,000) miles from Earth for a 24-hour orbit.

“That one 24-hour orbit gives us time to check out all of (Orion’s) environmental control, life support systems,” Wiseman said. “Can it scrub our carbon dioxide? Can it keep us alive? Can we drink water? Can we go to the bathroom? All those basic human functions. … We’ve got to go get those things tested before we press out to the moon.”

Assuming no major problems, the Artemis II crew will take a four-hour nap then get up for yet another critical rocket firing, this one using the main engine of Orion’s service module to put the craft in an orbit measuring 44,555 miles by 115 miles.

The astronauts then will grab another four-hour nap while flight controllers assess Orion’s performance before making a final go-no go decision to send the crew on to the moon.

They will have a lot to consider. The Lockheed Martin-built Orion spacecraft will be flying for the first time with a full suite of life support systems. The only other launch of an SLS and Orion was the unpiloted Artemis I test flight in 2022.

While the capsule itself performed well, the Orion’s heat shield was heavily damaged by the 5,000-degree heat of reentry. The Artemis II Orion is equipped with the same type heat shield, but after extensive post-flight testing, NASA managers deemed it safe to fly again “as is” using a different reentry trajectory, one that will prevent the sort of internal heating that caused the Artemis I problem.

Four more days to the moon

Assuming Orion gets a clean bill of health after after engineers review data from its first day in space, the crew will set up for the critical “trans-lunar injection,” or TLI, burn about 25 hours after launch using the service module’s engine.

The six-minute five-second engine firing will boost the ship’s velocity by about 900 mph, just enough to push it out of Earth orbit to begin the four-day coast to the moon.

While confident the rocket and their Orion capsule will carry them safely around the moon and back to a Pacific Ocean splashdown on April 10, the astronauts and their families understand the risks.

“It’s a test flight, and we have to be willing to take that risk,” Hansen said in an interview with CBS News. “And that’s the one that I talk to my family about. I’m very optimistic. I truly believe the most likely outcome is we’ll all be totally fine when we hit the Pacific Ocean nine and a half days later.

“But I want everyone to understand that you can lose a crew. And if we do, that shouldn’t shock us. And the most important thing we do next is we stack the next rocket, and we’d let the next four volunteers get on top of it and go.”

Flying around the moon for the first time in half a century

The astronauts will not land on the moon or even go into lunar orbit as the Apollo 8 crew did in their historic 1968 flight — the first piloted flight of a Saturn 5 rocket and the first to carry astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit.

Instead, the Artemis II crew will leave Earth on a “free return” trajectory, flying around the leading edge of the moon and using lunar gravity to bend the ship’s path back toward Earth.

NASA’s Artemis II mission plans to take a crew of four in the Orion spacecraft around the moon and back to Earth. Graphic by Jonathan WALTER and Paz PIZARRO / AFP via Getty Images

The trans-lunar injection burn will precisely set up the reentry trajectory with only minor tweaks required for an on-target splashdown. In other words, if there are major problems with Orion’s navigation or propulsion system after heading for the moon, the capsule will still make its back to Earth without any help from its thrusters.

The free return trajectory will carry the crew within about 4,100 miles of the moon’s surface at closest approach.

“If you held a basketball out from your hand and you looked at it, that’s about how big the moon will appear in the crew’s window as we do a fly by,” said lead flight director Jeff Radigan.

The far side of the moon — and the greatest distance from home

The crew will become the first humans to see large regions of the moon’s normally out-of-view far side.

While Apollo astronauts flew behind the moon near its equator, those missions were timed to ensure daylight at the landing sites facing Earth and the far side was in darkness. This time around, assuming an April 1 launch, 21% of the far side will be in sunlight when the Artemis II astronauts sail past, giving the crew a chance to directly see portions of the far side never before observed by human eyes.

“Four people, two windows pointing right at the lunar surface, and a highly choreographed dance, really, of who has the cameras, who has the other voice recording devices, and how we are supporting the people actually taking the data and making the observations,” Koch said.

“Of course, the moon has been imaged by so many remote sensing satellites, but there are actually places on the far side that have never been seen by human eyes. … So hopefully, when we get there, we’ll be ready to take that on and still make the most of those couple hours we have.”

Said Glover: “Twenty-four men have seen the moon, and we’re going to send the first set of woman’s eyes. And there’s actually some differences, they think that she can potentially see colors that, you know, we (men) may not see.”

Assuming an on-time launch, the crew will end up flying farther from Earth than the crew of Apollo 13, who flew an unplanned free-return trajectory of their own following a catastrophic explosion on the way to the moon in 1970. They reached a record distance of 248,655 miles from Earth before finally heading home.

The Artemis II crew is expected to beat that mark by about 4,000 miles, setting a new record of 252,000 miles.

A high-speed plunge back to Earth

Assuming the Artemis II launch goes well and no major problems are found during the crew’s first day in orbit, the TLI burn will set up the lunar flyby and put the ship on course for reentry and splashdown at the end of the mission on Friday, April 10.

Only minor course corrections will be needed to precisely target reentry.

Pulled in by Earth’s gravity, the Orion crew capsule will be moving at some 25,000 mph — roughly 7 miles per second — when it slams back into the discernible atmosphere about 75 miles above the Pacific Ocean.

The crew capsule will be quickly engulfed in an electrically charged fireball as its 16.5-foot-wide heat shield endures temperatures as high as 5,000 degrees. It will block radio signals for about five minutes.

Lessons from damage to heat shield on Artemis I

Orion will return to Earth using the same type heat shield used in the unpiloted Artemis I flight in 2022. It is designed to prevent temperatures where the shield joins the base of the capsule from exceeding 500 degrees.

During the Artemis I mission, the capsule followed a planned “skip” trajectory that caused it to drop into the upper atmosphere, then back out again before making its final descent to splashdown. The skip trajectory offers NASA a wider range of splashdown options in case bad weather makes a targeted landing site problematic.

But post-flight analysis showed the Artemis I heat shield suffered unexpected damage during entry, with large chunks of the outer “char” layer unexpectedly popping off. The capsule landed safely, but NASA kicked off an exhaustive investigation to determine why the heat shield failed to behave as computer models suggested.

The heat shield protecting the Orion capsule during an unpiloted test flight in 2022 was seriously damaged during reentry. NASA

Engineers determined that high entry heating is what makes the outer char layer permeable enough for gas generated in lower layers, through a process called pyrolysis, to escape.

During the Artemis I capsule’s long skip back out of the discernible atmosphere, entry heating lessened, the outer layer became impermeable and gas generated by pyrolysis in lower layers had now way to escape. Pressure built up and the gas pockets pushed chunks of the outer heat shield away.

Engineers concluded that a different entry trajectory, one with an initial dip into the upper atmosphere followed by a shorter-duration climb back out, would allow the outer char layer to erode and burn away more evenly without creating damaging sub-surface cracks and pressure build ups. An independent review team agreed with those conclusions.

While NASA is planning to use a different design on the Artemis III mission next year, agency managers opted to stick with the heat shield already in place on the Artemis II Orion. Given the Artemis II free return trajectory, “we can safely, and with high degrees of success, control that entry environment,” said Amit Kshatriya, NASA’s associate administrator. “And so that’s the plan.”

Splashdown and recovery

From the start of reentry to splashdown: 13 minutes.

Nine minutes after the start of reentry, now back in touch with mission control, the Artemis II crew will begin monitoring the deployment of 11 parachutes intended to stabilize and slow the capsule to a splashdown velocity of just 15 mph or so. It is the most complex parachute system ever flown on a piloted spacecraft.

After rapidly decelerating during passage through the peak heating zone, the Orion capsule will be descending at about 300 mph when when three small parachutes will be deployed, pulling a protective cover away from the main parachute storage bay as the spacecraft passes through an altitude of about 36,000 feet.

Two 23-foot-wide drogue chutes then will unfurl and inflate at around 24,000 feet to stabilize the capsule followed by three pilot chutes that will pull out Orion’s three 116-foot-wide main parachutes. They will inflate in stages between 8,000 feet and 4,000 feet, slowing the ship’s descent from around 300 mph to splashdown velocity.

The parachute system is designed to bring a crew safely back to Earth if one drogue or one main parachute fails to inflate. Additional failures would mean higher impact velocities, but NASA has not provided any detailed information about such outcomes.

But in a normal descent, Orion will hit the water heatshield first at a velocity of 15 to 17 mph and, hopefully for the crew, stay in that orientation without flipping over due to waves or wind. If it does, airbags will flip it back upright.

Wiseman, Glover, Koch and Hansen will be helped out of the capsule and airlifted by helicopter to a waiting Navy amphibious transport dock, or LPD. After initial medical checks and calls to family and friends, the astronauts will head back to shore for a flight home to the Johnson Space Center.

The Orion capsule, meanwhile, will be hauled into the recovery ship’s flooded “well deck” and secured on a platform for the trip back to shore. NASA engineers will spend weeks reviewing data from the Artemis II flight while pressing ahead with planning for the next mission.

数据显示，2024年韩国可支配收入相对贫困率为15.3%，较前一年上升了0.4个百分点，创下自2019年（16.1%）以来的最高水平。 （档案照）

（首尔综合电）韩国政府发布报告显示，韩国社会包容领域仍存在结构性问题。其中，相对贫困率回升至15.3%，意味着每100人中有超过15人的收入低于等值化可支配收入中位数的一半。

韩国统计厅星期一（3月30日）发布的《韩国可持续发展目标落实情况（2026）》报告，根据联合国的17项可持续发展目标（SDGs），将韩国与经济合作与发展组织（OECD）成员国进行了全方位比较。

结果显示，尽管韩国在创新能力、经济发展和卫生保健领域稳居前列，且在“人、地球、繁荣、和平、合作”五大维度整体呈改善态势，但在消除贫困与性别平权方面依然任重道远。

贫困率创2019年以来新高

数据显示，2024年韩国可支配收入相对贫困率为15.3%，较前一年上升了0.4个百分点，创下自2019年（16.1%）以来的最高水平。

弱势群体的处境尤为艰难。据了解，66岁及以上人群的相对贫困率高达37.7%，而同年龄段女性的贫困率更高达42.7%。此外，残疾人口贫困率为35.4%，约为非残疾人口（14.2%）的2.5倍。

性别家务负担失衡严重

在性别平等指标方面，韩国职场与家庭的割裂依然显著。报告指出，女性每天投入在家务和家庭照护的时间占全天的11.5%，是男性（4%）的2.8倍。

即便在“双职工”家庭，妻子承担的家务量也是丈夫的2.9倍。更值得关注的是，在女性作为家庭主要经济支柱的家庭中，妻子的家务投入时间（11.1%）依然是丈夫（7.4%）的1.5倍，反映出传统性别角色观念对韩国社会的深层束缚。

韩国相对贫困率回升至约15% 创五年来最高水平

2026年3月30日 17:57 / 联合早报

韩国相对贫困率回升至约15% 创五年来最高水平

数据显示，2024年韩国可支配收入相对贫困率为15.3%，较前一年上升了0.4个百分点，创下自2019年（16.1%）以来的最高水平。 （档案照）

（首尔综合电）韩国政府发布报告显示，韩国社会包容领域仍存在结构性问题。其中，相对贫困率回升至15.3%，意味着每100人中有超过15人的收入低于等值化可支配收入中位数的一半。

韩国统计厅星期一（3月30日）发布的《韩国可持续发展目标落实情况（2026）》报告，根据联合国的17项可持续发展目标（SDGs），将韩国与经济合作与发展组织（OECD）成员国进行了全方位比较。

结果显示，尽管韩国在创新能力、经济发展和卫生保健领域稳居前列，且在“人、地球、繁荣、和平、合作”五大维度整体呈改善态势，但在消除贫困与性别平权方面依然任重道远。

贫困率创2019年以来新高

数据显示，2024年韩国可支配收入相对贫困率为15.3%，较前一年上升了0.4个百分点，创下自2019年（16.1%）以来的最高水平。

弱势群体的处境尤为艰难。据了解，66岁及以上人群的相对贫困率高达37.7%，而同年龄段女性的贫困率更高达42.7%。此外，残疾人口贫困率为35.4%，约为非残疾人口（14.2%）的2.5倍。

性别家务负担失衡严重

在性别平等指标方面，韩国职场与家庭的割裂依然显著。报告指出，女性每天投入在家务和家庭照护的时间占全天的11.5%，是男性（4%）的2.8倍。

即便在“双职工”家庭，妻子承担的家务量也是丈夫的2.9倍。更值得关注的是，在女性作为家庭主要经济支柱的家庭中，妻子的家务投入时间（11.1%）依然是丈夫（7.4%）的1.5倍，反映出传统性别角色观念对韩国社会的深层束缚。

以总理令扩大黎南“缓冲区” 印尼驻黎维和人员遭袭殉职

2026年3月30日 18:07 / 联合早报

美以伊战事2月底爆发后，伊朗主要区域代理人黎巴嫩真主党再次与以色列爆发边境冲突。图为以军3月29日在以北上加利利与黎南接壤的边境地区据守阵地。 （法新社）

（耶路撒冷／雅加达综合电）以色列总理内坦亚胡下令扩大黎巴嫩南部由以军控制的“缓冲区”，并计划从根本上改变以色列北部的局势。

内坦亚胡星期天（3月29日）在以军北方司令部发表声明说：“我刚刚指示军方，进一步扩大在黎巴嫩现有的安全区（即缓冲区），以彻底消除（黎巴嫩真主党武装分子）入侵的威胁，并防止反坦克导弹射向（以色列）边境。”

以色列将自己在黎境内占领的区域称为“缓冲区”，但未得到国际社会或黎方承认。

美国和以色列2月28日对伊朗发动军事打击，伊朗随即对美以在中东地区的军事基地和民用设施等目标发起还击。

受伊朗支持的黎巴嫩真主党也与以色列再次爆发冲突。真主党3月2日起向以色列北部发射火箭弹，以方则对黎南、黎东和首都贝鲁特等地发起猛烈空袭，还在黎南展开地面行动。

《以色列时报》报道，以军官员说，根据新的地面行动计划，以军参谋长扎米尔已在黎南划定三道防线：第一道是以军正在采取行动的黎边境村庄，防止真主党渗透；第二和第三道则是真主党可从当地向以色列北部发射反坦克导弹的村庄，以及距离边境约20至30公里的利塔尼河，真主党一直从那里向以色列发射火箭弹。

与此同时，以军近日还向黎南的西边地区更深处推进。

内坦亚胡星期天视察以色列国防军北方司令部时承认，黎巴嫩真主党仍保有向以色列发射火箭弹的残余能力，但强调这个组织已遭到以军重创。

他也提到，以色列正在进行一场多领域作战，打击伊朗及其代理人，并在伊朗内部制造明显裂痕。“伊朗已非昔日的伊朗，真主党已非昔日的真主党，哈马斯也已非昔日的哈马斯。”

他还表明，以色列已经深入敌方腹地，在叙利亚、加沙地区、黎巴嫩建立了三个“缓冲区”。“我说过我们会改变中东的面貌，我们做到了。我们主动出击，我们发起进攻。”

联合国部队遭袭 印尼维和人员殉职

以黎冲突期间，联合国维和部队也多次遭到袭击。联合国驻黎巴嫩临时部队（UNIFIL）星期天说，当天一枚弹药在黎南阿德希特·库赛尔村（Adchit al-Qusayr）附近阵地爆炸，导致一名维和人员死亡。

联黎部队说：“我们尚不清楚弹药从何而来，已展开调查，查明全部情况。”

这个村子位于黎南与以色列边境附近，以军已在当地与真主党武装分子交战近一个月。

印度尼西亚外交部同日证实，殉职维和人员是印尼公民；另有三人在村庄附近印尼联黎部队驻地周边，遭遇“间接炮火”袭击受伤。

印尼强烈谴责这起事件，并呼吁展开调查，同时强调必须始终尊重联合国维和人员的安全和保障。

The Trump-voting pastor Democrats think could cost them a chance at a Nebraska Senate seat

2026-03-30T09:00:55.749Z / CNN

By Andrew Kaczynski

PUBLISHED Mar 30, 2026, 5:00 AM ET

A person organizes shirts at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 19, 2024.

Nathan Howard/Sipa USA/AP/File

In Nebraska’s Senate race, a Trump-supporting, anti-abortion pastor is running as a Democrat. The state’s Democratic Party — which is backing an independent candidate — says he’s a Republican plant. And another Democratic primary candidate says she’s running just to stop him.

The unusual dynamic has roiled the Senate contest in deep-red Nebraska, turning into a high-stakes test of Democrats’ unconventional strategy — skipping their own primary to back independent Dan Osborn, in their effort to defeat incumbent Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts.

Osborn can run straight to the general election without facing a primary.

William Forbes, a 79-year-old pastor from rural Nebraska, entered the Democratic primary just before the filing deadline in early March, upending a carefully coordinated plan by state Democrats to clear the field for Osborn.

To oppose Forbes, another candidate, Cindy Burbank, also filed at the last minute on the Democratic primary ticket but has had her candidacy challenged by the state Republican Party and Nebraska’s Republican secretary of state.

In an interview with CNN, Forbes said he’s voted for President Donald Trump in multiple elections but denied being a Republican plant, insisting that he’s a lifelong Democrat. Asked repeatedly to name a Democrat he voted for, Forbes grew frustrated and said the party needed to return to the “morality” it represented under President John F. Kennedy.

Asked why he decided to run as a Democrat in the Senate race, Forbes said, “I saw that there wasn’t any Democrat on the ticket. … I’m the only Democrat, and the Democrats are going for Dan Osborn.”

William Forbes is seen in this screenshot of a video, from his now-deleted Facebook page.

Obtained by CNN

Forbes also told CNN that he attended a leadership summit in January sponsored by the Nebraska Republican Party. Asked why he chose to attend a GOP-sponsored event, Forbes said, “I’m trying to get information from everybody.”

“They want clones and I’m not a clone,” Forbes added. “I think for myself. I’m a free thinker.”

Forbes referenced the training session in a sermon recorded on video that had been posted to his since-deleted Facebook page and reviewed by CNN. Forbes posted a note recently announcing that he was deleting the page and encouraged people to continue to listen to his Sunday messages posted on his church’s Facebook page.

The Democratic primary is May 12.

‘Running to trick voters’

The Democrats’ decision not to field a candidate stems from Osborn’s surprisingly competitive performance in 2024, when, running as an independent, he lost a closer-than-expected race to Republican Sen. Deb Fischer, who won by about 7 points in a state that Trump carried by roughly 20 points.

Now, two years later, Democrats are backing Osborn, hoping a unified challenger could put the seat in play. Democrats need to gain four seats to win control of the Senate next year.

If the Nebraska race is close, even a small number of votes could prove decisive, raising concerns among Democrats that Forbes’ candidacy could siphon support away from Osborn.

“He is running to trick voters,” Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb said in a statement, calling Forbes’ campaign a “political maneuver engineered by Pete Ricketts to split the opposition vote.”

Ricketts’ campaign denies the charge, telling CNN it had “no role in the Democratic primary.” In a text message, Nebraska Republican Party Chair Mary Jane Truemper told CNN, “We have no comment at this time.”

A Navy veteran and former union leader, Osborn is running on a populist, working-class message, blending support for labor and some abortion rights with backing for gun rights and tougher immigration enforcement. Osborn has said he won’t caucus with either party if elected. “That’s what being independent means,” Osborn said, according to a spokesperson for his campaign.

Dan Osborn votes in the 2024 presidential election in Omaha, Nebraska, on November 5, 2024.

Scott Morgan/Reuters/File

Democrats believe he gives them their best shot at unseating Ricketts. But Forbes, they say, threatens to unravel that strategy.

“If it’s a head-to-head, (Republicans) need someone to peel off the vote,” Kleeb told CNN.

Burbank, a Democrat who also filed in the primary on the last day, has been explicit about her intentions: She is not running to win, but to stop Forbes. She has said she plans to support Osborn in the general election and drop out if she wins the nomination. That candor nearly cost her a spot on the ballot.

Following a GOP complaint, Nebraska’s Republican secretary of state removed Burbank, ruling she was not a “good-faith” candidate because she’d pledged to support Osborn in the general election. A district court agreed. Burbank sued, and the Nebraska Supreme Court ultimately ordered her reinstated.

Kleeb told CNN the Democratic Party would spend money to back Burbank, whose campaign website contains screenshots claiming to be from Forbes’ since-deleted Facebook page, showing him attending a speech by Ricketts and anti-abortion events.

GOP leadership training

Forbes does not appear to have a campaign website or active campaign social media presence. His Federal Election Commission filing lists a UPS store in North Platte as his campaign address. A campaign number listed on the state’s filing page goes directly to voicemail.

“I’m working on a website now; it will be up soon,” Forbes told CNN, saying he wanted to wait and see what the Democratic Party would do.

Video of sermons from Forbes’ deleted Facebook page obtained by CNN reveal someone more traditionally aligned with conservative causes.

In one, Forbes described attending the daylong leadership training session in January that he said was sponsored by the Nebraska Republican Party. The event was run by the Leadership Institute, a conservative organization based in Arlington, Virginia, that trains Republican candidates, activists and campaign staff. Forbes told his congregation it was “naturally funded by the national GOP.”

In the same sermon, Forbes warned of “cultural Marxism” overtaking American institutions and attacked the Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street movements. In another sermon, he praised Republican Govs. Ron DeSantis and Kristi Noem for passing abortion restrictions.

One sermon from his Facebook blamed “radical feminism” and “left-wing media” for shaping public opinion on abortion, and in another Forbes said the country had entered an “era of lawlessness” driven by decisions like Roe v. Wade and the removal of religion from public life.

In another, Forbes called then-President Joe Biden, “dementia Joe.”

In his interview with CNN, Forbes grew frustrated when pressed on his voting history. “You’ve asked me who I voted for three times,” he said.

The last Democrat he says represented his values? John F. Kennedy. He told CNN the party needed to return to where it was in the 1950s and 1960s.

以总理令扩大黎南“缓冲区” 印尼驻黎维和人员遭袭殉职

2026年3月30日 18:07 / 联合早报

美以伊战事2月底爆发后，伊朗主要区域代理人黎巴嫩真主党再次与以色列爆发边境冲突。图为以军3月29日在以北上加利利与黎南接壤的边境地区据守阵地。 （法新社）

（耶路撒冷／雅加达综合电）以色列总理内坦亚胡下令扩大黎巴嫩南部由以军控制的“缓冲区”，并计划从根本上改变以色列北部的局势。

内坦亚胡星期天（3月29日）在以军北方司令部发表声明说：“我刚刚指示军方，进一步扩大在黎巴嫩现有的安全区（即缓冲区），以彻底消除（黎巴嫩真主党武装分子）入侵的威胁，并防止反坦克导弹射向（以色列）边境。”

以色列将自己在黎境内占领的区域称为“缓冲区”，但未得到国际社会或黎方承认。

美国和以色列2月28日对伊朗发动军事打击，伊朗随即对美以在中东地区的军事基地和民用设施等目标发起还击。

受伊朗支持的黎巴嫩真主党也与以色列再次爆发冲突。真主党3月2日起向以色列北部发射火箭弹，以方则对黎南、黎东和首都贝鲁特等地发起猛烈空袭，还在黎南展开地面行动。

《以色列时报》报道，以军官员说，根据新的地面行动计划，以军参谋长扎米尔已在黎南划定三道防线：第一道是以军正在采取行动的黎边境村庄，防止真主党渗透；第二和第三道则是真主党可从当地向以色列北部发射反坦克导弹的村庄，以及距离边境约20至30公里的利塔尼河，真主党一直从那里向以色列发射火箭弹。

与此同时，以军近日还向黎南的西边地区更深处推进。

内坦亚胡星期天视察以色列国防军北方司令部时承认，黎巴嫩真主党仍保有向以色列发射火箭弹的残余能力，但强调这个组织已遭到以军重创。

他也提到，以色列正在进行一场多领域作战，打击伊朗及其代理人，并在伊朗内部制造明显裂痕。“伊朗已非昔日的伊朗，真主党已非昔日的真主党，哈马斯也已非昔日的哈马斯。”

他还表明，以色列已经深入敌方腹地，在叙利亚、加沙地区、黎巴嫩建立了三个“缓冲区”。“我说过我们会改变中东的面貌，我们做到了。我们主动出击，我们发起进攻。”

联合国部队遭袭 印尼维和人员殉职

以黎冲突期间，联合国维和部队也多次遭到袭击。联合国驻黎巴嫩临时部队（UNIFIL）星期天说，当天一枚弹药在黎南阿德希特·库赛尔村（Adchit al-Qusayr）附近阵地爆炸，导致一名维和人员死亡。

联黎部队说：“我们尚不清楚弹药从何而来，已展开调查，查明全部情况。”

这个村子位于黎南与以色列边境附近，以军已在当地与真主党武装分子交战近一个月。

印度尼西亚外交部同日证实，殉职维和人员是印尼公民；另有三人在村庄附近印尼联黎部队驻地周边，遭遇“间接炮火”袭击受伤。

印尼强烈谴责这起事件，并呼吁展开调查，同时强调必须始终尊重联合国维和人员的安全和保障。

大陆外交部回应美跨党派参议员赴台：已向美提出严正交涉

2026年3月30日 16:12 / 联合早报

美国参议员沙欣和及柯蒂斯所率领的跨党派访问团，星期一（3月30日）抵达台湾，中国大陆外交部当天下午称，已向美国提出严正交涉，并强调大陆在涉台问题上的立场是一贯的、明确的，将采取必要措施。

大陆外交部发言人毛宁星期一（3月30日）主持例行记者会。她在回应有关美国参议员访台的提问时说，大陆一贯坚决反对美台官方往来，已向美国提出严正交涉，美国应当恪守一个中国原则和中美三个联合公报，慎重妥善处理台湾问题，停止任何形式的美台官方往来，停止向“台独”分裂势力发出任何错误信号，以实际行动维护中美关系大局和台海和平稳定。

毛宁也说，大陆在涉台问题上的立场是一贯的、明确的，将采取必要措施，坚定维护自身主权和领土完整。

据《自由时报》报道，美国跨党派参议员星期一凌晨抵达台北松山机场。台湾总统赖清德与他们会面时说，国防特别预算条例经得起严格检验、也获得台湾超过六成民意支持，却因政治因素在立法院审议延宕。

赖清德也说，他要向美国友人保证，台湾政府对提升自我防卫能力、加强台美合作、确保国安的决心和承诺没有丝毫改变，并呼吁立法院不分党派向国际社会传递台湾无惧威胁、提升自我防卫能力的决心与承诺。

率领跨党派访问团的两名参议员沙欣（Jeanne Shaheen）和柯蒂斯（John Curtis）曾告诉英国《金融时报》，他们将在访台期间，敦促台湾立委通过上述条例。

Key milestones in NASA’s Artemis moon program

2026-03-30 10:09:01 UTC / Reuters

By Reuters

March 30, 2026 10:09 AM UTC Updated 1 hour ago

NASA’s next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion crew capsule, on Pad 39B ahead of the Artemis II mission launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., March 29, 2026. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

March 30 (Reuters) – NASA’s Artemis program is the U.S. effort to return astronauts to the moon for the first time since the Apollo era and eventually establish a sustained human presence there, a goal Washington has framed as central to maintaining space leadership amid growing competition from China. Here are key milestones in ​the Artemis program:

2017–2018: Program revived

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During the first administration of President Donald Trump, NASA was directed to refocus human spaceflight on the moon ‌after years of prioritizing Mars. The lunar effort would be built around the Space Launch System rocket and Orion crew capsule, hardware first conceived under the previous, since canceled Constellation program, with Boeing BA.N serving as the prime contractor for the SLS core stage, Northrop Grumman NOC.N producing the rocket’s solid-fuel boosters, and Lockheed Martin LMT.N building the Orion spacecraft.

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2019: Accelerated timeline set

In ​2019, the White House set a target of landing astronauts on the moon by 2024. Though the “Moon to Mars” program wouldn’t get its name ​Artemis until months later, NASA outlined a three-mission sequence: Artemis I, an uncrewed test flight; Artemis II, a crewed moon ⁠flyby; and Artemis III, a landing on the lunar surface.

2020–2021: Delays mount, moon lander selected

Technical challenges, cost overruns and COVID pandemic-related disruptions pushed back schedules ​for the SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft and launch infrastructure at Kennedy Space Center. NASA picked SpaceX’s Starship as the program’s first lunar lander, keeping the landing ​target of 2024 but acknowledging it may no longer be achievable.

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2022: Artemis I flies

In November 2022, NASA launched Artemis I, sending an uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the moon and back during a 25-day mission. The flight tested deep-space navigation, communications and Orion’s heat shield during a high-speed reentry, a critical step before flying with astronauts.

2023–2024: Program recalibrated

Jeff Bezos’ Blue ​Origin is tapped as NASA’s second lunar lander provider in 2023 after months of legal disputes over the agency’s decision to only pick SpaceX’s Starship. Later, ​under the administration of President Joe Biden, NASA reset Artemis timelines, pushing the first crewed lunar landing to 2027. The agency continued to defend the program amid budget scrutiny, while highlighting ‌China’s parallel ⁠lunar ambitions.

2024: Artemis II crew named

NASA announced the four astronauts for Artemis II: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. The mission will be the first crewed voyage toward the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.

2026: Artemis program overhauled under new leadership

After taking office, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced a sweeping overhaul of the Artemis program, scrapping plans for the Lunar Gateway — a space station intended to orbit the moon — and redirecting its components toward ​building a permanent base on the ​lunar surface. He also added an ⁠additional crewed mission ahead of a lunar landing, arguing that the extra flight would help crews and ground teams build operational “muscle memory” in deep space before attempting sustained surface missions.

April 2026: Artemis II mission around the moon

In April 2026, ​NASA is set to launch Artemis II, a roughly 10-day mission that will send four astronauts on a crewed ​flyby of the moon, ⁠the first such voyage since the Apollo era. The mission will not land on the lunar surface but will push astronauts farther from Earth than any human flight, testing Orion’s life-support systems, navigation, communications and heat shield performance in deep space — capabilities NASA says are essential before attempting a lunar landing.

Later this decade: moon landing ⁠planned

Artemis is ​intended to return astronauts to the lunar surface using a commercially developed lander, a step NASA ​says is essential before future missions to Mars. Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin are competing to provide the lunar lander, part of NASA’s push to enlist private companies in delivering hardware ​for deep‑space exploration. The first moon-walking Artemis crew is expected to take whichever lander completes development first.

Reporting by Joe Brock in Los Angeles; Editing by Bill Berkrot

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德国3月通胀率或进一步走高 欧洲央行或提前加息

2026年3月30日 18:46 / 联合早报

经济师预计，德国3月经调和通胀率将从上月的2.0%升至2.8%。德国联邦统计机构预计将在星期一（3月30日）下午公布相关数据。 （路透社）

美以伊战争推高能源价格，导致德国多个州3月份通胀率明显上升，预示全国通胀水平可能也将在当天稍后公布的数据中进一步走高。

路透社报道，德国人口最多的北莱茵—威斯特法伦州，3月通胀率按年升至2.7%，高于2月份的1.8%。巴伐利亚州、巴登—符腾堡州和下萨克森州的通胀率也同步上升，分别达到2.8%、2.5%和2.6%。

经济师预计，德国3月经调和通胀率将从上月的2.0%升至2.8%。德国联邦统计机构预计将在星期一（3月30日）下午公布相关数据。

在德国数据公布前夕，欧元区通胀数据也将于星期二发布。根据路透社调查，经济学家预计欧元区3月通胀率将升至2.7%。

美以伊战争已显著推高全球能源价格。欧洲央行政策制定者目前正讨论是否以及在何种情况下需要上调利率，以防止能源价格上涨进一步传导至其他商品和服务价格。

金融市场目前预计，欧洲央行今年可能加息三次，其中首次加息可能出现在4月或6月。这一预期基于政策制定者希望尽早采取行动，避免重演2021年至2022年期间对通胀走势判断失误的情况。