Graham eyes ‘down payment’ on Trump-backed SAVE Act without Democratic support

April 7, 2026 2:00pm EDT / Fox News

Graham plans to create grant programs requiring states to purge rolls of illegal immigrants to receive funding

By Alex Miller Fox News

Published April 7, 2026 2:00pm EDT

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A top Senate Republican is eyeing a way to put a “down payment” on Trump-backed voter ID legislation through a party-line bill later in the year.

The Senate has been debating the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act for almost a month. But without Democratic votes to break the filibuster, the legislation has no chance of passing.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R.S.C., wants to put portions of the voter ID and citizenship verification legislation into a budget reconciliation package, which requires only Republican votes to pass.

GOP SENATOR’S GAMBIT EXPOSES FALSE DEM CLAIMS ABOUT SUPPORTING VOTER ID

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was one of the last remaining Republican holdouts against a Trump-backed funding deal as the deadline to fund the government looms.(Al Drago/Bloomberg)

“Reconciliation has limits, but we’re going to make a down payment on the SAVE Act in reconciliation in the fall,” Graham said Monday on a South Carolina radio show, “Straight Talk with Bill Frady.”

Graham, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, is in charge of designing the framework for the reconciliation process in the upper chamber. He plans to meet with the White House Friday to “get this thing moving.”

Reconciliation does not allow for straight policy, meaning any provisions included in the package must have a budgetary or spending impact to survive Senate rules. If they don’t, they are stripped out.

Graham says he has a solution.

THUNE ACCUSES CRITICS OF ‘CREATING FALSE EXPECTATIONS’ AMID BACKLASH OVER STALLED SAVE AMERICA ACT

President Donald Trump and conservatives have demanded that the Senate launch a talking filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act.(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

“Voter integrity laws — I’m going to create grant programs, but they’ll have conditions on them,” Graham said. “To get a grant, you’ve got to make sure you purge your rolls of illegal immigrants. There are a lot of blue states out there that don’t do that, and we’ll try to get as much of a voter ID system as I can.”

President Donald Trump and conservatives have demanded that the Senate launch a talking filibuster — or eliminate the filibuster entirely — to pass the SAVE America Act. But Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and other Republicans have made clear the option does not have enough support.

The current floor debate, which is paused while lawmakers are away from Washington, D.C., for the Easter break, is designed to force Senate Democrats to argue against voter ID — a policy that polls show is popular with voters across party lines.

SENATE PASSES BILL TO FUND MOST OF DHS AFTER HOUSE GOP CAVES

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., spoke with reporters as he headed to the Senate chamber at the U.S. Capitol on March 12, 2026, in Washington, D.C.(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., argued late last month that Democrats’ objection to the SAVE America Act is “not to a photo ID when you show up to vote,” despite blocking a standalone voter ID provision pushed by Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio.

“Our objection is it’s a voter suppression bill, 20 million, maybe more people, when they show up to vote will be told you’re off the rolls,” Schumer said. “That’s the problem with the bill.”

While Graham’s provision could pass muster under Senate rules, it would likely come in a second reconciliation package in the fall, as midterm elections take center stage. Whether it would take effect by November is unclear. He’s eying provisions that would tackle fraud in the package, too.

Before that, Graham and Republicans are eyeing front-loading funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in a reconciliation bill that Trump wants on his desk no later than June 1.

Senate Republicans are largely aligned behind the idea, arguing that Democrats have refused to fund immigration enforcement without stringent reforms — reforms Republicans say they have offered and Democrats have rejected.

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Still, House Republicans are not entirely on board, and their resistance could further prolong the longest government shutdown in history.

They are frustrated with the current Senate Department of Homeland Security Senate Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill, which carves out ICE and portions of CBP funding. They are demanding the upper chamber make real progress on a reconciliation bill before voting for the compromise plan.

“What I’m going to do is draft a reconciliation bill and load up ICE and Border Patrol funding without a single Democratic vote — give them all they need for three to 10 years, whatever I can fit in,” Graham said. “We’re going to fund the Border Patrol, and we’re going to fund ICE with Republican votes only.”

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

What Tucker Carlson’s big break with Trump means

2026-04-07T16:43:20.276Z / CNN

Analysis by Aaron Blake

3 hr ago

PUBLISHED Apr 7, 2026, 12:43 PM ET

President Donald Trump, left, and Tucker Carlson.

Getty Images/Reuters

Twenty-one months ago, Tucker Carlson told the 2024 Republican National Convention that Donald Trump’s survival of an assassination attempt amounted to “divine intervention” — that God had chosen to save Trump because he had a plan for him to lead the country.

“Something bigger is going on here,” Carlson said.

Today, Carlson is offering an almost polar-opposite argument about Trump. He seemed to intimate during his show Monday that Trump might be the antichrist.

That rhetorical flourish capped Carlson’s harshest public criticism of Trump to date. While the former Fox News host has been highly critical of the Iran war before — and somewhat more gently critical of Trump the man, at least publicly — the gloves were off on Monday like never before.

The result was perhaps the biggest break thus far between Trump and a leading conservative influencer.

And for a party that has done its best to forestall these kinds of splits as Trump’s poll numbers have plumbed new depths, that’s an inauspicious sign.

That doesn’t mean Carlson will suddenly equally divide Trump’s base. But it’s not helpful for a GOP that is increasingly riven over the Iran war and other issues.

Carlson’s comments were a lot to take in. And they were, characteristically for him, often highly suggestive and conspiratorial.

Here are some of the highlights:

• He said Christians should have reconsidered their support for Trump when the president said he had invaded Venezuela for oil. (“… That’s unacceptable for Americans or any civilized people because taking other people’s stuff by force cannot be allowed.”)
• He called Trump threatening Iran’s civilian infrastructure “a war crime, a moral crime,” and said it would lead to “mass suffering and death.”
• He suggested the Trump administration might have bombed an elementary school in Iran on purpose. (A preliminary military investigation and other evidence suggested the US accidentally struck the school.)
• He called Trump’s vulgar Easter morning social media post that threatened Iran “vile on every level.” He criticized Trump’s post for mocking Islam, saying that amounted to mocking all religion. (“A lot of his positions are the right positions, but you cannot support that. That is evil.”)
• He suggested Trump might soon hit Iran with a nuclear bomb and even warned people around the president to block him from using the nuclear codes. (“Figure out the codes on the football yourself because everything hangs in the balance right now.”)
• He criticized Trump for not placing his hand on the Bible during his inauguration and concluded that it was intentional. (“… Because he affirmatively rejects what’s inside that book. And what’s in that book are limits on human behavior.”)
• He then suggested Trump could be engaging in a more complex spiritual assault. (“Is it possible that what you’re watching is a very stealthy yet incredibly effective attack on what, from a Christian perspective, is the true-faith belief in Jesus? … Is it possible the president sees this in bigger terms? Sees this as the fulfillment of something, or the elevation to some higher office beyond president of the United States?”)

It’s all incredibly harsh stuff from Carlson, even as he never says he no longer supports Trump.

The president hit back Tuesday morning. In comments to the New York Post, he called Carlson “a low-IQ person that has absolutely no idea what’s going on.” He also said he didn’t “deal with” Carlson anymore.

Of course, it’s not a huge surprise that Carlson might feel this way about Trump. Not only are they increasingly at cross purposes over the Iran war and foreign policy generally, but this has long been an apparent marriage of convenience.

And nowhere was that made clearer than when we got a peek at Carlson’s private messages about Trump after the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. The messages were released as part of the Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox News, where Carlson then worked.

He said in those messages said Trump was “only good at destroying things” and that “I hate him passionately.” He also said Trump’s first term was a bust.

“We’re all pretending we’ve got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it’s been is too tough to digest,” Carlson said. “But come on. There really isn’t an upside to Trump.”

Carlson also criticized Trump early in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, as many conservative commentators did back then.

But it’s also no small thing for a prominent figure on the right to come directly after Trump like this. As recently as two weeks ago, Carlson in an interview with the Economist was still doing what lots of conservatives do when they want to differ with Trump: casting him as a victim of nefarious people around him (in this case, Israel).

So what does it all mean?

It’s difficult to get a beat on Carlson’s influence these days. He used to be the most-watched host on the most prominent conservative cable news channel. Today, after he was ousted from that job and has gone independent, his sway is harder to measure.

A 2025 Pew Research Center study, for instance, showed just 9% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said they often got their news from the Tucker Carlson Network.

And if you were to select an issue on which Republicans might break with Trump, respect for Islam probably wouldn’t be very high on that list, if it were on there at all.

But Carlson is often mentioned as a potential presidential candidate in his own right. He was instrumental in getting JD Vance selected as Trump’s running mate in 2024, and he’s long had one of the most popular right-wing podcasts. About 7 in 10 Trump voters liked him in a 2024 national poll. And the media ecosystem is more segmented these days.

The Iran war has also emerged as a growing weakness for Trump. While self-described MAGA supporters are overwhelmingly on board, the rest of the president’s base is increasingly on a different page. A CNN poll last week showed 25% of Trump 2024 voters disapproved of him on “foreign affairs,” 28% disapproved on Iran and 45% disapproved on gas prices (which have risen due to the war).

The danger for the president in Carlson’s comments is that it gives Trump supporters skeptical of the war license to tilt into outright opposition to him— or to stay home in November’s midterm elections.

And there is a significant chorus of conservative influencers who have come out against the war, including not just fellow former Fox host Megyn Kelly, but also more apolitical podcast hosts like Joe Rogan and Tim Dillon. It also includes more conspiratorial and extreme hosts like Candace Owens, Nick Fuentes and Alex Jones.

In fact, Jones on Monday floated invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.

And when Jones is floating Trump’s removal and Carlson is floating Trump as the antichrist on the same day, that feels like a significant moment in the evolution of the political right.

US embassies in Bahrain, Egypt issue warnings as Iran threatens universities across Middle East

April 7, 2026 12:27pm EDT / Fox News

US government says it is ready to assist Americans who want to leave the Middle East

By Stephen Sorace, Fox News

The U.S. Embassy in Bahrain told American citizens in the country to shelter in place on Tuesday, as the embassy in Egypt issued its own caution to Americans amid threats that Iran and its terror proxies may try to target American universities across the Middle East.

The embassy in Manama directed all U.S. government employees, along with all other Americans in the country, to shelter in a secure structure and stay away from windows until further notice.

“Iran and its aligned terrorist militias may intend to target American universities in Bahrain,” the embassy said.”Iran has specifically threatened American universities across the Middle East.”

The embassy provided instructions to those Americans who wish to leave the Middle East.

TRUMP WARNS ‘WHOLE CIVILIZATION WILL DIE TONIGHT,’ AS IRANIAN OFFICIAL URGES HUMAN CHAINS AROUND POWER PLANTS

People crowd the Central Market for shopping during the final days of Ramadan in Manama, Bahrain, on March 18, 2026.(Ayman Yaqoob/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“If you want to leave the Middle East, the U.S. government is ready to assist by providing you the latest information about the departure options available,” it said.

A view of damage in Manama, Bahrain, after a kamikaze drone strike during Iran’s retaliatory attack on March 1, 2026.(Stringer/Anadolu/via Getty Images)

For those who wish to remain and shelter in place, the embassy reminded them to have a supply of food, water, medications and other essential items.

VANCE SAYS IRAN HAS ‘2 PATHWAYS’ AS 12-HOUR DEADLINE LOOMS, PRAYS US ON ‘GOD’S SIDE’ IN NIXING NUCLEAR THREAT

“We urge all Americans to remain vigilant, follow local authorities’ instructions, and review the latest guidance from the U.S. Embassy or Consulate,” the embassy said.

The headquarters of the U.S. 5th Fleet in Manama, Bahrain.(Petty Officer 2nd Class Adelola Tinubu/U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/U.S. 5th Fleet)

Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo advised U.S. citizens to closely monitor the news for regional developments.

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“Egyptian authorities generally offer effective security protection,” the embassy said.”However, extremists and Iranian-aligned actors have expressed interest in planning and carrying out attacks in the region.Iran and its aligned terrorist militias may intend to target universities in the Middle East.Iran has specifically threatened American universities across the Middle East.”

Lawsuit challenges Justice Department memo that declared presidential records law unconstitutional

April 7, 2026 / 12:40 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington — A pair of organizations filed a lawsuit Monday challenging the Justice Department’s determination that a federal law requiring the preservation of certain presidential records is unconstitutional.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., by the American Historical Association, the largest membership association of historians in the world, and American Oversight, a nonprofit government watchdog group.

The legal fight involves a memorandum opinion from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel that declared the Presidential Records Act unconstitutional. The Justice Department said as a result of its determination about the constitutionality of the law, President Trump does not need to comply with it.

“This case is about the preservation of records that document our nation’s history, and whether the American people are able to access and learn from that history,” the complaint from the two nonprofit groups says. “Yet the stakes of this case are even greater. The Executive Branch has declared the power to override the legal determinations of the U.S. Supreme Court, in order to override the laws passed by Congress to preserve and provide public access to official records of the President’s activities.”

The groups are seeking a court order upholding the Presidential Records Act and requiring Mr. Trump and senior White House officials to comply with their duties under the law. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell has been assigned to the case.

The Presidential Records Act

The Presidential Records Act was enacted in 1978 in the wake of the Watergate scandal. It established that presidential records belong to the U.S. government, not the president personally, and must be preserved. The law requires certain White House records to be turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration at the end of a presidential administration.

The measure governs the records of the president, vice president and certain parts of the Executive Office of the President, like the National Security Council. It sets out the requirements for the maintenance, access and preservation of information during and after a presidency.

The law has been in place for more than four decades. But last week, Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser, who leads the Office of Legal Counsel, wrote in an opinion that the Presidential Records Act “exceeds Congress’s enumerated and implied powers, and it aggrandizes the Legislative Branch at the expense of the constitutional independence and autonomy of the Executive.” The statute, he wrote, “serves no identifiable and valid legislative purpose.”

Gaiser wrote that the law is not a valid exercise of Congress’s authority and intrudes on the president’s independence and autonomy. Opinions from the Office of Legal Counsel bind the executive branch, but if a court reaches a different interpretation of a legal question, that determination prevails.

In their lawsuit, the American Historical Association and American Oversight argue that the Justice Department’s decision violates the separation of powers and defies Supreme Court precedent, which ruled against former President Richard Nixon in upholding a similar law regarding the preservation of presidential papers.

The groups said that since the Presidential Records Act took effect 45 years ago, no administration has questioned its constitutionality or argued it unduly interferes with the president’s ability to discharge his duties under the Constitution. The lawsuit noted that in Mr. Trump’s first administration, the White House Counsel’s Office reminded staff of their responsibility to preserve and maintain records as required by the law. Even in his current administration, the government has also indicated it would work to comply with the records law, the groups said.

“In the Administration’s view, the records of the official activities of the President and nearly 1,000 White House employees — generated using taxpayer funds, on government property, regarding official government business — belong to the President personally, and not to the American people,” they wrote in the complaint. “Government for the people, by the people, and of the people this is not.”

The groups warned that there is “strong reason” to believe Mr. Trump will keep presidential records for himself at the end of his term in January 2029 and pointed to his decision to hold onto a slew of documents when his first administration ended in January 2021.

After Mr. Trump left the White House the first time, the National Archives ultimately collected 15 boxes of material from his South Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago, after months of wrangling. The boxes contained thousands of documents, some of which were marked classified.

The president claimed the Presidential Records Act allowed him to keep the documents because they were personal. He was indicted on more than three dozen charges stemming from his alleged mishandling of sensitive government records, but the case ended after he was elected to a second term in November 2024.

Spokespeople for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new lawsuit.

Trump’s Iran threat spurs calls to invoke 25th Amendment — from an eclectic group

2026-04-07 2:54 PM ET / CNN

Analysis by

Aaron Blake

6 min ago

PUBLISHED Apr 7, 2026, 2:54 PM ET

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President Donald Trump speaks with reporters on the South Lawn during the White House Easter Egg Roll, on Monday.

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc./Getty Images

The 25th Amendment talk is back.

Lawmakers have repeatedly floated the method for removing a president, as laid out in the Constitution, in recent years. And Donald Trump’s Cabinet apparently discussed the option more earnestly than many initially realized after the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

To successfully remove Trump, a majority of his Cabinet and his vice president would have to be supportive. And there are no indications any Cabinet officials are considering it right now, or that Vice President JD Vance would be on board. But Trump’s comment Tuesday morning that a “whole civilization will die tonight” unless Iran makes a deal has spurred increasing calls — among a somewhat odd amalgamation of voices — to invoke the amendment.

Democratic lawmakers and right-wing voices are expressing concerns about just how far Trump is about to take things in the Iran war, as an 8 p.m. EST deadline for Tehran to cut a deal approaches. The president’s threats to strike power plants and other civilian infrastructure have been decried as war crimes, and some even say they fear his latest comments are alluding to the use of nuclear weapons (which the White House has denied considering).

It’s mostly Democrats who are calling to invoke the amendment — more than two dozen of them, in fact. That includes potential presidential hopefuls like Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. (Of course, they have little to no power at the moment to initiate removal proceedings.)

But notably, some conservatives and other recent Trump allies have taken up the call, as well.

“ How do we 25th Amendment his ass?” conspiracy theorist Alex Jones asked his guest on Monday’s show.

By Tuesday morning, right-leaning advocates for the step spanned from more-extreme influencers to former Trump White House official Anthony Scaramucci to more-moderate Never Trumpers.

“25TH AMENDMENT!!!” former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, posted on X about an hour after Trump’s post about Iran’s civilization dying. She called it “evil and madness.”

Some congressional Democrats re-posted Greene’s words.

“The 25th amendment needs to be invoked,” right-wing podcaster Candace Owens added later in the morning.

Scaramucci, who served briefly as Trump’s communications director during his first term, advocated for Trump’s removal and claimed Trump was threatening to use nukes.

“Wake up: he is calling for A NUCLEAR STRIKE,” Scaramucci said. “Seek his removal immediately.”

When others suggested online that Vance had implied Tuesday morning that Trump could order a nuclear strike, the White House denied he was saying anything of the sort. The vice president had talked about using “tools in our toolkit that we so far haven’t decided to use.”

Some Never Trump conservatives like New York Times columnist David French were also calling for the 25th Amendment.

“This is obvious 25th Amendment territory, but people are so desensitized that they can’t see it,” French said.

Others didn’t go quite so far, but have begun raising new levels of concern about Trump’s intentions.

One of them is former Trump ally Tucker Carlson, who on his show Monday criticized Trump like never before. Carlson said Trump was threatening to commit “a war crime, a moral crime” in Iran by attacking infrastructure in ways that would lead to mass death, and he even seemed to suggest Trump might be the antichrist.

Also on Tuesday, GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who has been a loyal Trump ally in Congress, told the Wall Street Journal that Trump “loses me if he attacks civilian targets” like infrastructure. Johnson signaled he saw such attacks as indeed illegal.

None of it means the 25th Amendment is around the corner. The option is difficult to invoke, requiring those closest to Trump to determine he is unfit for office and opt to remove him against his will. Vance happened to be in Hungary on Tuesday, and he called Trump on the phone so the president could address a political rally.

But it’s significant even as a brushback pitch from some erstwhile Trump allies and from Democrats. They seem to be saying that Trump had better think carefully about his next actions.

It’s also worth reflecting on where things stand now.

When this was floated in Trump’s first term, it was almost universally the domain of Democrats. When some in his Cabinet apparently considered it after January 6, they did so quietly. The public didn’t find out until much later how seriously they’d been weighing it.

Today, even some recent-former Trump allies are apparently so fearful of what he might do next that they’re publicly calling to oust him.

Vance says he prays U.S. is ‘on God’s side’ in Iran war

April 7, 2026 at 12:01 p.m. EDT / The Washington Post

The vice president declined to go as far as President Donald Trump, who said on Monday that God supports the U.S. strikes against Iran.

Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday in Budapest. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

By Natalie Allison

BUDAPEST — A day after President Donald Trump said God is on the side of the United States in its war with Iran, Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday declined to go that far.

A Catholic and Iraq War veteran who has long expressed skepticism of U.S. military intervention in the Middle East, Vance said he believed his administration is acting correctly but suggested it was not his place to declare whether the deadly and destructive strikes on Iranian officials, civilians and infrastructure reflect God’s will.

我国两乒乓男单资格赛全胜 蔡劭恒先闯WTT太原站正赛

2026年4月7日 23:29 / 联合早报 王慧 太原报道

我国两名选手星期二（4月7日）在世界乒乓球职业大联盟（WTT）常规挑战赛太原站男单资格赛中均赢得胜利。其中，蔡劭恒以3比1、3比0连克两名泰国选手索普黄和梅坎波恩晋级男单正赛。冯耀恩以3比1战胜香港选手李汉铭，星期三（8日）再争取正赛资格。

赛后，新加坡男队主教练高宁点评弟子表现时对《联合早报》说：“劭恒这两场球，赛前我想难度会大一些，但他打下来还是很轻松，这是我没有想到的。不过，首轮对索普黄第二局领先输掉，说明发挥还不稳定。耀恩的发挥算正常。”

本届WTT太原站比赛星期二（7日）在太原滨河体育中心打响。首个比赛日进行两轮小组赛。分在第六小组的蔡劭恒一日双赛，小组首轮对阵索普黄。

比赛开始后，蔡劭恒在与对手战成6平后，以11比9胜出。次局，他一度以6比3领先，但失误过多被索普黄以11比9扳平局分。随后第三局，蔡劭恒从落后到领先，以12比10逆转。关键的第四局，他减少失误，以11比8拿下。

在傍晚进行的小组次轮比赛中，蔡劭恒再接再厉，以11比5、11比6、11比2直落三局横扫梅坎波恩。由于同组尼日利亚选手奥莫塔约因故退赛，全部成绩为0比3负。这样，蔡劭恒三战三胜，以第六小组头名晋级9日开打的男单正赛。

蔡劭恒（图）在资格赛打败两名泰国选手，晋级WTT太原站正赛。 （WTT档案照片）

谈到自己两场比赛的表现时，蔡劭恒对《联合早报》说：“第一场第二局6比3领先输掉，是因为对手发球比较难接，自己几次失误就有点慌了。后面高教练要求我继续发挥优点，第二场打得比较好点，没那么慌乱，战术执行很坚定。”

冯耀恩放眼连克香港对手晋级

冯耀恩（图）将在星期三（8日）与香港选手何钧杰争夺小组头名，争取晋级正赛。（档案照片）

分在男单资格赛第三小组的冯耀恩，首轮对阵香港老将李汉铭。首局，他以11比6获胜。第二局对手加强搏杀，冯耀恩与其展开对攻，战成3平。之后，他接发球抢攻失误增多，以4比7落后。暂停回来后，他稳住阵脚神勇发挥，以11比7逆转取胜。在以8比11丢掉第三局后，冯耀恩以11比5拿下第四局。

第二局在4比7落后的情况下连得七分，冯耀恩对《联合早报》说：“落后是自己打的有点着急，有时候球点没找准就快速出手，所以需要多做一点调整。换了一下发球，接发球减少失误，相持也做好多打几板球的准备。在连赢几分后，对手压力大了，失误也增多，所以逆转了回来。”

同组的另一名香港选手何钧杰在同日以3比1战胜队友李汉铭，这样一来李汉铭两战皆墨提前出局，冯耀恩将在星期三与何钧杰争夺小组头名。对于这场关键仗，冯耀恩说：“会放平心态，全力去拼。”

最新东南亚态势报告：气候变化是区域最紧迫挑战

2026年4月7日 23:33 / 联合早报

尽管过去一年国际局势和地缘政治发生剧烈变化，但东南亚受访者仍视气候变化为最紧迫挑战。

根据尤索夫伊萨东南亚研究院发布的《东南亚态势报告2026》，60%受访者认为气候变化和日益加剧的极端天气事件是东南亚面临的最紧迫挑战，高于去年的55.3%。

印度尼西亚、泰国、马来西亚、菲律宾和越南等地去年遭遇暴雨或台风袭击，引发严重洪灾和山体滑坡。单是印尼的亚齐、北苏门答腊和西苏门答腊三省，去年底的洪灾就夺走1200多条人命，逾13万人流离失所。

极端天气不仅带来巨大人命和财物损失，也冲击粮食供应和基础设施，这是受访者视气候变化为最紧迫挑战的原因。

此外，大国博弈引发的经济紧张局势，以及国内政治不稳定，也是东南亚面临的紧迫挑战。

在地缘政治问题方面，51.9%受访者最关注美国总统特朗普领导下的美国领导力，凸显东南亚对美国政策的摇摆不定感到担忧。

全球诈骗问题以0.5个百分点之差排第二。东南亚受访者对这一问题的关注度升至51.4%，高于去年的48.1%。

泰国、柬埔寨、缅甸和越南等国去年以来加大力度打击电信诈骗，柬埔寨今年1月将电诈团伙太子集团的头目陈志遣返中国。不过，有调查指跨国电诈正以更隐蔽的方式死灰复燃，持续引发国际关注。

今年关注南中国海问题的受访者（48.2%）有所减少，使得南中国海问题今年排在第三位；而去年爆发的泰国和柬埔寨冲突则排在第四位。

其中，近四成受访者认为亚细安已采取积极措施调解泰柬边境冲突，另有28.1%的受访者认为亚细安在体制限制下已尽力而为。亚细安向来秉持不干涉内政和协商一致的决策原则，采取中立立场以维护区域稳定，但仅28%的柬埔寨受访者和24%的泰国受访者支持这一观点，反映出泰柬两国知识分子对于亚细安在解决边界争端和维护区域秩序方面发挥更强的战略自主有更高的期望。

美国副总统万斯星期二（4月7日）在访问匈牙利期间对记者说，美国针对伊朗的“工具箱中还有一些手段，目前我们尚未决定使用”。 （路透社）

美国白宫否认副总统万斯此前的言论暗示美国将对伊朗实施核打击。

法新社报道，美国副总统万斯星期二（4月7日）在访问匈牙利期间对记者说，美国针对伊朗的“工具箱中还有一些手段，目前我们尚未决定使用”。

他补充说：“美国总统可以决定动用这些手段，如果伊朗人不改变他们的行为，他（特朗普）将决定动用这些手段。”

有新闻报道则称，万斯这番言论暗示特朗普可能会动用核武器。

不过，白宫的快速反应官方账号随后在社交平台X上发文称：“副总统这番话里根本没有任何这样的暗示，你们这些十足的蠢货。”

特朗普限伊朗在美东时间周二晚8时（新加坡时间周三上午8时）之前达成协议或开放运输要道霍尔木兹海峡，否则将面对严重后果。

维文：新加坡秉持国际法 不会就霍尔木兹海峡安全通行与伊朗谈判

2026年4月7日 23:45 / 联合早报

维文：新加坡秉持国际法 不会就霍尔木兹海峡安全通行与伊朗谈判

外交部长维文医生（图）在国会透露，他曾在伊朗战争前与伊朗外长接触，相信不久的将来还会这么做。不过，基于原则而并非选边站，我国不能就船只安全通行，或就通行费进行谈判。 （gov.sg视频截图）

霍尔木兹海峡是国际法公认的国际航道，新加坡不会就它的安全通行与伊朗当局进行谈判。外交部长维文医生强调，因为这么做将与我国长期坚守《联合国海洋法公约》和国际法的原则相悖。

国会星期二（4月7日）就中东局势对新加坡的影响展开讨论。工人党阿裕尼集选区议员莫哈默法理提问，政府是否会效仿马来西亚等国家，与伊朗当局接触，以确保新加坡船只安全通过霍尔木兹海峡（Strait of Hormuz），以及是否会考虑支付通行费。

维文答复时说，霍尔木兹海峡同马六甲海峡和新加坡海峡一样，都是用于国际航行的海峡，由国际法明确赋予过境通行权。

“这不是沿岸国授予的特权，无须申请许可证，更无须支付通行费。这是所有国家船只的通行权利。”

我国签署和核准的《联合国海洋法公约》第44条，就清楚列明海峡沿岸国对过境通行的义务。

新加坡也认为，国际习惯法（customary international law）同样涵盖这项权利。

维文指出，马六甲海峡和新加坡海峡也是全球航运的关键咽喉要道，经此通行的原油和集装箱贸易实际上超越霍尔木兹海峡。不过，马六甲海峡和新加坡海峡最窄处不到2海里，远比21海里的霍尔木兹海峡狭窄。

因此，我国严格定义并坚守国际海峡通行权，对国家利益至关重要。

维文透露，他曾在伊朗战争前与伊朗外长接触，相信不久的将来还会这么做。不过，基于原则而并非选边站，我国不能就船只安全通行，或就通行费进行谈判。

“这样做将间接地削弱这项法律原则，这也是新加坡坚持原则、不选边站的另一个例子。”

新加坡在乱世中须务实自我评估 为变革做准备

维文星期二也在新加坡投资管理协会（IMAS）主办的投资大会参与炉边对话时，阐述我国应当如何应对动荡时局。他指出，新加坡须正视不利因素与有利条件，客观评估自身的能力。我国虽然无法幸免于外部冲击，但作为商品、能源、资本、人才与思想流动的关键动脉，加上拥有稳定、理性、保守持重的政府，新加坡仍具备优势。

他也提醒，在动荡时期，新加坡作为稳定、理性且安全的“避风港”，更具吸引力，但我国不能因此过于乐观。

“我们不能假定只要新加坡把一切做对做好，就能保证万世太平。事实并非如此。我们必须坦诚地告诉国人，面对全球体系颠覆、经济崩溃，一切都会改变，所有人的处境都会更加艰难。没错，新加坡是有一些缓冲，但绝不能假设缓冲会一直存在。”

维文也说：“从更大的背景看，世界任何地方出现问题，对我们所有人都是坏消息。我们不会从他人的困境中受益。”

针对中国在当前局势下的全球角色，维文认为，中国的态度显示，它并不想取代美国成为全球秩序的主导力量，而是希望稳定、小心翼翼、专注地应对国内重大的战略挑战。同时，中国更希望世界秩序能稳定运行，因此无意利用中东局势施加影响力。他认为这个选择是“战略明智”的。

回望新加坡，他指出，我们作为小国，须坚持遵守国际法，并专注自身事务。“我们的任务是接受世界现实，应对不利因素，做好自身定位，并且不参与零和、赢者通吃的游戏。”

他同时提醒，切勿因眼前危机而忽略正在发生的变革。新加坡必须着眼于数码与人工智能、可再生能源与生物科技三大领域的变革，并提前做好准备。