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Suspect in killings of 3 elderly men in Hawaii arrested after massive manhunt

2026-05-29T06:09:00-0400 / CBS/AP

Honolulu— A man wanted in connection with the killings of three men was apprehended Thursday after a massive search of Hawaii’s Big Island that had left residents on edge.

Police said Jacob Baker, 36, of Pahoa, Hawaii, was arrested on suspicion of murder, burglary and other charges following a search that involved “significant resources,” including help from state and federal authorities. They described him as “armed and extremely dangerous.”

Authorities said they believe Baker was involved in the deaths of three men: a 69-year-old found partially submerged in a cement pond, a 79-year-old who was found just a few hundred feet away, and a 69-year-old whose body was found about 19 miles away.

The killings took place over two days in a remote and mostly rural part of the island, which is the largest in the Hawaiian chain at more than 4,000 square miles. The area is a mix of tropical landscape and barren lava fields.

Police received information Thursday afternoon that Baker was hiding in a grassy area, ducking down as traffic passed, Hawaii Police Chief Reed Mahuna said at news conference after the arrest. Police found him hiding in a small cave and arrested him.

Police on Hawaii Island are seen taking Jacob Baker, the suspect in the slayings of three elderly men, into custody on May 28, 2026 after a large manhunt. Hawaii Police Department

Deborah Davis was driving home when she slowed down near where one of the people killed had lived. That’s when she saw a policewoman chasing a man running on the road.

“I just stopped and I’m thinking, ‘This is it. This is the guy,’” she said.

The man ran into a grass driveway and into the jungle. After some yelling, several officers emerged with a shirtless man in handcuffs. She said officers were giving each other high-fives and shouting, “chee hoo,” a celebratory yell common in Hawaii.

“They were very happy,” she said. “And I was very grateful. I was thanking them with tears in my eyes.”

Police said they hadn’t identified a motive but were confident Baker was involved in all three killings.

Mahuna didn’t release information on how police identified Baker as a suspect or what evidence may connect him to the killings. He said investigators hadn’t found any connections among the victims, other than that two lived near each other.

Baker’s alleged threats drew the attention of locals

The slayings happened just days after two women requested temporary restraining orders against Baker, saying he had threatened and harassed them at a farm. One woman was staying there and the other co-owned it. A judge denied both applications, saying there wasn’t enough proof of harassment.

One of the women claimed in her petition that Baker threatened to kill several women who were staying on the property, and caused a number of them to move or end their stays. She included a link to a video that allegedly captured at least one threat, but the link had either been removed or was incorrect as of Thursday.

The other woman alleged that Baker threatened women and a disabled man, and said he would trespass on the property, take things that didn’t belong to him and that he intended to squat on the property.

No attorney was listed for Baker, who had 20 other cases in the court record in the past two decades, many of them traffic infractions. In most of those cases, Baker represented himself.

Details on the slayings

Police identified the first victim as Robert Shine and the third victim as John Carse. The name of the 79-year-old man was withheld pending positive identification. Autopsies show Shine was strangled and Carse died from “sharp force trauma,” police said.

On Monday night, police found Shine at a residence partially submerged in a cement pond, Mahuna said. On Tuesday, the 79-year-old man was found dead with apparent blunt force injuries shortly after 12:30 p.m., Mahuna said.

Later Tuesday, at around 10 p.m., police responded to a property about 19 miles away on a welfare check request and found Carse dead.

Stephen Shaffer said Baker had lived on his ex-wife’s property in Puna, where they grow fruit, and Baker climbed coconut trees for her. But after several months, he said, she sought a temporary restraining order against Baker. Shaffer said he didn’t know details of their falling out, only that his ex-wife felt threatened by Baker and wanted him to move out.

“He just seemed to me kind of angry,” said Shaffer, who lives in a separate dwelling on the same property. He added that others in the area were concerned about Baker but didn’t elaborate.

Donald Hyatt, who is friends with two of the men killed and Shaffer’s ex-wife, said Baker left the cabin he was living in on the property months ago.

“He left the place in disarray,” Hyatt said. “Trash inside and out.”

Baker returned recently claiming “squatter’s rights” and threatened Shaffer’s ex, Hyatt said. Hyatt urged her to seek a restraining order.

Puna, on the eastern side of the island, is a largely rural but fast-growing area known for affordable land. It’s also an area where lava flows have wiped out entire communities over the years.

Before the arrest, Puna resident Tiffany Edwards Hunt said many in the community were on edge. She said she had never seen so many police cars in Puna.

Many in the area live in poverty, she said.

“We have people who live in blue tarps in a jungle in makeshift homes,” Hunt said.

Puna is just 17 miles from Hilo, east Hawaii’s main town, but with unpaved roads in many parts of Puna, it can feel farther away, she said.

“In that remoteness, you have lawlessness,” Hunt said.

Residents express relief

“Everyone’s been really scared,” Puna resident Priya Surrago told CBS Honolulu affiliate KGMB-TV. “A lot of people around here, we just live very close in community and not even everybody even has like locks on their doors.”

Surrago said she had met the suspect once when he was selling coconuts near the highway, and the encounter left her uneasy. “He just had a creepy vibe,” she said.

Resident Aumrae McCarroll told the station he saw Baker being taken into custody. “I just felt so much relief in my whole body,” he said. McCarroll called the whole experience “too close for comfort.”

少林寺原住持释永信一审获刑24年

2026年5月29日 19:35 / 联合早报

中国古刹河南嵩山少林寺原住持释永信因涉嫌职务侵占、挪用资金和受贿，一审被判有期徒刑24年。 （海峡时报）

落马10个月后，中国古刹河南嵩山少林寺原住持释永信因涉嫌职务侵占、挪用资金和受贿，一审被判有期徒刑24年。

据《人民日报》报道，河南省新乡市中级人民法院星期五（5月29日）一审公开宣判释永信（原名刘应成）犯职务侵占罪、挪用资金罪、非国家工作人员受贿罪、行贿罪，数罪并罚，决定执行有期徒刑24年，并处罚金350万元（人民币，下同，65万新元）。

释永信被指利用担任少林寺住持、少林慈善福利基金会会长等职务上的便利，2003年至2025年，单独或者伙同他人非法侵占单位财物人民币1.31亿余元；2012年至2022年，挪用单位资金人民币1.51亿余元归个人使用，超过三个月未还；2006年7月以来，为他人在承建少林寺工程项目及相关经营活动中提供帮助，非法收受财物共计折合人民币1163万余元。

通报还称，释永信在1995年至2022年，为谋取不正当利益，给予国家工作人员财物共计567万余元。

法院认为，释永信的行为已构成职务侵占罪、挪用资金罪、非国家工作人员受贿罪、行贿罪。释永信职务侵占、挪用资金、非国家工作人员受贿均数额特别巨大，行贿情节特别严重，犯罪行为持续时间长，危害后果严重，社会影响恶劣，依法应予从严惩处。

根据通报，释永信到案后如实供述自己的罪行，主动交代办案机关尚未掌握的部分犯罪事实，认罪悔罪。根据释永信犯罪的事实、性质、情节和对于社会的危害程度，法院依法作出上述判决。

宣判后，释永信成当庭表示服判不上诉。

少林寺管理处去年7月27日通报，释永信涉嫌刑事犯罪，挪用侵占项目资金寺院资产；严重违反佛教戒律，长期与多名女性保持不正当关系并育有私生子，正接受多部门联合调查。中国佛教协会隔天宣布注销释永信戒牒。

释永信16岁到少林寺出家，拜时任方丈行正长老为师。1987年，行正长老圆寂，22岁的释永信担任少林寺管委会主任，主持寺院事务。1999年，释永信出任少林寺方丈，直至去年被查，总任期长达26年。

环线闭环改用顺时针逆时针方向标识 先在四地铁站启用

2026年5月29日 19:52 / 联合早报

环线地铁站改用“顺时针”或“逆时针”明确显示列车服务方向，减少歧义。 （吴先邦摄）

四个环线地铁站启用新标识系统，改用“顺时针”或“逆时针”明确显示列车服务方向，让乘客在环线闭环通车后，更容易辨别列车方向。

目前，环线列车服务会在港湾站、多美歌站或滨海湾站终止，但从7月12日起，环线第六阶段的三个新站启用，正式闭环。届时，部分列车会“环绕”服务，不再是从一端启程，开往另一个终点站。

为了配合闭环路线，环线列车服务会分为“顺时针环（Clockwise loop）”“逆时针环（Anticlockwise loop）”，以及“顺时针”（Clockwise）和“逆时针”（Anticlockwise）四种。

陆路交通管理局从星期五（5月29日）起，在波那维斯达站、巴耶利峇站、宝门廊站和滨海中心站启用这套标识，让乘客开始熟悉告示牌的新形式。新系统会分阶段在其他环线站推出。

据了解，陆交局去年3月展开为期四天的调查，收集了超过3000名乘客对环线标识的反馈，新标识系统是根据收集到的民意反应而定。例如，大部分受访者偏向于用“顺时针”和“逆时针”标识列车方向，而非“内环”或“外环”。

除了显示屏上的方向标识，月台门上也会显示列车将途经的下一个转换站。（吴先邦摄）

月台门上也会显示列车将途经的下一个转换站，协助乘客进一步确认列车服务方向。例如，若乘客在巴耶利峇站候车，沿逆时针方向行驶的列车月台会显示“通过麦坡申站”，顺时针方向的列车月台则会标“通过宝门廊站”。

此前，环线服务和其他地铁线路一样，都只用终点站标识方向，如“往滨海湾站”或“往港湾站”。

星期五（5月29日）环线未闭环，宝门廊站显示“顺时针，在滨海湾站终止服务”，以及“顺时针，在多美歌站终止服务”。7月12日闭环后，前者会改为“顺时针环”。（吴先邦摄）

除了列车行驶方向，乘客也须留意列车服务是否沿环运行。与以往一样，宝门廊站是环线列车服务的分岔口，部分列车会在此站“脱环”，开往滨海中心站和百胜站，并在多美歌站终止服务。闭环后，这一线路的列车会标识“顺时针，在多美歌站终止服务”。

从多美歌站发车的列车则会标识“逆时针，在爱德华太子路站终止服务”。据了解，此方向的终点站可能根据运营要求而变，但一定会在显示屏上清楚说明。

“顺时针环”和“逆时针环”列车会在宝门廊站继续沿环行驶，不会服务多美歌、百胜和滨海中心三站。

7月12日闭环后，月台显示屏会标识“顺时针”或“逆时针”，以及“顺时针环”或“逆时针环”。（吴先邦摄）

多数乘客未注意调整

《联合早报》记者星期五走访宝门廊站时，标识系统已经更新，但多数乘客未注意到这些调整。

搭乘环线的酒店房务员李树华（72岁）受访说，她通常按固定路线上下班，没有留意到新标识。当记者向她指出显示屏上的变化后，她说，自己的英文不好，而且屏幕上的信息太多、字体太小，她看不清楚。

40岁的克拉拉·瑞安（Clara Ryan）则认为，“顺时针”“逆时针”标识简单易懂，没有歧义。

公众可到陆交局官网了解有关新标识系统的详情，也可在地铁站索取资料册来看。（吴先邦摄）

公众可到陆交局官网了解有关新标识系统的详情，并用线上工具查询最直接的出行路线。

环线第六阶段的三个地铁站分别是吉宝站、广东民站和爱德华太子路站，相关工程从2017年展开。闭环后的环线全长近40公里，共33个地铁站，其中12个是转换站。

How James Talarico is working to win over Black voters who strongly backed Jasmine Crockett

2026-05-29T10:00:08.275Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/29/politics/james-talarico-black-voters-jasmine-crockett

At James Talarico’s first rally after Ken Paxton became his opponent in their US Senate race, one of Texas’ most prominent Black leaders, Rodney Ellis, acknowledged he had supported Talarico’s opponent, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, in their hard-fought Democratic primary.

“That was then, this is now,” Ellis said on Wednesday. “There’s too much at stake to be petty.”

It was a notable vote of confidence from Ellis, a Harris County commissioner and former state senator from Houston. Yet it also showed how Talarico is still building inroads with Black voters nearly three months after they overwhelmingly favored Crockett, a bloc that the state representative desperately needs if he wants to have any chance at a historic breakthrough for his party in Texas.

After losing to Talarico, Crockett called on Democrats to unite behind all their nominees. But she has not campaigned with Talarico yet, and her team made clear in a new statement to CNN that she believes Texas Democrats have considerable progress to make if they want to end Republican rule.

The statement, from Crockett spokesperson Karrol Rimal, said it would be “foolish to underestimate” Paxton and that there is “still a long road ahead to November.”

“Tough decisions will need to be made about where Democrats are prioritizing their spending – do they invest in a Texas longshot or double down in states where they’ve won statewide such as Alaska and Georgia?” the statement said. “Texas Democrats have nominated a slate of candidates where the top three spots are filled with lawmakers from Austin. They’ll have to do a lot of work outside of Central Texas and to resonate with constituencies across our state which is one of the largest and diverse in the world.”

The statement added that Crockett still believes turning Texas blue “lies in energizing the Democratic base,” including voters of color. Democrats “can chase disaffected Republicans all day but there simply is not enough of them to change the outcome,” the statement said.

While Crockett’s spokesperson said her team isn’t directing criticism at any specific candidate, Talarico has long said he wants to win over Democrats, independents and Republicans fed up with their party. On Tuesday night, after Paxton defeated Sen. John Cornyn in their party’s runoff, Talarico made an explicit appeal to Cornyn supporters, telling them in an X post that they “have a place in our campaign.”

No Democrat has won statewide in Texas since 1994.

“I’m proud of the work we’ve been doing all across Texas to bring our coalition together — because our state deserves a Senator that will deliver for Black Texans,” Talarico said in a statement to CNN. “As the candidate at the top of the ticket, it’s on me to earn the trust and support of Black voters that have been taken for granted by the national Democratic party for far too long.”

Talarico emerged from his contentious primary well aware that he needed to mend fences with Black voters who backed Crockett.

Since the primary, Talarico has given the commencement address at Paul Quinn College in Dallas, the oldest historically Black college in the state; visited another HBCU, Prairie View A&M University outside Houston; and rolled out a plan to combat maternal mortality, which disproportionately impacts Black women.

He’s held meetings with groups of Black leaders in the Dallas area, Houston and Austin; and he’s met individually Fort Worth civil rights activist Opal Lee and Dallas pastor Freddie Haynes, the Democratic nominee to succeed Crockett in the House. And earlier this month, Talarico made a surprise visit to an Austin taco shop with the best-known Black Democrat in the country: former President Barack Obama.

“I really believe he is doing everything that he can do,” said state Rep. Christian Manuel, a Black Democrat and former Crockett supporter who represents Jefferson County in southeast Texas, where Crockett won nearly 80% of the primary vote.

If there is a problem, he said, it is “people who are in the social media stratosphere [who] are still stuck in what happened in January, in February, in March, and the rest of us are trying to move on and drag as many people as possible” to turn out in November.

Manuel added that some Black Democrats have been lobbying Talarico’s campaign to “throw in an extra place” on his campaign swings to reach communities of color. “They’ve been responsive,” he said.

The second stop of Talarico’s post-runoff tour took him on Thursday to Nacogdoches, in the heart of East Texas, where Crockett carried most counties in the primary. He was introduced by a Black county commissioner, Sandy McCorvey, who said Talarico “understands this community matters,” and that he is “energizing a Democratic base” as part of his campaign strategy.

Talarico continues to make progress in uniting the party. He met after the primary with the Texas Organizing Project, a statewide progressive organizing group that backed Crockett, and is set to receive the group’s endorsement in the coming days, according to a source familiar with its plans.

Brianna Brown, the group’s executive director, said in an interview earlier this month that members were relatively unfamiliar with Talarico because the group does not operate in Austin. But she had a chance to get to know him better after the primary, she said, and emphasized to him that there is a “path to victory that is not about centering White swing voters.” She said they had “some back and forth” on the topic, but he was “receptive” and demonstrated he had done his homework about the group.

“The thing about Jasmine’s race that is really encouraging is there was a whole new wave of voters who came out because they were excited about what she represents,” Brown said, adding that Crockett had an “immediate kinship” with Black voters and that “needs to be valued and respected and poured into by James.”

A contentious primary

Polls conducted ahead of the March primary had Crockett leading Talarico by a substantial margin among Black voters. Crockett swept the 10 counties with the highest share of Black residents, winning those counties by a margin of about 24 points. In Jefferson County, which has the largest share of Black residents in the state at about 33%, Crockett won by nearly 60 points.

There were sharp tensions between Crockett and Talarico supporters during the primary, and they often centered on race. Former Rep. Colin Allred, who dropped out of the Senate race as Crockett entered, slammed Talarico after an influencer alleged that Talarico had privately referred to Allred as a “mediocre Black man”; Talarico said it was a “mischaracterization.” And days later, after a pro-Talarico super PAC started running ads questioning Crockett’s ability to win in November, she bluntly called the line of attack racist.

After Talarico won the Senate nomination, Allred said he would support him. Allred went on to win a US House primary runoff on Tuesday against Rep. Julie Johnson where Crockett campaigned for Allred and Talarico for Johnson.

After Talarico won the Senate primary on March 3, Crockett said she called him to congratulate him and said Democrats “must rally around our nominees and win.” She has not yet campaigned alongside him, instead focusing her political efforts on helping other Texas runoff candidates, including Allred and Christian Menefee in the 18th Congressional District.

Crockett has also been traveling to other states to stump for candidates, including California for Xavier Becerra for governor.

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, whom Democrats nominated for Senate in Texas in 2018 and governor four years later, said Thursday on CNN’s “Laura Coates Live” that winning over Black voters in the state is “the ball game” for Talarico. He said Talarico’s outreach to Black voters so far is “very encouraging” but noted he would like to see Crockett campaign with him.

“She has more star power than anyone I can think of in Texas, apart from James Talarico,” O’Rourke said. “When she uses that to connect with the electorate here, I think James is going to have more than an even shot of winning this in November.”

Manuel, the Texas state representative, said he felt confident Crockett was supportive of Talarico and suggested it was more important for Black voters to “meet and know him” than to see the congresswoman stump for him.

The feeling is mutual among other former Crockett supporters. Grand Prairie City Councilman Junior Ezeonu, one of the Black leaders who met with Talarico in Dallas after the primary, said he and most others in their meeting had been Crockett supporters, but they understood the need to unify for the November election.

At the same time, he said, they emphasized Talarico has to “run on issues” important to Black voters “and fight for people like us.”

“We just can’t assume that Black voters will turn out en masse because Trump is in office because we’re mad at Trump,” Ezeonu said. “We’ve got to give them a reason to vote. … He has to make that case every single day.”

CNN’s Edward Wu contributed to this report.

Kenyan court blocks opening of U.S. Ebola quarantine center on air base

2026-05-29 07:08 EDT / CBS/AFP

Nairobi— A Kenyan court on Friday temporarily halted the opening of an Ebola quarantine center for U.S. nationals following a petition filed by a rights group. The facility had been due to open Friday in Kenya, according to U.S. officials, to quarantine Americans arriving from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is battling a major Ebola outbreak.

The center is set to have 50 isolation beds and be managed by U.S. medical staff at Laikipia Air Base, about 124 miles from the capital, Nairobi.

Trump administration officials said earlier this week that the facility was being designed to provide access to high-quality care for Americans who need to quickly get out of Congo and quarantine without the risks of a lengthy trip back to the U.S.

A man hangs an Ebola awareness banner in the Kigonze camp in Bunia, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, May 28, 2026. Glody MURHABAZI/AFP/Getty

As of Thursday, the U.S. was not aware of any exposed Americans who were to be transported to the center, senior administration officials told CBS News.

Another administration official said the government was planning for a facility that would serve “asymptomatic individuals” who may have been exposed to Ebola, in cooperation with the Kenyan government.

The Kenyan court said Friday that “a conservatory order is hereby issued restraining the respondents from establishing … any Ebola exposure, quarantine, isolation or treatment facility in Kenya.”

Kenya has been testing arrivals and has yet to report any cases of Ebola on its territory from the current outbreak.

The east African country signed a health deal with the U.S. in December last year, but the agreement is currently being challenged in court.

Katiba Institute, a Kenyan rights group behind the petition, argues that the center was being established in secrecy and unilaterally, saying it “raises grave constitutional concerns.”

Meanwhile, the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) condemned the move, saying the government was trading “the lives of its citizens for foreign aid.”

Kenyan doctors have threatened industrial action if the negotiations are not made public.

Kenya’s health ministry has said it is willing to work with other countries, including the U.S., but has not directly addressed questions about the facility.

The Kenya government has 48 hours to respond to the petition.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/trump-administration-building-ebola-quarantine-facility-kenya/

Air traffic control run by Compaq computers is safe but inefficient, FAA head says

May 29, 2026 / 7:01 AM EDT / CBS News

By

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

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As the summer travel season starts to take off, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration tells CBS News he has confidence in the system, despite hundreds of FAA facilities being run on decades-old technology.

“Go back to last summer. We saw, you know, we saw equipment failures in Washington, Newark, Philadelphia, places where the system was just breaking. Most of that has been corrected, not all of it,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in an exclusive interview with CBS News this week. “We still have, I think, some real reliability risk in the system because we’re running off of 1970s and ’80s computing power, compact disks. It’s crazy what the system is using today. …There’s a lot of floppy disks still in the system.”

He added, “We have 313 FAA facilities and each of them are essentially running off Compaq computers. …It works, it’s reliable, it’s safe, but it’s not efficient.”

Bryan Bedford, FAA administrator, during a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation hearing on May 19, 2026. Al Drago / Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Transportation Security Administration says its officers screened more than 18.4 million people in the weeklong Memorial Day travel period, and the nation’s airlines expect to fly another 263 million passengers between June 1 and Aug. 31.

But the airlines’ busy season comes after a stretch of high-profile accidents and close calls, as well as a surge in ticket prices due to soaring fuel costs brought on by the Iran war and the collapse of Spirit Airlines.

“I think we’re set up for a great summer. I feel like we’ve got the people in place,” Bedford said. “The system is every bit as safe today as it was 10 years ago or five years ago. I fly it every week multiple times, put my family on, I have zero concerns, I lose no sleep whatsoever, that the system isn’t fundamentally safe.”

Adding potential uncertainty to the summer, and on the eve of the World Cup, which is expected to bring millions of travelers to the U.S. and Canada, is the possibility the Trump administration could reduce Customs and Border Protection staffing at major airports in sanctuary cities — a list that could include major airline hubs in New York, Newark, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Franscico, Philadelphia, Boston, Seattle and Denver.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said during an interview on Fox News this week that the administration is drawing up plans to do so but has yet to put them into place.

The nation’s travel industries have pushed back on the proposal. Airlines for America, the trade group representing the nation’s biggest airlines, warned in a statement that the move would “have a devastating effect on the airline and tourism industries, causing a significant operational disruption to carriers, travelers and the flow of international cargo.”

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy also expressed concerns during a recent appearance before lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

“We have people from around the world and around the country that need to be able to fly into all different kinds of places, we shouldn’t shut down air travel in a state that doesn’t agree with our politics,” Duffy said last week.

“What happens inside the airport is, frankly, outside of our wheelhouse,” Bedford said before acknowledging such a policy to reduce CBP staffing could cause disruptions at airports, especially during the busy summer travel season. “There’ll be very limited opportunities to move international flights from one airport to another at this point.”

“Certainly creates a challenge for the airlines themselves because obviously, whether you’re a U.S. citizen or a foreign national, if you’re entering the country from a foreign domain, you’re going to have to clear customs,” he said. “That’ll be a challenge for airlines in order to navigate where there will be Customs and Border check-in points and where they won’t be.”

Bedford spoke to CBS News ahead of a fireside chat focused on modernizing the nation’s aging air traffic control system. The conversation was at the CAPA Airline Leader Summit Americas conference in Charleston, South Carolina, on Thursday.

“We do have a lot of inefficiencies in the system. And when we see those efficiencies bubble up, a weather event, for example… The systems that we use, frankly, need to be improved. We err on the side of safety when we see the storm cell run through because our visibility is more surface level as opposed to upper altitude level… We have technology now that can tell us where those differences lie and create more airspace capacity to continue to move traffic safely, which is something that we’re supposed to do, but we’re not doing that well because we’re limited by the technology that we have,” he said.

Bedford is leading the FAA’s modernization effort to spend $12.5 billion on air traffic control modernization projects by the end of 2028. Work to replace copper communication wire with fiber optics, upgrade or replace voice switches, radios and radar systems is already underway.

The next phase of the modernization effort will cost an estimated additional $10 billion, according to the FAA and Department of Transportation, which Congress will have to approve and will focus on harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to make the nation’s airspace more efficient in how it handles air traffic, as well as the addition of drones and other airborne mobility platforms like air taxis currently in development.

“The $10 billion fixes the data architecture that we have today, gives us unlimited computing power, getting into the cloud and then it brings us the opportunity to have a fully interoperable system,” Bedford said. “Today we have three legacy technology stacks that aren’t interoperable… We can replace that technology with a unified system that allows us to see the entire national airspace situation in real time.”

Spirit Airlines

The work to future-proof the aviation system comes as several airlines are struggling with the financial impact of rising jet fuel costs and the collapse of Spirit Airlines after a proposed $500 million government bailout failed to materialize.

“Spirit is a victim of too much growth without a fundamental business plan,” Bedford, the former CEO of regional airline Republic Airways, said. “The market worked. I’m glad we didn’t offer them a bailout. In my personal opinion, I think, you know, the administration made the right call that if we’re going to be picking winners and losers, that it’s a slippery slope. Spirit made a lot of bad decisions.”

Boeing

Bedford’s FAA is also charged with overseeing Boeing, as the aerospace giant tries to turn the corner on a host of production and design failures that led to the two deadly 737 Max crashes and a door panel flying off another 737 Max mid-flight. This week, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg announced the company had received permission to increase 737 Max production to 47 jets per month.

“We supported the capstone to move from 42 to 47. I suspect we’re going to do another capstone in the next 60 to 90 days and discuss taking it to 52,” Bedford said, while pushing for Boeing to begin work on designing its first fully new aircraft since the launch of the 787 nearly 20 years ago. “We certainly want Boeing to get healthy and get on its feet, and we really want Boeing to start thinking about designing and building the next, you know, mid-market aircraft. We want that to happen in the United States.”

Before Boeing can tackle the long-discussed 797 project, it is working to certify two long-delayed variants of the 737 Max — the smallest and largest versions of Boeing’s bestselling narrowbody airliner, the Max 7 and Max 10, as well as the next-generation 777x long-haul jet.

“I think we’re going to see the Dash 7 and the Dash 10 certified before the end of the year, and I, hopefully by spring of next year, we’ve got a line of sight on the 777,” Bedford said.

Trump nuclear talks face defining question: What happens to Iran’s uranium stockpile?

2026-05-29T05:05:36-04:00 / Fox News

Experts say physically locating and neutralizing the material may remain a challenge long after any agreement is signed

By Morgan Phillips Fox News

Published May 29, 2026 5:05am EDT | Updated May 29, 2026 6:52am EDT

What it would take to destroy or remove Iran’s uranium stockpile: expert

Nuclear expert Andrea Stricker explains why securing Iran’s enriched uranium could require excavation teams, international inspectors and hazardous materials specialists operating inside heavily damaged nuclear facilities.

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Even as U.S. and Iranian negotiators reportedly move toward a temporary framework agreement, one of the most consequential questions remains unresolved: What happens to Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile?

Iranian officials repeatedly have insisted retaining enriched uranium is a red line in negotiations, even as President Donald Trump has vowed Iran “will not have a nuclear weapon” and suggested the United States could ultimately “take” the material if necessary.

Nonproliferation experts say the issue sits at the center of whether any future agreement can credibly prevent Iran from rapidly moving toward weapons-grade enrichment — particularly after U.S. strikes damaged key nuclear facilities but did not necessarily eliminate the nuclear material itself.

“I think it would put a poison pill in any agreement because retaining any of these 60% stockpile or really any of the lower enriched material,” Andrea Stricker, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital. “That would give them the ability to go higher to weapons grade at a time of their choosing.”

Satellite images show Iran’s Isfahan nuclear facility on Dec. 7, 2025, and on Jan. 28, 2026, after a new roof was built over one of the damaged buildings.(Planet Labs PBC/AP)

AFTER THE STRIKES, HOW WOULD THE US SECURE IRAN’S ENRICHED URANIUM?

The issue has taken on renewed urgency following 2026’s Operation Epic Fury against Iran and 2025 U.S. strikes on key Iranian nuclear facilities, including Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.

While airstrikes can damage centrifuges, tunnel systems and enrichment infrastructure, experts say physically locating, securing and neutralizing enriched uranium presents a separate challenge altogether. Destroying infrastructure can slow or disrupt a nuclear program, but accounting for nuclear material itself requires sustained access, reliable intelligence and international oversight.

“The stockpile is going to be the focus for the administration because that is the material, in particular the 60%,” Stricker said.

An illustration shows a map pinpointing Iran’s nuclear facilities, including the Arak heavy water reactor and the Natanz enrichment plant.(FDD/Fox News)

Iran is believed to possess thousands of kilograms of enriched uranium ranging from low-enriched material to uranium enriched to 60%, which is considered near weapons-grade and can be more quickly refined to the 90% level typically associated with nuclear weapons.

Stricker said the Trump administration is likely to insist the stockpiles either be destroyed inside Iran or removed from the country under international supervision.

“The best option would be to destroy the stockpile in Iran, and then you’re not having to deal with who takes possession and what can Iran do with the stockpile as far as having it sent back under certain terms,” she said.

EX-CENTCOM COMMANDER WARNS AGAINST ‘RISKY’ US GROUND OPERATION TO SEIZE IRAN’S ENRICHED URANIUM

But even if Iran agreed to surrender or neutralize the uranium, carrying out such an operation would likely involve excavation teams, international nuclear inspectors and hazardous materials specialists working inside heavily damaged underground facilities.

Any operation to physically secure or remove the uranium could also raise broader questions about how much direct U.S. or international involvement would ultimately be required on the ground, even as the administration faces political pressure to avoid a prolonged military commitment in Iran.

“You’re talking about having to go down into heavily damaged sites and you’re not sure what the state of the material even is,” Stricker said.

Experts gauge success of ‘bunker buster’ bombs

Strickler said the underground Isfahan tunnel facility was struck with Tomahawk missiles, while Natanz and Fordow sites were hit with massive ordnance penetrators designed to reach buried nuclear infrastructure.

“So you will need hazard material teams to handle it, to safely package it and either to have it destroyed or to remove it from the country safely,” she said.

Stricker noted that enriched uranium in this form is chemically toxic and corrosive, though she said it would not pose the kind of large-scale radiological danger associated with a nuclear detonation.

“People don’t want to be breathing that material or coming into contact with it with their skin,” she said.

Another possible pathway would involve transferring the material to international custody.

Stricker said the International Atomic Energy Agency, along with an international recovery team, could potentially oversee the removal of the uranium and transfer it to the agency’s low-enriched uranium fuel bank in Kazakhstan.

Limited quantities could also eventually be converted into fuel rods for civilian nuclear reactors, she said, though she argued Iran should not retain direct access to the material itself.

Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association, previously told Fox News Digital that internationally monitored downblending may ultimately prove more practical than attempting to physically seize or destroy the material inside damaged facilities.

“The IAEA remains the best place to go back into Iran to monitor the sites, to try to track down and account for the enriched uranium,” Davenport said.

The White House could not immediately be reached for comment. “The Enriched Uranium (Nuclear Dust!) will either be immediately turned over to the United States … or, preferably … destroyed in place,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Sunday.

This handout image supplied by the IIPA (Iran International Photo Agency) shows a view of the reactor building at the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant as the first fuel is loaded, on August 21, 2010 in Bushehr, southern Iran.(Photo by IIPA via Getty Images)

Iranian officials, however, have continued to insist the country has a right to maintain uranium enrichment and stockpiles as part of a civilian nuclear program.

Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament’s national security committee, said Wednesday that maintaining enriched uranium stockpiles remains one of Iran’s “red lines” in negotiations with the United States.

That position may ultimately collide with what many nonproliferation advocates view as the core objective of any agreement: preventing Iran from preserving a rapid nuclear breakout capability.

Stricker said international inspectors had a relatively strong understanding of the quantities and locations of the material before access became more restricted, but argued that any future agreement would require continuous international monitoring over how the uranium is handled and removed.

Stricker argued that any long-term deal would likely require not only removal of the stockpile, but also strict limits on Iran’s future enrichment capabilities and expanded access for international inspectors.

“Ideally it would be a permanent ban,” she said, referring to uranium enrichment. “But it appears that they’re leaning more towards a long moratorium.”

She added that any agreement would also require the International Atomic Energy Agency to regain deep access to Iranian facilities, including military sites, to verify compliance and account for nuclear materials.

“They need full access to go wherever they would like, including to military sites to rule out any Iranian cheating,” Stricker said.

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For now, negotiators appear to be moving toward a temporary framework agreement while broader nuclear talks continue. But experts say the question of what happens to Iran’s enriched uranium may ultimately become the defining issue of any deal.

Even if diplomacy advances, physically locating, securing and permanently neutralizing the material could remain a challenge long after any agreement is signed.

Iran’s nuclear stockpile — a key part of negotiations to end the war and a focus of Trump’s — explained

2026-05-29T09:00:07.767Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/29/politics/iran-war-nuclear-stockpile-explained

• Iran has nearly 1,000 pounds of uranium enriched to 60%, enough for 10 nuclear weapons, according to international inspectors.
• Nuclear experts say Iran could enrich that material to weapons-grade purity within weeks or even days if it has an operational facility.
• While there are options to dilute or remove the uranium, it may be difficult to confirm that Iran has destroyed all of its stockpile, according to experts.

AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.

What happens to Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile, including the 970 pounds that it has highly concentrated to near-weapons grade, is one of the primary sticking points as the US and Iran have trudged through weeks of negotiations to potentially end the Iran war.

President Donald Trump has insisted that Iran must hand over what he calls its “nuclear dust.” Iranian officials have repeatedly said that the country has a right to a non-weapons nuclear program.

But what is in Iran’s stockpile, and what does it mean for Iran’s ability to build a nuclear weapon?

With the right equipment, the highly enriched uranium that Iran has could reach weapons-grade purity within weeks or even days, according to nuclear experts. And it’s enough for 10 nuclear weapons, international inspectors say.

Iran and the US are reportedly close to an agreement to formalize a ceasefire and open the Strait of Hormuz. But the question of what happens to the uranium would remain unsettled and a key part of subsequent negotiations, according to CNN’s reporting.

Those talks would likely focus on the nearly 1000 pounds of uranium purified to 60%.

“The US shouldn’t take a deal that doesn’t include removing the highly enriched uranium,” said Eric Brewer, a nuclear materials expert for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) nonprofit who previously oversaw counterproliferation at the National Security Council during Trump’s first administration and led Iran intelligence analysis for the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Building a nuclear weapon requires a significant amount of radioactive heavy elements, or what experts call fissile material. One such radioactive isotope, uranium-235, occurs in nature, but it makes up less than one percent of raw uranium ore that’s mined.

Enrichment concentrates the uranium-235 from raw ore and prepares it for conversion into weapons-usable fissile material. Iran enriched its uranium by converting it into a gas — uranium hexafluoride — and spinning it in a series of centrifuge machines in underground plants primarily at the country’s Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan nuclear complexes.

Iran’s near-half ton of 60% enriched uranium (and its estimated 405.9 pounds of 20% U-235) is believed to remain in gas form, as it was at the time of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s last verification in June 2025. Iran shut out international nuclear inspectors the following month in the wake of joint US-Israel airstrikes on its facilities.

Further enrichment to 90% purity, considered the threshold for weapons-grade uranium, would “only take days to weeks” if Iran has an operational enrichment facility, Brewer said.

The June 2025 strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, what the Pentagon termed Operation Midnight Hammer, was assessed by US intelligence to have buried much of Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile at Isfahan, but didn’t destroy it, despite administration statements that Iran’s nuclear program was “obliterated.”

Earlier this month Trump threatened “to go in” with force and retrieve the uranium should negotiations fail. CNN reported in March that military planners had reviewed options for such an effort at the Isfahan complex, assessing that it could require hundreds if not thousands of troops and risk a high number of casualties. In addition to bringing in specialized forces and equipment to handle the material itself, creating a security perimeter to allow those troops to work would mean a large footprint.

Nuclear experts are also skeptical that a US military operation could even locate and verify all the uranium, much less safely and completely remove it. Doing such a removal under hostile conditions would be unprecedented.

“We don’t know where Iran could have dispersed some of this uranium material ahead of the strikes,” said Brewer.

It’s unclear if Iran currently has the capability of turning its 60% uranium gas into metal as needed to produce a nuclear warhead, but before the 2025 strikes it did have the right kinds of facilities, Brewer said.

It’s also not clear how quickly the Iranian regime could resume and complete weaponization work, which includes fashioning the bomb’s core and developing the explosives required to detonate it. When China completed its uranium enrichment in 1964, it only required “three to five weeks to convert the gas to metal … and assemble an atomic bomb,” Harvard physicist and China nuclear expert Hui Zhang wrote for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists last year.

Scott Roecker, who served as head of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Nuclear Material Removal and now oversees the NTI’s nuclear materials security program, told CNN that removing even Iran’s low-enriched uranium including more than 13,000 pounds of 5% enriched material may be necessary to prevent future nuclear weapons work.

That’s because Iran has developed the skills and experience to produce advanced centrifuges that can quickly and efficiently enrich the uranium further.

While Iran has insisted that it has not been pursuing a nuclear weapon, Roecker said its highly enriched stockpile is telling.

“There’s no plausible civilian purpose for that material,” he said, adding that the “main focus” of US negotiations should be getting rid of it.

There are two primary options for removing or otherwise neutralizing Iran’s stockpile, according to Roecker and Brewer.

A first common step between them likely would be converting from uranium gas to an “inherently more stable” powder form, Roecker said, making transport significantly safer.

In the case of a peaceful removal led by the US, the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration has a mobile uranium facility that can deploy from its home at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in Tennessee, to anywhere in the world and “stabilize, package, and remove nuclear materials,” according to an agency fact sheet. That process would likely take weeks.

Russia is also capable of accepting enriched uranium, as it did under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Roecker noted.

A second option, known as “downblending,” could occur on Iranian soil. Downblending would involve diluting highly enriched uranium with low-purity uranium to reduce its U-235 concentration.

The key to any successful removal, regardless of the method, is the ability for the US and the international community to monitor and verify the process.

Brewer said that verification will be challenging even if Iran fully cooperates.

“You run the risk of … Iran saying, ‘We can’t account for that 100 kilograms [of uranium] because it actually blew up in the strikes,’ and you’re never going to know if that’s true or not, right?” Brewer said.

Davis Winkie’s work at CNN is supported by a partnership between Outrider Foundation and Journalism Funding Partners (JFP). CNN retains full editorial control of the reporting.

CNN’s Natasha Bertrand, Zachary Cohen, Haley Britzky, Kevin Liptak and Alayna Treene contributed to this report.

日本航空客机因轮胎问题 紧急降落东京成田机场

2026年5月29日 16:05 / 联合早报

日本航空客机因轮胎问题 紧急降落东京成田机场

日本航空公司一架客机左侧后轮爆胎，紧急降落东京成田机场。 （示意图 / Pixabay）

日本航空公司一架客机因轮胎问题，紧急降落在东京成田机场。这是本周日本发生的又一起同类事故。

新华社引述日本放送协会的报道称，星期五（5月29日）上午，这架从东京羽田机场飞往鹿儿岛机场的飞机左侧后轮爆胎，紧急降落。机上乘客和机组人员共计226人，无人受伤。

报道称，飞机降落时使用的成田机场跑道一度关闭；它起飞时使用的羽田机场跑道因发现疑似轮胎碎片，也暂时关闭。

25日，日本天马航空公司一架从羽田机场飞往福冈的客机因轮胎问题紧急返航，降落羽田机场。飞机其中一个轮胎爆裂。事故未造成人员受伤。

日本航空客机因轮胎问题 紧急降落东京成田机场

2026年5月29日 16:05 / 联合早报

日本航空客机因轮胎问题 紧急降落东京成田机场

日本航空公司一架客机左侧后轮爆胎，紧急降落东京成田机场。 （示意图 / Pixabay）

日本航空公司一架客机因轮胎问题，紧急降落在东京成田机场。这是本周日本发生的又一起同类事故。

新华社引述日本放送协会的报道称，星期五（5月29日）上午，这架从东京羽田机场飞往鹿儿岛机场的飞机左侧后轮爆胎，紧急降落。机上乘客和机组人员共计226人，无人受伤。

报道称，飞机降落时使用的成田机场跑道一度关闭；它起飞时使用的羽田机场跑道因发现疑似轮胎碎片，也暂时关闭。

25日，日本天马航空公司一架从羽田机场飞往福冈的客机因轮胎问题紧急返航，降落羽田机场。飞机其中一个轮胎爆裂。事故未造成人员受伤。